Acts 16:5 And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.

Shenandoah explains it best with their song Sunday in the South.  Here are the lyrics to refresh your memory!

Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QL450Qz0jM

Sunday in the South

Shenandoah

Millworker houses lined up in a row
Another southern Sunday’s morning glow
Beneath the steeple all the people have begun
Shaking hands with the man who grips the gospel gun

While the quiet prayer, the smell of dinner on the ground
Fills up the morning air, ain’t nothing sweeter around

I can almost hear my mama pray
Oh Lord forgive us when we doubt
Another sacred Sunday in the south, alright
A ragged rebel flag flies high above it all
Popping the wind like an angry cannon ball
Now the holes of history are cold and still
But they still smell the powder burning, and they probably always will

And on the old town square, under the barber shop pole
They sit me up in the chair, when I was four years old

I can almost hear my papa say
Won’t you hold still, son, stop squirming around
Another southern Sunday’s comin’ down

I can almost hear the old folks say
You made it big, one day you’ll leave this town
Some other lazy Sunday, you’ll be back around

I can feel the evening sun go down
And all the lights in the houses one by one go out
Softly in the distance, nothing stirs about
And the night is filled with the sound of a whippoorwill
Want a Sunday in the south, alright

Just another Sunday in the south
Oh, another sacred Sunday in the south
How I miss them old sweet Sundays in the south
I can hear my mama calling, in the south, alright
Oh-oh-oh
In the south

Most of my childhood consisted of going to church with my Grandmother, whether it be on a Sunday or any given night of the week.  As a child I thought me and my cousins were just going to church with Grandmother.  But she had a totally different thought in her mind.  She was concerned about our souls!!! She knew the importance of us hearing God’s word.  She knew the importance of us being saved, being born-again Christians!!  We as children, however, looked at it as an opportunity to play with our cousins.

Many times my Aunt Jean (God rest her soul) would tag along.  I have so many fond memories of me and my cousin Manessa (whom is Aunt Jean’s daughter) singing church hymns at the top of our lungs from the back seat.  I’ll Fly Away, Blessed Jesus Hold My Hand, He Set Me Free, When the Roll is Called up Yonder, just to name a few!  My how we must have gotten on their nerves!  But they never told us to hush!

Grandmother always had Sunday dinner ready when we walked in the door after service, and on occasion, we had dinner on the grounds at church.  Grandmother always had a big basket of food that she had prepared for the dinner.  Back then we didn’t eat from paper or foam plates, folks would bring their own plates and silverware.  Grandmother always had real plates from home for us to eat from, and she always brought extra just in case someone needed a plate or forgot theirs.

I thank God for my Grandmother and those sacred Sundays from my childhood.  Especially that one special sacred Sunday that God convicted my heart and showed me what a lost, wretched, sinner I was! Praise God I can say that Blessed Jesus Holds My Hand because He Set Me Free and one day When the Roll is Called up Yonder, I’ll Fly Away and I will be in heaven with my Grandmother, Aunt Jean and all those that have gone on before me.  And yes, one day, Manessa and I will be singing, not from the back seat of a car, but in God’s Choir!

God Bless America,

Dana