Trials And Troubles In Happy Valley

Last week a tiny congregation gathered in Roberson's dank-smelling sanctuary. Plastic ivy adorns the church; there are seven pews on each side below fluorescent lights. On this Sunday, the substitute preacher, Roy Selby, led the nine congregants in the hymn "This Is the Day the Lord Has Made" and preached on "Is Jesus in Your Boat?" Yet there was palpable distress. Several women wept. Wearing an old polyester blue suit, Selby, as expected, asked for prayers for the accused. Then he mentioned the accusers. "You know, we need to think of them and say that no matter which way it went, Jesus died on the cross for all of us," Selby exhorted. "So let's remember everybody involved, and pray that God will touch their hearts." The congregants raised their voices in assent: "Praise the Lord." Then, simply, "Amen." In Wenatchee, it seems, there is certainty only in prayer.

© 1995