Somebody's Daughter

On Monday, WMC-TV reported a story about a woman and a church. The woman was homeless, an A & D abuser, and a prostitute with a record of 100 arrests. For ten years, her “business address” was Winchester and Riverdale. Nearby was a church, the New Life Holiness Church of God in Christ.

She felt drawn the the church, but didn’t exactly “fit in.” She was sometimes disruptive. On a few occasions, she verbally and even physically assaulted members. But the “Get It Girl,” aka Jacqueline Phillips was never turned away. The pastor, the Rev. Frederick Smith, said of her, “All I knew is I saw somebody that possibly was a mother, that possibly was a siser and a daughter.”

Phillips said she was often tired for walking day and night with no destination, often was in tears from fatigue, and perhaps, though she didn’t say it, despondence and hopelessness. The church, she said, “allowed me to sleep there.” But she did more than sleep. She listened too and found what she heard was powerful, so powerful, she wanted to make it her own.

The church prayed for her and she prayed for herself. “I asked Him to help me because I can’t do it. I can’t do it. I know I can’t do it.”

Jacqueline began to share about herself. She had a son in college. She had gone to school for dance. She had a mother in North Carolina. She was a “real” person, not just a nut job, lost on the street. And now, the church had reached out to her and she changed. “What brought her out was love,” is what the Rev. Smith believes. What does she say? “I’m not used to embracing love. When you’ve been out their so long, you’re not used to seeing love.”

The news story had before and after pictures of her. She was physically a very changed woman. But the greatest change was clearly spiritual. The help from the church included helping her get a driver’s license and developing a support system in North Carolina so when she goes to live with her mother, love of many kinds will be waiting for her.

In a way, it’s sad that this story is newsworthy. I’m guessing the station saw it as remarkable, and certainly it is. Yet, this church and its pastor just did what every church and every pastor and, indeed, every Christian is to do--routinely. I know there are many apparently miracleous stories of change that never make the media, including some from our ministries at St. Mary’s. I also know that many congregations of every stripe thoughout our city and beyond would have turned Jacqueline away. It’s not tidy to have disruptions while you’re worshipping and who wants a prostitute around?

Pastor Smith didn’t see a prostitute, a homeless drunk littering his neighborhood to be run off to quiet the disruptions. Remember how he said, “...I saw somebody that possibly was a mother, that possibly was a siser and a daughter.” Perhaps he even saw Jesus, “...for when you have done this for the least of these, you have done it to me.”

Peace, Jerry