[Dixielandjazz] Churches & Grey Hair.

[Fr M J (Mike) Logsdon]

>>>I had always gone to very traditional churches and while it's a while
back I
was blown away when I did a concert in one of the new mega churches.  The
sanctuary was a club set up and was absolutely no different from many supper
clubs.  They had tables and chairs and a stage with everything imaginable on
it in the way of sound equipment including a light show.  It was all
controlled from a booth.  If it didn't say church on the outside I wouldn't
have known.<<<

Funny this'd be about volume.  My 78-yr-old mother has definite opinions
about volume, particularly in church.  Hers is not a megachurch, but quite a
few mainline Protestant varieties try to pretend they are.  She is
constantly telling her pastor that if the volume was lower, she just might
"stay for church" (after Sunday School) more often than she does.  The only
reason she's there at all is that she's been a member since 1954.  Come
hell, high water, or pathetic pastoral style, she just ain't leavin'.  Call
it a spiritual social club.

Now, maybe if her church was to contact some local jazz bands to do some
low-key "gospel"-style "concerts", some elderly interest just might be
engendered.  As it is, the silver-haired crowd that "raised" me, is now very
few in number, and, like mom, ain't leaving, just because they ain't.  They
die, of course, which has lessened their numbers over the years, but it's
amazing how many of them are still around.  (They were "old" when I was a
kid.)

Long live Southern Baptist Cussedness!