The Streets of Berkeley - 7 July 2011

Trolling for lunch - finding the Gospel

I had just finished a counseling session with a troubled individual and it was well past the lunch hour.  As I thought about where to go to lunch, someplace quiet, where I could rest and hide for a minute or two.  I decided that I needed to take a long walk and fine something different.  I walked down to Oxford Street, and then continued north to Center Street.  It was there that I would make a search for something new and different.  I did find a restaurant, Al Borz, a wonderful Persian restaurant that I shall visit again (Lamb shank with tomato broth, garbanzo and white beans, and fresh mint, cilantro [which I quickly discarded - tastes like soap] and basil - all very good.  This, however, is not the story.  

As I rounded the corner onto Center, I noticed two ACLU volunteers replete with clip boards, bright blue T shirts, and broad smiles.  I heard the first say, "blah, blah, blah, gay and lesbian rights..." which caught my attention.  As I moved on I caught the eye of the second volunteer.  She looked at me, slightly opened her mouth, gulped, and then averted her gaze.  I continued on, and then stopped, turned, and walked back to her.  She looked at me as I asked, "Were you afraid to talk to me?"  "Yes", she replied, "I just got reamed out by a preacher, who told me I was doing wrong."  We looked at each other for a second, and then I said, "I'm sorry about that.  I'm a gay man and a priest, and I really appreciate what you are doing here."  She dissolved into one of the biggest and broadest smiles I have ever seen.  She had been shaken up by the preacher man. "It wasn't very Christian," I said, and she agreed.  They were not asking for signatures but for money, so I gave a little donation.  

When I returned to see her, after lunch, we talked more about what she was doing, and I invited her to Saint Mark's.  "Be set for a surprise," I said, "not all churches are like what you have just experienced."  I asked her for her name, and she had remembered mine.  I thanked for the great work that she was doing, and as I left I turned to look to see that big, bright smile - her gift to me.