RECONCILIATION...A BIG WORD FOR BIG ACTIONS

Some forest in Belgium I didn't personally get to see in bloom. Pretty sure it was snowing both of the times I went.

Welcome All

      Today in group, we started the process of "reconciling" our church. That word basically means to make it known that our/any church is fully accepting of your life no matter your sexual orientation or race...and the unnatural color of your hair! My neighbor across the street has not reconciled with MY hair.

     If you're interested in this process for your church, or just want to follow along with our process, this is the link: http://www.welcomingresources.org/welcomingtoolkit.pdf - We will also be reading from the book "Doing Justice" by Dennis A. Jacobsen. Now! Let it be known...I made C's in English Language Arts up through college so don't judge my writing skills. When I publish my own book, no one will care how I write but the snobby people. Don't be one of them today! These notes I've taken are based off of the worksheet from page 12.

      When starting off this process we have to keep in mind that not everyone in our congregation thinks like us. Some people leave just because a pastor leaves, and some stick around to make sure the new/remaining pastor does a good job, but some also stick around because it's all they know. It takes a lot of hard work to become a pastor (aka learning latin)...and that's why I'm not called to be one, but if I can doing something, it's make notes! (Also, I learned to type with 2 spaces following the period.  So I find it hard to remember if I've only left one or two spaces. It might get crazy!) We also have to keep in mind that this is not an overnight process. We can't just kick out the negative nancies when they've been with the church for such a long time. We can't just tell them what to think, when they've thought one way for so long...especially if they're really big donors to the church (right? I don't know...I recently watched an episode of The Fosters where the board of this private school had to expel a student who's parents were huge donors. So after they stopped getting everything handed to their child, they stopped donating, and programs were cut. Sometimes things happen...but they have to in order to keep our hearts still).

      Now, this workbook asks us to meditate and be silent...but the beautiful thing about how we're doing it is...it's in the nursery and the mamas get to bring their little ones, instilling the fact that the space we're creating is safe, all-age appropriate, and all-kinds accepting.  Then after meditation we talk about, NOT what are we going to do about these haters? NOT we should make signs and post them around the church and outside about how we love and accept everyone! Nothing like that, but about Grace.

      Grace to us is, a lot more than just Jesus dying for our sins on the cross - which no one said, by the way. (And I've got things to say about that word "sin" because it's as exciting as that word "tolerate"...actually, it's way more exciting than tolerate, but I cringe all the same.) My notes read: "Gentle. Kind. Nurturing. Lenient. Patient. Open-minded. Accepting. Motivation to act. The balance point to let something be or not. A process. Taking in all sides. Calm and non-argumentative. Peace."

      Next we reflected upon scripture, again my notes and further reflection:

•  From Luke 10:29-37, what stuck out the most was WHO ARE MY NEIGHBORS? To me, my neighbors are the strangers I've never met that live around me as well as the neighbors that I've known for years. The thing about neighbors is, they're not necessarily friends, they don't share their faith with me, and I might look like a witch to some of them just because I like to color my hair purple...or blue...or pink. And just like we don't get to choose our blood relative-family, we don't get to choose our neighbors. 
• John 4:4-26, NEVER WILL YOU THIRST AGAIN! Here I think about all of those pining for acceptance from those that think status in looks and wealth is what really matters. This also refers to those that look like "good christians" and believe they're "wealthy" in the holy spirit because of how they acknowledge others sins (yucky word!) because they think it's their duty. The woman at the well is confronted by Jesus, not forcing her to acknowledge her faults, but to make sure she knows that he respects her and considers her an equal. So when you make friends that live with that mantra, you'll never thirst for acceptance, because you know in your heart that they love you for who you are. NOT who you aren't.
• Matthew 22:35-40, LOVE GOD, LOVE OTHERS AS YOURSELF. It's easy to love those like me. It's easy to show love to those not like me too. It's just not so easy to love those that condemn those like me or others not like me. Those people are really not like me. This is a challenge, but I am going to work on it. So, maybe I'll refriend a pastor on facebook that let his mother put down another one of God's children, because he's a gay male who happens to be a spokesperson for Covergirl. Maybe. And then he'll read these posts...maybe. But, it doesn't mean he'll care.
• Matthew 26:51-52, LIVE BY FIGHTING/DIE BY FIGHTING. If you live your life one way and only one way, you'll die only to be known by that one defining factor. So, if you're always knocking down others because of what they believe in (whether you agree or not), they'll just see you as knocking everything, and say that oh so cute saying, "if I'm supposed to accept you, then shouldn't you accept me?" Which is really saying...oh, you want me to ignore the fact that you are an atheist while I pray and cry to God and my savior Jesus on the hour? Yeah, well...it turns out that's how you get the puzzle pieces to fit together, by doing what you're really supposed to do, and not by doing what you think you're supposed to do.
• Luke 23:34, FORGIVE THEM FOR THEY KNOW NOT WHAT THEY DO. Grace being forgiveness, y'all. Maybe when Jesus was crying out to God, he was also crying out to his followers that were in the crowd. The soldiers were following orders of someone who felt threatened by Jesus. Just like sidekicks to bullies do what they're told so that they don't become the bullied. Though goodness outnumbers the bad in this world, the fact is that the bad hurts and can blind us from the good, making it the underdog. When you instill a bully intolerant system, they get sent right back to the pin (because they're in a dog pin?).

Next we are called to recognize what being gracefully engaged really means. Though it's easy to get on Facebook and have a spiritual debate, to try and automatically force what you think is right onto other peoples conscience, to unfriend and unfollow or stop talking to people just because they voted for someone you didn't vote for, to leave your church because it hasn't decided to reconcile yet (because maybe no one knows that they have they power to download this handbook)...being gracefully engaged is really about being compassionate when it comes to living in your diverse community, making sure you try to value their difference in beliefs by listening more than speaking and doing something God is really good at: meeting us/them where we/they are. I mean, I assume God is really good at this since I haven't been struck down by a lightening bolt after all of the questioning and doubting I've done in my 26years and 9/12months.

Again, these are just my notes.

A closing prayer of sorts: Help us to take what we've discussed today into our week. Let us think in our quiet space and also share our thoughts with friends and family. Invite others into our community where none are turned away. -Let it be so.