Why Would You?
An itinerant preacher arrived at an outback town in western Queensland and arranged to hold a service in the Mechanics Institute hall the following Sunday afternoon. Then the preacher set about inviting everyone in the area to his meeting. There hadn’t been any preaching in that town for as long as anyone could remember, so when the time came to start the service, the small hall was packed. The preacher climbed onto the platform, called for silence and asked if some one could play the piano so they could have some singing before he gave his message. A bloke who occasionally played the piano in the pub volunteered and the song books were handed out.
“All right,” said the preacher, lets begin with an old favourite, song number 4.”. “Sorry, Reverend.” Said the pianist, “I don’t know song number 4.” “That’s okay,” said the enthusiastic preacher, “we’ll just sing song number 27. Everybody knows that one.” The pianist squirmed a bit on his seat and said, “Sorry, Reverend. I can’t play song number 27.” The preacher, remaining good-natured, said, “don’t feel bad about it, we’ll just sing song number 34. Everybody learned that one when they were small children.” The pianist was really nervous by now and said, “Sorry Reverend, but I don’t know song 34 either.” Where upon, some one at the back shouted, “That pianist is an idiot!”
“Hold it!” exclaimed the preacher, “that wasn’t spoken in a spirit of love, I want that man who called the pianist an idiot to stand up.” No one stood. “If he won’t stand up, I want one of those sitting next to the man who called the pianist an idiot to stand up.” No one moved. After a brief period of complete silence, a little bloke halfway up the hall stood up and said, “Reverend, I didn’t call the pianist an idiot. And I’m not sitting next to the man who called the pianist an idiot. What I want to know is, why anyone would think that idiot is a pianist!“
