Let the little children come to me, and
do not stop them.
[Jesus, Luke
18:16]
This
Bible passage came to mind as I watched Noah and his family walk away after our
conversation at the Synod Assembly in June. Noah and his family had approached
me in front of the dais after one of the sessions in the plenary hall. His
mother said Noah wanted to ask me something.
A
bit sheepishly, but speaking clearly and looking me in the eye, Noah said, “I
am wondering if you could somehow encourage congregations of the synod to be
welcoming to Boy Scouts.”
Noah
is 13 and a Boy Scout himself. His troop is sponsored by a congregation that is
part of a denomination in which many have expressed dissatisfaction with the Boy
Scouts of America’s recent decision “to remove the restriction denying
membership to youth on the basis of sexual orientation alone.”[i]
Noah also knows that his church, the ELCA and its congregations, seek to be
welcoming communities in the name of Jesus. His request to me is an invitation
for all of us to live into that identity and call.
As
I said in an interview with a reporter from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette just
the day before my conversation with Noah, to cease denying membership on the
basis of sexual orientation alone is very close to the biblical values and
practices that shape our life together as followers of Jesus in this mission
territory.[ii]
We
are not in agreement with each other about various aspects of sexuality. Yet,
we have agreed to honor one another’s bound conscience around these and other issues.
To do so is to offer the radical welcome of Jesus to each other.
We
have also agreed that we are called to offer this radical, cross-shaped welcome
to other people and groups, including and especially those whom others exclude.
The ELCA’s home page on the web summarizes it pretty well: “This is Christ’s
church. There is a place for you here. We are the church that shares a living,
daring confidence in God's grace. Liberated by our faith, we embrace you as a
whole person — questions, complexities and all. Join us as we do God's work in
Christ's name for the life of the world.”[iii]
In
the end, the welcome Noah invites us to embrace is not about sexuality, ours or
anyone else’s. It’s about welcoming children, as Jesus welcomed them and would
have us welcome them in his name. It’s about following Jesus in the way of the
cross to welcome those whom others will not, to embrace those whom others won’t
touch. It’s a way we offer others the same forgiving, life-changing welcome
Jesus gives to us cross-marked and Spirit-sealed children of God.
Look
again at your congregation’s mission statement, nearly 50 of which surrounded
us on the projection screens during the Synod Assembly and during my conversation
with Noah. Take a good long look at Luke 18. Then look around your neighborhood,
sisters and brothers. Look through Noah’s eyes and heart. Look with eyes and
hearts baptized into the crucified and risen Christ. Look for the children.
Look for those people and groups that others choose to exclude or banish, Boy
Scouts or anyone else…and, please, in the name of Jesus crucified and risen for
the life of the world, seek them out and invite them in.
Posts
