Our RV excursions have taken us all around the Country.....and we tell each other over and over just how fortunate we are to be able to travel like this. Every trip sort of develops a theme of some kind...we’ve counted road kill, names of small roadside cemeteries, town slogans, colors of semi-truck cabs. It’s kind of fun and helps pass the time. (When the kids were little it was always the alphabet game or listing state license plates.)
Driving southeast this winter we noticed, again, all of the churches. Some are very large traditional congregations....others are very small out-of-the-way buildings. It becomes more and more obvious that church life seems to be an important part of community life in this part of the USA. And I am intrigued by the names of the small churches we pass.....and wonder about some of them.
Bible Way Assembly, River of Life Church, Tabernacle of the Holy Apostolic Pentacostal Church, One Family Most Holy Church and Faith Family Mission. And then there was Philadelphia Church of the Nativity, Mt. Olive Primitive Baptist Church, Galactic Primative Mission Church and Full Power Holiness Church. That was just a sampling of the congregations we passed.
Of course we saw Catholic churches and large Baptist churches and I think a few Methodist congregations....I don’t remember seeing any Lutheran or Unitarian signage.
I remember, several years ago, visiting friends who moved from California to Tennessee. One of the first questions their new neighbors asked them had to do with their "faith family"....in other words, what church did they belong to?
I’m not sure I could ever fit into the South.....so many churches, so many names.....all based on one book. And they each interpret that book to fit their beliefs.....beliefs used to justify so many different behaviors and restrictions. So many requirements to meet before their members can enjoy the promised afterlife.
It was sort of an interesting theme for this excursion.
No comments:
Post a Comment