The Hanging Of The Greens

Chrissy's thread about looking for a church reminded me of a story so, rather than derailing her thread with it, I thought I'd post it here.

First, the background. Congregational churches are supposed to be autonomous - hence, the name. This could mean that a Congregational church might be theologically liberal or it might be theologically conservative. In reality, the theologically conservative Congregational pastors are being replaced with liberals.

When I moved to Millinocket, the Congo Church had a pastor who was pretty conservative, theologically. Generally, theologically conservative people tend to be politically conservative as well, but I don't know that that's always the case.

Millinocket was in the process of a Local Agenda 21 restructuring at the time that we moved here. People from Massachusetts, in particular, were buying up houses cheap, since the mill was laying people off. They would claim Millinocket as their residence and were infiltrating and taking over the churches, the town council, the Chamber of Commerce, and other local organizations. Plus, they were creating countless of new organizations, all for the purpose of making it appear that the local population was in favor of a new national park that they wanted to build here. They were doing this in surrounding communities, as well.

Some of these national park liberals were from Connecticut, New York, or other New England states, but we thought of them all as being from Massachusetts, since it's easier to hate one state than to hate them all.

Of course, they were able to find some actual local people who were willing to go along with the agenda, which included financial and business incentives for those who were willing to go along.

Collectively, those of us who were on the other side of the issue referred to them as "The Greens."

The Congo Church fired its conservative pastor and hired someone from Massachusetts, who may not have actually come here from Massachusetts. The female pastor they hired was extremely liberal and more interested in environmental and social justice issues than in anything Christ might have had to say.

She was white. Her husband was a black guy with dreadlocks. He was also very liberal, but he fit in pretty well with anyone who took the time to get to know him. People from both sides of the political issues liked him, I think. I know that I did. With him, it was possible to have a heated argument about an issue and come out of it friends. Plus, he wasn't so blinded by ideology that he would refuse to concede a point when it was made, and in organizations that he became a part of, he would often vote with the other political side just because it was the right thing to do. He also had a good sense of humor, which I don't think his wife had.

We were having lunch with them in the restaurant one day, and she invited us to a Congregational Church Christmas ceremony which involved, I think, putting up the Christmas decorations. She invited us to take part in "The Hanging of the Greens", which is what the event was called.

Me: "I could get into that."

Her: "You're welcome to come."

Me: "I know a lot of people who'd like to take part in that, but I don't know if it's legal."

Her husband was cracking up, but she had no idea what I meant.

 

I don't think people generally ask that here either, but Maine is one of the least religious states in the country. Out of fifty, we're tied with Vermont for second to the last, and beat out only by New Hampshire and Massachusetts. California, of all states, is number thirty-five, along with Minnesota, Nevada, and Rhode Island. The eleven most religious states are all in the US South, although Utah is tied for number eleven.