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| A Welcome Challenge |
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I found the following on a friend's blog site. Kelly Fryer writes A Great New Front Porch:
Not quite a year ago, I wrote a short but sharp piece critiquing the web sites of mainline denominations, including my own (ELCA). It went something like this:
"Check out the web sites of these mainline denominations and ask yourself, "Which of these faith communities are expecting to EVER be visited by people who aren't members? Which ones are working to communicate with people who don't speak 'our' language? Which ones are really serious about reaching 'new' generations? New cultures? New people of ANY generation or culture?"
Last August, the answer was basically "none of them."
In fact, I concluded: "...overall this is a dismal exercise. It's no wonder we just keep shrinking. Not even WE expect new people to show up."
Not so today. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has debuted its newly rebuilt website and, well, you just need to check it out yourself. It's not just that the site is more dynamic, attractive, and user-friendly. This site expects visitors! And, dare I say it, it's got a missional edge (i.e., God is up to something and invites us to be a part of it) that has the potential of really connecting with and inspiring those people who drop by.
"Where will God's love take you?" is the first question you get asked.
Are you kidding me?! Not only does this question reach out and grab you, it's got deep theological integrity: We are set free by God's love to serve our neighbor. Awesome start.
And, then, this:
"The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America welcomes you to engage with us on life’s journey. So go ahead and ask questions. Strengthen your faith. Help your community."
I can't think of a better message to lead with today. For real. People today are spiritually curious but, even more, they want to know their lives matter. They want to make a difference. And they're eager to be a part of something that will help them do that.
What I'm wondering about, though, is how many of our congregations are prepared to have people showing up at their door, having come through this portal, expecting to find a community that really and truly:
· welcomes me and engages my life's journey (rather than expecting me to "be like them" or at least fake it for the hour or so you see me each week)
· encourages my questions (rather than giving me convoluted answers to questions I'm not asking)
· is serious about strengthening my faith (instead of being mostly interested in getting me to help you pay your bills and serve on your committees)
· even knows my community, much less works to help it in a meaningful way
A+ for whoever is responsible for this new messaging - and for building such an inviting front porch. It's up to the rest of us to get busy making sure the rest of the house is ready for company.
I would invite everyone to see what Kelly is talking about by checking out the new website.
Now. What about Us? How is Peace handling the points Kelly makes above?
On the one hand, I'd point out that Peace has done quite a bit with its physical front door -- making the narthex friendlier and less cluttered -- but not so much with our “selves”.
Case in point -- we often leave it up to a few to do the welcoming for all of us. We can do better than that. We often allow other "pressing" items and agendas to take precedence over showing hospitality.
We’re not listening. It shows. And it hurts.
I don't care how many Bible quotes we pass back and forth.
Now, I have been (properly) accused of 'having a good heart, but..." – a specific “but” being that I am often too negative. I plead guilty, as charged. I wish I had a kinder, gentler way of conveying a message of change.
But friends, open your eyes as well as your ears. Pastor Chip was as gracious a model – oozing hospitality from every pore – as you’ll find anywhere. I could name dozens of Peaceans – except by doing so, I’d embarrass them – who do get it. They allow the Spirit to work in them and through them – and that, all by itself, is how we are called to minister to our community.
They see their role as inviting people in... greeting, helping, smiling, taking the initiative... getting to know, or at least say hello to, our visitors, our guests, one another.
They set aside the other 'stuff' -- committee work, recruiting, business -- for another time, another place.
They hold their 'critiques' for a more appropriate place and time -- preferably with the appropriate person.
The point being, they bring hospitality to God's house -- just as they would into their own home.
Let that light shine!!! |
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Laura |
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May 26, 2008 at 6:53am |
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Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
A pleasant front porch is usually an indication of what is inside, or a superficial facade. For we know that truly the front porch at this time, only welcomes some, not all. |
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Ken |
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May 26, 2008 at 5:39pm |
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I'll stick my neck out just a bit to say... I think Kim W. has a really key piece of verbiage we ought to each unpack in our own ways, and as a body. "The Curse of Knowledge." We're so into our church, so experienced in church talk and theology and ritual, we don't notice how unintelligible and unwelcoming it can be. There are things at Peace each week that really creep me out, and they aren't meant to. They're just people exchanging what's thought to be expected, but it's in a language that I have learned but of which I am not really a native speaker.
I think there is a lot of love at Peace, and that the amount of not-love that exists there shouldn't be allowed to distract or discourage us. On the other hand, there always appears to me to be a strange apathy and fear when it comes to reaching out to community (ALL the community) in the ways Kelly Fryer alludes to. Is it a fear of social embarassment or rejection? That would be understandable, and if that's it, we should probably try to suck it up and follow the mission anyway :o).
Is it closeted prejudice against the dreaded "other'? If that's it, I've got news for Peace, the other is in the building already. Hi there!! Here's your friend, the bisexual, punk-rocker, longtime drug-user (not now, but for so long it really is part of my life, period), Bible-loving-but-doubting, radical leftist music leader. And I'm not alone at Peace... maybe a little on the far end of things, hard to say. But definitely not the only one who doesn't fit the ELCA mold.
And I think maybe I'm part of the problem more than I would like to admit. I maybe should have said to the pastor... "No thanks, I don't think I will dress in khakis and button-down shirts on Sundays to make people feel more comfortable." I maybe should have been more direct about who I am and where I'm from all along. Oh well.
I've had a sort of minor epiphany lately: I'm not trying to keep up, or win, or change anyone, or make a big noise, anymore. Peace will be what it will be. I'm more interested in simple honesty, that's plenty difficult enough. So I'm starting by inviting my friends into the building most Tuesday nights, to play music and talk, with the honest caveat - Peace is a work in progress. It isn't sure what to do next, but it means well. I disagree intensely with a lot of what is said around Peace, but that's not very important, if everyone is honestly seeking to fulfill the mission (and that's a serious and large IF). So my friends won't hear from me that this is a marvelous place that has just what they need, they will only hear that it's important to me, and that I feel the Spirit moving here.
I'm not going to try too hard to convince people that neighborhood mission has a distinctive character that makes it central to church growth and spiritual development. I've said that enough in too many different ways to count. I'll talk about it if people bring it up, but I'm not going to chase the subject around the structure. I'm just going to go ahead and do it (anyone want to be a reading buddy this fall?).
I'm in favor of what Eric is trying to do about becoming an RIC church, and I share his bafflement that Peace isn't already. But I'm not going to try and change Peace, I just don't have the heart or the skills for that kind of thing. I'm just going to be me, up there singing and playing every week, doing whatever mission seems to fit, and people will have to decide if that's a person they want in a "leadership" role or not. God knows who I am, and I'm trying to figure it out in the other direction. One day at a time.
Peace and love, and always fun and interesting to read what you're writing
Ken |
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Ken and Laura,
In this case, I had not really intended to focus attention on the GLBT welcome "issue", which to my mind got hijacked and transformed to a referendum on select life choices, rather than on the essential function of the church.
So, with all due respect to our personal feelings and associations, let me go to the core of what the issue is. It is NOT whether we become an "RIC church" -- though it could be argued, that it IS about whether we are a church that is faithful enough to embrace (rather than resist) that particular mission. It is NOT just that we are welcoming to GLBT people -- I'd love to insert any number of demographic groups that suggest we are not particularly welcoming (as a worshipping community) to Hispanics, Asians, or Blacks -- all significantly represented in our geographical area. I know of no inherent barrier between Lutheran theology and practice that explains near zero participation of these members of our community in our church -- other than attitude.
The most important thing I read in Ken's response was a call to honesty. I think that is huge. I know that it is the 'hugest' challenge that I face each day. I am surrounded in my daily vocation by rules and expectations -- many of them I'd like to suspend. recognizing how to be true to oneself and yet conforming to a social order is a challenge that requires maturity and discipline. And self-awareness. I give thanks to God for surrounding me with loving friends who help chip away at my self-absorbed, unaware, selfish presence without smashing my ego. I especially give thanks to those partners in a mutual spiritual journey who constantly lead me back to the fundamentals -- prayer, the Word, listening, and yes, action. I believe that faith without action is dead. On the other hand, reckless action...
At the end of the day, we can do nothing but maintain the staus quo and be a pretty good little Lutheran Church. We can afford, by human calculation, to position ourselves as a niche player in the religious marketplace. Our market share in the mainstream Lutheran segment is solid, and I think we have long established an ability to attract Lutheran families who move to this area looking for a friendly, "full-service" church. We have a nice building. We are solid financially. We are active in mission -- internal and external. We have great parish statistics. We have a solid leadership reputation in our Synod, and in the ELCA.
Standing pat with this hand surely looks like a good bet.
And, if that is what Peace is about, then let's be honest: Let's adopt a fitting mission statement.
Because, growing, and going -- realized (lived out) -- is NOT status quo -- is NOT standing pat.
Let's just say that we are called to "Love God and Love Each Other" (who we can accept as us).
Adopt Luke 10:27 without context and background. Use an abridged interpretation of Matthew 28.
Adult education can revert to strict interpretation Bible Study -- there is plenty of canned material we can employ -- handouts we can distribute to tell each other what to believe to be right with God. Who needs all the questions?
It's a lot easier to run the business of church without the messiness.
Unfortunately, I've had a taste of something different -- but it's not about me, and I can accept that. I can succumb to a docile, inwardly reflective, passive church that has people who think like my grandparents and love the trappings of my Evangelische heritage. I'd just rather not.
Think of all the free time I'd have. But, oh, how boring!
Peace, and Love back at you.
And, Ken, good for you. Sincerely. Your Tuesday night inside-outreach is a great idea -- I wish you well and hope to meet your friends along the way. The reading buddy gig -- we can do this, and it will open some eyes (I pray). |
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Laura |
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May 28, 2008 at 7:48am |
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‘I think’, I said slowly once, looking out at the Sunday worshipers, ‘that we’re being called to something harder than being conventional ‘Good Samaritans’‘. To understand ourselves, individually, and as a church, being rescued by strangers and foreigners, by the 'wrong people'. To understand ourselves individually and as a church, as beaten, hungry, hurting, and lost at the side of the road. Called to touch the parts of ourselves that are strange and damaged and needy. Called to receive love from people we don’t know and have no reason to trust. And only then, in turn, being called to the second part: to go and do the same thing - knowing it will change us in ways we didn’t plan and may not like. And both receiving and giving mean really opening ourselves to strangers - in whose bodies we find, and upon whose being depends, our own salvation.” ~ Take This Bread, Sara Miles.
this is where I feel at home at this moment. I realized reading your responses (Eric and Ken), which rock btw, that I was invited in, I was accepted, and those who accepted me are those that I feel the closest to. I am no more and no less than this Body of Christ. Peace body, community body.. world body. All the Body of Christ. Sara's quote implies a causal link of first this, than that... but it doesn't work like that does it? We are damaged and needy, called to be healed and to heal in a weirdness of 'both at the same time'.
Ken I heard your band was practicing on tuesday nights and wanted to come and check ya'll out but didn't want to crash a private deal... inside-outreach.. that's rather catchy... |
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