Forgiveness in Colorado

You may have heard a few months ago about Ted Haggard, the Colorado mega-church pastor who was found to be using drugs and visiting with a male prostitute named Mike Jones. At first he denied knowing Jones. When some taped phone calls turned up, Haggard admitted knowing Jones but denied any drug use or sex. Eventually he confessed to immoral conduct and left his church. It's not entirely clear if he resigned or was fired.

The Haggard story got a lot of media coverage at the time because it was seen as hypocrisy. He had been a vocal opponent of gay marriage and was also a strong Bush supporter. All the news came out right before the November 2006 mid-term elections and quickly became a political issue. Haggard is now is counseling and out of the headlines. This week, however, the name came up in an unexpected way.

David Kuo reports in his blog that last Sunday Mike Jones, the male prostitute who outed Haggard, showed up at Haggard's church. How was he greeted? You might have expected some hostility, right? The church members clearly loved Ted Haggard and were crushed by the whole situation. It would be easy to lash out at the person whom they may think led their pastor into such a dark place.

In fact, Jones was greeted warmly by the church members. According to Kuo, Jones said that several people came up to him and said "God bless you." The associate pastor sought out Jones and told him "I believe God used you to correct us, and I appreciate that."

I really wonder what made Jones go to church that day. Did he expect to be attacked? Was someone maybe using him in an attempt to make the church look bad? Was he looking for some kind of reconciliation? I don't know. People go to church for all kinds of reasons. I think it is fair to say, however, that most gay prostitutes do not expect to be welcomed in conservative churches.

That's wrong. Christ taught us to hate sin but love sinners. We are all sinners in our own ways. Every now and then I see a bumper sticker that says "Christians aren't perfect - they're just forgiven." Unfortunately some Christians like to pretend they are perfect, and as a result people who need God the most are afraid to enter his house.

By welcoming Mike Jones, the people of New Life Church passed a test. Hopefully they will use the door he opened to continue helping him - by lovingly demonstrating how life with God can be so much better than the way he lives now.