TV Religion

I watched a complete stranger, a boy, baptized on television.

The priest hugged the child like his own son, smiling like a proud father.

The congregants, a sea of white faces, the boy’s family, all smiling.

The green-robed choir sang majestically, the organ played loudly, signifying the presence of the Lord.

I watched this walking on a treadmill at Gold’s Gym.

Would John the Baptist have been revered the same if his dipping of Christ in the Jordan River was televised?

Would their loving embrace have still been adored?

The TV to the left of the baptism showed the World Cup – Japan versus Senegal.

I watched the players sprint, slide, tackle, collide.

There, on the grassy field a world away, I witnessed, somehow, more sacred conviction.

San Antonian Alex Z. Salinas earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from St. Mary’s University in 2011. His flash fiction has appeared online in Every Day Fiction, Nanoism, escarp, 101 Words, 101 Fiction and ZeroFlash. He has also had poetry published in the San Antonio Express-News.