During coffee hour in February, Amelia Bower made a joke about being upset that Chris looks better in a dress than she does! She thought no one was around, but word got back to Christina and Barry, who were insulted, and are still simmering over the matter. Other than the occasional hello, and good to see you this morning, they are not on speaking terms.

Christina submitted an application to volunteer in religious education three months ago, but no one has contacted her yet. She is not sure whether it’s because she makes people uncomfortable or whether the church administration is ineffective.

Both Barry and Christina have attended Interweave meetings, but they wouldn’t necessarily call themselves a member.

Joao is a greeter, a member of the building committee, a canvasser, and plays guitar when the Christian Fellowship meets for communion. Gary helps edit the newsletter, organizes the church directory, and keeps the lay readers in line (as a member of the worship committee.) They do this — self-consciously — knowing that their joint contribution of $70 a month to the general fund isn’t as big as they’d like, because they just bought their new loft at the Village on Middleport Wharves. Les and Jerry are in a tighter position, and give $10 a week, and an extra $30 for the Thanksgiving Appeal.

The divorced and got joint custody, which left them with an unusual problem. Little Timmy (now 10) needed a very specially equipped home. Nick, a safety inspector at the Soap Plant and June, a dancing instructor with Arthur Murray, couldn’t afford two specially-equipped homes. So now Nick shares an apartment with his girlfrend Ashley (27), an EMT, Monday through Friday. And June stays with her tango partner Enrique (30) on the weekends. Thus both parents move in and out of the family home every week so little Timmy always has an accessible home.

Naturally, everybody is a member of the church.

Little Timmy is in RE.

Nick frequently tells the mens group that if he legally has no wife, practically he has two. That doesn’t leave him a lot of money, so he pledges $700 per year.

June and Enrique sing with the choir and occaisionallly perform interpretive dance and donate dancing lessons to the service auction. They donate $500 apeice and their dancing lessons typically raise about $200.

Ashley wants to show what a good mother she would be in case Nick wants to know, so she coordinates the nursery. She’s also a member of the spiritualist group. But she’s pretty broke, so she doesn’t pledge.

CC

Rosalie Easton, (73), knows the value of a dollar. That’s why she had been saying for years that the church really doesn’t need a full-time minister. Her long-dead husband Harold agreed. That’s why she has given ten dollars a week to the church ever since she was a young lady and doesn’t see any reason to give any more. She doesn’t get out much anymore, but tries to make it to Spiritualist Alliance meetings on Wednesday nights.

Mostly, though, Geraldine shops and golfs and enjoys her position as the most expensively-dressed woman at the church.

They are fixtures of the humanist discussion group, where they gently make the point that Republicans are not, actually, all evil. Their daughter Taylor (14), disagrees, however. She participates in the youth group, raises money for liberal groups, and does pretty much anything else that might make Jenny Morgan think Taylor is cool.

The Geoffreys give $2000 per year to social action and $10,000 per year to the general fund. Sometimes more if Geraldine wins a tournament and feels generous, or if Hugh has had several weeks of late nights at work and feels guilty.

Jenny Morgan is the center of everything the youth group does. She’s recently gotten interested Buddhism and has organized a bunch of Buddhism-related activites, including a carwash where mindful high school girls in bikini tops raised $500 for Tsunami victims. No one knows what will happen to the youth group when she graduates.

She’s the head of the local social work agency, which has the best recycling program of any city department. She’s known for her zeal on the subject and for quizzing people seen to be throwing things away.

Her husband Evan (50) is a long time middle manager at the soap factory. They give $4,000 per year, plus another thousand to the social justice fund, and Amelia tells people all the time.

Rob (35) and Liz (34) give $1700 per year like clockwork, with an additional $300 to social justice.

It even cleared.

She’s happy to give Beatrice a ride when her car isn’t in the shop, which it usually is.

Beatrice Axon, 75, has been attending First Church, Lower Middleport, Mass., for as long as anyone can remember, but (for important reasons long forgotten) never joined. She lives at Apt. 6, Portview Manor with another widow — what was Mr. Axon’s first name? — Eleanor Hammond (age unknown and member of First Baptist) to share living expenses. Despite her modest means, Beatrice gives $100 a month to the general fund, and another $100 to the Thanksgiving Appeal. Eleanor enjoys reading the First Church newsletter, attends daylight off-Sunday events at First Church when Bea goes, and gives $50 a year to the music fund.

Neither one drives at night any more, and need to be offered a ride to attend night-time events because they wouldn’t dream of bothering anyone by asking. This is a great disappointment to the other members of the Spiritualist Alliance, because Bea’s mother was a well-known medium and active in the town’s Spiritualist Church when it was still open.

Though Bea is very fit, she can’t manage the stairs to the Longfellow Room, where many social events are held. The church board did establish a plan to raise funds through special offerings to make the space accessible.