Confessing Evangelical

News from Badger Falls

John H Wednesday 7th June, AD 2006

Further to my previous post, Alastair Roberts has some good thoughts arising from the same interview with Garrison Keillor, in particular Keillor’s comments on liturgy as “say[ing] words together that are not my words and not your words”, as opposed to the “heroic pose” of much extempore prayer.

By way of contrast, and for the benefit of “Keillorsceptics” such as Theresa (see her comments to my previous post), here’s one of my favourite exchanges from The Simpsons. The family are watching a PBS telethon featuring a soft-spoken, bespectacled man (see picture, below), who gives us his update on the “news from Badger Falls”:

Man: [quietly] Well, sir, it has been an uneventful week in Badger Falls… where the women are robust, the men are pink-cheeked, and the children are pink-cheeked and robust.

[Audience laughs loudly]

Homer: What the hell’s so funny?

Man: At the Apple Biscuit cafe, where the smiles are free, don’t you know, Sven Inqvist studied the menu, and finally he ordered the same thing he has every day.

[Audience laughs and applauds]

Bart: Maybe it’s the TV.

Homer: Stupid TV. [Hits it] Be more funny!