So to get right to it there are two things really bouncing around my mind today. One is far lengthier and more confusing then the other, so I will talk about the short one first. The first is happy, and the second is ... not so much.
First, I got to sit and talk with someone today for something on the order of three hours. I had initially gone to meet this guy so that we could go out to lunch and discuss some things about church events*, but we never really made it to lunch or really to the whole church events thing. It was amazing to talk with this guy. Not amazing in that he gave me new insights (which he did) or because of his linguistic skills (which were excellent), but it was amazing because it made me feel validated. It is a special feeling when someone from a completely different background with different outside input comes to the same conclusion on pretty much everything that you believe. It is even better when that person is a respected older man who has lived through much more than myself. I needed this today, I needed someone to make me feel like I wasn't alone, like my ideas were more than youthful ignorance. That's what I got today, it was great.
*I've been using this analogy about baseball for church events and how churches try and get people to attend for awhile and I think it is apt. In baseball, owners and PR people try all kinds of gimmicks to get people to come to games. They will do giveaways, promotions, little games, and all types of other little things to try and get people to games. Sometimes they will even get players, not because they are good, but because they think people will come to see those players for some reason (usually local ties or popularity). Sometimes these are desperate (like Tampa Bay signing Wade Boggs in 1998 because "He's from Tampa!" and "He's a Hall of Famer", nevermind that he's 40 and isn't good). But what actually draws people to baseball games..........BASEBALL! If you want more people to come......be better at baseball! If you want less people to come......be worse at baseball! (Please forget the fact that no one wants fewer people to come.) I think this is incredibly similar the church and especially "church events". We try and organize "fun" things for people to do at the church and things that will "build relationships", but that isn't why people come to church. People come to church for......GOD! See this is why I think churches are declining, church leaders forgot that people come because of God, everything else is secondary and most of everything else is simply superfluous. So churches need to stop trying to "attract" people and need to simply be better at being Christ and talking about God. However, I see where this will be difficult. As one of my friends says, and I agree, "The American church doesn't believe in God." So to all you church people out there, if you're church is dying, maybe it isn't the culture, or the media, or those darned kids, or not having the right events. Maybe it's you.
That was a lengthy rant of a footnote. But we shall soldier on now to the second part of my day. This was the not so good part or at least the frustrating part. After an event at church tonight*chuckles*, a guy came into the church off the streets. His name was Lincoln Ross. He had a story, something about marrying a white girl and her parents being racist and he was from Atlanta. He wanted to go to St. John's*, I said I'd give him a ride, no problem. I forget to mention that during all of this he asks me to pray for him a few times, and I told him I would, and I would help him if I could.
*St. John's is a hospital at 21st and Utica in Tulsa. Don't ask me why he wanted to go to a hospital. I don't know. He said something about the chapel. He mentioned the word atonement, I didn't push for rationale.
So we get in the car and drive towards St. John's. In the car, he tells me that he could stay at the YMCA for $20 a week. I now become suspicious, well to be honest I already was suspicious because that's just how I am. I ask him if he wants me to drive him there, he asks for money, I bristle at the request. You must know, I want to help him, but I don't want to just give him money and leave him. I'll use money to help him, but not unless I know he is legit or I'm paying for somewhere where he can stay.
He then asks me a strange question, "Does the YMCA have rooms?" If he knows how much it costs, shouldn't he know if they have rooms? Now I am openly suspicious, I actually told him that I wanted to help, but didn't really believe him. He protested, of course, giving reasons why he wouldn't lie. I told him I would call and see if the Y had rooms, I really wanted to help. He told me to call the Salvation Army, he knew they had rooms, but he said he didn't think he could stay there because he didn't have a TB card. He then gives me the number (out of his head, kind of odd, I don't know). When I call the person there tells me that he can't stay there because he is DNAFAR. This means "Do Not Admit For Any Reason". I ask when this came in, he says February 2007. Hmmm....Lincoln told me that he had only been in Tulsa for a few months, but a year and a half ago he was kicked out of the Salvation Army shelter. What should I think now? What should I do now?
I decided to drop him off at St. John's, which I had promised I would do. I pulled into the parking lot, told him that I knew he was not being honest. He protested more and eventually tried to manipulate me by asking me what a real Christian would do, and asking me to pray for him. I told him we could pray together, and we did. I asked God to give him strength and help and to give me strength and discernment. He prayed to make me a better person and that someone would give him some money. What should I have done? I talked to Bob afterwards and he said that Lincoln was one of the best users he had ever seen. He said he had a great act and was excellent at pushing all the right buttons.
My heart aches after this episode. I want to help people I do. How am I to help them though? Should I have given Lincoln money even though I knew he was lying to me? Is the act of giving more important than what the person will do with that which is received? I don't know. I do know that money can't solve the problems of the world. Heck, Lincoln admitted that much. So is this just another symptom of the disease that is capitalism? That people are so impoverished that the best they can do is scam the only people who would really be willing to help them? I don't know.
I know that no choice that I made would have been the right one. I know that thought sickens me to the core. I know that money isn't the answer. I know that capitalism is a disease that has infected everything in society today. I know that the care of the poor is the duty of the church. I know that the church, by and large, rejects that duty. I know that I am confused. I know that there must be a better way. I know that Jesus is that way. I know all these things, and yet it seems like I am doing little more than screaming on mute. What do you think?
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