Guest column: Story line hits home for Naples pastor Gipson is pastor of Legacy Church of Naples (legacynaples). “Les Miserables’’ continues through July 28 Wednesdays-Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2. Published July 17, 2013 By Dave Gipson - Naples One peculiar thing about me is that I’m a pastor who loves the arts. And starting on June 28, I got the thrill of portraying Jean Valjean in the epic musical “Les Miserables’’ at the Naples Players. The word “excited” doesn’t come close to describing how I feel! I am not only thrilled by the music, I am overwhelmed by the beauty of the Christian subtext flowing from the story. There’s Valjean, a man sent to prison for stealing bread, who is now on the run for breaking his parole. After receiving forgiveness from a bishop who he tries to rob, he sets out on a life of relentless self-sacrifice and compassion for the hurting around him. The other is Javert, the police officer who mercilessly and self-righteously pursues him. Interestingly enough, both obviously believe in God, though one sees his purpose as a savior while the other is an executioner. Never has there been a clearer picture of the two opposing varieties of believers you see in most churches. The Javerts are the keepers of the law. They are the ones quick to point out when someone has broken some code or breached some invisible boundary. They see those who break the letter of the law as the enemy. Their job is to attack so the church will remain “pure” and “holy.” But the Valjeans see the sinners as fellow strugglers — people in great need of the same forgiveness they themselves require. So when someone is knocked to the floor by the results of their own sins or the brutality of others, their one reflex action is to reach out a hand to lift them up. They are the “fathers at heart” who protect the orphans and the helpless among us, and they use their strength to guard the weak. Jesus told a strikingly similar story in Luke, about a self-righteous Pharisee who prayed a loud, proud prayer in the sanctuary while a despised tax collector sat in the back of the room, begging God to have mercy on his soul. And right in the face of those Pharisees who believed their lineage and good works made them acceptable to God, Jesus proclaimed that the tax collector was the one who left the sanctuary right with God that day. So God looks past the image we are selling, and sees the heart of who we really are. When my 19-year-old daughter was hit from behind and spun around by another driver last year, I thought my heart would explode before we were finally able to get to her. When we arrived, we found her shaken, confused and crying. We decided to take her home after the police were finished with her, and I would drive back the short trip to meet the tow truck at her damaged car. I arrived back only eight minutes later to find the tow truck driver just pulling in. When he discovered I was not the driver, he let into me for letting her go home. After about five straight minutes of his disgusted looks and condescending statements, this nice little pastor had had enough. “Tell me, friend, do you have kids? A daughter, perhaps?” He snorted back an indignant question, “Why do you need to know?” “So that means no, right?” “Yeah, so what?”, he responded. “So...”, I said, “...if you’d ever had a daughter, you’d know why I took her home. As a father, I didn’t care much about your paperwork. All I cared about was taking the terror out of my daughter’s eyes. Understand?”. After an awkward pause, he turned and sulked back toward his truck. The key to being a Valjean is to see things with “eyes like God’s.” If some saw a man “under the influence” stumble into their sanctuary, they would see “a bum” and get indignant. But at another church, we see a son or daughter and reach out arms to embrace them. Both groups claim they know God, both claim to be doing God’s bidding — and what an indictment to many of us who’ve judged a fallen neighbor or friend. So the question is obvious: which one are you? Javert or Valjean? And do you see the lost and wandering souls in this life as losers and reprobates, or as sons and daughters? Because how you see them says the most about how you see yourself, and how you see your God. © 2013 Naples Daily News. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Jul 2013 15:13:52 +0000
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