The Gensville Incident 1
Story by TikTikKobold on SoFurry
Sandy Kinkcade goes to church with her family, but the sermon the new pastor gives is all but normal.
This is a commissioned piece. If you'd like to get some work done from me, please consider checking out my Linktree.
In the somber town of Gensville, the people are simple folk. They all do their hard work, love their family, and go to church on Sunday.
The town itself is small enough, and the church is central enough that everyone who goes to worship goes to the same tiny little church—Gensville House of Worship.
Today is a special day in Gensville, for the church has a new pastor, and the people haven’t met him yet.
Among the families are the Kinkcades, your average nuclear family. However, in today’s economy, the adult children, Sandy and her brother Sheldon, remain at home. Even here in a tiny village, people find it challenging to make themselves homeowners.
Papa, who drives every Sunday, pulls up to the parking lot but pauses before he enters.
“Something the matter?” asks Mama.
Papa, a gruff man’s man, grips his steering wheel tightly. “I’m worried, is all.”
“Worried about what?” asks Mama.
“I just don’t like things being different,” he says. “Why can’t everything be as it’s s’posed to be?”
Mama places her hand on Papa’s shoulder and looks over her shoulder to give Sandy an apologetic shrug. “Oh, there ain’t nothing wrong with a little change, Papa. Remember, the Lord loves everyone.”
“Aw, shucks. Let’s just go in. I’m sure it’ll be fine. Just as long as he ain’t one of them fake preachers.”
Sandy frowns, squirming in her seat. She opens her mouth, about to say something about “taking the log out of your eye,” but she quickly stops. After all, no good could come from getting into a fight on the way to church… or after church.
Or ever, really.
Everyone funnels into the seats of the tiny little church, the arrival of a new pastor bringing in more people than usual. There are murmurs about what kind of person this out-of-towner could be and what his first sermon would be about. As the organ plays the hymn to start the day, everyone looks to watch as the man himself enters from the back, walking down the aisle, carrying with him the ornate copy of the Holy Scripture in his hands.
He’s a tall, robust man, broad in shoulder and thick in black curly hair. This includes his beard, piercing brown, nearly red eyes, and those bushy brows. He’s a veritable man’s man, and Papa smirks for a moment before he rubs at his graying arms.
Envy, too, is a sin.
The service begins with the welcome after the initial song, and the new pastor claps his hands together, looking over the people with a big smile. “Hello, everyone. It is a good day, a new day. I’m Pastor Alfred Oz. Not related to the Wizard, I assure you.”
There were a few chuckles but also a few more suspicious looks.
“I’m looking forward to serving this community and leading it to a great new revival, for we all know that Gensville has had a bit of a downturn recently. Young people are moving out, and older people are moving on. I assure you that we can bring new life to this community and spread the message to others. Can I get an Amen?”
On cue, the congregation answers him.
The rest of the ceremony continues as usual, going through the various actions and sacraments until finally, it is time for the sermon.
Pastor Oz stands up and places his hands on the podium, looking over everyone with a bright twinkle in his eye, and then he speaks up, saying. “Today, I will challenge you about a tale we all know so well. So, I hope you listen with open ears and open hearts when I speak to you.
“It is the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah. Yes, we all know the story—about how Lot lived there with his family and how angels visited him. The angels were so fair that the city's men demanded they have their way with those messengers of God.
“But the message that many people take away from this is that this is a condemnation of homosexual love. Now, I’m not going to say that having sex with your fellow man isn’t a sin. It’s listed as such, certainly. But the sin of homosexuality wasn’t the chief sin of Sodom. No, no. Sodom, in actuality, was a place corrupted by greed, envy, and pride, but not lust. No, people think that all sexual desire is lust, but that isn’t the case.
“And people think that all acts of sexuality are acts that are made in lust. That is also not the case.
“My friends, I ask you all to think on it—if it was a sexual attraction, why did they seek to impose their power over the other? No, a bid for power—a craving for dominance- condemned Sodom.
“After all, let us not forget that Lot’s daughters also committed a sexual act that is frowned upon. They drugged and impregnated themselves with their father, Lot, after he had offered them as alternatives to the angels. Still, neither he nor they were punished, but their children, and their children’s children, for the crime of being born.”
There’s a dead quiet among the congregation at his words, followed by confused murmurings. Through it all, Father Oz smiles, taping his fingers, waiting for it to quiet down. When it finally does, he smiles and says. “Well, then… why don’t we have communion?”
The people of Gensville line up to take their holy communion. All is as it is typically, but this time, instead of lining up and sitting at the altar, taking a tiny cup and a small bit of bread, they take it a more ancient way, with a chalice filled with the crimson liquid and a loaf of bread. Each member tears off a chunk of that bread or the body. They dunk it into the wine or the blood, and they consume both together to display their reverence and devotion to the cause.