I remember it like it was yesterday. The poor, often disheveled kids from across the alley came to church. Week after week, they got themselves up, dressed themselves and came to church. Their parents did not come. They came because a few of us invited them. They came because some folk were nice to them. They came as they were. They sometimes misbehaved. We separated them at times, and they still misbehaved. We then asked some older adults to sit with them individually and teach them HOW to worship and engage them IN the worship. It was at this point, about six weeks after they had been coming, that the woman well-known for being the wealthiest person in the church (and among the wealthiest left in Toledo) came up to me at the end of worship and said, "Pastor, if you do not tell these children to stop coming to church by next week, I will stop coming, and you KNOW what THAT means." I looked at her and said, "Ginny, I will miss you."
They did stop coming, because for everyone who was kind to them at the beginning, there was another now who was nasty to them, determined to get what they wanted. It was now a movement to push these children OUT OF CHURCH. And it worked.
It was a few months later that I left. It was less than a year after that that that church body had its last worship in that building. Every new worshiper who had come in the previous two years had been pushed out, and they were left with the 35 or so people who were there when I came seven years before. They got what they wanted.
Mark 10:13-16
Every time someone is judged by the church or people in it, we walk away from Jesus.
Every time there is no effort to welcome "those people" into the body of believers, we disobey Jesus.
Every time we value people of power, prestige and wealth and ignore those who are powerless,
have no status and are poor, we refuse Jesus.
Every time we refuse to welcome changes to our worship, our leadership and our community that
come when new folk enter that community, we reject Jesus.
Every time we twist the Word to judge, exclude and de-humanize others, we are hating Jesus.
Every time we insist on our own way, instead of Jesus' Way as we have it in the Gospels, we
ignore Jesus.
Every time we trust in our own strategies, construct new strategies based on the values of the world
and proof text scripture to fit them, we insult Jesus.
Every time we hurt others, accuse them, attack them and vilify them, we crucify Jesus.
Every time we decide who gets in and who must stay out, we throw away Jesus.
Every time we make this about our comfort, our feelings, our desires and our ways we lose Jesus.
This is about the Kingdom value of INCLUSION. You may not have that value in such a developed form, but rest assured, Jesus did. It does not matter what abilities or disabilities a person has, how much of a pain dealing with them may be, where they come from or what they have done, Jesus includes... and so are we called to do.
We are not called to keep people from Jesus, but rather bring them to know Jesus. Jesus is all about Agape. If we are not living that, we are not introducing them to Jesus, but to something much different. We are not the arbiters of entrance, who get to decide who gets to come to Jesus. This is not OUR banquet. It is Jesus' banquet. We did not come up with the guest list. The Holy Spirit did that. We are just the butlers at the doors who open them in welcome. We are just the waiters and waitresses who serve the guests. We are recipients of inclusion who are called to include others. If we are not willing to do that, we are not willing to follow Jesus. That necessarily makes us something other than followers of Jesus.
Grace, Agape and Peace in Justice are what Jesus wants. If we are followers of Jesus, it is what we want also...
Pastor Jamie
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