Chapter Ten---A Bit of History in an Attempt to Understand the Present
In chapter nine I mentioned in passing that we would discuss my transition from the Disciples to the Baptist Church. Chronologically, the shift came in the mid 80s but it might make for better understanding to backtrack a bit and take a look at my religious roots, my birth church, as it were.
I grew up somewhere between a big city and a very rural community, from Dallas to rural Upshur County. Church was a major part of my early life. I mean the going to, participating in and observing church activities and behaviors. My earthly father, the preacher, the farmer, the factory worker, the hospital custodian, and ever the preacher, has certainly been an influence. Sometimes I wonder if that influence has been positive or negative. I sometimes catch myself reacting, even at this late date when we are both at advanced age he is 96 and I going on 70, to the way I perceive him to think and believe.
I too, grew up with some questions about religion--the religion that was preached by the back country evangelists of the 40s in the piney woods of East Texas, as compared to my family's observance of Christmas (gifts sans Jesus) and singing "I'll Fly Away" to the accompaniment of an out-of-tune piano in some church member's homes (not ours, as no one in our family played anything but a radio).
When I stayed at my grandfather's house, most always, we'd listen to KRLD (1080AM--Dallas) for the Stamps Quartet's rousing "Give the World a Smile Each Day" at noon week days while grandma put the lunch on the table. I learned later that Virgil Stamps (founder of what was then Stamps-Baxter Music Co. in Dallas) had grown up in Upshur County. I would now guess that granddaddy probably knew him.
The absolute biggest deal in that community (Shady Grove--where there was a church of Christ church, a store and a one-classroom-school house) was the 4th Sunday in June All-Day-Singing-and-Dinner-on-the-Ground. Actually the dinner was purely pot luck, as every body brought something and spread it on sawhorse and plank tables. It was a wonderful forerunner of the pig-out buffets we have today, except the price of admission was a picnic basket full of fresh fried chicken, homemade biscuits and potato salad.
I remember this vividly, having participated for several of my growing-up years. On that Sunday, we would first go to church and do the regular Sunday school, church service (sans any instrument, of course), have the Lord's Supper, say amen, and go directly to the food tables and have our lunch. Then, when all had eaten, there was a migration to the schoolhouse, whereupon there was an upright piano on the little stage and there was an afternoon of congregational singing, quartets and groups from all over. I even remember that I first learned what Sacred Harp music sounded like at those gatherings. And, of course there also, were the professional quartets, Stamps-Baxter among them. Obviously there were all kinds of religious denominations represented and everybody seemed to have a good time.
As I grew older, it became more difficult to rationalize--even with the solid evidence of two (2) actual Bible verses, in the N. T., that said "sing (and not play)--that a piano, organ or (God Forbid) a guitar would not be OK to sing with in church. A. Campbell had certainly been adamant about not liking any instrument other than the human voice in worship. In reality, in many frontier churches in middle America in the early 1800s, one would not find a piano or a pump organ, but its absence was not so much a matter of doctrine, but a matter of finance, of getting the thing transported to the church house. The Methodists in those years put a church house about every 5 to 10 miles, about the distance a person would be able to travel by horseback or buggy from their farm to go to church. Many of those small community churches are still there and functioning. I served two such Methodist churches as pastor not long ago, here in Harrison County, Texas.
Among churches of Christ, at some point in history, there developed this idea (rather a rationalization, I think) that somehow corporate worship in a house designated as a place for having church services, and only during a specified, set time (by scriptural elders) is actually worship (perhaps with a capital Worship). And, after the final amen and in the home, it is OK to do otherwise and even to enjoy music, even religious music, with an instrument.
So, the instrument thing was an easy transition early on and it was not a big deal to go to the Christian church. The use of candles and responsive readings were a sort of a strange fire at first, but with time, that became no problem at all. In fact, if I go to a service and they don’t sing the Doxology after the offering, I think something is wrong with that bunch.
I must confess that I went somewhat astray, in fact, during the early 1970s. I was searching for something to hang on to, having rejected at the time most of my early theology. Being in college again in my early 30s and the influences present on the campus during those years led me to embrace, albeit temporarily, some ideas that I do not consider healthy today. Anyway, we got more involved with the Christian Church, both in Commerce and after we came to Marshall, but more so in Marshall. And I began to slowly get back to my roots, to take back some of the ideas that I had rejected earlier and I began to take an active role in the Marshall Christian church, even to supplying the pulpit in the Pastor’s absence.
The truth be known, churches change as people come in and people leave and pastors come and go. Maybe I changed too, but it became painfully obvious to us at one point that we were in the wrong church (for us at that time). Looking back, we could have made it work. I think it was the pastor at the time, and pastors come and go. Carolyn was, of course, working for the Baptists at ETBU and had many friends and acquaintances in that fellowship. I was trying to get away from some obviously liberal ideas and taking a more conservative stance in my thinking. There were grandchildren coming on who needed some religious instruction and the Baptists had a very good Sunday school system in place. All of these factors made the Baptist church seem a good choice. We joined, I am guessing, sometime in the middle 1980s.
I grew up somewhere between a big city and a very rural community, from Dallas to rural Upshur County. Church was a major part of my early life. I mean the going to, participating in and observing church activities and behaviors. My earthly father, the preacher, the farmer, the factory worker, the hospital custodian, and ever the preacher, has certainly been an influence. Sometimes I wonder if that influence has been positive or negative. I sometimes catch myself reacting, even at this late date when we are both at advanced age he is 96 and I going on 70, to the way I perceive him to think and believe.
I too, grew up with some questions about religion--the religion that was preached by the back country evangelists of the 40s in the piney woods of East Texas, as compared to my family's observance of Christmas (gifts sans Jesus) and singing "I'll Fly Away" to the accompaniment of an out-of-tune piano in some church member's homes (not ours, as no one in our family played anything but a radio).
When I stayed at my grandfather's house, most always, we'd listen to KRLD (1080AM--Dallas) for the Stamps Quartet's rousing "Give the World a Smile Each Day" at noon week days while grandma put the lunch on the table. I learned later that Virgil Stamps (founder of what was then Stamps-Baxter Music Co. in Dallas) had grown up in Upshur County. I would now guess that granddaddy probably knew him.
The absolute biggest deal in that community (Shady Grove--where there was a church of Christ church, a store and a one-classroom-school house) was the 4th Sunday in June All-Day-Singing-and-Dinner-on-the-Ground. Actually the dinner was purely pot luck, as every body brought something and spread it on sawhorse and plank tables. It was a wonderful forerunner of the pig-out buffets we have today, except the price of admission was a picnic basket full of fresh fried chicken, homemade biscuits and potato salad.
I remember this vividly, having participated for several of my growing-up years. On that Sunday, we would first go to church and do the regular Sunday school, church service (sans any instrument, of course), have the Lord's Supper, say amen, and go directly to the food tables and have our lunch. Then, when all had eaten, there was a migration to the schoolhouse, whereupon there was an upright piano on the little stage and there was an afternoon of congregational singing, quartets and groups from all over. I even remember that I first learned what Sacred Harp music sounded like at those gatherings. And, of course there also, were the professional quartets, Stamps-Baxter among them. Obviously there were all kinds of religious denominations represented and everybody seemed to have a good time.
As I grew older, it became more difficult to rationalize--even with the solid evidence of two (2) actual Bible verses, in the N. T., that said "sing (and not play)--that a piano, organ or (God Forbid) a guitar would not be OK to sing with in church. A. Campbell had certainly been adamant about not liking any instrument other than the human voice in worship. In reality, in many frontier churches in middle America in the early 1800s, one would not find a piano or a pump organ, but its absence was not so much a matter of doctrine, but a matter of finance, of getting the thing transported to the church house. The Methodists in those years put a church house about every 5 to 10 miles, about the distance a person would be able to travel by horseback or buggy from their farm to go to church. Many of those small community churches are still there and functioning. I served two such Methodist churches as pastor not long ago, here in Harrison County, Texas.
Among churches of Christ, at some point in history, there developed this idea (rather a rationalization, I think) that somehow corporate worship in a house designated as a place for having church services, and only during a specified, set time (by scriptural elders) is actually worship (perhaps with a capital Worship). And, after the final amen and in the home, it is OK to do otherwise and even to enjoy music, even religious music, with an instrument.
So, the instrument thing was an easy transition early on and it was not a big deal to go to the Christian church. The use of candles and responsive readings were a sort of a strange fire at first, but with time, that became no problem at all. In fact, if I go to a service and they don’t sing the Doxology after the offering, I think something is wrong with that bunch.
I must confess that I went somewhat astray, in fact, during the early 1970s. I was searching for something to hang on to, having rejected at the time most of my early theology. Being in college again in my early 30s and the influences present on the campus during those years led me to embrace, albeit temporarily, some ideas that I do not consider healthy today. Anyway, we got more involved with the Christian Church, both in Commerce and after we came to Marshall, but more so in Marshall. And I began to slowly get back to my roots, to take back some of the ideas that I had rejected earlier and I began to take an active role in the Marshall Christian church, even to supplying the pulpit in the Pastor’s absence.
The truth be known, churches change as people come in and people leave and pastors come and go. Maybe I changed too, but it became painfully obvious to us at one point that we were in the wrong church (for us at that time). Looking back, we could have made it work. I think it was the pastor at the time, and pastors come and go. Carolyn was, of course, working for the Baptists at ETBU and had many friends and acquaintances in that fellowship. I was trying to get away from some obviously liberal ideas and taking a more conservative stance in my thinking. There were grandchildren coming on who needed some religious instruction and the Baptists had a very good Sunday school system in place. All of these factors made the Baptist church seem a good choice. We joined, I am guessing, sometime in the middle 1980s.
posted by David R. Snow at 1:15 AM
7 comments
