Fall is here and so are church suppers. They are always fun but the one I
enjoyed the most was in my hometown many years ago. This church supper
included dancing. People speculated that the money they raised was more than
the amount raised by all of the other churches combined that fall.
Every once in a while a new church would come to town. This church was
called Church of The Holy Dancers. Underneath the title was "Where People
Celebrate the Lord's Name with Spirit."
The preacher was a Bohemian by the name of Chester Chalupnik. His name meant
"owner of a small house with hardly any land." It seems Pastor Chester
prided himself on not really having a home and not having any land. He
claimed that whether we owned a big house or a little house or a lot of land
or no land, we were just caretakers of it for a short time so why bother
with stuff like land and buildings.
Whereas most churches are usually on the out-skirts of town, The Holy Dancer
Church was located right off Main Street in a building that stood next to
the old funeral home. In fact, the building at one time belonged to the
mortuary and it was used to store caskets.
The back room was for embalming and this is where Pastor Chester stayed. The
front room was fairly large and it was used for the service. There was no
podium or stage so Pastor Chester build a stage out of some of the left over
old caskets, about a dozen to be exact. He put them all together and laid
some plywood on top. On the front side facing the congregation, he painted
the words, "a time to mourn, and a time to dance" Ecc 3:1. A small alter was
placed on the stage.
In front of the building hung a sign: "Church of The Holy Dancers, pot luck
Sunday dinner at 12:00 followed by church service, everyone welcome. We
celebrate the Lord with Spirit."
The church began to attract members and towns folk began to talk about what
went on inside. People walking or even driving by on Sunday could hear all
of the singing and what have you going on inside. "I'll say one thing,"
someone would say, "it sure sounds lively." Another person might say, "Yeah,
it doesn't sound like any church music I ever heard."
It wasn't until the church held its first fall church dinner as a fundraiser
that people would learn about the "goings on" at Holy Dancer as it had come
to be known. It was advertised as a typical dinner: roast beef, mashed
potatoes, gravy, green beans, home made rolls and cake and ice cream for
dessert. It also advertised, "spirited spiritual entertainment provided."
The dinner was held on a Sunday evening. The doors opened at 5:00. All
church suppers attracted a good turnout but this was an exception. People
were lining up at 4:00 and at quarter to five, the doors opened.
They were led to the tables and served family style. Big bowls of mashed
potatoes and gravy and beans and large platters of roast beef adorned the
tables. People began to eat with one eye on their food and the other on the
small band on the stage in front of the alter.
The drummer in the band was a high school boy who lived on the north side of
town. He belonged to a rock band called the Thunder Beats. There was a piano
player who happened to be the local music instructor at the school and on
the guitar was Pastor Chester, himself, who also served as the lead
vocalist.
When the band started to play, dancers, who were members of the church,
walked on the stage. They nodded to the audience and then began to dance.
There wasn't any sort of what you might call established choreography. The
dancers, men, women and children, just danced to the beat of the music-some
more lively than others but you could easily tell that they were all moved
by something.
The music was a combination of Christian rock, country western and swing.
The band played about three numbers and then Pastor Chester announced that
anyone could join in "dancing to the Lord."
You could tell people were a little embarrassed. No one really stared at the
dancers but everyone occasionally looked up after passing the mashed
potatoes or gravy to someone.
Some small children were about to run up to the stage but their mother
promptly collared them and told them to sit down and stay there. Pastor
Chester stood every so often and thanked everyone for coming and quoted a
Biblical scripture like Psalms 149:3, "Let them praise his name in the
dance: let them sing praises unto him with the timbre and harp."
The dancing continued and other other members from the congregation came on
stage to dance. Although no one joined the dancing from the audience it was
evident that they began to enjoy the lively commotion and slowly ate their
ice cream and cake and every once in awhile sneaked a look at the dancers.
Pastor Chester was happy with the turnout but disappointed that no one
decided to join the church. His members tried to tell him that dancing in
churches just didn't set right with most people in town. After a few months
he decided to move on and try some place else. His members gave whatever
money they had left over from the supper to him and then said good-bye.
The sign still hangs from the old building and I suppose many people who
were not around then see the sign, "Church of the Holy Dancers," and wonder
what went on inside. People who are still around and remember the church
say, "Well, it was quite a lively church supper. The food was pretty good
too."
As a young boy I enjoyed the supper and the entertainment. I still look for
a sign that says, "Annual Church Supper on Sunday, Lively Entertainment
Provided."
Who Is John?