God, you know that I have struggled with these
words. I’m trusting you in this
moment. Help me to say what you want
said and help us all to listen with open hearts and lives. We turn these moments over to you. Amen
This
was, as you might have guessed from my prayer, a hard sermon to write. My mind has been exploding with thoughts
about the wonders of the General Conference that I and some of you attended;
and, yet, little streams of negativity and discord greeted me upon my return as
well. But, God would not let me go; and,
just like every Sunday, I am preaching what has been laid upon my heart.
When
you have the opportunity to speak with those who went to General Conference, I
believe that you will hear one word, over and over again. And that word is “Diversity.” The entire week, we lived, ate, and breathed
diversity. On the first night, we heard
our Moderator call us to seek and explore diversity. MCC, once a church which ministered primarily
to LBGT folks is seeking to become the truly welcoming congregation for
all. You have heard me speak of this
before. Why, two years ago, I preached a
sermon series around a word which did not quite catch on then. I’m believing that although that was not the
time for that word; now is the time.
That word was “Diversynergy”. It
is one of my own words, but it describes so much the environment we must seek
to grow here, in Open Circle, if we are to continue doing God’s will and
way.
Diversynergy is the practice of
finding and celebrating the energy that that synergizes in the celebrating of
diversity. And now is the time for us to
begin to know the meaning of this. That
being said, let’s take a look at what MCC is now saying about diversity in our
denominations and churches. A new vision
and mission statement were adopted in the business meeting on Tuesday of the General
Conference. Here is the revised Vision
Statement: “Metropolitan Community Church is compelled by an unfinished
calling and a prophetic destiny. We are a global movement of spiritually
diverse people fully awake to God’s enduring love. Following the example of
Jesus and empowered by the Spirit, we demand, proclaim and do justice in the
world.” And, the Mission Statement reads
like this: “Metropolitan Community Church is an increasingly global and diverse
people who proclaim and practice a spirituality that is liberating and
sufficiently profound to address the issues of our volatile, uncertain and
complex world. We are called to develop and equip leaders, congregations
and ministries to do the work of justice, compassion and the integration of sexuality
and spirituality. We will do this through high value training, cutting
edge theological exploration, expanding partnerships and engaging with
similarly minded justice movements.”
Let’s
look at what this means for us as a church and individuals. Allow me to unpack the Vision Statement. As MCC’ers, we believe that we have a calling
and prophetic destiny that is not yet finished.
Rev. Elder Troy Perry may have begun by starting a church for LGBT
people who had been banned or shunned by their own churches, but we have grown
far beyond that. And, most of all, we
know that our work is not done. No
longer just a North American phenomenon, we are more global than ever before. And, if you could have seen the MCC’ers from
other lands that we did, you would know how far we have to go to reach the
level of joy those folks embodied.
Knowing that God loved them fully made them fully awake—let me tell you,
they challenged us to recover some of our earlier joy that we felt when we came
to know God’s enduring love extended to us and beyond. We boldly follow the example of Jesus who
taught us with every word and action what it meant to work for love and justice
in the world. We are empowered and made
courageous through the Holy Spirit who lives in and works through us.
And,
this is what the Mission Statement means for us and for all MCC’ers: As a denomination, we are growing in numbers
globally and among diverse peoples much more rapidly than in the original
target group for MCC. We live in an
unpredictable world and MCC people believe and proclaim a spirituality that
frees all from oppression; and, yet encompasses all that we need to address the
issues of this uncertain and ever-changing world. MCC has always been a church that answered
God’s call wherever it might be and with whomever needed us. As a result, we have been known as the “gay
church”, the “church with AIDS”, the “human rights church”, and now, the “all
inclusive church”. Our congregations and
ministries have begun the work of justice and compassion and must now expand
that same work as injustices in our world demands. As a denomination known for the integration
of sexuality and spirituality, we were among the first to assert the sacred
relationship between sexuality and spirituality and continue to do the
same. The denomination intends to
complete this mission through excellent training, theological exploration that
pushes us beyond our comfort zone; and, partnerships with other justice movements
who “fit” with MCC’s commitment to God’s justice and peace.
What
does a celebration of diversity look like?
I will leave behind for the time being my questions about the necessity
of arguing over theological differences anyway and move on to how we address
these so-called differences in a congregation.
Borrowing from my friends at the Unitarian Universalist Movement, I will
suggest that there are three ways to look at theological diversity.
First,
is tolerance. And, we can grow amazingly
proud of our ability and willingness to “tolerate” theological
differences. Tolerance is merely the
willingness to allow someone of another theological tradition to worship or
fellowship with us. What is strange
about tolerance is that it still leaves us with the erroneous belief that we have the right to determine
whose theology is right and whose is wrong.
In reality, there is no one who is placed in the position of judge and
all we are really doing in tolerance is putting aside an un-earned arrogance of
saying who is right and who is wrong.
Secondly,
there is affirmation. When we reach the
affirmation stage, we are affirming two things.
First, we are affirming the value of the person even if they hold a
differing position; and, secondly, we are affirming that spiritual growth is
more likely to happen in an environment where people can speak openly and
honestly about their differences.
Differences, then, do not become a reason to exclude someone from the
community. Honesty is valued above
compliance.
Finally,
there is a position that goes much further.
This position actually says that theological differences are
good—something to celebrate, cherish and seek.
Spiritual honesty is honored as the necessary pre-requisite for
spiritual formation and growth. These
communities are the communities where people continue to grow, where new people
from all kinds of spiritual positions feel truly loved and welcomed. They feel encouraged to stay and to become a
part of this growing, churning, churching place. Theological diversity is, in this case, far
more than just rituals and rites. It is
about opening our doors to people who describe God differently, experience God
differently, and speak of God differently.
In this loving embrace—free from fear and judgment—we all experience
God’s grace together more fully than we ever could as isolated, traditional,
stiff-necked Christians.
Do
you know that one of the fastest growing religious expressions is called the
“nones”—N-O-N-E-S—not, women religious.
These are the folks who may check “spiritual but not religious” or
“none” when asked for their theological heritage. We need those Nones and they need us. We can be the first church in this
five-county area who says “welcome” to all the Nones or the SPNR’s, spiritual
but not religious folks. We can be that
church that says, “All are welcome here, not because we want to change you, but
because we want you to help us change and broaden our understanding of the
world and all that is in the world. And
we want to help you do the same. We want
to work together for justice—our backgrounds and traditions do not impact our
willingness to see the world change to a place where children are safe, wars
are eliminated, hunger is ended, AIDS is cured, domestic violence is
eradicated, and people of all faiths and no faith at all gather to celebrate
the energy—the diversynergy—that explodes and calls the world to be all it can
be.
This
is what I learned in Chicago—and, although I think I already knew it—it struck
me so hard that I had to pick myself up and challenge myself to tell you what I
believe God is calling us to do. More
than anything, MCC churches are different, or we should be—we must become the
kinds of communities where people flock because they know that judgment of one
another is not tolerated, where open and loving arms are celebrated, where the
hurts of the world are made bearable by the fellowship of all gathered
together, and where God (however you call him, her, Great Spirit, the Source,
or Union) is praised and our spirits are bonded together in the knowledge that
we are all loved and cherished. My
friends, the time is now—we must, gay and straight, trans and
gender-non-conforming, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American or First
Nation—we must all come together to heal the world. Open Circle was placed here for a
reason. I do not believe that the reason
was to give us a place to go and feel good on Sunday and other days. I believe that God placed Open Circle here to
lead the way—to welcome and care, treasure and preserve, the lives of all who
hear the call to find this very special place.
I hope that you want to work together with me and others to build this
community—this radically inclusive community with me. If you don’t, please pray about it—Open
Circle may not be the church for you.
But, I believe that God is calling all of us to be the radically
inclusive community of faith, shaped by the example of Jesus and empowered by
the Holy Spirit. And all of God’s people,
with one loud voice, said, “amen and amen”.
No comments:
Post a Comment