Target With Kenneth

I was roused from a wonderful little nap after I did a bunch of hospital visits by the doorbell ringing over and over and over and over. Outside it was Kenneth, the young man who always comes to church looking for money of some sort or another, always with some excuse as to why his life is upside down and not altogether. Today he woke me up and when I went down to see what he wanted I also decided I need to make a trip to Target to get some food, read Starburst, for my office. So I off and walked to Target with Kenneth, talking about life, people, church and all sorts of things.

Kenneth seemed to know everyone in the skyway, and said hello to everyone, it was fun. When we got to Target, he and waled around the food section, and every step we took was monitored by a policeman or a Target guard, twice an alarmed Target employee raced to the aisle we were in, eyes wide, out of breath, stared at us for a moment and then walked away. Kenneth was quite unfazed by it all, and miraculously, so was I. It was interesting. Here I was in my collar, walking next to a black man who clearly is a known commodity of some sort to people, whether as a friend and acquaintance or something else entirely.

At the check out I was asked by the cashier, "Are you a Rev.?" A small voice inside of me wanted to be extraordinarily sarcastic and maybe a little mean, I did have my collar on after all, but I resisted and said, "Yup! I am the priest at Gethsemane Church down the street, 9th and 4th, you should come by and check us out!" That lead to a long conversation this time with the manager of the store silently pleading with us to move along, stop talking already and get out of the store!!! It was funny.

Life in Downtown Minneapolis, I love it!
Be well,
A+

Comments

JKSk8terboy said…
I know that guy..hes pretty funny! He does make you think.

I just wanted to leave a comment somewhere as well.

Justin
9:56 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beautiful Impartiality. Easter Day Sermon

“Then that little man in black there, he says women can't have as much rights as men, 'cause Christ wasn't a woman! Where did your Christ come from? Where did your Christ come from? From God and a woman! Man had nothing to do with Him. If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again! And now they is asking to do it, the men better let them.” So spoke Sojourner Truth in December 1851, just 5 years before this parish was founded, at a Women’s Convention in Akron, Ohio. She began her brief and eloquent speech with the words, “Well, children, where there is so much racket there must be something out of kilter.” There has been a lot of racket in our world, in our Church in our lives. Something is out of kilter that is for sure. Each year during Holy Week, all the clergy in the Diocese are invited to attend a service of the reaffirmation of our
Read more

A Deeper Crisis for the Episcopal Church in Minnesota???

I am ever the optimist, I always assume that people are operating out of the general good of their hearts, for the betterment of whatever it is they might be working or advocating for. I am also not one to hold a grudge, and will jump on board with the decisions made by a body that they believe are what that particular body needs. So, of course, when I was on the losing end of just about every resolution presented at convention I was able to look forward to what would come next and prepare myself to support the decisions I need to support as we move forward. Tonight I put all my eggs into the basket to try to get a coadjutor process passed as the way we would proceed in calling a new bishop. We missed that by three votes, granted, a majority of the Diocese wanted to have a coadjutor, but because of a motion to have the vote by orders it lost, clergy passed it 86-59 and the laity narrowly missed it by a vote of 114 to 117. Makes for some nail biting prime time entertainment, let me t
Read more

An interesting Observation

I was sitting on the pew out in front of the Church on 4th Avenue waiting for my lovely and beloved wife to pick me up. Our other car was in the shop and due to rushed-ness we had to just drop me off at Church today. Anyway, I was sitting out there for about 15 minutes waiting for Sara to come and pick me up and I noticed something very odd. I didn't keep a number tally in my head, but I bet half of the people walking toward me crossed the street, not in the crosswalk at the corner, but at some other point before arriving at where I was sitting. Now, I was wearing my collar and sitting in the pew reading a book. The pew has been used frequently I have noticed by many passersby, I even saw a young man take off one of the round parts of the pew, it had kind of fallen off, so no longer attached, but just stare at it and look it over as he walked on. So the pew has not been an intimidating thing, it was definitely me and my collar, and no, I didn't smell, because many others w
Read more