The Wings of Morning (42 page)

Mr. Whetstone turned his head and glanced at her in the nighttime darkness. “Why, it was Pastor Miller who said that God had afflicted us with the disease because we had turned a blind eye to Jude’s transgressions. It was he who cast the first vote for the
Meidung
. It was he who insisted all the others vote with him in order to put an end to God’s curse.”

L
yyndaya was certain she heard a lark, the distinctive song that to her was a distillation of pure sunshine and clear skies. Perhaps it was a sign that God would have His way and that darkness would be turned into light this day. She hoped so. She prayed so. Yet often the ways of men could, at least for a time, appear to obscure and obstruct the purposes of God.

They were in Bishop Zook’s barn. It was Sunday, March sixteenth, in 1919, and the fields were greening while snowmelt and rain showers left puddles everywhere. Light had been gleaming like silver on the early hay when she had come to the church meeting with her family in the large buggy. Jude and his father were already seated on the other side of the barn. She kept her eyes on Jude until he felt it and looked up, and they both smiled at one another.

The bishop came and stood in front of them all. “You know, twice a year we meet for communion, in the spring and in the fall. And each time we meet we examine our hearts and our lives as we prepare to renew our commitment to Jesus Christ and to our Amish faith. Always before we take communion we talk about matters that have arisen in our church. We want to make sure everything has been laid to rest at the feet of Jesus before we take his cup and his bread together. So today, we have asked Jude Whetstone to join us, even though he is under the
Meidung
, because many of you have said he was not treated fairly by the leadership and you desire to hear him speak for himself. You are free to converse with him this Sunday, to listen to his words, shake his hand, to pray with him if you wish. Who knows? Perhaps our Lord will bring about reconciliation between young Jude and our church as he did between Paul and Barnabas and Paul and John Mark.”

He cleared his throat and paused to look out over the congregation. “You know also that two families have said they feel God is telling them to leave our colony if justice is not done for Jude Whetstone this day. I, as your bishop, grieve that matters have come to this. We would rather Adam Whetstone, Jude’s father, remain among us, but we must respect his decision before God, even if it means he is severed from our fellowship forever.

“In the same way, I grieve that the Kurtz family has also indicated their desire to part ways with our church. I would rather they made peace today and that Amos and his good wife Rebecca and their beautiful children would remain among us to farm and to worship and to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ. But again, we can only respect the decisions they make and place their family in the hands of God, as they must also respect the decisions we make before the Lord. So, here is this day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Let me pray and then the talking can begin, hm?”

Bishop Zook prayed for almost ten minutes. Then he sat down. Lyyndaya’s father was the first one on his feet though she had noticed Pastor Miller beginning to rise. It was a warm day and her father held a straw hat in his hands as he spoke.

“I was never one for the flying,” he began. “I did not want my daughter to spend too much time with young Jude. I thought, suppose he wants to court her in an aeroplane? Then, if he takes off into the air and flies away like a duck, how will I ever catch up to them in my horse and buggy?”

Everyone laughed.
Everyone
, Lyyndaya thought,
but Pastor Miller
.

“The flying is something the Amish people are going to figure out. Maybe this year, maybe next year. There is no rush. The aeroplane is not going anywhere but up and the same is true of the Amish.”

Again there was laughter.

“But I saw how Jude brought honor to God with his flying,
ja
, even in the middle of an awful war. We all know how he acted, we all know how the English and German people have praised his mercy, we all know how he deliberately avoided killing and sought to help end the conflict at the same time as he sought to hold human life sacred. And for all of this we do what? We ban him? We shun him? Just because one of our pastors bears a grudge against him and leads you all about by the nose to do his will instead of God’s? No, this is not right. This too we all know.”

Her father sat down, his face dark, knowing Pastor Miller would be on his feet immediately to refute him.

“I bear no grudge against any man,” protested Pastor Miller before he was even standing straight. “I only hold to the teachings of the Amish people, the ancient teachings based on the Word of God, for which our forefathers were persecuted and martyred. I do not wish to see these teachings set aside for any man, no matter how honorable some may think that man’s actions to be. Never mind that Jude Whetstone did not take human life. Others in his squadron did. He had no business being there in the first place, he had no business assisting them in
their
killing of other men.”

“For shame, Jacob Miller.” Benjamin Kauffman was on his feet. “Jude Whetstone saved your child’s life and you treat him like
Schmutz.” Like dung
.

“It was God who saved my child’s life!” retorted Jacob Miller.

Benjamin remained standing. “Yes, and he used Jude and Miss Kurtz and a doctor of the
English
to do it. You could not fly the plane, Jacob. You could not save your son. God worked through others and now you spit in his eye.”

“I honor God!”

“You honor your opinion. I would hate now to do you a favor, Jacob, if how you have treated Jude Whetstone is how you thank those who help you. It is better I pass you by like the Levite or you might have me shunned for lifting a hand to give you some sort of assistance.” Benjamin sat down, his lips still forming words, but silently.

The bishop was in front of them again. “Calmly, brothers and sisters, calmly and gently, as Jesus was before the cross. Let us remember whose children we are. Yes, I know you wish to speak what you believe is the truth, but truth must be spoken in love, as the Word says.”

Jude’s father was up. His voice was quiet and Lyyndaya had to strain to make out what he was saying.

“I do not wish to leave. I have no desire to leave. Is my wife not buried here in holy ground? Have my son and I not made your tools and wheel rims and plowshares? Has our work not helped you till the soil and travel about by horse and buggy? When you enacted the first
Meidung
against my son I bore it. I could not send him letters and I could not read the letters he sent to me. Every day he was in grave danger, but you would not even let me speak to him with the pen. I respected the
Ordnung
above my own flesh and blood, believing I did the will of God.

“Then we find he has gone into the war to cleanse it, to bring Christ’s presence into it, to save human life from it, as a man goes into a filthy well to clear it of rubbish so that the water may be sweet again and nourish both the body and the soul. But how do we treat him for cleansing the well of blood and corruption? Hours after he risks his life flying low to the ground so that a sick boy has air and warmth, hours after he and Miss Kurtz get this boy safely to a hospital none of us could reach in time by horse or by train—we shun him again.
This
is the Amish faith?
This
is the Lord Jesus Christ? Then I must take my forge and my anvil and I must find, I think, another Amish people, another Jesus Christ—yes, a Jesus who we find in the holy Scriptures, not in our imaginations and traditions of men.”

“But Adam,” pleaded Bartholomew Fisher, “you know what Jacob is saying is true. We are the people of peace. We do not put on the uniform, we do not wave the flag, we do not go to the wars. This others do, it is not for the Amish. We are to be salt and light in our nation, not more of the guns and bombs and killings. It is good your son saved Jacob’s son. But we must not reject our faith and the teachings of Jesus Christ because of that. I say let Jude repent of going to war. Let him ask forgiveness for taking a plane into combat. We will welcome him back with open arms, yes, Jacob will as well, and we shall break bread together this day and be one people under God again.”

Lyyndaya prayed as the speaking continued. Now and then she glanced out a small window on one side of the barn. There had been no more letters from Washington but she still hoped officials from the U.S. Army might arrive and stand up for Jude. Yet the situation was beginning to look hopeless. She hung her head. Suddenly a woman’s voice made her look up in surprise. It was Rachel Miller and she stood with young Joshua asleep in her arms.

“Perhaps I should not speak among the men, Bishop Zook,” said Rachel. “Perhaps it is not my place. Perhaps I should remain silent and let God speak among those he has ordained. But it was my child Jude Whetstone flew to the hospital that terrible day in February, that day when we lost our precious Samuel—that day, Bartholomew Fisher, when you could have lost members of your own family as well, but for the grace of God.”

She stopped, but did not sit down. Bishop Zook said nothing. Then voices rose from all corners of the barn—
sprechen, sprechen—speak, speak
. Her husband sat with his head down and his arms folded across his chest.

Rachel looked directly at Jude. “I do not understand what made you think you must go to war to end a war. None of us do. But you saved my Joshua’s life. Have I thanked you enough for it? No, I can never thank you enough. I never stop thanking God and I can never stop thanking you. For suppose you did not know how to fly? Suppose you had never learned how to fly a plane that fast and that low without crashing into a tree or a house or an electricity pole? Suppose there was no one at hand for God to use—for we know our Lord works through the creatures He has made? Would my Joshua be in my arms today?”

Jacob Miller was back on his feet. “I, like my wife, am not ungrateful to Jude Whetstone. I know God had his hand in this. But how do we know Jude did not bring the calamity down upon us in the first place? How do I know if my child ever would have been sick if Jude had not sinned by breaking the
Ordnung
?” He turned and pointed at Jude. “You wished to hear him speak for himself? All right, you tell them, young man, so that everyone can hear, you tell them what you think of war.”

“I hate war,” Jude said quietly.

“Yet you went to war,” pressed Pastor Miller.

“I did.”

“So—do you repent? Do you repent that you went and fought in the war you say you hate?”

“No, I do not. I had to go to war. It was the only way I could save the lives of those I love.”

People began to murmur. Jacob Miller flung his arms wide. “There. You see? That is how he talks. That is how he always talks. He had to go to war to save people’s lives. He had to sin to do the will of God. Now you hear for yourselves what his heart is like. Now you hear for yourselves that he will not repent. That is why the leadership have called for
Streng Meidung
and, if that does not bring this young man to the cross, excommunication from the church.”

“No, that is too harsh,” Lyyndaya heard one man call out.

“Our leadership are right to do this,” said a woman. “Listen to them. God speaks through them.”

“Too far, the
Streng Meidung
takes things too far. We act as if he killed someone. There was no killing. He did the exact opposite. So we punish him for having mercy on others?”

“The Amish are a peaceful people. That is our gift from God and our gift to America. We cannot go back on that because of one headstrong boy with his head in the clouds.”

“You are not listening to him.”

“He is not listening to God.”

My goodness
, thought Lyyndaya as more voices sounded from all parts of the barn,
the church sounds as if it has split in two over this
.

Bishop Zook was waving his hands and asking people to wait their turn, not to shout, to let others speak, but the meeting was getting out of his control. Lyyndaya imagined the church breaking apart, with some leaving to support Jude while the others remained faithful to the leadership. It had happened to other Amish colonies. Could it not happen here also?

“
Genug!
” David Hostetler was on his feet, his voice booming. “
Genug!
”
Enough!

The talking and shouting died out quickly. David still stood, even when silence was restored. He looked around the barn. Lyyndaya saw him lock eyes with Jacob Beiler and give a short, sharp nod of his head. Jacob stood up, but kept looking at the ground. David found Jonathan Harshberger as well, his eyes, she thought, like blue flame, and Jonathan got up, staring straight ahead. David continued to look over the congregation.