REAL PEOPLE
Mohawks, crooks and pastors
This past weekend I went to a pastors’ conference in Beaverton, Oregon, and in order to save money I stayed at a Hostel. When it comes to travel, I am pretty flexible - often stretching my dollars by camping, hosteling and staying with friends. You have to be flexible if you're going to do this - and on a few occasions I have mistakenly walked into a "hostile" hostel or a situation that didn't work out. The benefit (besides economics) includes the opportunity of meeting some very interesting people. Early in our marriage Heidi and I discovered these benefits and have stayed in hostels in Oregon, Washington, California, New York, Hawaii, and in several other countries.
This past Tuesday night I was having some free pizza and checking my email in the hostel kitchen surrounded by people of all ages and nationalities. A couple was jestingly discussing getting married in order to qualify for a housing opportunity (even though they didn’t know each other) when I jokingly made the mistake of mentioning I was a pastor (usually this is a good way to end all conversations). Instead, I was greeting with a shocked comment, "What are you doing in a place like this?!" I had failed to notice what was wrong with the place where I was and I went on to explain that I enjoyed it more than I would if I was sitting alone in a hotel room somewhere.
Where else can a pastor have several conversations with a mohawked, guitar playing, homeless, Iraq war vet, 20 year old drifter? Additionally I met people from Europe, Japan, a few Kiwis, a cyclist from Seattle, an art student from Alaska, a punk-rock former heroin addict and a hunch-backed 70 year old man. This group re-defined “eclectic”.
Pastors are sometimes stereotyped as being ethereal anomalies - isolated and disconnected from the culture. This is a stereotype that we just might deserve. It is temptingly comfortable to unconsciously surround ourselves with our peers and parishioners and thereby create a sub-culture that appears foreign to "real people". I enjoy forcing myself out of that comfortable box.
The experience at the hostel reminded me of a moment in Tijuana, Mexico this past summer. I was barreling down a highway at 75 miles/hour in a dilapidated truck with the windows down, feeling the 90 degree air rushing by. Sitting next to me was Sergio – former gang member and ex-felon, now pastor. Sergio is a good friend and has an amazing life-story. Next to him (driving the truck) was Marcus – a once abandoned street-kid who ended up in Mexican juvenile hall at the age of six where he became a Christian. He was adopted by a missionary and I have known him for twenty years. Riding in the back of the truck was a man these two had “rescued” who was living in the sewage infested riverbed that runs through Tijuana. Marcus had hired him to do some casual labor and the guy was in the process of getting free from alcoholism, dysentery and a “thrown away” life. He had stumbled into a church service sick and drunk and Marcus had taken him under his wing. And here I was – riding with my “Mexican friends”. I couldn’t have been happier. In that moment, I knew that God was present and that this was a great place for a “suburban, American, “mega church” pastor” to be.
Do you know what I mean? Or am I just crazy?
4 comments:
Thank you for not being:
"ethereal anomalies - isolated and disconnected from the culture"
Thank you for being real and willing to walk with all... thinking that's what we're all assigned to do.
Not sure I could have done the youth hostile, but your willingness makes me respect you all the more.
Blessings,
Roxx
Matt
Thanks for bringing this story to the attention of Off The Map. It never ceases to amaze me how many stories are available for us to participate in if we make ourselves available.
Keep this up and you'll set a new standard for what it takes to qualify to be a pastor.
My hunch is that you are just ahead of the curve on this one with a ton of even younger leaders who will think this is called just being normal
Hope to see you at The Born Again Tour next weekend- Its going to be energizing and a great connecting event for lots of leaders in the Seattle area.
Hi Matt! Randy Siever here from Doable Evangelism (we're a brand of Off The Map). I am trying to remember if we met at your church when we did the Off The Map Live event there (we might have, but my memory is not what it used to be).
I suspect your church board was delighted with your choice of accommodations for the conference (I was a pastor for nine years in a mega church...). I'm also delighted that this was not really an economic decision for you.
Way to go, Matt. Way to be normal, real and engaged. Way to be committed to staying out of the Christian vortex and connected to the rest of the world. This takes conscious effort for the professional christian over the long haul, as you probably know and have experienced, but it is the only way the church will ever become relevant to the rest of the world. I loved how the folks in the hostel were surprised that someone like you would be in a place like that...and how surprised you were that they would think that place was in some way less than a good hotel. Very cool.
I agree with both of you that it should be normal for Christians to permeate the culture (like salt) and that it would be normal for people to recognize Christians as those described as caring, friendly, joyful and compassionate. This kind of thing seems very "normal" to me, and in an age of greed I would expect Christians to re-examine their accomodations and ways of doing thhings on every level.
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