Like the Stone of Erech
In which SeeDub teaches us what it means to raise your Ebenezer.
He picked his church for the scripture and got lousy music; I picked mine for the hymn-based music and got … much less scripture.
But I also got a handbell choir that will play this very hymn later this spring, and I can listen to any number of Bible-based sermons on the web. And I recently was made aware, to my astonishment, that there is one elder in my church who is willing to stand up, in Sunday service, in context of a sermon on peace, at the invitation of the pastor, and say publicly that the United States is not imperialist and that the time to prioritize peace is before our troops go into the field. And that after that we need to be supporting their efforts all the way to victory.
Right on.
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I have to admit the last few years I attended church I did so solely for the music. As I was one of the people playing and singing, I guess it was doubly selfish. Not once though did the pastor mention foreign or domestic governmental policy (we were not at war at the time) and this lack of commentary (one way or the other) suited me just fine. As for the Bible stuff… I wasn’t really listening anymore.
My dad’s church does Hymns almost exclusively but when I attend there (rarely), I’m always happy to hear them again. He has a habit of explaining the the lyrics, not because they are so hard to understand, but rather because they are sung so often people sometimes lose sight of the meaning. I appreciate that.
Comment by Allen — January 14, 2008 @ 5:56 pm
The pastor is given to quasi-sortof-never-quite-coming-out-and-saying-it commentary in the direction of pacifism, which I don’t appreciate. So the elder expressing a different view, letting me know I’m not alone in my politics, which most of the time I definitely feel like in my church (hell, in the state) was good.
Comment by Anwyn — January 14, 2008 @ 6:07 pm