A Baby for Hannah (16 page)

“From what I hear, it’s a new church conference of some sort, and they really push these revival meetings,” Mose said. “That’s what Clara told me, and she heard it from her relatives back East. They said this conference has its main church in Pennsylvania somewhere.”

“It doesn’t matter what they say,” Bishop John said. “It’s how they’re acting out here in Montana that matters to me. Do you think there’s a chance we could reason with their leaders?”

“I don’t think so,” Mose said. “It sounds as if they allow their people to work without a lot of oversight. I doubt if they will feel responsible for what’s going on.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Bishop John said. “Then we may have to deal with Ben and Sylvia ourselves. What is your opinion on asking the church for an excommunication?”

“There might be some objections,” Mose said. “But I would be in favor of it.”

“I don’t think there will be objections among the members we can’t overcome,” Bishop John said. “Not if we’re in unity on this decision.”

They both turned to look at Jake, silence settling on the room again.

“I don’t know,” Jake said. “I hate to be the one who disagrees, but maybe we ought to ride this thing out. Bringing down an excommunication on Ben and Sylvia may only make things worse.”

The men were silent. And then Bishop John spoke. “I’m surprised at you, Jake. I thought you were opposed to what Ben is doing.”

“I am,” Jake said. “But we have to be careful not to inflame the situation.”

“But what if we lose members?” Mose asked. “With things being what they are, I’m fully expecting we might. Remember how Will Riley spouted off the other Sunday? He should apologize to you and to the church, but we let him get away with what he said.”

“Jake, weren’t you the one who objected to excommunicating Ben and Sylvia when they left the church last year?” Bishop John asked, turning to look toward the window. “It seems to me that you were.”

“I still think I was right,” Jake said. “We normally don’t excommunicate our members for joining the Mennonites, and I don’t really want an apology from Will about the testimony he gave. He was only expressing his opinion.”

“This problem would be much easier to handle now if Ben had already been warned about excommunication, is all I can say. I doubt if he would even think about holding these meetings with that hanging over his head,” Bishop John said.

“I tend to agree,” Mose said. “Jake, I think you need to give on this before it’s too late.”

“So what do you say, Jake?” Bishop John asked, turning toward him. “Are you ready to give your word to the excommunication?”

Jake stared at the curtains of the window. It would be the easiest thing in the world to agree with them, and no one would blame him. In fact, it might be the best thing to do. This would certainly deliver a jolt to Ben and his plans, if no Amish member could attend the tent meetings without facing excommunication. Hadn’t Hannah said he wasn’t supposed to bring trouble on the family from his church work? This would be trouble if he dared stand up to Bishop John and Mose. Yet how could he not?

“I’m not ready yet to give my word,” Jake finally said. “I’m sorry, but this is all so sudden.”

“I can see that,” Bishop John said. “And in a way I can understand it, but we must not allow this to drag on much longer. Perhaps we can wait awhile and see where we’re at, but we have to do something. Our forefathers warned us what happens when our hearts become weak in the face of threats to the church. When that happens, sin gains a foothold and many are led astray.

“I hope you’ll consider the matter long and thoughtfully, Jake, and come to the right decision. Our people have long held to the belief that excommunication needs to have an active and present role in our churches. They believed it needs to be exercised whenever church members leave or threaten the faith.” He paused and then added, “So I suppose we will leave the matter there for now.”

Mose cleared his throat, “I sure hope you don’t stand up for Ben Stoll, Jake. The young man is completely out of control from what I have heard. He’s talking about having a calling from God to preach himself, and he has never even been ordained. I hope you can see how wrong-minded that is, Jake. We need your support on this.”

Jake nodded. What else was there to say? He knew he would need to speak with Hannah, but he also knew that might make matters worse. He opened his dry mouth, but no sound came out.

“Well,” Bishop John said, “let’s get back to the church. I will have the main sermon, and Mose, it’s your turn to do the opening. Jake will read the Scriptures.”

Bishop John opened the bedroom door, leading the way downstairs. Jake kept his eyes on each step, steadying his hands by his side. Beads of sweat were popping out under his collar. Once seated on the ministers’ bench between the men and women’s sides of the house, he leaned against the wall and slowly raised his head to watch Mose get up to open the sermon.

Had he gone too far this time? Hannah would be shocked when she learned that he was even thinking of disagreeing with Bishop John on such an important subject. Worst of all, Bishop John would think he had secret sympathies for Ben and his cause.
Did he
have secret sympathies? Was there perhaps somewhere in his heart a longing to leave the faith and flirt with the world?

His dad, Uriah, hadn’t been a preacher, but he used to warn his sons of such things when they gathered around the living room for prayer on cold winter nights. Under the hiss of the gas lantern, with the weight of the long, dark evenings on them, Uriah would say, “A man’s heart is full of iniquity. Never place your trust in your own heart or in any man, but only in the Word of God and in the protection of the church. Remember that in each of us there is a secret longing for the ways of the world. It is only by the ever-present counsel of the brethren and sisters, and by applying their interpretation of the Word of God, that anyone is safe.”

Had Bishop John’s own fears after Jake’s ordination been correct? Had his ability to preach well gone to his head? Jake kept his eyes on Mose, pushing the questions away. He soon would need to get up before the congregation to read.

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,’” Mose said, “‘but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.’ Please take warning, everyone, to what this Scripture is saying. Satan came to tempt the Lord God Himself, and surely he is not afraid of us. Satan will offer us all the temptations of the world if he can convince us to follow after him.”

Jake swallowed hard. Mose might not be talking to him, but then again perhaps he was. It would be hard for Mose to preach and not allow something from what had just happened upstairs to slip into his sermon.

“And now I will bring my words to an end,” Mose said, backing up to the bench and sitting down. “Let us pray, and then the Scriptures will be read.”

The rustle of kneeling bodies filled the room, and Mose’s voice filled the house, reading the prayer in German.

Now unto God, the great God of our fathers, full of wisdom, and knowledge, in whom dwelleth no darkness at all, shine upon the humble and broken spirits of Your followers today, and lighten our hearts.

So will You, O Lord in heaven, send us grace and help us walk justly before You. Know our hearts, as You alone, oh Lord, know the hearts of men, their thoughts, their sins, their council, yea all things are open to the light of Your face.

So give us, O Lord, wisdom from above, lead us to fear You above all things. We ask You, O Lord, the Lord of all lords, and the Kings of all kings, for the sake of Thy kingdom, and for the sake of all the righteous, give men Your fear in their hearts, that they may obey You.

We ask this in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Jake slowly got to his feet, keeping a tight grip on his Bible as the words spun in front of his eyes. He cleared his throat and began to read.

Seventeen

Hannah changed her position on the hard bench, glancing at Jake’s face as Bishop John brought his sermon to a close. Jake looked more relaxed now, but the stress lines were still there. They had been there on the way to church and had seemed worse when he came back downstairs with the other two ministers.

Something was troubling Jake. His run-in with Ben at the furniture store on Saturday had been hard on him, but meeting with the ministers upstairs and sharing his burden should have improved his mood, not soured it more. Apparently something had gone wrong.

“I will now ask for testimony of the word that was preached,” Bishop John said, assigning Mose and two other of the older married men to speak before he sat down. Hannah caught her breath. Why had the bishop not asked Jake? He always did before, but then perhaps that was why he didn’t this morning. Perhaps it was a harmless break in the normal schedule.

She slowly turned to look at Jake’s face. His head was down and he was stroking his beard gently. Dennis Riley sat on the boys’ bench staring at Jake, a slight smile on his face. Did Dennis know something she didn’t? Had some awful news about Jake spread around the community, and was Dennis happy over it? But how could that be? Dennis liked Jake, didn’t he?

Her heart pounding, Hannah turned sideways and her eye caught sight of Miriam seated in the girls’ section behind Jake. She took a deep breath as relief flooded through her. Her fears were groundless. Dennis wasn’t gloating over Jake’s suspected setdown by the bishop. He was making eyes at Miriam. And Miriam’s face was redder than a beet. Before long others would notice.

The voices from the men’s testimonies droned on as Hannah turned back to study Jake’s face. He looked so troubled, so deeply forlorn, as if his life had taken a sudden spiral downward. After church she would comfort him, whatever his problem was, and tell him what a wonderful man he was and how much she loved him. She would place her arm around his shoulder the minute she was in the buggy, and it couldn’t come a moment too soon. With a sigh, she settled back down on the bench as the bishop got back on his feet.

“I’m glad the preaching has been testified to as the word of God,” Bishop John said. “We can be thankful for the unity of the brethren, and must always pray that
Da Hah
will continue to grant us that grace.”

The bishop sat down after glancing briefly toward Jake. Hannah caught the look and the pain in Jake’s face. So what could Jake be doing that caused disunity among the brethren? Surely he hadn’t spoken up in defense of the revival meetings. She knew him better than that.

From the back of the men’s section the song leader called out the song number and then immediately launched into singing. He expertly twirled the notes up and down for long moments until the congregation joined in on the second syllable.

Hannah sang along, allowing the joy of the singing to fill her. This was where Jake and she belonged. So would their soon-to-be-born
bobli,
and the many other children she hoped would follow. With one last burst of sound the song leader led out, and as they finished the final line, silence settled on the room for only a moment before the young boys popped off their benches for the race outdoors.

Hannah smiled. This was the ritual she had watched all her growing-up years on so many Sunday mornings. Who would want to leave this tradition for whatever the Mennonites had to offer? How could anything be better than this peace she held in her heart? The Mennonites didn’t have anything to replace this, and if only the others in the congregation could see that, so much trouble could be avoided.

“So is Miriam settling in?” a woman’s voice whispered from behind Hannah.

Hannah turned to see Rebecca Riley leaning over the bench toward her, her baby asleep in her arms.

“
Jah,
and quite quickly,” Hannah said. “It seems to me she loves Montana as much, if not more, than I do.”

“That’s
gut,
” Rebecca said, breaking into a broad smile. “Will wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, unless it would be Idaho, but Montana suits me just fine.”

Did Rebecca know about the stop she and Miriam had made at Dennis’s cabin yesterday? If she did, she likely also knew about Miriam’s open display of her affections. Hannah felt her neck grow hot at the thought. Who would have thought that her always-in-control older sister would be making such a show of herself?

“How’s Edith coming along?” Hannah asked, forcing herself to smile. “Betty said you had flu in the family last week.”

“Oh, she’s doing fine. Edith was over most of it by Friday, so I told Will there shouldn’t be any problem with coming to church today. Andrew and the baby might still get it, but we’ll hope for the best.”

“That’s
gut
to hear,” Hannah said. “May I hold the baby?”

“Sure,” Rebecca said, handing over the infant. “Little Jake is such a
gut
baby.”