I went to church this morning. It's not something I regularly do anymore. The last time I was in one was almost 2 years ago down in Plains, Ga. Lorri and I along with our friends Jack and Ginger went to see Jimmy Carter teach Sunday School. Today I went to the Edwina Church of God in Jesus Christ's Name in Newport, TN. It is led by Pastor Jimmy Morrow. It's a small church. They believe in the handling of serpents. Jimmy is also a folk artist. The only people present were myself and Lorri, Pastor Morrow and his wife Pam, and the assistant pastor and his family, for a total of about 10 people. Jimmy let me know though that National Geographic was there 3 weeks ago and the Smithsonian Institute had visited recently.
I heard about Jimmy Morrow through Fred Scruton. Fred is a well known photographer of art environments and folk artists. I was intrigued by his photographs and wanted to learn more, and I wanted one of those dolls for my collection. I've heard tales of snake handling churches most of my life, mostly in a negative or derogatory sense. I will say first that I was drawn to his art first, and the idea of a cultural experience seemed intriguing. Then I got to speak with him over the phone. He has a strong country accent with a distinct twang in his voice. We talked 15 or 20 minutes about religion and art and he told me that he'd cancelled church for a while because of the coronavirus, but was starting back up on August 16th. I told him I'd see him then.
We got there today and met his wife first. He was over at the building next door where he has some of his artwork on display. He saw us and hollered for us to come over. We talked and looked thru all of his paintings in there while he worked on hanging pictures of him and his wife. Then we walked over to the church and looked at his artwork in there. Then up the mountain to the cemetery where his great, great, great grandfather is buried. He lived to be 115. Jimmy told a story about when he died, his beard was 6 feet long, they stole his wife's rolling pin to roll his beard up and buried it with him. He also told us that he won a greased pig catching contest when he was 90. Jimmy also showed us a rock that had some carvings in it that he went to to pray before service every Sunday. Then we go back in for the service.
He starts his service at 1:00 pm. He told me the reason why, but I can't remember what it was. The service started out with a prayer and some singing. I didn't know most of the hymns they sang. There were a few standards like "I'll Fly Away" and "Amazing Grace" mixed in. There was no piano. Just people singing and some kids playing tambourines. Then they asked if anybody wanted to sing anything. One lady picked a few and sang them from her seat. Jimmy got up and sang a few, followed by his wife Pam. Pam has a beautiful voice that sounds more like it would be more at home in a blues club in Memphis than in a country church on the other side of the state. The message was done by the assistant pastor today and was followed up by Pastor Morrow giving a talk.
After the service, we stood and talked to the members in attendance. When they all left, we did the business of purchasing a couple pieces of art. Jimmy Morrow is a man of stories and a great conversationalist. I read somewhere that he only has a 5th grade education, yet he is a highly intelligent man. The one thing that I heard him say over and over today was, "Be good to everybody." Maybe if all the churches would start preaching that message more often. Maybe if everybody would stop arguing and just do the simple act of being good to everybody. But instead of doing that, people would rather argue over his belief of handling snakes and point out their discrepancies with his doctrines. I read something the other day that read, "Hate is not a Christian value." I don't see a lot of love coming from Church folks anymore. People I grew up respecting have changed.
So anyway, to get back on topic, I plan on going back up to visit Jimmy Morrow in a couple of months when it gets cooler to see more of his art and just shoot the bull. I could listen to his stories for hours, and hope to!
Tonight as I sit here and reminisce about the day, I just think about all the trouble the world is in, and how one country preacher reminded me today of the answer to fix it.
Be Good to Everybody.
Be Good to Everybody.
Sending love to everyone of you....
SamG
