This blog post from my co-worker/friend Seth’s blog tells a great story from his former pastor that illustrates how the church could look more like the church of Jesus – if it threw birthdays for prostitutes. (It seems the story is originally something that the passionate and sometimes critiqued Tony Campolo actually did, FYI.)
Loving the church enough to push it, challenge it, reclaim and renew it, means having enough space in our places of worship to weed out our assumptions and human
6 thoughts on “Parties for Prostitutes”
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Here’s a telling of the Tony campolo story http://www.swapmeetdave.com/Bible/Agnes.htm
Here’s the book it’s in. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0849933994/102-7044555-3812138?v=glance&n=283155
that’s great thanks! great to read the ‘real thing’ (and see that i got it basically right). thanks for the shout out sista liz.
I don’t mean to rain on the parade, or not acknowledge that the story is touching, but I wonder how great of a story that actually is. I was at Woodland Hills when Tony Campolo told that story in a sermon, and I wasn’t struck so much by the story as I was struck by how impressed people were by it. In Tony’s version, he took three underage prostitutes back to his hotel room and let them watch Disney movies. He said something like, “For one night, they weren’t prostitutes anymore, they were just little girls…” That night is really great, but the next day, they’re still prostitutes, and Tony got to fly home to Philadelphia. Again, I don’t want to sound too harsh, but maybe the question we should ask is, “So what if we’re the kind of church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes?”
Yeah, it can be simplistic in how its applied or taken, but I think it can also be a powerful reminder of the personal aspect of our faith. I am definately one of the first people to jump into systems and structural analysis, so for me, its a good reminder that sometimes going out of my way for one broken person does matter. Also, sadly, I think many churches are still at step one, where they are caught up in the social critique of not even thinking concern for prostitutes is a legitimate Christian response. Baby steps…
I can’t claim to know that much about the man, but as it turns out I was just reading an old Tony Campolo interview (early 2004) the other day and it’s interesting what he says about where he thinks evangelicals fall short in caring for the poor/outcast: He says they’re great at working on the micro-level (setting up houses/shelters/soup lines) but bad at fixing the root causes of why people are where they’re at and holistically bringing them out of those places permanently. I think the prostitute story (both of them) are certainly on this micro-level as you point out Chris, which is interesting. Liz I like what you point out though too…that it’s through being vessels of humanity and light in the small moments that will allow God, and only God, to work through in the big picture. Entering in always takes a personal entrance first…we can’t just be abstract in our love as Dorothy Day said or will miss out on the humanity,…and Jesus certainly didn’t miss out on the humanity – he became human! Also, in one sense I like Campolo’s story about “how many people die of hunger and whether people give a $h!+” (using that word) and then leaving…because it makes people think about what they truly CARE about…but at the same time, is it too shock-value to carry much water if those people truly would care on deeper levels about those dying of hunger if they were nurtured/moved more carefully (and not shocked)? A man and opinions/outlooks (mostly awesome) worthy of discussion for sure it seems. Here’s that article… http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/week734/interview.html
Yeah, I hear what you are saying Liz about needing to have a personal aspect to one’s faith. I acknowledge that about the prostitute story, I’m just challenging the amount that I’m being asked to “go out of my way” to be in someone’s life and change it. This year, I helped emancipate a young girl from abuse (her father beat her). I helped her get a job, gave her a place to stay, found her places to get therapy, and brought her into my house church community. We’re now all committed to her for the long haul; for the rest of her life. I guess in the end, I’m a little insulted by a story about throwing a prostitute a birthday party being normative for the Christian response to the poor and downtrodden. I also see the point you made, Seth, about needing to get at root causes. We’ve been teaching our new sister to pray, to listen to God and trust in him, because the root cause of her misery was the sin in her life and the wounds that were afflicted upon her, which only the great Redeemer and Healer can assuage. I believe this is our primary task as Christians, though I value you all of the other “social structure” stuff mentioned. We have lots of shotgun squads in the Christian church: people willing to fire a buckshot of charity and love into a crowd of poor or oppressed people with soup kitchens or homeless shelters. We have lots of bomber crews: people willing to carpet bomb a social problem with policy changes or sweeping social program shifts. We don’t have a lot of snipers: people willing to fire one bullet of sacrificial time, energy, and effort into the life of one person whose greatest need is to die into Christ (everyone’s greatest need; perhaps the only true “need” any of us have).