Elmo was a faithful member and regularly in attendance at Sunday services at the Meherrin Baptist Church. But he was one of those devout believers who took Jesus seriously when He said that if you wanted to pray, you should do it in your closet with the door closed.
Due to this fact, the rest of the congregation never had heard Elmo utter one word of prayer in all the Sundays he had been in the benches. They never expected this situation to change, either, because Elmo had one of those minds that weren't subject to shifting because of anything other people said or did. He was really hard-headed.
When the new preacher came to town for his first sermon, he had been introduced to Elmo and remembered his name ~ because he had been informed it was spelled with an "o" instead of an "er" ~ but nobody had informed him about Elmo's aversion to stand-up out-loud praying.
So he really couldn't be blamed for what happened when he thought the proper point in the service had arrived for somebody to say a prayer.
He called on Elmo, seated near the rear of the sanctuary, to stand up and lead.
He noted the collective gasp from the congregation, with all eyes turning toward Elmo, but things appeared to proceed normally from that point, because Elmo slowly rose from his seat to his full six-foot-two height.
"Brothers and sisters," began Elmo, "let us all stand ~ and close our eyes."
The rapt congregation arose, and the eyes dutifully closed.
After a long stillness, some of them began to blink, and finally opened.
When they slowly began to look around to survey the silent situation, Elmo was nowhere to be seen.
The next Sunday he was back in his seat, but the preacher, however, figured it would be best if he led that prayer himself.
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Elmo Parker (right)
relaxes after Sunday service
with wife Cellie (leaning against tree)
and Thelma Christine Leonhirth (foreground)
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