HAPPENING AT BRUTON PARISH CHURCH
The Rev. Cotesworth Pinckney Lewis, rector of the Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, Virginia, had an amazing experience Sunday, November 12. Looking down from his pulpit, he saw the Almighty sitting in the front pew.
The good Episcopalian minister at once interrupted his sermon and addressed himself in prayer to President Johnson:
"The political complexities of our involvement in an undeclared war are so baffling," he said, "that I feel presumptuous even in asking questions.
"But since there is a rather general consensus that something is wrong in Vietnam -- a conviction voiced by leaders of nations traditionally our friends, leading military experts and the rank and file of American citizens -- we wonder if some logical, straightforward explanation might be given without endangering whatever military or political advantages we now enjoy."
Since it is the custom in the United States to turn Sunday over to the clergy, leaving the rest of the week free for worship of the Dollar, the presence in the front pew said nothing. This was a rare display of magnanimity in view of the President's awesome powers as a speechmaker. Moreover, he had just completed a 5,100-mile tour in which he had delivered seven orations, all attempting to reply to the very question raised by the humble clergyman. He could easily have taken over the pulpit to come down an eighth time.
As word got around about the hap-