Free The Face of Heaven by Murray Pura

he fighting…or perhaps helping the wounded somehow so he didn’t have to bear arms?
    Finally the day arrived, three months after his departure, when Lyndel received her first letter from him. No one could remember her being that excited about anything. And even though the letter was not very forthcoming as to his duties, it at least assured her that he was safe…for now.
    She realized too that the longer he stayed with the Union Army and the longer he refrained from returning to the Amish in a repentant spirit, the more likely it was that he would be banned from the church.
    Her prayers continued to range from protection to repentance to his quick return home. But as the months passed and occasional letters continued to arrive, Lyndel faced the truth that Nathaniel must be far from repentant for his actions.
    Her concern was made all the more real by the sad glances her father gave her when she mentioned Nathaniel at the table. And then finally,in the spring of 1862, she found herself walking to the Sunday service in their barn dreading what was about to happen. But no matter what was said today, she had made a decision. She would first talk to Levi and then she would begin to make her plans.
    She sat down beside her mother and immediately bent her head and moved her lips, silently praying for Nathaniel and Corinth. They had both been in the army almost a year. How she missed Nathaniel. It had become intolerable. Please, Lord, bring us together again. Somehow. Either he comes to me or I go to him. She opened her eyes and lifted her head as the singing of hymns began. And then when the singing was finished, she sat and waited anxiously as her father rose and moved to the front of the gathered people and began his sermon.
    “So now it is April again,” he said. “Do you remember how it was last year, with our Lord greening the earth, when news came of the assault on Fort Sumter? Do you remember how men chose to fight rather than to pray? To kill rather than to forgive? To make war rather than find the pathway to peace?”
    Lyndel’s father paused. She could see the shine of tears at the edges of his eyes and reached over to grip her mother’s hand.
    “How very hard this is for him,” whispered her mother. “Remember that.”
    “I know, Mother. I hold nothing against him.”
    “Are you sure?”
    “I harbor no ill feelings, I promise you.”
    People all around them, seated in the Keim barn on rough benches, waited while the bishop closed his eyes to pray. Then he spread his hands. Light from cracks in the barn walls glistened on his damp cheeks.
    “It is never too late to return to Christ’s fold. Though we may err, there is always forgiveness with our God and with his people. The gate is never shut to the broken and contrite of heart.” He turned to look behind him briefly. “It was here that Moses Gunnison and Charlie Preston took shelter.” Then he gazed over everyone’s heads as if he could see the pasture and creek and sugar maples through the open barn doors. “It was among the maples by the stream that men took CharliePreston’s life from him. The rope hangs from the tree yet. I have never removed it.” His eyes fell on the people with a sudden fierceness. “But they could not take his life from God. The Lord holds Charlie’s soul close to his heart. No man can take Charlie from the God of heaven and earth.”
    Amen, murmured dozens of men and women, including Lyndel and her mother.
    “We do not pray for God’s creatures to be enslaved. We pray for them to be free to follow the Lord’s will for their lives. But God has called us to be Amish. And the Amish do not free men by killing other men. The Amish will not add more grief to the homes of Northern families or Southern families. We heal. We bless. We comfort. The Amish of America believe God cares for and loves all Americans, regardless of their color or creed or the sins they commit. Always with the Lord Jesus Christ there is mercy, there is