There are many stories of Jesus of Nazareth encountering sinners on the edge of life. In the biographies of Jesus, they are often women. Sometimes they have illnesses or have had difficult experiences in life. A man/rabbi like Jesus was not supposed to be near “ these kinds of people”.
I met Sebastian ( not his real name) at church on Sunday . When I drove up to the church, I noticed him. He was smoking just outside the front doors. I parked the car , and brought my box of information/pamphlets/buttons in my box to the front door. Sebastian saw me coming, made sure he was there to open the door for me. He asked who was I looking for, and I said “ the pastor “ . He said that he will find him for me.
Sebastian then disappeared , and the pastor showed up to welcome me to the congregation for the morning. It was a great morning of worship, connections and community. There was a baptism, contemporary worship singing, and some announcements. A short devotional by the pastor and a short sermon by me. The pastor invited everyone to stay for soup and bread lunch and conversation in the gym following the service. I talked with a few people about my work, and about what I had said in my sermon. I then moved to the gym for the lunch.
I saw Sebastian sitting on a bench just outside the gym. I sat down next to him. I asked him if he was going to have lunch. He said no, and that he only eats one meal a day. Then he said to me, “ You know I was in jail for 21 years ( I had talked about men being released from jail during my sermon) , but I have been out for 20 years. I have had three heart attacks, but I can’t stop smoking ( pointing to the cigarettes in his shirt pocket). And I drink too much as well. I come to this church. I have coffee with the pastor about once a month. Do you know that I was abused by a church leader when I was young ? I am never going back to that church. But, I like it here. “
I did not know what to say. I told him that you never recover from that kind of abuse. And I said it was an awful thing to be done to such a young boy . To me, any words seem to be trivial and meaningless to offer to Sebastian . What kind of Gospel can be given to him, when it was the church and its holy representatives have done such an unholy thing to him. It is his story to live through. He loves the church he is attending . He only attends about once a month, and he said that is enough. It was God that sent him to me on this past Sunday.
I thanked him for helping me on that morning , when he opened the door and found me the pastor. And then I was gone. In the parable about sheep and goats , in Matthew 25, it is Christ who is the stranger, the criminal and the one who is thirsty. It is not the church leader who is Christ; it is the one being served that is the Christ(s) in the world.
Fred Redekop
Fred is a husband, brother, father, Opa, and a seeker of the Kingdom of heaven while living on this earth. He lives with his wife Shirley in Elmira, Ontario
Ponder Anew 