"I think we should let him, Pastor," Becky spoke up, appearing beside
Happy. "The children's lessons are probably easier to understand for an
unchurched person. Besides, it will hopefully whet his appetite for
even more biblical truth," she smiled at Ronny benevolently; she was
condescending without meaning to be.
Ronny plastered a smile to his face, just focusing on getting through one moment at a time.
About
ten minutes later, he was squeezing himself into a tiny desk, sighing
in relief. This perhaps wouldn't be so bad. Maybe the children's
versions were more bearable.
About a dozen children, appearing to
be from first through third grade, giggled at the site of a grown man
sitting in their class with them. He wasn't a teacher, like Happy and
Becky, either.
Happy handed out pages to color and crayons,
smiling at Ronny as he gave them to him. Ronny looked at his paper; it
was a picture of two big angels standing next to the gates of a biblical
city. Ronny didn't know much about angels, but assumed that a lot of
bible stories featured them.
"Today we will be learning about
how God saved Lot and his family," Becky announced. "Lot and his family
lived in a very wicked city called
Sodom. God was going to destroy Sodom, so he sent two angels to warn Lot
and his family to flee the city. But the men of Sodom came to Lot's
door and demanded that the angels come out, so that they could kill
them. But Lot refused, and the angels blinded the eyes of the men, so
that they could get away. Lot and his family fled the wicked city, but
his wife looked back at the destruction and was turned into a pillar of
salt."
Ronny was confused. He thought he had heard something about
God being mad at the gay guys in Sodom, not people trying to hurt or
kill angels. Maybe God was mad because the gayness wasn't consensual.
Becky
started asking the kids questions about what she had just said, giving
out pieces of candy for correct answers. Ronny got bored and started
drawing erections on his angels. Then he created a filthy and very
irreverent cartoon, complete with little hearts between the two angels.
"Before
we have snack, I want to give you all a copy of our bible verse of the
week. If you memorize this verse, you will get to pick out a prize from
the box next week," Becky explained.
Happy handed him a small paper, glancing at his cartoon and frowning. Ronny picked up the paper and read:
"Now
this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were
arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and
needy." Ezekiel 16:49
Ronny folded the paper up and put it in Pudge's old bible.
After
snack time, Ronny heard what sounded like everyone poring out of the
service. He would have liked to see Pudge, but didn't want to see Ace or
anyone like him--or worse, be invited somewhere by them! "I have to
go!" he said abruptly, picking up his bible. "Thanks for the lesson,
everyone; I had a great time!" he lied, rushing out.
It wasn't
until hours later that he realized, to his horror, that he had left his
angel-sex cartoon at the church. He hoped he hadn't gotten anyone in
trouble.
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