A Resolution of a New Year and a New Decade

Calling all conscripts to the secret army of His love in action      

I have set for myself a number of New Decade, New Year resolutions. I won’t bore you with the whole list, but I wondered if I might just share one of them with you. I felt convicted to resolve to do some kind of act of service for a stranger every day. I offered this to the Lord in prayer and of course, He has rather taken me at my word!

The very next day I set off for Florida for the annual College of Bishops gathering. Between connecting flights (in the very nicely renewed airport of Charlotte) a young woman armed with a cell phone and no English pleadingly asked me for directions to her gate. I pointed the way… whereupon she tucked her arm in mine and it was clear that I was to be her escort. I did wonder whether we might end up at the College of Bishops together but when she was confident that I had served her with accuracy she disengaged arms, enthusiastically thanked me, and disappeared. I then got some much-needed exercise in running to my gate! It was only that evening as I pondered the absence of my resolved “act of service to a stranger” that I realized that my traveling companion was the answer to my prayers.

Dr. Tony Campolo is a sociologist, pastor, author, public speaker and former spiritual advisor to a U.S. President. He once shared a true story that made a great impression on me.

Tony had flown from the continental United States to Honolulu and because of the jet lag, he had awoken at 3:00 a.m. His body thought it was about 9 a.m. and was asking for breakfast. He got up and wandered down the street from the hotel into a down-at-the-heel restaurant. He ordered a cup of coffee and a donut. The man behind the counter was an unkempt man named Harry. Harry poured him a cup and handed Tony a donut. Not long after, the front door burst open and eight or nine women entered, having ended their working night in the brothels that crowded the back streets. They sat down at the counter next to Tony. One of the women was heard to say, “Tomorrow is my birthday. I’ll be 39.” Her friend said, “So what do you want from me? I suppose you want a party or something. Maybe you want me to bake you a cake?” The first woman (whom Tony later found out was named Agnes) said, “Why are you so mean? I don’t want nothing from you. I’ve never had a birthday party and no one has ever baked me a cake. So be quiet!”

At that point, Tony had an idea. When the ladies had left he asked Harry, “Do these women come in here every night?” “Yes, they do.” “This one next to me—Agnes?” Harry nodded, “Same time, just like clockwork.” So Tony said, “What about if we throw a party for Agnes, a birthday party?” Harry smiled and called out to his wife in the kitchen. She thought it was a great idea.

The next night Tony came back at the same time and the place was decorated with crepe paper and a sign on the wall which said, “Happy Birthday, Agnes!” They sat and waited. Soon others began to trickle in. Word had gotten ’round on the streets.

At the regular time, Agnes and her friends burst through the door and everyone shouted, “Happy birthday, Agnes!” Her knees buckled. Her friends caught her. She was stunned. They led her to the counter and she sat down. Harry brought the cake out and her mouth fell open and her eyes filled with tears. They put the cake down in front of her and sang “Happy birthday.” Harry said, “Blow the candles out so we can all have some.” But Agnes just stared at the cake. Finally, they convinced her to blow out the candles.

Harry handed her a knife and told her to cut the cake. She sat looking at the cake lovingly, as if it was the most precious thing she had ever seen. Then she asked, “Do I have to cut it?” Harry said kindly, “No, you don’t have to cut it.” Then she said something even more strange: “I would like to keep it for a while. I don’t live far from here. Can I take it home? I’ll be right back.” Everybody looked at her with puzzled faces and he said, “Sure, you can take it.” She got off the stool, picked up the cake, and walked slowly toward the door. Everyone just stood there motionless as she left.

When the door closed, there was a stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, Tony broke the silence by saying, “What do you say we pray?” Later Tony remarked that it just felt like “the right thing to do.” He prayed for Agnes. He prayed that her life would be changed and that she would encounter the fullness of God’s love for her. As he laid an “Amen” at the end of his prayer, Harry leaned over the counter and said to him, “Hey, I didn’t know you were a preacher!” Tony answered, “I’m not a preacher. I’m a sociologist.” Harry asked, “Well, what kind of church do you come from anyway?” Tony said, “I guess I come from a church that throws a birthday party for a woman called Agnes at 3 o’clock in the morning.” And Harry said, “No, you don’t. There’s no such church like that ‘cause if there was,” he said, “I’d join it.”

Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least… you did it to me.” (Matthew 25:40). We are all God’s children. We are all made in God’s image. God is tenacious in love, all pursuing, ever persevering and He refuses to give any of us up. If we will heed His call, Jesus will lead us into the extraordinary adventure of His love—an adventure that will bring us to the most unlikely places to restore all those who, beneath the dust and debris of disappointment and battered dreams, still bear His image. Many times, we will be wearied and soiled in His great love as we seek to be His hands and feet, but it will be life to us, and it will be life to all those for whom He would have us serve and celebrate.

Would you join me in being part of a secret army of His love to the stranger in our midst? Is it possible that our discreet actions might so display His love that we might hear a stranger say, “If that was the church, I’d join it!”