Father John

When Elliot first met him, he was giving the group of young kids a speech about what God meant to him and why he chose to follow God. That was a Sunday morning, inside of the St. Francis Church where more than half of the town went to this church every Sunday morning, including Elliot and his family, who just moved here last week. Their new house was located on the other side of the town, though it was only twenty minutes’ drive from the church. They still had a lot to unpack but his parents decided to not miss this week’s mass again and they couldn’t wait to meet the Father and introduce themselves.

Elliot just turned fifteen the day before they moved in, he went to his new high school on the second day, and he still didn’t know anyone there after one week.

“Honey, it’s a great opportunity for you to meet other kids there in the church, and we can meet their parents too. It’s a small town and we should know them.”

Elliot’s mom told him last night when she decided to go to church the next day, she was in her late forties, though she always sounded like a seventy-year-old grandma to Elliot. He was never too close to his mom, especially since he started high school last year, he felt like she was after him in everything he did and if he didn’t follow her suggestion, she would find a way to let him know how bad he had made her feel.

Elliot didn’t say anything back to her this time, neither did his dad. His dad was a salesman who recently found a new job near the town, which led the whole family to move here. He was never a successful businessman, he tried to start his own business a few years ago, but it never worked out, so he went back to his old company and started again as a sales agent. About three months ago one of his customers asked him if he wanted to work for them and he accepted the offer without much negotiation, he believed he and his whole family needed a fresh start somewhere, it didn’t matter where though.

It was a sunny Sunday in October, the sky was so blue that Elliot felt he could jump into the sky and swim in it, those clouds were so white and so low, they moved slowly with the wind, if Elliot tried a little bit hard and reached higher, he could easily grab a string of cloud and put in his mouth, but he decided not to. He was just sitting in the car and leaning against the window while looking at the sky.

“Honey, you need to look a little bit more excited.” Elliot’s mom Wendy said to him, “if you want to make some friends today.”

Elliot didn’t plan to make any friends, but he didn’t want to tell his mom. He was still upset they decided to move without even asking him what he felt about it. It was not because he had many friends in the old town or school, but at least he had a few friends whom he could talk to and they always hang out after school, he felt he didn’t want to spend more energy on meeting new people and trying to get to know them.

Wendy was not happy at all when she realized they were late for church, of course she was not the one who caused the late situation, Jack, Wendy’s husband and Elliot’s father, decided to spend half an hour on toilet, not to mention Elliot spent another half an hour in the shower which Wendy had to yell at him for a couple of times. When they parked in the parking lot, she didn’t want to talk to either of them or even look at them, she just walked directly to the entrance like she felt ashamed to be found they were a family.

That was when Elliot saw the Father, he was standing in the middle of the stage, he wore a white cassock and a pair of glasses with black frames, he had short and trimmed hair and a full beard all over his face, he looked different from the Fathers from other churches Elliot had been to. When he saw them walking in, he didn’t stop his speech, but he looked at Elliot and nodded at him. Elliot’s mom was still mad at his dad, and she was murmuring something to him, Elliot could tell she was blaming but he could care less. Somehow the Father’s speech was like something new he never heard from any church.

“What is God? I have been asked this question so many times, and I also asked this question many times. You know what’s the best answer I think is?” The father paused for a second and then said, “God is Love, Love is God, it’s that simple.” Elliot could sense that the Father’s eyes stopped at him for a very short period, he felt like an electricity ran through his whole body and he suddenly woke up from a long ream. He had been asking himself so many questions about his doubt on what his parents believed, they went to church almost every weekend since when he was little, but he never truly felt the connection between him and God, he never truly believed most of the things the church had taught him. He remembered he asked his mom a question once:

“Why are there so many restrictions in the Bible? Like we can’t do almost anything right?” He could still hear his mom’s high pitch voice that day like he said something blasphemous.

“Elliot, who told you that?! The Bible only teaches us to be good; those are not restrictions!” She then asked, “Did you do something you are not supposed to do?”

Elliot couldn’t remember what he or she said after that, he just thought he would have to follow the Bible even though he couldn’t understand or didn’t agree with it.

But today, what the Father said totally pointed him in the right direction, it was like there was finally a light on in the darkness that he could follow. The Bible was not the issue; it was how to decipher it. It was the first time he couldn’t wait to talk to the Father of a church.

“Are you ok, sweetie?” asked his mother.

He didn’t answer because he was still focused on the Father’s speech, but he did nod so Wendy could stop asking him.

Before the mass was over, his mom asked him if he wanted to meet the Father, to her surprise, Elliot just said “Sure, whatever”, which made her almost not believe what she just heard. After all, normally Elliot always waited for his parents by the exit or in the car, she was hoping it wouldn’t take much to convince him to at least allow her to introduce him to the Father, but she didn’t expect him to agree to it this easily.

When they were waiting in the line to meet the Father, Elliot’s heartbeat was getting so fast and he could feel his face was burning, he hoped no one would notice it. He never felt so nervous to meet anyone from church before, most of time he just chose to not meet anyone there unless it was another kid who wanted to talk a little bit.

“It’s so nice to meet you, Father, that speech was so heartwarming!” It was finally their turn; Wendy held the Father’s hand and talked to him excitedly. Elliot felt embarrassed, he thought his mom acted like she just met the Pope.

“You must be Wendy,” the Father had a big smile on his face, he then turned to Elliot’s dad and said, “and you must be Jack, I am so glad you guys came today, welcome to the town!”

After a few minutes of meaningless conversation between his parents and the Father, Wendy finally realized Elliot was still standing behind them.

“Elliot, don’t just stand there, come meet Father John.” Wendy put her hand on Elliot’s back and pushed him lightly.

“Ha, nice to meet you, young man! Hope you are having a great time!” The Father’s voice was not as deep as Elliot thought, but it was strong and affecting, Elliot wondered if he was a good singer. “You can just call me John” he then added and reached out to Elliot’s hand for a firm and warm handshake; Elliot could feel the veins on his forearm. This was the first time he looked into Father John’s eyes so closely, the Father had his bear trimmed to a moderate length, which contributed to his masculinity but also not look so sloppy, you could also easily tell he shaved the beard off all over his neck which turned the skin there dark green. Elliot started to wonder what the Father looked like without the cassock.

Elliot didn’t say a single word the whole time, Wendy had to apologize to Father John for him before they said goodbye. This was almost the first time Elliot felt truly embarrassed when his parents apologized for him, at least the first time he could remember.

When he was walking on the way out of the church, he turned around, to his surprise, his eyes ran into Father John’s, the Father nodded at him, then he looked away and continued to talk to other people.