“A minister walks into a bar …” It sounds like the start of a joke, but tonight after going out with my friend Karen and hanging at a bar – I was feeling like I was living some bad joke … even though I wasn’t wearing anything at all that would reveal my profession – it felt odd in a way … But with Moosehead on tap – I can say – “I was there for the beer …”
But as Karen and I were talking I recalled a moment in my life when MY minister walked into a bar (with his collar on no less …) and shocked the daylights out of us …
My friends and I were at a now defunct nightclub in Stratford and I was suffering from a bad case of … shall we call it indigestion? Brought on my having consumed too much of a good thing …
So, we’re sitting around the table in the corner, and I’m semi-reclining on the sofa-like bench behind the table … I was suffering from this case of Indigestion … and while I was lying there, one of my friends said:
“Oh Sh--!!! You minister is here Shawn …”
I replied with an expletive and an accusation of them having lied.
“No, seriously man,” they said, “it’s your minister and … OH Sh--!!! He’s coming over here … he sees us …”
Suddenly I felt abandoned and semi-embarassed … I can’t say with certainty if my friends left or not – but it sure felt that way in that moment … Our Minister strolled over to the table and was all cool:
“Hey, it’s good to see you …” he said with a smile, “I was up stairs with my wife and some friends for dinner and on the way out I heard the music and I know this is one of the places you guys hang out, so I thought I’d come down and check it out …”
I don’t remember much of the conversation after that … I think I was still in shock …
I have to confess – or profess, that our minister – Bob was and remains a cool man. He is one of my favourite people, a mentor, a friend, and if at the end of my ministry I can look back and know that I have been half the minister he has been – then I am good.
Bob and I went on to share a few pints from time to time … and even thought he never darkened the door of Rumours anytime I was there – he left me with an indelible impression: you gotta go where the lost sheep are wandering … or in some cases, passed out … Bob did that – and he taught me well …
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