VESSELS UNKNOWN

FIVE

              "Could you stop making that sound? You know it bothers me." I complained, my face full of discomfort. 
    
              "What could possibly bother you about a chant to God? It is just a spirit filled harmony void of words. It is a powerful spiritual tool. You should try it sometime."

He was shutting the big church door behind him, placing an iron wedge across the door.
For an eighteen year old, he looked and sounded twenty one.

His height far too exceeding for his age. I walked ahead of him, swallowing any further response I had. The events of the night had definitely left me exhausted.
                                                                 

          I picked a quiet place by the altar. Lowering myself to the floor beneath me, I sat quietly resting my head on my right palm.

The night had added a layer of mystery to my already confused mind, sucking up my energy. The rest of the prayer team were resting on the floor, some on the chairs.

I scanned the auditorium, taking in the beauty of its raised ceiling, which gave it the look of a dome. The altar laid bare, no chairs or gadgets on it. Just plain. Simple. The temptation to lay on it grew slowly, I banished the thought from my head.

  My eyes wandered to the huge wall clock directly opposite the altar. It took a better part of that wall, flashing a blue light with each tick.

A sense of someone standing next to me grew stronger,  I ignored the feeling and returned my gaze to the clock.

   
            "You still have not told me why you don't like chants." Jacob's voice pierced into the quietness of the huge church, peeling me out of my thoughts.

Without turning around, I knew this eighteen year old won't just let me be. I began to deliberate on how to send him to bed. It was 4am, and I really needed a me time.

Instead, I slowly turned around, widening my lips in a broad smile. It was too fake to be real. He caught on to my discomfort, but still rooted his foot beside me.

              "Oh don't worry about how you feel, most people who have destined business with Jesus feel that way around me. But until their destinies are clear and bright, they will continue to feel that way." He chuckled, blinking childishly at me. I ignored his smart mouth.

             "That's not what's bothering me. And, I don't feel uncomfortable around you." I lied. My fingers shook nervously as I peeled my eyes away from him.

              "But, you are trembling and I haven't even said anything." Positioning himself next to me, He let his weight rest on the bare floor.

Quickly, I shoved my fingers underneath my big sized shirt. I didn't want anymore drama for the night.

      "Back to your question." I began. "I really don't  understand the need of chants in the church. Again, why can't people just keep things the way they were?"

He slowly turned his gaze at me. "And how were they?"

        "You know the.... the....." I stammered a bit before I continued. "The way Christianity was before the youth hijacked it!"

He struggled not to laugh, yet leaving a huge grin on his face. "You are insinuating young people are changing Christianity?"

I scoffed. "Of course. They have turned the thing into a circus."
He busted out laughing, letting his teeth show fully.

           "But can't you see, they keep bring weird stuff into the whole thing. Then they went and brought this chant stuff."

He wiped a few joyful tears that pooled in his eyes. "You sure hate this chant thing."