A Christmas Miracle Comes to Holy Nativity

Bill continued on the road. He passed more old homes, then a simple building containing a Baptist Church on his left. Then he saw a sign on the right for the Lutheran Church. His heart quickened. It was a beautiful, large white building with a large steeple rising toward the heavens. Attached to the worship sanctuary was a long two story education building. He turned into the large parking lot. 
“This is it, Bing.” he said, getting out of the car. “Not bad at all.” 
Bing didn’t move from the passenger seat. 
“Stay here, boy.” Bill said, cracking the window on the car. “I’m going to check it out.” 
Bill walked around to the front of the church. He took a closer look at the sign. First he saw the listing for three separate worship services. “This place is larger than I expected.” he said to himself, partially out loud. Then he saw the name at the bottom of the sign. ‘Pastor - The Rev. Stanley DePaul’. 
“Hmm.” Bill immediately reckoned that must have been the name of their last minister. Maybe he retired, Bill thought. He really knew so little about the congregation. The Bishop hadn’t given him any details and Bill was afraid to ask. Even when he contacted the chairperson of the Call Committee to set up the interview and get directions, he had not asked any questions. He preferred to remain in ignorance rather than risk having his optimism dashed to the rocks. 
Then Bill looked more closely at the name on the top of the sign. ‘First Lutheran Church of Littlestown’. 
“Uh-oh.” Bill said out loud. Maybe this was the wrong church. Or maybe they changed the name of the church from First Lutheran to Holy Nativity, but never bothered to change the sign. He looked again at the directions. “They say make a right turn into the parking lot, which I did.” Bill was half thinking and half saying his words. “But if I was coming from the opposite direction, and all the other turns were backwards, then I should have made a left turn. Or maybe I got turned around somewhere without noticing, putting me back in the right direction.” 
Bill stood for several moments, looking at the road, then the church, then the sign, then his car, then the road again, and then the church. He decided to go in. 
He walked up the stairs and tried the handle on the red double doors. It was unlocked. He walked through a small dark narthex and a second set of doors into the large sanctuary. Light 
streamed through the stained glass windows onto the painted white pews. Bill walked slowly 
along the red-carpeted center aisle toward the nave. With some trepidation he stepped onto the 
altar area and moved to the left toward the large wooden pulpit. He put his foot hesitantly on the step and then stepped into the pulpit. He rested his hands on the rich dark maple wood. He looked out into the congregation. He took in a deep breath and began to speak. 
“My friends, I come here today not to praise Caesar, but to bury him. But in a sense, we cannot bury, we cannot consecrate these hollowed grounds. For indeed it was the raven who said, ‘Nevermore’. Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered...” 
“Can I help you?” The woman’s voice seemed to come out of nowhere. 
Bill looked frantically around the room. Standing in a doorway, behind and to the left of the pulpit was an attractive woman looking right at him. 
“I was, er, just trying it out.” Bill said, sheepishly. 
“Yes, well, we’re picking you up on the microphone into the speaker in the church office.” the woman replied. “It’s really hard to get any work done with you orating like that.” 
“Sorry.” Bill slunk out of the pulpit. “Are you the church secretary?” 
“One of them.” 
Bill’s eyes lit up. It would be nice having an attractive secretary, or maybe even secretaries. That is, if he got the job and this was indeed the right church. 
“Is this by any chance Holy Nativity Lutheran Church?” he asked hopefully. 
“No, this is 1st Lutheran. Holy Nativity is down the street on the left.” 
“Rats.” 
“What?” 
“Oh, nothing. I was looking for Holy Nativity. I guess I got the wrong place.” Bill looked around at the empty sanctuary as his body slumped. “Nice church.” 
“Yes, we like it.” The woman moved toward Bill. “But if you’re looking for a church to join, you’d be much better off here than at Holy Nativity. We have an active, vibrant congregation. And our minister is great. Holy Nativity has a bunch of problems. Their building is old and falling apart. And they don’t even have a minister anymore. You really would be happier here.” 
“I’m sure I would be. Unfortunately, I’m the guy interviewing to be the new minister at Holy Nativity.” 
“Ew, tough break.” The woman took a step back. “Well, good luck to you. It’s really a, er, lovely church.” 
“Thanks.” 
“Uh, when you go out from here it’s only a couple of blocks down on the right. You 
can’t miss it. It’s the church with the gutters hanging off the roof. I think the big blue tarp over the hole in the roof is still there too.” 
“Great.” 
“Oh, and it’s the only church in town with orange doors. You should have no trouble finding it.” 
“No, I guess not. Your pastor wouldn’t be close to retiring by any chance, would he?” 
“Afraid not.” 
“It was worth a try. I guess I’ll be going now.” 

He got out as fast as possible without actually breaking into a run down the center aisle. Bing gave him a casual glance as he opened the car door. “Wrong church.” he told the dog. 
Bill pulled out of the parking lot and proceeded down the street. It wasn’t long before he saw the bright blue tarp blowing with the breeze. Bringing his line of view downward he spotted the even brighter splotch of orange against the faded brown cedar shake building. The building looked abandoned. “Oh, joy.” Bill muttered flatly. 
He pulled into the tiny parking lot which was more like a driveway. He had trouble willing his body to get out of the car. But finally, he slowly, painfully got out and moved toward the orange doors. It felt like he was walking the last mile to the electric chair. He pulled on the rusting handles. The doors were locked. In a way he was relieved. He had enough disappointment for one day. He didn’t want to face what may be inside. Bill got back into the car and started his search for the Marbury Hotel.