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Tonya
Tonya spent the whole service praying. Give me the words to say to Pastor. Make him see the truth. Over and over. She didn’t hear a word of his sermon. She hoped this was okay with God. She’d heard a lot of sermons in her lifetime.
The service finally ended, and she headed toward Pastor. Chevon beat her there. Then so did Molly. She groaned. A line was forming. She hurried to get there next, not wanting to be further back than number three.
Molly gave her a bright smile when she arrived. “How about that music, huh? So awesome!”
Tonya forced a smile. Was she wrong about this? No, she told herself. Maybe she was wrong about part of it, but not the part where the church had broken Fiona’s heart. There was no way to justify that.
The fear in Chevon’s voice drew Tonya’s attention. Why was the girl so nervous? “But I don’t understand!” she cried.
Pastor nodded patiently. “I know. It’s confusing. The church has been baptizing infants for a long time, but we don’t do that here because we feel it should be the person’s decis—”
“But I’m not asking you to baptize her! I said christening. My parents want it, and if I can’t do it in my own church, then how am I going to convince them that this is a good church?”
He continued to nod and put a hand on her shoulder. Tonya cringed. “I understand it’s confusing,” he said, and Chevon let out a loud, frustrated groan and ducked out from under his touch. She started to stomp off, but Rachel caught her arm.
“Don’t worry, honey. We’ll have a christening. I’ll organize it myself.”
Chevon nodded but still flustered, made a beeline for the door.
Molly had already started talking to Pastor, but Rachel cut in front of her. “Would you please employ some common sense?”
He blinked.
“I understand the theology, but is that what’s really important here? So we don’t dribble water on the baby’s head and we don’t promise everyone that the baby is now going to heaven.” She threw her hands up in the air. “Call it a dedication if you want. Call it anything but have the service.” Her voice quieted but only a little. “That child is terrified. She cried all through the service. And she’s trying to lead her parents to Christ.” Her volume started increasing again. “She’s trying to get them through these doors. And you’re worried about doctrine?”
Pastor’s back straightened, and his voice got louder too. Great. Rachel had put him on defense before Tonya had ever gotten to him. “I appreciate everything you’re saying, but I can’t go against the Bible and the Bible doesn’t say to baptize babies.”
Rachel let out a weird wail and threw her hands up. “Fine! I’ll do it myself!”
Pastor turned to Molly. “I’m sorry. You were saying?”
Molly’s eyes were huge. She swallowed. “Uh, I was just wondering when we could start the AA meetings here. I found a leader in Bucksport. He’s all trained, and he’s willing to come down here—”
“I’m sorry, Molly. I’ve done some research and I’ve found out that the ... the policies of Alcoholics Anonymous do not align with the Bible.”
Tonya’s chest tightened. She was watching a rockslide, and they were all at the bottom. She’d been raised in the church—three churches. And they had all met the same fate.
Molly had taken a step back. “AA is a Christian organization. It was started by a Christian!”
“That may be true, but they no longer believe in the Gospel, so I’m afraid we can’t host them here.”
She took another step back and bumped into Tonya. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” she screeched. She turned and looked at the dozen gawkers standing around. “Are you for real? I’m trying to save someone’s life here! My sister could die! And you won’t let her into your church?”
“That’s not what I said,” Pastor tried, but Molly completely ignored him.
“Fine! You won’t be seeing me again either. I thought you people wanted to help people. I guess I was wrong!”
Pastor stepped forward and grabbed her arm.
You really shouldn’t have done that.
“It’s not just what they believe. There’s also a huge liability in letting people into the—”
“Stop talking.”
Only when Adam stopped and stared at her in surprise did Tonya realize she’d said those words aloud.
