Unheard-of Honesty: a Touching Sermon From Schuller

Excerpts from a sermon that won’t be delivered today in Orange County:

Good morning, friends, and welcome. I hope your cares are light, but enough about you. Let me tell you how my week has gone.

You may remember reading about an unpleasant incident involving two men on Saturday, June 28, that generated a lot of publicity. No, I’m not talking about Tyson-Holyfield II. I’m referring to my unfortunate run-in with an airline flight attendant while en route to New York.

The attendant, a young man of 35, accused me of physically assaulting him by grabbing him in an aggressive and hostile manner. In all my years, have any of you ever seen me do that from this great pulpit? Of course, you haven’t. Remember when I said from the pulpit the next week that I knew you would believe the best about me? It went without saying that I hoped you would believe the absolute worst about the flight attendant, because he obviously was an agent of the devil.

I was hopeful things would die down after my attorney all but promised to dig up everything possible on the attendant. Alas, nothing developed on that front, and I was charged with misdemeanor assault. Clearly, we were headed for trial.

That brings us to last week when I apologized in court for my actions, agreed to pay a $1,000 fine and to subject myself to court-approved monitoring over the next few months. If I stay clean, the charge will be dropped.

Some of you may wonder why, since none of the salient facts have changed, I am apologizing now when I didn’t at the time of the incident. I know I told you I had done nothing wrong aboard that plane, but it’s funny how an impending trial will alter your perceptions. I am a man of conviction, but I didn’t want to be a man convicted, if you see the distinction I’m making.

So I have apologized for touching the man without his permission. I have gone from suggesting he was a money-grubbing agent of the devil to asking his forgiveness for my actions. Isn’t life wonderful?

I was so apologetic I wound up on “Larry King Live” last week and pleaded my case even more. Nothing cleanses me like a camera pointed at me. With me, especially as a man of the cloth, credibility is everything. I have said that the whole episode has resulted in one of the greatest experiences of my life. By a show of hands, may I see how many of you believe that?

Thank you.

But, while I have apologized, what you don’t know is that I have continued to duck the larger issue of introspection. As I told you from this pulpit last month, my style is hands-on. I told you that “I bless, I hold, I hug.” What I didn’t tell you is that I do that with people I’m counseling or whom I’m happy to be with. What I didn’t tell you is that I don’t treat everyone like that. What I didn’t tell you is that, on occasion, I bully, I harangue, I hassle.

What I haven’t told you is that I could take several minutes this morning telling you of private complaints about me from flight attendants over the years. Not to mention people from other walks of life. They weren’t newsworthy events, so you didn’t hear of them. I could tell myself that these people who have told these stories about me are all either jealous of my success or just anti-religious, but I know better.

That, my friends, is the lesson in all this. Not that I am physically aggressive but that I sometimes take my power and prestige much, much too seriously. In that sense, I am no different than many other people who have attained success and wealth.

You see, there is more to a person’s behavior than whether he hits other people or not. Surely, we must aspire to a higher standard. We must also be judged on how we treat people in everyday life, from whom we don’t want something.

You see, folks, I sometimes have an anger problem when I don’t get my own way. I could cite you chapter and verse, but it would alarm some of you. And it’s such a beautiful day outside, why would I want to do that?

In closing, much of what I’ve said about this incident is true. I’m not a violent man. I didn’t break any Commandments aboard that plane. But I’m not being completely honest when I say that all I did wrong was misapply my touchy-feely approach with people. I was angry and I was used to getting my own way and I wasn’t getting it. I certainly wasn’t intending to hurt the young man, but I was intent on venting some anger.

As I reflect on my behavior, I will see that my spin has missed the point. What I must work on is whether I am as warm and kind in my private life as I am in front of the cameras.

That is an exciting challenge for me, and I welcome it!

As for you, dear friends, may God bless you and help you forget that this whole thing ever happened.

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821, by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail at dana.parsons@latimes.com.