{"id":3950,"date":"2024-08-28T08:47:28","date_gmt":"2024-08-28T12:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=3950"},"modified":"2024-08-28T08:48:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-28T12:48:06","slug":"agnes-birthday-party","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2024\/08\/28\/agnes-birthday-party\/","title":{"rendered":"Agnes’ Birthday Party"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, <\/em>click here<\/a>

Tony Campolo, Baptist pastor and professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern College in Philadelphia, is one of America\u2019s celebrated storytellers.

One of his signature stories concerns a visit he made years ago to Hawaii. 

Tony, whose body was still on Eastern Time, wandered into a diner at 3 am. The only other customers were some prostitutes, finished for the night. One of them, named Agnes, mentioned that tomorrow was her birthday, and that she had never had a birthday party in her life.

After the prostitutes left, Tony found out from Harry, the guy behind the counter, that they came to the diner every morning at 3:00.

Campolo asked if he could come back the next night and throw a party for Agnes. Harry agreed, on the condition that he make the cake.

Here\u2019s Campolo\u2019s account of what happened:

At 2:30 the next morning, I was back at the diner. I had picked up some crepe-paper decorations at the store and had made a sign out of big pieces of cardboard that read, \u201cHappy Birthday Agnes!\u201d<\/em>

The word must have gotten out on the street, because at 3:15 every prostitute in Honolulu was [there]. Wall to wall prostitutes \u2026 and me!<\/em>

At 3:30 the door to the diner swung open and in came Agnes and her friend. I had everybody ready, and when they came in we all screamed, \u201cHappy Birthday!\u201d Never have I seen a person so flabbergasted. Her mouth fell open, and her legs buckled. When we finished singing, her eyes moistened. When the cake was carried out, she started to cry.<\/em>

Harry gruffly mumbled, \u201cBlow out the candles, Agnes. Come on!  If you don\u2019t blow out the candles, I\u2019m gonna hafta blow out the candles.\u201d<\/em>

Finally, he did. The cutting of the cake took even longer. \u201cCut the cake, Agnes. We all want some cake.\u201d<\/em>

\u201cLook, Harry, is it OK if I keep the cake for a little while; if we don\u2019t eat it right away?\u201d \u201cSure.  If you want to keep it, keep it. Take the cake home if you want.\u201d \u201cCan I?\u201d Then, looking at me: \u201cI just live down the street. I want to take the cake home, OK? I\u2019ll be right back.\u201d<\/em>

She carried that cake out the door like it was the Holy Grail. We stood there motionless, a stunned silence in the place. Not knowing what else to do, I broke the silence by saying, \u201cWhat do you say we pray?\u201d<\/em>

Looking back on it now, it seems more than strange for a sociologist to be leading a prayer meeting with a bunch of prostitutes at a diner in Honolulu at 3:30 in the morning. But then it just felt like the right thing to do.<\/em>

I prayed for Agnes. For her salvation. That her life would be changed. That God would be good to her.<\/em>

When I finished, Harry leaned over the counter and said with a trace of irritation: \u201cHey, you never told me you were a preacher. What kind of church do you belong to?\u201d<\/em>

In one of those moments when just the right words come, I answered, \u201cI belong to a church that throws birthday parties for prostitutes at 3:30 in the morning.\u201d<\/em>

Harry waited a moment, and almost sneered as he answered, \u201cNo, you don\u2019t. There\u2019s no church like that. If there was, I would join it.\u201d<\/em>

Isn\u2019t that the truth?

Wouldn\u2019t we all join a church that overflows with grace for people who for one reason or another have made a mess of their lives?

Here\u2019s the good news: That\u2019s the kind of church Jesus came to create.

And it\u2019s not too late to help make it happen.
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To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast, click here Tony Campolo, Baptist pastor and professor emeritus of sociology at Eastern College in Philadelphia, is one of America\u2019s celebrated storytellers. One of his signature stories concerns a visit he made years ago to Hawaii.  Tony, whose body was still on Eastern Time, wandered into a diner at 3 am. The only other… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[796],"class_list":["post-3950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-tony-campolo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3950"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3953,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3950\/revisions\/3953"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}