"I'm glad somebody got brave enough to talk," said Donna. "We were going to run out of letters, soon."
"It's not a question of bravery," replied Harry. "I myself have the courage of... " He looked around in mock surprise. "I don't seem to have a good illustration right off the bat."
"Get on with it, Allen," Bev warned.
"Yes, dear. You know, people, life can be hard when you're chained to an insensitive, demanding woman."
"Harry, please tell your story!"
"Yes, love. Well, probably one of the key things I learned this year... "
"Tell us what happened,” interrupted Donna.
He looked puzzled. "What do you mean, what happened?"
"I mean what happened to you in the months after Josh resigned as pastor."
He still looked puzzled. "You know what happened."
"But the tape recorder doesn't," clarified Pete.
"Ah." The light dawned. "We're making a record for posterity, aren't we? Okay, tape recorder, this is my life. I was born at a very early age... "
"Not that far back, Harry," Ev protested.
"Oh, shucks. And I was going to tell you about how I was such an ugly baby that my parents sat me in a corner and fed me with a slingshot."
"Harry, please!" Bev looked around. “He's not mine, folks. I don't know him."
"All right, dear," said Harry, but he was unabashed. "Well, okay, seriously, when the Feltons left, we were put in an awkward position."
"Sorry," said Josh, but not penitently.
"Josh, don't you start!" threatened Evalyn.
"You're forgiven," Harry replied to Josh's non-apology. "No, the awkward position was that, even though we probably could have stayed on at the church without repercussions - after all, probably nobody but the Whites and Herb had anything against us - we were no longer content to be in the church without actually participating. And we still had the personal conviction against having to join the local church to be active. So we started looking around.”
Bev took up the story. "Harry and I had a pretty long personal history with the Holy Spirit."
"I thought this was my time," Harry interrupted, but more for show than out of concern.
"Well, this part of your story is our story. We might as well get it out, here." She stopped, and seemed to become docile and compliant. "That is, if you agree to this approach, my master."
"Well, when you put it that way, my shy little violet, carry on."
"Thanks, I intended to."
"Anybody ready for another letter?" Donna asked, pointedly.
"As I was saying," Bev hurried on, "Harry and I learned about the Holy Spirit quite a while ago, and had developed a pretty strong personal relationship with Him. Knowing that He was always with us as comforter and guide, we weren't really dependent on a specific local church or local pastor. We went to church to learn and to be with other Christians. Sometimes we could get needs met at one church that we couldn't get met at another, and vice versa."
Harry chimed in. "We were never wild-eyed pentecostals who had to have 'tongues' at every service, so it wasn't any hardship for us to go to a dry, stodgy service like yours, Josh... "
“Thanks, pal."
" ...for good solid instruction, then go to a romp 'em, stomp ‘em holy roller session when we needed an outlet for our emotions." Harry grinned at Josh. "I'm obviously putting this on a little thick."
"You've been known to do that."
"Yes, well, it is one of my more lovable traits. But, seriously, we did find that we got a lot of excellent teaching from you, but at other times we needed a more emotional outlet for our worship. Many Christians don't realize it, but I believe all of us need both kinds of stimulation, intellectual and emotional. Sad to have to say it, but few churches seem to be able to offer both. With effusive apologies to my pentecostal and non-pentecostal brothers and sisters, I have to say that most good, solid teaching churches are as dry as dust - more like school, than participating in a living faith - and most pentecostal churches seem filled with a bunch of friendly yokels who act like they never had an intellectual thought in their collective lives!"
"That's blunt enough,” Pete remarked.
"Blunt, but true, unfortunately. Most people gravitate toward, and then stay with, things they feel comfortable with. You know, despite a general love for adventure in our book reading, movie going, and TV watching, I don't think many people are very adventurous in their personal lives. We stay with what we know. Unfortunately for the good of the Body of Christ, churches have a tendency to reflect this need for comfort. Outgoing people go to lively churches. Introspective people look for intellectual churches."
"And never the twain shall meet," commented Bev.
"Not often, anyway, and I think we all suffer because of it. Well, to get back to our personal story, those couple months with you folks, becoming part of a real, caring family made us hungry to continue with that type of relationship. We couldn't do it where we were because of the membership requirement, and we couldn't do it in our usual pentecostal/charismatic outlets because of the shallowness of their teaching. So we ended up searching around for several months, just going from church to church. We developed a little bit of a strategy for searching, so that we didn't judge any church just by its Sunday morning service. Even if we weren't too impressed with our first encounter, we still tried Sunday evening and Wednesday prayer meeting, or whatever the equivalent services were at that church."
"And we didn't limit ourselves to those churches that we expected to be our style," interjected Bev.
"That's right, and as a matter of fact, the church we finally found about three months ago is a denomination that we really wouldn't have expected to appeal to us. But nowadays, denominations don't necessarily mean a lot, unless they have such rigid rules that they have to operate by a specific formula. What a church is actually like often depends on how open the pastor and the congregation are to the moving of the Holy Spirit."
"And so you've found a home?" asked Evalyn.
"We think so," responded Bev. "It took a couple of services to find out, but yes, I think so. The Sunday services were okay, but nothing to get real excited about. Then we went to a prayer meet, and it was a total surprise. We were thrilled! Then the pastor invited us to a small group meeting at his home."
"And we were hooked," finished Harry.
"What's so special about this church?" asked Donna.
"A couple of things just fit together for us. One, the pastor is a real Bible scholar, so the teaching is solid. But he's also very aware of the Holy Spirit, so he speaks with real authority and real discernment."
"It isn't Bible history; it's God's word for today," explained Bev.
"Right, it really is. Also, elders and teachers are selected for their obvious Christian maturity, rather than by vote or because of their place in the community."
"And," said Bev, "Everyone is so open and caring. At that very first prayer meeting, they allowed us to join in with them as if we'd been part of their group for years."
"That's terrific," said Josh. "It sounds like God has been doing good by you two."
"Before we go on," interjected Pete, "Harry still needs to explain 'situation ethics.'"
"Right," said Harry. "I almost forget. Well, those of an age to have experienced ‘the sixties’ will remember the phrase."
"Love the one you're with," murmured Jenny, absently.
"I beg your pardon?" Donna inquired.
Jenny blushed. Harry gallantly rescued her. "Jenny was just remembering one of the specific ways the ethic was manifested. Probably the watchword of the whole philosophy, however, was 'if it feels right, do it.' In other words, there were no specific rules about anything. You let the current circumstances dictate the reaction. The situation decided the response."
Most of them looked at him blankly. "So," prompted Pete, "How this interesting tidbit of historical information ties back to Carolyn is... "
"Oh, wasn't that clear? Well, I think Jesus practiced ‘situation ethics'."
"Love the one you're with?" Bev suggested, with feigned innocence.
"No, love, the other slogan: if it feels right, do it. I remember Josh's last several Bible studies when he was trying to get people to understand the real 'law.' He showed us that Jesus is trying to get us to see that our responses to situations shouldn't be based on some bit of legalism, but should come from love and from a Holy Spirit discernment of what people really need at a given moment. 'Religion' doesn't care about real people; Christ does."
"So," mused Pete, "Even though divorce is 'wrong', you're saying that in some instances God might prefer that His own rule be broken?"
"I think so, but I know it would be a controversial concept to many Christians. But just as an example, I've heard a lot of talk about how Christian wives and husbands should sacrifice themselves and stay with their unsaved spouses, no matter how bad things are, because their perseverance might eventually lead to their spouses being saved. Well, I admit it might happen - in fact, I know that occasionally it does happen - but I really question whether it is sufficient justification for a zillion unhappy, abusive, or just plain wrong marriages to go on." He paused a moment. “Come to think of it, I just remembered what may be good scriptural evidence against the likelihood of spouses converting spouses. Remember that Jesus had a terrible time with the people in his own home town?"
Pete agreed. "Because they thought they knew Him pretty well, they couldn't believe His new message. He passed it off by saying that a prophet didn't have any honor in his own country."
Bev took up the theme. "I think God would like all marriages to go on forever. In a perfect world, they'd all be gloriously happy, too. But this world isn't perfect, so I agree with Harry: some marriages may bring more glory to God by being terminated than they would by continuing."
Donna was looking a little troubled. "I think I agree, but give me another example of ‘situation ethics' for Christians."
Harry thought. "How about ‘honor your father and mother’? I'm not sure I know exactly what that means, but I think a lot of Christians have no doubt that it means to love them unconditionally, respect their judgment, and bow to their wishes. I'm sorry! I had pretty good parents, but I couldn't follow those rules unequivocally. And what about all those people who had really bad parents? How many people are there going through life guilty and defeated because they've been told they have to love those fathers and mothers who never loved them, or who abused them, and they just can't do it? Forgive them, maybe in time, but love? They can't!"
"Was it Jesus who said to live in peace with all men, in as much as it is possible?" mused Pete.
"No," said Harry, "It was Paul, in Romans, but I think Jesus would have agreed, and it does tie in with what I'm saying. We take it as far as we can - as far as the circumstances warrant."
Evalyn noticed that Jenny was crying silently, but heartily. "Jenny, honey, what's wrong?"
Jenny shook her head. "I'm sorry. Nothing's wrong now," she said, through her tears. "I just found that what Harry said was so freeing to me!" They all looked at her for explanation. "I can't talk for a minute. Let me explain when it's my turn, okay?"
Evalyn hugged her. "Sure, sweetie, it's okay."
There was an awkward pause. "Time for another letter?" asked Donna, to take the pressure off Jenny.
"Before we do," said Bev, "Let me add a little to Harry's and my joint testimony. I think we said it in a roundabout way, but the thing I learned this past year - or, if not learned, at least was forcefully reminded of - is that, with the Holy Spirit, there's always more. Josh and Ev came to us originally..." She had a thought. "I'm sorry, Feltons, is it okay to tell this?”
"Sure, no problem," Josh replied for both of them.
"Good. Well, these folks came to us to learn the secret of why we always seemed so content, even when things weren't going our way. Well, we weren't always content, of course, but much of the time we were. The secret was that we knew about the Holy Spirit, and were tapping into God's promise that the Holy Spirit would comfort and counsel us. Without bragging about it, you could say that, at the time, we were ahead of most of you in our personal relationship with God. In this last year, He's made our personal relationship with Him even better, and in addition He's opened up a whole new world of group relationships. And guess what? I know there's still more to come!"
"Amen," said Harry, and several others.
"Now, another letter?" prompted Donna.
"No," said Jenny. "I'm ready to take my turn, now. Let me tell you first what I was going to say - my prepared speech - before Harry spoke. Then I'll tell you what I learned just now.
"I was going to tell you that I didn't really come along with the group with any particular expectations. Really, all I wanted at first was for Paul and Josh to be friends, again! I wasn't very interested in Josh's experiment, or even in who was right and who was wrong - although I think I had some feeling that Paul's reasons were not as good as Josh's. Sorry, honey."
"You were right," Paul acknowledged.
"But, really, I just wanted things to be back the way they were between us and the Feltons. I really missed them!"
Evalyn was still sitting beside her, and now she hugged her tightly. “We missed you, too, That was the worst part of all of this for me."
Jenny hugged her back, still a little teary from before. After she composed herself, she went on. "We did get back together, so my initial prayers were answered, but I found I'd been praying much too small. With what I've learned about the Holy Spirit this past year, I've seen Paul's and my relationship grow tremendously. I've been able to get really close to so many new friends; and God has challenged me to do some things I never would have done before." She smiled. "There's one thing in particular that's really exciting, but I'll let Paul talk about that. I want to tell you why I cried after Harry talked."
"I often have that effect on people,” Harry offered.
She blew him a kiss. "No, you don't. You make us laugh and feel good."
He blew the kiss back. "Kind of you to say so."
"Get on with it, Jen,” Evalyn urged. "You'll get him started again, and we'll be here all night."
Harry blew her a kiss, too.
"I didn't love my mother," Jenny explained. "At least, I hadn't loved her for years. She was an alcoholic, and never seemed to care for me. I loved her so much when I was little, and I tried so hard to do everything right so she would love me, too. She never did. My dad was wonderful to me, but it wasn't enough. I needed my mother!" She had started to cry again, and had to stop for a moment. Then, she went on. "Finally, when I was in high school, I realized that she would never love me, and I just decided I'd have to go on without her, I never hated her; I just sort of forgot about her. She didn't really exist after that, as far as I was concerned. And I did okay that way, until she died." She shook her head, remembering. "I was twenty-five, and Paul and I had been married two years. I hadn't hardly thought about her for years, but suddenly she was gone and I was overwhelmed with guilt that I hadn't been there for her - that I hadn't loved her! It was awful for Paul for about a year, I was so deep in my shame. I finally got some counselling, and sort of put myself back together. Then suddenly, so many years later, what Harry said made me see that I've still been waiting all these years to really be forgiven! I've buried my guilt, but so many people have told me for so many years that you have to love your mother, that I guess I never believed that God could or would forgive me. I think I just now accepted that forgiveness!"
They all gathered around her, laid their hands on her and on each other, and began to pray and praise. A long time later, as they hugged and dried their eyes, the tape recorder loudly clicked off.
"Must be lunch time," Harry observed.
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