 [Detroit, Mich: June 2008]
During the night of June 2, the Church of the Messiah near Belle Isle in Detroit was hit again by an all-too-common crime. Thieves returned to the church that had been hit before to strip the building of copper pipes, aluminum siding and other metals to sell for scrap.
But this night, they cross the line. They lifted the green-tinted Jesus off the church’s exterior wall and carried it away, probably thinking the plaster icon was made of copper.
For Messiah Priest Barry Randolph and dozens of Messiah parishioners, the search was on. Within 48 hours, a neighborhood woman discovered the eight-foot-tall statue and called the church, but not before the story went viral and was picked up around the world.
Randolph thinks he knows why the story captured a corner of the media market.
“When the Houston Chronicle said ‘Woman finds Jesus in alley,’” Randolph said, “it’s was true. Where would Jesus be? He would be in all these strange places, and we need to also be in all these strange places.
“If Jesus Christ came back, he would be in the neighborhood of Messiah, not up on the cross; he would be working in the neighborhood,” Randolph said, recounting a conversation he had with his brother.
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Detroit, MI
[Belleville, Mich: June 24, 2008]
by Herb Gunn