Rev. James Allston (sp?) was just on the stage at the Democratic Convention to give props to Kerry, who he served under on a swift boat in Vietnam. At one point during the speech, I swear he started to “hut.” In fact, I think he just barely kept from it.

For those who don’t know, “hutting” is a practice of preachers mostly in the black church tradition that involves adding the syllable “hut” between phrases. (As in, “the word of god-hut.”) I had a youth director once who would hut whenever he preached in the evening service—so the adults in the congregation would know to take him seriously.

Which is to say that the sermon doesn’t really start until the hutting begins. For a black preacher to have to keep himself from hutting when talking up his old commanding officer (from some thirty-plus years ago) says one hell of a lot. This recovering fundamentalist took notice.