The Urban Saint

"I've come to terms with the risks. I know my calling. I know what I'm supposed to be doing. I can't back away from what I've been designed to do because of some opposition." Harry Lehotsky, to a Winnipeg reporter.

I read Harry Lehotsky's bio this weekend. I recommend it. It was a bit hard for me to get into the way the book is written, but once I did, I was completely engaged.

Harry is an inner city pastor from a neighborhood adjacent to the one we live in. Over the years, I certainly heard a lot about him and was inspired over and over again by his actions and life. I remember inviting him to come and speak to our staff team over at ICYA. A couple of times, I brought young people who wanted to learn more about inner city ministry over to his office on Maryland. I heard him speak at Missionfest a few years ago. And I used to bring folks to the Ellice Cafe often, because Harry's vision for that place as a hub of community -where social position and other barriers didn't matter - was so meaningful.


I was driving when I heard on the radio that Harry had terminal cancer a few years ago, and I was immediately teary. I wept for the community that would lose one of its champions, for sons who weren't done needing their dad, for a wife whose dreams of grandparenting together would never be realized.

The book filled in a lot of gaps that I didn't know about in Harry's life. I knew a lot of the crazy stunts, but it was nice to learn more of the story behind the story. Some of the crazy things I've heard about were not even in the book, others I read about and had no idea.

Courageously crazy. That might be a good description of the Harry I just read about and the Harry I observed. I feel similar about Keith Green... we hear and sometimes shake our heads the outrageous stunts, but when we reflect on them a bit, we can see a heart that is breathtakingly committed to Christ and his Kingdom .... they reveal our fears by their lack of fear.

Some of the thoughts that grab hold of me in this book...

• Harry referring to himself as one who both comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable



• His constant invitation to be part of the neighborhood and love people - believing that more are called than are responding - responding to so many questions and affirmations with the suggestion that anyone can do it.



• realizing that his 'healing handprint' is all over Winnipeg's west end.



• the rawness of what deep commitment to a community and restoration can do to someone, revealing how deeply the hurts of a people and a community can 'undo' a person whose eyes truly see



• Harry was unabashedly committed to living and working in the same neighborhood. He challenged inner city missionaries who weren't willing to expose their families to poverty and other realities while those things were perfectly okay for the people who 'belonged' in that neighborhood. I was well on my way to having that same opinion long before I heard Harry talk about it, but he certainly inspired me. My husband and I still have to settle that debate - we thought moving to rural Saskatchewan would fix it once and for all, but ... isn't life funny, there are some things you just can't dodge! (I wonder if that's 'calling'?!?)



• considering the relationship between community activism and worship. Where is the line? Is there a line? What's the difference?



• Second chances, hope filled belief.. Harry exemplified a commitment to these in his relationships.

Have you read the book? What are your thoughts?

Do you know if you're in the right place and doing what you're designed to do?