For today's Letter from Harrisburg I combined and embellished the recent blog posts about Emily's baptism and going garage saling with the girls.
Quote of the Day:
I tell you, when you're used to preaching and the people just listening, when somebody blasts out with an Amen it almost disconcerts you.
--Paul, on the way home from church today
Maybe Paul should preach at a southern black church for a while; after that I bet nothing would disconcert him! A while back when a black pastor preached at our big Mennonite church, I felt a little apologetic that as reserved, white Mennonites, we were not responding and affirming him much!!
ReplyDeleteI love your article in the RG. Also thought Paul's sermon this morning was very good!! Thanks!!
ReplyDeleteWow he wouldnt make it in my Independeant Baptist church! There's amens all over the place. The men raise their Bibles and wave them in the air when it gets really good. When the preacher really gets going you here comments like this from the men, "Yeeeepp thats right that's what the Good Book says,"or Preach it brother, preach it" or "Call a dog a dog". You always here this last one when pastor preaches against sins that we as christians love to embrace, you know the sins of the flesh?
ReplyDeleteThe women are not suppose to speak but now and again you do hear a quiet amen from the sister beside you. Actually it is traditional in our church for women to wave a hanky in agreement! I find that hilarious. It just strikes a humurous chord with me. Many times I go looking for a hanky but cant find any in my purse which is probably a good thing since no one in my immediate church actually waves a hanky!
When we get an evangelist the amens almost get deafening. Our southern roots start showing then, ya know, stump stomping, hell fire, preaching with gaps between sevices where you eat cold chicken while sitting on the ground, then quickly go back inside so you dont miss a thing. Our building bulges, the balcony strains and chairs are in every isle. One time the fire department even showed up. They were concerned about the amount of people verses the fire codes for the building. Some people joked that they were there because we had a sign posted in huge letters, REVIVAL FIRES!
Anyway didnt mean to get carried away here in your comments. I'll back out now.
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ReplyDeleteSheryl and Mrs. Darling--Paul attended a Wesleyan Methodist church for about six years so was used to noisy services but he has almost always preached at Mennonite services so isn't used to being Amened. But he likes it, once he regains his footing.
ReplyDeleteI suppose it would take one by surprise. Makes me wonder if my brother mart was there on Sunday. He says amen quite often. Goodness I hope it wasnt he who made your husband lose his footing. Lol
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the column, as usual!
ReplyDeleteThe way I stated my Quote of the Day I can understand why some of you commented as you did. In reality, I like responses from the audience. I like it when I can tell that my message is getting through. I find it very affirming when I hear an amen even though it does not happen as often as I would like. I have preached quite often in Mexico and every time I return I remind my congregation how much it encourages a minister when they verbally let me know that they are following along with my thoughts. I really can’t remember being disconcerted any other time in the past, but this particular time I guess it came so unexpectedly that it caused my next thoughts to stumble a little.
ReplyDeletePaul
Oops, that last comment was supposed to say "Paul said..." and not "dorcas said..."
ReplyDeleteI try not to put words in his mouth...most of the time.
Dorcas,
ReplyDeleteThe article is moving. It deserves an honored place in a someone's scrapbook.