Thursday, February 16, 2006

Church on fire

I was wandering around some sites I hadn't visited for a while yesterday before work, and ran across this at House2House. I'm quite certain it is fiction, but the principle is what counts. I especially like this exchange:

...He scanned the remains of the sanctuary, "Church was on fire," he said simply.
"We were insured. Hopefully we can find a place to meet until we rebuild."

"That's not what I meant," said Buck. "The building burned down. The church was on fire. You didn't notice?"

"I'm not sure what. . ."

"Some of these folks haven't been that close since," he gestured toward the table, "…well I don't know. I never seen Thelma Kaiser and Mary Criswell stand next to each other like they did today. They held hands during the prayer."

"It's amazing what can happen if the need arises."

"Y’know what I think? I think we had all we needed today. We had bread, a cup, a table . . . and we had each other. The Good Lord showed up, too. I don't think you'll rebuild this church any better than it was today. Fire burned up the building. It built the church."

The Reverend Turley was silent.

Buck reduced the ashen pages of a hymnal to powder with the toe of his boot. "Gordon, it's bothered me for years," he began again. "I keep readin' and readin' in my Bible and I can't find most all the stuff we did in this place. Somebody's house or even the back room of my store seems to fit better what I read about the church."

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