The woman at the bus-stop

 

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

A well-known newspaper journalist, a declared atheist, was walking home through the City of London just before midnight. As he paused at a junction a young man on a Deliveroo bike pulled up beside him and asked him if he “believed in the Lord Jesus”. He replied that he believed in him as a loved and respected human figure, but not as the son of God; that in fact he didn’t believe in God at all.

Let the journalist finish the story in his own words… “The cyclist paused to think. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘Jesus loves you even if you won’t acknowledge him. I will pray for you.’ And with that, he cycled off. I walked on, curiously moved.”

What simple, honest words those are: “I walked on, curiously moved”! Why, I wonder, should a definite unbeliever have found himself reacting in that way.

That little story struck me particularly because of something that had happened to me the previous day. I was waiting at a bus-stop, and the bus was a long time coming. A woman waiting with me told me she was heading for the local hospital where her husband, a diabetic, was seriously ill: “They’re talking about taking his leg off”.

I commiserated as best I could, but I felt there was little I could do except listen for as long as she needed. We parted and went our separate ways. Within minutes I was telling myself off: “Why didn’t I say, very simply, ‘I’ll be praying for you and your husband today’”?

Was it because I am British, and we Brits are pretty hesitant about sharing personal convictions? Or because, as a young Christian, I had had it dinned into me that you shouldn’t “ram your religion down people’s throats” (I did a bit of that in my early days…)? Or perhaps because to suggest prayer might have seemed like taking advantage of her at a vulnerable time?

Perhaps a bit of each. But whatever, I felt not just that I had missed an opportunity but, much more important, that I had failed her. If God is God and controls all things, that encounter at the bus-stop wasn’t just coincidence. If the atheistic journalist was “curiously moved” by the simple words of the cyclist, why wouldn’t a woman with a very sick husband, plus a willingness – indeed a need – to tell a total stranger about him – why shouldn’t she also feel a touch of God upon her? Who knows, that five minutes’ conversation could have changed her life. If only…

Of course it goes without saying that as Christians we shouldn’t force our beliefs on other people – one wonders how much harm and damage has been done by those who do.

But imposing your faith on somebody inappropriately is one thing; quietly and courteously suggesting that there is a God the other person could turn to is very different.

God is the great “given” of the Bible. There he is in the very first verse, simply taken for granted, and there he is right through. It never seeks to prove his existence, never mind to browbeat people into believing in him; it simply assumes that he is there – and that he is available to those who reach out to him. It is, after all, “the fool” who “says in his heart ‘There is no God’…” (Psalm 14:1). It’s no accident that, according to various surveys, the majority of people pray. The early Christian teacher Augustine, bishop of Hippo in north Africa, said in prayer “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you”, and that basic truth has been proved by untold millions of people.

Of course I have to be realistic. The woman at the bus-stop, for all I know, might very well have rejected my offer of prayer; she might have angrily replied “Don’t talk to me about that sort of thing! I’ve no time for it, thank you very much”. But I really don’t think so: her openness and honesty were such as to make me feel there was more to it than that.

And as for the journalist, I happened to know that he had had a Christian upbringing, and that he had a very high opinion of various Christians he knew. Possibly that explains the way the cyclist’s words touched him; they touched a spring deep inside him. But that doesn’t make them any less real.

Where is this leading?

If I can put it in down-to-earth language: There’s a lot more “religion” about than we often realise! We are told that people are just not religious any more. But is that in fact true? Could it be that people are more open to it than we know?

Another story… Many years ago I worked in a hospital as a part-time chaplain in a town where the main industry was steel. I used to move from bed to bed, taking care not to impose myself on anyone who might not welcome it. Just a few minutes’ friendly chat.

But sometimes, as I moved on, I would say something like “Well, I wish you God’s blessing”.

I’ll never forget the day when an elderly, craggy steel-worker looked at me, said nothing, and burst into tears. I felt that I must apologise: whereupon he said “Don’t worry – it’s just that nobody has ever wished me God’s blessing before.”

I know that a couple of little stories prove nothing; but perhaps they point in a particular direction? How many people around us – devoid, it seems, of any form of religion – are, to use the words of Jesus, “not far from the kingdom of God”?

Father, give me eyes to see, a heart to respond to, and words to bless people in need of your touch on their lives. Amen.