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). Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Oh! The things you never notice until you actually LIVE in a new place for awhile....
Amen, brother! <grin>
FG
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
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!
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
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*
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
Well I did decide to wait until a few people actually get to know us before flying our rainbow flag.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
There's a flag for gay people? Well! Whadda ya know! Learned something new...
FG
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
(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.)
[ August 30, 2004, 09:01 AM: Message edited by: ElJay ]
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
*sings*
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 by twinky (Member # 693) on :
Earplugs are the light sleeper's best friend. Especially when said light sleeper is attempting to minimize the insidious and subliminal influence of religion. Posted by Toretha (Member # 2233) on :
and if I was a crocodile, I'd thank the lord for my big smile...
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
Thanks dkw, I was wracking my brain trying to remember those lyrics, but I couldn't remember the parts between "choir" and "telephone wire". Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
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. Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
What a way to wake up.
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.
[ August 30, 2004, 09:47 AM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
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.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
The gay flag is a rainbow pattern with a specific color sequence.
I'm sure the colors have a specific meaning, but I'm not that quite so bored as to look them up.
And Karl - be glad you found out now and not while you had company over.
-Trevor
Posted by dkw (Member # 3264) on :
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.
Posted by Noemon (Member # 1115) on :
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 by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Your face as you stepped onto your back porch must've been PRICELESS.
Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
See, and I'm bad, because my first thought was thank god he was wearing pjs! Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
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?)
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
<insert faintly blasphemous comment that was both funny and guilt-inducing>
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Difference between gay guys and straight guys:
Karl thought Evita.
I thought Life of Brian.
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
HAHAHAHAHAHAHA *dies*
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
quote: See, and I'm bad, because my first thought was thank god he was wearing pjs!
I'm sure that thought entered at least a couple of Lutheran minds as well.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
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.
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
at ScottR
Posted by mackillian (Member # 586) on :
Which drawers are we talking about there? o_O
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
quote: but I think we all just like buying underwear for the cute guys on the package
KarlEd
Maybe there should be cute guys on the packages of girl underwear too.
[ August 30, 2004, 12:02 PM: Message edited by: beverly ]
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
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.
Why?
AJ
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Because it's comfortable and stretched in exactly the right places.
Why do women care? Leave our underwear alone!
Dagonee
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
We're after your tattered bathrobes and worn-out slippers too!
You can run, but you can't hide. Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
The latest google ads:
quote: Bahamas Golden Pages View our listings for Lutheran Churches in The Bahamas.
In "Holy War" Read Ch 14 Where Jesus Tells Didymus Thomas (twin) No Second Coming
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
S'why we don't wear the holy underwear when there's a chance of the pants coming off.
Once you've become a couple, all the illusion is gone.
-Trevor
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
But you don't actually *know* if there is a chance of your pants coming off.
What if you guessed wrong?
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
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.
-Trevor
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
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.
AJ
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Then yours is far luckier than I gave him credit for.
-Trevor
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Well he tolerates dog hair well.
Posted by Dagonee (Member # 5818) on :
Lucky? She throws away his favorite underwear.
I'm not even sure being AJ could make up for that.
Dagonee
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
I'm sure she'll keep it brief.
-Trevor
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
The tradeoff is that he actually has Clean Underwear to wear, rather than searching around in the pile for the "Least Used"
AJ
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
I'm sorry, but . . . "ewwww!"
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
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 by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
Saxon, that is *disturbing*!
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
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.
AJ
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
Oh. My. Stars.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
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.
AJ
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
I would far sooner go without than wear dirty underwear. Even inside-out.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
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.
[ August 30, 2004, 02:30 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
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.
----
Edit: Bah! I meant clarify in a SUBSEQUENT post! Not by editing the existing post! That just steals my funny, girl!
[ August 30, 2004, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: TomDavidson ]
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
That darn saxy. And I'm such a good girl.
*with dignity* The behavior I have done was the stockpiling. The STOCKPILING. Not the going-without-underwear. Really. The very idea. I'm completely shocked.
[ August 30, 2004, 02:35 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
Egads! how my thread has degenerated. <shakes head>
Posted by Rita Spankmistress (Member # 3484) on :
Did someone call me?
Spankings for everyone with clean underwear!
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
So, I know that, in general, straight men find the idea of a woman who goes without underwear sexy, and straight women tend to think that the idea of a man who goes without underwear is kind of gross. Karl, do you have any feel for whether or not gay men tend to find underwearless men sexy?
Posted by Sara Sasse (Member # 6804) on :
At this point, I plead the fifth to all and sundry issues raised herein.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
hmm, see, I think the idea of a guy walking around the house in ratty underwear is worse than a guy just walking around with nothing at all on. I think the ratty underwear is actually a pretense so they can feel like nothing is on while pretending to be clothed.
But I could be wrong.
AJ
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
Well, my ex thought it was pretty gross. I don't have a strong feeling either way as long as the guy is clean and not smelly. I don't go without underwear unless I'm going to bed. In my experience gay men's habits and preferences in this area vary widely.
To be frank, I think the straight man's "turn on" in the idea of an underwearless woman is coupled with the idea that she'd probably be wearing a dress, in which case a glimpse or even surreptitious touch might be a possibility, adding to the fantasy. This isn't quite as titillating when you're dealing with pants.
That said, the idea of a burly Scottish man in "just a kilt" can be pretty sexy, for probably the same reason, I imagine.
[ August 30, 2004, 02:59 PM: Message edited by: KarlEd ]
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
When Porter was in college and he ran out of clean underwear, instead of doing laundry, he went out and bought more. This is the man I am married to.
He also wore horribly mismatched socks to our homecoming dance. One was light brown with a pretty pattern, and the other was solid dark. We asked why he did that, and he said, "I really liked this one sock, and I lost the other one."
The story behind the story is that he lost one, then threw away the other in dismay of ever finding it. After doing so, he found the lost one. And he decided, Why the heck do socks have to match anyway?
This is also the man who was so hungry and so lazy at the same time that he ate a bag of ramen noodles. Raw. Well, with the flavor packet sprinkled over the top.
Posted by saxon75 (Member # 4589) on :
quote:This is also the man who was so hungry and so lazy at the same time that he ate a bag of ramen noodles. Raw. Well, with the flavor packet sprinkled over the top.
Hasn't everyone done that?
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Actually, I eat ramen out of the bag as a snack.
The Kroger variant of Ramen is disgusting when applied to hot water. Now, if you find an oriental market and try some of that ramen as soup...yummy!
As for the whole "going commando" thing - never did anything for me. I don't do it because I don't like my better half being in close contact with the cold, rough metal of a zipper.
Wondering if a woman was going commando didn't do anything for me - dunno why.
-Trevor
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Personally I like the ramen noodles better plain when raw, because the flavor packet is too salty.
AJ
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
o_O
I had no idea this eating of raw ramen was common practice. Well I'll be.
Posted by TMedina (Member # 6649) on :
Bev - try finding an oriental market in your neck of the woods.
Sample a packet of asian ramen - you'll never look at standard ramen fare the same way again.
-Trevor
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
When I was a missionary, (on a tight budget) we'd buy packets of ramen noodles, crush them, pour them dry into a skillet and stir in scrambled eggs and the flavor packet and cook until the eggs were done. It was actually pretty decent.
[edit for spelling]
[ August 30, 2004, 03:21 PM: Message edited by: KarlEd ]
Posted by beverly (Member # 6246) on :
On my mission, we made the ramen soup but with egg stirred and cooked in like egg drop soup. Then we ate it over rice. Mmmmmmmm....
Posted by Goody Scrivener (Member # 6742) on :
quote:we made the ramen soup but with egg stirred and cooked in like egg drop soup
my favorite way to eat ramen =) Sometimes I add some leftover chicken cut up in chunks, too.
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KarlEd