In the 1960s a man named Robert Owen was called by God to serve others in a non-traditional sense. You see, Robert loved music--jazz specifically. He loved playing it on Chicago's Rush Street and enjoyed the passion of music. he loved the camaraderie of a jazz band and loved how his music blessed other people--people he didn't know. Then a strong thing happened. At the end of each night's set, Robert was placed by God into an important place.
Here is the exert from Christian Century where his story is told:
" “When we stopped playing, the musicians would start telling me their troubles,” he told a Chicago Tribune reporter in 1965. “I began to see there was a real need for a ministry to the night people.”
Press coverage from the early days of the program suggests that his office, above a hamburger stand at Rush and Oak, was well trafficked by those seeking counsel long past business hours. The DeKalb Daily Chronicle: “Chicago Night Pastor Believes God Doesn’t Go to Bed at 10.” The Daily Herald: “Night, Loneliness, Jazz—The Life of Reverend Owen.” Wearing his clerical collar, Owen walked along dark sidewalks and dipped into bars to minister to people late into the night."
And so the Night Pastor ministry was born, and lived, in the Chicago diocese of the Episcopal Church. Robert held the position for six years faithfully playing music, listening to people, and pastoring the local community. He did this faithfully before he died.
The church attempted to uphold his position and installed a new individual to serve as the Night Pastor in the same community, but it was not to be. The work ended and the Night Pastor went away. But for a set time, a set season, God helped one individual care for his community in a unique way.
Robert's story sparked a question in my heart. . . As the church we are called by God to care for one another. We are called to pray for each other; to listen as stories and concerns are shared. But perhaps you have been called to you own Night Pastor ministry in your local community? Maybe God has placed something on your heart to step outside of what seems outside of the normal path and course of the church.
If that is true, then I wonder what faithfulness might look like in your new ministry? Maybe God has placed you there because you are the only person able to be present for someone else?
Blessings
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