Lepers and other Outcasts

A couple of articles ago [In the Sanctuary of Outcasts] I spoke about an author who was a convicted criminal and sent to a Leper Sanitarium to serve out his sentence. One of the things that most impressed me was his reflection on worshiping with those afflicted with this disease, with church being a place where healing was available. What made it such a powerful impact on my life was that a couple of weeks ago two men from the community, who are mentally challenged, and known to steal and puts things in a garage sale, plus have pedophile actions towards kids, have started coming to our church. A good number of people attending already knew about them, and when I had meetings with our church board and youth department leadership I was concerned with how they would react. Would we just simply tell these men they were not welcome in our congregation - that would certainly place us at odds with Christ..what would be our response. I remember in the first church in which I was the pastor facing the newly emerging issue of AIDS .. what would we do if someone with AIDS started attending our church [and a couple people in the early stages of it did], and so policy was put into place if such a thing happened. And I believe that we are adequately addressing our situation now; perhaps I will even go so far to say our present situation is causing us to look at how things should have always been done to protect our children and youth. I'm beginning to understand better each week Matthew 10:16 'Therefore be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.' Sadly I find myself also repenting more often because its so much easier to be like a snake than a dove!