The Tramp Trap

I think people are more motivated and more prone to be educated by love than by fear. There needs to be, I think, an evident lack of danger in order for one to feel at ease. Then one is able to feel love to its full extent. That's why having a gun pointed at your head might make you more nervous than loving.

I don't know that to reprimand people for obeying their instinct of self preservation is a good or effective teaching tool. I think the minister in this article has set his congregation up for failure and pulled the guilt card on them. I'm not saying that the congregation walking past the "tramp" was an overly exemplary human action, but in the described case, if I were there, I would have walked past him, too.

The minister-in-disguise had put SYRINGES around him. Now, I think if anyone sees that a "tramp" has dangerous needles around him they will avoid him and perhaps call the authorities to incarcerate or lead the "tramp" to a help shelter or free rehab clinic. Just a thought.

Living in Chicago, I come across many a homeless person. Often they are hostile or high. As a female I am interested in not getting harmed. So I typically walk past them and ignore them if they are not doing something constructive like selling Streetwise newspapers to help themselves. Most instinctively view these people as one would a stray animal that may or may not bite. And those who take them in or take care of them should be, in fact, trained professionals (I presume there are professionals such as these in Denbigshire, England).

I send money regularly to a local men's shelter that helps those who are homeless and addicted. I don't feel it is my direct place to come into contact with these men, so I trust trained professionals to do this on my behalf. That is how I choose to help them.

As in the article, I don't think offering the "tramp" a cup of coffee is the solution. And I don't think railing on people for walking past a potential threat is a rational method in which to teach Jesus' love.

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Flock shocked by 'tramp' minister

A minister posed as a tramp and gatecrashed his own service to teach churchgoers about "acceptance".

BBC News – July 9, 2008 - The Reverend Derek Rigby donned a wig and some torn clothes and surrounded himself with lager cans and syringes in the church doorway on Sunday morning. Most of the congregation at the Trinity Methodist Church in Prestatyn, Denbighshire, ignored the intruder. The vicar said most were "embarrassed" by their behaviour when he finally revealed himself during the service. The former police officer had told the congregation he would be late for Sunday's service, and only informed one church member of his true plans, in case anyone decided to dial 999.

The vicar said he did not shave for three days and drew on tattooes to make his appearance more convincing. He said: "I couldn't take the car in case anyone spotted it, so I walked from my home to the church. That was interesting, because my neighbours avoided me. "I had bought clothes from a charity shop - which were immaculate - so I had to dirty them up a bit and I poured a bit of lager on them. "When I got to the church I arranged a couple of cans and some plastic syringes, without needles, which I have at home for the dog. It gave the impression of a real down and out."

He added: "None of them spoke to me, apart from a few who told me off and told me to get away from their cars, which they kept checking. "They all ignored me." He waited until the children had left the church to join their Sunday School before walking to the front of the building and revealing his identity to the congregation. He said: "Some were very embarrassed. Nobody was angry with me but they were shocked they had ignored me in the way they had. "They could have given me a cup of coffee”. "I was surprised rather than disappointed. Some people said they wished I had been there because I would have known how to deal with the situation."

Mr Rigby said he had intended to communicate a "serious message of acceptance in an emotive way", and used the example of the Disciples not recognising Jesus on the road to Emmaus after his resurrection. He said he had tried a similar stunt twice before in Newport and London - where the congregations had been more generous. He added: "I told them they were stingy because I had been given as much as £4.50, a packet of biscuits and a blanket in the other places, but in Prestatyn I got nothing. "Although, I'm sure that wouldn't happen again."