The Church of the Second Chance

It doesn’t really have a name – not yet, anyway. Joking, some of us have called it The Church of the Second Chance. What it really is, is a place of respite – a church for those folks who have nowhere else to go to church.

May 1st was the first meeting. There were about 12 of us in a small room in a local community center – parents, kids, homeless, black, white, gay, straight. Grey metal folding chairs, a keyboardist in the corner, poorly put-together bulletins, a small folding table to serve as altar, with a pewter chalice holding a cup and a half of Welch’s grape juice, next to the round loaf of bread from the Wal-Mart bakery.

We are a high-class act.

I have always said I don’t want to pastor a church. My friend Brian convinced me I already do – that my work at Love Wins is primarily pastoral, and the people I minister among, my congregation. I just did not have preaching responsibility.

Now I do.

This small group, as yet unnamed, is the latest program of Love Wins Ministries. One way we see the spiritual side of our work is that we minister to people who have been spiritually abused. People who, because of their economic circumstances, their addictions, their social status, their sexuality, or any combination of these, are not welcome in church.

Now they have someplace to go.

Which is why we joke and call it The Church of The Second Chance. For some of us, it’s more like the 350th chance.

It is pretty low-key. A couple of songs, to which you probably already know the words. Reading the Gospel lesson for the day. A less than 10 minute ‘sermon’. Open Space, where we can discuss the talk, or the scripture, or they can tell me they disagree with me, or affirm me, or ask questions or whatever. Here, everybody has a voice. We voice our prayers to God. We break bread and read the ancient words and enact Communion, just like Christians have been doing everywhere for the last 2,000 years.

After the service, a woman who is currently homeless came up to me and said ‘That was some church!”.

I think so too.

* * *

I hesitated to mention our little gathering. Because, quite frankly, I am afraid you will want to come and “check us out”. Our people are used to being used, to being abused, to being pawns in other people’s schemes. I don’t want you to come check us out so you can go back to work the next day and talk about how you took Communion with a homeless man.
It’s not about you. And if you come here, it probably never will be.

But, if you want to come and get to know people who have less stuff, less love, less money, less almost everything than you do, if you want to try to build long term relationships with people who can probably never pay you back in any way you understand right now – if that interests you at all, we would love to have you come and worship with us. As an equal.

We are meeting at 121 North Tarboro Street every Sunday at 2:30pm.