This past week one of our members, Ace Waters, preached about what it means to be an ally. She told of her own mistakes, made when she didn’t believe someone else’s truth, and shared her own journey of discovering her truth as a trans person. As I was getting ready for worship on Sunday morning it hit me how very big this was in the life of our parish, in my ministry, and in this moment of both the church and our country.
When we started planning for this Sunday it was simply the right thing to do. Ace has long been one of our leaders and this was just the next step in her leadership, Having her preach is part and parcel of our commitment as a community to be shaped and formed by who is here and who God is bringing to us. It didn’t feel like a big thing. And then Sunday, as I stood in our 63 year old building, as one of our founding members who is in her 100’s came in, I realized that at other times in our life as a church Ace would not have been welcomed in to the pulpit. And then I thought about all those places where Ace still would not be believed and entrusted with sharing the word of God.
Our whole vision as a parish has always been about the motley crew of weird, diverse, broken, lovely, powerful, creative, holy people that God had made. Jesus picked the most random team of uncouth fisherman, corrupt taxmen, religious zealots, and women to be his disciples, so how could our church be any different?
Yet as I listened to Ace’s amazing sermon I recognized that we constantly make people unwelcome. We, I, fail to hear their truth, fail to entrust that they hold something of God to be revealed. It is easier to judge with my petty human heart, than to do the hard work of embodying the love of Christ.
Sunday was a big moment. For Ace, for our parish, and for me. I know that together we can keep on listening, learning, and both experiencing Christ through one another and living out the love of Christ that dwells in each of uss
Eilidh
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