Church Participation (Chapter 7)

This is a hard chapter for me to read. I have always attended church - from a a child singing in the children's choir to being an acolyte and youth group until college when I heard my first woman preacher and contemplated my own calling (I grew up Catholic and am now United Methodist). I love the tradition of the eucharist, the beauty and power of Scripture and the stories of Jesus, and the fact that so many of the older hymns are sung across denominations. There are things that we assume are universal, but this chapter makes me question how many of the "universals" truly are?

Culture of churches varies from congregation to congregation, even within denominations but the cultures of poverty and middle class are more different than we typically consider. The opening story of Jesse coming into a church - I've seen that scenario played out in my own churches. Very few, if any, people in the congregation are comfortable just walking up to someone they haven't seen before and welcoming them. Is it fear that holds us back? Do we know what we're afraid of? We know that Jesus calls on us to be hospitable to those that are ostracized elsewhere but when it comes down to actually DOING that, it's difficult.

I went to seminary (though I knew my call was not to be a pastor) and have many clergy colleagues and I'm talking with them more these days about the cultures of their congregations and how a stranger in their midst is treated. How does your congregation react when someone new comes in? Does it matter what they're wearing? What color their skin is? If they walked or not? No judgement - just honesty. We're all trying to be good followers of Christ and we all fall short, but this chapter encourages us to look at the ways we've set things up, creating barriers that we probably didn't intend.

If someone walks into your church with a real need (spiritual, physical, or social), what opportunity would they have to express that need? Do you make it easy for them to ask for what they really need? Are you equipped to meet those needs? Do you know where else they might go to meet those needs? If they can't express their needs, for whatever reason, are you able to offer them anything without them asking? If we truly want to offer hospitality to ALL people, these are challenging questions. And we if we claim to work with the poor and disenfranchised, they are important questions to ask and answer.  Happy conversing!