We face it as children and as adults, those new situations where we don’t know anyone. In fact, it is considered one of the most stressful things retired people face as they age and often move; the need to make friends in new living situations. You might have experienced it when you brought your children to their new schools; the tentative ways in which they navigated their surroundings. This is especially difficult when the children there know each other already. My family found this when we moved to Berks County and tried to find a church; instead of smiles we usually got blank stares. Instead of a welcome, we got cold shoulders. We are looking to belong – to be included – to be welcomed. Most churches made it difficult to do.
We know that inclusion matters; if you ever watched “Cheers” you would remember the opening song “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”. We need to be known – to go where people are always glad we came. We want to be picked to play on the team, to go out for ice cream, to come over for dinner. To be welcomed to the neighborhood and given the heads up if there’s something going on. The most frustrating thing that can happen is if we don’t know what’s happening; it is embarrassing and insulting. Inclusion matters.
Why, then, is there so much argument about it in our politics and schools and other public settings? Why are so many books about non-White, non-Christian, non-straight people being banned? Why is it so hard for so many people of faith to open their hearts to folks who walk through their doors? I know that we, as a nation, have not handled this well; we mistreat every new group that comes to our shores looking for work and freedom and justice. We can’t even fully admit that enslaving people was an act of total evil and depravity; hence the “look at the skills they got!” argument taking place in Florida. And when we do include people who are not like us, we often have the expectation that they need to accept the melting pot theory of assimilation rather than the stir fry or salad bowl images. We want you, we say, as long as you become like us.
Our churches are not American churches; they are Christian churches. Our founders made it so that our country would not have one religion that dominated us the way it was done in Europe. Sure, they dropped the ball on gender and race, but we fixed that eventually. This country is supposed to be a place of inclusion; our houses of worship should be the same. God’s kingdom, Jesus said, would be populated by the people who have been rejected by the religious elite. To not be inclusive is to subvert democracy and God. Exclusion is bad for everyone, and it’s bad for the soul.
Prayer – Holy God, You have included us in Your kingdom, and have commanded us to love one another, the ultimate act of inclusion. May it be so. Amen.
Today’s art is “Dance VI” by Edward Grady.