Today in Salem: It’s Communion Sunday. The tavern owner has filled the communion cup with wine, and now it’s being passed from person to person as they each take a sip and consider. Five women have been found guilty of witchcraft this week, and each of them is condemned to death. Is it wrong to pray for their souls? Are they truly beyond redemption?
The smell of wine is overwhelming in the heat as the minister leads them in the Lord’s Prayer.
Thy will be done.
A long pause follows the final Amen, and the minister looks triumphant and grief-stricken at the same time when the elders stand and ask the congregation a single question:
Should the once-beloved Rebecca Nurse be excommunicated?
It’s a sad but quick vote. Rebecca has been a full member of the church for 20 years, much loved and well-respected. But now they know: Her kind words and good deeds were a facade. Just as the single communion cup has been shared by all, their vote is unanimous: Yes.
In the afternoon, the warden escorts Rebecca from the jail to the meeting house. She is frail and exhausted, but stands tall as the Reverend reads a list of her sins, then declares, in the name of Christ, that she is spiritually unclean and will be severed from the church. Amen.
Tomorrow in Salem: APPEAL: the beloved Rebecca Nurse asks for a reprieve