Advent is most often seen as a time of preparation and inclination toward another place, another season, another light. We look forward to the coming of the One who will transform this world and “put flesh on” the promise of the world to come. But even as we look forward, it is always important to recognize where we are.
In November I participated in a Leadership Training event led by the Reconciling in Christ (RIC) program of Lutherans Concerned. This congregation is an RIC congregation. The process to become RIC was long, orderly, and challenging. It took place well before my arrival. Today, St. John-St. Matthew-Emanuel is clear in our commitment to be a place of welcome for gay and lesbian persons. And yet…
In the first 30 minutes of the RIC Leadership Training, I heard, “The work of being an RIC congregation begins once you are RIC.” This was news, a new thing, to me. What could they mean?
Then I recalled that on the night before the training began, I attended a Bishop’s Town Hall meeting for our Brooklyn Bridges conference. The Bishop and his staff gave what they hoped would be a thorough overview of all the ministries of our Synod. And yet…
Nowhere was there mention that our Metropolitan New York Synod is a RIC synod, a status achieved only after a very heated, often hurtful debate at Synod Assembly. Nowhere was there mention of the existence of our Synod’s Commission for Gay and Lesbian People (CGLP), which was formed in response to the RIC debate, and is tasked to continue supporting and educating our member churches on how to be places of welcome for all people.
I serve as co-chair of the CGLP, and continually experience all-but-indiscernible instances of resistance to the easy dissemination of our announcements and events. The bishop and his staff are personally very supportive of RIC and the CGLP, but… apparently, it can just be a little uncomfortable to talk about such things, to lift them up, to celebrate that we live out Jesus’ call to love one another, live with one another, as neighbors.
Advent is a time of promise: in our gospel texts, Jesus promises that we won’t know when is coming again; a little girl, unmarried and powerless, gives birth to a King, fulfilling the promise of the ages; John promises that for those do not repent, Jesus will bring unquenchable fire; and Jesus promises, in Matthew 11:11, that if we believe in him, his kingdom, we will do greater things than John the Baptist.
Jesus’ promise, the promise of Advent, is that God not only will be with us; God is with us. That is not necessarily a comfortable place to be. But it is a grace-filled place, a place where we have light to live by, light to lead us, light to show us where to walk, even when the path seems difficult.
Being an RIC church is a journey, as is our faith. We need to continue to witness, lovingly, openly, persistently, to the good news that Jesus lived and died and rose again so that ALL might have life, abundantly, eternally. May it be so.
Pr. Parsons
