posted
As many of you know, I just bought a house in Hanover, PA. I'm right across the street from a Lutheran Church. And by "across the street", I mean "across a one-lane-in-each-direction, no-parking street. I have no lawn on that side of my house, just house/sidewalk/street, but the church has a small side lawn, so it's not quite like they can peer in my windows during service or anything.
On the day I first saw the house, the Lutherans were having a wedding, but in the week I've lived here, I haven't seen much activity there at all. That is, until this Sunday morning. At about 7:30 I was awakened by what I thought was the sound of an electric guitar on an amplifier. I listened, but didn't hear it again so I went back to sleep. A little while later, I heard singing. I thought, Wow those Lutherans must be LOUD for me to hear them that well from across the street.
Not able to get back to sleep, I stumbled out of bed, went to the bathroom, grabbed a bowl of cereal and stepped out onto the upper level of my back porch in my PJs. Suddenly I felt like Evita Peron as I saw, practically below me, a multitude of Lutherans in lawn chairs singing hymns in the Sunday morning dawn!
Luckily only a couple of amused faces were turned in my direction and I was able to backpedal to a less prominent location.
You know those signs many churches have out front that list meeting times or often a quote or something? Well I should have read this one better, but not having a cute pun or witty quote, I had ignored it so far. Apparently this Sunday Morning worship-on-the-lawn happens every Sunday at 8:00 AM (presumably until it gets cold, but I don't know how hard-core Lutherans are.)
At any rate, it wasn't that bad. It was far from a "fire and brimstone" sermon. In fact, many people had brought their pets and during the communion portion the priest blessed the animals. The electric guitar I had heard earlier was accompanied by an electic keyboard, and along with the more typical "Let us all praise Him on High" type songs, were some with lyrics like "If I were an octopus I'd thank the lord for my good looks." and "All God's creatures have a place in the choir" where the congregants were encouraged to replace the words "woof" or "neigh" or "howl" with more authentic sounds as appropriate.
So, it looks like religion is back in my life, at least on warmish Sunday mornings. (Stop laughing katharina). Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Oooooh, we used to sing the octopus one when our whole family gathered at the lake in the summer...
But I probably wouldn't be thrilled about hearing it in my back yard at 8:00 on a Sunday morning. Glad you seem to have a sense of humor about it!
Posts: 7954 | Registered: Mar 2004
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posted
You know, I'm evil. My first thought was that you should put up a sign on your porch, something like, "We gay folk like your purty singin'." *wry laugh*
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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posted
Well I did decide to wait until a few people actually get to know us before flying our rainbow flag.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
(pssst. Most Lutherns are just fine with gay rights. They're not ordaining or marrying yet, but they're talking on both issues. So that would probably only offend them by the spelling.)
All God’s creatures got a place in the choir Some sing low, some sing higher Some sing out LOUD on the telephone wire And some just clap their hands. . . or paws . . . or anything they got now!
posted
Earplugs are the light sleeper's best friend. Especially when said light sleeper is attempting to minimize the insidious and subliminal influence of religion. Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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posted
Thanks dkw, I was wracking my brain trying to remember those lyrics, but I couldn't remember the parts between "choir" and "telephone wire". Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Here’s a linky to the organization within the Lutheran church (ELCA) that’s working on full inclusion of GLBT folks. In case you're interested. Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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I love it. The singing on the lawn sounds wonderful.
I have this tradition - once I got back from my mission, waking up early for Christmas toys wasn't really an issue or option, but I love waking up early on that day. I can't help it - I wake up early anyway. So, every Christmas morning, me and sometimes a brother and sometimes a sweetheart wake up before dawn, go to a park, and sing every carol in the book.
I have never heard those hymns before. I am officially no longer squicked by Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree.
posted
That link was interesting, dkw, thanks. I wonder how that group is perceived by Lutherans as a whole. I couldn't tell. After all, there's a pro-gay-acceptance Mormon group, too, but as far as I've seen they're pretty much looked on as misguided at best by most Mormons.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
Karl, if you click on the RIC link on the main page, you can see a list of the synods and congregations that have declared they are supportive. I'd guess it's much more mainstream than the LDS equivelant group, slightly more than the UMC, but not as much as the UCC.
Posts: 9866 | Registered: Apr 2002
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quote:Suddenly I felt like Evita Peron as I saw, practically below me, a multitude of Lutherans in lawn chairs singing hymns in the Sunday morning dawn!
posted
Actually I was wondering what he defined as pj's. You know if it was just his favorite "holy" pair of boxers or not.
AJ
(QEFTSG aside, Do gay guys actually throw out their holey underwear or do they cling to them with the same amount of unbridled passion that straight guys do?)
Posts: 11265 | Registered: Mar 2002
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posted
Oh, and "PJs" for me is a t-shirt and very loose pajama pants with green dragons all over them.
And to the degree I can speak for "gay guys" in general, we're more inclined to throw away undies at the first sign of fraying. Presumably this is so we always look our best, but I think we all just like buying underwear for the cute guys on the package and we need the room in our drawers.
Posts: 6394 | Registered: Dec 1999
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posted
I wonder why it doesn't it occur to straight guys that girls might not want to look at their worn out underwear?
Instead with a straight guy you have to smuggle his holey underwear out to the trash can in the dead of night, without him suspecting that you've actually abducted it.
In fact, if you live with a geek, you'd have a better chance of actually pitching computer parts than his holey underwear.
posted
Then we'll find out if it's true love or not.
Seriously though, there's always a period of "she doesn't know if we're a slob or not, so we'll do our best to keep her guessing."
Now, once you've slept together, all bets are off.
However, for the record, I do throw away holy underwear and I'm a straight man. Although I have enough failings in other areas that more than compensate.
posted
Nope, mine was always a slob, never even bothered trying to hide it. Though if he actually does feel like cleaning he's far more efficient about it than I am.
posted
A coworker of a friend of mine had an underwear schedule for getting a week's worth of wearing out of one pair of boxers. It went something like this:
Monday: Regular
Tuesday: Inside-out
Wednesday: Right-side-out and backwards
Thursday: Inside-out and backwards
Friday: Sniff check, wear it whichever way stinks least
Saturday: Who wears underwear on Saturday?
Sunday: Laundry day
I'll end with a little Dave Barry:
quote:If Dad told you what he really wanted for Father's Day, you wouldn't give it to him. For example, let's consider the area of clothing. The nicest Father's Day surprise of all would be if you handed him a box, and he unwrapped it, and there, inside, sitting on a bed of folded tissue, was the pair of his undershorts that somebody threw away six months ago (without asking Dad) because they had reached the stage where they were 3 percent undershorts and 97 percent holes. Dad misses those undershorts. They were his Faithful Undershorts Companion.
posted
Yeah, apparently there are some single engineers that work with Steve that are on similar underwear schedules. Though one who now has a girlfriend just got put on a clean underwear regimen, and the rest of the office has noticed he doesn't wear quite as much cologne.
posted
The other option of course (one that I used to subscribe to as a college student) is to stock up so that you have enough underwear and socks that you could survive a nuclear disaster before needing to do laundry.
It was only after that we got a washing machine in our residence that I started pitching his holey underwear, because before that stockpiling was necessary.
posted
Oh, I did that! I have decided that luxury is defined by an overabundance of socks and underwear. There's never too much. At the height, I had enough socks and underwear to last for a month.
posted
Katie, you may want to clarify which option you actually did. I think it's probably obvious, but that won't stop me from deliberately misinterpreting you.
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Edit: Bah! I meant clarify in a SUBSEQUENT post! Not by editing the existing post! That just steals my funny, girl!
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KarlEd
