Geraldine - 64 years old

On a sunny day in the Kensington neighbourhood in Calgary, Geraldine was enjoying a cigarette and a rest on a bench.   Pete D. & I approached her & asked if she'd be willing to spare a few moments to answer a brief questionnaire.   She was game for it and so we jumped into a great conversation with her that lasted a good half hour or so.

Geraldine is from Toronto and is passing through town on her way down to the States.   She described her spiritual background as Protestant, but over the last 30 years, she would describe herself as non-conventional.

When asked for some words to describe her spiritual background, she opened up about her experience that caused her to leave the church.   She said that she was going through a divorce and went to speak to her female pastor about it.   The next Sunday, her pastor stood up and began preaching on divorce.   The pastor said that they didn't want divorced people around because "one bad apple can spoil the whole batch." Geraldine couldn't believe her ears.  I couldn't believe my ears. She said she felt betrayed in opening up to her pastor, and so got up and left in the middle of the sermon and has never gone back to church, though she would consider herself to be a spiritual person.

When asked what she would like to ask God about, she said, "What can I do to help you make this world a better place."

"Wow.  That's a great question," I said.

Pete jumped in, "If everyone asked that type of question, this would be a much better place to live."

"Next question," I said.  "If God were to ask you, 'Why should I let you into heaven?' what would you say?"

She thought about this for a moment and after asking for clarification, she said, "Judge me on how I lived my life...Because I believed in You and tried to live according to your standards."

When asked to rate her goodness, she said 7.5.   So I thanked her for her answers and gave her a copy of our booklet explaining Christianity.   "This booklet has a 'Good Person Test' in here that allows you to accurately judge your goodness."

"Oh?' she said.

"Yes, it's called the Ten Commandments?  You've heard of them, right?"

"Oh yes," she answered.

"Can you name any of them?"  She named a few of them and then went blank.  "That's okay.  There listed here..." and I pointed to the correct page.   She began reading them out loud.  She acknowledged that she kept some of them, but had broken others.

"If God were to evaluate your life against the 10 Commandments, would he find you innocent or guilty of breaking them."

She thought about this for a moment and said, "Guilty," she said and quickly added, "But everyone would be guilty if God judged us by the 10 Commandments."

"That's true."  I went on to explain that that's is the bad news.  God is holy & righteous and judges justly.   The final judgment for those who die in the guilt of their sins is hell.  That's what the Bible teaches.  That is the bad news."  Geraldine was nodding taking this in.

"Do you know what God has done so that we could go from being guilty to innocent?" I asked.

"He's merciful and forgiving."

"Yes he is," I answered, "but he has done something particular.  Do you know what that is?"  She shook her head.

"He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to live and die like people like us."  She began nodding her head as if it were all coming back to her.   I went on to explain that Christ broke none of the commandments and because of that, he could die in the place of people like us.   He can give his record of righteousness to us because he takes our broken record upon himself.  I explained the necessity of repentance (turning from our sin & independence from God) and turning to faith in Christ.

She said that she does believe that she has done that and that Jesus is leading her in her life.   We encouraged her to reflect on these things, and she said she would.

Pete asked if we could pray for a few of the things that she had mentioned in our conversation and she said yes.  So Pete led us in prayer.

She was very grateful for our conversation.  I mentioned that her story about what had happened to her at her previous church broke my heart.   I told her that if she lived in Calgary, she'd be exactly the kind of person that we would love to have in our community at New City Church.

She again thanked us for the conversation, and especially for the way in which we engaged her in conversation.   As we walked away, she encouraged us to keep doing what we were doing.  

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Romans 5:2, "Through him [i.e., our Lord Jesus Christ], we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God."

Lord Jesus, enable Geraldine to understand the grace by which we are enabled to stand before You, and to rejoices in the hope of the glory of God.  Help her find her way into a good community of faith.