raise your hands to the Lord.
Invite his Holy Spirit to fill your vessel
with his wonderous love.
Hallelujah!
Can I get an 'Amen'?
Oh-nah-tah-shah Me-kah-tah-neh
Key-lo-mah-tah-tah-weh.
Speaking in Tounges, they called it.
Most merely stood in their pew
muttering at the ceiling,
our Old Man among them.
I studied his cadence
and learned to mimic the routine
so as not to be singled out for unbelief.
The grander the display the brighter
the accolades from church elders.
Some danced in the aisles.
Others launched into convulsive fits.
The best of them was Sister Mary Hoagarten,
a lowly widow from East Kansas City
with a silver bird's nest of hair
and bellowing, staccato delivery.
Mary committed to her performance.
She was method,
drawing from a boundless well
of resentment and betrayal
to deliver her weekly self-exorcism.
Mary howled and flailed about,
always ending her number
with a flurry of guttural yawps
that climaxed in abrupt silence,
centering the congregation
in solemn reflection.
Mary enjoyed a long and storied run
as the High Priestess of Spectacle—
until Lester Hollinger joined the congregation.
Brother Lester was a towering, erudite bachelor,
always in the same charcoal undertaker's suit.
He never missed an opportunity
to showcase his biblical memorization.
One Sunday morning,
Lester descended from the foyer
and assisted Mary off the carpet.
He ushered her to her seat,
shuffled to the microphone,
cleared his throat,
and delivered an
Interpretation of Tongues:
Our Heavenly Father has revealed to me,
his humble servant,
the message hidden within
Sister Mary's utterance.
the message hidden within
Sister Mary's utterance.
Indeed, it is a passage from the Holy Book.
I Corinthians 14:28:
'Let her keep silent in the church,
and let her speak only to herself
'Let her keep silent in the church,
and let her speak only to herself
and to God.'
