“Salvation”

              The story begins when Hughes was almost thirteen, his aunt took him to a”revival “at her church, Hughes and some other kids were there to be brought to Christ. All the kids had to sit on the mourners’ bench, and waited for their moment to come. Hughes’s aunt explained the experience to him in detail and Hughes himself had heard old people explain the experience. They explained, when you were saved you saw a light, something would happen inside you, and Jesus would then come into your life to be there forever. She explained to Hughes, you could feel Jesus in your soul, and that was exactly the way Hughes expected the experience to be like.

           The preacher started to preach and it was a great sermon, he then directed his attention to the kids sitting on the mourners’ bench. The little girls responded immediately and went to Christ, but Hughes and a few other kids sat there. Because Hughes and some of the other kids did not come to Christ, the old women of the church gathered around them to pray. The entire church seemed to burst out in prayer and in songs. It wasn’t long before all the other kids went up to be saved, except Hughes and a kid name Westley. They now had the attention of the entire church; Westley got tired of sitting there so he gave in and went up to be saved. After Westley went up, Hughes sat on the mourners’ bench alone. The entire congregation was praying for Hughes, but he kept sitting there hoping something would happen. The minister asked, why don’t you come to Jesus? Hughes’s aunt cried, as the preacher continued to ask why don’t you come and be saved. It was now very late and Hughes started feeling bad for holding everyone up. He wondered what God must have thought of him because of this. Westley who had now gone up, stared at Hughes in his knickerbockers grinning. Hughes knew Westley had not seen Christ and nothing happened to him, God did not strike him dead. So Hughes finally decided to not cause any more trouble and that he should lie like Westley did. So he got up to be saved. His aunt gave him a tight hug, and the minister took his hand and led him to the platform where the rest of the kids were.

            Hughes that night, for the first time since he turned twelve cried. He cried because he didn’t want his aunt to know that he lied about seeing Jesus. Hughes didn’t want her to know he didn’t believe in Jesus, since he didn’t come to help him. He knew that would break her heart. Hughes refers to this moment as “the day I was saved from sin. But not really saved” (Hughes).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                               Work Cited

Hughes, Langston. "Salvation.” The Literature Network Forums, 20 Feb. 2012. Web. 23 Apr. 2015. <http://www.online-literature.com/forums/forum.php>.