By Name · Week 2 · Friday · BULLIES

She is in her sixties, and for twelve years she has run the food pantry at her church. Every Tuesday at eight she unlocks the side door, turns on the lights in the fellowship hall, and checks the shelves against the sign-up sheet on the cork board.

A few weeks ago a friend pulled her aside after a service and said, I think you should know. People are saying you have been taking from the donations.

Nobody had said it to her. It had been going around for weeks. It had a few details in it that made it sound true if you did not know better.

An open letter

When the invitations did not work, Nehemiah’s enemies tried something else. They sent him a letter, and they did not seal it.

The fifth time, Sanballat sent me this same message by his young servant, who had in his hand an unsealed letterNehemiah 6:5 (BSB)

that read: “It is reported among the nations—and Geshem agrees—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and this is why you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king,Nehemiah 6:6 (BSB)

and you have even appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf: ‘There is a king in Judah.’ Soon these rumors will reach the ears of the king. So come, let us confer together.”Nehemiah 6:7 (BSB)

An unsealed letter is meant to be read by everyone it passes on the way. The point is not to inform you. The point is for the story to get there before you do.

Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, a conflict ceases.Proverbs 26:20 (BSB)

She knew that. She also knew that if she started answering it person by person, it would turn into the only thing anyone at church talked about for the rest of the year.

She said it once, and kept building

Then I sent him this reply: “There is nothing to these rumors you are spreading; you are inventing them in your own mind.”Nehemiah 6:8 (BSB)

For they were all trying to frighten us, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will never be finished.” But now, my God, strengthen my hands.Nehemiah 6:9 (BSB)

Nehemiah said it plainly, once. Then he asked God to strengthen his hands and went back to work.

She wrote one email to the elders. It was short. She said there was nothing to it. She said she would like them to audit the books and the inventory log, all twelve years if they wanted, in the open, where anyone could see the result. She did not say who she thought started it. She did not defend herself to anybody else.

Then on Tuesday she unlocked the side door at eight, like always.

She answered it once. Then she went back to the shelves.

The families who came in that Tuesday did not know anything about any of it. They just found the shelves stocked.