In the House of the Lord

Robert Flynn’s second novel tracks a day in the life of Pat Shahan, minister of a Protestant church in a large city. Young, devout, and honest, Shahan seeks revelation—and is offered a revolving neon cross for the church steeple; he seeks vision—and gets a pep talk from the church treasurer. Striving to serve the Lord, he is dragged into a “Great Crusade” which is nothing more than a publicity stunt that ends disastrously. Shahan’s day sees him ministering to the sick and dying, pacifying ang…