Sexual Harrassment at Church

(One thing is certain, churches are made up of people, and people will always act like...well, like people. Some of the stories that I tell concern good people who made bad choices. This is one of those stories. As much as we would like to believe that things like this don't happen, they do. As much as we would like to believe that Christians are perfect, they're not. So these stories reveal the uglier side of people, but the beautiful side of God. For we could not fully comprehend the magnanimity of God's grace, if we didn't recognize how much we need grace.)

“Why does the phone always ring when I'm in the middle of studying?” Josh fussed to no one but himself. It was Thursday and Josh had been busy working on his sermon when the phone interrupted the quietness.

When he answered the phone and heard Leanne's voice on the other end he quietly fumed some more. “Leanne knows this is my study time. Why is she calling me?,” he thought to himself. But Josh could tell that something was not right. He could hear it in her voice. After testing Josh with a few trivial questions about work, etc., Leanne finally revealed why she was calling.

“I talked to Margaret this morning,” she began.

Josh's mind quickly retreated to the previous night's events. There was always a dinner on Wednesday nights for everyone who wanted to eat together before the mid-week study. The dinner always seemed to help those who didn't have time to prepare a meal before coming to the study. Margaret and her 15 year old son Jesse were at the dinner last night, and Jesse stayed for the study, but Margaret had strangely disappeared after the meal. Even Jesse didn't know what had happened to his mom and Josh ended up taking him home afterward. Maybe Leanne had some news about Margaret.
“Is Margaret okay?” he asked.
“Actually, she's not. She's really upset.”
“She seemed okay at the dinner. What happened?”
“You're not going to believe this, Josh.”
And Leanne began to retell Margaret's story.

After dinner people were carrying leftovers to their cars before going into the sanctuary for the Bible study. Margaret had several items to carry and Roger had offered to help her. Roger was in his mid-50's and had retired from the Army and now spent most of his time reading dime-store Western novels. Roger and his wife, Jennie, were a couple with chronic marriage problems.

By the time Margaret and Roger had reached her car everyone else had entered the building and they were the only ones left in the parking lot. That's when it happened.
“Roger tried to kiss her,” Leanne said.
“He did WHAT?” Josh shouted.
“Margaret said he tried to kiss her. After she put her dishes in the trunk he leaned in real close and puckered up like he was going to kiss her. She said she had to push him away just to get away from him.”

They talked for a few more minutes then said goodbye. Josh was stunned. He sat quietly for several minutes trying to decide what he needed to do next. Something had to be done, that much he knew. He just wanted to be sure he did everything appropriately.

His first step was to call Margaret and get her story directly from her. When he called, however, Jesse answered the phone. Jesse had found out from his mother why she had left him at the church, and now he was ready to defend his mother's honor. Josh could sympathize with Jesse, and admired his desire to stand up for his mother, but he tried to keep Jesse calm.

Margaret was also still upset. And why shouldn't she be? A man she had trusted had tried to force himself on her. Josh also heard Margaret say what he had feared: they would not be coming back to Northside Christian.

The next step was going to be the hardest: he would have to confront Roger.