A couple of weeks ago, Dale and I were talking to one of our older members in the church. She was asking Dale and me if we knew the Southern Gospel song “Gone.” Dale told her that the first Easter we were in Martinsville; a mixed ensemble sang it at the Easter Dawn service. This brought back memories of the first time someone asked about that song. I do not know a lot of about Southern Gospel music period. let alone one song. I did know a popular country music song by the same name; which I started to sing. The chorus of the song goes something like this “gone like a soldier in the Civil War bang, bang gone”. It was a surprise to people who were there that their pastor’s wife would know a song like that; it was a shocking moment.

It happens at every church that we have been. Sometimes it feels like the people think we have born yesterday and that we know nothing of the culture around us. They will “protect” us from the things like music. One time Dale was helping one of the ladies in our church with her iPod. She was going through her CDs to see if she could find one that a pastor and his wife could listen. Dale and I sometimes listen to country music. We knew all the artists she had and some of the songs that they sang.

One of the things that Dale and I try to do is know the culture without immersing ourselves in it. Sort of what Jesus said by being in the world and not of it. We may not know as many references to pop culture as other pastors and their wives. Matter of fact, we really don’t care to know all the references. But, we do try to understand so that we can be effective ministers to the culture that God has called us.