Ole and Lena, and the Spirit of our Day

“All the Wrong Questions”

The knock at the door seemed muffled.
“Come in,” Pastor Sven smiled as Ole sauntered into the
study, “that was some ludefisk potluck! Ya?”
“I’m stuffed as a sausage,” grunted Ole, “I was just picking
up the new lessons for my Sunday School class; sure
hope you’ll keep me in your prayers, Pastor, I’ve a tough
decision to make. Say, I need to ask you, is murder the
unpardonable sin?”
“The unpardonable sin? Why certainly not!”
Pastor Sven launched into a faithful homily on God’s
unfathomable grace, “no sinner is beyond God’s redemption.”
“That’s so reassuring,” sighed Ole, “well, I’ll see you
tonight at prayer meeting.”
That night as Pastor Sven asked for prayer requests,
Ole haltingly raised his hand, “I’m slipping off the end of my rope…the mental strain…I just can’t put up with Lena
anymore. I’m chewing on having her knocked off.”
Everyone sat in stunned silence. This was not something
they talked about in prayer meetings. It was better left over
for gossip.
But Gilda mustered up her courage and sympathized,
“You know you can count on us to pray that you will make
the right decision. And whatever happens, we know we’re
all just sinners; we’re here for you.”
Hulda chimed in, “And we’ll pray for Lena, too, that this
won’t be too hot for her to handle…”
Pastor Sven interrupted, “But Ole, you don’t want to do
anything hasty, do you? We all need to pray for God’s guidance
to see what’s cook’n in his plan. I do hope you’ll come
see me for some counseling.”
“Before or after I have the old cow sent to that great
green pasture in the sky?”
“Well . . . it’d be best before, but if you go ahead with
this half-baked scheme, you’ll certainly need some afterwards
to get you plum through the grieve’n process,” Pastor
Sven grimly responded.
“Mercy! What about the children?” gasped Olga,
“they’ll be squished as flat as lefsa.”
Next to her, Ollie piped up, “Oh, we all know kids are
amazingly resilient. Sure, it will be hard on ‘em. But sometimes
there’s just no other choice; might be for the best.”
(Olga looked a slim-slice nervous.)
“Of course, “ Myles mused, “it’s a bummer.  But, thank
God, we know that ‘all things work together for good,’ ahhh
. . . Romans 8:28.”
“And, if you decide to do it, Ole,” counseled elder Thor,
“you know we’ve got a good hit man right here at Hedone
Fellowship. He’s pretty mum about it, but they say that
Brother Bertram does a righteous job—no mess, no fuss.”
The knock at the door grew louder. Pastor Sven stirred from his nap in a cold sweat.
“What a nightmare!” he groaned, “must have been that
rotten carp.”
As he wiped his face, he moaned, “Come in.”
“Well, Lena, so good to see you! Have a chair, please.”
“Pastor, is divorce the unpardonable sin?”
Sven sighed with relief and launched into his homily,
“Why certainly not…and before I forget, Lena, will you
serve us up some special music to bless us next Sunday?”

[from Love, Prayer, and Forgiveness: When Basics Become Heresies]

A beg to the very few: Please consider re-blogging this