FIVE DAYS LATER, the morning of Vincent’s funeral, dawned with a promise of a brilliant and beautiful June day. A carpet of wildflowers spread its kaleidoscope of color over the valley, its gorgeous fingers of pigment dispersing up into the hills. Some of the peaks held onto their winter snows… crisp, clean and white, decorating the jagged granite heights.
A large herd of elk crossed the valley floor, the males magnificent in their crowns of antlers, as the herd bull watched for danger. As they wandered through the fields, browsing near town, they seemed to be coming near to say goodbye to a very special person, before bolting, leaping and bounding into the forests beyond.
As the sun cleared the peaks, a cloud of dust rose into the sky from the travelers converging on the small hamlet.
The country church was overwhelmed with the volume of mourners gathered in the valley that day for Vincent McKenna.
How do you say goodbye to someone who took the time to influence the lives of those around him, and in a way that made a difference? Someone who had loved you, led you, and influenced your life in a way that only a gifted teacher can bestow.
Vincent had spent his life guiding, teaching and forming the hunter and the man. Taking wayward boys and men into his care, he showed them the way to a good life. He taught them to be men of honor - one’s who took care of the land, leaving no footprint of their passing. No life was wasted, no person worthless. He taught them how to see everything through God’s eyes and to love the land and His creation, and to honor the life that was hunted, when taken.
Never had he taken anyone on a trophy hunt, nor allowed alcohol on a trip. It wasn’t in his character to kill for sport, or to risk lives when out in the wilderness, and people respected him for it.
What a legacy he had left behind. Those he had touched and guided now came to honor his passing. Teens came with their friends, and boys who had grown into manhood returned to the small town with their families. Old men who had hunted with him for decades made their way to his side.
Vincent McKenna was loved and the memory of him would live on for decades to come, both in the mountains he treasured, and in the way of life he imparted to those who were willing to learn.
The overflow of mourners, who couldn’t get inside the small church, were given chairs quickly obtained from the school house and nearby homes. Or they sat on their car hoods, or in vehicles with their doors open, and even on the ground under the shade of the trees. Most of Brandon Creek came that day.
The small microphone pack Pastor Tom had brought was hooked up to speakers and the voices of those giving tribute carried on the summer air.
The most poignant speech was Pastor Tom’s. Though he hadn’t known Vincent, he had come to know his character through his wife, son, and friends.
It brought back vivid memories of his own father, in the wilds of Africa and the legacy he had imparted to his son. Tom was taught to love God first, and then to love the land and the ways of the wilderness.
From his own life experience, he had been taught how precious the gift of life was, and how quickly it can be taken.
Tom bonded with Vincent’s memory and related to the man’s love of God, and the obligation each of us has to care for the earth, in our Maker’s name.
At the end of the service, Pastor Tom offered everyone the opportunity to worship the Maker of this earth, the Creator of the universe, and an altar call was given. Many renewed their faith, while others found it for the first time.
After the service, the crowds mingled, visiting with friends, while others made new ones, but all gave their sympathies to the McKenna family.
Lynn stood stoically, with her son by her side, thanking all who came.
Coffee and cookies were offered by the ladies of the church. Some had gone home during the service to grab more sweets from their freezers, while others ran down to the store to buy more coffee for the large, unexpected crowd.
In due time, one by one, or in small groups, they dispersed, going home.
Marty and the women of the church were cleaning up in the kitchen and putting things away, when she turned to them and thanked them for giving such a wonderful memory to the McKenna family.
“It was our pleasure. We’re glad we got to do it,” Netti said wholeheartedly, while the others agreed.
“It was a wonderful service, wasn’t it,” Esther said with satisfaction.
Finished, the ladies returned to the sanctuary and said goodbye. Esther went up to Lynn and gave her a big hug.
“I sure miss you,” she said warmly, affectionately. “Do you think you’ll ever come back?”
Lynn’s face fell, “I don’t know. We’ll see. But, thank you so much for doing this for us.”
“You’re more than welcome,” Netti said, also hugging her. “Please take care of yourself. If you need anything, anything at all, call me.”
“Thank you, I will.”
As the ladies left the church, the McKenna family was left alone with the pastor and his wife. Kyle stood up and joined his mother, as Lynn turned to Pastor Tom and Marty saying, “Thank you so much for what you’ve done. I know I’ve said this before, but I’m glad you’re here. You’re going to be a great help to the people of this town.”
Pastor Tom hesitated, but felt led to ask, “Lynn, do you have a moment? I’d like to ask you something, but I’m not sure how to phrase it.”
Taking a second he continued, “I certainly don’t want to stir up the past. In fact, I’d like to go on, leaving it alone. But I can see residual effects still hurting some people in this town about the previous pastor, and I’m in the dark about what happened. You told me once that your family left because of it. Would you be willing to tell me something about it?”
Lynn stood silently thinking.
Kyle stated, “Let’s go Mom. Its old news and it’s not going to help anything by bringing it all up again.”
She turned to him, “I know Kyle, but I think the Madison’s need to know. They should know what forces are, or were at work in this town, and be prepared for it, if it should start again.”
Kyle rolled his eyes unhappily and sat down heavily in the chair, folding his arms over his chest.
As Lynn seated herself, she began, “It’s been about ten years now since Pastor Andrew disappeared. I was church secretary then and had worked closely with him and the church board. His wife and I were best friends. Our two families blended together and our boys became close. Vince and I loved them all, as if they were members of our own family.”
“Pastor Andrew had been here for a long time, teaching God’s Word and especially God’s love for others. He taught us to be patient with each other, to be sympathetic and understanding. He was a soft spoken, gentle man, and a good teacher. But he ruffled the feathers of several elders in this church… whose hearts were not so soft, kind, merciful, or forgiving.”
“One elder in particular wanted us to come into church with a reverent attitude, with no talking, and to sit solemnly, piously, preparing our hearts to worship God.”
“But, Pastor Andrew said that though we needed to be respectful of God’s house, it was also essential to develop friendships, fellowship, and love among us, and doing that before service wasn’t a bad thing.”
“He also added that we should be as compassionate and loving toward those who came, as we could. It was our mission to grow in the fruits of the Spirit, as God has called us to. We needed to be forgiving, when small things cropped up. To love and work for peace when we could, and strive to live in the joy of the Lord, to be patient and kind, doing good wherever possible.”
“One of the things he tried to teach us, was that if we couldn’t love one another, then everything we did, were doing, or going to do for the church, was worthless. He told us we could work all of our lives in church, serving God and striving to do good, but if love was missing in what we did, it meant nothing to God. 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 tells us that if we talk like angels, or have the gift of prophecy, and have all the wisdo
m and knowledge of the ages, and even the faith to move mountains, but lack love, all of it means nothing to God. Even if we give all we possess to the poor and give over our bodies to hardships, if love is missing, it’s all worthless. It’s as though it never happened. That’s a hard concept to grasp, but it is so true. Love covers a multitude of sins, and if our Lord is merciful and loving, shouldn’t we be?”
“But, his words didn’t penetrate the pious, hard hearts and deaf ears of some of our elders. It only made them angry and they looked down on him. Their vanity and self-righteousness only blinded them to the truth. And because they felt they knew more than him, they placed themselves over our dear pastor. They determined they were the leaders and not the man chosen by God. They judged him lacking in obedience and wisdom. They even judged him incompetent to preach on his own, and demanded that he give them his sermons each week, to be approved by them.”
“It’s my belief they should have supported him… helped him. They should have had his back in the spiritual warfare that was going on, and not let the petty things that were swirling about this church live. But, they didn’t.”
Lynn sat sadly, the pain of betrayal to her friend and his family evident on her face as she continued.
“During that time, one of the women in our church was having marital problems. Sheila was a lovely, beautiful woman, whose husband abused her. But because her father-in-law was the head elder of this church, he was able to persuade her not to say anything and cause embarrassment to the family, in front of everyone. He told her he would take care of it.”
“But, he didn’t. Everyone saw the bruises, and her fear and pain was evident. Pastor Andrew’s compassionate nature couldn’t help but get involved. He felt it was the loving thing to do. And as her pastor, he counselled her for long hours, and even tried to talk with her husband, but his efforts fell on deaf ears. Months went by and nothing seemed to change.”
“Then one day, the head elder and Pastor Andrew got into words over it, or I should say the elder tore into the pastor. I heard his voice coming from the pastor’s office, loudly. He said that Pastor Andrew needed to mind his own business, and take care of the good people of this church. Sheila was a liar… spreading poison around the town about his son, and it wasn’t up to Pastor Andrew or anyone else to take on another’s problems.”
“I could hear Pastor Andrew’s voice, but not his words. He never raised his voice at his attacker, but whatever he said, it didn’t make any difference. The elder wouldn’t listen.”
“Suddenly the door opened and the man stormed out. I heard our pastor say something about bearing one another’s burdens, fulfilling the law of Christ and that we needed to right the wrongs, wherever we could. It was our duty to be a light in this world, and not to be like the world, no matter the cost, and to stand up for what was right. But the elder had stopped listening and left the church fuming.”
“Then, only a few weeks after the fight, Sheila and Pastor Andrew were gone. No word… no note… just the two of them vanishing. Speculations swirled everywhere. Rumors of them being alone during their counseling sessions and whispers of an affair flourished. It became general consensus that our pastor was a man after all and had given up his life of faith for another woman.”
“Peggy, his wife, was frantic of course when he didn’t come home. She tried to find him, but she had no idea where he’d gone. And as the hours passed, her anxiety grew. Those hours brought increasing grief and when the Conner’s informed her that Sheila was missing, as well, she became distraught as they accused her husband of running off with her.”
“Many of us searched for both of them for weeks, some of us for months after the disappearance. But no trace was ever found. The only thing we knew for sure was that they were missing, along with Braxton Conner’s family car.”
“What hurt Vince and I the most, was that the head elder fed these rumors and chose to believe it himself. He had determined that we didn’t need another pastor and had the parsonage closed up, after telling Peggy she had to leave, just months after her husband went missing. Yet no proof ever existed that he had gone away with Sheila.”
“Peggy, crushed, heartbroken, and exhausted from the ordeal, took their children and moved back to Vermont to live with her parents, miles and miles from Brandon Creek and the anguish she’d endured here. The last time I talked with her, she still believed that something had happened to him out here, somewhere in the mountains, alone.”
“We couldn’t stay after that. We knew too much about what’d happened. Though most of the congregation didn’t know the particulars, like we did, we watched as the rumors were destroying all the good work he had done. We just couldn’t bear it.”
“Now you know as much as I do, and I want you to know that to this day I still think something awful happened to him. Maybe if some of us hadn’t believed the accusations swirling around him, there would have been a lot more of us out there searching for him, maybe finding him,” Lynn said unhappily. “Does it help you to know?”
Pastor Tom took a deep breath and softly said, “I think so.” He was filled with sadness by the lack of love, and kindness displayed in this sad story. “I think I can guess who the head elder was, but I’d rather not assume. Would you mind telling me who it was?”
“Franklin Conner!” Kyle answered in anger, before his mother could reply.
“Kyle!” she scolded him. “You know your father and I have tried to teach you not to hold onto your hurt and anger over this, to forgive…”
Kyle stood and walked away crossly, as her sentence trailed off.
“…It’s for your own good!” she called after him.
Turning to Pastor Tom and Marty she apologized, the exhaustion showing in her whole body, “Please forgive him. He lost his best friend in all of this and the Conner family hasn’t exactly been kind to us. Their children made it hard for Kyle when they were in school together.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you for sharing this with us, Lynn. I hope and pray God grants me the wisdom and understanding to work with this situation and bring healing to this community and to your family. You’re welcome here anytime you wish to come and I think you know you have friends here. Be assured that we will be in prayer about this,” Tom told her, “and call on us anytime, day or night, if you need anything or if you’d just like to talk,” he offered as they got up and followed Kyle out of the church.
Lynn expressed her concern, “Don’t let Franklin or any of the Conners bully you. They can be so self-righteous about themselves and so blind to the harm they do. I’ll continue to pray for them, because I know it’s good for me to do so. But, I’m worried about Kyle. He takes things so hard and he’s going to miss his dad more than he can know right now. Pray for us, will you?”
“Of course we will,” Marty spoke up gently.
The Madisons stood by the church doors, as Lynn descended the stairs and walked toward the truck, where her son sat behind the wheel, scowling as he waited for her.
She opened the driver’s door and said, “Please let me drive, son. You’re too upset right now.”
“I’m alright, Mom,” he said defiantly.
“I love you Kyle, but right now I’d like to drive, please?”
Kyle glared at his mother for a second, then his face softened with his love for her. “All right Mom,” he said resolutely as he got out.
She grabbed him and hugged him tightly saying, “I love you son.”
A soft smile flickered over his face as he got into the passenger side.
Tom and Marty watched them drive away.
“I hope she returns to the church someday,” Marty said softly.
“Me too,” he said giving her a hug. Locking the church, he then yelled, “Tyler! Sam! Where are you? Time to go.”
The boys came running from behind the church, dirty, with large grins on their dusty faces and the family walked home.
Tom speculated, I wonder if Franklin Conner is aware of the damage he’s
done? Is he aware of how hard his heart is? Probably not. Controlling people only look at things from their point of view, acting on what they want, and not looking out for others in compassion, kindness, and IN LOVE. And that is not the character of God. He never controls us. He just leads us in love. And love is affected if we don’t learn to live in God’s love.
Gift Of The Givers