Retired pastor Gordon Schleicher recalls the transformative relationship he developed with Jesse, a man who lived in a group home near one of his churches.
J. GORDON SCHLEICHER
Retired Pastor, Michigan Conference
I was on my way to Garfield. Now Garfield is so small it doesn’t even show up on a Michigan map or when you Google it. It is no more than a crossroads north of Bay City. It used to be a stop on the railroad because of the dairy where farmers brought their milk to be made into butter or bottled and shipped out. But twenty years later, it had only a few houses, a farm implement business, a convenience store, and a United Methodist church with twelve members.
I had already been serving two churches, but the district superintendent added a third, Garfield UMC. It was my first Sunday on my way to the church, and I didn’t think much of the two men walking along the side of the road in the same direction less than a mile from my destination. Upon arrival, I was warmly greeted by the small congregation, and every member was there to see their new pastor. When I began the service, the two men I had passed entered the church and sat in the back pew.
The next Sunday, after leading services in the first two churches and on my way to Garfield, I saw them again, and I stopped to drive them the rest of the way. After worship, I took them home, and they invited me in. The group home comprised twelve men along with staff who provided round-the-clock supervision. Thus began my regular visits. Each week, they would offer me coffee and cookies, and I engaged them in conversation and checkers. Jesse, one house member, was left out of the conversation. He had total hearing loss and was nonverbal. I soon discovered he was a winner at the game of checkers.
After several weeks, I invited all the group home residents to attend worship, and the staff said they would bring them in their van. I prepared the congregation to greet them and made a name tag for the staff and each of the men. It happened to be communion Sunday, the day they came together. During the service, I could see that Jesse sat next to a staff member who used American Sign Language to interpret the worship order to Jesse.
When it was time for communion, each of the men came forward. When I know a person’s name, I usually address them by saying, “The body and blood of the Lord was given for you,” followed by their name. When it was Jesse’s turn to receive communion, the staff member signed the instructions, and he came down the aisle. When he came close enough for me to read his name tag, it said Jesus. It hit me that Jesse was a nickname for the Spanish name of Jesus. The words of Matthew 25 flashed before me where Jesus says, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me” (v. 40, CEV). I was serving communion to Jesus. Chills went up my spine!
In Matthew 25, this lesson is titled in some Bibles, “The Final Judgment.” In summary, Jesus says, “When you welcome, care for, feed, and visit those treated as least in my kingdom, you are serving me.”
Time and again in scripture, God’s people are called to identify with those whom much of the world often rejects, those whom the world considers liabilities, risks, and embarrassments. Jesus made it explicit in the parable of the great banquet in Luke 14 that the people of God are to include and actively seek out those whom the world rejects and marginalizes.
If you remember the parable, Jesus explains that many had been invited to a banquet, but the cares of the world either diverted their attention or kept them from coming. Indignant, the banquet host ordered his servant to fill the banquet hall with “the poor, the paralyzed, the lame, and the blind” (v. 13, CEV). But as the parable continues, Jesus says that when told by the servant that this had already been done and there was still room, the banquet host told the servant to go outside the city to more obscure places and “compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled” (v. 23, NRSVUE). A strong grammatical case can be made that when Jesus said “people,” he meant more of “the poor, the paralyzed, the lame, and the blind.” Those who were beyond the city and not easily seen. Consider those whom Jesus preferred to be with: the least, the lost, those whom others shied away from. God is the host in this parable, inviting all to the banquet table.
After meeting Jesus face-to-face, I’ve asked myself a lot of questions. Why do I think I’m “normal” and others are not? Why does society try so hard to keep group homes, like Jesse’s, far from our homes? Why do people with visible and invisible differences often feel as though they need to hide those things to join God’s people for worship? Why are these people, whom Jesus favored with his company, denied our company and full hospitality? And would those who wish to worship with us encounter obstacles in our churches, both physical and social?
Coming to meet Jesus face-to-face got me to admit that inviting those who are considered by some as outcasts goes against everything I had experienced growing up. Before this, I had never realized that persons with disabilities are precisely those upon whom Jesus gives special affection. Woe to me — and us — if we ignore those upon whom God showers his affection.
Last Updated on August 21, 2024