The Only One Who Could Ever Reach Me Was The Son Of A Preacher Man

I don't think Protestants have bishops and arch-bishops. So it might be more of a "Nearer My God To Thee" thingy.
I don't know that much about the governing body of UCC. That's the problem with Episco-Prots, in general. Lost between two similar, but very different, forms of faith!

Discussions of hymns are sort of de rigeur in my family. It can be very off putting to an interloper. Singing the doxology, in three or four part harmony, is expected. (or, maybe, graciously encouraged.)

"The Churches One Foundation" was one of my first memorized hymns - and it still haunts me because of the marriage part. I get it now, but at the time I could not figure out how Jesus got married and died for his bride. Mary confusion! Plot summary please!

I'm a HUGE fan of "Come Labor On".

Hymn recognition happens to me all the time -- some movie character like the cleaning lady will start singing as she works and I'll have "O for a Thousand Tongues to Praise" or "Christ the Lord is Risen Today" stuck in my head for the rest of the flick. I don't mind that much, the old Covenant & Methodist hymnals have such rich arrangements. New ones are almost always stripped down and musically poorer, which is frustrating.

Laurel - did you grow up in a Covenant church?

I did!

I went to CHIC twice and everything.

omg. i was at chic 1980 when i was one week old.

Hah! I went in '91 and '94 (as CHIC-plus). Where are you from?

haha. my dad is a cov. pastor. he's been at every chic since 1980. if you went to "swim-in theatre" or "block party" at either of those, you have his genius to thank.

he was a pastor in kansas and mass. when i was younger, but we moved to AZ 15 years ago and he's still a pastor there.

i graduated from NPU and everything.

where did you grow up?

West Michigan, town of Whitehall. I went to CHIC with Forest Park, though, cos they were bigger than us and could rent buses and plan bike trips and everything (I was in a group that biked from mid-Michigan to Bloomington, IN in '91!). And oh fuck yeah, the "block party". This is hi-larious.

BUT THEN I SPOILED IT ALL BY GOING TO CALVIN COLLEGE OMG.

jesus forgives you, laurel.

I have so many pictures from both trips! Somewhere. But no scanner.

Jesus better fucking forgive me, I lived on a dry campus with opposite-sex visiting hours for two years and took the theology requirement. If Protestants believed in Purgatory, I'd have it out of the way already.

i'm a bit younger. i did chic 97 and was on staff (at the skatepark) in 00 and 03.

Were they both in Ft Collins? Or where? CHIC+ was technically sold to us as "staffy" but when we got there we didn't have anything extra to do that I can recall. I'm not sure why they went back on the idea that you're only supposed to go once, unless it was just the popularity of the event. We DID get to stay in really nice hotel rooms, though, because they ran out of on-campus housing.

I snuck onto your thread under cover of night, though -- I am not a PK of any stripe.

i went to chic at ft collins but the two i worked on as staff were in Knoxville.

i think that chic plus thing only lasted one year.

i was going to go back and work the skatepark with my dad this past summer but moving out here got in the way.

the big scandal in 03 was that they were going to change the name starting in 06 but i think they got talked out of it. one of the main reasons: at the time, chic.com was registered as a porn site. i'm not sure why they ended up keeping it.

It's kind of adorable that they opened a skatepark at some point. When I was going the skaters were still the bad boys, and were going out at night to grind curbs an' shit.

it was my mom's pet project for four straight chics! they call her the skatepark lady.

also, getting back on topic: my mom plays drums in the church band.

but i miss the organ n' hymn church music of my youth. all this praise chorus, read the power-point screen shlock doesn't do anything for me. (though i still enjoy hearing my mother play the drums).

I agree, my parents went to a church called "Celebration" for a while, in a converted elementary school, and I hate that powerpoint schtick more than I can express at this hour (and on wine). Praise choruses are for Portage Lake Covenant Bible Camp and campfires on hiking trips AND THEY SHOUDL STAY THERE.

portage lake is on the list of covenant camps i have not been to. i've been to about half though.

More hymns please.
i recall some warbling of "Onward Christian Soldiers" during the UCC years.

My mum just sent me this:

Garrison Keillor on Episcopalians
(Adapted from an essay by Garrison Keillor)

We make fun of Episcopalians for their blandness, their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense, their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings like them. If you were to ask an audience in Des Moines, a relatively Episcopalianless place, to sing along on the chorus of "Michael Row the Boat Ashore," they will look daggers at you as if you had asked them to strip to their underwear. But if you do this among Episcopalians, they'd smile and row that boat ashore and up on the beach! ....And down the road!

Many Episcopalians are bred from childhood to sing in four-part harmony, a talent that comes from sitting on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting your little head against that person's rib cage. It's natural for Episcopalians to sing in harmony. We are too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in unison.

When you're singing in the key of C and you slide into the A7th and D7th chords, all two hundred of you, it's an emotionally fulfilling moment. By our joining in harmony, we somehow promise that we will not forsake each other.

I do believe this, people: Episcopalians, who love to sing in four-part harmony are the sort of people you could call up when you're in deep distress. If you are dying, they will comfort you. If you are lonely, they'll talk to you. And if you are hungry, they'll give you tuna salad!

Episcopalians believe in prayer, but would practically die if asked to pray out loud. Episcopalians like to sing, except when confronted with a new hymn or a hymn with more than four stanzas.

Episcopalians believe their rectors will visit them in the hospital, even if they don't notify them that they are there.

Episcopalians usually follow the official liturgy and will feel it is their way of suffering for their sins.

Episcopalians believe in miracles and even expect miracles, especially during their stewardship visitation programs or when passing the plate.

Episcopalians feel that applauding for their children's choirs will not make the kids too proud and conceited.

Episcopalians think that the Bible forbids them from crossing the aisle while passing the peace.

Episcopalians drink coffee as if it were the Third Sacrament.

Episcopalians feel guilty for not staying to clean up after their own wedding reception in the Fellowship Hall.

Episcopalians are willing to pay up to one dollar for a meal at church.

Episcopalians still serve Jell-O in the proper liturgical color of the season and Episcopalians believe that it is OK to poke fun at themselves and never take themselves too seriously.

And finally, you know you are an Episcopalian when:
-It's 100 degrees, with 90% humidity, and you still have coffee after the service.
-You hear something really funny during the sermon and smile as loudly as you can.
-Donuts are a line item in the church budget, just like coffee.
-When you watch a Star Wars movie and they say, "May the Force be with you," and you respond, "and also with you."
-And lastly, it takes ten minutes to say good-bye . . . .

(I didn't just have the urge to say "...and also with you" but to sing it. In four-part harmony.

I think the weird part for ministers kids is growing up in a house your family does not own.

A friend of mine was the Lutheran pastor's daughter here (bad grammar, sorry). The biggest wrench for her was them leaving the amazing house they had in the city Centre (opposite the Eye & Ear Hospital) to move home. She had moved out by then but it was definitely Home.

Protestants most definitely do have bishops!!

I think the weird part for ministers kids is growing up in a house your family does not own.

Mister Monkey is a bank manager's son, and they do this too. It does seem strange.

Whoa, this is one I did not know.

http://www.leica-camera.us/assets/media/img9504.jpg

Thread about preacher's kids? Me to thread.

My parents bought a house at age... 45? Because the new church gave them a housing allowance instead of a manse. They're paying the mortgage until they're well old.

What's weird is how my dad treated religion and church as less of a lifestyle and more of a job. Like, we only ever said "grace" when there was company from church, to keep up appearances or something. It really made me realize how church is more of a community thing and less of a god thing (at least, to canajun presbys)