More on “The Lock Out”

So there we were, ten or twelve teenagers and I, along with a young adult volunteer who had offered to spend the night on the streets with us. All night. After intentionally locking ourselves out of the Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church near downtown Richmond, Virginia, we visited some of the city’s night people: those who worked on the morning paper, a hospital overnight chaplain, an all-night radio DJ, and police officers at a nearby neighborhood precinct.

It was there that I was told by the officer in charge that I was under arrest for keeping the kids out way past the Richmond city midnight curfew. (See the previous blog.) As soon as he said he was sorry but the situation was out of his hands, and I’d have to be detained, there were at least three thoughts in puffy balloons over our heads. The kids thought, “Oh-oh. Are we gonna have to call our parents to come pick us up in the middle of the night? They aren’t going to be happy.” The young adult volunteer (was it Betsy Lodwick or Laura Wohlford?) was thinking, “Oh no! What am I supposed to do with these kids for the rest of the night?” And for about three seconds I thought, “What??!!”

And then the police officer broke into a grin and said he was just kidding. The teens laughed just a little too hard at this. “Let me show you the lock-up,” the cop said. And he took us on the grand tour of the modest precinct house. We noticed no other people around. No perps. No other cops. “It’s a quiet night,” he confessed. “Mostly what we do here is paperwork. Not very exciting most of the time,” he told us. “It’s not exactly ‘Hill Street Blues.’” Another officer arrived, introduced himself, and went right to his clipboard to log his night’s activity. As we left, they both told us to be careful as we walked back to the church to continue our night’s travels. (Our next stop was WLEE’s studio, at that time on West Broad Street.)

When we were finished at the radio station, our last stop was an early breakfast at the all-night Dunkin’ Donuts. It was still dark out, but all of us were ready for food, so we found our stools at the counter and ordered. This was to be a time of debriefing, sharing things we’d learned from the people we’d met, and then looking at Bible passages that tell of the tears and terrors of night (Psalm 30:5 or 91:5) or of Jesus choosing the night time to speak with Nicodemus.  But first there were cream-filled donuts.

While the kids reported on our night to a curious waitress, I noticed that there was only one other person in the restaurant. Sitting at the end of the counter was a young man in ragged jeans and a tee shirt, reading a Bible! I couldn’t have planned that! But when the check was paid and we drove back to the church, we had some conversation together about what might lead a 20-something guy to Dunkin’ Donuts at 4:45 a.m. to read his Bible?

Back at the church, we went to the media room and watched a video of the original Star Trek series, an episode titled “Bread and Circuses,” about “sun worshippers” who turn out to be “Son” worshippers. We ended our official time together with a quick version of morning prayer, and then some of the kids napped until parents arrived to take them home. Others, though, found their way to the third floor of the church and watched the sun come up. (They had said they were going up to the roof, but I was struck deaf at that point and heard no more about that. No one fell off.)

I wonder how many of those kids remember that night some 30 years ago. I’ve not heard of anyone else leading this kind of “lock-out” but it was a highlight of my radio-inspired youth ministry. Wouldn’t mind trying it again. Except for the near arrest.