Sexual harassment.

          I started writing a monthly newsletter article at McKinley Community Church back in in the mid 1980s. At that time, if I had written the words ‘sexual harassment,’ I might have gotten fired. In proper and polite situations, you just didn’t talk about such things. Even now, over thirty years later, it bothers me to broach the subject. But, it is everywhere. You can’t get away from it. Just scanning the ‘trending news’ on the computer news feed this morning I see six articles on the subject. It is nauseating.

          Does saying that mean I would want to just not talk about it, like in the old days when reporters didn’t talk about the antics of presidents and congressmen and actors? Not at all. I would like it if these things didn’t happen. And when it did happen, I would like it if the woman in question didn’t wait twenty years to report the event. I would like it if the law would get involved right away and put the sleaze ball behind bars.

          Of course, when you say something like, “I just wish it didn’t happen,” someone will always say, ‘It has happened forever and will always happen.” Some of that is true. Sexual harassment or assault has always happened when a man has power or can gain trust or has some other hold over a woman. Or over a man, for that matter. But, that doesn’t mean it has to happen.

          Dr. Leroy Bennifield told us in seminary that there were going to be dangerous moments out there. ”Fellows, believe it or not, there are women out there who think, for some reason, that a sexual thing with a preacher would be great. I mean, look at me! I am as ugly a thing as has ever come out of Oklahoma. But there have been several times when some woman has surprised me. LOOK OUT!” I didn’t put much faith in that back then, but it has proven true. Some women seek to entice and some men are just stupid. After a while, the man thinks he can do anything or get away with anything, so he begins to take liberties with whomever he wishes.

          So, it has always been around.

          It just doesn’t have to be.

          Pastor Harold was at his church 25 years. His wife was a little harsh about things. Didn’t really like the ministry. Harold finally quit the ministry and wound up running a Christian bookstore. I was the one he came to when things built up. Pastor Charles’ wife was mentally unstable. She would say or do anything. Drove Charles to distraction. He was at his church for 13 years. Harold suggested he talk to me. Pastor Rick stayed at his church for 10 years. His wife was so quiet. Wouldn’t talk to anyone, including her husband. He wanted his wife to be more open with him, but it didn’t happen. He and I talked about it every once in a while. I mention these three because their wives stand out in my memory and because these men were liked and respected by most everyone. And, also, because they were faced with moments when they could have gotten away with sexual infidelity. But they didn’t. Why not? Because they were ministers? Hardly. Being a minister does not shield one from sexual impropriety. We have all heard stories. Even Dr. Martin Luther King is said to have had a mistress. So, what made these three men different from the Al Frankens and the Matt Lauers and the Dr. Kings? These three men knew that they answered to someone higher than themselves. They knew they had a responsibility to their wives, their churches and, most important, their Savior. You have never heard of them, but to me they were friends I respected. I knew where their weaknesses lay and I also knew where they were strong, and where that that strength came from. You could say that it is an outdated idea to depend on the Lord for your strength. Most believe that it is quaint thinking. But the mind fixed on Christ is a mind that can face the world and stand strong.

          Sexual harassment. An ugly phrase. Those guilty of such things are ugly people. They might be famous, they might be powerful, they might be rich. But, if I could walk into Mary’s Diner back in the old town, I would rather sit down with Harold and Charles and Rick, and you can throw Bob and Joe and Paul into that, as well. Then I would be sitting and drinking bad coffee and eating stale pie with real men, strong men, men who walk with the Lord. Men who find sexual harassment as disgusting as the Lord does.