On Tybee Island there are four organized, traditional Churches ... Baptist, Catholic, Episcopal and Methodist ... with buildings, stained glass, pulpits and three of the four have parking lots.
For the most part they keep to themselves, not bothering anyone, doing the things mainline ... not mainland ... Churches do ... conducting worship, studying Scripture, forming choirs, offering community, fellowship and warning visitors to obey the speed limit or they will be ticketed ... of that there is no doubt!
Annually the four mainline, not mainland, churches get together and sponsor an Easter Sunrise Service on the Pier. It's very popular with hundreds driving to Tybee in the dark to watch the sunrise while a service is conducted in front of it before everyone races to line up at the Breakfast Club and give thanks.
The Churches are to be commended for pulling this off every year and have gotten along famously except for one year when the Baptist pulled out, holding their own sunrise service in their parking lot. Nobody remembers why the Baptists pulled out and everyone's long since forgiven everyone else and the service on the Pier goes on these days without a hitch.
They are not, however, the only Churches on the island.
There's also Bar Church.
It doesn't have a building, stained glass, a pulpit or a parking lot.
It does have a Bar ... which unfortunately is closed during the service because Georgia Law mandates no drinking on Sunday's until 12:30 when most Church services are over so several in the congregation come packing.
There's a lot of rock-and-roll, country and old fashion Gospel music at Bar Church played in front of a pool table converted to a banquet table and all the beer lights are on so we can see which draws tons of tourists looking for a beer or Bloody Mary. They're stunned, of course, to learn the bar's closed, it's church going on and astonished, wondering whether to walk out immediately or slowly ease out without anyone noticing.
There's other religions on Tybee too ... yoga on the Beach ... Native Americans ... Witches ... Moon watchers ... Beachcombers ... and fishermen and women (which is a religion in and unto itself) ... agnostics and atheists.
The miraculous thing is everybody mostly gets along ... especially if someone gets sick or a tragedy occurs ... then you've never seen giving, sharing, community, fellowship and love that borders on Heavenly.
Islands transcend religion, it seems and, well ... maybe that's why you can take all of our religions and stuff them in a Whelk shell and they still wouldn't total the Garden of Eden and those of us doing our very best to live here.
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