Preacher Berry

(album: Just For You - 1979)

When I was a little girl
My grandma used to take me to a little one-room country church
About a mile down the road where we lived
Since the congregation was so small
We had a hard time keeping a preacher
So we didn't know from one Sunday to the next who was gonna be

But I remember one in particular called Preacher Barry
Since he didn't make much money painting our little church
He drove a taxi during the week
And he had known to be put in jail on numerous occasions
For being intoxicated to the point of downright drunkenness

But he had this wonderful sing-songy voice
Like a lot of those old-fashioned country preachers
And when he preached
It almost sounded like he was singing you a song
And one of the last sermons I remember went something like this

I wanta talk to you today about the Gospel of Jesus
The spirit of the lord gave to Apostle Paul
He said
Uh, I've got some bad news
And I've got some good news
The bad news is that I've been a preaching all wrong

I've been a-beating you down
But I've been wrong
Bless Jesus
It talks right here about reconciliation
It was God in Christ
Reconciling and restoring
The world to Himself and forgiving us all

Don't you see what that means
That's the good news
Bless Jesus
Your debts have been paid
He has cancelled them
He's not holding them against us anymore
Hallelujah
There's no condemnation if you've been born again

Ain't that shouting ground
Shout it, people
Hallelujah
A-begging and a pleading ain't no way to praise the Lord
Let loose and let Him love you
Hallelujah
Don't you know He loves ya
And He died for all us all
I said, don't you know He loves ya
And He died for us all

The old Brother Berry stopped dead in his tracks
Wiped the sweat off his brow
And pulled out a little old wooden cross with a man hanging on it
Tears rolled out of his eyes
And he held it up and said

How can you sit there with a blank look on your face?
So unconcerned
How can you sit there without tears in your eyes?
Have you ever loved anybody that much?
Could you willingly give your life for somebody else?

When he gave the invocation that Sunday
All 28 people attending went down to the altar
Even two or three
Who'd gotten saved the Last Sunday

Well, I read in the paper a few years later
That Preacher Berry had been drinking too much one night
And driving too fast
And had a wreck and was killed instantly

But you know I'll betcha he's sober in Heaven
I'll betcha he's free of that habit
And I can just hear him right now
Preaching to the angels
That same sermon that he preached to us that Sunday

Shout it, shout, shout it, people
Hallelujah
Lay your burdens down
Know the hope of His call
Don't it feel good to have a loving heavenly Father
Come boldly to the throne of grace
And Thank him for it all

Shout it, shout it, shout it, people
Hallelujah
A-begging and a-pleading ain't no way to please the Lord
Let loose and let Him love you
Hallelujah
Don't you know He loves you
And He died for us all
Didn't you hear me tell you, people
That He died for us all