Church Folk - Michele Andrea Bowen [41]
The church was so fired up by now that even some of the men had started shouting. One sister got so carried away that she failed to notice that her wig had become askew and was inching its way off her head. The adults watching the wig work its way down just kept clapping and singing, trying to ignore the sight, but for the older children and teenagers sitting in the balcony, away from the immediate scrutiny of their relatives, the suspense was too much to bear. They snickered, poked at each other, and pointed at the woman's head, ducking down behind the balcony pews to laugh out loud whenever that slipshod wig crept another inch.
Three women attendants who were dressed in white uniforms with big lavender lace handkerchiefs pinned on their left shoulders ran over to the woman, who by this time was waving her arms around and preparing to fall out. Right before she fell back across a row of people, two of the attendants grabbed her by the wrists, quickly lifting her up and away. A lady in that pew, wearing a beautiful yellow hat, picked up the wig with an ink pen and gingerly handed it to the third attendant. Two male ushers hurried over to grab the woman by her arms and ankles to carry her out, and the attendant dropped the wig, with half of the elastic worn out of it, onto her chest.
By now the soloist was winding up, and the choir director brought the music and the singing to a quick, dramatic halt. A minister sitting in the front-row pew shouted out, "Praise the Lord! Y'all know y'all praisin' God today. Amen." With hearty handclapping and loud "Praise Gods," the entire congregation joined in.
Bishop Jennings, who had remained seated throughout the song, took the pulpit podium as the last trickle of handclaps and Amens were quieting down. "Choir," he said into the microphone, "I do believe you're trying to sing us right on up to glory. What about you, church?"
A chorus of Amens answered his question.
He then adjusted the sleeves of his robe, revealing more of their purple, velvet horizontal stripes, and continued, "I do believe, Aaa . . . men, that we're going to have some church up in here today and it isn't even Sunday. Did you hear me, church? I do believe, Aaa . . . men, that we are about to do some serious worshiping right here on this Friday afternoon. Aaa . . . men."
One of the ministers sitting in the pulpit stood up, waved his arm, and said in quick, choppy phrases, "Yes, Lawd! We having church today. You know something, Bishop? Right now I feel church risin' up in me and fightin' to come out. Yes! Yes! Yes!"
"Thank you, Rev. Eldridge. Like I said, we're having church and this is going to be a blessed day indeed. Aaa . . . men. You know, we come here every year to take care of church business at our magnificent Gospel United Church's Tennessee/Mississippi District's Annual Conference. Thanks be to God Almighty, we have accomplished a lot over the past twelve months. And this new conference year, which begins this June in 1961, has even more blessings in store for this mighty district of the Gospel United Church. For starters, I am pleased to announce that St. Mathews, our host church for this year's conference, held a mortgage burning ceremony earlier this week. Aaa . . . men."
The Bishop looked behind him at the conference's host pastor. "Stand up, Rev. Gant, and let the congregation take a good look at you. Church, say Amen."
St. Mathews's pastor, Rev. Clement Gant, stood up and waved at the congregation.
The Bishop continued, "I also want to thank Rev. Theophilus Simmons for opening up his church, Greater Hope, for our smaller meetings this week. And, how many of you people here today are not from Memphis?"
Many people in the congregation raised their hands.