I switched on the TV while I was cooking today and came across some hymn singing. It was interesting – it seemed to be more of a concert than a congregational event.
I remember seeing the NOS from Sheffield once, and that certainly was a performance.
It got me wondering a little bit about what church is about and why people attend. Somebody sent me an article today about the demand for church opening sooner rather than later. One of the statements in it really concerned me “75% of clergy and church officials said the closing of the places of worship during lockdown has had a negative effect on the local community” and then there is a comment about churches being “places of prayer”.
I do take this with a pinch of salt, because it is newspaper speak (on the truth scale I put that somewhere beyond a lie). But it does make me wonder what sort of religions are floating around this country. Do we really worship brick and mortar to that extent? Do we believe there are magic spells on them? Do we really promote the idea that you can only meet God there?
It took me down the road of wondering what church was to me. Why do we go there? Today our church had a 30 minute service and a one hour coffee get together. Rather than the building-normal 60 minute service and 30 minute coffee. To me the church is not closed, the church is being restored to something more relevant.
I almost felt like making a notice to go round and stick on church doors saying “God does not live here”. And now an apology – sorry if you don’t like country music, but this song came to mind.
And now back to my road trip from 2016, day 5. Four years ago today I drove from Idaho Falls to a small town called Ten Sleep.
This route passes through Yellowstone, and that was what it was intended to see. What I didn’t realise was just how stunning the road would be – passing through a park called “Grand Teton”.
The scenery is stunning. This is one of the odd things I found about America. Just like the falls at Twin Falls are hard to find there are so many amazing places that get so little mention. In Yellowstone there is one really famous place to visit – Old Faithful.
It seems that this is the place everybody goes to. I decided not to stay around too long and discovered that there were so many other areas of Yellowstone to see and there were a lot less people around them.
At Grand Teton and Yellowstone (not Old Faithful) I spent hours looking at stunning scenery. Eventually I drove on to Ten Sleep (apparently named as a point ten sleeps away from the destination – i.e. 10 days walk). On the way there I passed another really interesting place not on any tour guide – a sort of graveyard for fire-fighting aircraft. Although it was closed I was able to walk round the fence and see a lot of interesting old aircraft.
The motel was really interesting. It was run from a different state. I was sent an access code before I got there that would open my room door. There was an “Office” but that was just the place the cleaner kept their stuff.
I popped over the road to the saloon for an evening meal. Yes this was the old america. The walls of the saloon were plastered with marks from the local cattle ranches – their brands. And there on the wall were two six shooters with the sign saying “We don’t dial 911”. Maybe the guns were just for show – but I believed the sign.
It was a lovely town, but you could see it was struggling – businesses were dying. This was one of the days that made me realise how likely a Trump victory was. There was no doubt in my mind that there were good people trying to chase the american dream, but the class divisions had separated people so much, the middle class were fighting for their survival and a lot were drowning.
Just look at the suicide rate to see it – two thirds of gun deaths are suicides – it makes mass shooting seem smaller. I never argue mass shootings as the reason for gun control – I always point to the gun suicide rate.
Personally I could have spent a long time in a place like this – it felt so honest. The people felt so genuine. I made a note that the people in the saloon were friendly and chatted to me while I was there. If you visit Yellowstone this is a place worth a stay, especially for the coffee (but that is tomorrow).
