A few weeks ago I was in Portland at my Doctor of Ministry courses and had the privilege of having Tony Campolo as one of my professors for the week. Tony was a fill in for Brennan Manning (one of my heroes), and originally I thought, "Well, this will be good but..."
I was wrong. It was an incredible, life(style) changing experience.
I have heard Tony before a few times (my Freshmen year of college and on my seminary campus), and have read a few of his books. (by the way if you want a sneak peak of him, he was on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. This is classic...
http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/videos/celebrity_interviews/index.jhtml?start=49)
And his teaching was wonderful. I learned a lot.
But there is something about being in the presence of faithful, passionate people who actually try to live out the gospel message that teaches you without necessarily using words. And having some time with Tony and my classmates did just that. I came away with a deep respect for this man and his passions, for the poor, disenfranchised, and the kingdom of God. It changed me, and I am grateful.
We also all went to the movie
Nacho Libre together, and any time you can go to a stupid movie at 11 p.m. with one of your heroes, it is a good thing.
Below is a story from Tony that I told in worship on Sunday. It is from the book
The Kingdom of God is a Party which I read a million years ago, but has new force for me now. The first paragraph is mine, and sets up the story a little bit. Blessings...
I want to close with this story. It’s from Tony Campolo, who is an international speaker and author, and one of my heroes. He is from the east coast and found himself in Honolulu one day at 3:30 in the morning, wide awake from the time change, and wandering the streets for a bite to eat. He finally found a greasy spoon diner that was open, and here’s what happened…
As I sat there munching my donut and sipping my coffee at 3:30 in the morning the door of the diner suddenly swung open and, to my discomfort, in marched eight or nine provocative and boisterous prostitutes.
It was a small place and they sat on either side of me. Their talk was loud and crude. I felt completely out of place and was just about to make my getaway when I overheard the woman sitting beside me say, ‘Tomorrow’s my birthday. I’m going to be thirty-nine.’
Her ‘friend’ responded in a nasty tone, ‘So what do you want from me? A birthday party? What do you want? Ya want me to get you a cake and sing ‘Happy Birthday’?”
‘Come on!’ said the woman sitting next to me. ‘Why do you have to be so mean? I was just telling you, that’s all. Why do you have to put me down? I was just telling you it was my birthday. I don’t want anything from you. I mean, why should you give me a birthday party? I’ve never had a birthday party in my whole life. Why should I have one now?’
When I heard that, I made a decision. I sat and waited until the women had left. Then I called over the fat guy behind the counter and I asked him, ‘Do they come in here every night?’
‘Yeah!’ he answered.
‘The one right next to me, does she come here every night?’
‘Yeah!’ he said. ‘That’s Agnes. Yeah, she comes in here every night. Why d’ya wanta know?’
‘Because I heard her say that tomorrow is her birthday,’ I told him. ‘What do you say you and I do something about that? What do you think about us throwing a birthday party for her – right here – tomorrow night?’
A cute smile slowly crossed his chubby cheeks and he answered with measured delight, ‘That’s great! I like it! That’s a great idea!’ Calling to his wife, who did the cooking in the back room, he shouted, ‘Hey! Come out here! This guy’s got a great idea. Tomorrow’s Agnes’s birthday. This guy wants us to go in with him and throw a birthday party for her – right here – tomorrow night!’
His wife came out of the back room all bright and smiley. She said, “That’s wonderful! You know Agnes is one of those people who is really nice and kind, and nobody ever does anything nice and kind for her.’
‘Look,” I told them, ‘If it’s OK with you, I’ll get back here tomorrow morning about 2:30 and decorate the place. I’ll even get a birthday cake!’
‘No way, said Harry (that was his name). ‘The birthday cake’s my thing. I’ll make the cake.’
At 2:30 the next morning, I was back at the diner. I had picked up some crepe-paper decorations at the store and had made a sign out of big pieces of cardboard that read, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” I decorated the diner from one end to the other. I had that diner looking good.
The woman who did the cooking must have gotten the word out on the street, because by 3:15 every prostitute in Honolulu was in the place! It was wall-to-wall prostitutes….and me!
At 3:30 on the dot, the door of the diner swung open and in came Agnes and her friend. I had everybody ready (after all, I was kind of the M.C. of the affair) and when they came in we all screamed, “Happy Birthday!”
Never have I seen a person so flabbergasted...so stunned…so shaken. Her mouth fell open. Her legs seemed to buckle a bit. Her friend grabbed her arm to steady her. As she was led to sit on one of the stools along the counter we all sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to her. As we came to the end of our singing with ‘happy birthday dear Agnes, happy birthday to you,’ her eyes moistened. Then, when the birthday cake with all the candles on it was carried out, she lost it and just openly cried.
Harry gruffly mumbled, “Blow out the candles, Agnes! Come on! Blow out the candles! If you don’t blow out the candles, I’m gonna hafta blow out the candles.’ And, after an endless few seconds, he did. Then he handed her a knife and told her, ‘Cut the cake, Agnes. Yo, Agnes, we all want some cake.’
Agnes looked down at the cake. Then without taking her eyes off it, she slowly and softly said, ‘Look, Harry, is it all right with you if I…I mean is it OK if I kind of…what I want to ask you is…is it OK if I keep the cake a little while? I mean is it all right if we don’t eat it right away?’
Harry shrugged and answered, ‘Sure! It’s OK. If you want to keep the cake, keep the cake. Take it home if you want to.’
‘Can I?’ she asked. Then, looking at me she said, ‘I live just down the street a couple of doors. I want to take the came home, OK? I’ll be right back. Honest!’
She got off the stool, picked up the cake, and, carrying it like it was the Holy Grail, walked slowly toward the door. As we all just stood there motionless, she left.
When the door closed there was a stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, I broke the silence by saying, ‘What do you say we pray?’
Looking back on it now it seems more than strange for a sociologist to be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes in a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning. But then it just felt like the right thing to do. I prayed for Agnes. I prayed for her salvation. I prayed that her life would be changed and that God would be good to her.
When I finished, Harry leaned over the counter and with a trace of hostility in his voice, he said ‘Hey! You never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?’
In one of those moments where just the right words came, I answered, ‘I belong to a church that throws birthday parties for whores at 3:30 in the morning.’
Harry waited a moment and then almost sneered as he answered, ‘No you don’t. There’s no church like that. If there was, I’d join it. I’d join a church like that!’
Wouldn’t we all?, Campolo says. Wouldn’t we all.Thanks God for Tony!
