After living here 6 months, and days after Baby turned 5 months, I finally dragged my "I dont believe in organized religion" husband to church. Episcopal, no less (read: more standing, chanting, singing and ritual than I am used to). And Baby did SO WELL. We were positioned near the door, in case a fast getaway was necessary...but no need. He squirmed for all of 30 seconds (enough to make me plan the exit), and then slept limp in my arms (which I LOVE!) for the entire second half.
Church was fortunately similar to what we knew back home (beyond denominational variations). We were both PRAYING we didnt find ourselves amidst the "overly charismatic." Its the reason you'll probably never see us in the prevailing Baptist churches around here...but everyone here is so religious, we thought even the more formal, dogmatic types (ie.Episcopal) might be heavy with Holy Rollers. Again, no need to worry...he loved the people-watching and loud singing.
The only differences I noticed were an off-handed comment ("we arent simply snobby East-coasters" - ha ha ha! I'll save my thoughts on that for another post) and the prayers for W. I dont think we would have heard either of those in New England, but I could tolerate both. People generally did not get in our faces, respected each others' space more than most other parts of life in Tennessee!
On the way home, we had to stop on a major roadway. ThePeople'sChurch (real name) was getting out. This campus is SO ENORMOUS that they need to use two town policeman to break up the traffic on a major route, so that their congregation can get out of church. I find this remarkable on so many levels (the size of the church campus, the use of town resources, stopping traffic for them). I also think our car was probably the ONLY one to find this odd!
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