Sunday, July 25, 2004 AD The Body As the Baby Once upon a time there were two women, Sadie and Sally, who were members of the same church. Sadie and Sally got into a terrible quarrel (about what no one remembers) that ruined their previously cordial, if not close, friendship, and threatened to escalate into full-scale warfare if nothing were done about it.
When the elders got wind of the feud, they brought the women in to try to sort things out. Unfortunately, after lengthy questioning, it turned out to be one of those nasty she said, she said situations, with no witnesses that could speak for either of the combatants, and the elders just couldn't make heads nor tails of it. There was no way of telling who was right and who was wrong.
Finally, the eldest elder, wise old Mr. Johnson -- whom some in the congregation likened to Solomon, though he'd only ever been married to one woman, Mildred, his bride of 37 years -- began to plead with the women:
"Look, Sadie, Sally...we really can't see what should be done in your case. We can't discern the truth well enough to discipline either one of you. So please help us out here. A buzz about your conflict has already started in the congregation. Soon people will start to take sides on the matter, and I'm afraid that can only lead to a church split. Since we can't figure out the truth here, there's only one way I can see of avoiding such a tragedy. One of you will have to leave. Would one of you please be willing to do that for the sake of peace?"
Sadie answered first:
"Well I'm certainly not going to be the one to leave! Why, I've belonged to this church all my life. My granddaddy was a founding elder and my parents met here as children and were married in the sanctuary right down the hall. I was baptized here, too, and have been a faithful member ever since. No way am I giving up my place in this church for the likes of her!"
And then Sally replied:
"Well, I've only been a member here for four years, but this congregation has been a real blessing to me. I've been shown so much love and friendship! I love the liturgy and the singing here. I love the preaching and the teaching. I love the fellowship. It will break my heart to have to go, but it would break my heart worse to see this body split, so I guess I'll go join First Pres. in the next town over."
The session chucked Sadie out on her ear. Posted by Valerie (Kyriosity) at 7/25/2004 05:10:00 PM
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