Last night I sat listening to the Christmas story in an Episcopal church, candles flickering, incense swirling, and two young women with shaved heads and tons of tattoos snuggling in front of me. The sermon referenced Buddhist teachings and the Quran in addition to Biblical scripture. The non-Episcopalians present, myself included, tasted Christ's extravagant welcome at the open communion table. We sang hymns. We sang scripture. We sat, we stood, we knelt; this high-church smells and bells stuff is physical business.
In the midst of all this, I thought about our hurting, messy world, and about redemption and love. I pondered this particular church's website headline: "Infinite respect for one another, radical hospitality for the world." I thought about outsiders: me, a new and non-Episcopal face in this church; the gay couples I saw; the homeless people sleeping in the park outside. I hope I live to see the day when outsiders are unconditionally welcome in any faith community, because then we'll all be one step closer to the ultimate goal: seeing what Antoine de Saint Exupéry called "the essential," which is "invisible to the eye and can only be seen with the heart."
*Edited to add: my friend A from church wrote the lovely bit below on her Facebook for Christmas, and I thought it was worth a share.
"Rather than wishing you a Merry Christmas, I'll just offer this: If God can put on skin, be born a poor refugee, to a teenage mom involved in a bit of a sex-scandal, with a working class husband, in the midst of genocide and shady governments, with livestock for midwives, and their unhygienic handlers the attending... If stars and angels can serve as a social media birth announcement before some academics from the far East bring the oddest and most impractical gifts for a toddler... then maybe it is not too great a thing for God to show up in our time and our mess. If this is the kind of sneaky way in which the one who spins the stars delights to make an appearance it seems that all of us, from the smallest barn gnat to the most noble of astronomers are invited, celebrated, and heartily welcomed to the gifts of being loved and of loving. And maybe, just maybe there are yet gifts of wholeness, healing, love, and light where they are most needed, least deserved, and wholly unexpected."
In the midst of all this, I thought about our hurting, messy world, and about redemption and love. I pondered this particular church's website headline: "Infinite respect for one another, radical hospitality for the world." I thought about outsiders: me, a new and non-Episcopal face in this church; the gay couples I saw; the homeless people sleeping in the park outside. I hope I live to see the day when outsiders are unconditionally welcome in any faith community, because then we'll all be one step closer to the ultimate goal: seeing what Antoine de Saint Exupéry called "the essential," which is "invisible to the eye and can only be seen with the heart."
*Edited to add: my friend A from church wrote the lovely bit below on her Facebook for Christmas, and I thought it was worth a share.
"Rather than wishing you a Merry Christmas, I'll just offer this: If God can put on skin, be born a poor refugee, to a teenage mom involved in a bit of a sex-scandal, with a working class husband, in the midst of genocide and shady governments, with livestock for midwives, and their unhygienic handlers the attending... If stars and angels can serve as a social media birth announcement before some academics from the far East bring the oddest and most impractical gifts for a toddler... then maybe it is not too great a thing for God to show up in our time and our mess. If this is the kind of sneaky way in which the one who spins the stars delights to make an appearance it seems that all of us, from the smallest barn gnat to the most noble of astronomers are invited, celebrated, and heartily welcomed to the gifts of being loved and of loving. And maybe, just maybe there are yet gifts of wholeness, healing, love, and light where they are most needed, least deserved, and wholly unexpected."
No comments:
Post a Comment