The church I was raised in, the church my dad was a preacher in, the church that I attended 4 days out of the week, we were required to call each other "Brother" and "Sister". It was the law.
"Goodmorning, brother Louise, God bless you."
"Why, goodmorning, sister y. God bless you too. Wait, come here young lady! IS THAT MASCARA YOU'VE GOT ON? DOES YOUR DAD KNOW ABOUT THIS. Come with my, you little Jezebel, you must pay for your sin, you LITTLE TRAMP!"
Woah. Excuse me, I got a little carried away there, we'll just call that a "flashback" and move on.
I hated having to call people that. I never understood what the point was. I know that the bible says we are brethren in Christ, but no where does it say "Thou shalt address one another as 'brother' and 'sister'." (and if by chance, it does happen to say that, oh well. It's still stupid)
Funny thing is that when I run into these people while out and about, they still refer to me as "Sister y" and expect me to do the same. I actually had one man say "You know, I prefer you call me 'Brother Frankie', it's more respectful."
What the fuck ever, you freak. YOU'RE NOT THE BOSS OF ME.
So many things were wrong with the church I was raised in, I think I need to write about more of the crazy shit I had to endure in the name of Christianity.
Things like covering my head with a scarf. Washing people's feet. Being forced to raise my hands to worship God. Speaking in tongues. Dancing for Jesus.
You know, things like that.
Yikes! Sounds like the holy roller circus my grandparents dragged us to for a few years. Much longer there, and I think I'd have had to handle snakes. Or drink some funny kind of Kool-Aid they kept talking about.
Oh, and don't worry too much about the guy who didn't like the way you addressed him. Hell, I ask women to call me 'Brother Frankie', too. And it doesn't get me anywhere, either. Damn.