Sacred Religion

You are Fired

I was in trouble again with Pastor Rivers when she found out that I was friends with a Satanist. I did not tell her who it was, as I knew she would publically name him during her sermon and pray for his soul. I told her that the boy was a Satanist, but when I spoke with him, he didn't talk about Satan himself, and I reminded her that many Satanists are basically atheists and don't believe in anything besides themselves. Besides this, the Satanist boy was one of the nicest people that I knew. He was not a close friend, but I liked him. Pastor Rivers was also mad at Father James for letting the boy be in the choir. Father James ignored Pastor Rivers, but I could see that he was annoyed as he later mumbled, "Who does she think she is?"

Remember I told you that Rowan and I had a niece who was a bit younger than me, and she was being trained to be a junior pastor. Her name is Pauline, and I never understood how such a young girl could be a pastor in training. I wanted to be a priest; I would have to wait a decade to even start studying. Anyhow, Pauline wanted to speak with Rowan and me. She began by asking that we tell no one about what she would say. Of course, she could trust us. Pauline told us that she had a lot of problems with her mom. Her mom would not let her go places such as visiting Rowan and me in the tree house. Pauline was not allowed to have any hobbies outside The Gospel Spirit Church, not even go to ballet class. All this was quite shocking to hear, and Rowan and I gave our advice that she should speak with her mom. There is one thing that I noticed... well, a few things... Pauline kept on telling us to keep what we talked about a secret. She did not listen to Rowan or me when we talked, and she just ranted and ranted. It all made me feel happy that Pastor Rivers was our foster mom.

Father James had his own problems. He noticed that his congregation stopped coming to his church when Pastor Rivers gave a sermon there. It was just members from The Gospel Spirit Church that came. Father James said it was as if those evangelists were invading his church, and he was worried about his congregation. I was at a church committee meeting when he said that something had to be done. Pastor Rivers was scaring the Catholic congregation, and they did not like when she was publicly shaming people during her sermons. The church committee understood what Father James was saying but thought it would end up in a conflict between the two churches, as Pastor Rivers seemed to be a hard woman to speak with. I didn't say a word because I was just a child and I was daydreaming about what I would play, as well as because Pastor Rivers was my foster mom. Father James said he needed to pray about it.

Pastor Rivers wanted the choir to do a show at The Gospel Spirit Church. It was not the best time to do a show there, as Father James was considering if she would continue at his church or not. It seems that Father James is good at separating things, such as choir and church. This did not mean that there were problems. In one of the songs, the boy who did the solo wanted to wear angel wings because the song was about angels. Pastor Rivers told us that she would not allow angel wings in her church, and this was followed by a sermon and loads of bible quotes explaining why she would not allow it. Please do not ask me to ask me what she said. Father James was quiet. As head choir boy, I could not be quiet. For the first time, I stood up to Pastor Rivers. I told her that the boy had been practising his solo for a long time, and it would not be nice to tell him he had to change what he planned just before the show. Besides all this, the choir reserved the right to decide what songs we would perform and how we would perform them. Pastor Rivers still tried to preach to us and stood firm that she would not allow angel wings. I asked her if she wanted the choir to perform or not. We ended up doing the show, and the boy wore the wings he planned to wear. It was a small victory.

The week after we did another show, and this one was a fundraiser to fight cancer. It was important for the choir to do this show as former director Mr. Frank died of cancer. The show went well, and I was with Pastor Rivers after the show. Father James found us and asked if we could speak in private. When we were alone, he told Pastor Rivers that things were not working, and he was disappointed that she could not respect the agreement that was made when she was asked to preach at his church. Father James suggested that we move the prayer service to The Gospel Spirit Church, and in that way, his congregation could decide if they wanted to attend her church. Pastor Rivers did not respond and just stormed off. She did not even say goodbye. I was her foster child, and Rowan and I had to walk home alone.

Pauline was waiting for us when we came back to the church. I just wanted to go to the storage room and sleep, but she asked me what happened. She told us that Pastor River came back from the cancer fundraiser, and during one of her prayers at The Gospel Spirit Church, she told everyone that Father James fired her. Pauline's mother was so mad because she felt that "the Catholics" did not respect Pastor Rivers. I told Pauline that this was not what had happened and I would speak with Pastor Rivers the next day.

I did try to speak with Pastor Rivers the next day, but she ignored me. It was obvious that she was mad. I sat outside her office and waited to see if she had time for me. I waited all day, and much of that day was spent in tears. Why was Pastor Rivers mad at me? I found out later when Rowan told me that he got a text message from Pastor Rivers that she did not want to speak with me. I was part of the reason that "she was fired," as I was on the church committee and Father James was my uncle. She noticed that I did not support her and supported Father James decicion. Rowan told me that Pastor Rivers asked him to tell me that she needed to pray and requested that I not speak with her for two weeks!

I was mad and felt like I was not important enough for her. I would not wait for two weeks as she wanted and wrote a text message to her that a foster mom can't tell her foster child not to speak to her for two weeks. This was wrong and did not show any motherly love. I told her that I would go back to Saint Francis home until she was ready to be my foster mom again. Rowan came back with me as he was worried about me. Rowan could see how sad and worried I was. Clara was shocked when I told her what happened and told me that Pastor Rives only loved people who agreed with her and thought she was God's righteous person here on earth. Clara wondered why Rowan and I just did not move back to Saint Francis's home and not let Pastor Rivers control us so much. My answer was that I still loved Pastor Rivers, and I wanted to try to mend things and move on. Clara rolled her eyes and told me that this would not end well.

When I was at Saint Francis home, I heard that Pastor Rivers was sick. I also heard that she was questioning if she was being called by God to be a pastor. I wrote her a text message saying that I hoped she would get better and that she was in my prayers. This text message got her attention, and she replied with a text message, "I do not need your prayers. God knows my needs. God is faithful." Once again, I was confused because this meant that she did not need people's prayers but had no problem praying for people. Besides that, this was an answer from a pastor and not a foster mom. She did not even say she missed me or loved me.

After the two weeks were over, Pastor Rivers sent me a 17-page letter that she asked that I would also show Father James. Once again, it was from a pastor and not a foster mom. The letter was filled with Bible quotations and basically said that she thought that Father James and the church committee did not respect her or her mission by God. She thought the way Father James "fired" her was wrong. It was the wrong place and the wrong time. There should have been a meeting at The Gospel Spirit Church. She could not see why we should be fired, as she had done nothing wrong as she was doing God's work. I showed this to Father James, and he admitted that it was not the best time to do things, but there would never be a good time, as she was always busy doing things at The Gospel Spirit Church. Besides this, it was just a casual talk that we should move the prayer service to her church. Father James sighed and told me her pride was making this a storm in a glasshouse.

Rowan and I moved back to the storage room. Things were not the same. It was obvious that I was being blamed for being part of the reason that she "was fired." Pastor Rivers tried to pretend that she put everything behind her, but she always managed to hint at how badly she was treated. I also tried to move on. I could see that things were better at Father James Church as his congregation started to come back. In fact, no one mentioned Pastor Rivers or missed her. I also admired Rowan, who kept out of it all. Rowan did his best when he spoke with me to understand what Pastor Rivers felt. There are always two sides to every story.

I did find out that Pastor Rivers ghosted everyone at Father James Church. She blocked their numbers on her phone and refused to speak with them. This included Father James himself and even Flynn. I did not understand why she would ghost Flynn. He had nothing to do with Father James Church and often helped Pastor Rivers at The Gospel Spirit Church. My only answer was that she knew that Flynn was my best friend, and as she couldn't ghost me, so she ghosted him.

Pastor Rivers had enough problems at The Gospel Spirit Church. Her congregation was reduced to just family members. Maybe they had the same problem that Father James had. Pauline was also very unhappy and would often speak to Rowan and me. She would start by telling us to keep what she said a secret. Pauline's latest problem was that she was asked to give a testimony at The Gospel Spirit Church on how she found God. She read what she wrote to Rowan and me, and it was very good. However, Pastor Rivers had to approve everything people did at The Gospel Spirit Church, including Pauline's testimony. It was not approved, and Pastor Rivers rewrote it. Pauline said that it was no longer her testimony, as the bit that Pastor Rivers added was where she praised herself and wrote that she was the reason that Pauline found God. Pauline told us this was not true. She did end up reading what Pastor Rivers wrote and told me she was happy it was changed as she trusts Pastor Rivers. I did not agree. She read a testimony that was no longer hers. I kept this to myself though.

I could see that Pastor Rivers was in doubt about her work at The Gospel Spirit Church because her congregation was leaving, and she did get letters from former members accusing Pastor Rivers of having too much pride and considering her like a cult leader. Pastor Rivers would read these letters up to everyone, which I do not think was the intention of the sender. I did what every good child should do and told her that God does have a mission for her, and many do think she is a good pastor. There were tears in her eyes when I said this. Looking back at it, I do not think that Pastor Rivers doubted that she was a bad pastor. Her pride just wanted to hear it from others.

Pastor Rivers told me, as a head choir boy, I should try and get the Satanist boy kicked out of the choir. I did not even answer this, as I was boiling inside. The choir was not religious, and besides that, Pastor Rivers had no say in what happened in the choir. She disagreed with some things the choir had done and tried to get us to change so many times. She didn't like that we did Halloween shows because she thought they were against the Bible (despite selling Halloween things at markets she sold things at). She did not like it when we used angel wings, and now she does not like one boy who was a Satanist. I did debate this with her and did not answer. The Satanist boy is still in the choir.

Things did change at The Gospel Spirit Church. Rowan and I still attended prayer services there and the dances, but only Pauline and Pastor Rivers would speak with us. Pauline's mom, whom Rowan and I called "giraffe lady" because she was so tall, refused to speak with us. It made me so sad and felt not welcome or wanted.

Rowan told me they are bitter because they think Pastor Rivers was fired and they do not know what really happened. Rowan told me to smile and said it would all blow over and get better...