Generally when pastors make the news it's not a good thing. That was the case this week when Pastor Alois Bell from St. Louis made the news for stiffing a waitress at Applebee's. Pastor Bell says it was a lapse in judgment, that her privacy was violated, and reportedly asked for the waitress to be fired.
Some lessons for all of us:
1. If you say something stupid you should assume everyone is going to hear about it. The waitress should not have posted a picture of the receipt, but she also shouldn't have been stiffed by a pastor. It shouldn't surprise Pastor Bell that the picture was posted and it shouldn't surprise the waitress that she was fired. This is all really pretty predictable stuff in the era of social media and camera phones.
2. Pastor Bell is correct when she says, "I've brought embarrassment to my church and ministry." It's pretty tough to preach about Jesus loving "the least of these" when you won't even give a waitress a tip that's well within societal norms. I would say she's embarrased Christians everywhere. In his book They Like Jesus but Not the Church, Dan Kimball shares his conversation with a waitress who says she hates working on Sunday mornings because when all the Christians get out of church and come to the coffee shop and are rude and don't tip well. So this latest experience is really just one of many being experienced across the country. I'm embarrased for our faith. Not that I'm any better. I've had plenty to apologize for in my life (and apparently Pastor Bell has at least sorta-kinda apologized). We all mess up. But,
3. We need to remember that when we mess up people are watching. They're watching when we don't mess up too, but they're more likely to notice when we mess up. Once upon a time "practice what you preach" was a nice phrase to use in a sermon as a reminder to the congregation to behave. Now "practice what you preach" is a necessity in ministry. If we don't practice it, people don't believe us. I'm not saying this to pastors only, but to all Christians. If we don't practice love why should people believe God is love? If we don't practice compassion why should people believe that God is compassionate? If we don't practice forgiveness (like forgiving Pastor Bell for messing up this one time?) then why should people believe in a God who forgives?
I feel sorry for Alois Bell. Hopefully she's learned an important lesson. Hopefully all of us have.
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