Church Service Faux Pas. I Blame The Bulldawgs

I play trumpet in our church orchestra. We play accompaniment for the hymns that are sung. I have the melody part in most of the songs. Since I grew up singing these, I have most of the words memorized; so as I'm playing, I'm usually singing the songs in my head. Today was the 4th of July service, where we sing the "America" songs. Some liberals may find it odd that these are in the Hymnal; guess it's because it's a country founded on the principles of worshiping God. In any case, we sang\played Star Spangled Banner, America The Beautiful, My Country Tis Of Thee, and Battle Hymn Of The Republic, which is titled "Mine Eyes Have Seen The Glory" in the Hymnal. I'll be honest, we do these once a year, and the only one I really know ALL the words of is My Country Tis Of Thee; and that's thanks to my second grade teacher who had us all memorize that song and sing it each day after we did the Pledge of Allegiance, which was usually after our prayer, back when you could do all those things in school. Anyway, my habit of singing the songs in my head isn't contingent on me knowing the words, it just happens. I found myself feeling quite the heathen sitting in church this morning, playing my trumpet, and hearing the words, "...and to hell with Georgia Tech!" going through my head. For those of you who don't know, The Georgia Bulldogs use the Battle Hymn Of The Republic as their fight song.

At least I wasn't the one belting out "Teacher hit me with a rulah," as my lovely wife did years ago.