I recently had the chance to visit with another UCC pastor, who told me she had begun saying something close to the following every week to begin worship:

 

“Welcome to _______ , UCC.  No matter where you’ve come from or where you’re going, for the next hour you’re home.  We’re going to treat you like family, and here, that’s a good thing.  We teach love, practice justice and compassion, and expect diversity.  So get your coffee, sit back and relax, and let God love you because that’s what we plan to do.” 

 

She explained she had found it important to say those words because of the stories she heard from person after person who came to their church wounded, rejected, and disillusioned by the treatment they had received at another church…

 

…the teenage son of a local pastor, who overheard church members bashing him one more time as a “good-for-nothing boy” because of his long hair and concert t-shirts, asked his father to find him another church.  That afternoon, the father called my colleague in tears asking, “Will you give my son a church home?”

 

…a family with a daughter with Down’s Syndrome, whose fellow church members told the pastor they didn’t want the girl in the confirmation class with their children, because it was supposed to be a perfect, happy time and her presence in the class photo would marr that digital memory.  The pastor refused their request, but the damage was done.

 

…a woman from a church where members had called her on the phone and asked her if she was gay.  It seems there was some controversy brewing, but church members didn’t really know what was going on.  So they decided that it MUST be that someone in the congregation was gay, and went through the church directory and decided she was the most likely prospect, so they called to check.

 

As person after person came to them, broken and abused, she felt compelled to speak directly to their need.  So, on Sunday she said the words above.  The feedback was good, so she said them again, and again. 

 

But for some reason she can’t remember, she did not say the words one day and, after the service, a long-time member came to her in tears, “You didn’t say it–those words you’ve been saying to us each week–you didn’t say them.  So I’ve gotta ask, I have to know, DO YOU STILL BELIEVE THEM?”    

 

My colleague was heartbroken.  This woman, having known her pastor and her church’s fierce love and gentle compassion for years, after NOT hearing those words just one week rasied doubts that maybe, just maybe, they had decided not to love her just as she was.  My new pastor friend says she now NEVER fails to say it.

 

They are important words–words we all need to hear.  We spend too much time hearing society, the media, the Church, and even our loved ones telling us we are not worthy, we are not accepted, we are not HOME for any number of contrived reasons.  I consider this spiritually abusive.  But if we in progressive, moderate-to-liberal churches do not stand up and speak out just as loudly as others spout rejection, then we, by our negligence, are complicit with the abuse. 

 

A legal concept I once heard states qui tacet consentire videture,  or “who is silent seems to agree”.  Fearing being seen as “those” kinds of Christians, not wanting to offend anyone, we remain silent when we should be speaking words of welcome and acceptance JUST as loudly as those who spout hate.

 

So if you, or someone you know, is looking for something, come check us out at Creative Spirit, UCC.  We’re far from perfect, but we’re creating a spiritual home for those who feel spiritually homeless. Our mission reads, “Because we are deeply loved by God, we follow Jesus and others in living fully, loving wastefully, and leading courageously.”  Our pledge is to be an alternative voice speaking out to offer the words we all need to hear…WELCOME HOME!