Your the “pastor on call”. You get called to the front office for two men in need of help. One in his 50’s and one is his 20’s. Both are previously married, have kids, and are now divorced. Both are estranged from their families and are now claiming to be “partners”. They have been coming on and off to your church for 6 months or so and it’s Maundy Thursday, 3 days before Easter. They are asking you for food money and a hotel room because the disability check they live off is 2 days late and the ghetto hotel they are living in kicked them out and they don’t want to sleep in their car again.
You invite them to come to church on Good Friday and Easter, but feel the conviction of James 2 that if you simply say “God bless you” and do nothing to meet their physical needs, that you have not really been like Jesus to them. So you know you’re going to give them a couple pre-paid food cards, but what about their hotel stay? Does their sexual preference or struggle play into what you do here?
So, do you buy these two “gay men” a hotel room with the hotel contract you have for this purpose through your church?
If you do, do you buy one or two rooms?
How would your answer change if they were boyfriend and girlfriend? What if it’s a non-married couple with 2 kids?
I know what I did, what would you do?
Husband. Dad to 5. Student Ministry Pastor. Follower of Jesus. Yatta yatta.
Wow. That’s a tough one I guess that’s why I’m not a Pastor.
Great Question Berry
For me off the top of my head would invite them to Easter weekend but more importantly give them my time to find out what happened in the marriage, how they are as paretns, how their current lifestyle is working for them. I would give them prepaid food cards. The hotel bit…i am always more soft when kids are in the situation than just two adults. They could deal with the car. Don’t know on the hotel…would love to know what you did do?
Thanks for the increasingly relevant challenge. It affords me the luxury of time in order to develop a way of thinking about this before a scenario like this one crosses my own path in following Christ.
That’s a really tough situation.
Mabye contact a shelter? If there were kids involved I would probobly get them a hotel room.