ON PROSTITUTES AND BUMS

      I woke up this morning with prostitutes on my mind. I recalled the time when Sherry and I were showing her cousin where I attended seminary. We stopped at a restaurant in Hyde Park and her cousin asked me if I knew how much prostitutes charged in the area. His wife wondered why he would ask such a question and my wife noted that I "better not know the answer." I still laugh about that moment from time to time, but recently I came across a fictional dialogue that wasn't humorous at all. According to the story, a man and a women were walking along when they saw a old woman lying in the snow. There she was and the man asked his partner, "Is she drunk, or is she just a bum?" "Just a bum," his cohort replied, "Been a bum for years." "And before that? What was she before that?" "A whore in Alaska. Just a whore in Alaska." "And before that? She couldn't have been a whore all of her life. What was she before that?" "I don't know. Somebody's kid I guess." "Somebody's kid," the man noted, "now that's something. It's not a bum. It's not a whore. Somebody's kid is something. Let's take her in."
      We are more that what we do or what becomes of us. But it's the third story that speaks of God's presence in the most unlikely of places. I read it in one of Philip Yancey's books, but it's a story about Tony Campolo, who couldn't get to sleep one night after he had arrived in Hawaii. So he ventured out in search of an early breakfast and found a dingy diner. He ordered a coffee and sat down, when "eight or nine prostitutes" entered the diner. They had just gotten off work, but their demeanor made Tony nervous. He was about to leave when he heard a woman named "Agnes" tell her friend that the next day would be her birthday. "You know," she said, "Tomorrow's my birthday." And her friend said something to the effect of "So what? You want me to sing Happy Birthday to you or get you a cake?" Agnes replied, "I don't want anything from you? I've never had a birthday cake in my life and I don't expect to get one now." With that they left the diner... and it was then that Campolo and the owner of the diner, a man named "Harry," agreed to throw a surprise party for Agnes the following night. By 2:00am on the following day, the diner was set for Agnes' party. There was a sign that read, "Happy Birthday, Agnes," and a beautiful cake. There were decorations too and the diner was filled with "street people" who had received the word. Then, at exactly 2:30am, Agnes walked in... and everyone shouted, "Happy Birthday, Agnes!" Agnes was shocked... but when she saw the cake she began to sob. "Cut the cake," the people shouted, but Agnes didn't want to, not then. She said she wanted to take it home and look at it for awhile. She said she lived just a couple of doors down the street and would be right back. And then she left. While she was gone, Tony led the crowd in prayer for Agnes, and that prompted Harry to confront him. "You didn't tell me," Harry said, "that you're some kind of a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?" "I belong to the kind of church that would throw a birthday party in the middle of the night for a prostitute," Campolo replied. "No, no, you don't," Harry said, "There ain't no church like that! If there was a church like that, I would join it. Yep, I would join a church like that!"
      In the 25th chapter of Matthew, we're invited to gather around Christ's throne when He reveals "who's in and who's out." According to Matthew, Christ will  welcome those who are congregated on the right into the kingdom of heaven. "Come on in," he will say. "Come on in and claim the inheritance that has been prepared for you...because you fed me when I was hungry and when I was thirsty, you gave me a drink. When I was naked and in need of clothing, you clothed me, and when I was lonely, you took the time to visit me. When I had fallen by the roadside, you patched me up, and when I was a stranger, you invited me in. When I stood in the graveyard, you stood with me and you cried too! You ministered to me in all of these ways because I appeared to you as one of the "least among you." O Lord, may we see Christ is every person we meet. May we have eyes that see Jesus when we see an old woman lying in the snow, or an old man lying by our gate. May we have eyes that see Christ in the wheelchair parades that go in and out of the dining rooms in our nursing centers. May we see Christ in our unemployment lines, and in our food lines. May we see Christ sitting next to us in church, across the table from us at home, serving us at the diner, begging on the corner. May we be wise enough to see Christ in his manger, in his carpentry shop, in the empty faces of those who have lost hope, and on Calvary's Hill, where they are too blind to see who he really is and what he is doing for them.
      Some people call them "aha" moments, others call them "God things," or "holy coincidences," but  most of us know what it is to experience God's grace, or God's call, and God's presence in the most unexpected places. I pray that with eyes of faith I will see Christ in a regular way, as he comes to me in unexpected people and places. And I pray that, once in awhile, now and then, in some flickering but real way, I will also see the Image of God when I look in the mirror. Amen!