CREEDE HINSHAW: A church for the sinless

It was a most interesting Uber ride, and not because of the scenery. My son and I were traveling from Indianapolis, Ind., to nearby Bloomington, home of Indiana University and about an hour’s car trip. The Uber driver provided the drama, and it had nothing to do with his road skills. He was a safe, courteous, talkative driver.

At some point on the trip, upon learning I was a United Methodist pastor, he spun the following sad story about the church.

Our driver, who had two degrees in biblical studies, had been a Baptist pastor for 19 years. But his pastoral ministry came to an abrupt halt a few years ago when he went through a divorce, the details of which he didn’t reveal except to say that his ex-wife had “mental problems.” Now he was working in the construction industry and driving Uber to support a daughter in college.

He had dedicated his life to the church and then he was no longer welcome in the pulpit, which I am sure left him feeling very untethered. I do not criticize the congregation that let him go. Every congregation or denomination has ordination standards. There may have been a lot more to the story about his dismissal than he revealed. The sad chapter of his story was yet to come.

As we drove through the rolling hills of Southern Indiana, he described how divorce and subsequent removal from his congregation had soured him on organized religion. He became a church dropout, sought other employment and later flew to Las Vegas to get remarried and start afresh.

A few months ago, he decided it was time to return to church. God began tugging at him. Like many people who have suffered a painful church experience, he was hesitant to jump right in. He decided the safest way to re-involve himself would be to find a smaller congregation where he could test the waters.

Accordingly, he found a church with seven persons, all 70 years of age or older, and a dynamic pastor. The congregation sang moving hymns, prayed meaningfully and were inspired weekly by the pastor’s biblical exposition. It felt like a good fit. He was starting to think he could return to faith.

But somehow it became known that this man was on his second marriage. One Sunday, after the worship service, the pastor pulled aside our storyteller and informed him, “We’re happy to have you attend worship here, but you can never fully participate in the life of this body. You have a second wife, which is forbidden by scripture.”

Our driver was stunned by this curt dismissal, and so was I. A man whose life had its share of pain, who was trying to re-establish a life with God, was treated as worse than a heathen. I suspect it will be a long time, if ever, before he knocks on another church door.

I now understood why that church had so few people. In fact, I wondered how they’d managed to find seven who were sinless enough to be members.