We got to the church
and it was startin' to fill up. Grandma found a seat in the first row and saved
space for me and Momma. Momma was sweatin' real bad. She wiped her forehead
with a handkerchief. We sat down next to Grandma. Momma wiped her face again.
The organ player was
a fat man with a gheri curl. He was smilin' real hard and sweatin' even harder.
He was bangin' out the sounds and people was standin' up swayin', wavin' they
hands and sayin' "yes, Lord!"Grandma was tappin' her foot. She had on a small blue hat with lace around it. I had never seen it before and started to wonder where she kept it. It was nice. The choir started singin' and it was like heaven opened right up. The singin' was loud, real loud, and the sound from the speakers on the stage went right through our bodies. We could feel they praise. One young girl in the choir, she was probably my age, started singin' this song, "Oh Happy Day." She let out that voice and the people started shoutin' louder. They was tappin' they feet. Some stood up and shouted, yellin’ for her to go on. A couple people was even dancin' in the aisles. The young girl was usin' her whole body to get the words out. It was like she was vibratin’. I looked over at Momma and it looked like she was cryin'. Although she could have just been sweatin’. She wiped her eyes. Grandma was singin' along. I hadn't heard her sing since I was a real little kid, and I forgot she had a good singin' voice. She sounded real good.
The new pastor of the church came from around back and walked to the podium. He had on a dark gray suit with a bright yellow tie. He was young with a mustache and slicked back hair. The young girl was just finishin’ the song. The people was full of energy and smilin' and cryin' and fannin’ themselves. They was clappin’ and clappin’. The young girl smiled and moved back to her place in the choir.
"Let the church
say Amen," the pastor said.
"Amen," the
church said.
"God has truly
blessed us with the voices of angels. Amen?"
"Amen," the
church said.
"Lord said, seek
me, and you shall find me. And church, I see some of y’all are seekin’.
Amen."
"Amen."
"Yes,
Lord," one woman said behind us. I looked back and saw she was wearin’ a
big pink hat.
"But church,
there are many out there, many sheep, who have strayed from the flock.
Amen."
"Amen."
"And church,
these sheep, these sheep who have strayed, church, they've found other things
to sustain them. They're not sustained by the Word! Church, they're not sustained
by the Lord! Amen."
"Amen.""No church, they have found gangs, and, and drugs. They're not sustained by the risen Christ. Now, now, Jesus said, judge not, lest ye be judged. So church, don't get me wrong today. Don't get me wrong.”
Some people chuckled.
"I don't want to
judge the sheep who are grazin’ on the food of gang bangin’ and drugs. No,
church. I want to steer these lost sheep back to the flock! I want them to be
sustained by the Word of Christ. Can the church say Amen?"
"Amen!" the
church said. He went on some more about the evil of gangs and drugs. I thought
about some crackheads and boofers in our neighborhood. I wondered if they
thought drugs was evil. The preacher went on some more and after a few minutes
the choir started singin' again. After hearin’ a song I never heard before, the
young girl came back to the front of the stage and started singin' again.
"Sinner pleeeeaaaasse!" she called out. It sent chills through the church.
Her voice, and those words, sent an energy through everybody. All of a sudden
it was like she was a lot older than me, at least like 50 years old, and had a
long, hard life. Like she had been through things that grown ups go through.
She wasn’t a little kid like me. Not right now. Not while she was singin’ this
song. I could feel it. Seemed like everybody else could, too. “Sinner, pleeeeaaase don’t let this harvest pass,” she sang. “And die and lose your soul at last.”
I looked over at Momma
and she was definitely cryin’ this time. But she was also smilin’.
“You okay, Momma?” I
asked.She just nodded. I looked at Grandma and she was just tappin’ her foot with no look on her face.
“See where Christ has died for you
and me,” the girl went on. “My God is a mighty man of war.”
She sang some more
and it was like the Holy Ghost, whatever the Holy Ghost was, was right there
with us. There was so much energy, smilin’, cryin’, dancin’, wavin’ and
faintin’. After the song ended everyone clapped. The old woman who was singin’
was now a young girl again, walkin’ back to her place in the choir.
The pastor came back
to the stage and preached some more about sinners and acceptin’ them, not
judgin’ them. I found a loose thread on my shirt and started to play with it. I
didn’t hear much more after that. Church ended a while later and Momma and Grandma
didn't say nothin'. We got up and walked out the buildin’. We started walkin’
home. Grandma was already a few steps ahead of us.
