Before the service that evening, Ruthie went to the dressing room and found Samantha and Ashleigh, who were getting dressed for the Nativity scene. Ruthie thanked them for helping out. She then said that they didn't have to convert that night, that they should take their time.
"Of the fifteen thousand members we have, about three thousand are Catholics," Ruthie said. "Most simply identify themselves as non-practicing. You may want to make the change, but I say, just think it over. Okay?"
"Sure," the sisters said together.
"Second ... I shouldn't tell you this, Shelby should say it to you directly, but she kind of wishes she hadn't asked you two to be shepherdesses. She, and I, should have asked you to be angels!"
"Ruthie ... we're no angels," moaned Samantha. Ashleigh nodded in agreement.
"Oh girls, of course you are!" Ruthie gave them both a hug. "You both love God so much. And between you two, you're carrying three angels I can't wait to meet! But, I have a better idea than that. I know this is last minute, but the gang and I thinks that since you're both expecting, you should tell our congregation what Christmas means to you two."
"You want us to deliver the sermon? Just like that?" Ashleigh was surprised.
"Sam and David tell me your test scores last year were way off the charts. You're just as smart as they are, if not smarter! Surely you have thought a lot about this one. Just say what's in your hearts."
"What ... wearing this?"
"No. When we're finished with the scene, run back here and change into your business suits. We'll then mike you up and you take it from there."
"Okay, Ruthie, we'll do it." Samantha agreed as well.
It was about forty-five minutes into the more than two hour long service that the sisters finally approached the platform. Their baby bumps were more than obvious. A large number of the congregants murmured in disbelief.
"Good evening everyone," said Ashleigh. "My name is Ashleigh Atkinson, and this is my twin sister Samantha. As you can tell, we're both pregnant, and seventeen - it was our birthday today. And we know who the fathers are. For now, let's just say they're confidantes of Ruthie but whom we met before we met her."
David and Sam squirmed in their pew. That was a roundabout way of saying they were Ruthie's brothers. It wouldn't be long before everyone knew their part in this.
"When we were asked to deliver tonight's sermon, Samantha and I were trying to figure out what to say. But then it became obvious. Right, sis?"
"Yes, Ashleigh," replied Samantha. "And rather than drag this on, we'll get right to the point. You see, theologians tell us, most of the sister churches tell us, that the most important holiday in the Church calendar is Easter - the triumph of life over death. But the fact is, for most of us non-theologians, it's Christmas hands down. Why? Because we're all been born. To many of us, we've experienced the miracle of witnessing a child being born - whether as parents, siblings, or just friends of an expectant mother. That's something we understand. What happens when we die? We just don't know for certain. For many of us, resurrection is a totally abstract concept, if not a nonsense one.
"I'm carrying twins, a boy and a girl. Ashleigh is going to have a daughter. Ever since we found out, we've found ourselves much closer to God than we've ever been. Carrying babies at Christmas time makes it extra special."
"To say we were scared, though, in fact are still frightened, would be an understatement," admitted Ashleigh. "And actually, we did wonder what it would be like if we weren't carrying, if we just put an end to it? We lied to Ruthie and Hope about that. Abortion did cross our minds. So why did we decide to stay the course?
"Simply this. There never would have been a death and resurrection, if there hadn't been a birth first. And it all comes down to the Virgin Mary."
"Think about it," said Samantha. "Here's an educated girl, remember she was the successor to David's royal line so she would have been well versed in the Scriptures thanks to her parents, Saints Anne and Joachim. The uncrowned but rightful Queen of Israel. And within three months, she gets not just one but two shocks. First, her post-menopausal cousin Elizabeth is expecting a child; but not just any child but the promised opening act for the Messiah. Then, three months later, she's told she's going to be the mother of Moshiach, the Messiah. And Mary was young - anywhere from twelve to sixteen.
"Ladies, girls, if you got that kind of offer, would you have said no?"
Every female in the room raised their hands. Even the women ministers and their daughters. This included Tammy, who had completed a Master of Theological Education part-time two weeks before and was now a minister herself. She had resigned from work as an administrative assistant so she could devote herself to the church full time.
"My sister and I, we don't blame you!"
Everyone laughed.
"Mary had just a few seconds to think about it," said Ashleigh. "She knew the Scriptures, that the Messiah would bring in a kingdom that had no end, that he would rule forever and ever. But before that, she also knew he would have to undergo constant, daily scrutiny from his detractors, even on the Sabbath. And that at the appointed time, he would be accused of a crime he didn't commit, betrayed by one of his key followers and abandoned by the rest of the males in his posse - only the women, who financially back him, would tough it out with him. And worst of all, he would be crucified. How brutal is a crucifixion?
"Well, we're familiar with lethal injection, the gas chamber, the firing squad, the electric chair. The firing squad results in almost instant death. The chair knocks out the condemned almost instantly, but death takes about a minute because the brain, then the heart, have to be shut down. It's actually a brutal way to kill someone. Lethal injection can take a short or long time - up to an hour, and the chamber ... it's just torturing someone for a long time. Given how the Nazis used gas chambers, they should be outlawed.
"Hanging, which is the closest to crucifixion we can get in this country, is different. When you hang someone, you put a noose on the condemned, measure out the rope right to the inch so he or she isn't decapitated when the drop happens (there's an inverse relationship between weight and how long the rope is), then you open the trapdoor. The neck snaps at the end of the drop, and death by suffocation happens usually within five minutes. Sometimes, depending on how the noose is placed, he or she is strangled to death and it takes longer. Still, of the methods of execution practiced in this country, hanging may actually be the most merciful.
"But a real crucifixion is far worse. You're bound up by ropes or nails, and to breath you have to keep lifting yourself up, but that only puts strain on your back and neck until finally you die from a heart attack or your neck breaking in two, or both. In other words, you're very slowly hanging yourself. You can be on the cross for hours, or even days. If you're there too long, your legs will be forcefully broken to hasten death. But even if you don't break yourself, you die from exposure because you haven't been fed all that time."
"Now, add to that this ..." continued Samantha, "... you're the Chosen One. As Isaiah promised, you shall bear all the sins of man. That's everyone who came before you, and everyone who will follow you to Judgment Day. Being crucified is one thing. Bearing all that torture, of every sin ever committed prior to and after? Those of you women and girls who have given birth the natural way, imagine how painful that was even with an epidural. Imagine if you didn't have an epidural. Are you following this? That includes you gentlemen. Now multiply that pain by a factor of a million. You'd probably beg for a lethal injection - or to be hanged, as long as your child lived."
The ministers knew where the sisters were headed. They had never thought of this in this way, but clearly the girls were right on.
"That doesn't even come close to the torture Jesus experienced on the cross. It's incredible he lasted, no, suffered, for nine hours on the cross - on top of an all night trial where he was repeatedly beaten - before his corporeal body just gave up. Then to spend three days and three nights dead, his knowing nothing and being nothing. And then at the end of the three days, incredibly, he rises again ... with a new body, one that could never be destroyed yet one still his own.
"Mary knew what the fate of the Messiah would be. She read it and memorized it by heart. She knew that if she had this child as a son, that he would be tortured and she would be indirectly dragged right into a false trial, and a very real and brutal execution. For herself and her own part, she was risking shame and disgrace. Very real concepts in the Mediterranean world, even today. Shame for women, the loss of honor for men."
"But she also knew," said Ashleigh, "that if she said no, it was possible no other virgin would ever be asked. Meaning, there would not be a Messiah and all the Scriptures would be just worthless pieces of parchment. Especially the Ten Commandments. She also knew, though, there would be a happy ending. Her son would rise again, and she would be first among all the saints. So, after thinking about all of this in those few seconds, she realized it was a no brainer! She told the angel Gabriel that she was the handmaiden of the Lord - literally, His slave - and she would acquiesce to the Lord's will.
"When Samantha and I thought about all of this, we realized we had a duty to be His servants and to raise our children in His image. So it was a no brainer for us. We conceived our babies in the natural way, not supernaturally, but they are precious to Him too. God gave us life, we owed Him that much ... I to my daughter, Samantha to her son and daughter.
"We're not the Virgin Mary, of course. Although we're both pro-life, we know many other teenage girls who got pregnant who are pro-choice. But every one of them told us, 'I'm pro-choice, and I'm choosing to have my baby.' If they were willing to sacrifice their reputations, then we could face the future ... with our heads held up high. So we said yes to our babies, too."
Loud applause.
"And by the way, who did Mary give birth to? Jesus wasn't black. He wasn't white. He was a Palestinian. He has brown skin and he belongs to all of us!"
The applause got louder.
"Hey, Ashleigh!" laughed Samantha when the din died down. "You ripped that line from Billy Graham!"
Everyone laughed.
"But sis, you know it's true. If every race had its own Messiah, then who was the true one and whom were imposters? Jesus warned that there would be false teachers that would manage to deceive the elect. Look at the majority of televangelists today and all the people they've deceived, in the name of Christ. There can be only one Savior. Again you cannot have had a death and resurrection without a birth." Ashleigh turned to the congregation once more. "Let's proclaim his birth as well as his death and resurrection. That is our Great Commission, and we are glad to be part of it. And, well, that's pretty much it, except for more Christmas carols. Thanks!"
The congregation roared as the sisters took their seats on the platform.
"Are you sure you want to be public servants?" whispered Tammy. "We'll make ministers out of both of you, if we can!"
The sisters smiled. Then their cell phones buzzed at the same time. It was a text message and for both they were identical.
"You think you're smart, huh? Christmas is a false celebration to begin with, and you have the audacity to preach as women? I know what you've all been up to. You'll never get me. It's the posse's time to pay. #RCGAT"
Arnold Thompson of the Reconstructed Church of God. He wasn't watching on webcam. He was in the sanctuary.
"Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!" shrieked Samantha. "The enemy is here, now, tonight!"