A man comes up to the pastor (P) after the service. He is a visitor (V). He says:
V: Pastor, can I speak with you?
P: Sure! What’s up?
V: I really enjoyed the service. I heard about the music and your teaching. I’d love to come here, but I feel like I need to run something past you.
P: What’s that?
V: Well… I’m gay.
P: OH!
V: I’m not sure how you feel about that or if this church has a policy or anything…
P: Well… um… well… we’ve never really had to deal with your types. This would be a first! That’s for sure! Um… can I ask who it was that invited you here?
V: Uh… well… uh… they go here… uh…
P: “They”? Who are “they”?
V: Well… um… so… well… so you don’t have a policy?
P: Well… you know, these are the kinds of things… you know… serious… that you make an appointment for…
V: You know… maybe that’s a good idea. I’ll be in touch. Ya… maybe I should’ve called first.
P: Ya, okay. I’m kinda busy right now with saying goodbye to everyone. So call me if you want.
V: Ya, okay. Ya. Bye.
Questions:
- From the language of the visitor, do you think the visitor feels welcomed? (Notice his hesitancy to expose who invited him.)
- Can you guess from the language of the pastor what his feelings are about gays in his church? (Notice his use of the phrase “Your types”.)
- What kind of power structure is in place that the courageous (or naive?) visitor encountered? That is, is the pastor and the visitor share equal power in this context? (Notice the strategy to make it an official appointment where the pastor will be more in control.)
The above cartoon is one of my earliest cartoons addressing this. I am assembling cartoons like this one into a book.
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