The Bridesmaid

Pastor Dan closed his office door as Steve Handley, the youth pastor, left the room. He wanted to scream, but kept it in. The pastor of Parkside Community Church couldn’t be yelling in his office after all. Steve had just told him that he’d accepted the position of senior pastor at a small church in Louisiana. He was happy for Steve, of course. He just wasn’t sure how he’d be able to do his job without him.
Steve was a wonderful youth pastor. The youth all loved him and so did their parents. He’d been with PCC for five years and had patiently shown Dan the ropes. Now he had to find a new youth pastor who would be just as loved, and who would be willing to pitch in with the other problems going on in the church. Would pounding his head against his desk be inappropriate?
He checked the clock on the wall. He had five minutes before his meeting with some of the women of the church. He was dreading this meeting. All churches seemed to have a problem with gossip, but it was out of control here. In his month and a half as pastor, he’d been the object of a lot of that gossip. People had a lot to say about him getting engaged and about the speed with which he was marrying. They had problems with one of the women in the wedding party. He closed his eyes. He uttered a quick prayer for wisdom to handle the situation.
There was a knock on his door. “Come in!” he called.
Agatha, the children’s minister poked her head in. “Am I early for the meeting?” she asked.
He glanced at the clock again. “Only about a minute. I’m sure the others will be here soon.”
“I’m not sure why I need to be here. It’s obviously a meeting about the women’s ministry, and I attend their functions, but I’m not one of the decision makers for it,” she complained.
“You’ll understand in a few minutes,” he replied. The truth was the meeting wasn’t about the women’s ministry at all. He had collected the worst gossips of the church for this meeting. He was going to let them know how they were destroying the good work the church could be doing. He was not looking forward to it. He’d considered having the meetings with each woman individually, but he wanted to avoid any appearance of impropriety.
Slowly, his office filled with the six women he’d called together. They each took a chair, obviously feeling honored that they’d been singled out by the new pastor for extra service to the church. He smiled and pulled his Bible out. “I hope you all brought your Bibles like I requested?”
The women all nodded and pulled their Bibles out. All were married with children still at home, except Agatha. She was the oldest of the bunch and the one most set in her ways.
“I’d like to start by opening this meeting with a prayer. Will you all bow your heads with me?”
The women all bowed their heads and waited for his prayer. “Dear Heavenly Father, we come before you as sinners. All are sinners who only are saved through the precious blood of your Son. We ask that you open our minds and hearts to your Word as we go through some passages today. Thank you, Dear Father, for all that you provide. In Jesus’s precious name, amen.”
All of the women chorused amen after him. He looked up and smiled. “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’ve asked you to come here today.”
They all nodded tentatively. Mrs. Logan and Mrs. Simmons had huge smiles on their faces as if they expected to be praised for something. The others just watched him expectantly.
“Since coming to Parkside, I’ve noticed that there is a lot of divisiveness among the congregation. At first, I was unsure of the cause. Now that I’ve pinpointed it, I’d like to talk to you fine sisters in Christ, so see if you can help me solve that problem.”
All the women were smiling now, sure that they were special because Pastor Dan had asked them for help. They all nodded enthusiastically. Mrs. Logan said, “We’d all love to help in any way that we can.”
Pastor Dan smiled. “Thank you, Mrs. Logan. I appreciate your willingness.” He paused for a moment, giving time for anticipation to build. “What I need your help with is gossip. This church is going to fall apart if the gossip doesn’t stop. I need each of you to do your part, not only by stopping gossiping yourselves, but by asking others to stop their gossiping as well.”
Agatha was the first to speak. “Well, I never! Are you accusing us of gossiping, Pastor?”
“I stood outside your office one day last week, Agatha. I heard you speaking with two of these women. You were complaining that I had the gall to marry Ken and Mary here in the church. You said that she was a dirty woman who didn’t deserve to step foot in the church let alone be married in it, even if it was in the pastor’s office.”
Agatha flushed but said, “That wasn’t gossip, because it’s true!”
Dan sat staring at Agatha for a moment and wished she were closer. His fingers ached to reach out and give her one good thump right in the middle of her forehead. Of course, that not only wasn’t the Christian thing to do, it would also cost him his job, so he clenched his Bible just a little bit tighter instead.
Pastor Dan shook his head. “First of all, you know nothing about Mary’s situation. I know you don’t, because no one does. Even Anna didn’t know what happened in Mary’s first marriage. I only know because I did counseling with her and Ken. I will tell you now, your words were lies.” He waited a moment as each woman fidgeted in her chair. Agatha’s face was so red, he was certain he could have cooked an egg on it.
He continued, “Secondly, just because something is true, doesn’t mean it’s not gossip. I’d like all of you to turn to Proverbs six verses sixteen through nineteen with me. Please read the words silently for a moment, and think about them.” Dan read the verses silently just as the women did. “16 There are six things that the Lord hates, even seven things that are an abomination to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift to run to evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies, and a person who spreads discord.”
When they’d all looked up at him, he asked, “Do you notice in that set of verses that two of the things God hates are “a false witness who pours out lies” and “a person who spreads discord”?”
The women nodded so he continued. “Wouldn’t that say to you that lying and gossiping are two different things?”
Agatha glared at him. “Everyone knows that gossiping means lying.”
“That’s not true, Agatha. The Bible disagrees with you. Here’s another verse Proverbs 10:12 which says, ‘Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.’ I’d like you to tell me how talking about something someone did, true or otherwise, is covering up transgressions. We’re here to up-lift one another. Not tear each other apart.”
The women looked at each other. He could see that three of the women were getting angrier by the second. He sighed. He’d really hoped that the women would take this counsel well. “I would like all of you to agree to stop gossiping.”
Agatha stood. “I will not be called a gossip in a church that I have served for over thirty years. Consider this my resignation, both from my position as children’s minister, and as a member of this church. I will find another church by next Sunday.”
Dan only nodded. As much of a waste of church resources as Agatha was, he was not looking forward to filling her position at the same time as he filled that of the youth minister. He knew that finding a children’s minister who was more loving and better equipped for her position than Agatha would be an easy job, unlike replacing Steve.
Mrs. Logan stood. “My family and I will be leaving with Agatha.”
Dan sighed. “I don’t want you to leave the church. I just don’t want you to gossip any longer. Will you please reconsider?”
She and Agatha left the room together. The other four stood. Mrs. Simmons said, “The rest of us are leaving with our families as well. We don’t need to be spoken to this way, Pastor. You are ruining this church.”
Dan stood. “I’m sorry to see you go.” He meant it. These women had been the core group that ran the women’s ministry. Their leaving would put more work on the women who remained, but he couldn’t allow them to chase away good Christians with their spiteful words.
They left his office, and he sat quietly, listening to the slams as Agatha was packing up her office. If he’d had any illusions about being able to take a couple of days off when he married Anna, today had shattered them. He sighed. He’d have to ask her to do more for the church than she already did. He was glad that VBS was over, and he wasn’t going to have to ask her to take on a lot of extra work before she was finished with that.
He picked up the phone and called her, needing to hear her voice, but also needing her to agree to help out with the children’s ministry for a short while.
“Hello?” Just hearing her voice lifted his spirits.
“Hi there.”
“Dan. How’s work today?”
“Couldn’t be worse. How’s the wedding planning going?”
“It’s good. Mom has all but one of the bridesmaid dresses finished. All of the girls will be coming by tomorrow to have them fitted, so we’re sewing like mad trying to finish up the last one.” She paused for a moment. “What happened?”
He sighed. “Steve has accepted the position of senior pastor at a church in Louisiana. He gave his two week notice today. Agatha just resigned with no notice. She and five families are leaving the church.”
Anna sighed. “I’ll do Agatha’s job until we can find someone to replace her. I’m not sure about Steve’s, though. There’s no way you can find a youth pastor that quickly. Especially not with our wedding in a week and a half. I’ll think on that. I know my dad would step in and do it, but I don’t think he’d be the best choice.”
“I appreciate you taking Agatha’s position. I hate to ask it of you, but I really don’t know of anyone else that’s even semi-qualified.”
“I don’t mind. Now that we have the nursery rotation in place, I’ll be more available on Sunday mornings.”
“I’m glad you got that taken care of last week. Now, we just need to figure out a youth pastor. Think on it and let me know.”
“I will.” Anna glanced at the clock. She and her mother were stressed for time with the wedding coming up so quickly, but right now, she knew that Dan needed her. “Why don’t you meet me for lunch, and we’ll discuss options?”
“Do you have time?” he asked surprised.
“I love you. Of course, I have time.”
Dan found himself with a genuine smile for the first time since Steve had entered his office. “I love you, too.”
“I’ll meet you at Comida in twenty minutes,” she said.
“I’ll be there.”
He sighed as he got to his feet. Mondays had never been good, but this one took the cake.
*****
Kennedy rang the doorbell at the King’s house and waited patiently for someone to come to the door. She was exhausted. It had been a long day at work, and she was glad it was finally over. Anna had been her college roommate, and she was looking forward to trying on the dress Anna’s mom had made for her to wear in the wedding.
The door opened and she smiled. “Mom!” She’d been adopted by Anna’s family as a second daughter during their freshman year, and she’d taken to calling her “Mom” long ago.
Lee King, Anna’s mother, opened the door wide for Kennedy to come inside. “Anna’s working on the hem of the last dress. The other girls should be here in a few minutes. Are you hungry? I put out some cheese and crackers for us to snack on while we all sit and gab about the wedding and try on dresses.”
Kennedy walked back to the dining room where she knew that Anna and her mom preferred to sew. “Hey there!”
Anna looked up and smiled at Kennedy, barely slowing the machine she was using down. “You’re early! Did they let you escape, or did you just sneak out?”
Kennedy grinned. “One of the benefits of being office manager is just announcing I’m leaving early and then acting on it.” She grabbed a couple of crackers with cheese and sat down opposite Anna. Lee set a glass of lemonade in front of her and she washed down the first bite she’d eaten. “So tell me all about Pastor Dan! I mean, I’ve heard his sermons, of course, but I haven’t had a chance to get to know him yet.”
Anna grinned. “He’s wonderful. Sweet and kind and loving. The church couldn’t have a better pastor, and I couldn’t be getting a better husband.”
“Are you guys going somewhere on a honeymoon? You’ve got to tell me everything, Anna,” Kennedy took another swig of her lemonade and popped another cracker into her mouth.
Anna sighed. “We were going to take a few days off here to spend together, not really go anywhere just take some time off. It’s not going to work out, though. There are pressing matters with the church.”
Kennedy frowned. “I’m sorry, Anna.”
Anna shrugged. “We’ll go on vacation another time.”
“Anything going on that you can talk about?”
Anna shook her head. “There’ll be some announcements on Sunday, and then you’ll know everything.”
The doorbell rang again and Mary Anderson came in. She was child-free for the moment and took the chair next to Kennedy. Anna looked up. “You guys know each other, right?”
Kennedy smiled. “Sure. It’s Mary, right?”
Mary nodded. “And you’re Kennedy?”
“Yeah. I’ve seen you around church, but I’ve never really had a chance to talk to you. Of course, as long as you’re a friend of Anna’s, you’re a friend of mine.”
Mary grinned. “Friends it is.”
“Didn’t you just get married? To Ken Anderson?” Mary nodded, waiting for the censure. “Congratulations! I know Ken a little, and he’s a really nice guy. I’m glad you guys found each other.”
Maybe Kennedy hadn’t heard the gossip about her. She didn’t know how anyone could have missed it, but it would certainly be a bonus. “I am, too. He’s been my neighbor for years. He’s pretty wonderful.”
“Are the kids with him?” Anna asked.
Mary laughed. “They wouldn’t leave him. I asked the boys, and they said they wanted to stay and do manly things with Ken. I tried to bring Bethany so he wouldn’t have to deal with all three, but she wrapped her little arms around his neck and wouldn’t let go.”
“I think it’s great that they like him so much! I never got along with my step-dad.”
Mary turned to Kennedy. “Was he mean to you?”
Kennedy shrugged. “Not until I became a Christian. He and my mom were furious. Would you believe my mom even converted to Catholicism to get me to go to church with her? I was pretty much raised an atheist.”
“You’d think they’d have been happy that you were dedicating your life to Christ.”
Kennedy laughed dryly. “Yeah, they’ve decided that I’ve been brainwashed. They pretty much washed their hands of me years ago.”
Mary squeezed Kennedy’s hand. “Sounds to me like they’re missing out on a pretty terrific woman.”
Kennedy smiled. “Thanks. Are your parents close?”
Mary shook her head sadly. “No, my parents are in Indiana. I haven’t seen my dad in years, but my mom comes down for a couple of weeks every six months or so.” She shrugged. “Ken says we can try to make it up there sometime within the next year.”
Anna snipped the thread from the hem of the dress just as the doorbell rang again. “That should be Amy, and then our little party is complete.”
Lee left and brought Amy back with her. Kennedy didn’t know Amy very well either. She tended to stick around other single women with no kids, which was really a shame. She should branch out and get to know more people in the church.
Amy hugged Anna and smiled tentatively at Mary. Amy hadn’t been one of the women spreading gossip about Mary, but she had listened to it, and wasn’t sure what to believe at this point. “Hi, Mary. Hi, Kennedy.”
Kennedy smiled and waved. Amy looked like she’d been crying. Anna gave Amy a worried look and asked, “Did you see the doctor today?”
Amy bit her lip, obviously trying to fight back the tears. She nodded, but didn’t say anything. Anna whispered, “We’ll talk later.”
Anna stood and held up the mint green dress she’d just finished hemming. She handed it to Amy. “All finished. Mom?”
Lee took a dress to Mary and another to Kennedy. “You girls can use my room to try these on. I need to make sure that we don’t have to adjust the fit anywhere.”
The three women obediently went to the master bedroom and stripped off their outer clothes. Kennedy had always been embarrassed to change in front of other women. She was about ten pounds overweight and had been her entire adult life. She quickly pulled the dress over her head. She turned her back to Mary. “Would you zip me?”
Mary zipped her quickly and turned her own back to have the favor returned. Mary went around the bed and zipped Amy up. The dresses were pretty typical bridesmaid dresses. They all knew they’d wear them once and never again. They were a decent color and fit, though, so none of them were complaining.
They walked down the hall to where Anna and Lee were waiting. The two women walked around each of them slowly, tugging here and there to make sure the fit was right. “Any complaints?” Lee asked.
“None for me,” Kennedy answered. “Do you have certain shoes you want us to wear, or do you care?”
Anna shrugged. “I don’t care. Something comfortable. I don’t want anyone tripping as they walk down the aisle.” She paused for a moment. “And Kennedy? Would you wear shoes that fit for a change? You don’t need your feet hurting, because you’ll be standing for the ceremony.”
Kennedy sighed. “My feet are so big, though. What if someone notices?”
“You’re going to be walking like an old woman in another year or so if you keep wearing shoes that are too small. Men don’t care about the size of women’s feet!”
Kennedy shrugged. “I’ll think about it.” Kennedy was 5’10 and wore size eleven shoes. She’d been wearing nine and a halfs and tens for years so that men wouldn’t be turned off by her huge feet.
Anna hugged her tightly and whispered, “Think hard!”
They immediately went to change back into their regular clothes. Anna turned to her mom and said, “Well, that’s one more thing we can cross off the list. You’re doing a great job getting everything together so fast.”
“I’ve been planning your wedding day in my head for twenty years. It’s no problem to make those plans a reality.”
Anna laughed. “Well, Dan and I really appreciate it.”
The three bridesmaids came out of the master bedroom and sat down at the table. They all talked and snacked for a while. After about thirty minutes, Mary stood. “I need to get back to my family. Ken’s never been alone with all three kids this long. I don’t want him to lose his mind yet. Next week is soon enough for that!”
“Don’t forget that rehearsal is at the church at five a week from Friday. Just wear jeans or something. We’re just doing a barbecue place for the rehearsal dinner. Family is invited,” Anna reminded her.
“We’ll be there.”
Kennedy stood up to go as well. “I have to get up early for work in the morning, so I need to get home and feed myself. I’ll see you all at church tomorrow night.”
Kennedy drove to her lonely apartment through the streets of Arlington, Texas. She reminded herself again that she had a good life. She had a good well-paying job. She had friends all around her. Why did she feel so incomplete, though? She knew a lot of women were happy remaining single. She wished she could be one of them.
*****
About a mile away, Dan was still in his office. It was well after seven when Dan’s cell phone rang. He was trying to figure out what he was going to do about the mess he was left with after the children’s minister and youth pastor quit on the same day. At least he’d have Steve for a couple more weeks. He slid his finger across the touch screen to answer it. “Hello?”
“Pastor Dan? This is Jacob Walsh. My wife and I would like to meet with you this week to follow up on the meeting you had in your office with her and several other women yesterday.”
Dan’s hand went to his throbbing temple and started to rub it. “That would be fine. When is good for you?” He didn’t want to have to rehash this whole thing. They’d already said they were leaving the church. He needed to do what was right, though, and letting the couple have their say was the right thing to do.
“Would tomorrow evening work? Before Wednesday night services? We could be there at six. It shouldn’t take very long.”
“Sure. I’ll make sure I come early.” Or stay and eat in his office again was more likely. He looked at the fast food wrappers in his trash. He really wanted to get this mess straightened out before the wedding, though. If he could do that, everything would go smoother. He hoped.
Just before six on Wednesday evening, there was a tentative knock on his office door. He opened it to find Mary Anderson there. “Mary! What brings you in? Have a seat.” He made sure he left the office door open to avoid any possible impropriety.
Mary sat down. “I’m not sure why I’m here. Jacob Walsh called me and told me he was meeting with you and asked that I come.” Her face was pale. Mary knew that one of the primary women who’d been gossiping about her was Abby Walsh, Emily’s mother.
“I didn’t know he was inviting you for this. I wonder why he did that.” Dan was confused at this turn of events. Surely, they didn’t plan on talking badly about Mary right in front of her.
He glanced up to see Jacob and Abby Walsh, followed by Justin and Sarah Eden, and Chad and Stephanie Barnes. He had only been expecting the one couple, so there weren’t enough chairs in his office. “We’ll need to get more chairs. I was only expecting the Walshes.”
Jacob stopped him. “That’s all right. We can stand. This shouldn’t take more than ten or fifteen minutes.” He took a deep breath as if what he was about to say would be hard for him. “Our wives came home with quite a tale yesterday. They all said that we had to find a new church. With a lot of questions and prying, we got the whole story out of them.”
Dan nodded waiting. His heart was beating a mile a minute. He wasn’t a timid man, but he didn’t like confrontations.
Justin said, “It took us hours to get everything told where all the stories matched up. At first, we were convinced that you must be the most evil man alive. The more of the story that came out, the more we realized that you did something that should have been done a long time ago.”
Dan’s heart slowly returned to its normal slow rhythm. “I did?”
“You absolutely did, Pastor Dan,” Chad said. “Our wives have been causing a lot more trouble in this church than any of us realized. We’d have put a stop to it a long time ago if it had been brought to our attention.”
“We’re not leaving the church,” Jacob put in. “None of us. You did the right thing, and you did it in a loving way. We have nothing bad to say about what happened here yesterday. In fact, we want to thank you for handling it the way you did.”
Dan blinked a couple of times. This was not going at all the way he’d expected. “I just did my job.”
“You did more than your job. You went out of your way to talk to some gossipy women in a gentle, loving way. They didn’t deserve that. They’ve been out of line for a lot of years. I’m sure this church has lost a lot of families over the way those six women treated people. I wish you’d been here when it all started, so it could have been stopped sooner,” Jacob added.
Abby spoke up for the first time. “We did a lot of prayin’ on this, Pastor Dan. We all left here in a huff the other day, but you were right. Our biggest victim for the last year has been Mary.” She turned to Mary with tears in her eyes. “We said a lot of awful mean things about you. You didn’t deserve ‘em. You kept comin’ even though you knew we were spreading lies about you. You didn’t talk bad about us, and you didn’t get rude with us. You acted like a true Christian through all of this, and we acted like mean ol’ women. I’m sorry, Mary. Will you forgive me?”
Mary stood and hugged Abby. She, too, had tears streaming down her face. “Of course, I forgive you. You’re my sister.”
Sarah stepped forward. “I’m sorry, too. Please forgive me.”
Mary hugged her, too. Stephanie stepped forward. “I had no right to talk about things that I knew nothing about. I’m sorry, Mary.”
By this time all four women were crying heartily. Mary was so glad that the gossip was over. The other women were embarrassed, but also relieved that Mary had forgiven them so quickly and easily.
Dan sat back in his chair and smiled. He looked at Jacob and said, “Thank you for doing this.”
Jacob nodded. “I want you to know that we all think you’re doing a fabulous job here, Pastor Dan. If you handle every problem the way you did this one, I think our church is going to be a much better place very soon.”
Dan stood and shook hands with each of the men. “I’m glad you’re not leaving. I wish the other families had found it in their hearts to stay, but I can understand why they felt the need to go.”
The couples left the office and left a crying Mary with him. She looked at him and said, “I didn’t know you were going to talk to the gossips about what they’ve said about me.”
Dan shrugged. “It wasn’t your place to know unless they chose to tell you. I’m glad it worked out this way, though.”
Mary stood and smiled. “Thank you. I really appreciate you sticking up for me this way.”
“You never should have been treated that way to start with. You’re one of the rocks in this church. It was time everyone saw that.”
*****
Kennedy pulled into the parking lot of the church ten minutes early for the rehearsal. She couldn’t stand being late for anything. To her, it was the epitome of selfishness. If you were late, then you thought your time was more valuable than the time of those around you. It wasn’t. Each person’s time was just as valuable as the next.
She went into the back of the church and saw Anna standing with Pastor Dan and another man she’d never met. She felt bad for Anna. She was just getting married, and not only would her husband not be able to take any time off work, now that he was losing both the children’s minister and the youth minister, he’d be putting in extra hours. Anna was going to fill in temporarily for the children’s minister, of course, but who would take over for the youth minister?
She went to stand next to Anna hugging her tightly.
“We really could use you here. You’ve got another year to go at seminary, so getting some experience as a youth minister would look great on your resume,” Dan was saying to the stranger.
Kennedy studied the stranger. He was tall, well over six feet. He had blond hair and green eyes. He was handsome in a down to earth kind of way.
“I’ll come in and talk to you about it on Monday,” the stranger replied.
Kennedy felt her heart skip a beat. It would be nice to have him here at Parkside Community Church if he accepted. Maybe she should start doing some volunteer work with the youth.
Dan turned to Kennedy. “Hi, Kennedy. This is a friend of mine from seminary. Jarred Watkins, this is Kennedy Wilson.”
Kennedy shook his hand smiling up at him. With as tall as she was, she always felt blessed to have a man around that she could look up at. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said.
“Nice meeting you, too. Are you a member of Parkside?”
Kennedy nodded. “Yes, I am. It’s a great church.”
“So Dan’s been telling me. I’ve gotten quite the sale’s pitch.”
Kennedy laughed. “I really think you’d like it here. Our current youth pastor is wonderful, and the youth will miss him a lot, but they’re already used to a strict leader, so it won’t be hard to step into the position.”
Jarred looked at Dan. “How much did you pay her to say that?”
Anna grinned. “Jarred is going to be your escort for the wedding, Kennedy. I put the two tallest together. I knew you’d appreciate that.”
Kennedy grinned. “I hate always being taller than all the men around me,” she explained. “I’m glad that you’ll be my escort. I could even wear heels with you around.”
Jarred grinned. “I’m just thrilled I’m not going to have to take tiny little steps so the girl I’m with can keep up. This suits me just fine.”