A few weeks ago, at my church, an odd young man came in, and was wondering around a little during the service. I had chatted with him beforehand, and had already decided that he was a little mentally ill. During the communion, he started crying, and he was sitting right in the front so everyone could see him.

I toyed with the idea of sitting next to him after communion to try to calm him down, but this is far from an unusual experience at my church, being on the OSU campus, we tend to attract odd characters. They have yet to cause any problem (at least while I've been around), so we always just leave them to their own devices.

So I don't know if I had made a decision to talk to this guy and help him to feel better. I knew his name, so I thought that could help. But a young woman, who I had never seen before, sat with him in the front pew and put her arm around him. He brightened up and wiped the tears from his eyes and all.

I confirmed later that she didn't know him, and that she had been to the church before. I was really moved by her kindness, especially since it seems like women avoid odd or troubled men out of a sense of vulnerability.

What really moved me was that usually people do that kind of thing only if they've been at the church for a long time. I think that most people would assume that it's someone else's job to look after such a person.

She was crying when she left the church. I talked to her for a few minutes (and him afterward) to try to calm her down before she left, hoping that we as a church could support her, as she had supported him, and that she wouldn't go with the vacant feeling that I know I would have in such a situation. I hope it helped.

For all that people knock organized religion, and there are many good reasons to do so, there are some wonderful things about it, and they mostly have to do with the community of people you come into contact with.