I came to my present church setting in 1999 knowing little about my adopted denomination, other than its history and congregational nature, so I set out to become as well versed in its ways as I could. The next year, I learned about how a church can become Open & Affirming – that is, the process that enables a congregation to let the public know that all people are welcome. I brought this to my board, and through thoughtful discernment and prayer, they decided that it was not time for this. Since I am not the boss, I agreed to bring it back at a later date. I continued to preach inclusion, which led some people to leave, and by around 2010, our Evangelism Committee came to me and said that they thought it was time to ask the question again. This time, the board said yes – let’s test the waters. We asked questions and, about a year later, put the process into motion. After 2 years of study and conversation and learning, we voted to become the first ONA congregation for 35-40 miles in every direction. That was April 14, 2013.
A lot of people questioned and challenged us along the way, and I developed a couple of pithy responses to their very sincere questions. One was this: There are so many churches who define themselves by who they hate – shouldn’t there be some who define themselves by who they love? We wanted to be one of those churches. A lot of people nodded their heads while they thought about it, while others got angry and insulted – a sure sign that I had struck a nerve. Some of them left for other congregations, and some of those churches were of the judgmental sort, while others were asking some of the same questions we were. Soon after our vote, a couple of other congregations in our county started the process, and the list is growing. I told my folks that we can’t control any other congregation’s way of doing ministry; the only one we have any say over is ours. We shouldn’t judge what we do by them either – and vice versa, neither should we worry about their opinion of us. God is the judge.
Jesus asked Peter, “Do you love me?” three times, and Peter, growing more frustrated with each question, said, “Of course!” Jesus then said, “Feed my sheep.” Loving God is the first step, but showing we love God means loving people. I think that the more a person or church or nation shouts about hate, the less it knows God. We aren’t loved by God, nor do we love God, so we can be hateful. That doesn’t mean we can’t disagree or think someone is wrong; it means that we can’t hate people. Our neighbors – our enemies – other religions – hate is not an option for someone who proclaims their love of God. My life is too short for that kind of nonsense, and I bet yours is too. I would rather be disliked and dismissed because I loved too much rather than be congratulated for being hateful. Because I think God wants more love and less hate – more compassion and empathy and less vitriol and condemnation. My job isn’t to sort out who goes where in the next life – that’s up to God. I have enough to do already. Who do you love?
Prayer – Holy God, we don’t pretend that loving everyone is easy, so keep whispering it in our ears – Who do you love? Amen.
Today’s art is by Anna Shukeylo, with a quote from Thomas Merton.