Читать книгу I Am Edmund - Alexandra Glynn - Страница 5

The Bonn family had invited me to Sunday dinner. They live in the suburb I live in. Their place is about ten miles from my place. It’s a beige brick house trimmed in white. It was easy for me to find—I parked on a driveway with about eight other cars crammed in it. I walked by a small flower garden in the front yard and saw some tall sunflowers peeking around the corners of the wide porch as I went up the front steps. Carefully stationed bikes leaned on a side garage surrounded by a neat lawn.

I petted the dog on the porch and rang the doorbell. An awkward teenager greeted me. I learned from him that he was the Bonns’ youngest child. They had eleven children, six boys and five girls. Five of the Boon children were not married: The boy who met me at the door, a man around thirty years old, and three daughters in their late twenties and early thirties. As the youngest in the family led me through the entryway to the big room that had a kitchen to one side, a dining area in the middle, and a sitting area on the other side, I saw that dinner was being served. So I sat right down and greeted everyone. Mr. and Mrs. Bonn, who had known my parents many years ago, introduced me to their unmarried children and one of the married sons who was there with his wife and children.

The youngest of the Bonn girls, Maddie, sat across from me. She had short very blond hair, clear blue eyes, and a wide smile. She had on a bright red dress, the color of some of the richest red flowers outside the church. As she passed me the potatoes she asked me somewhat challengingly, “So why did Elijah slaughter all the prophets of Baal in 1 Kings 18?” Then she picked up her fork and began to eat, watching me and ignoring her father’s lifted eyebrows.

I was glad I had just spent the evening a few nights ago reading the prophets because I was able to answer her simply, “As I understand it, the text teaches about false teachings. Elijah shows that those who taught such things as the prophets of Baal taught, were teaching the teachings of death and condemnation. God sent Elijah his prophet to make this manifest to all the people as it says in Hosea 6 and in 2 Kings 17 and in the very last chapter of 2nd Chronicles. It is a matter of life and death. Also, Paul writes about this text in Romans 11, saying that it is a text teaching about how God chooses and keeps a grace kingdom of children here on this earth.”

Mr. Bonn, the father, whose name was James, had looked chagrined at his daughter’s question but now he smiled and me and said in a jolly way to his children around the table, “Well, there you have it. Are there any other Bible questions for the new speaker of the Word?”

“Dad, don’t tease him,” Freddie, the thirty-year-old unmarried son said.

“I’m very serious,” Mr. Bonn said. “We seldom enough discuss the Scriptures around our table and in the living room. We’ll have to have you over often,” he said to me, his eyes twinkling.

“Yes,” Freddie said drily, “The girls can spend the afternoon asking the minister Bible questions.”

“Now who is teasing?” Maddie responded, blushing a little.

I tried to be gallant about the teasing and turned to talk with the children who were seated next to me. Inwardly I groaned and hoped I wasn’t going to have to experience marriage teasing much. I had just moved from a very small congregation of mostly elderly people in the locality of the school I had been attending, and the elderly people had teased me somewhat, but fortunately there had not been a large number of single women to get teased about. I knew the teasing was good natured and done in fun though, and I also knew, because my mother had told me, that this new congregation would have many single people in it.

“What about chapter 36 of Genesis? Why are all those lists and genealogies in the Bible?” The question was from one of the older Bonn girls, Michelle, who they called Shelly. She had long blondish hair and wore a chunky necklace with what looked like rune inscriptions on it.

“That’s right before the Joseph story starts, right?” I stalled.

“Yes.” She waited for elaboration.

“And the chapter contains lists about Esau. We can see from the Joseph story that Joseph’s brothers had fallen from faith. But we see them struggling with bitterness, a demanding spirit, and fornication, way back in chapter 34. The chapters in between are there at least in part to describe the growth of the kingdom of Esau at that time, and the spread of its virulent teachings.”

Shelly considered this, then said, “Hold on a minute.” Her greenish blue eyes considered me. “How do you get that from the 34th chapter of Genesis?”

“By what the brothers say at the very end of the chapter.” I was getting a little worried that the conversation was getting into such a deep topic, but Mr. Bonn and Mrs. Bonn were attentively listening, as were their children. Even the grandchildren were peacefully eating slices of homemade bread slopped in the rich roast gravy.

Freddy’s brow was furrowed as I glanced at him. “And what exactly was that?” he asked.

I took another piece of bread and spread butter over it. “This is good bread,” I said to Mrs. Bonn.

“I didn’t make it,” she said. “Lara made it.” Lara was the other single sister, darker haired and shy. I gave her as friendly a smile as I could muster and thanked her for the bread.

I turned to Freddie. “Their own words testify against them. Simon and Levi have women divided into two categories. They think that some women are to be treated badly, and some are to be treated with decency and respect. But consider chapter four of John. Jesus says that all women, no matter who they are or what their past is, are to be treated with respect and dignity. The brothers have fallen deeply into error in this matter. Perhaps this is one of the sins Joseph rebuked them about in chapter 37.”

“I’m completely confused,” Freddie said. “What did Simon and Levi say?”

“They said, ‘Shall he deal with our sister as with whore?’” I said.

“Oh. I guess that is a revealing statement.”

Freddie chewed his bread, thinking about what I had said. Then he said, “It’s a good lesson. I myself have struggled with the different kinds of teachings on this topic.”

“Well, it is a serious enough topic, that is for sure,” Mr. Bonn said. Then he turned to me, “You know, young man, you should tell us more about yourself. I feel we get to know our ministers through their sermons, but now that we have you here, we can hear you tell us about yourself informally too.”

“I am Edmund,” I said, a little embarrassed. “I work as a manager at a big chain superstore. I’m almost thirty-three, not very tall, brown-haired and brown-eyed and I have been a speaker of the Word for a little over two years now.”

“Tell us about your family,” Maddie prompted. She had been getting the coffee ready and now brought it to the table and began pouring everyone a cup.

“I am an only child. My mother lives about three hours away in a nursing home, and my dad passed away about ten years ago. My parents were married late in life.”

“Is that what you’re going to do? Get married late in life?” Freddie’s question was playful. I looked over at Shelly. I could tell she was pondering what we had been discussing. But what were her thoughts?

I gave Freddie a quick half-grin. “You never know. Whatever is meant. But I have some questions now for you about the area.” I began to ask them about what problems I might encounter. Mr. Bonn told me that from his perspective there seemed to be problems that were as old as Adam, teenager troubles, marriage difficulties, bullying, overzealous watchfulness of others, gossiping, love of the world, and the like. We adults moved to the sitting area with our coffee and I asked Mr. Bonn if he thought that people would be coming to me desiring to visit or if I would be better off reaching out first. Mr. Bonn thought a while, then he told me of a few families and individuals who he thought might really need a visitor, but might not be bold enough to ask. I got out my little notebook and wrote down the names. They were shut-ins and parents with children who had lost faith, for the most part. I thanked Mr. Bonn and we discussed the Bible more. He seemed genuinely curious about some very obscure passages and it was all I could do to keep up with him. And here at first I had thought he was unhappy with Maddie’s bringing up Bible texts for discussion! He and I went through a few cups of coffee between us. Freddie and Shelly listened in and offered a few comments here and there but Mr. Bonn was the one who kept me on my toes. I vowed to read the Bible more, thinking, now this is good for me to be put to these questions and to be forced to think so much about the Word of God. For some reason, God is allowing this to be how my afternoon is going.

Finally Mr. Bonn laughed and looked at the clock, surprised as I was to see how late it had gotten. Freddie, Maddie, Shelly and I went outside and played volleyball for an hour. They had a net set up out back. A few more single people came over and we played with a bigger group. Then someone built a bonfire and we sat around it singing songs until late into the night. When almost everyone had left I sat on a log staring into the flames. Shelly came and sat next to me, watching the sparks fly upward. I threw twigs onto the fire and observed how they caught flame. Shelly handed me a cup of coffee. What was this, my sixth cup? I took it anyway. “Did you have a good day?” she asked me.

“I did,” I said. “You are very blessed in your family.”

“I am,” she said as we watched the orange and red colors of the fire playing in the darkness. It was early in the year so there were only a few bugs. Freddie was sawing logs on a tree over on the edge of the clearing in which the bonfire had been built. Shelly said, “I want to ask you about something serious.” Then she told me about her sister Maddie, who had just broken an engagement with a young man. I asked her what I might do to help and she said to just be extra patient with Maddie. She said she herself tried to go out of her way to include Maddie.

“Like tonight,” she said. “Maddie stayed the whole time and visited. She didn’t seem depressed at all.”

“That’s good,” I said.

“She’s better than she was when I got home from Germany,” Shelly went on, looking at the fire sparks flying upwards.

“You were in Germany?”

“Yes, to study.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Luther’s Bible, for example.”

“That’s neat.” I looked at the firelight making her hair shine and waited for her to go on.

“Did you know in Romans where it says, ‘He is the propitiation for our sins,’ in Luther’s translation it says, ‘He is the mercy-seat for our sins.’”

“Oh, that’s better,” I said. “‘Propitiation’ is a hard word.”

“Yes, but do people all know what the mercy-seat is?” she asked.

I contemplated her. “I guess I never thought it could be possible not to know what the mercy-seat is, the throne of grace.”

“Yes, that’s true, we sing about it so often.”

Then we began talking about how easy it was to get down or depressed and how we need to help each other out. The fire died down and we were still talking. Through Shelly that night I learned about most of the people around our age. I asked many questions and wrote down names to help me remember. Shelly had lived here her whole life and she was a nurse at the local clinic so she saw many people every day in her job. I asked her about those who weren’t in faith—were there any that she thought might need me to reach out to them. She couldn’t think of anyone specific; she only encouraged me to freely invite people to services whenever the chance came.

When the fire was almost completely gone out I got up and stretched. Only Freddie was left outside; he was cleaning up the fire pit area. We greeted each other goodnight and I apologized for staying so late. “I know myself well enough to know that it is going to happen again,” I told him.

“You’re welcome any time,” he responded.

That’s how God made me, I thought, as I got into my car and drove home. And now I had a huge congregation and a whole new neighborhood, plus people at my work place and other places in the community. I would meet them all, I vowed. I thought of Paul’s words, “I have become all things to all people that I might win some.”