Holy, Holy, Holy
Good morning, y’all. A cloudy day here in the mountains as we wait for the wrath of the latest round of tornadic storms to dump copious amounts of rain upon us. I hope the tornadoes wear themselves out before they get here, they’ve certainly done a bunch of damage to the folks in Texas. Like my sister Charlotte, the tornadoes have set records for the devastation left in their wake. Maybe the folks in Texas will be forced to use their pocket change to repair tornado damage rather than finance political campaigns. It’s a hope.
Speaking of hope, I did wind up cleaning out the compost bin yesterday and taking the organic waste and spreading it about the various flower beds here at TackyToo. My giant hope is that I can bring my irises back from the dead after the Reverend Bread’s urchins stomped them flat. As I was spreading the compost, I took the time to offer up a silent invocation to Mother Nature, The Great Spirit, and The Eternal Now to bring back my beloved flowers and to grant them protection in the future from harm. Since my “awakening”, I’ve always felt like these little silent entreaties, or prayers as some people call them, are just like talking to myself. I don’t know if they help, but like they say, “couldn’t hurt”.
Keeping with the spiritual theme, I was able to watch the first ever live broadcast from The Full Gospel Original Church of God today. Let me say that all of the comparisons of the Reverend Helen Handbasket to Carrie’s mom in the movie in “Carrie” are not unfounded. Even viewing from our trailer on the little RCA TV, the Reverend Handbasket grabs your attention and keeps it. Even before she gets to the altar call and the grand finale, the Reverend Handbasket infuses into the congregation, and now the folks watching at home, a sense of other-worldly presence that I have not seen before.
Now, I know old Oral told everyone he had seen a 900 foot Jesus, but I when I saw the broadcast I thought Oral had just gone off his nut on national television. The Reverend Handbasket seems to be “connected” to some other plane of spirituality. It will obviously require further analysis to see if I can determine what that special connection is.
I know some of it is presentation. The red hair, the white flowing robes, the dancer like moves on the stage and the voice as strong and confident as any man’s. The thing is, I’m not sure presentation can make folks want to get up out of the pews and come forward to participate. I mean, the NFL puts on a pretty good show, but how many of us would come down out of the stands to take our chances on the field?
The Full Gospel Original Church of God has got folks jumping and jiving even before the altar call. After the Reverend Handbasket makes the altar call there’s just a few folks left in the pews. It is a sight I have never seen before. Even after the snakes are brought out, the crowd stays on their feet dancing to the music of the choir and the rhythm of the Reverend Handbasket wrangling the serpents. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a crowd of folks as caught up “in the moment” before. What’s really strange is that the experience transcends the airwaves and the whole program is very impactful to the home viewer.
It looks to me like Channel 99 in Blairsville has got itself a hit.