Tuesday, June 18, 2013

All are welcome? Really?

This past Saturday I headed down to Iowa for my cousin’s wedding.  It’s been a while since I attended a full Catholic wedding and I couldn’t help but compare the hour long service to the Lutheran version that takes half that time.  I followed along with the unwritten words of the liturgy quite well, though the slight differences made me realize that I needed to speak my portions quietly so I didn’t stand out! 

In many ways I felt right at home in that worship service…at least until the time for communion arrived.  As is tradition, the priest informed the congregation that only members of the Catholic Church were welcome to come and receive the body and blood of Christ.  Others could come for a blessing, but that’s all.  His words quickly made me feel like a second class citizen, unwelcome to join in an important part of the service.  As a person firmly grounded in faith it annoyed me a bit (I’ll get over it!), but I wonder how others interpreted the exclusion.  What about those who struggled in faith and wondered if this Jesus really could love them?  The message came through loud and clear: you are not good enough to receive this!

Ironically, the Jesus present in that mass is that one who said, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”  People who have failed God are the ones who most need to come to the altar and receive Jesus’ body and blood.  I can’t think of a single person in that building who did not need that word spoken to them!

The church is not an exclusive club that only offers ‘benefits’ to those who deserve them.  The Jesus who comes to us in the mass is the one who ate with prostitutes and other ‘undesirables.’  Jesus came bringing hope and forgiveness to many that the good ‘church folk’ wanted nothing to do with.  Jesus didn’t wait until people acted right or until they joined the right synagogue.  Jesus welcomed them where they were and invited them to follow Him.  Jesus healed…forgave…loved!

We have a Lord who stands with arms outstretched, ready to welcome ALL people.  It’s not our job to serve as gatekeepers to decide who is worthy to receive God’s gifts.  Our task is to proclaim and model that love that God has for this world.

How can God’s church live out that kind of radical hospitality?  We begin with words, proclaiming God’s call to ALL people.  These words from a Catholic parish in Daytona say it well:

We extend a special welcome to those who are single, married, divorced, gay, filthy rich, dirt poor, yo no habla Ingles. We extend a special welcome to those who are crying new-borns, skinny as a rail or could afford to lose a few pounds.

We welcome you if you can sing like Andrea Bocelli or like our pastor who can’t carry a note in a bucket. You’re welcome here if you’re “just browsing,” just woke up or just got out of jail. We don’t care if you’re more Catholic than the Pope, or haven’t been in church since little Joey’s Baptism.

We extend a special welcome to those who are over 60 but not grown up yet, and to teenagers who are growing up too fast. We welcome soccer moms, NASCAR dads, starving artists, tree-huggers, latte-sippers, vegetarians, junk-food eaters. We welcome those who are in recovery or still addicted. We welcome you if you’re having problems or you’re down in the dumps or if you don’t like “organized religion,” we’ve been there too.

If you blew all your offering money at the dog track, you’re welcome here. We offer a special welcome to those who think the earth is flat, work too hard, don’t work, can’t spell, or because grandma is in town and wanted to go to church.

We welcome those who are inked, pierced or both. We offer a special welcome to those who could use a prayer right now, had religion shoved down your throat as a kid or got lost in traffic and wound up here by mistake. We welcome tourists, seekers and doubters, bleeding hearts … and you!

These are great words, but we can’t stop there.  Our call as followers of Jesus is to ‘be Christ’ to those around us, and that means welcoming all to fully participate in what God does in the world.  My congregation will always have an open table for communion.  Jesus is the host…we simply give what Jesus has already given to us: forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation!  To those ‘on the fringes’ and wondering if this Jesus can be for them, we loudly proclaim, “Given and shed FOR YOU!”  No prerequisites…just a loving God coming to work in the lives of God’s children!

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

We have a new bishop!


This past weekend I got to be at the assembly that elected Rev. Steve Delzer as the new bishop of
the Southeastern Minnesota Synod, replacing Bishop Usgaard who has served for 12 years.  God’s hand led the whole process.

We have a weird way of electing a bishop!  There is no campaigning, no yard signs or buttons, no election committees or campaign coordinators.   People do not announce their candidacy at press conferences.  Pollsters do not test the waters to find the leading candidates.  Instead, people talk, pray, and seek God’s guidance.

Last winter churches raised up the names of potential nominees.  Here at Peace we nominated Rev. Linda Gunderson because we sensed a spirit of mission in her and thought she would make an awesome bishop.  Christ the King in Mankato nominated me.  Those names then went to the conference assemblies with each assembly passing along three names to be a part of some question and answer forums.  Neither Linda nor I had our names passed on.  While the snarky side of me felt quite annoyed that Linda’s name didn’t get passed along (and I suspect that synod-wide she would have been one of the top vote getters, but didn’t break the top three in any one conference), I had to trust that God works even in goofy processes.

Chad Ohl and I went to one of the forums held in Chatfield to hear these nominees speak.  Neither of us came away with a sense that one person seemed ‘destined’ for the position.  As I talked to others in the days leading up to the assembly I heard very conflicting thoughts.  Nobody had any sense of who would be elected.

The assembly spent significant time in prayer as we voted.  On the first ballot any pastor in the ELCA could be nominated, and over 50 people were (including Linda and me).  After some people took their names off the ballot we voted again, shrinking the field to seven (all from the bishop’s forums).  The next ballot took it down to four, with those four addressing the assembly.  As soon as Pastor Delzer finished speaking, the contingent from Peace turned to each other and commented, “There is your next bishop.”  Something in his words resonated with us.  A process that began without a clear leader ended emphatically with Pastor Delzer receiving nearly 65% of the final vote.  

God works in the process!  There is a lot of ‘if only’ conversation going on.  If only more people could have been a part of the forums.  If only someone had more clearly answered a question at a forum.  If only more people had worked behind the scenes to talk about ‘their candidate.’  If only one of the final four had done a ‘better job’ in their speech.  A lot of things couple have happened, but perhaps the Holy Spirit actually led the process…which is what we prayed for all along!

Starting this fall we will welcome Bishop Steve Delzer.  I worked closely with Steve and the South Sudanese ministry that is at Our Savior’s in Faribault.  He brings a love for the church and an openness to new ideas to the bishop’s office.  Please keep him in your prayers as he spends the summer assembling a staff and preparing for his new role.  God worked among us to raise him into this new place.  May God bless him as he does God’s work in leading the Southeastern Minnesota Synod.

Click here for more information on your new bishop!

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

We Will No Longer be a Welcoming Church


Some interesting thoughts from Rev. Dr. Robert Moss at Lutheran Church of the Master in Lakewood, CO.    At my congregation we are getting much better about welcoming…but how are we at inviting?



We’ve decided to quit being a welcoming church. No kidding. We’re giving it up. It won’t be easy, but we’re committed to it. We’ll have to do it in stages, easing our folks into it step by step. We’ll have to deal with the fear of something new, the challenge of venturing into the unknown. But we’ll do it. It will take motivation, leadership, and constant reminders. But most importantly, it will take total commitment in embracing a new focus.

Like so many churches, we’ve sunk an amazing amount of time and energy into becoming a welcoming church. We changed worship styles, we trained greeters and ushers, we wore name tags, we percolated coffee, we went to workshops on hospitality, we put our friendliest people in the most prominent places on Sunday mornings. But we’ve realized we’ve been misplacing our emphasis. So we’re no longer going to do it.

Here’s what we’re doing instead. We are becoming an Inviting Church. That’s different. You see, “welcoming” from a missional perspective is passive. It denotes waiting for visitors and guests to drop by. When they do, we attempt treat them very well and do everything possible to make them comfortable. We’ll be willing to change who we are. We’ll follow particular formats that have proven to be more welcoming to new people. We’ll do whatever it takes to have them come back the next Sunday, even if they shouldn’t. Welcoming is about us, not about them.

“Inviting,” however, is different. That means we leave the comfort of our congregational home-court advantage. The main activity doesn’t happen in our worship space when people drop in, but in the neighborhood when we go out. It isn’t so much welcoming them into our place, but going out into their place and meeting them there.

Even that warrants a significant caveat. This is not just another gimmick to get people into the church. The foundation of this isn’t an attempt to bolster declining membership rolls and make a better parochial report to the bishop. No, it goes much deeper than that. It starts with who God has called us to be as church. It involves discovering our gifts and purpose. And it mandates joining God at work in the world. This isn’t about getting the world into God’s church; it’s about getting the church into God’s world.

If you’ve read any postings on this blog before, you know that God’s mission is what we are to be about. Everything comes from that—including the identity of the church. We exist as church only because God has a mission. Our purpose, our very identity, is called forth out of God’s loving care and redemptive activity in creation. We are steeped in God’s mission. We are drenched through baptism into this essential character of God. God is at work in the world, and creates, calls, and equips the church specifically for that work.

Each congregation has a purpose within God’s mission. Each congregation has particular gifts. Each congregation reveals the life-giving reign of God in unique ways. No congregation is everything to everyone. But every congregation is something to someone. Who can know God through your worship style? Who can experience forgiveness and grace through your congregational community? Who needs the gifts you have to offer? Who can offer gifts you need? Knowing those things, when in conversation over the backyard fence about their pain in losing a loved one, it would be natural then to invite that neighbor to your congregation’s grief support group that has made such a difference for many others. When in the employee lunch room chatting about the pressures of our jobs, it would fit to invite that co-worker to your congregation’s spiritual direction group for professionals. When sharing the struggles of parenthood with a friend while waiting for your kids to come out of school, it would make sense to invite their whole family to your cross-generational faith development where you have gained so much guidance from other parents. While paying for a car repair, your long-time mechanic lets slip that she has lost her faith, it would easily flow for you to invite her to join you (and all the other doubters who will gather this Sunday) in worship.

Welcoming involves hoping whoever happens to find you will join. Inviting involves sharing God’s specific gifts—made real in your congregation—in the world.

The blog can be viewed at http://daelcarev.wordpress.com/2013/03/12/we-will-no-longer-be-a-welcoming-church/.