#ooc

Probably something about having my truck shot and my dog repossessed or something

Something that'll end you up in the back row singin' with the Baptists?

Got to be careful about that. I was in a baptist church once where the Pastor just gave the sermon from that end.

Cheeky son of lamb

Ha!

Maybe you can explain it to me, then. That's a motif that comes up over and over and over in country songs...sitting in the back row Sunday morning. Sometimes it seems to have to do with shaming, sometimes with being a Baptist (presumably in a non-denominational church?), and sometimes it seems to be a positive memory. Help?

I was the bishop's daughter. We were front row, or serving at the altar, or in the choir. I only have a passing acquaintance with the back row of any church.

Oh, I always considered myself non denominational ... but while I spent quite a few times in a baptist church or two as youth, but I've heard too many jokes to sort the legit from the anecdotal. Sometimes the back row is where you slink in hopin g no one noticed you were late. A lot of times it's where you go where you hope to avoid the obligatory socializing church often brought. And a some wanted OUT fast asap when the service ended be it because of traffic, football games or the like.

There is a kind of stigma about it "Back Row Bapstists" sometimes shows a lack of dedication in the eyes of a few. Preachers do to joke "Why don't you stay awhile?" 🙂

I think the scrutiny involved is part of it. If you're in the first few rows, folks are going to know you were the one who couldn't hit that high note, or that you are completely lost on a verse.

Sometimes those ladies with younger children that were acting a bit unruly took the back row so that if need be they could grab said child and take them out not to disrupt and have a 'coming to Jesus' meeting of a different kind when the 6 year old won't stop jabbin the 4

Ha! Okay, so pretty much what I thought, but nice to have it confirmed. Thank you!

to be fair, most Baptist Preachers I went to were, in my memory, pretty cool, not nearly as heavy on the fire and brimstone as Hollywood portrays. One of them in Texas was pretty good with the jokes, and the other in North Las Vegas dressed as Mary Magdalene for a sermon. Credit to my folks, I think they avoided the ..shall we say, Holy Ragers?

My students get a lot of the Holy Ragers types. Some of my kids spend upwards of 7 hours in church on any given weekend, complete with the speaking in tongues. But now... you've got to describe this Mary Magdalene outfit.

L More modest than it sounds when the word 'Vegas' is in a sentence

chuckle I would hope so!

Yes, the elders of the CHurch have their limits

I don't think Speaking in tongues is a Southern Baptist thing. CHarismatics maybe? Never been in a church that did that

Hm. Maybe. I was kind of surprised when they told me about it, but apparently it's a regular thing.

Now the guy in Texas was funny in a different way. He found out Dad was a fan of the Cardinals over the Cowboys and was like "Father forgive them, they know not what they do"

Ha! Nice.

Friendly banter type. The guy in Vegas was...well, I think laid back and open minded. Yes, the costume. He also invited some of the Younger members to play music, drum set guitar and all, for the Sunday evening service since it had fewer of the older generation.

All being relative, of course. This was decades ago.

Sure. It's just very different from what I grew up with. East Coast Episcopal = uptight, at least when I was a kid. I remember when we got a new priest when I was about 14 years old, and the congregation was SCANDALIZED when this red-headed guy with a BEARD arrived at the church on a MOTORCYCLE. Seldom have more pearls been clutched in horror.

Honestly, I think most of the church I went to the problem wasn't the preachers, when there were problems, it was the elders or deacons or deacons wives. It could be like office politics. Yes, the Preachers would now and then talk about sin, damnation and Salvation, but that was kind of in the program and not the focus. But my word, there was always that one that was sure they knew what God wanted for the Church and Congregation and they sure looked down on folks that couldn't live up to their standards.

YES. Holier than thou, writ large.

The one in North LV was very much "Our evening services are less Formal, God knows what's in their hearts" and managed to use that ot peacekeep pretty nicely. I don't recall Texas, though ties were the norm for the adult men

And yeah. I've a friend who still goes regularly, and works at a Religious university. So she gets lots of stories about churches that are looking for a new pastor and can never hold any, ironically because there are those in the congregation that are too 'holier than thou' and don't think these young men of God are righteous enough.

I hear about that, and I'm like "What, does he need to walk across the river to get to the Church?"

LOL I understand the mindset, but it's an awfully Hollywood expectation for a a pastor.

Hollywood as in movie/TV images of clergy, not actual Hollywood clergy.

Now male Youth ministers some times are allowed to be 'edgier' in order to 'relate' to the church teens. Sometimes this works, other times it is comical.

(honestly I think with some of the pastor rejections a sort of 'anti young agism' was at play. How can he be a man of God? He sitll has all his hair' kind of thing)

Well, the "fighting young priest who can talk to the young" is often more a marketing line than an actual description of fact.

Yes. When you have someone talking to say kids of 2018 like it's 2001 you have perhaps not found someone on the same wave length.

Pentecostals are the tongues folks

On the other hand, when sincere, sometimes it works. I once saw a youth minister with tattoos use them as an explanation on the gap between old and new Testament. Nothing like 'Skulls for Jesus' to have interest arise in teen guys it seems

I use it to comical effect in my classroom....out of date slang is comic relief.

Pentecostal, got it. Thanks.

"Skulls for Jesus"...classy. 🙂

episcopalians are actually pretty liberal for being so stuffy

likewise lutherans

Oh I've seen the 'out of date slang' stuff used well for comedy by teachers and preachers both

Memento Mori

Nothing like seeing a horrified girl in the in crowd look at her history teacher and say 'Please don't say 'Fab' again. I'll study, I promise"

Liberal in politics, stuffy in practice.

oh yes. I've used "on fleek" to great effect

"I'm being mad serious about this grammar, yo." "Miss....no."