Having admitted in hindsight to its weaknesses, I nonetheless opted for what at the time seemed the both logical and practical way of answering “the call” by developing impeccable churchmanship. “As the twig is bent” certainly applied to me as the Methodist church became the center of my worldview. From my earliest to my most recent memories the church is second only to my parents in its influence upon how I perceive and understand what and who I am. Nursery, Sunday school, worship, choir, youth groups, and committees—yes, those notorious Methodist committees—composed the milieu within which I conducted my sacred and secular lifestyle. And what’s more, having sensed “the call” caused me to take all of this quite seriously. I actually found myself paying attention to and thinking about this doctrine to which I was being introduced.
It would be misleading if this in any way causes the reader to think that mine was a saintly childhood and adolescence. Quite to the contrary—as many who are still alive will attest—I was the proverbial pain in the hind. Immersed though I was in the culture of the church, I was also quite aware that it was sometimes at odds with the society in which I was being raised. Not only did I carry the onus of being the Reverend Earl K. Hanna’s son into an outside world where it was only slightly less impressive than in the church, but the feeling that I was somehow different from my peers was compounded by this odd and difficult perception of being called. In retrospect it was, I suppose, schizophrenia of sorts, trying to be one of the kids while simultaneously trying to be obedient to this summons that daily became more real. When I earned my first perfect attendance pin from Sunday school, well…I figured that ordination wasn’t far away.
No comments:
Post a Comment