The first words of his testimony today were \u201cBeen sittin\u2019 on my butt at home for the last six months so I thought I ought to at least give up smoking.\u201d He said he hadn\u2019t been at church during that time like he ought to, \u201cprolly because the fish were biting and the ducks were flying.\u201d And finally he allowed as how, after fifteen or so years, he\u2019d started to feel like he was finally good enough to join the rest of us.<\/p>\n
Pretty strong stuff, you know?
\n
\nAnd as he continued I thought to myself, \u201cWhy am I almost always impressed by those whose testimonies include some sort of vulgarity or some expression that isn\u2019t quite How. We. Do. It. when we know how it\u2019s supposed to be done.\u201d I\u2019ve seen it before: a former waitress at a truck stop who swore, an early twenty-something male who used an earthy expression, or something along those lines. Children tend to employ unusual constructions, as well, but although they sometimes amuse me they don\u2019t strike me the way these adults do.<\/p>\n
Maybe it\u2019s just that the non-standard formulations force me to concentrate on what\u2019s really being said instead of listening with only one ear. Maybe their willingness to use those kinds of expression is tickling my Inner Adolescent. Maybe. But my thought right now is that in these testimonies I find people who are for perhaps the first time in their lives coming into contact with the grace that sanctifies us. And it\u2019s so new to them that when their surprise and joy spills out, I can feel it as well, at a level below [above?] the words that convey it.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think I\u2019d want to hear that sort of language all the time in church. But I also don\u2019t think that I\u2019d want to give up the times when I have heard it, either.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The first words of his testimony today were \u201cBeen sittin\u2019 on my butt at home for the last six months so I thought I ought to at least give up smoking.\u201d He said he hadn\u2019t been at church during that time like he ought to, \u201cprolly because the fish were biting and the ducks were […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":457,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marginalia","category-personal-issues"],"yoast_head":"\n