Last weekend about four to five hundred of the motorcycle gang the Hells Angels came to Eureka Springs for a gathering. Also present were fifty or more state troopers, the FBI, and a surveillance helicopter that circled constantly overhead. All this in a town with a population of about 2,500.  

The Hells Angels have a mystic and an attitude that puts them in a category all by themselves. Some seemed to dare you to look them in the eye. Others were very friendly and down to earth. They stayed in a row of hotels about a half mile from where I live. The bikers roped off the entrances to the hotel parking lots. No one was allowed to enter not even the police. Everyone wondered what was going on behind those hotel walls, but the Angels were not telling.

I was pleased that several small groups from the gang came out to visit Thorncrown Chapel. They all looked a bit uncomfortable, but they came anyway. One of our staff overheard one particularly tough looking fellow say that he had never been in a church building his whole life. He did not want to stay long, because he felt God was so mad at him that maybe the building would fall on his head. He wasn’t joking.

I thought to myself that God is so misunderstood. Remember the story of the prodigal son. When he returned home, he did not get a rebuke but an embrace. His father even threw a party in the son’s honor. God would not knock the building down upon our biker friend. He would give him a big hug instead. If only the outcasts knew that there are no more outcasts because of the cross. Everyone is an honored guest in our Father’s house.