Scriptures:
Micah 6:8 – " He has told you, human one, what is good and what the Lord requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God.
John 13:34-35 – I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.
Joel was young man that in all rights was a loner. He walked everywhere he went and pretty much stayed to himself. One day Joel happened to be walking towards a local eating spot (Zaxby’s) and ran into a young man that was also going to the same place for lunch that day. These two people ran into each other and the young man paid for Joel’s lunch and began to get to know who Joel was. He later in the conversation invited Joel to the local youth ministry at the church located just down the road and Joel walked there the next Sunday. It was there that Joel found a place where there were others like him. Other students that were also broken, lonely, questioning, but in this place; it was a place to call home, a place to belong. Come to find out that the young man that invited Joel was the youth minister and all he wanted to do was make Joel feel welcomed and a part of the family. He took Joel home that night so he would not have to walk home in the dark. It was there on the front porch of his house, Joel explained of the abuse he had gone through, the struggles with suicide, and the lack of acceptance he had come to just accept. Well Joel that night found Jesus in the open arms of a youth minister, a youth group, and a church. Joel gave his life to Christ that night on a front porch in Lilburn, GA. I was that youth minister, and Joel was a great young man.
Maybe you have heard testimonies like this or maybe you haven’t. The unfortunate thing is that so many of these stories are changing for the church today and becoming more about how the church hurt me, the church has judged me, the church doesn’t see me, the church doesn’t love me, and the list could go on. However, the church is called to stand as a light in a world marked by division, hurt, and loneliness. The question then becomes how can we reflect God’s love, justice, and grace to transform the world around us? Scripture points it out very clearly in John 13:34-35 – “I give you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.”
So, if love is the key to cultivating authentic belonging in our communities, and striving to be a place of healing and wholeness, then what is stopping us? What is keeping us from being a place of welcome for all people? A place of welcome for all people no matter of background, race, story, gender, sexual orientation, or the next cross we want to crucify people on. See here is the big problem – we would rather spend time building crosses to crucify than build bridges to reconcile. But to do this we have to being our churches to place to less than stature. Micah 6:8 says – " He has told you, human one, what is good and what the LORD requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God.” It calls for the church to humble itself before God and embrace a different kind of love that is not of this world. This is what cultivates places of authentic belonging in our communities, and places of healing and wholeness for all. It is a place where God’s love is unconditional and calls us to create a culture of belonging.
This place of belonging is also about creating space for justice to flow. There is a song called “LET JUSTICE ROLL DOWN LIKE A RIVER” and the words are by Colin Gibson, and it says this:
Refrain:Let justice roll down like a river,
let justice flow down to the sea;
let justice roll down like a river
let justice begin through me.
Justice for all who go hungry,
crying to God to be fed,
left in a world of abundance
to beg for a morsel of bread.
Refrain
Justice for those who are homeless,
victims of war or of need,
trapped on the borders of nowhere,
lost in the canyons of greed.
Refrain
Justice for all who are powerless,
yearning for freedom in vain,
plundered and robbed of their birth-right,
silently bearing their pain.
The church as a place of belonging is called to be a place called to apologize for but seeing the hurt in the world as God sees it. For not advocating for those on the margins, the oppressed, the hungry, and the voiceless. These are the ones we are called to not just stand in the gap for but to fill the gap.
“Methodism is known for its charity, as well as support for the sick, the poor, and the afflicted through works of mercy that "flow from the love of God and neighbor" evidenced in the entirely sanctified believer. These ideals, the Social Gospel, are put into practice by the establishment of hospitals, orphanages, soup kitchens, and schools to follow Christ's command to spread the gospel and serve all people.”[1]
So, if we are called to embrace faithful love and we are called to humble ourselves, plus people will know we are Christ’s disciples, when you love each other - then where did it all go wrong and how do we create this culture of true healing and belonging? The church is supposed to a place of emotional, spiritual, and relational healing. It comes down to one word…vulnerability. There is something about a church becoming a place of importance of creating safe spaces for vulnerability, confession, and prayer. James 5:16 says, “For this reason, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous person is powerful in what it can achieve.” You might tell me, “Well I can’t be vulnerable, then people would see the real me.” Brené Brown talks about vulnerability in a TedTalk you should really listen to. She says, “Vulnerability is the center of difficult emotion, but it's also the birthplace of every positive emotion we need in our lives.”[2] She also says, “We would rather be miserable and certain than wholehearted and uncertain.”[3] But for the church and for a space of healing and belonging – nothing is certain except that we have a God of grace that is the ultimate healer of our brokenness. It is not just the brokenness of those who would be part of the church but the brokenness that is the church. So I come back to it, Micah 6:8 – "God has told you, human one, what is good and what the LORD requires from you: to do justice, embrace faithful love, and walk humbly with your God.
I think the best way for us to do this is to start with prayer and confession. In our United Methodist Communion Liturgy, we have a Confession and Pardon that we go through before we are invited to the Lord’s Table. Maybe today for the church to be a place where wholeness and belonging can happen we start by asking God to forgive us and being vulnerable. We will you walk with me through this?
Leader to people:
Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him,
who earnestly repent of their sin
and seek to live in peace with one another.
Therefore, let us confess our sin before God and one another.
CONFESSION AND PARDON.
Merciful God,
we confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart.
We have failed to be an obedient church.
We have not done your will,
we have broken your law,
we have rebelled against your love,
we have not loved our neighbors,
and we have not heard the cry of the needy.
Forgive us, we pray.
Free us for joyful obedience,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
All pray in silence.
As you pray, pray God opens your heart to those that no one wants, everyone has rejected, and those that need a place to belong.
Leader to people:
Hear the good news:
Christ died for us while we were yet sinners;
that proves God's love toward us.
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!
People to leader:
In the name of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven!
Leader and people:
Glory to God. Amen.[4]
[1] Hughes, Richard T.; Adrian, William B., eds. (1997). Models for Christian Higher Education: Strategies for Survival and Success in the Twenty-First Century. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. p. 290.
[2] Brown, Brené “The Power of Vulnerability: Teachings of Authenticity, Connection, and Courage” May 24, 2013, Audiobook. Sounds True.
[3] Ibid.
[4] “A Service of Word and Table I,” Copyright © 1972, The Methodist Publishing House; Copyright © 1980, 1985, 1989, 1992 UMPH.
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