Crown Him with many crowns, and then send him the bill

Years ago, while singing in a small church choir in Oregon, one Sunday morning our choir was marching up the aisle towards the front of the church where the choir loft was and we were singing the same hymn the congregation was singing, as always. I mean, we did this every Sunday, only it was a different song every time.

Well, this one particular Sunday we were singing "Crown Him With Many Crowns," one of my favorites. I decided to sing my own version of it, sort of making up the words on the fly as we marched in a forwardly direction. The choir member marching in front of me was a dentist, specializing as a Periodontist. Visualize us marching along and me being the good Tenor, belting out my own version. Here are the words . . .

     "Crown Him with many crowns,
          and then send him the bill.
     Some folks will gripe while others'll groan,
          You know they always will.
     If they refuse to pay . . .
          and when the payment lags . . .
               just strap 'em in and gas 'em out
                   yank all remaining snags!"

Teresa, this young dentist marching in front of me starting chuckling, then he started snickering, then he started to laugh, then he was just roaring! It was embarassing! I thought to myself, "Oh Dockers, you did it THIS time, for sure!" The minister kept looking over at all of us, wondering what happened and why the dentist was just losing it up there in the choir loft. Then the congregation started to nervously laugh while watching us and when they gave up and cut loose with loud laughter, the minister started to snicker; then he got the hiccups began laughing and hiccuping all at the same time. Upon observing all of this, our organist, usually very reserved and proper started laughing. It was one of the greatest mornings I think all of us ever had. I was so afraid that someone would say, "It was all Doc's fault!" that I wanted to make like a small church mouse and run and hide until many hours later after everyone left! Ha! Ha! Fun!!

When it began to quiet down, that is, after several minutes had gone by, the minister changed his entire sermon that morning and talked to us instead about why God gave each of us the ability to laugh, especially at ourselves, and not to take Life so seriously all the time. It was fun!