I was raised Episcopalian , was an altar boy, we had a few fired up REvs , mostly from alcohol consumption, I can’t remember any sermon that left my eyebrows singed.. And I usually sat near the Rev when he gave the sermon.
When I joined the Marines, I remember coming home to see the family and my Dad and uncle , a WW2 vet.. And finding out they had a new Rev. A gay female one. He passed a few years later and did get visits from the gay Rev. During his decline.
I have no animosity against the churches as they are today,, yet I am unfortunately not content to grace their presences anytime soon either.
We all have different decoder rings, it seems.
By design? Or choice? is the question.
I played bass in the worship band for a local revival. I sat right up front the first night, but the pastor screamed so loud, almost the whole time, that the second night I sat in the back. It literally hurt my ears.
And he seemed to be looking to entertain more than preach any sound doctrine or life changing message. I was looking for meat. ANY meat in the sermon. There was none.
But what was annoying was a chorus of five or six guys that would follow every sentence with “preach it, brother”, “That’s right”, “amen”, etc. And this was even when he said something was very BAD. It’s like saying “I just found out that my wife has Cancer”, and they respond, “Amen. That’s right!”
It was lunacy - in a church.