courtesy drop
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“i overheard two ladies in my congregation talking about courtesy drops one day.”
thus began an interesting conversation with my pastor several years ago.
“courtesy drops?” i asked.
“yeah. you know how in some churches there’s all that faintin’ going on up at the altar during service?”
well, of course i had. i was the youth pastor at an inner-city african-american church. it didn’t happen there much, but it did when other churches would come and visit ours. we had seen it at other churches more frequently. all those fine-looking ladies in their sunday best, large ornate hats on their heads and handkerchiefs in hand, walking up to the altar for prayer. and then it would begin.
sometimes it was subtle. a little moaning, a little movement, then the drop.
other times it was an all-out production. crying. yelling. waving the hanky. hopping up and down. then the big drop.
and there are folks whose job at church is to act as a “catcher” to the droppers. they stand behind the congregant waiting for the moment, then, arms extended, they catch the person who has been “slain in the Spirit” and gently lay them down on the floor until they come around. sometimes a cloth is placed over them, other times they’re left alone completely.
“so, what’s a courtesy drop?”
“well, apparently these two had visited a sister church somewhere in town and the pastor, he called people up for prayer, right? so folk are going up and getting prayed over, but there was no fainting going on. well, the one woman says to the other, ‘well, i felt bad for him [the pastor] that no one was receiving the Spirit, so i went up, done got prayed over, then did a courtesy drop so he felt like God was moving even if no one else was dropping. i didn’t want him to feel bad about hisself.’”
i stared at chris, waiting to hear him laugh and tell me i was gullible and easy.
“dude…,” i said.
“straight up!” he replied.
it was a funny story that we talked about many times afterwards, but i came to only one real conclusion: like we need to give people another reason to not believe or not trust, we have folks who fake things like this just to pump up the minister’s ego on a “slow night” at church?
wonder what the percentage of courtesy drops to real drops is?
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May 9th, 2008 10:42 am
# 1
…so Negative Nancy called and she wants her attitude back.
i might buy this from you if you and I had both recently attended a church that was responsive and open to these sorts of movements of the spirit, but unfortunately, no. In fact, if I remember correctly, this last church was so afraid of the chance of a courtesy drop or two that having a time of prayer where the supernatural wouldn’t be ruled out was radical. And eyebrows would raise at even the mention of “healing” or “tongues”.
now you may argue that your feelings about this are not reflecting your time at the church we both recently attended, but regardless, why preach to the choir and cement views that are based on bad experiences or fake people?
maybe next week we can get a call from Positive Polly?
May 7th, 2008 6:34 am
# 2
Before I attended Gally, I dated a hard of hearing woman who was a convert to the “Catholic Charismatic Renewal” church there in New Haven. We talked about our spiritual differences when we first met (I’m a content atheist). We agreed to respect each other’s differences (at least at first she did).
One time she asked me to come to the services with her. I agreed, as I viewed it as spending some time with her anyway.
The services were very “un” Catholic. There were maybe 12 people sitting in a circle on red velvet cushions you might find in a high end Japanese restaurant. The priest had this weird bell that consisted of a grid with a dozen small bells attached to the bottom, so when he rang it (at rather odd times during the ceremony) it sounded like a “Jingle Bells” horse. It seemed like it may have belonged in a Buddhist temple but it was out of place in a Western church.
Then the ppl all took turns standing up, one at a time, and the priest would “pray over them” (as my girlfriend explained). She used the word “swoon” to describe the ppl all falling over backward when they got “filled with the Holy Spirit” the moment the priest smacked them on the forehead with the fingertips of both hands. The two folks “catching” them were just volunteers from the group.
So then this priest gets to me and just patiently stands there, apparently waiting for me to stand up. My G-F whispers into my hearing aid “Go ahead, let him pray over you.”
Now, I don’t have a problem with true believers praying for me. That’s what they believe and who am I to criticize them. This priest was not taking the hint, either. Maybe he thought I was “shy” or something because it was my “first time,” but he just stood there in front of me, patiently waiting for me to stand up. Wanting to avoid embarrassing my G-F, I stood up.
He mumbled his prayers to himself (too quietly for me to hear, even with my hearing aid turned all the way up). Then he smacked me on the forehead like he did with the others.
I’m not a true believer, so there was no way I was going to “play that game.” I figured he’d get the message and move on, so I could just sit down, dignity intact. No such luck.
I have no idea what he was thinking. He must have perceived me to be a “challenge” to his authority in front of his itsy-bitsy congregation. He smacked me on the forehead three more times, hitting me harder and harder each time. I did not go down.
The expression on his face was incredulous. After the fourth time he smacked me, I decided I was going to smack him back on the jaw if he did that one more time. I guess my facial expression clearly showed my feelings, as a look of “the creeping crud” came over him and he quietly moved on to the next “swooner” and with the gentlest of smiles, he smacked her on the head and she fell over.
Needless to say, my former sweetie attended church on her own after that.
L&K,
Moldy-Wan ;-)
May 5th, 2008 6:46 am
# 3
at a previous church, i went up for prayer… a bunch of dudes “laid hands” on me as they prayed… i use the “quotes” because they weren’t “laying hands” as much as they were “pushing me over”. but… well… i wasn’t feeling the holy spirit, i was feeling assaulted. so, as i continued to try to “keep my balance”, the men were encouraging me to “just let go”.
i don’t think i said anything at the time, but i really wanted to say “ya know, that person isn’t going to need to catch me unless you keep trying to push me down”. argh. what a stupid mess.