Southern-fried Church

This morning, I sat in a large Southern Baptist church with my family watching my great nephew and his wife stand before the congregation with a group of other parents as they dedicated their children to the Lord. I grew up attending a Southern Baptist church, and as the choir filed in this morning and the music began, I was transported back to my time at Red Bank Baptist Church. I probably don't need to tell you this, but I didn't even make it through the first song before my eyes filled with tears. The whole church experience was almost surreal this morning, sitting between my sister and my friend who drove me here, behind my niece and her husband and their children with their little families. I can't remember the last time we were all together in church ... maybe it was when Mom passed away.

Church is different in the South than it is in the Midwest, not that it's better or worse, just different. People dress up for church in the South ... I saw a middle-aged woman this morning dressed in a black and white suit, black patent leather shoes, black and white snakeskin purse, and a black straw hat with a huge peacock feather tucked into its white band. People say, "Amen!" a lot in church here when they are in agreement with a prayer or something the pastor says in his sermon. People not only raise their hands in worship here, if they are sitting down and are moved by a song, they stand to their feet in praise even if no one else stands with them. Churches here have services that last an hour and a half, and they seem to enjoy being in church that long. Church here in the South is different than it is in the Midwest ... just different.

After church was over, my whole Chattanooga family met for lunch at the restaurant owned by my niece and nephew-in-law to chow down on some old-fashioned Southern cuisine. I've always had a special bond with my sister's only son, Charlie ... a very special bond that goes all the way back to him following me around when he was a little guy begging to go for a ride in my little blue Honda Civic. I hadn't seen him yet since I came to town on Friday night, and when he wrapped his arms around me at the restaurant, I sobbed into his shoulder and tried to tell him how much I miss him. He and his wife and daughter came back to the hotel after lunch so that Caroline could swim with her Aunt Terrie for a while, and then my friend and I had dinner with Charlie and Allison this evening. He and I both teared up as we talked about my dad ... Charlie loved my dad ... a ton ... and he will always have a soft heart when his Grandad's name is mentioned. We laughed as we talked about Mom, and he told me I was like Dustin Hoffman in the movie Rainman ... translated, he got to see me in full-blown storm freakout mode. He's a good man, my nephew ... a man that my dad would have been so very proud of.

Tonight as I walked Ollie around the perimeter of the hotel (because it's raining), my mind was filled with thoughts of church and family and love. Yesterday while my friend took a nap, I spent some time in a Christian bookstore perusing books and listening to music. The store didn't have the book I was looking for, but I purchased a couple of other ones and a new Bible. It's a parallel Bible with two different translations, and last night I stayed up very late reading the book of Ephesians. And this morning as I sat ... well, really it would be more appropriate to say as I squirmed ... in my chair at church, one verse kept coming back to me, partly because of something that struck me about the service this morning, and I'll close this post with that Scripture in a bit. There was a sense of unity in the large congregation, a sense of purpose, a sense of excitement ... a sense that caused emotion to stir within me ... a sense that reminded me how much I miss being an active participant within a body of believers.

Thoughts of church ... thoughts of family ... thoughts of love. I think Southern-fried church was good for me this morning ... good, good indeed.

"You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness." Ephesians 4:4-6 from The Message