Turning Twelve

[donbosco]

You track in on a lot of things from your childhood as being a certain way or just not being right. A PB&J sandwich for me is made with apple jelly and apple jelly only. The theme song to Carolina Basketball will forever be Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” because it was the intro music for ‘The Dean Smith Show.’

(Listen here:

)

Burgess Meredith IS ‘The Penguin!’ You get the idea. Kid Things Stick.

Hymns are like that for me. I’m not a church-goer at present but the Bible and Biblical teachings inspire me. I consult ‘The Good Book’ often. I’m still a “registered Southern Baptist” but the ways of that congregation turned me out decades ago. Bless their hearts. Fifteen years teaching at a Quaker school had an influence on how I deliberate - for good and ill. That path is probably most dear to my heart.

But “The Baptist Hymnal” is where the songs of spirituality that stir my soul can be found. In the summer of 1970 during the intensity of my home church’s Revival Week I ‘went down to the front’ to testify away my sinfulness, ask to be cleansed, and to become a Baptist. “The Nail-Scarred Hand” was the song that played at that youthful Moment of Decision (https://youtu.be/GW7GnYNl908?si=OW7NFUZ3xTrat0cn).

Of course those times were filled with deep emotion - twelve years old was the age at which boy Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover and amazed the theologians so that was a ‘coming of age’ time, especially in the rural Tar Heel churches of my youth. The pressure to make “The Walk” was on that summer for me. The songs, which I sang fervently and whose words I took very much to heart were as important as the admonitions of an Eternity in Hell. That summer I also got my first gun, a .410 single-shot. Being a Man couldn’t be far off.

One of my favorite hymns was, at least as I remember it, also the best-loved of my Grandmother Dilly Womble — “The Church in The Wildwood.” I remember her playing it on the piano, quietly singing. It’s a bit secular sounding in that there’s no finger-pointing nor portent of eternal suffering for the wayward so it makes me smile to think of it making her happy. I think there was a little honky tonk in her anyway.

There’s an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” where Andy and Barney are porch-sitting of a Sunday evening, all while car-stranded city-slicker out of Charlotte Mr. Malcolm Tucker paces about and frets about the work and the money he’s missing while Goober and Gomer work on his downed vehicle. Andy is strumming his guitar and slowly and quite beautifully slides into a rendition of “Church in The Wildwood.” Barney joins in and a little Mayberry Miracle transpires.



Dolly does it wonderfully here too:



Below is a link to Ole Ange singing a bunch of those “Baptist Hymnal” selections. He must have grown up a Southern Baptist too.



Andy hymns: https://youtube.com/playlist...

 

[Zoo_View]

You track in on a lot of things from your childhood as being a certain way or just not being right. A PB&J sandwich for me is made with apple jelly and apple jelly only. The theme song to Carolina Basketball will forever be Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” because it was the intro music for ‘The Dean Smith Show.’

(Listen here:

)

Burgess Meredith IS ‘The Penguin!’ You get the idea. Kid Things Stick.

Hymns are like that for me. I’m not a church-goer at present but the Bible and Biblical teachings inspire me. I consult ‘The Good Book’ often. I’m still a “registered Southern Baptist” but the ways of that congregation turned me out decades ago. Bless their hearts. Fifteen years teaching at a Quaker school had an influence on how I deliberate - for good and ill. That path is probably most dear to my heart.

But “The Baptist Hymnal” is where the songs of spirituality that stir my soul can be found. In the summer of 1970 during the intensity of my home church’s Revival Week I ‘went down to the front’ to testify away my sinfulness, ask to be cleansed, and to become a Baptist. “The Nail-Scarred Hand” was the song that played at that youthful Moment of Decision (https://youtu.be/GW7GnYNl908?si=OW7NFUZ3xTrat0cn).

Of course those times were filled with deep emotion - twelve years old was the age at which boy Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover and amazed the theologians so that was a ‘coming of age’ time, especially in the rural Tar Heel churches of my youth. The pressure to make “The Walk” was on that summer for me. The songs, which I sang fervently and whose words I took very much to heart were as important as the admonitions of an Eternity in Hell. That summer I also got my first gun, a .410 single-shot. Being a Man couldn’t be far off.

One of my favorite hymns was, at least as I remember it, also the best-loved of my Grandmother Dilly Womble — “The Church in The Wildwood.” I remember her playing it on the piano, quietly singing. It’s a bit secular sounding in that there’s no finger-pointing nor portent of eternal suffering for the wayward so it makes me smile to think of it making her happy. I think there was a little honky tonk in her anyway.

There’s an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” where Andy and Barney are porch-sitting of a Sunday evening, all while car-stranded city-slicker out of Charlotte Mr. Malcolm Tucker paces about and frets about the work and the money he’s missing while Goober and Gomer work on his downed vehicle. Andy is strumming his guitar and slowly and quite beautifully slides into a rendition of “Church in The Wildwood.” Barney joins in and a little Mayberry Miracle transpires.



Dolly does it wonderfully here too:



Below is a link to Ole Ange singing a bunch of those “Baptist Hymnal” selections. He must have grown up a Southern Baptist too.



Andy hymns: https://youtube.com/playlist...

db,

I appreciate these “historical” posts of yours.

I grew up in Chapel Hill; I KNOW that’s not “The South.” Especially since we were “The Gown” and not “The Town” part of Chapel Hill and my parents were not churchgoers.

I didn’t do anything on Sunday mornings but sleep and play…..IIRC, no or few cartoons on Sunday mornings on Channels 3, 5, 8, 11, and that staticky-filled 28.

At least until I was 14-15……then we gained a swim coach who wanted us to go from 6 days a week to seven……I was the antithesis to Allen Iverson - I LOVED practice!

7:30 - 10:30 Sunday mornings…...I could just make it on my bike from the Kessing Pool to Ye Olde Waffle Shop (or was it Shoppe?) before all the churches let out……two pancakes and an omelette! Then, a bike ride home…..to sleep!

 

[donbosco]

Shoppe it was I b’lee.

 

[Patb78]

You track in on a lot of things from your childhood as being a certain way or just not being right. A PB&J sandwich for me is made with apple jelly and apple jelly only. The theme song to Carolina Basketball will forever be Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” because it was the intro music for ‘The Dean Smith Show.’

(Listen here:

)

Burgess Meredith IS ‘The Penguin!’ You get the idea. Kid Things Stick.

Hymns are like that for me. I’m not a church-goer at present but the Bible and Biblical teachings inspire me. I consult ‘The Good Book’ often. I’m still a “registered Southern Baptist” but the ways of that congregation turned me out decades ago. Bless their hearts. Fifteen years teaching at a Quaker school had an influence on how I deliberate - for good and ill. That path is probably most dear to my heart.

But “The Baptist Hymnal” is where the songs of spirituality that stir my soul can be found. In the summer of 1970 during the intensity of my home church’s Revival Week I ‘went down to the front’ to testify away my sinfulness, ask to be cleansed, and to become a Baptist. “The Nail-Scarred Hand” was the song that played at that youthful Moment of Decision (https://youtu.be/GW7GnYNl908?si=OW7NFUZ3xTrat0cn).

Of course those times were filled with deep emotion - twelve years old was the age at which boy Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover and amazed the theologians so that was a ‘coming of age’ time, especially in the rural Tar Heel churches of my youth. The pressure to make “The Walk” was on that summer for me. The songs, which I sang fervently and whose words I took very much to heart were as important as the admonitions of an Eternity in Hell. That summer I also got my first gun, a .410 single-shot. Being a Man couldn’t be far off.

One of my favorite hymns was, at least as I remember it, also the best-loved of my Grandmother Dilly Womble — “The Church in The Wildwood.” I remember her playing it on the piano, quietly singing. It’s a bit secular sounding in that there’s no finger-pointing nor portent of eternal suffering for the wayward so it makes me smile to think of it making her happy. I think there was a little honky tonk in her anyway.

There’s an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” where Andy and Barney are porch-sitting of a Sunday evening, all while car-stranded city-slicker out of Charlotte Mr. Malcolm Tucker paces about and frets about the work and the money he’s missing while Goober and Gomer work on his downed vehicle. Andy is strumming his guitar and slowly and quite beautifully slides into a rendition of “Church in The Wildwood.” Barney joins in and a little Mayberry Miracle transpires.



Dolly does it wonderfully here too:



Below is a link to Ole Ange singing a bunch of those “Baptist Hymnal” selections. He must have grown up a Southern Baptist too.



Andy hymns: https://youtube.com/playlist...

Another great post Don. My grandfather was preacher at a Baptist Church in Anderson, SC for 44 years. While I didn’t grow up in Anderson, we visited quite often. I can still see my grandfather preaching. He didn’t stand behind the pulpit, but roamed the stage like a caged tiger. I can also hear the woman who played the piano playing those old gospel hymns. His favorite hymn was Amazing Grace. It was part of the service at our Methodist church this past Sunday. Singing it brought a tear to my eye as we sang it. When you listed “Church in the Wildwood” I thought of that episode of Andy before I got to you mentioned it.
Thanks for the post. It brought back memories of my grandfather.

 

[lawtig02]

You track in on a lot of things from your childhood as being a certain way or just not being right. A PB&J sandwich for me is made with apple jelly and apple jelly only. The theme song to Carolina Basketball will forever be Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” because it was the intro music for ‘The Dean Smith Show.’

(Listen here:

)

Burgess Meredith IS ‘The Penguin!’ You get the idea. Kid Things Stick.

Hymns are like that for me. I’m not a church-goer at present but the Bible and Biblical teachings inspire me. I consult ‘The Good Book’ often. I’m still a “registered Southern Baptist” but the ways of that congregation turned me out decades ago. Bless their hearts. Fifteen years teaching at a Quaker school had an influence on how I deliberate - for good and ill. That path is probably most dear to my heart.

But “The Baptist Hymnal” is where the songs of spirituality that stir my soul can be found. In the summer of 1970 during the intensity of my home church’s Revival Week I ‘went down to the front’ to testify away my sinfulness, ask to be cleansed, and to become a Baptist. “The Nail-Scarred Hand” was the song that played at that youthful Moment of Decision (https://youtu.be/GW7GnYNl908?si=OW7NFUZ3xTrat0cn).

Of course those times were filled with deep emotion - twelve years old was the age at which boy Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover and amazed the theologians so that was a ‘coming of age’ time, especially in the rural Tar Heel churches of my youth. The pressure to make “The Walk” was on that summer for me. The songs, which I sang fervently and whose words I took very much to heart were as important as the admonitions of an Eternity in Hell. That summer I also got my first gun, a .410 single-shot. Being a Man couldn’t be far off.

One of my favorite hymns was, at least as I remember it, also the best-loved of my Grandmother Dilly Womble — “The Church in The Wildwood.” I remember her playing it on the piano, quietly singing. It’s a bit secular sounding in that there’s no finger-pointing nor portent of eternal suffering for the wayward so it makes me smile to think of it making her happy. I think there was a little honky tonk in her anyway.

There’s an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” where Andy and Barney are porch-sitting of a Sunday evening, all while car-stranded city-slicker out of Charlotte Mr. Malcolm Tucker paces about and frets about the work and the money he’s missing while Goober and Gomer work on his downed vehicle. Andy is strumming his guitar and slowly and quite beautifully slides into a rendition of “Church in The Wildwood.” Barney joins in and a little Mayberry Miracle transpires.



Dolly does it wonderfully here too:



Below is a link to Ole Ange singing a bunch of those “Baptist Hymnal” selections. He must have grown up a Southern Baptist too.



Andy hymns: https://youtube.com/playlist...

I have one of those sitting on the shelf in my office. Although I moved far, far away from my evangelical upbringing years ago, I still return to that hymnal for comfort from time to time. It's a visceral experience and I don't ever want to lose the potential in that.

 

[TigerBTM]

You track in on a lot of things from your childhood as being a certain way or just not being right. A PB&J sandwich for me is made with apple jelly and apple jelly only. The theme song to Carolina Basketball will forever be Mason Williams’ “Classical Gas” because it was the intro music for ‘The Dean Smith Show.’

(Listen here:

)

Burgess Meredith IS ‘The Penguin!’ You get the idea. Kid Things Stick.

Hymns are like that for me. I’m not a church-goer at present but the Bible and Biblical teachings inspire me. I consult ‘The Good Book’ often. I’m still a “registered Southern Baptist” but the ways of that congregation turned me out decades ago. Bless their hearts. Fifteen years teaching at a Quaker school had an influence on how I deliberate - for good and ill. That path is probably most dear to my heart.

But “The Baptist Hymnal” is where the songs of spirituality that stir my soul can be found. In the summer of 1970 during the intensity of my home church’s Revival Week I ‘went down to the front’ to testify away my sinfulness, ask to be cleansed, and to become a Baptist. “The Nail-Scarred Hand” was the song that played at that youthful Moment of Decision (https://youtu.be/GW7GnYNl908?si=OW7NFUZ3xTrat0cn).

Of course those times were filled with deep emotion - twelve years old was the age at which boy Jesus went to Jerusalem for Passover and amazed the theologians so that was a ‘coming of age’ time, especially in the rural Tar Heel churches of my youth. The pressure to make “The Walk” was on that summer for me. The songs, which I sang fervently and whose words I took very much to heart were as important as the admonitions of an Eternity in Hell. That summer I also got my first gun, a .410 single-shot. Being a Man couldn’t be far off.

One of my favorite hymns was, at least as I remember it, also the best-loved of my Grandmother Dilly Womble — “The Church in The Wildwood.” I remember her playing it on the piano, quietly singing. It’s a bit secular sounding in that there’s no finger-pointing nor portent of eternal suffering for the wayward so it makes me smile to think of it making her happy. I think there was a little honky tonk in her anyway.

There’s an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” where Andy and Barney are porch-sitting of a Sunday evening, all while car-stranded city-slicker out of Charlotte Mr. Malcolm Tucker paces about and frets about the work and the money he’s missing while Goober and Gomer work on his downed vehicle. Andy is strumming his guitar and slowly and quite beautifully slides into a rendition of “Church in The Wildwood.” Barney joins in and a little Mayberry Miracle transpires.



Dolly does it wonderfully here too:



Below is a link to Ole Ange singing a bunch of those “Baptist Hymnal” selections. He must have grown up a Southern Baptist too.



Andy hymns: https://youtube.com/playlist...

Thanks for that! Some of my fondest childhood memories are Sundays spent going to a little country Presbyterian Church. My GF was one of the founders and was Elder Emeritus, so there was no skipping church! After church was dinner (as we called the noon meal) at my grandparents, play with cousins I only saw once a week, and then back to my grandparents house for leftovers in the evening…chasing lightning bugs on the walk home on a dirt road after…good times.

Anyway, my dad sang bass in the choir and this was one of his favorite songs…can still hear his deep rich voice singing the ‘come, come, come…’ part.

 

[finesse]

Spent a lot of time with the Baptist Hymnal. My stepfather preached 5 different churches while I was still at home. Especially for holidays and such, there was a certain amount of recycling. Since there were complaints when I fell asleep and snored, I spent a lot of sermon time either reading the Bible or the Baptist Hymnal. I've forgotten all of it ( The Bible stuck better. Other than parts of Numbers, there was a bit of a theme.) but I did know who wrote the most songs, who composed the most music, the oldest, the newest, etc.

 

[hedge]

Anyway, my dad sang bass in the choir

 

[mpaer]

Church music is wonderful...On the other hand.....the worse memory I have of a church was a funeral at a Black Baptist Church-I think it was Terrels Creek (?)
So a 10 yr old boy-great grandson maybe of the deceased-sung a very long sad tune He was cying, bawling the whole time

 

[dukeman92]

Thanks for that! Some of my fondest childhood memories are Sundays spent going to a little country Presbyterian Church. My GF was one of the founders and was Elder Emeritus, so there was no skipping church! After church was dinner (as we called the noon meal) at my grandparents, play with cousins I only saw once a week, and then back to my grandparents house for leftovers in the evening…chasing lightning bugs on the walk home on a dirt road after…good times.

We did the same. There was always a rush home to watch the race. And gnashing of teeth when the Preacher got too long winded.

 

[donbosco]

Can't believe no one has commented on "Classical Gas!"

 

[finesse]

Can't believe no one has commented on "Classical Gas!"

I had that once. It was embarrassing.

 

[05C40]

In the Methodist Church I grew up in, the sanctuary was divided into two parts --a larger main part and a smaller side part. The parts separated by two roll up partitions. For Easter, Christmas, Revivals, and Homecomings, the partitions would be raised in anticipation of a big crowd. And on rare occasions, the partitions would be raised if an extra big crowd came on a regular Sunday. In the 1960's, we had a pastor named, appropriately enough, Christian White. Pastor White had received the call to be a preacher somewhat later in life than most. And the first part of his career had been as a vegetable farmer under contract to the Campbell Soup Company. And he was a GREAT preacher, somehow finding a way to reach out to everyone and everyone thinking he was talking to them, understanding their problems, and offering a solution. As this was a rural community, we were surrounded by a LOT of farms and farmers.

And these farmers, who at the time were not particularly the church-going types, eventually heard about the Cracker Jack preacher we had, who had previously been a FARMER! Well, that pulled them in for a look and a listen. And once they participated in the Pastor White Experience, they came back for more. And this occasioned the need to roll up the partitions fairly regularly, even on otherwise uneventful Sundays. At the time, it was rare for Methodist preachers to spend longer than four years in any single posting. And given the reputation Pastor White had developed at our church, he was headed to bigger, better, and greener pastures than our small church offered after four years. And the frequency of rolling up the partitions reverted back to the pre-Pastor White days. But even post-Pastor White, occasionally a buzz would develop about a preacher and occasionally we would have to roll-up the partitions to accommodate the crowd. My father would exclaim in response to such happenings, "Shades of Christian White!"

Side Note: While Pastor White did not baptize me, he was the preacher and taught the classes that were a pre-requisite to joining the church when I was 12. So, is this enough of a connection to the thread title/topic to bring this post within its scope?

 

[05C40]

Can't believe no one has commented on "Classical Gas!"

I particular like Mark Bodino's version, which is an acoustic guitar solo version. I am listening to it, via my hearing aids, as I write this.

ETA: In a similar vein, while I really like the original version of "Cliffs of Dover" by Eric Johnson, I really love the Bluegrass version of "Cliffs of Dover" by the Aaron Jaxon Band.