CALVARY
BAPTIST CHURCH
Rev. Fred Weimert September 30, 2007
“Unfortunate Oversight”
Not being a
psychiatrist
I don’t have a clue how the human
mind works,
and I am not always sure
that Psychiatrists do either…
I do know how my mind works…
Even though I am not
sure why it works that way.
When I am
confronted with a problem…
I
analyze it…
usually
come up with some scenario…
How
it had to happen…
Then
I go about developing some scheme
which
I believe is going to solve the problem…
and
possibly save the world…
There
is obviously some messianic
illusion… delusion
at
work in my psyche.
The last month or
two
we have been having a problem at
Church
with someone using the
courtyard as a bathroom…
It has been
rather disconcerting
finding and disposing
of
the almost daily deposits,
which have been made.
I studied the problem…
Yelled at some of the
alcoholics
who hang around the building…
made
some accusations…
and was quickly told
that they would never dis…
me in that fashion.
I
was their favorite minister,
and
by the way,
do
you have a couple of bucks
for something to eat.
They
did volunteer,
after
a couple of bucks,
that
there was this guy hanging around
that
they didn’t know…
very
dark complexion…
and
always wearing black.
With that information and my
deductive genius…
I developed my initial
scenario.
I did also talk to the
Police about the problem…
I told them my
thoughts…,
and they
said they would check in on it…
But
I have heard nothing.
So I went on with my
scheming…
Obviously, to me, someone was sleeping down
in the courtyard.
probably
the man in black,
and
he was causing this mess.
At
first I thought it was a guy I know
with
a crack habit…
who
also wears black,
but
then,
a few days later,
I saw another young man
Unknown
to me,
in black,
on a Saturday morning,
walking behind the church.
My carefully devised solution…
was to trim the holly bushes,
scatter
the branches and leaves around the courtyard,
in all the favorite sleeping spots…
Because, this young man wasn’t carrying any
sleeping bag,
so
he must be sleeping on the ground,
the
holly leaves would prick him
and he would leave.
I thought the plan to be
brilliant in its simplicity.
The only problem was that the mess
continued.
I came up in the middle
of the night twice,
and
discovered no one was sleeping here.
And now, beside the
messes,
I have a mess of prickly holly branches to
clean up.
Obviously it was time
for me to go back to the drawing board…
to
develop a new scenario…
The
man in black is living near here,
but not in the church yard…
this is just his bathroom.
The morning I saw him he must have
been on his way
to make a deposit,
and
seeing me caused him to go somewhere else (literally).
So what needed to be done was for me
to come early in the morning
around dawn…
with a
camera…
to
take a picture to show the police…
What
was going on
and
who was responsible.
the staging of this
event would be crucial…
I needed to
be somewhere where I could see,
but
not be seen.
I
decided on a spot up behind the wall
looking
down on the courtyard…
right
by the front door.
Also, since
the man in black was young…
and
was probably going to be angry…
as
well as probably being
faster and stronger than me…
I
needed a sure fire escape route.
I
didn’t want to go back into the church.
He
might be angry enough
to break a window
before the police arrived.
I
would, instead, park my car out front…
and
run down the stairs
get
in it and drive to the police station.
To
do that I might need time…
So
since I was sure
he was coming from the back
folding chairs were arranged on the steps,
out
of the courtyard.
and
secured together with a rope…
This was not
a simple plan… it was intricate…
more
‘I love Lucy’
or
Rube Goldberg
and
it was put in place this past Thursday evening…
ready
to be sprung on Friday morning.
The only thing that
I had not really counted on
was the affect which the gospel
reading, for today,
would have on me.
I
had read it earlier in the week,
but
early on Friday morning,
between
1 and 2am,
I found myself thinking about it
Luke 16: 19-31
"There
was a rich man
who was
dressed in purple and fine linen
and who
feasted sumptuously every day.
And at his
gate lay a poor man named Lazarus,
covered
with sores,
who longed to satisfy his hunger
with what fell from the rich man's
table;
even the
dogs would come and lick his sores.
The poor
man died
and was
carried away by the angels to be with Abraham.
The rich
man also died
and was
buried.
In Hades,
where he
was being tormented,
he looked up and saw Abraham far away
with Lazarus by his side.
He called
out,
'Father
Abraham, have mercy on me,
and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his
finger in water
and cool my tongue;
for I am in agony in these flames.'
But
Abraham said,
'Child,
remember that during your lifetime
you received your good things,
and Lazarus in like manner evil
things;
but now he is comforted here,
and you are in agony.
Besides
all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed,
so that
those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so,
and no one can cross from there to us.'
He said,
Then,
father, I beg you to send him to my father's house—
for I have five brothers—
that he may warn them,
so that they will not also come
into this place of torment.'
Abraham
replied,
'They have
Moses and the prophets;
they should listen to them.'
He said,
'No, father Abraham;
but if
someone goes to them from the dead,
they will repent.'
He said to
him,
'If they
do not listen to Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be convinced
even if someone rises from the dead.'"
Here
ends the reading.
In the morning
after
thinking about this story…
and
my brilliant scheme…
all night.
I came to the
realization that I wasn’t really that different
from the rich man in the story.
I wasn’t really thinking
of this man in black as a human being…
one made in
the image of God…
Any
more than the rich man thought of Lazarus that way.
I was thinking of him
like a dog…
A sore
licking dog…
That I would like to scare away
or shame away.
I really didn’t care
what happened to him at all.
So when the morning
came
and I arrived at church at about
6:00…
I parked my car in
the back and not out front…
Then before I
took-up my position…
I took the chairs off the stairs
and
put the camera away.
I decided that it might be better to
talk with this young man,
than to make him angry…
or embarrass him…
or scare him away.
I decided to tell him I would rather
he came in and used the church’s bathrooms…
than use the courtyard as a bathroom.
It made me feel
kind of at peace
I even found myself praying that he
would come,
but he didn’t.
The only person that seemed to show any
interest or concern
about my presence near
the courtyard…
was an older woman in her late 60’s or early 70’s.
She
was a little disheveled,
she
carried a bag and red wind breaker.
And
she walked by the church 3 times
during
the 2 ½ hours I was there.
What if she was the problem person…
not this man in black.
How could I
approach her about this
without
scaring her.
Maybe
she had been raped
and feared public facilities.
I had never seen her before,
and it made me realize
how many unknown poor people
are at my
gates everyday.
And I may be as
oblivious to their presence as the rich man was to Lazarus.
The
the
past two weeks has also introduced me to
quite
a few new people…
I
thought I knew everybody on the street
I found myself more
upset with the news stories this week
about the
City tearing down low income housing
with
the money that was set aside
to provide more low income housing.
The
County has done the same thing.
I found myself upset
with a remark I heard
in a Tomorrows Towson meeting.
About
a new high rise planned for
With
rental units priced at $4,000/month.
and
hearing a county leader saying
she
wished this developer
controlled all of the housing in the County…
“They
do such a good job.”
Who
couldn’t at $4000/unit/month.
How
much high cost housing do we need?
I found myself worrying
about the world to come…
Camels
through the eye of the needle kinds of concern…
How
much better than this rich man do I need to be.
Sometimes
I feel as hopeless as
under
siege…
I
need the faith of Jeremiah…
to
invest my life
in
things which might appear hopeless…
with
the hope that with God
all
things are possible.
May
we be such prisoners of hope.
Doing
what little we can
to
be involved
in
God’s world around us.
And
trusting in
the
goodness of God
to
assist us here,
and
to provide a place for us
in
the world to come.
amen.