Why did the Christian cross the road?

To help the wounded traveler. (Not to avoid him. See [1] below for the story in the bible.)

I don't always cross the road. I don't always have my eyes open to see wounded travelers. Sometimes I'm pretty careful to keep my eyes off everything except my immediate objective. Wounded people can be messy and time-consuming. Come to think of it, I'm pretty messy and time-consuming, sometimes.

We met the pastor of Pathways Community Church, Bill Losasso a month ago at an anti-human-trafficking/victim support event. I wasn't surprised that a Christian would be there; I was surprised that a Christian pastor would be there, and not just to do the opening prayer. We chatted briefly after the event, and it quickly became evident that Pathways is not the average Southern Baptist church.

We lunched with Bill last week to learn more. He tells a story of the time when some Baptist leaders came to visit: tour, meet and greet, pray, etc. Later, Bill asked them, "Y'know who you just prayed with?"

"Your ministry leaders, right?"

"Yeah. Several of them are recovered alcoholics. A few more are recovered drug addicts. One served time for attempted murder." He could have added: "And the pastor is an ex-hippie and druggie who's been in jail five times, one of those in Mexico." So much for "perfect people under shiny plastic steeples." (See the Casting Crowns song here.)

Um, not your average Southern Baptist (or any other denomination) church. Bill and the others who planted Pathways wanted a church that could reach people like they had been before they met Jesus: dopers, crooks and general screwups. The truth is, behind every "doper, crook and general screwup" there's a human being, created by God, made in his image, and loved by him. That's the good news; you know, that Good News thing.

Pathways is largely composed of rescued people and those who would like to help. When someone saves your life, you don't forget them. I'll never forget Dr. Evan Cohen, who did my heart bypass surgery 13 years ago. I'll never forget Dr. Al Pacifico, aka "El Terrifico," who did Cyndi's heart valve surgery 28 years ago and again 6 years ago.

I'll never forget Jesus. People on a fast train to the bridge-out sign never forget who catches them at the brink. Neither will the other rescues at Pathways. Jesus is what I want to be, maybe a little more each day. Same thing they want. The ground is level at the foot of the cross: each of us crawls up to it with a backpack full of sins and wounds. We all need the same savior, and we all need the significance that only his eyes can bring.

If it's practical stuff for real people in real messes, Pathways seems to be interested in it: Addiction recovery, victim support, and generally welcoming people to Jesus. Imagine that. Bill uses a little point-of-view exercise to remind us, and maybe even himself, of where we stand:

So imagine a visitor walking into the door of your church, workplace, or home. Are they met with a greeting or an inspection?

If it's an inspection, then "lofty glances from lofty people [who] can't see past her scarlet letter" (CC song here), will send her on her way, still alone, and believing yet again that Christians don't care and that God doesn't care. But if it's a greeting and a welcome; well, she'll never, ever forget that either.

Science-fiction writer Greg Bear observed a few years ago, "We can define a culture by what it sees and what it doesn't see." (Slant, 1997) Here's hoping and praying that God will improve our eyesight, and our courage to act on what we see. And thanking God for an example of Christians and a Church who'll cross the road for someone who needs Jesus.


[1] Quite a number of extremely well-educated people challenged Jesus' knowledge of scriptures. It usually didn't go so well for them. One such expert asked Jesus the equivalent of  a 1+1 question, was given the customary return-question "How do you read it?", and gave the standard answer:

"The Scriptures say, `Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.' They also say, `Love your neighbors as much as you love yourself.' "

Then, looking for a way to make himself look good, he asked Jesus, "So just who is my fellow man?" He was looking for a simple answer, I suppose, or another formulaic, all-us-experts-know-this-one answer. He got the parable of the Good Samaritan in return.

The "road" in the story is actually a path cut into a cliffside that runs down from Jerusalem to Jericho, which is ferocious terrain. If someone's lying wounded on the way, you have to squeeze past with a lethal drop on one side and solid rock on the other. The wounded traveler isn't "out of the way," he's in the way. You have to work hard to avoid a ministry opportunity when the devil plants one right in your path. Nonetheless, most of us avoid the obvious.

Why do I need a small group of believers?

A few years ago I skimmed a book written in 2002 by a megachurch pastor, Ted Haggard. Dog Training, Fly Fishing, and Sharing Christ in the 21st Century: Empowering Your Church to Build Community Through Shared Interests was about building small group ministries around people's existing interests rather than topics or age-groups scripted by church staff. I thought it had some really good ideas along that line, but never took the time to really read it. (Still haven't - reading is a luxury!)

I was struck by his words when I skimmed it: "...I believed in [small groups] - I really did. I just didn't have the time to go to one...they never held my interest, or I never connected with the people in the group. It was easy to be too busy to go to a small group when going to a small group was the last thing I wanted to do." Then, as I remember the text, he sped on to how they had organized lots of these things, and some of the staff asked him, "Which one are you in?"

His answer was still, "None, I'm too busy." Of course, he knew that was the wrong answer, and they sort of fixed it with a staff-only small group, which is actually not a functional peer group. But that little vignette beautifully illustrated how easily some things dwell in the mind of a pastors:  I'm too busy, I've got to do it all, and I don't need anyone else except maybe my wife; I've got my eyes fixed on God.

In November 2006, just a few months after my skimming the book, Ted was outed by the male prostitute with whom he'd been sharing sex and drugs. His family, church and nation were shocked (and in some sad cases, gleeful) at his deceptions and hypocrisy. The first thing that came to my mind was, "Well, it wasn't hard for him to get away with it. He wasn't in a decent small group of peers - he said so in his own book. The only groups he was around was people who worked for him, one way or another. This didn't have to happen."

That's still my attitude. Of course he has flaws; who doesn't? Of course everyone needs strong, Godly peer relationships to encourage their features and help remediate those flaws. And in America today, of course, almost no one has them.

As a cautionary tale for us all, Pastor Ted (as he was known) has given us all a light for our way: If you're walking alone in the Christian life, it's pretty easy to end up far away from Christ and everyone else. But if you're walking with a few others, it's a whole lot easier to trend closer to them and to Jesus, day by day. Lord, let it be so for us.