Folks

Our youngest lay preacher with 21 years and a “Mr. Grumpy” tee shirt snarling at the TV in German during a moment of fellowship. Chris Ballard, one of our fellow under-forties in our patch, has invited Ryan and me to come over and rock, and we oblige heartily. Tina, his poor mother, can only be perplexed as Chris growls “Du hast!” and the other lines from Rammstein and me Kings of Leon, as Ryan ignites the guitar on Guitar Hero 5. Yet Tina is the most unbothered mom I’ve ever seen when Chris begins to teach us [real] drums—the basic rhythm 4/4 going high-hat/bass, high-hat, high-hat/snare, high-hat—and we are pleasantly surprised by our ability to perhaps-one-day-rock-on-percussion. I think of drums often how I think of tuba, which is fun and an exercise to do by oneself, but can be nails on a chalkboard to mothers; Tina, however, only pokes her head in to find out if Chris were continually belching or, in fact, singing Rammstein, and to tell me I probably shouldn't sing "Sex on Fire" in church on Sunday.

So we don't, and instead I lead the Deepings St. Nick congregation with some folksy arrangements of classic hymns. I have to say, ever since playing "Froggie Went a'Courting" for the Girls Brigade, I've had a fixin' for folk. I've only ever owned an acoustic guitar, and it's relieving to play a style that sounds best that way, since my attempts at emo and metal never quite work out on strings that play "If I Had a Hammer". There's something about seeing the girls' cheeks go smiley and brows furrow with confusion as I relate the tale of Froggie's proposal and subsequent marriage to Miss Mousey, and the disaster that befalls them as the big, black snake--the scalawag--chases everyone away and eats up all the wedding cake. With folk hymns any trace of formality falls away, and the style itself invites folks to sing along and, if I'm lucky, dance around. Perhaps someday I'll rock Nirvana and Skynyrd, but that's for a future stage of life, possibly when I can conscript my wife and kids to play along with me, like the Von Trapp family of death metal.