A Bethel "Family Night" Experience

[JW Insider]

I put this under "controversial" because I was going to tell about a "Family Night" experience that was a bit troubling. But I'm going to tell about another one that was more funny at the time, and I didn't realize how serious it was until a few months later. Here's the background:

Family Night is a kind of talent show along with some experiences that helped Bethelites get to know each other better. It was held in the local Brooklyn Heights Kingdom Hall attached to the back of the 107 Building, but it had less than 500 seats, and there were at least 3 times that many Bethelites who wanted to attend. It was very popular, and soon the "shows" were actually televised via CCTV.

There's a song that was written by a Witness many years ago that became internationally famous, sung by Frank Sinatra and Doris Day, for example. During Family Night, a small choir sang a nice rendition of the song with different words, that some might call a parody, but it wasn't meant to be a funny parody. It was "Sentimental Journey" written by Bud Homer. The lyrics can be found here: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/d/doris+day/sentimental+journey_20279019.html

The original lyrics included a stanza:

Seven, that's the time we leave, at seven
I'll be waitin' up for heaven
Countin' every mile of railroad track
That takes me back

In the Family Night version, this was changed to:

Seven, Bethel text begins at seven
To the fact'ry I'll be headin'
. . . . To serve the Lord
For his reward.

At the rehearsals, I once or twice sat only a couple seats away from Bert Schroeder. When the words were sung, either Brother Gehring or perhaps someone else on the Family Night Committee leaned over to question Schroeder (I think it was Bill G., but can't say for sure): "You think those words are alright? Doesn't sound too 'works centered?'"

Schroeder chuckled, "The words are fine. If they don't like it, let them stew!"

I had no idea who these people were who would "stew" at the words. This was before I had heard about any "apostasy" brewing. But I couldn't help thinking of a brother I worked with, in construction, just a couple years earlier, before I came to Bethel. (We set up the frames for pouring concrete basements/walls, and I also learned to do some "curb and guttering.") Now this brother was not an elder, and I always figured it was partly for his propensity to curse. But whenever I made a mistake, I'd ask if I should do something over, and his typical response was: "It's fine. If they don't like it, @#$% them!"

I left that evening rehearsal thinking that Brother Schroeder had just said the equivalent of "@#$%  them!" but had found a much nicer way of saying it than old Brother M--- back home. I wasn't even thinking about who these people were who might "stew." It was at least a year later when the two books "Commentary on the Letter of James" and "Choosing the Best Way of Life" were released, and it was only after reading those books and listening to some of the arguments over them that I finally understood the controversy.