Frank and Earnest Day 7 - The Last Day
Sunday morning dawned cold, crisp, and clear. Church goers began to gather at the football field well before the scheduled ten o’clock start. No one knew what to expect. When they arrived, they found a simple sign pointing up into the stands. On the field itself, were two folding chairs, one small lectern with a microphone plugged into a portable amplifier.
There was a huge turnout, far larger than a normal combination of both churches. Many of the people had not been to church in years. The violence earlier in the week unsettled the community and people were searching for answers.
Some of the normal church goers were nervous. There had been no fellowship time before the service, with coffee and doughnuts. No choir was present. No prelude organ music. Deacons had no special seats. In fact, the two congregations merged with the non-church people so that separate, distinct groups could not be identified.
At 10:00 sharp, Brother Reynolds (Frank) and Reverend Matthews (Earnest) walked out to the field and sat in the two folding chairs. Neither talked – they just sat there, completely immobile.
Ten minutes passed. Ten minutes of anticipation and silence. Even the children up in the stands were quiet.
At ten minutes after ten, a small girl began to timidly sing,
“Jesus loves the little children…”
Slowly, the people around joined in,
“All the children of the world.”
By the end of the verse, the entire congregation had joined in. They sang the same verse two more times, and then, as if on queue, they stopped.
Frank rose from his chair and walked up to the lectern.
“Thank y’all for coming today. And thank you for that wonderful song. It is so appropriate, more than most of you know.
“As you have probably heard, my good friend Ernie, I mean Reverend Matthews..”
“Ernie is fine, Frank.”
“Okay, my good friend Ernie and I were eating lunch in the town square earlier this week, as we have been doing for the quite some time.
“We were talking shop talk. And on this day, evolution was the topic of choice. We shared our own opinions, knowing no minds would be changed that day, but you know how preachers love to talk. And since we were eating at the same time, we both were having a great time.
“A young boy, turns out Tommie was his name, was apparently listening to us, but we didn’t know this at the time. He came to our table and sat down and asked us a few questions.”
At this point, Frank began to choke up. Earnest stood up, walked over, put his arm around Frank and said, “Sit down for a bit, Frank. I’ll take it.
“As Frank was saying, Tommie was asking some questions about what we had said. Neither one of us knew Tommie, and we didn’t know how much he could really understand about this very complex issue, so we tried to stay light.
“Light, that is, until Tommie pulled out a pistol he had been hiding. The rest is a blur to both of us, but the papers said the police were forced to shoot and kill Tommie before he could shoot one of us.”
Earnest began to shake at this point. Frank returned to the microphone, letting Earnest gather himself.
“People, Tommie died in a confused state. And we, Ernie and I, missed our chance to unconfuse him. Or at least give him some real facts he could hold on to.
“Now, I’m not saying we missed the chance to support our individual stands on evolution. I’m saying that we missed the chance, and in this case, the last chance to tell Tommie what the real facts are.
“And here are the real facts people. Evolution. Abortion. War. Politics. Dating. Alcohol. All these are grains of sand. They come, they go. They are not the rock our faith, the rock our very lives are built on.
“Our faith, our lives are built on two base truths:
“1. God is God.
“2. God loves each one of us.”
Earnest rejoined Frank and took over the microphone.
“Two base truths. First, God is God. It doesn’t matter if you believe in Him, He is God. It doesn’t matter how many churches there are, or if there aren’t any churches. He is God.”
Frank repeated it. “God is God.”
Earnest continued, “and base fact number two: God loves each one of us. He doesn’t love you because of what you do, what you say, who you are. He loves each one of us.”
Frank jumped in. “He loves us when we are good and when we are bad. He loves us when we are in step with Him, and when we act as if we had never heard of Him.”
Earnest: “He loves us when we tell others of Him, and ….”
Frank: “… even when we miss the last chance to.”
Earnest continued.
“Repeat after me please. God is God.”
The congregation repeated it softly.
Frank grabbed the microphone.
“I’m sorry, did y’all whisper something.”
This time, the congregation chanted “God is God” louder.
“Did you hear something, Ernie?”
“I heard something Frank, but I couldn’t tell what it was.”
This time the entire crowd rose to their feet, as if the football team had just scored a touchdown and shouted, “God is God.”
Frank: “Yes, God is God.”
Earnest: “And God loves each one of us.”
The people needed no prompting, shouting “God loves each one of us.”
Earnest: “Two base facts on which all else should be built.”
Frank: “From this minute forward, I pledge to strive that in everything I do, those two facts are my base.”
Earnest: “I join you in that pledge.”
------------
Things were never quite the same in that small town. A small plaque was placed in the town square three months later. It read simply, “Tommie Flannery.” Just those two words. Visitors to the town square didn’t understand it, but the townspeople did.
The First United Methodist Church and Calvary Baptist church continued to retain their separate identities,. Their congregations began to grow steadily. Both churches made it a scheduled point to get together at least once a month for fellowship, worship, and fun.
Each Thursday, Frank and Earnest continued to meet to eat lunch. And the continued to discuss the hot topics of the day. The biggest change in their lunch time meetings is that they always started their gathering with “God is God. And God loves each one of us.” They ended each of their gatherings in the same way.
And to the best of their abilities, they lived their lives on these two base truths.
the end or is it the beginning?
There was a huge turnout, far larger than a normal combination of both churches. Many of the people had not been to church in years. The violence earlier in the week unsettled the community and people were searching for answers.
Some of the normal church goers were nervous. There had been no fellowship time before the service, with coffee and doughnuts. No choir was present. No prelude organ music. Deacons had no special seats. In fact, the two congregations merged with the non-church people so that separate, distinct groups could not be identified.
At 10:00 sharp, Brother Reynolds (Frank) and Reverend Matthews (Earnest) walked out to the field and sat in the two folding chairs. Neither talked – they just sat there, completely immobile.
Ten minutes passed. Ten minutes of anticipation and silence. Even the children up in the stands were quiet.
At ten minutes after ten, a small girl began to timidly sing,
“Jesus loves the little children…”
Slowly, the people around joined in,
“All the children of the world.”
By the end of the verse, the entire congregation had joined in. They sang the same verse two more times, and then, as if on queue, they stopped.
Frank rose from his chair and walked up to the lectern.
“Thank y’all for coming today. And thank you for that wonderful song. It is so appropriate, more than most of you know.
“As you have probably heard, my good friend Ernie, I mean Reverend Matthews..”
“Ernie is fine, Frank.”
“Okay, my good friend Ernie and I were eating lunch in the town square earlier this week, as we have been doing for the quite some time.
“We were talking shop talk. And on this day, evolution was the topic of choice. We shared our own opinions, knowing no minds would be changed that day, but you know how preachers love to talk. And since we were eating at the same time, we both were having a great time.
“A young boy, turns out Tommie was his name, was apparently listening to us, but we didn’t know this at the time. He came to our table and sat down and asked us a few questions.”
At this point, Frank began to choke up. Earnest stood up, walked over, put his arm around Frank and said, “Sit down for a bit, Frank. I’ll take it.
“As Frank was saying, Tommie was asking some questions about what we had said. Neither one of us knew Tommie, and we didn’t know how much he could really understand about this very complex issue, so we tried to stay light.
“Light, that is, until Tommie pulled out a pistol he had been hiding. The rest is a blur to both of us, but the papers said the police were forced to shoot and kill Tommie before he could shoot one of us.”
Earnest began to shake at this point. Frank returned to the microphone, letting Earnest gather himself.
“People, Tommie died in a confused state. And we, Ernie and I, missed our chance to unconfuse him. Or at least give him some real facts he could hold on to.
“Now, I’m not saying we missed the chance to support our individual stands on evolution. I’m saying that we missed the chance, and in this case, the last chance to tell Tommie what the real facts are.
“And here are the real facts people. Evolution. Abortion. War. Politics. Dating. Alcohol. All these are grains of sand. They come, they go. They are not the rock our faith, the rock our very lives are built on.
“Our faith, our lives are built on two base truths:
“1. God is God.
“2. God loves each one of us.”
Earnest rejoined Frank and took over the microphone.
“Two base truths. First, God is God. It doesn’t matter if you believe in Him, He is God. It doesn’t matter how many churches there are, or if there aren’t any churches. He is God.”
Frank repeated it. “God is God.”
Earnest continued, “and base fact number two: God loves each one of us. He doesn’t love you because of what you do, what you say, who you are. He loves each one of us.”
Frank jumped in. “He loves us when we are good and when we are bad. He loves us when we are in step with Him, and when we act as if we had never heard of Him.”
Earnest: “He loves us when we tell others of Him, and ….”
Frank: “… even when we miss the last chance to.”
Earnest continued.
“Repeat after me please. God is God.”
The congregation repeated it softly.
Frank grabbed the microphone.
“I’m sorry, did y’all whisper something.”
This time, the congregation chanted “God is God” louder.
“Did you hear something, Ernie?”
“I heard something Frank, but I couldn’t tell what it was.”
This time the entire crowd rose to their feet, as if the football team had just scored a touchdown and shouted, “God is God.”
Frank: “Yes, God is God.”
Earnest: “And God loves each one of us.”
The people needed no prompting, shouting “God loves each one of us.”
Earnest: “Two base facts on which all else should be built.”
Frank: “From this minute forward, I pledge to strive that in everything I do, those two facts are my base.”
Earnest: “I join you in that pledge.”
------------
Things were never quite the same in that small town. A small plaque was placed in the town square three months later. It read simply, “Tommie Flannery.” Just those two words. Visitors to the town square didn’t understand it, but the townspeople did.
The First United Methodist Church and Calvary Baptist church continued to retain their separate identities,. Their congregations began to grow steadily. Both churches made it a scheduled point to get together at least once a month for fellowship, worship, and fun.
Each Thursday, Frank and Earnest continued to meet to eat lunch. And the continued to discuss the hot topics of the day. The biggest change in their lunch time meetings is that they always started their gathering with “God is God. And God loves each one of us.” They ended each of their gatherings in the same way.
And to the best of their abilities, they lived their lives on these two base truths.
the end or is it the beginning?
posted by Jimmie C. | 10:14 AM
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