...Because Sometimes, Love Means Just Going Away
His 3-week stint in a recovery center in Arizona now complete, the Loving Restoration of Ted Haggard has now entered its next phase: his being asked to quietly leave town.Haggard mentioned Missouri and Iowa as possible destinations. Another oversight board member, the Rev. Mike Ware of Westminster, said the group recommended the move out of town, and the Haggards agreed.
"This is a good place for Ted," Ware said. "It's hard to heal in Colorado Springs right now. It's like an open wound. He needs to get somewhere he can get the wound healed."
It's hard to heal in Colorado Springs... where, one presumes, all the people he and his wife loves and labored beside are actually located? The ones that are now supposed to be a part of his Loving Restoration?
This must be what it looks like under the carpet. I wish I could say I was surprised.
posted by Zeke @ 1:33 PM
10 Comments:
You'll know them by their love.
Sheesh. What are they worried about? It only took three weeks of counseling to turn him straight.
Isn't that what they're calling tough love? Sometimes you need to turn people away to really show them that you love them. Yeah right!
I am so conflicted about this whole mess. I saw that Haggard/HBO clip on outchurched & I feel like his fall was bound to happen sooner or later, given his self-righteous attitude. But this recent news just doesn't seem right, either. This confirms the assumptions that many people have about the church: screw up bad, and you're out! Sad.
A-freakin'-men.
Ok... I am trying to look at the bigger picture here and I am not so sure that this isn't a blessing in the long run for him. If it was me, I would have counseled him to do this anyway.
Getting out of town might be good in many respects for the man and his family... of course at this time he might not see it yet, and it will be difficult... but do you really think he has a lot of people stopping by his house to offer him support? I don't. Are there really that many people calling him and offering to by him lunch? I doubt it.
Getting away might help him gain a much needed fresh perspective.
Steve, that makes sense only if--as you reasonably suppose--his support network has vaporized. My suspicion is that Ted was asked to leave town because the people that used to support him would like to just forget about him and move on.
Yes and that's pretty much par for the course. Been there... felt that!
that totally sucks. like "get away from us and come back when we can tolerate you... whenever that is!"
If I was him, though, I can NOT imagine staying in Colorado Springs. You can see that church from the freeway. He probably sees congregants and former staff everywhere. It's got to be hell. Of course, if people were loving and accepting, it wouldn't be such hell.
But Colorado Springs (just down the road from me) is such an over-the-top Christian place, and those who aren't Christian are probably just snickering at him...I wouldn't want to leave my house if I lived there.
So good for him for getting out.
Although it does really bite that half the reason he'd want to leave is from the Christians in the town.
Similar thing happened to Rev. Benjamin Reynolds in Colorado Springs, although he acted with so much integrity and came out on his own to his congregation.
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