There were mumbles of agreement, though no one else stood up.

Reverend Robinson shook his head, while Lady Robinson turned her eyes away. "The details aren't important," our Reverend told Mr. Cowell.

"The hell they aren't," the lady on the left side of me, mumbled.

At any other time, I may have reminded her, in a sisterly sort of way, that we were sitting in church. But right now, I was feeling her. How could Reverend Robinson drop that piece of news and just leave us sitting in the pews? He’d done something and as the tithing members, we deserved to know exactly what it was.

Reverend Robinson said, "The board will immediately begin a search for my replacement as I go into a cocoon of reflection.”

Cocoon of reflection? What the hell? Now all I could think was...this is a MESS.

“My wife has forgiven me,” Reverend Robinson said as he dabbed at the perspiration that suddenly moistened his brow. “Now, I need time to seek God's forgiveness and finally, I must have the space to forgive myself.” He gave us a nod before he added, “Thank you for understanding." This time, when he took his wife’s hand, he didn’t stop moving, even as the chatter grew louder, even as more questions followed him through the door.

When he and Lady Robinson disappeared through the side doors that led to the offices in the back of the church, I wanted to jump up, run after him, and ask my question to his face.

Ron, the Minister of Music, stood up and though his face was stiff with shock like the rest of us, he motioned for the small church band to start playing. Pilgrim’s Rest was known for a rocking choir, but the music wasn’t going to calm our spirits today.

I shifted a bit in my seat so that I could look at Jeremy. His eyes were focused on the pulpit, as if Reverend Robinson was still there. I took my best friend’s hand, hoping that would pull him from his trance. It wasn’t that I didn’t understand what Jeremy had to be feeling — if anyone had to be shocked by this news, it was Jeremy. Reverend Robinson was his mentor, the man who’d encouraged him to enter the ministry; he was the reason Jeremy was on staff here as the youth minister.

But most importantly, Reverend Robinson had come into Jeremy’s life when he was just a freshman at Dillard, a year before we met. That had been three and a half years ago and Jeremy had told me more than a few times that if it had not been for Reverend Robinson and his encouraging Jeremy to lean on God during his grief over his father's death, he was sure he wouldn’t have made it.

And the Robinsons felt the same way about Jeremy. I couldn’t count the number of times, Lady Robinson had told me that Jeremy was the child they’d never had.

"So, I guess you were surprised by this, too,” I whispered, not sure why I was stating the obvious.