The Light of the World

This past weekend, I visited a 92-year-old parishioner from my church to bring her communion.  She likes to tell stories about her memories of St James, and one thing she has told me a couple of times was how cold the people were when she first attended - "like the Arctic, they were."  She lasted 3 weeks and didn't come back for several years.  Of course, when she did, things had changed drastically.  Thank God for that, because that is most definitely not how I see this church today.

Also this past weekend, we had our first St James Family Pride Fair.  We wanted to host an event that showed we are an open, loving and affirming congregation for ALL people - especially the LGBTQ community.  This kind of open statement has been a long time coming.  When I first joined the Episcopal church, one of the biggest draws for me was knowing that as a denomination, TEC is affirming of LGBT people.  I didn't find out until a few years later that this stance had caused a ton of controversy and schism, and continues to cause issues in the global Anglican communion.  People left Episcopal churches across the country, including St James, because welcoming LGBT people was apparently a dealbreaker. 

I had no inkling of this when I joined.  There was no bitterness or coldness apparent there, just love and open arms.  That has always been my impression of my home parish.  One thing that people worry about in my church is attendance, but I think we most definitely have quality, even if we are lacking in quantity. 

Last week I read a very interesting essay called "The Cost of Non-discipleship" by Dallas Willard.  In this essay, he talks about why he thinks the church in our times is suffering.  He doesn't blame it on an easy target like "millenials not showing up".  He believes that there is quite simply a difference between being a member and a disciple:

"Most problems in contemporary churches can be explained by the fact that members have not yet decided to follow Christ."

Simply put, there's a difference between showing up on Sunday and living out the way of Jesus the rest of the week.  I truly feel that my home parish is full of people who are disciples and not simply members.  Being a disciple is about walking the walk, not just talking the talk.  It's about evangelizing people through your actions, instead of berating them with warnings of damnation.  One of my most favorite quotes about being a Christian is this one from Madeline L'Engle:

"We do not draw people to Christ by loudly discrediting what they believe, by telling them how wrong they are, but by showing them a light that is so lovely that they want with all their hearts to know the source of it."

I think that the people I've encountered at St James have done that, shown me and others a light so lovely that we want to just be near it and learn more about where it comes from and how it can be ours.  That light has changed my life.  I certainly never joined the church thinking I'd feel a calling to the priesthood.  That was never on my mind until it got to the point where I couldn't ignore it anymore.  

When I think about how "the gay thing" has caused a split in our church, I can't help but be reminded of a parable that Jesus tells about a wedding banquet.  

Then Jesus said to him, "Someone gave a great dinner and invited many.  At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, 'Come; for everything is ready now.'  But they all alike began to make excuses... So the slave returned and reported this to his master.  Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, 'Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame... Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.  For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.'" ~ Luke 14:16-24

Those who declined the invitation to be at God's feast will be left out, because they chose to walk away.  So those who had been previously ignored and maligned will be welcomed all the more.  And I can say from personal experience, that when you are loved and accepted as you are, wonderful things begin to happen.  The kind of love, welcome and joy I saw this weekend proves to me what a force of light we can be for this world which is suffering from so much darkness right now.  

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God... No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. ~ 1 John 4:7,12