Touching the Untouchables

Two brothers, ages four and seven, convinced their father to take them to the Worlds of Fun amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri. The thirty nine dollar per person ticket price was more than he wanted to pay on a minister’s salary, but he was like most fathers and found it hard to deny his children that which would bring them happiness. And so he splurged.

The children, his and others', were curious about everything. They darted around, squealed, smiled, rode many rides and ate as much junk food as their father would purchase for them.

The father was tired by the time he joined his children and dozens of other parents and their children in a cylinder in which moving images were projected all around them. While they stood in this tube, the images made them feel like they were flying over tall buildings, swimming in deep oceans and skiing over mountains. The father felt queasy with motion sickness and felt like vomiting when the images changed to a montage of heroines from animated Disney films, including Belle from "Beauty and the Beast."

From inside the cylinder, a door opened and in walked characters from Disney animated films including a giant spoon and fork, a clock and Belle herself. At the sight of her, the children uttered a collective gasp and ran up to her. The father noted that the woman dressed as Belle was indeed a great beauty. The fork, spoon and knife surrounded Belle so she wouldn’t be crushed by the charging children but could still interact with them.

The other parents kept their places with the father in the back of the cylinder to allow their children access to Belle. The father noted that two children were not with the other children. They were with the group of parents. He looked at them. They were two boys; brothers perhaps. One of the boys had a face that was physically deformed. This boy's right shoulder was much higher than his other and his hand on the same side was turned inward.

The father’s first thought as he silently pondered his options was to take the boys and bring them towards Belle. But he was afraid of what others would think. Then the father, who was also a pastor, hoped that Belle would notice the two outcasts and come over to them. This pastor likes to tell stories to his congregation and this would be a good one. As if on cue, Belle broke from the crowd and came up to the two boys and hugged the one with the physical deformities. After Belle left, the other children came up to the boy and said, “Wow! Belle came up to you!”

The father in this story is the pastor of my church and he told this story today. He used it to help illustrate the reading of Mark 1:40-45 about the man Jesus heals of leprosy. It was a powerful sermon for me, especially his amusement park story. And the story of Beauty and the Beast is a sacred text in its own rite.

My pastor asked us to think about the people in our own lives whom we consider “unclean” and “untouchable.” He specifically referred to gay men and lesbians who come out of the closet and are rejected by their families and friends. He said when we come out, we risk being treated like lepers even in 2007. And like the man with leprosy who asks Jesus to heal him, he invited us to ask Jesus to heal us of the deep wounds we have suffered in this life.

I cannot heal alone. I surrender my will to be a lone ranger. I need God and the people, situations and texts (of all sorts) that he brings into my life to be healed. Nor can I love those I put a wall around. This wall also keeps out others’ love for me. The healing may not come in the way I would like it, but I trust that it will come.

Thank you, God.

And let me be your answer to someone else's prayers.