Yesterday I did something I'm ashamed of: I led patriotic songs in a worship service.
I've been helping out my home church during the past few weeks. They're currently without an associate minister so I agreed to lend a hand. It's a good gig for a few extra bucks per week. I'm not leading with a guitar, but singing hymns and choruses while a band plays instruments. I'll admit that it's been kinda fun to scan the hymnal for songs I haven't sung in 10+ years. Not quite my style overall, but it's gone rather smoothly. Except that . . .
Yesterday's focus of the service was preparing for the election and they wanted patriotic songs. If you know my philosophical leanings concerning American Christianity, you know I'm not a fan of pro-America songs during worship services so I was faced with a dilemma: take a stand or fold. Well, you know what they say, "God Bless America."
I know some people pride themselves on being "real." They wouldn't dream of going against their personal principles, no matter what the venue. Me: not so much.
We all sell out a different points in our life. Otherwise we end up in jail, unemployed, or alone. We just insist on deceiving ourselves that we're James Dean on a motorcycle. But I'm not going to pretend I'm a maverick. I did something I didn't want to do yesterday. But there are worse things in life.
I love the life we have now as we're starting Echo. I'll do whatever it takes to keep it going. People have sacrificed much more in order to make their dreams a reality. If that means a blaring out a couple of verses of America The Beautiful, then strike up the band.
Selling out definitely beats some other jobs.