After about 30 minutes of debate, the moderator recognized Carla to speak again. “I want you to know how much I respect the work that you are doing in your churches. It is not easy being a pastor or an elder in these chaotic times. Last night Al asked me why I continued to fight these battles. The issue of law versus mercy is an old one and not to be resolved in today’s meeting….”
“But that is the crux of the issue, is it not?” interrupted one pastor.
“It is key,” said Carla, “and I don’t mean to make light of it. Still, in the eyes of our faith, we’ve all broken God’s law and live under the umbrella of grace and forgiveness.”
“But you can’t just ignore the law every time someone gets themselves in trouble,” said a pastor.
“Let me tell you a story that touches on the very foundation of my faith. Several years ago there was a very cruel border guard who took delight in causing pain for those who he caught crossing the border. He went far beyond what even the harshest interpretation of the law permits. In both my eyes and the eyes of the law, he was a lawbreaker.”
Carla described some of the actions the border guard had taken and how he had ridiculed her when she protested. “Once, when no one was looking, he even groped me and made lewd suggestions as to what he would do if he ever caught me alone in the desert,” she said.
“One day when I was searching for lost victims of the desert harshness, I came upon him. He, also, had been out in the waste lands searching for lost humans. Only he had a little too much to drink, and he flipped his jeep and was pinned under it. I found him by accident after he had been there for several hours.
“What was I to do? He had caused so many to suffer without remorse and now he was in my power. All I had to do was drive on. Except that, a foundational principle of my faith was that ‘while I was yet a sinner, God loved me.’ With no small measure of fear, I called for help and provided him water, stopped his bleeding, and offered care until someone arrived.
“It doesn’t always work out this way,” said Carla, “but like Paul, that violent enemy of the church, God touched that man and he has become one of my biggest supporters. You just can’t anticipate what God will do with even small acts of faithfulness.”
There was a silence that filled the room as each person seemed to be examining their own lives and questioning how they would respond in similar circumstances.
