Pastor Dan Swinson
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Several of you have asked about the Tony Campolo story that I told in my sermon last Sunday. It was from a 1996 broadcast of the Chicago Sunday Evening Club and was quoted by Martin Marty in his newsletter Context [July 2010 part A, Volume 42, No. 7, Page 7]
The first paragraph of what follows is Martin Marty’s comment, the remaining paragraphs are Campolo’s memories. It is interesting to me that the broadcast was so long before the Haiti earthquake and illustrative of Haiti’s chronic problems.
“Now here’s Tony Campolo, a Jesus-man if we ever saw one, in a 1996 broadcast on the same show, describing what we can do since we can’t walk on water: “We can’t duplicate the power of Jesus. We can’t walk on water. I don’t have the ability to raise the dead, neither do you. But we do have the opportunity to express the love of Jesus. When it come to the bottom line, Jesus was more committed to expressing love than showing off his power.”
“I was in Haiti and, walking to the entrance of my hotel, was intercepted by three girls. The oldest could not have been more than 15. The one in the middle said, ‘Mister, for $10 I’ll do anything you want me to do. I’ll do it all night long. Do you know what I mean?’ I did know what she meant. I turned to the next one and I said, ‘What about you, could I have you for $10?’ She said yes. I asked the same of the third girl. She tried to mask her comtempt for me with a smile, but it’s hard to look sexy when you’re 15 and hungry.
I said, ‘I’m in room 210, you be up there in just 10 minutes. I have $30 and I’m going to pay for all three of you to be with me all night long.’ I rushed up to the room, called down to the concierge desk and said, ‘I want every Disney video that you’ve got in stock.’ I called down to the restaurant and said, ‘Do you still make banana splits, because I want banana splits with extra ice cream, extra everything.’
The little girls arrived and the ice cream and the videos arrived. We sat at the edge of the bed and watched the videos and laughed until about one in the morning. That’s when the last one fell asleep across the bed. As I saw those little grils stretched out asleep on the bed, I thought to myself, tomorrow they will be back on the streets, selling their little bodies. Nothing’s changed. I didn’t know enough Creole to tell them about God’s love, but the word of the Spirit said this: for one night, you can be little girls again.
“Now, you may be thinking, ‘You’re not going to compare that with Jesus walking on water.’ No. But if Jesus were to make a decision as to which is the greater work, walking on water or giving one night of childhood back to three little girls who had it robbed from them, which do you think Jesus would consider the greater work?”
PASTOR’S SUMMER CLASS
Sundays at 9:15 AM - Narthex
“The Holy Land Unfiltered”
Pastor Dan and others share their experiences of the recent Israel trip through slides and stories.
Coming Up – Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Jericho, Qumran, Masada, the Dead Sea, the City of David, and much more.
P.S.
Do you have dreams and ideas for areas of ministry? I have been considering an “Antique Methodist Singing School” using the old “shape note” Methodist tune book of 1833. Stay tuned for future information. Trinity is very open to new ideas and directions. If an antique singing school would work, so would many other ideas. If you have been thinking of possibilities, talk to me.