Church Hurt

[465 words] Nearly twenty years ago, I was on the phone with someone in the congregation where we were attending at the time. I made the phone call while on my break at my workplace. Unbeknownst to me, one of my coworkers was listening to the conversation. Well, he could only hear me talking with the person I was on the phone with, but could not hear them. The conversation was one that should have taken place in person or without anyone present who had no context or information about the topic being discussed. Hence, my coworker had no idea what the other person was saying. The conversation was about some strife and conflict that our little congregation was dealing with. As soon as I hung the phone up, my coworker, looking across the room at me said this, “Hey Al, right there is why I don’t want anything to…