Hans the bold famous saying #139 says that you should always be willing to engage in polite debate and conversation with people who you emphatically disagree with, since doing so can help you think about what you believe and why it is different from what they believe. This is the ultimate origin of this story, which came about after I engaged in such a debate for a few days on the posting board of an extremely conservative and literalist Christian web page. Then, of course, those wicked 7th Heaven posters (particularly that dastardly Lire) over at Television Without Pity (http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/) got me to thinking about how the culture of preachy, extremely literal Christianity might interact with the culture of preachy, trendy conservative Christianity we see on 7th Heaven. This whole internet thing has made me such a naughty boy, hasn't it?
As usual, the Camdens and most of the citizens of Glenoak (as well as Glenoak itself) are the intellectual property of Brenda Hampton and associated Hollywood big shots. The Shaws, in all their special glory, however, belong to me.
Chapter One: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
* * *
"Your husband is a Minister, yes?"
It began, innocently enough, with these words and a visit for tea.
Some backstory first, though. A small town in California, pleasant and the sort of place you might think of as being typical in its Americana. Wide streets, shaded with trees, winding and lined with pleasant, multistoried homes. Local schools and local kids, a little racial mixing, but not too much. A few churches, at least one synagogue, an unobtrusive mosque somewhere. An open air mall where teenagers would meet for pizza, and a popular pool hall and a hamburger place and an even more popular ice cream spot. Just out of town, there was a place where teenagers sometimes went to park their cars and kiss, and not far away was a larger city with an international airport that also had regular connections to Buffalo, New York and Phoenix, Arizona.
But let us return to the tea.
It is a custom among traditional Americans for ladies who are neighbors to share. It's a good custom, and in days past it helped draw families together, created communities out of neighborhoods, and it helped to teach children values of respect, both for their elders and for each other. They would play together and their mothers would watch them, and when the men returned from work they would sometimes meet and chat with the other men of the neighborhood. On holidays there would often be neighborhood parties with food and conversation and gossip.
These practices have changed somewhat in recent years, for a lot of reasons that are themselves good and not so good, change being the nature of the human condition. But it is still possible to find them, if you look. Americans are, by and large, a tolerant and neighborly culture, even though it can be argued that they work too much for ephemeral things like larger houses and newer cars and products that have been praised by overly erotic advertisements. They still recognize the good things about neighborhoods, about neighbors, and about meeting and knowing your neighbors.
Hence, on this bright early autumn day in Glenoak, California, Annie Camden welcomed her newest neighbor into her home. And yes, it was for tea.
#
Rebecca Shaw was, like Annie Camden, a wife and a mother. She, like Annie, was well into middle age, and though her hair was darker than Annie's, it was still far from black. They shared as well an interest in maintaining a good home, an interest in their husbands, a deep and abiding love of their children. More than this, though, each of these two women possessed a deep love of God, evidenced in Rebecca's case by a small golden cross that always hung from a thin chain around her neck, resting against the feminine ruffles of the blouses and dresses she favored.
It is, in fact, not tea but rather this love of God that brings us to our story.
The Shaws were new neighbors to the Camdens. Edward Shaw was a computer network administrator, originally from Iowa. His specialty was designing websites, and he was quite skilled at his job. It was this work that had brought him to Glenoak, which in addition to its various unspecified local industries was close enough to Silicon Valley to attract the firm he worked for. And as her husband went, so Rebecca and the children followed, arriving and unloading their possessions into the large house directly across the street from the home of the Camdens.
Rebecca smoothed her skirt beneath her as she sat now in the Camden kitchen, the evermentioned tea steaming in its small cup before her, and she smiled as Annie sat to face her.
"Sugar?" Annie asked, extending a ceramic bowl to her guest.
"Please," answered Rebecca. She spooned some into her tea, stirred it.
"I'm sorry the house is a bit of a mess," Annie told her. She was a bit intimidated that she herself wasn't better dressed; where Rebecca was immaculate in a white, ruffled blouse and dark, pleated skirt, Annie wore a pair of loose jeans and an old sweatshirt. She had been intending to do some work in the garage apartment today.
Rebecca smiled. "Oh," she said, her voice quite soft, "that's all right. I'm afraid my home is quite unpresentable just now, with the move and all." She sighed softly. "I've got my work cut out for me, haven't I?"
Annie smiled back. "I remember when we first moved in here. There were dozens of things I had to fix, and Ruthie was just a baby. Thank goodness Eric was so willing to help."
Rebecca nodded, took a sip of her tea. "A good husband is truly a gift from God. Perhaps Eric might be so kind as to come over some time and have a look at our second upstairs bathroom? There's a stain on the floor and we're worried that there might be a leak in one of the pipes. I do hate to call a plumber; you know how expensive they are."
Annie chuckled. "Eric wouldn't be much help, I'm afraid. He's positively inept with anything mechanical. I've done some plumbing myself, though. Would you like me to take a look?"
A silence settled over the room and the two women regarded one another. Then Rebecca spoke again.
"Oh, that's quite all right. I'm sure you're awfully busy. I can call a plumber."
Annie nodded. This was actually something of a relief, since she had a lot to do here at home. But it had seemed neighborly to make the offer.
"So," she said then, "how many children do you have?"
Rebecca smiled, her face beaming. "Eight, praise God. Four fine sons and four lovely daughters. Edward likes to compare us to that old TV show, the one with eight children and that wonderfully funny father. Who was that?"
"I think the actor was Dick van Patten," Annie said.
"Of course. I haven't watched that sort of television since I found Christ. It's all so wicked these days, except of course for the Christian programming."
Annie sipped at her own tea. "That's true," she said. "I do sometimes worry about what my kids see. It's a shame there isn't a good family values type of show out there."
Rebecca nodded forcefully.
"Your husband is a Minister, yes?" she asked.
"Yes. At the Glenoak Community Church."
"How noble a calling. I wish sometimes that Edward had chosen the ministry, but of course it isn't my place to question his choice of careers. And what he does can minister the word of God, too, don't you think? He and I maintain a web site to tell the world about the Truth of Christ Jesus."
Annie didn't answer now. Her own experiences online had not been so good. She remembered the time she and Eric had been chatting romantically over the internet, only to have their private conversation intercepted by a group of teenagers. She had put her foot down after that, and had banned the internet from their home. Considering all the pornography and liberal webpages out there, it was not a decision she regretted making.
"Well," she said instead, "The ministry is a fine calling. Our daughter Lucy is studying to become a Minister."
Rebecca raised a brow. "Oh? How old is she?"
"Twenty. She's a lovely girl. Eric and I are so proud of her."
If she expected a smile, Annie would be disappointed. Rebecca's face was expressionless now, as she finished her tea.
"Is the ministry such a good idea?" she asked. "If she's twenty, shouldn't she be looking for a husband?"
Annie chucked, but it was a bit forced. She said something then about how Lucy was indeed working very hard at that too, and Rebecca smiled a bit and after a little more small talk Annie invited her new neighbor and her family to come to the Glenoak Community Church that coming Sunday. This restored the full smile to Rebecca's face, a smile that broadened as the twins wandered into the kitchen and Annie was able to proudly introduce her youngest children to her.
"Oh, aren't you two just precious?" Rebecca beamed.
The twins babbled something incoherent together.
Rebecca left a short time later with a promise that if it was all right with Edward she would bring her family to services on Sunday. Annie smiled after she had left, humming softly to herself as she picked up after the twins and cleaned the kitchen and living room. She found that she liked Rebecca; it would be good to have a good Christian family in the neighborhood, good to have some kids that Ruthie and the twins could get to know and play with. Though this was a good neighborhood, the residents were mostly older or professionals without children, like Larry and Tom next door, and she had often wished that Matt, Mary, Lucy and Simon had been able to play with someone other than their siblings as they were growing up. Eight children, did Rebecca say?
By the time Eric, Robbie, Lucy, Simon and Ruthie got home from their work and school, Annie had still not made it out to the garage apartment, but dinner was ready and she found herself feeling really good about things.
All from a chat over a cup of tea. She looked forward to Sunday.
As usual, the Camdens and most of the citizens of Glenoak (as well as Glenoak itself) are the intellectual property of Brenda Hampton and associated Hollywood big shots. The Shaws, in all their special glory, however, belong to me.
Chapter One: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
* * *
"Your husband is a Minister, yes?"
It began, innocently enough, with these words and a visit for tea.
Some backstory first, though. A small town in California, pleasant and the sort of place you might think of as being typical in its Americana. Wide streets, shaded with trees, winding and lined with pleasant, multistoried homes. Local schools and local kids, a little racial mixing, but not too much. A few churches, at least one synagogue, an unobtrusive mosque somewhere. An open air mall where teenagers would meet for pizza, and a popular pool hall and a hamburger place and an even more popular ice cream spot. Just out of town, there was a place where teenagers sometimes went to park their cars and kiss, and not far away was a larger city with an international airport that also had regular connections to Buffalo, New York and Phoenix, Arizona.
But let us return to the tea.
It is a custom among traditional Americans for ladies who are neighbors to share. It's a good custom, and in days past it helped draw families together, created communities out of neighborhoods, and it helped to teach children values of respect, both for their elders and for each other. They would play together and their mothers would watch them, and when the men returned from work they would sometimes meet and chat with the other men of the neighborhood. On holidays there would often be neighborhood parties with food and conversation and gossip.
These practices have changed somewhat in recent years, for a lot of reasons that are themselves good and not so good, change being the nature of the human condition. But it is still possible to find them, if you look. Americans are, by and large, a tolerant and neighborly culture, even though it can be argued that they work too much for ephemeral things like larger houses and newer cars and products that have been praised by overly erotic advertisements. They still recognize the good things about neighborhoods, about neighbors, and about meeting and knowing your neighbors.
Hence, on this bright early autumn day in Glenoak, California, Annie Camden welcomed her newest neighbor into her home. And yes, it was for tea.
#
Rebecca Shaw was, like Annie Camden, a wife and a mother. She, like Annie, was well into middle age, and though her hair was darker than Annie's, it was still far from black. They shared as well an interest in maintaining a good home, an interest in their husbands, a deep and abiding love of their children. More than this, though, each of these two women possessed a deep love of God, evidenced in Rebecca's case by a small golden cross that always hung from a thin chain around her neck, resting against the feminine ruffles of the blouses and dresses she favored.
It is, in fact, not tea but rather this love of God that brings us to our story.
The Shaws were new neighbors to the Camdens. Edward Shaw was a computer network administrator, originally from Iowa. His specialty was designing websites, and he was quite skilled at his job. It was this work that had brought him to Glenoak, which in addition to its various unspecified local industries was close enough to Silicon Valley to attract the firm he worked for. And as her husband went, so Rebecca and the children followed, arriving and unloading their possessions into the large house directly across the street from the home of the Camdens.
Rebecca smoothed her skirt beneath her as she sat now in the Camden kitchen, the evermentioned tea steaming in its small cup before her, and she smiled as Annie sat to face her.
"Sugar?" Annie asked, extending a ceramic bowl to her guest.
"Please," answered Rebecca. She spooned some into her tea, stirred it.
"I'm sorry the house is a bit of a mess," Annie told her. She was a bit intimidated that she herself wasn't better dressed; where Rebecca was immaculate in a white, ruffled blouse and dark, pleated skirt, Annie wore a pair of loose jeans and an old sweatshirt. She had been intending to do some work in the garage apartment today.
Rebecca smiled. "Oh," she said, her voice quite soft, "that's all right. I'm afraid my home is quite unpresentable just now, with the move and all." She sighed softly. "I've got my work cut out for me, haven't I?"
Annie smiled back. "I remember when we first moved in here. There were dozens of things I had to fix, and Ruthie was just a baby. Thank goodness Eric was so willing to help."
Rebecca nodded, took a sip of her tea. "A good husband is truly a gift from God. Perhaps Eric might be so kind as to come over some time and have a look at our second upstairs bathroom? There's a stain on the floor and we're worried that there might be a leak in one of the pipes. I do hate to call a plumber; you know how expensive they are."
Annie chuckled. "Eric wouldn't be much help, I'm afraid. He's positively inept with anything mechanical. I've done some plumbing myself, though. Would you like me to take a look?"
A silence settled over the room and the two women regarded one another. Then Rebecca spoke again.
"Oh, that's quite all right. I'm sure you're awfully busy. I can call a plumber."
Annie nodded. This was actually something of a relief, since she had a lot to do here at home. But it had seemed neighborly to make the offer.
"So," she said then, "how many children do you have?"
Rebecca smiled, her face beaming. "Eight, praise God. Four fine sons and four lovely daughters. Edward likes to compare us to that old TV show, the one with eight children and that wonderfully funny father. Who was that?"
"I think the actor was Dick van Patten," Annie said.
"Of course. I haven't watched that sort of television since I found Christ. It's all so wicked these days, except of course for the Christian programming."
Annie sipped at her own tea. "That's true," she said. "I do sometimes worry about what my kids see. It's a shame there isn't a good family values type of show out there."
Rebecca nodded forcefully.
"Your husband is a Minister, yes?" she asked.
"Yes. At the Glenoak Community Church."
"How noble a calling. I wish sometimes that Edward had chosen the ministry, but of course it isn't my place to question his choice of careers. And what he does can minister the word of God, too, don't you think? He and I maintain a web site to tell the world about the Truth of Christ Jesus."
Annie didn't answer now. Her own experiences online had not been so good. She remembered the time she and Eric had been chatting romantically over the internet, only to have their private conversation intercepted by a group of teenagers. She had put her foot down after that, and had banned the internet from their home. Considering all the pornography and liberal webpages out there, it was not a decision she regretted making.
"Well," she said instead, "The ministry is a fine calling. Our daughter Lucy is studying to become a Minister."
Rebecca raised a brow. "Oh? How old is she?"
"Twenty. She's a lovely girl. Eric and I are so proud of her."
If she expected a smile, Annie would be disappointed. Rebecca's face was expressionless now, as she finished her tea.
"Is the ministry such a good idea?" she asked. "If she's twenty, shouldn't she be looking for a husband?"
Annie chucked, but it was a bit forced. She said something then about how Lucy was indeed working very hard at that too, and Rebecca smiled a bit and after a little more small talk Annie invited her new neighbor and her family to come to the Glenoak Community Church that coming Sunday. This restored the full smile to Rebecca's face, a smile that broadened as the twins wandered into the kitchen and Annie was able to proudly introduce her youngest children to her.
"Oh, aren't you two just precious?" Rebecca beamed.
The twins babbled something incoherent together.
Rebecca left a short time later with a promise that if it was all right with Edward she would bring her family to services on Sunday. Annie smiled after she had left, humming softly to herself as she picked up after the twins and cleaned the kitchen and living room. She found that she liked Rebecca; it would be good to have a good Christian family in the neighborhood, good to have some kids that Ruthie and the twins could get to know and play with. Though this was a good neighborhood, the residents were mostly older or professionals without children, like Larry and Tom next door, and she had often wished that Matt, Mary, Lucy and Simon had been able to play with someone other than their siblings as they were growing up. Eight children, did Rebecca say?
By the time Eric, Robbie, Lucy, Simon and Ruthie got home from their work and school, Annie had still not made it out to the garage apartment, but dinner was ready and she found herself feeling really good about things.
All from a chat over a cup of tea. She looked forward to Sunday.