This is a story.
"I have come for my congregation."
Everyone is silent and still, recognizing the voice of authority standing behind them in the door way of the sanctuary.
* * * * *
Pastor Donald Sobotka had been born the second oldest of 5 children.
Donald's mother was devout Christian and she would take all of her children to church every Sunday and Wednesday. His earliest memories are of the Christmas play in the rural town's only Methodist church, he was the baby Jesus.
Donald's father was a farmer, he did not believe in god. On Sundays and Wednesdays he would stay home and drink. Donald's second earliest memory is watching his father vomiting.
When Donald was ten years old his mother gave birth to his youngest sister, his sister survived the night, his mother did not. After his mother died Donald and his siblings stopped attending church, his father told them that church was just a bunch of bullshit.
When Donald was 13 his Uncle Robert moved in with his family. Uncle Robert had never been married, sometimes when Donald's father was asleep from drinking too much alcohol Uncle Robert would make Donald's younger brother Steven come into his room. Every time Steven came back to the bedroom he shared with Donald he would be crying. No one in the house spoke about what went on.
When Donald turned 18 he enlisted in the armed forces to go and fight the Japanese. In the Navy he began drinking. One night when he was drinking alone, he thought about how all the other soldiers talked about their families. He began to cry.
The only friend Donald made in the army was named Jonathan. Donald liked talking with Jonathan because he funny, but the main reason he liked Jonathan because Jonathan never talked his family or girls back home, he only ever talked about drinking how much he hated being the Navy. Donald liked talking about those things; they kept him from feeling alone and crying.
Three months into his service, Donald's ship came to port on a small island in the south pacific, the crew was told that they had the next three days free to go and enjoy themselves. Donald followed Jonathan to a bar that night. When they were both drunk Jonathan suggested that he and Donald go to a brothel, Donald followed him to the brothel.
Donald was eager to have sex and he picked his prostitute and left Jonathan to pick his.
After Donald had sex with his prostitute he fell asleep quickly, drunk and exhausted. Donald was awakened in the middle of the night to the sobbing of a child. Donald had heard that sobbing before.
* * * * *
Donald is jolted from his sleep, he is still drunk but the sound that woke him up clears his mind instantly. It's the sound that Steven would make when Uncle Robert was molesting him. He had long forgotten that sound and how it made him feel, he had forced it away, because he was helpless then, but now with the wounds reopened, he couldn't help himself. He slowly got up from his bed and broke off a leg from the single chair in his room. He then walked, naked, out of the room and down the hall to the door where the noises were coming from. He stood listening outside the door, preparing himself for the task he had committed himself to do 5 years ago.
With one motion Donald kicked in the door to the bedroom and stepped quickly inside, he saw what he knew he would but far worse and far more real than what he was prepared for. Staring up at him were the blood shot, tear stained eyes of a young Filipino boy, who had not even registered Donald's entrance, grimacing in pain, behind him Jonathan was white from surprise, stammering and scared.
Donald shut the door behind him and with one blow crushed the skull of Jonathan. In that instant every memory of the painful childhood he lived after his mothers death came back to him, and as each memory came and passed he felt it vindicated, and he was finally lifted from his detached emotional state in which he had viewed himself and the story of his life.
Donald quickly leaves the room walks back into his own and gathers his things, frantic and paranoid what he has just done is finally real, and the consequences are looming. As he walks out of the bordello he hears the unmistakable sound of the gun ship, he begins to run.
Donald is one of the last men to board the ship as it leaves, fleeing from the Japanese fleet.
* * * * *
A week later Donald received a message from back home. He wasn't expecting anything from back home. The letter was from his sister Lorna it was short and direct, it read:
Dear Donald,
I'm writing you to inform you of some sad news about Steven, he is in police custody, they have accused him of child molestation. I'm sorry that this is the only news we have right now.
Your Sister,
Lorna
Donald rushed to the bathroom and spend the next hour weeping and gnashing his teeth.
Donald finally gets up from his bed and dries his eyes. All of the release, the taste of victory over childhood demons has left him, he lays and searches for a cause, a beginning to his painful years. Over the next day he sits, obsessed, and finally a memory comes in the form of a song:
"Swing lo, sweet chariot
coming for to carry me home.
Swing lo, sweet char-i-ot
coming for to carry me hoooome"
Hymn. Church. Mother.
"That's it, that is it!" Donald exclaims.
His mother's death was the cause of this, he was sure of it, his mother had always
protected them, had always cherished them, she loved them. Donald was now at an impasse, he knew he could never bring his mother back, but he needed something, something to hold onto, he then found it. With his mother went his God.
* * * * *
When the chaplain looks up to see Donald come into the room he is surprised on two fronts, first that the blasphemous private would even step inside this office on his own volition, and second that Donald has an _expression aside from longing or drunken anger. Donald comes in quickly and sits down across the desk from the chaplain, he begins to speak but has a few false starts, finally he says, "Chaplin, I want to have God back in my life."
"That's wonderful, what has caused you change of heart Donald?", responds the chaplain.
"It's my brother, and my mother, and, and Chaplin, I need to make a confession."
"Not to me, Donald, I'm not a priest and you don't need one, save your confession for God."
"No chaplain, I-"
"Donald, stop whatever you did God will forgive you, and with God's forgiveness you must go forth and forgive the world as a being in Christ. Are you ready to ask Jesus into your heart?"
* * * * *
After the war had ended Donald, burning with a religious fervor ended up in Oskaloosa, Iowa studying at Vernard College to become an ordained minister.
During his college years he makes close friendships with the professors who are starting to split from mainstream Methodist doctrine. These splinter professors believe that the general Methodist denomination is becoming too loose in it's moral prerogatives regarding fundamental Christian doctrine concerning issues such as "mixed marriages" and the rise of insubordinate women within the church who keep pushing to be allowed to preach from the pulpit. Donald thrived in an environment so straight forward, so simple, and through careful studying he slowly became one of the professors, or at least one of the few Christians that still held true to the letter of the God Breathed scriptures.
During his time is Oskaloosa he met a woman named Gladys, Gladys was the minister's daughter and only 4 years younger than Donald, their courtship was short and at the cautious advice of his Apologetic's teacher he was married to her in little over 4 months.
By the time of Donald's graduation he was already a father, a Junior pastor at his church, and perhaps most importantly to him, a leading force in the call for a split within the Methodist church, the group called themselves The Evangelicals and they were slowly amassing a formidable faction within the church.
During this time in the church's history Donald rarely spent more than two weeks out of the month at home with Gladys and his children. He was as strongly in the hands of the movement as his father was in the hands of alcohol, following suit his family life began to suffer.
One evening, during a two week planning conference in Minneapolis that Donald was attending, Gladys received a phone call from someone who claimed to be her
husband's brother, he told her that he would be in town for a few days on business and inquired as to whether it would be alright if he could come and visit for a few days, and finally meet his brother's wife and family. Gladys has no reason to fear any of Donald's family, he has never even talked about them to her, Gladys thinks back to one of Donald's sermons on giving to others and agrees to let him come over.
"Hello little boy what's your name?" asks Steven.
"My name is Robert and I'm 8 years old and I'm my mommy's only boy!" replies Donald's oldest son.
"Where's your daddy?"
"He's away, he's always away."
* * * * *
Donald never did hear about Steven's overnight stay, by the time he came back Gladys had had a busy week's worth of church activities on top of the normal duties of raising 5 children and it had simply slipped her mind. As a pastor's wife she was often entertaining guests and she and Donald hardly ever spoke anymore anyway, the church just took up too much time and she couldn't actually recall a time in their marriage when they did much talking. Her parent's hardly spoke, why should she be any different she knew what marriages were for and what her role was to be, Donald had many sermons concerning this subject.
* * * * *
In the early sixties the Evangelical denomination made it final succession from the United Methodists. Donald served as the first Superintendent for the denomination,
during that time he was one of the many that laid in place the doctrines that would help keep the Evangelical church true to the fundamentals of true Christian faith. After he had served his term Sobotka became a well respected name within the entire denomination. Donald was at the time truly happy he felt comfortable and respected; there was no questioning of his beliefs, there had been very clear rules laid out by the denomination as safe guards against it, there was a balance, and for once, Donald was at the center of it.
At first Donald did not notice the slow erosion of the traditional doctrines within the church. Sure he thought, the civil rights and women's movement had changed the way they worded things but the spirit of the message was still there. Donald had, for the last 20 years been serving as the pastor at a small church in a coastal Oregon town. There he held a modest but consistent congregation who seemed to enjoy the atmosphere of the church life, and Donald, as he aged his sermons became more and more tame, and when challenged in the religious arena, he would just smile and reply, "Well, all I can say is that I preach the bible, and the bible only."
When it came time for Donald to retire, he complied reluctantly and finished out his six months with a great deal grace, ensuring the congregation that whoever comes to replace him would be wonderful and that he had full faith in the denomination's choice for their next pastor.
During his final sermon Donald took 4 hours to preach, for the most part it was just an ode to what he believed was the greatest accomplishment of his life, being a key hand in fighting the liberal tide within the Methodist church until they found that it was
impossible to save and in a final moral and legal battle the church found their freedom and since then the church has represented all that was right about that fight. When he was finished a black woman in her middle 20's came up to him and asked, "Which 'liberal tide' were you fighting?"
"Excuse me?" replied Donald.
"What exactly were the liberal issues that the denomination was concerned about during the split with the Methodist church?" said the woman as she slowly smiled.
"Well there were many, if you don't mind young lady I have to meet the new pastor of our church."
"Weren't the major issues concerned those of the ordination of women, and the acceptance of segregation?"
"Well, I, ahem, I'd like to talk to you about this further but I really have to-"
"Hello Donald Sobotka, my name is Diane Robinson and I'm here to become this church's next pastor."
* * * * *
Donald had immediately phoned the superintendent's office and demanded to speak with him. Donald wasn't sure if this was some sort of mix-up or what, all he knew was that he had missed the general conference a few months back and that this had to be some sort of goodbye practical joke.
When the superintendent got on the phone it was a voice that Donald did not recognize, apparently during the last conference a new superintendent had been appointed and he had started to make changes. In a groundbreaking decision he had decided to allow women into pastoral positions. He tried to explain this to Donald but about halfway through the explanation Donald had set the phone down and walked away. He knew as of the end of his sermon that he was retired, and although he could go to conferences and attend Evangelical church, he no longer had any say in the denomination's choices. He was no longer a pastor.
* * * * *
Donald sat in the end of the pew staring out the window as she spoke, he stared emptily across the street at the Calvinist church. That church still had a man preaching, a voice he imagined that seemed familiar reading the good book. He had resigned himself to at least staying within the church community coming to the services and acting happy enough with the set up. He had stopped listening to the sermons because he could not stand the sound of that voice reading his book, and besides, it seemed like every sermon was about Jesus. Every good pastor Donald knew had taught him that it was best to stick to Paul's writings, Paul's are less slippery, more direct, black and white.
Donald learned to control his temper by reading the hymnal during the sermons, and taking out his hearing aids. During that time he once again achieved peace.
Then a letter came for Donald. It was addressed to him from his daughter Shirley. He couldn't remember the last time he had heard from her, which was due to the fact that he hadn't heard from her for 14 years.
The letter from his daughter was short and direct, it read:
Dear Donald,
I'm writing you to inform you of some sad news about Robert, he is in police custody, he
has been accused of child molestation. I'm sorry that this is the only news we have right now.
Your Daughter,
Shirley
Donald called and found out that his son had been living only an hour away from him in south east Portland for over five years now, he had been working in a Christian preschool, he was accused of sexually abusing three young boys.
Donald left at once. When he arrived at the county jail he asked to see his son, he was led a room that was divided in two by heavy sheets of plexi-glass with desks facing each other on either side. He was led to a desk and when he was seated he saw Robert enter and sit across from him. Robert's glasses were smashed and his mustache was thick with blood from his nose, both of his eyes were black and one was slightly bleeding. Robert was crying. For some time Donald sat silent watching his only son weep. Then he started to cry. Why he asked God, why have you done this to me, why have you plagued my life with this sickness? It was Robert who answered his question, "You! You did this to me! You were never around to protect me and when Uncle Steven came and hurt me you were gone, always gone. You're father may have been a drunk, but at least when he was gone from your life he never claimed to be doing God's work. You're a junkie to the Holy fucking Ghost dad, didn't you ever see that? No one in our family talks to you. Do you want to know why Mom killed herself? Do you? It was you, the only thing we ever wanted was your love, but we knew that God came first. I blame you father, you never protected us like you did your goddamn church. You let me be hurt so that I would hurt others."
Donald was disgusted, he stood up and walked out. On his way back home he started to balk, he knew he had let down his family, but it was in the calling placed upon him by God. To serve his church. His church. His...he knew what he had to do. He had to take back what was rightfully his.
* * * * *
"I have come for my congregation."
Everyone is silent and still, recognizing the voice of authority standing behind them in the door way of the sanctuary.
Although the church had swelled in size during Diane's time as pastor everyone had met Donald and knew he was the old pastor, the one before Diane. They all turned to see him. Donald strode up between the pews and as he did he said, "I have come to take back my congregation, to take it back from the hands of you woman, you who have flaunted your sinful teaching for two long, don't think I haven't noticed, for example we both know exactly what the Bible says about homosexuality, and in the three month's you have not dedicated one single sermon to the issue, also, where is the teaching about a woman's place in the church, have you forgotten? Or how about a woman's place in the church? Huh, well young lady I believe it is time for you quit playing around and come down from there, I belong up there and you do not."
#
Everyone is silent and still, recognizing the voice of authority standing behind them in the door way of the sanctuary.
* * * * *
Pastor Donald Sobotka had been born the second oldest of 5 children.
Donald's mother was devout Christian and she would take all of her children to church every Sunday and Wednesday. His earliest memories are of the Christmas play in the rural town's only Methodist church, he was the baby Jesus.
Donald's father was a farmer, he did not believe in god. On Sundays and Wednesdays he would stay home and drink. Donald's second earliest memory is watching his father vomiting.
When Donald was ten years old his mother gave birth to his youngest sister, his sister survived the night, his mother did not. After his mother died Donald and his siblings stopped attending church, his father told them that church was just a bunch of bullshit.
When Donald was 13 his Uncle Robert moved in with his family. Uncle Robert had never been married, sometimes when Donald's father was asleep from drinking too much alcohol Uncle Robert would make Donald's younger brother Steven come into his room. Every time Steven came back to the bedroom he shared with Donald he would be crying. No one in the house spoke about what went on.
When Donald turned 18 he enlisted in the armed forces to go and fight the Japanese. In the Navy he began drinking. One night when he was drinking alone, he thought about how all the other soldiers talked about their families. He began to cry.
The only friend Donald made in the army was named Jonathan. Donald liked talking with Jonathan because he funny, but the main reason he liked Jonathan because Jonathan never talked his family or girls back home, he only ever talked about drinking how much he hated being the Navy. Donald liked talking about those things; they kept him from feeling alone and crying.
Three months into his service, Donald's ship came to port on a small island in the south pacific, the crew was told that they had the next three days free to go and enjoy themselves. Donald followed Jonathan to a bar that night. When they were both drunk Jonathan suggested that he and Donald go to a brothel, Donald followed him to the brothel.
Donald was eager to have sex and he picked his prostitute and left Jonathan to pick his.
After Donald had sex with his prostitute he fell asleep quickly, drunk and exhausted. Donald was awakened in the middle of the night to the sobbing of a child. Donald had heard that sobbing before.
* * * * *
Donald is jolted from his sleep, he is still drunk but the sound that woke him up clears his mind instantly. It's the sound that Steven would make when Uncle Robert was molesting him. He had long forgotten that sound and how it made him feel, he had forced it away, because he was helpless then, but now with the wounds reopened, he couldn't help himself. He slowly got up from his bed and broke off a leg from the single chair in his room. He then walked, naked, out of the room and down the hall to the door where the noises were coming from. He stood listening outside the door, preparing himself for the task he had committed himself to do 5 years ago.
With one motion Donald kicked in the door to the bedroom and stepped quickly inside, he saw what he knew he would but far worse and far more real than what he was prepared for. Staring up at him were the blood shot, tear stained eyes of a young Filipino boy, who had not even registered Donald's entrance, grimacing in pain, behind him Jonathan was white from surprise, stammering and scared.
Donald shut the door behind him and with one blow crushed the skull of Jonathan. In that instant every memory of the painful childhood he lived after his mothers death came back to him, and as each memory came and passed he felt it vindicated, and he was finally lifted from his detached emotional state in which he had viewed himself and the story of his life.
Donald quickly leaves the room walks back into his own and gathers his things, frantic and paranoid what he has just done is finally real, and the consequences are looming. As he walks out of the bordello he hears the unmistakable sound of the gun ship, he begins to run.
Donald is one of the last men to board the ship as it leaves, fleeing from the Japanese fleet.
* * * * *
A week later Donald received a message from back home. He wasn't expecting anything from back home. The letter was from his sister Lorna it was short and direct, it read:
Dear Donald,
I'm writing you to inform you of some sad news about Steven, he is in police custody, they have accused him of child molestation. I'm sorry that this is the only news we have right now.
Your Sister,
Lorna
Donald rushed to the bathroom and spend the next hour weeping and gnashing his teeth.
Donald finally gets up from his bed and dries his eyes. All of the release, the taste of victory over childhood demons has left him, he lays and searches for a cause, a beginning to his painful years. Over the next day he sits, obsessed, and finally a memory comes in the form of a song:
"Swing lo, sweet chariot
coming for to carry me home.
Swing lo, sweet char-i-ot
coming for to carry me hoooome"
Hymn. Church. Mother.
"That's it, that is it!" Donald exclaims.
His mother's death was the cause of this, he was sure of it, his mother had always
protected them, had always cherished them, she loved them. Donald was now at an impasse, he knew he could never bring his mother back, but he needed something, something to hold onto, he then found it. With his mother went his God.
* * * * *
When the chaplain looks up to see Donald come into the room he is surprised on two fronts, first that the blasphemous private would even step inside this office on his own volition, and second that Donald has an _expression aside from longing or drunken anger. Donald comes in quickly and sits down across the desk from the chaplain, he begins to speak but has a few false starts, finally he says, "Chaplin, I want to have God back in my life."
"That's wonderful, what has caused you change of heart Donald?", responds the chaplain.
"It's my brother, and my mother, and, and Chaplin, I need to make a confession."
"Not to me, Donald, I'm not a priest and you don't need one, save your confession for God."
"No chaplain, I-"
"Donald, stop whatever you did God will forgive you, and with God's forgiveness you must go forth and forgive the world as a being in Christ. Are you ready to ask Jesus into your heart?"
* * * * *
After the war had ended Donald, burning with a religious fervor ended up in Oskaloosa, Iowa studying at Vernard College to become an ordained minister.
During his college years he makes close friendships with the professors who are starting to split from mainstream Methodist doctrine. These splinter professors believe that the general Methodist denomination is becoming too loose in it's moral prerogatives regarding fundamental Christian doctrine concerning issues such as "mixed marriages" and the rise of insubordinate women within the church who keep pushing to be allowed to preach from the pulpit. Donald thrived in an environment so straight forward, so simple, and through careful studying he slowly became one of the professors, or at least one of the few Christians that still held true to the letter of the God Breathed scriptures.
During his time is Oskaloosa he met a woman named Gladys, Gladys was the minister's daughter and only 4 years younger than Donald, their courtship was short and at the cautious advice of his Apologetic's teacher he was married to her in little over 4 months.
By the time of Donald's graduation he was already a father, a Junior pastor at his church, and perhaps most importantly to him, a leading force in the call for a split within the Methodist church, the group called themselves The Evangelicals and they were slowly amassing a formidable faction within the church.
During this time in the church's history Donald rarely spent more than two weeks out of the month at home with Gladys and his children. He was as strongly in the hands of the movement as his father was in the hands of alcohol, following suit his family life began to suffer.
One evening, during a two week planning conference in Minneapolis that Donald was attending, Gladys received a phone call from someone who claimed to be her
husband's brother, he told her that he would be in town for a few days on business and inquired as to whether it would be alright if he could come and visit for a few days, and finally meet his brother's wife and family. Gladys has no reason to fear any of Donald's family, he has never even talked about them to her, Gladys thinks back to one of Donald's sermons on giving to others and agrees to let him come over.
"Hello little boy what's your name?" asks Steven.
"My name is Robert and I'm 8 years old and I'm my mommy's only boy!" replies Donald's oldest son.
"Where's your daddy?"
"He's away, he's always away."
* * * * *
Donald never did hear about Steven's overnight stay, by the time he came back Gladys had had a busy week's worth of church activities on top of the normal duties of raising 5 children and it had simply slipped her mind. As a pastor's wife she was often entertaining guests and she and Donald hardly ever spoke anymore anyway, the church just took up too much time and she couldn't actually recall a time in their marriage when they did much talking. Her parent's hardly spoke, why should she be any different she knew what marriages were for and what her role was to be, Donald had many sermons concerning this subject.
* * * * *
In the early sixties the Evangelical denomination made it final succession from the United Methodists. Donald served as the first Superintendent for the denomination,
during that time he was one of the many that laid in place the doctrines that would help keep the Evangelical church true to the fundamentals of true Christian faith. After he had served his term Sobotka became a well respected name within the entire denomination. Donald was at the time truly happy he felt comfortable and respected; there was no questioning of his beliefs, there had been very clear rules laid out by the denomination as safe guards against it, there was a balance, and for once, Donald was at the center of it.
At first Donald did not notice the slow erosion of the traditional doctrines within the church. Sure he thought, the civil rights and women's movement had changed the way they worded things but the spirit of the message was still there. Donald had, for the last 20 years been serving as the pastor at a small church in a coastal Oregon town. There he held a modest but consistent congregation who seemed to enjoy the atmosphere of the church life, and Donald, as he aged his sermons became more and more tame, and when challenged in the religious arena, he would just smile and reply, "Well, all I can say is that I preach the bible, and the bible only."
When it came time for Donald to retire, he complied reluctantly and finished out his six months with a great deal grace, ensuring the congregation that whoever comes to replace him would be wonderful and that he had full faith in the denomination's choice for their next pastor.
During his final sermon Donald took 4 hours to preach, for the most part it was just an ode to what he believed was the greatest accomplishment of his life, being a key hand in fighting the liberal tide within the Methodist church until they found that it was
impossible to save and in a final moral and legal battle the church found their freedom and since then the church has represented all that was right about that fight. When he was finished a black woman in her middle 20's came up to him and asked, "Which 'liberal tide' were you fighting?"
"Excuse me?" replied Donald.
"What exactly were the liberal issues that the denomination was concerned about during the split with the Methodist church?" said the woman as she slowly smiled.
"Well there were many, if you don't mind young lady I have to meet the new pastor of our church."
"Weren't the major issues concerned those of the ordination of women, and the acceptance of segregation?"
"Well, I, ahem, I'd like to talk to you about this further but I really have to-"
"Hello Donald Sobotka, my name is Diane Robinson and I'm here to become this church's next pastor."
* * * * *
Donald had immediately phoned the superintendent's office and demanded to speak with him. Donald wasn't sure if this was some sort of mix-up or what, all he knew was that he had missed the general conference a few months back and that this had to be some sort of goodbye practical joke.
When the superintendent got on the phone it was a voice that Donald did not recognize, apparently during the last conference a new superintendent had been appointed and he had started to make changes. In a groundbreaking decision he had decided to allow women into pastoral positions. He tried to explain this to Donald but about halfway through the explanation Donald had set the phone down and walked away. He knew as of the end of his sermon that he was retired, and although he could go to conferences and attend Evangelical church, he no longer had any say in the denomination's choices. He was no longer a pastor.
* * * * *
Donald sat in the end of the pew staring out the window as she spoke, he stared emptily across the street at the Calvinist church. That church still had a man preaching, a voice he imagined that seemed familiar reading the good book. He had resigned himself to at least staying within the church community coming to the services and acting happy enough with the set up. He had stopped listening to the sermons because he could not stand the sound of that voice reading his book, and besides, it seemed like every sermon was about Jesus. Every good pastor Donald knew had taught him that it was best to stick to Paul's writings, Paul's are less slippery, more direct, black and white.
Donald learned to control his temper by reading the hymnal during the sermons, and taking out his hearing aids. During that time he once again achieved peace.
Then a letter came for Donald. It was addressed to him from his daughter Shirley. He couldn't remember the last time he had heard from her, which was due to the fact that he hadn't heard from her for 14 years.
The letter from his daughter was short and direct, it read:
Dear Donald,
I'm writing you to inform you of some sad news about Robert, he is in police custody, he
has been accused of child molestation. I'm sorry that this is the only news we have right now.
Your Daughter,
Shirley
Donald called and found out that his son had been living only an hour away from him in south east Portland for over five years now, he had been working in a Christian preschool, he was accused of sexually abusing three young boys.
Donald left at once. When he arrived at the county jail he asked to see his son, he was led a room that was divided in two by heavy sheets of plexi-glass with desks facing each other on either side. He was led to a desk and when he was seated he saw Robert enter and sit across from him. Robert's glasses were smashed and his mustache was thick with blood from his nose, both of his eyes were black and one was slightly bleeding. Robert was crying. For some time Donald sat silent watching his only son weep. Then he started to cry. Why he asked God, why have you done this to me, why have you plagued my life with this sickness? It was Robert who answered his question, "You! You did this to me! You were never around to protect me and when Uncle Steven came and hurt me you were gone, always gone. You're father may have been a drunk, but at least when he was gone from your life he never claimed to be doing God's work. You're a junkie to the Holy fucking Ghost dad, didn't you ever see that? No one in our family talks to you. Do you want to know why Mom killed herself? Do you? It was you, the only thing we ever wanted was your love, but we knew that God came first. I blame you father, you never protected us like you did your goddamn church. You let me be hurt so that I would hurt others."
Donald was disgusted, he stood up and walked out. On his way back home he started to balk, he knew he had let down his family, but it was in the calling placed upon him by God. To serve his church. His church. His...he knew what he had to do. He had to take back what was rightfully his.
* * * * *
"I have come for my congregation."
Everyone is silent and still, recognizing the voice of authority standing behind them in the door way of the sanctuary.
Although the church had swelled in size during Diane's time as pastor everyone had met Donald and knew he was the old pastor, the one before Diane. They all turned to see him. Donald strode up between the pews and as he did he said, "I have come to take back my congregation, to take it back from the hands of you woman, you who have flaunted your sinful teaching for two long, don't think I haven't noticed, for example we both know exactly what the Bible says about homosexuality, and in the three month's you have not dedicated one single sermon to the issue, also, where is the teaching about a woman's place in the church, have you forgotten? Or how about a woman's place in the church? Huh, well young lady I believe it is time for you quit playing around and come down from there, I belong up there and you do not."
#