Three Cans of Soup (2 page)

Benny looked right at Bill, paused and then said, “I hope we can be friends. I don’t know what you heard about our last pastor, Reverend Elliott, but he and I did not see eye to eye on several things.”

Taking another sip of his wine, Benny continued. “Now please don’t misunderstand: disagreement not a problem for me. I am a businessman and have been involved in local politics, so disagreement comes with the territory. But Reverend Elliott just did not seem to have what it takes to help this church to grow. I love this church. My family has been members for generations. The only exception is my son Derrick, who you might have heard is a member of First Presbyterian.” Benny said this with a chuckle, but there seemed to be something more underneath his comment.

“I am excited to be here,” Bill said. “We didn’t have much time to really talk during my interviews but I picked up on how loved you and Rose are by the members of the church. Isn’t the lounge named in Rose’s honor?”

Benny bowed his head slightly and spoke quietly. “Yes. We gave most of the money and I was so grateful that the church decided to dedicate the lounge to Rose. She really deserved the recognition, but it was the church’s idea. I actually tried to talk them out of it, but in the end I felt it was quite an honor!” With that Benny finished his wine and suggested they rejoin the women.

After they had left, Bill and Sharon compared notes. The couple was nice but Sharon pointed out that Rose was not all that pleased that Sharon was working.

“She sort of hinted that a pastor’s wife should not work but then added that times had changed since she grew up,” Sharon related with a smile. “She actually said that she felt a woman’s place was in the home!” Then Sharon added that Rose was polite and gracious and had mentioned that they were personal friends with the president of the college.

That evening, Sharon and Bill retired to bed with Jerry and Pepper pushing for space on their king-sized bed. All in all, it had been a good day and a good beginning. Bill was anxious to get to church and begin setting up his office. Sharon was excited about starting at the college after Christmas. Christmas was a little over a month away.

Sharon leaned over and kissed Bill. After a few moments she said, “Wow, our first Christmas in our new home. I can hardly wait to begin decorating. Maybe we should just begin putting up the decorations as we unpack. . .” Bill was already snoring.

It took some time to travel from the suburbs to the church. The light snow that had fallen on moving day had now been replaced with a cold drizzle. As Bill approached the square he was again impressed with the quaint businesses and restaurants that surrounded the old courthouse. He turned east, and one block off the central square was Central Church. Bill noted that the large sign in front of the church had already been changed to read: “Reverend Bill Thompson, Minister”.

The church offices were located in the educational building that had been built in the 1960s and updated in the 1990s. With the sanctuary, educational building and large parking lot, Central Avenue indeed was still a large congregation by denominational standards. With an attendance of over two hundred, it was one of the larger churches in the district. However, Central, as many mainline churches, was now being dwarfed by the non-denominational churches popping up. One such church, New Covenant, was located near Taylor Street where Bill and Sharon lived. The huge edifice was very modern-looking and took up more than two blocks. There was evidence of continuing construction. Attendance, Bill had been told during his interviews, was in the thousands and growing. Some hoped that Bill could turn the slow but steady decline of Central around.

What made Central attractive was that it still had a large budget, supported primarily by the Lewis’s and their friends. The church also had a reputation for its generous support of the denominational causes, which placed its senior minister into a special category.

Central also had a staff. No longer would Bill have to be all things to all people. Suzanne, the associate pastor, was in her thirties. She carried a portfolio that included education, children’s ministry, and occasional preaching. Jimmy worked with the youth groups. Other staff included a secretary, financial secretary, custodians, choir director, bell choir director, and several organists. It would be quite a change from the small churches Bill had led in the past.

As Bill walked into the outer office with Jerry beside him he noted that the office was decorated in a style reminiscent of the 1980s. A potpourri of desks and chairs were arranged around the room. The computers and machines that crowded the tables looked out of place, as if two eras were being crammed together and protesting loudly. At the crowded table with a maze of wires sat Mabel, a slightly overweight woman in her early sixties. Mabel had been the church secretary for years. It was obvious from her demeanor that she was a professional. She greeted Bill with a cheery “hello”, reached over to pet Jerry and shared that she and her husband had three dogs.

“Is he a lab?” Mabel asked as she rubbed behind Jerry’s ear.

“We have no real idea,” Bill replied. “We think he is but we actually found him on the roadside. He is mostly lab but might have some other breeds mixed in. He is a delight, however!”

“He is so cute,” Mabel said as Bill pulled Jerry close to him. Looking back up, Mabel continued, “Well, again, welcome to the church. Many of us are really excited that you are here. Suzanne Crawford, our associate, would like to meet with you tomorrow or whenever you get settled in. I think she is going to drop by later today to see if she can help you and Sharon with anything.”

“That would be great. I met her during my interviews and she seems like a very good minister. I am looking forward to working with her.”

“She is a real treasure,” Mabel said handing Bill a set of keys. “Also, Jimmy is out of town visiting his parents this week. He will be back next week and wants to brief you on the Christmas party for the youth planned for the week before Christmas. He wanted to invite you to come and to share a devotional if you have the time.”

Mabel and Bill talked on for a few moments longer. Mabel explained which key went where, went over their computer passwords, and showed him around the outer office. After a bit, Bill and Jerry went into his office.

Bill’s office was nicely decorated. A large desk and high-backed chair seemed to dominate the room. A small couch and chair were at one end of the rectangular room. Bookcases dominated the other two walls. Stacked in the middle of the room were the boxes of Bill’s books and personal office stuff.

Bill began to unpack the first of his boxes. He opened the one marked, “Open first” and placed his personal mementos on his desk. There were pictures of his family, pictures of his parents, both of whom had died, and pictures of Jerry. Jerry set about exploring the room. He finally decided that the couch was a great place to stretch out and take a nap. Just as Bill was unpacking some of his books and placing them on a shelf, he heard his door open. Mabel poked her head in, apologized, and said someone wanted to see him. She whispered to him that it was Benny Lewis. There was something in the way she said those words that conveyed something more than a mere announcement.

Benny walked into the office right past Mable, extending his hand and telling Mabel that he would like some tea. “Bill,” Benny said, and then paused and added, “I never did ask you if you prefer Bill or Reverend Thompson?”

“Bill is fine,” Bill replied, standing up from his unpacking and gesturing for Benny to have a seat. Benny reached over and patted his dog on the head as Jerry acknowledged Bill’s command to take a seat in the corner, out of the way.

“Your dog is a fine one. Do you bring him to the office often?” Benny said as Bill told Jerry to sit down and not to bother people.

“Sometimes,” Bill said. “Is that a problem?”

“Not at all,” Benny said but it was the tone that said what he really thought. Getting up, Benny continued, “I don’t want to bother you. I just came by to welcome you and to invite you and Sharon to join Rose and me at the Country Club Friday evening, say around seven?”

It seemed to Bill that this was not a question, but he and Sharon had always had a standing rule to consult with each other before making evening commitments. “Let me give Sharon a call and I will get right back with you. I think it would be great and no problem, but let me check first,” Bill said speaking much too fast, he noted to himself. He also noted the slight disapproval on the face of Benny at the suggestion that he had to check with Sharon. Catching himself, Bill quickly changed the subject as Benny nodded and began looking around the room at some of Bill’s books.

“You like this author?” Benny said picking up a book.

Deciding to take a neutral position and not admit that he actually loved that particular controversial religious writer, Bill said that he loved to read all kinds of authors.

“I really don’t think this guy is even a Christian. His views are just too radical for me, but I guess you ministers have to sort of know what the enemy is doing. Keep your enemies close and your friends at arm’s length!” Benny said with a laugh. “Well, I need to be going. If you and Sharon need anything, do not hesitate to call.”

With that he left. Mabel looked in and asked if Bill needed anything. She was going out to take some mail to the post office. Bill detected the slightest hint of a frown on Mabel’s face as Benny was leaving.

“Oh, yes. I made some coffee. Suzanne said she will stop by shortly. Anything you need?”

“No, and thanks for the coffee,” Bill said as once again Jerry and Mabel hit it off.

Suzanne arrived a few moments after Mabel left.

Bill welcomed Suzanne, as did Jerry.

“What a beautiful dog!” Suzanne said, rubbing the lab’s ears. She settled on the couch and Jerry immediately jumped up beside her.

“We named him Jeremiah after the prophet but it just didn’t seem to fit. So, we call him Jerry!” Bill signaled for Jerry to sit down, with no effect.

After a few moments of petting, Suzanne added, “I won’t take up much time; I just wanted to stop by and welcome you. I don’t know if you have been told, but we normally have a staff meeting every Monday. You are free to change that or cancel it, it is your choice.” Suzanne had been instrumental in holding the church together after the sudden firing of Reverend Elliott. She had kept her opinions to herself, but Bill suspected there was more to the story than the official version he had heard from the church.

“No, Monday will be fine. I have heard good things about you and Jimmy. I am looking forward to meeting him again when he gets back.”

Bill looked at the stack of boxes and sighed. He hated this part of moving. Grabbing Jerry, he walked out of the office, told Mabel he was going to the hospital to check if any members were there and then going on home.

Arriving at home, Bill noticed that a strange car was parked in the driveway. Entering the house, Bill saw that two members had dropped by and were seated on the couch in conversation with Sharon.

Sharon stood up as Bill entered. “Honey, this is Sarah and Tom Jenkins. They just stopped by to welcome us and to bring us dinner. Spaghetti and salad,” Sharon added. Tom stood up and offered his hand to Bill. Tom was over six feet tall, balding but in good shape for someone in his early forties. Sarah stood and greeted Bill. She was younger than Tom. They had met at a singles group after their divorces. Tom worked as a consultant and Sarah ran her own travel agency.

“We know that you two are very busy,” Tom said, sitting down and sipping from his coffee mug. “We have moved before and know how stressful it can be. I can’t imagine how it is with all these new people for you to meet.” It was not long before the couple got to the point.

Looking first at each other, Tom was the first to speak. “We don’t want to burden you but we felt we needed to share with you how some of us feel.” Bill shuffled slightly and looked at Sharon with that the-honeymoon-is-already-over look.

“No,” Tom said. “You both need to hear this.” Looking at Sarah, he continued slowly and quietly as though someone might hear. “We were very disappointed in how Reverend Elliott was dealt with. I don’t know if you know him, but Edward Elliott was our last pastor. We were very upset when the powers that be in this church fired him. He was trying to make some changes to attract younger people.”

“Like what?” Bill said. Sharon politely excused herself, sensing that the couple wanted to talk frankly with Bill. “If you don’t mind, I have to heat up dinner. Do you two want to join us?”

“Oh no,” Sarah said with Tom agreeing. “We won’t be long.”

Tom continued, “Now, we don’t want to come across as complainers. We are very happy that you and your wife are here. But some of us are not very pleased with how things are going at the church and you need to know that. We are hoping that you can help move some things forward.”

Remembering Bill’s question, Sarah added, “What Rev. Elliott tried to do was introduce some Praise music into worship and some multimedia. We even formed a committee to look at doing some remodeling in our sanctuary so we could do PowerPoint presentations and such. Ed introduced a lot of new ideas. He also got a lot of us involved in helping people in the community. He used to take groups to help out at the Second Street mission. But Benny and his group did not approve.”

“Of the worship changes or the social action,” Bill said, remembering Benny’s criticism of one of his favorite authors who advocated strongly that churches should be involved in justice issues.

“All of it. Benny would say that having a screen in the sanctuary disturbed the sacredness of worship. We never understood why he got so angry about going to the mission,” Sarah said with some rising emotion.

Tom continued where Sarah left off. “That’s right. Benny is known for his support of the mission and his help with the poor so the only thing we could figure is that he just had it in for Rev. Elliott.” Pausing for a moment, Tom continued, “Ed was a real friend and was there when we needed him. We just thought his sudden firing was unfair.”