Why I love being Lutheran!

I found this in our church news letter. Roger and I are big fans of Garrison, an NPR regular. And what he has said is so true. My mom's family loves to sing, we do it at every holiday. Christmas is my favorite church holiday because of the music. Thank you, Garrison, for putting how I feel into words.

SINGING WITH THE LUTHERANS
by Garrison Keillor
I have made fun of Lutherans for years - who
wouldn't, if you lived in Minnesota ? But I have
also sung with Lutherans and that is one of the
main joys of life, along with hot baths and fresh
sweet corn.
We make fun of Lutherans for their blandness,
their excessive calm, their fear of giving offense,
their lack of speed and also for their secret fondness
for macaroni and cheese. But nobody sings
like they do.
If you ask an audience in New York City, a relatively
Lutheran-less place, to sing along on the
chorus of 'Michael Row the Boat Ashore', they
will look daggers at you as if you had asked them
to strip to their underwear. But if you do this
among Lutherans they'll smile and row that boat
ashore and up on the beach! And down the road!
Lutherans are bred from childhood to sing in fourpart
harmony. It's a talent that comes from sitting
on the lap of someone singing alto or tenor or
bass and hearing the harmonic intervals by putting
your little head against that person's rib cage. It's
natural for Lutherans to sing in harmony. We're
too modest to be soloists, too worldly to sing in
unison. When you're singing in the key of C and
you slide into the A7th and D7th chords, all two
hundred of you, it's an emotionally fulfilling moment.
I once sang the bass line of Children of the Heavenly
Father in a room with about three thousand
Lutherans in it; and when we finished, we all had
tears in our eyes, partly from the promise that
God will not forsake us, partly from the proximity
of all those lovely voices By our joining in harmony,
we somehow promise that we will not forsake
each other.
I do believe this: These Lutherans are the sort of
people you could call up when you're in deep distress.
If you're dying, they'll comfort you. If
you're lonely, they'll talk to you. And if you're
hungry, they'll give you tuna salad!