When
you attend a small church of about 30 people, it’s easy to notice when someone
new shows up. Once I sat down this past Sunday, Ryan leaned over and said, “I
think there’s a drunk, homeless guy sitting in the front. He keeps saying ‘Amen’
after everything.”
We soon discovered the man (we’ll call him
Roger) also had a comment for nearly everything.
Levi
began the service by asking the congregation, “What’s your most valuable possession?”
“Women,”
Roger stated. “I love ‘em.”
“I’m
sorry I’m wearing my hat. That’s wrong,” he added later.
“Besides
a person, what’s your most prized possession?” Levi clarified, again asking the
whole church.
“My most
prized possession is Jesus Christ. I’m serious,” Roger responded. “Do you want
me to start preaching now?”
“No, I’ll
take it from here,” Levi said, briefly taken aback.
Levi
quickly realized this was going to be a challenging service. “Let’s start with
some prayer,” he suggested.
Roger
jumped right in.
“Oh you’re
going to pray? Ok,” Levi remarked, mildly amused.
While
Roger was funny at first, the joke (if you can call it that) soon grew stale. His constant comments were
disruptive, so Levi asked him to settle down. When Roger’s behavior still hadn’t
changed, Levi called him out a second time before trying to continue again.
“I know
more about the Bible than he does,” Roger muttered over Levi’s sermon.
“Now
this is getting personal,” Levi joked.
After a
few more minutes of no change, Levi tried a different approach.
“Why don’t
we stand and worship,” he said. Then, he and another man in the church, Seth,
walked over to Roger and spoke with him. They led Roger out into the hall where
Seth talked with Roger for the remainder of the service. Levi resumed his place at the front and
addressed us when the singing had ended.
“Now
you know what happens when you publicly declare you know more about the Bible
than me,” he said with a smile. “But seriously, let’s pray for them out there.
The last thing we want is for him to go home with a bad taste in his mouth
about church. “
Roger
most likely wasn’t drunk. Instead, he probably suffered from some sort of
mental ailment that so many Alaskans do. I wondered at first if it was the
right thing to essentially kick someone out of a service, but that may not be
the right question. I think you can honor God with the choice to let someone
stay or with the choice to send them out. It depends on if you handle it with
love. Levi did so by warning him during the service, speaking to him with
respect, providing support for the remainder of the service, praying for him,
and always keeping in mind that how he was treated here will permeate his
entire view of church. I suppose we’ll see tomorrow if Roger decided to come
back.
