Well, everything worked out just fine. I got hold of a copy of Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, and read that in today's session. I introduced the story by saying that it was written by Silverstein, who wrote the "Our House" song I sang yesterday. I said that some people don't like the "Our House" song and that there is some stuff Silverstein wrote that I don't like myself - but Silverstein's writings always make people think, and thinking is what we want to teach kids to do.
Then I read Giving Tree, which, of course, everybody loved. The Director of Religious Education and the Youth Minister said I handled it perfectly. The anonymous complainer didn't say anything.

Well, Whistle Stop, I think I disagree with your statement:

This song basically celebrates random violence of the most repellent sort -- admittedly, it does it in a humorous way, but it pushes the envelope a little too far for my taste.

I'd agree that Silverstein can tend to push the envelope too far at times, but I don't think he meant to celebrate violence with the song. His vivid picture of this sweet, loving, welcoming, violent family is powerfully absurd. Is he encouraging violence, or is he ridiculing it? I think it's the latter - but it's something you have to think about for a while.

Too often, people go to church because they are looking for easy answers, for platitudes that will support their preconceptions. They also want rules that tell them exactly how to live their lives, and the idea of living by principles like justice and love tends to make them a bit nervous. I think a major part of my job as a lay minister is to challenge people to think things out for themselves. I must be doing something right - people sometimes disagree with me and sometimes write nasty letters, but the parish keeps asking me to teach a class on this or that, and I've been doing it in this parish for twenty years.

So, the songs I sang today were The Hole in the Bottom of the Sea and I Am a Fine Musician. One little girl amazed me on the "Musician" song. She very politely told me I was playing my imaginary piccolo wrong. She was right- I was holding it straight out, like a pennywhistle. I was dumbstruck - it's not often you see somebody with powers of observation like that. That's one heckuva bright kid. I hope she goes far.

Thanks for your advice, everybody.

-Joe Offer-

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P.S. If you haven't read Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree, you really should. Click here for an online edition of the story - posted with permission of the publisher. Click here to get to other Silverstein sites.