A Little More Tyme for Me: It started in the line at the grocery store..

It started in line at the grocery store... I had moved out East, to Boston, after college, and was working most hours of the day and night. I was teaching in a small inner city Catholic school during the day, and living in a High School for the performing arts at night acting as a dorm parent (~nothing like inheriting 12 teen-age daughters fresh out of college!).

I was at the grocery store buying some bagels and cream cheese, as my morning commute started too early for me to take advantage of the 'free' breakfast at the school where I lived. I was talking to the people around me in line and one girl seemed especially nice. She and I continued our conversation after we left the store, and she asked, that since I was new in town, maybe I would enjoy joining her bible study? Thinking this would be great - as I hadn't found a church yet, and was new, I accepted her invitation.

That next Tuesday was the first meeting, and I found it interesting and entertaining. The people seemed nice enough - most of them young like me. As I had been active in the youth group at my churches in High School, and somewhat in college, I felt like I had gained a group of people who would soon be my friends. The greatest part was they told me it was the "Church of Christ" - which was the church, back in Michigan, that I had attended and knew was "safe".

Time went on and I became closer to people in the group - even being asked to watch one couple's apartment and feed their animals while they went away during Thanksgiving break. I did, and enjoyed the access to a full kitchen during the school break. Too soon, school started back up again full force. -- Did I mention that I was teaching at a Private school in inner city Boston? That meant that the school had only the bare minimum of money to pay the teachers, so I made next to nothing. The only breaks I got from the kids at work and the kids at home was my weekly bible study group.

Then a few weeks into December, the couple pressured me into actually attending a Wednesday night church service. I had to make some changes, but wanted to make them happy, and found a Wednesday I could attend.

I was nervous, as it had been a while since I had gone to an actual church - but I was assured it was "come as you are" at the Wednesday night service, as it took place in a strip center location. I dressed up anyway - as that was how it had been where "I came from", and drove to the location and walked inside. The room was much larger than it had looked from the outside, and there were a LOT of people, but the couple that had apparently become my "sponsors" found me soon enough and started to introduce me to other people. Each one would give me a big hug and tell me how much they "LOVED" me, and how glad they were that I was there. This kind of freaked me out a bit - as I knew they didn't know me from beans, and to express "love" at a first meeting seemed an unusual behavior, The service was rather normal though, so I tried to shrug it off. The couple told me they would be coming to visit me the next day, in my room, which seemed weird again, but I tried to push those thought away, as these were my "friends".

The next day things got even weirder. The couple, when they came to see me, began to talk to me about how important it was for me to give all of myself to Christ. (I am a very spiritual person, and pray daily. I felt that my calling was teaching and that, especially at that point, that by working with kids almost 24/7 I was doing what He wanted me to do.) I asked them what on earth they meant by what they asked, to which they insinuated that Christ would want me to quit my jobs and join the church "full time" to help spread the Word. At this point, I was extremely uncomfortable -what does one say to that? I told them that I would have to think about it, we talked some more, and eventually they left.

God does watch out for his own though. The next day at school I had a meeting with the parish priest to plan the Christmas festivities for my class. As we were talking, I brought up to him what was happening in my personal life away from school. I felt really lost and alone at this point - my main friends being the people that I had met in the bible study group, so I didn't know where else to turn for another opinion. When I started to share, Father Waldren immediately asked for the name of the church, when I told "Church of Christ" he became very concerned. He educated me on the fact that there was a "Boston Church of Christ" that met downtown on Sundays in Boston Garden and that it was considered by most 'outsiders' to be a cult - and that it wasn't associated with the churches of my hometown. He shared that based on what I was sharing with him about my experiences, he believed they were trying to recruit me to join. I knew that the group did meet on Sunday's at Boston Garden - one of the reasons I hadn't gone as it was rather far from where I was living.

So, now how to get out of this mess? I realized that I did NOT want to be a part of this cult, and the fact that I could now label it a "cult" helped to explain a lot of the weird behaviors of the people I had encountered. I thought that perhaps I could just 'ignore' the calls and not go to bible study, and they would forget about me. Oh - but if only it were that easy. Unfortunately, they felt that it was their job to save me. They would call and call and call. This was before the days of caller id, so eventually I answered, worried that it was my family or work or something else. I tried to explain to them over the phone that I wasn't interested in attending the bible study anymore, and that I was "too busy" to do much else.

At that point they must have decided that I needed "intervention" because they said that a group of them would be coming to visit me the next Saturday to help me understand how important I was to God and to HIS church. I have to admit, by this point I was terrified and talking to Father Waldren almost daily about the intimidation and how scared I was to have them come over to my house to visit me. He gave me strength and told me that God loved me more that these people ever could, and that He would see me through this as well.

That Saturday, I decided that I had to be busy when they came, so I went and bought some paint to paint my room so that maybe they would see that I was too busy and leave. Not so lucky. A team of six girls, most of whom I considered to be my friends, arrived at noon; just in time to prevent me from going to lunch. I have to say that the next five hours were some of the toughest of my life. I was told repeatedly that if I did not accept "HIS" way of life, and "HIS" church, and do what they said Christ wanted me to do, that I would go to HELL. I pushed back as hard as I could and found the mantra of "if that's what you want to believe..." was the safest response to their threats:

THEM: "You need to come back, or you will go to Hell."