Fictional Church Story

Behind every powerful pulpit, someone is often left carrying the silence. He was born in the church nursery at a sanctuary of the Church of Keeping Up With the Appearances, raised beneath stained-glass shadows and christening gowns that still hung proudly in the fellowship hall. By five, he could sing; by ten, he could harmonize; by sixteen, the church mothers leaned in and whispered, “That boy is anointed.” He was handsome in the way congregations brag about. Tall. Smooth vo