Montgomery
Humor
Bert Montgomery
Elvis, Willie, Jesus & Me
Elvis, Willie, Jesus & Me is a collection of short observations and reflections on life, society, faith, and church, with a rock-and-roll attitude. These reflections and observations cover everything from pain to politics, from cursing to prayer and family board games. Oh, and a whole lot about God, love, Jesus, and grace.
Bert Montgomery’s entertaining book ranges across pop culture: the music, the people, the contradictions, and the God who shows up. His perky, prickly insight will grab you by the throat and the heart. —Tex Sample Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor of Church and Society Saint Paul School of Theology
Elvis, Willie, Jesus & Me
Growing up outside the church in Washington, D.C., I had the typical stereotype of a Southern evangelical Christian—a stereotype that seems to have made quite a resurgence in the last twenty years. Having made my home in the South, it is people like Bert Montgomery who keep me from feeling like an outsider, and who remind me that evangelical doesn’t have to be a dirty word, but one that I can claim humbly for myself. —Oteil Burbridge Bassist for the Allman Brothers Band
I can imagine Elvis, Willie, Jesus & Me as the result of C. S. Lewis and Lewis Grizzard getting together to write essays about the religious implications of Scrubs, Beale Street, Sweeney Todd, LSU, The X-Files, Harry Potter, and killer tomatoes. I wish Elvis were around to read it. Has someone sent Willie a copy? —Brett Younger McAfee School of Theology
Bert Montgomery lives in Starkville, Mississippi, with his wife, Jency, and sons, Rob and Daniel. After serving in pastoral and youth ministry positions in Kentucky while a middle-aged seminarian, he now pastors University Baptist Church on the Mississippi State University campus. He has yet to meet Willie Nelson. ISBN 978-1-57312-521-5
The Musings and Mutterings of a Church Misfit
Beating Golf Clubs Into Guitar Stands (Ode to the Allman Brothers Band)
I don’t like golf.1 Many of my friends live to golf. One went so far as to compose an ode to the spirituality of playing golf. Meeting God on the golf course! I just don’t get it. The whole concept of golf is completely beyond me. If it doesn’t involve trying to hit the ball into an alligator’s mouth or under the dinosaur’s foot, I don’t see any fun in it. I prefer to listen to live music. I long for that great day when we beat golf clubs into guitar stands and turn golf courses into music festival sites. Yes, I can’t stand golf, but I love the Allman Brothers Band. Now we’re talking about spiritual experiences! Yeah, that’s right—I have spiritual experiences with God at Allman Brothers concerts. Whereas some folks speak of the tranquility and the quietness of eighteen holes of golf, and others talk of the quiet stillness of meditating alone in a solitary place, I am alive with God in the middle of a crowd uniting under the soulful power of God’s gift of music. The joyous notes of “Statesboro Blues” and “One Way Out” fill me with charismatic joy. The lengthy jams of “Whipping Post” and “Jessica” take me on spiritual journeys. I close my eyes and the music carries me into God’s Presence. During these musical excursions, God speaks to my soul; God’s presence reaches out and holds me; God takes my hand and leads me places. Don’t even try to tell me otherwise. I’ve doubted it and questioned it myself. After all, I’m not in a church building; I’m not
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listening to a preacher, and I’m not even listening to an evangelically “authorized and approved” Christian rock band. There’s nothing specifically “holy” in our mindset about a music festival, and certainly not an Allman Brothers show. Most of the folks present wouldn’t set foot in a church, and if they did they’d be made to feel so uncomfortable and out of place they’d have to leave. But hey, there’s nothing specifically holy and moral about golf, either. Haven’t you watched Caddyshack?2 God’s creation, though fallen and sinful, is a holy creation. And music is a wonderful, holy gift from God. And, since God gives gifts and blesses whomever God wishes, I’m affirming that the Allman Brothers Band has been blessed with the holy gift of music. Now, for all I know, Gregg Allman is a rabid golfer. If so, more power to him. I hope he lets his long blond hair down so it blows freely and that he wears a short-sleeved Harley Davidson t-shirt that exposes his multi-colored tattooed arms. Heck, if Mr. Allman invited me to hit a few rounds of golf, I’d bite my tongue and be off in an instant! Just as soon as I put on my tie-dyed blues-fest t-shirt and my cut-off jeans, and put in my earring . . . .
Notes 1 2
Just in case you didn’t get that, I HATE golf.
For the record, I love Caddyshack—thanks be to God for the gift of Rodney Dangerfield.
Montgomery
Humor
Bert Montgomery
Elvis, Willie, Jesus & Me
Elvis, Willie, Jesus & Me is a collection of short observations and reflections on life, society, faith, and church, with a rock-and-roll attitude. These reflections and observations cover everything from pain to politics, from cursing to prayer and family board games. Oh, and a whole lot about God, love, Jesus, and grace.
Bert Montgomery’s entertaining book ranges across pop culture: the music, the people, the contradictions, and the God who shows up. His perky, prickly insight will grab you by the throat and the heart. —Tex Sample Robert B. and Kathleen Rogers Professor of Church and Society Saint Paul School of Theology
Elvis, Willie, Jesus & Me
Growing up outside the church in Washington, D.C., I had the typical stereotype of a Southern evangelical Christian—a stereotype that seems to have made quite a resurgence in the last twenty years. Having made my home in the South, it is people like Bert Montgomery who keep me from feeling like an outsider, and who remind me that evangelical doesn’t have to be a dirty word, but one that I can claim humbly for myself. —Oteil Burbridge Bassist for the Allman Brothers Band
I can imagine Elvis, Willie, Jesus & Me as the result of C. S. Lewis and Lewis Grizzard getting together to write essays about the religious implications of Scrubs, Beale Street, Sweeney Todd, LSU, The X-Files, Harry Potter, and killer tomatoes. I wish Elvis were around to read it. Has someone sent Willie a copy? —Brett Younger McAfee School of Theology
Bert Montgomery lives in Starkville, Mississippi, with his wife, Jency, and sons, Rob and Daniel. After serving in pastoral and youth ministry positions in Kentucky while a middle-aged seminarian, he now pastors University Baptist Church on the Mississippi State University campus. He has yet to meet Willie Nelson. ISBN 978-1-57312-521-5
The Musings and Mutterings of a Church Misfit