Davis UMC is Welcoming and Affirming Romans 12:15-18; Galatians 3:28 May 15, 2016 Rev. Kelly Love Davis United Methodist Church This church has some particular characteristics that God has shaped most strongly in this church. Through what we have called our Pathway process, this process of examining the life of this church, you all have contributed to identifying three characteristics that stand out at Davis UMC. Those three characteristics are: We are spirit-filled. We are welcoming and affirming. We are service and justice oriented. I ve said it before and I will say it again: this picture of who we are is not a picture I as your pastor have painted. This picture emerged from a long and careful process that has involved almost every one of you, in one way or another at one point or another. This understanding of this church s DNA comes very organically from the body that is this church. Because these three characteristics do form the DNA of this church, this DNA will continue to shape the character and ministries of this church for years to come. You all are the stewards of this church s DNA. You are the ones who will carry forward this church s self-understanding and see that Davis UMC s most cherished characteristics will shape Davis UMC s future ministries. I mentioned last week that in my time with you I have learned the importance of being clear, direct, and thorough in communicating with one another. Naming and defining the prominent characteristics of this church is one example of what I m talking about when I say it is important to be explicit in our communications. We may think we know who we are as a church, as a community, as a body. But unless we say it out loud, as clearly as we can, we may not actually have a shared understanding of who we are as a church. We all hear things through our own filters and assumptions that s a part of how humans work. If we are not explicit, we cannot assume that we have a shared understanding of what we are talking about. That s why we have worked hard to define the prominent characteristics of this church, and why I am fleshing these things out in sermons this month. If you were here last week you already know that this is a three-part sermon series exploring the DNA of this church, and today is the second of the three parts. This series hopes to flesh out our understanding of these three characteristics that we as a body embrace with such conviction. And the reason I want to take this time to flesh out these characteristics is that it falls to all of you to carry these things forward into the coming year and the year after that and the year after that. I want you all to have this picture of Davis UMC, this sense of Davis UMC s DNA, so thoroughly in your heads and your hearts that it becomes an explicit part of your conversations about the church, as you all continue to live into this church s future. I want every one of you to live and
2 breathe a strong sense of this church s DNA, so that you all can be clear in your conversations and especially in your ministries, about expressing who we are. I ve had certain things I wanted to communicate in sermons this month, and so I have not focused this morning s service on the Pentecost event, even though today is Pentecost Sunday. But even though I didn t plan it this way, it is actually very fitting to look at the characteristic of being welcoming and affirming on Pentecost. The story of Pentecost comes from the biblical book of Acts, and tells of an event when Jews from every nation under heaven were gathered in a great crowd for the festival of Pentecost. As they gathered, Peter and the other apostles began to speak, telling the good news of God and Jesus. The crowd was very diverse made up of people from all nations, and they spoke all different languages. But the miracle of Pentecost was that each person present understood exactly what was being said they heard it in their own language. What could be more welcoming than having someone speak to you in your own native language? The story of Pentecost ties to today s theme after all, as we consider how to communicate welcome and acceptance to all kinds of people. In this sense, we can think about language metaphorically as well. Even if we only speak English most of the time, how can we communicate in different ways for different people? Though in fact some of you do speak other languages and have used that gift to welcome newcomers to our church who also speak other languages, and I am also so grateful when I witness that taking place. So I didn t choose the story of Pentecost as one of our scripture readings for today, and past experience suggests that our liturgists may be grateful, as that happens to be one of the most difficult passages to read aloud. The scriptures I did choose were actually chosen not by me, but by the group who worked on writing the definition of welcoming and affirming. Many of your church leaders worked together to write definitions of these qualities that best characterize Davis UMC, so that we could use these definitions toward a shared understanding. Part of the work of writing these definitions was also to root our understanding in scripture. As Christians, that s what we do we look at our lives and our church through the lens of scripture. The second reading we heard, from Paul s letter to the Galatians, reminds us that being community joined together through Christ bridges ethnic and economic and gender categories for we are all one in Christ Jesus. The passage we heard this morning from Paul s letter to the Romans describes a way of being in community where people s experiences and struggles are accepted and affirmed and embraced. Rejoice with those who rejoice, he says; weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. He goes on to suggest acceptance that might challenge the community: do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. One part of how we have defined what it means to be welcoming and affirming is to reach beyond our comfort zone. Maybe in Paul s time and in the church in Rome, associating with the lowly stretched their comfort zone, expanded their picture of who was welcome.
3 I have friends who are active in a church in San Francisco. The church is located in a neighborhood that includes both people with a certain level of economic security and people who are barely scraping by. My friend was describing how you need to be sure to carry your purse with you when you go forward to receive communion; it s not safe to leave it in your seat. I would love to see that be true at Davis UMC. Seriously. It might sound weird, but if we are going to be bolder and broader in who we truly welcome, there will be people who we know and love and worship with who might have lives that lead to some poor choices. Of course this isn t about tolerating bad behavior but it is about being willing to be a little uncomfortable because we know it really matters to God that every one of God s children has a place in the church. So stretching beyond our comfort zone is one piece of how this church has defined what it means to us to be welcoming and affirming. For this church, being welcoming and affirming also means that our welcome is expressed through actions as well as words. It means we want to offer many varied ways to be a part of this community. It means we listen, accept, and support everyone in a nonjudgmental way. The group who worked on writing the definition talked particularly about the importance of listening, and accepting and supporting each person s different faith journey. And given the reality that we are all imperfect, they talked about the importance of forgiveness in creating a welcoming and affirming community. There are so many ways I see the welcoming and affirming side of Davis UMC s character so many ways this plays out. And similar to some of what I talked about last week, as I describe some of what I see, you will inevitably see that the three strands of this church s DNA are woven together. They can t be separated. My sense of Davis UMC s welcoming and affirming attributes comes from listening to you. One of the things people talk about most is the ways this church is open to and respectful of one another s differing theologies, different ways of understanding God, and different ways of practicing our faith. This is where being welcoming and affirming is also tied to the ways that we as a church are spirit-filled. Our sense of welcome is also connected to our sense of justice. So many of you talk so often about the importance of being a Reconciling Congregation. We are a United Methodist Church, and our denominational context is that the United Methodist church continues to have policies that discriminate against GLBT people. The United Methodist church continues to use language that denigrates GLBT people. And we in the Davis UMC have said that we disagree with that, and will do everything in our power to make this congregation fully inclusive, and will work for change in our denomination. This is an issue of welcome making people feel welcome here. And it is an issue of justice an issue of civil rights in society and justice in the wider church. The United Methodist Church s General Conference is taking place right now. If you watch General Conference you see these issues being debated yet again. Many of you know that I was one of 111 LGBT clergy who signed an open and public letter to the church as a body a loveletter to the church, it was framed as. My confidence in Davis UMC s character, in this quality of being welcoming and affirming along with being concerned for justice, made me feel very safe and secure in signing that letter. There is no question but that this is who you are.
4 Somewhat ironically, when you talk about this church many of you reference the denomination s slogan that the UMC has open hearts, open minds, open doors. The denomination may not live up to that slogan. But you all work very, very hard to make that not just a slogan but a reality. Open hearts, open minds, open doors. In listening to you, and learning about the character of this church from you, I also hear from you what we do not mean when we talk about being welcoming and affirming. Sometimes saying what we are not, or what we do not believe, can be an important part of being explicit an important part of being clear in our communication. And what some of you have specifically said is that being welcoming and affirming does not mean welcoming only our friends. It does not mean welcoming only people who seem like us. This gets back to that point about stretching beyond our comfort zone. The people who have talked about this as part of the character of this church have said over and over that they that you have experienced this; that you have been on the receiving end of this welcome, this sense of acceptance. You are the ones who have stayed in this church those are the voices we hear. And some part of my mind also wonders, what about the ones who aren t here? What about the folks who have not stayed? Jesus challenged his followers. There is no authentic representation of Christianity that says it will be easy and comfortable to be a follower of Jesus. So my hope as we think not only about those of us who are here because we have been so welcomed is that we all challenge ourselves. Another story comes to mind. This comes from the first church I served a tiny, tiny little church in San Francisco. One Sunday morning a man showed up to worship completely, totally drunk just out of control drunk. So he comes into the sanctuary, and he s being kind of loud, and unstable. So one of the ushers goes to him, and helps him find a seat, and then sat beside him and helped the man follow along in the service. And this worked for a while; the man calmed down for a while and was able to follow along for maybe 20 minutes. And then he couldn t any more, and he became really loud and disruptive. So that same usher then just took him by the arm and said, let s go get a cup of coffee. And he led him from the sanctuary to the fellowship hall and sat with him and drank coffee until the service was done and the rest of us moved to join them in the fellowship hall. It s funny to remember that story on Pentecost Sunday for those of you who remember, in the Pentecost story the accusation was that the apostles were drunk, though it was nine in the morning. This visitor to my first church may or may not have been filled with the Holy Spirit but he was definitely drunk. These pictures of being welcoming and affirming remind us to continue being who we are as a community who appreciates diversity, who seeks to extend acceptance to one another - but also to stretch, to folks who might be more difficult to welcome. Your work as a church, is to be who you are. Your work is to be the church God has shaped you to be. We know who we are. Spirit-filled, welcoming & affirming, service & justice oriented. Now, the work of this church is to remember and embody these characteristics which God has
5 most strongly shaped in us to carry your DNA forward and see that Davis UMC s most cherished characteristics will shape Davis UMC s future ministries. As we travel forward on the pathway God invites us to, may we be faithful to who God has created us to be. And may we live this out in the ministries God calls us to. Amen.