Country and Western Sunday
One of my favourite blogs on the net asked for guest posts. I wrote one, but doubt it will make the cut. So instead of it going to waste in my sent folder, I’m posting here.
Country and Western Sunday – The Themed Sunday to rule them all.
In the general course of the church calendar year, there are many themed services. There is the not so obvious one that some people like to call “Christmas” or as I prefer “Xmas”. If you’re a trivia nerd like I am and know that X is actually the Greek symbol for Jesus, then you saw what I just did there. There is also that other one that falls around spring time and involves a big ham dinner and copious amounts of chocolate also known to the uninformed as “Easter”. One step up from those two are your B-Level themed Sundays that you only remember exist because the pastor just announced that the children are to walk in with palm branches and your kid is staring up at you and is asking “Daddy, why don’t I get to have a branch like those other kids”. Or, maybe a guest speaker has just started rambling on about tongues of fire coming down on people’s heads as your pew neighbour who doesn’t understand personal space(when he obviously has the whole row free to stretch out) hands you a little headband with a sparkler attached. Unfortunately, this post is about none of those themed services.
Nope, this is about the themed service that crosses the boundaries of time, space, evolution and every good Christian topic in an attempt to outreach to that awesome guitar player that everyone was hoping would join the worship team, or for those neighbours that live next to the church building that you seem to have forgotten existed the other 25 Sundays on the calendar. I’m talking about the super bowl of Sundays, the themed service I’m almost certain is mentioned in Revelations somewhere, the coup de gras, the theme to end all themes.. yup.. you guessed it(or maybe you didn’t).
Country and Western Sunday!
This powerful moving behemoth of an event included everything from being allowed to wear jeans to church to Uncle Joe’s Epic 8 Spice Chili that was famous three states over. The planning that went into bringing this event together would put World Cup organizers to shame. Things had to be mint, top the year before and be the one that would be talked about for years to come. This annual event always had to include the following ingredients, and each year had to be bigger than the year before:
1) Decently obscure Country band with the religious overtoned name(ie. Standing on a Hill, The Alpha Way) that played one song that you might have possibly heard on the radio that one time you switched between the gospel channel and the hot 90s dance mix.
2) 45 kinds of chili and enough biscuits to put Crackle Barrel out of business and so many pies that they had flavours you were positive were just made up the night before.
3) Hay. So much of in fact that there was enough to feed like 70 horses, but instead of being put to good use it was used to build an entire stage for the band. There were also so many left over’s that every person could have a place to sit and feel uncomfortable while the straw poked up through your sweet plaid shirt.
4) The pastor in a tie which was made from an encased dead scorpion, which seemed to increase in size every year.
5) Lastly, the family band. This was the crescendo of the event and a moment of ecstasy for all involved. This was when anyone who could play anything was allowed up on the stage for their one shining moment of annual delight. You had Frank the janitor playing his washboard, the 3 year olds with the egg shakers, the somewhat awkward but cooler than everyone else neighbourhood kid who just learned stairway to heaven jamming on his guitar and Uncle Joe on his spoons, playing amazing grace in some miracle of collaborations that would have put Eminem and Elton John to shame.
Today Country and Western Sunday is no more. It faded into obscurity much like most things from the 90s like overalls, Zach Morris, and TLC. Today, I would love to see the Super Theme Service brought back; maybe some hip mega church can pull of an 80s theme Sunday, or throw a toga party(most churches already have the bath robes from all those plays that needed shepherds), you could even call it Toga Yoga to bring in the LuLu Lemon crowd. Alas, though, it probably won’t happen. I miss that event. Oh how far we have backslid into routine.
What theme Sundays did your church put on that was not part of the normal “Christian” calendar growing up? Does your church do Themed Sundays as a part of outreach(Such as Carnival Sunday, or Church in the Park!)? What is your favourite memory from those time capsules in your head?
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