Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
The Wednesday evening Zion Lutheran Church confirmation class was in its second hour. Kathy Neuhardt watched Ed Zucker, the boy across from her, shoot a paper wad to his buddy Sam Larson at the end of the oval table. She glanced sideways to see if Pastor Zeigler had noticed, but he was busy scrawling an outline about the worship service on the blackboard and never reacted. Pastor Z is really getting old, thought Kathy. A few years ago he would have scolded Ed and Sam and told them to memorize ten more Bible verses. The boys should be more respectful. She fingered a curl of her long blond hair and glanced around at the other kids. Most of them were doodling in their workbooks, passing notes to each other or watching Ed and his friend goof off.
Kathy felt bad for Pastor Zeigler. He was a nice man and told pretty good jokes. Her father said Pastor Z still could give a fine sermon, but Kathy had to admit she often daydreamed through the homily. Homily. That was a new term they had learned last week in class and she had written it in her notebook. She liked learning new words about church. She wasn’t sure why. She always had been fascinated by terms like "narthex,” “eucharist,” “benediction,” “liturgical.” They seemed to roll off her tongue like notes of a song and echo inside her head after she pronounced them. They never had words like that on seventh-grade vocabulary tests.
Pastor Zeigler had stopped writing and was rustling through his files on the table. “Ah, here it is,” he said, holding up a sheet of lined notebook paper. “Several of you wrote very nice essays describing our Lutheran worship service. I’d like to read Kathy’s, if she doesn’t mind, because I thought it summed up the service in a thoughtful and rather poetic way. All right, Kathy?” He paused, smiling at her, waiting for her permission.
“It’s okay, Pastor,” Kathy mumbled, her head lowered to her chest. She had worked two hours on that assignment and meant what she wrote, but hoped the other kids wouldn’t think she was a nerd.
Dorothy, her best friend in the class, leaned over and whispered, “He always picks your stuff to read. He really likes you.” When Ed Zucker kicked her under the table, she glared at him, but then turned red as she noticed the rest of the students staring at her.
Pastor Zeigler cleared his throat, squinted through his bifocals and began reading. “‘For me, the worship service is like a drama. Like a play, divided into acts—the candle lighting, the procession, the opening liturgy, the Bible lessons, the sermon, the prayers and the eucharist-- a holy pageant with lights, scenery and music. And since it is God’s pageant, it has to be performed just so. We should be careful to do everything as best as we can and be reverent out of respect for God. And when the pastor closes with the blessing in the benediction, it’s as if Jesus is taking our hand as we leave church and go home.”’
Pastor Zeigler paused and looked up, a beatific smile spread across his face. “Kathy has captured very well the meaning of public worship, I believe. But we should be careful not to think we are performing for the Lord. Worship is our response to God’s love for us. It should be sincere. Kathy is right, though. We need to be reverent and attentive to detail during the worship service.” He set the composition down on the table. “Nice job, Kathy.”
“Can we take a break now, Pastor Z? It’s 7:30,” yelled Ed Zucker. “You promised us some extra time when you cut our last break short.”
The minister glanced at his watch and then at the clock on the wall. “Very well. Take five minutes, but don’t dawdle. We still need to discuss the meaning of the communion elements before you leave tonight.”
The boys raced out of the room, but the girls stood up at their places and began to chat with each other. Kathy stretched and left the room for a drink at the fountain. As she turned to go back in the classroom, she heard the girls talking about her. She stopped to listen.
“That Kathy. She always shows up the rest of us.” Missy said.
“And she does all the assignments. She must stay up late finishing things. I never have time after I do my school work,” Andrea added.
“Well, you know how Kathy loves doing churchy stuff,” Dorothy said. “Ever since I’ve known her, she’s been like that. Not like the rest of us. We just do things because our parents make us. Kathy would come to confirmation even if it wasn’t required.”
Kathy started to protest and then stopped. What Dorothy said was true. She did like church, Sunday school, confirmation and all the other activities at Zion. She remembered how excited she was two years ago when she was ten and finally old enough to be acolyte. She loved being part of the worship service and lighting the candles. She had done such a good job that Pastor Zeigler had appointed her to train the new recruits last year.
Ed and Sam ran by Kathy and pushed past her into the room. “Kathy, Kathy, preacher’s pet. You’re the holiest hag we’ve ever met,” Ed taunted.
“And you’re the worst poet. You don’t even know what ‘hag’ means,” Kathy countered, sticking her tongue out.
“Hag, hag. Holy hag,” Ed yelled as he sauntered backward to his seat.
Pastor Zeigler entered the room, frowning. “Boys and girls. Take your seats immediately. Ed Zucker, you apologize to Kathy. We don’t call each other names in this class.”
Ed yanked out his chair and plopped down on it. He glared at Kathy and mumbled, “Sorry.”
Kathy dropped her head. “Okay,” she answered. She hated Ed Zucker. He always said mean things to her.
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