My how times have changed!

My Mother, Phillis, recently revealed a closeted secret. When she was a young girl growing up in Prim, Arkansas, sometimes the family would skip church Sunday nights to watch “Country Hoedown” on TV.

This was no small event. The vibrant, Holiness church they attended was located just down the street, and everybody knew everybody in that tiny town. People would notice. Skipping an evening service could lead to jean-wearing, hair-bobbing and… TV watching!

Televisions were bad news in Prim. My grandparents hid theirs in the closet during the daylight hours. But when the hot Arkansas sun would set, the window blinds would remain closed, the closet door would be swung open and that TV would be switched on. A towel would be placed on the windowsill so the flickering blue sin light of the TV could not be seen by any of the righteous acquaintances that drove past.

Fast forward 66 years or so. Last Monday I watched a recorded live-stream of that same Holiness congregation on my flickering computer monitor. It was their second attempt to reach out to their coronavirus quarantined congregation, and I was cheering them on. The camera seemed bolted to the floor somewhere behind the second pew, and a not quite HD lockdown shot was wide enough to include the drums, piano, pulpit, and altar. But let me tell you, I was proud of them. The power of their devotion still ran through a live wire. The Preacher was on fire and the music, led by my second cousin was soulful. He belted the verses out like time had stood still. In fact, the only thing that seems to have changed was that I was able to watch THEM on my iMac Retina 5K, 27-inch colored sin light!