Day 25 – March 19, 2010
“Jesus was full of witnessing grace. He had a concern for the unconcerned. He sought the unsought.
He loved the unlovely. He desired the undesirable. He was gracious to the ungracious. He wanted
the unwanted.” (Prophetic Evangelist: The Living Legacy of Harry Denman, 1993)
Years ago I was a part of a congregation that received a designated gift in the offering plate. A small
envelope filled with cash held a note directing the church leaders to arrange transportation to Sunday
school for the unchurched children in our local government housing projects. The money was enough to
get our church bus repaired, tagged, and on the road. The trip across town would effectively double our
complement of children.
At that time I was serving as the intermediate Sunday school teacher, and I was delighted at the prospect
of welcoming the new children; but one of our teachers was not as open to the idea. He worked with little
boys, and he was highly upset with the idea of mixing “that sort” of children with our well-behaved,
orderly boys. I remember being shocked and highly disappointed with this gentleman who had always
seemed to have the church’s best interests at heart. It would be years before I would discover the root of
my friend’s problem. He had never made the leap from working to build his congregation to working at
building the Kingdom of God.
The gentleman’s reasons were sound. Having the disruptive boys in the room with his well-behaved
group would create trouble. Discipline would be difficult with boys who had no parents present to
reinforce the authority of the teachers, and the group we were extending ourselves to draw in had nothing
obvious to offer to the church.
In the short-term, having the exuberant and untrained children and youth in the mix created a host of
problems. Things got broken. Things went missing. There were difficult moments between children and
uncomfortable confrontations with workers. But we persisted in ministry to these “undesirables” and
watched for the miracle of transformation to take hold.
And take hold it did! From that group we watched three ministers rise. Another half-dozen young people
became productive members of the little congregation. And the resistant teacher is among their most
ardent advocates.
I have often wondered whether the anonymous donor had seen these children through the Lord’s eyes.
Did that generous soul borrow Heaven’s perspective? Or was it just an act of obedience to drop that
money in the plate without knowing why God had asked for the sacrifice? Either way, it was just like
Jesus to look past the visible. Faith sees the unseen.
Romans 5:7-8 (New Living Translation)
7 Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be
willing to die for a person who is especially good. 8But God showed his great love for us by sending
Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
Submitted by: Rev. RuthAnne Henley
