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Chapter 1 Praver "The Vibrations of the Holy Spirit Go Out There" The young guitarist picks out a spare melody while Mother Lofton moves away from the microphone and toward her seat in the amen corner. Asshe lowers herself to the pew, Sister Elliott, sitting nearby, pushes herself to a standing position. "We'll have prayer by our deacon:' she says quietly, nodding toward the far side of the church. "Deacon Eldridge." Then, as quickly as she rose, Sister Elliott sits down. At that same moment, a short, sturdy man stands in the deacon's corner. His smooth, unwrinkled face contrasts sharply with his closely cropped white hair, suggesting a youthfulness unsullied by decades of hard labor. His nimble steps around the drums and into the cross-aisle add to this assessment, testifying to a vitality of both body and spirit. This deacon has clearly not been slowed by age. As Deacon Willie H. Eldridge reaches for the microphone, the bass player picks a few random notes, as if to check his tuning. The guitarist strums his strings in tacit response. The saints remain still and silent. Now standing before the pulpit, Deacon Eldridge gazes into the pews. His eyes strike me as being full of warmth, showing no hint of pridefulness or pretension. Standing flatly on both feet, his suit hanging comfortably on his rugged frame, he conveys an air of quiet dignity. The deacon's opening words confirm this first impression. "You all bow," he says, his voice barely rising above a whisper, "for the prayer." The words emerge more as humble request than as command. All heads lower, many falling forward into clasped hands stretched across the backs of pews. And Deacon Eldridge, with closed eyesand quiet voice, begins to pray. "God's plan:' he says slowly, "included us." The deacon pauses dramatically between the sentence's two halves, as if to invite a voiced response. One comes quickly. At sentence's end, a sister in the amen corner murmurs, "Lord Jesus." "If you have a plan today;' Deacon Eldridge continues, pausing again to break his words, "include Him:' The same sister whispers "Lord Jesus" a second time. Now the bass player catches on to Deacon Eldridge's emerging rhythm. His melodic wanderings become a series of ascending and descending arpeggios that climax at each pause. The subtly voiced notes accentuate the prayer's measured pacing, giving a sense of forward-moving inevitability to the words. As soon as the bass sets its cadenced pattern, the guitarist adds an overlay of soft but piercing slides, making the instrument sound as if it were weeping. The guitar's plaintive cries deepen the spirit of entreaty, tacitly turning minds toward the inward conversations of prayer. Deacon Eldridge, meanwhile, seems oblivious to the instrumental additions. With eyes still closed and voice still soft, he continues the prayer. Lord, our hope for this evening is that all the things for this anniversary, Lord, include Him, Christ Jesus. Because without Him, there is no place. Without Him, there is no way. Without Him, there is no hope. (Jesus) (Lord Jesus) (Lord Jesus/Yes) (Yes,Lord) (Jesus/ Amen) (Lord Jesus) (Oh, my savior!) (Lord Jesus) (Iesusl) As he presses through this rhetorical triplet, Deacon Eldridge's voice begins to strengthen, slowly rising in both volume and intensity. In voiced correspondence, sisters in the pews respond with growing enthusiasm. The once-whispered calls of "Jesus" now sound with new emphasis- "lee-sus!" Taking this growing passion as a cue, the organist joins the devotional conversation . Faintly at first, and then with growing assertion, he improvises a melody around the words, filling every pause with sweetly voiced phrasings. This gentle commentary draws the deacon's sincere words, the saints' fervent calls, the bass's warm voicings, and the guitar's pensive cries together in a kind of worshipful harmony, yielding a seamlessness of sound that echoes the emergent communion of the saints. So soon and very soon, we're coming down to the end. To where we won't be able to come this way for another anniversary. Not even a church service. (Yeah, Lord!) (Yes,Lord! /Yes) (Lord Iesus/Yesl) (Lord Iesusl/Yes) (Lord Jesus) As Deacon Eldridge's phrases begin to show distinct contours of tone and meaning, more saints offer responses at every pause. Many others are just as clearly responding to other, silent conversations. Some gently sway back and forth in their 54 Chapter 1 [18.222.115.179] Project MUSE...

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