Jun 8th: Boundary-breaking Hospitality, with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski.
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Rev. Dr. Steven Koski
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Boundary-breaking Hospitality with Rev. Dr. Steven Koski. Series: Holy Troublemakers A Spacious Christianity, First Presbyterian Church of Bend, Oregon. Scripture: Luke 15.1-2; 4-7.
Feeling unsure about faith, church, or where you belong? This Sunday, we’re exploring a powerful message of radical love and acceptance. Whether you’re searching, doubting, or just curious, there’s a place for you. Join us online or in-person – no judgment, just grace.
Transcript:
Steven: We’re continuing our worship series on holy troublemakers, people of faith willing to get into good trouble, holy trouble for the sake of love and justice. This week’s holy troublemaker is Rachel Held Evans, a Christian writer, Best Selling Author. Rachel grew up in the Bible, Belton in a conservative and Evangelical Church, and she began to question many of the things she was taught about God, the Bible, Jesus and the Church. Her writing became kind of like a safe haven for those who were hurt by the church, but who didn’t want to let go of the story of Jesus? Rachel started a virtual community called evolving faith for spiritual refugees longing for a place to call home. Rachel said an evolving faith isn’t abandoning God, it’s moving closer to the heart of God. She wrote, whether you’re a believer who doubts or a doubter who believes, or someplace in between, there is a place for you at God’s table of grace. In May of 2019 Rachel died unexpectedly after a short illness. She was only 37 years old, with a husband, two young children. People from all over the world wrote tributes, saying they found a way to return to a relationship with God because of her writing and her work. So I want to highlight Rachel today, during pride month, because of her vision of the church. Rachel said, what makes the gospel so offensive to some isn’t who it keeps out, but who it lets in. Rachel said, I used to be so, so certain with my theology in neat little boxes, my Bible underlined in all the right places, my heart guarded by by all the truths I’ve been taught to believe. But somewhere in the journey of my evolving faith between the doctrine and and the dissonance, I started to notice how exhausted my LGBTQ plus friends were. How many had been hurt rejected by churches just like mine. How many walked away from the church not because they didn’t love Jesus, but because they didn’t think Jesus could possibly love them back, because that’s what they were told. Rachel said, I longed for a church that didn’t see itself as the gatekeeper of God’s grace. I longed for a church with open doors, long tables, willing to serve as host, a table setter and making sure there’s a place for everyone and enough grace to go around. Let’s be honest, churches haven’t always gotten this right for far too long. LGBTQ, plus, folks, I’ve heard one of two things, you’re welcome here, but you need to change or Well, God loves everyone. Who am I to judge? But let’s not talk about that part of you that’s not welcome, that’s not grace, that’s not love, that’s not Jesus. And if we as followers of Jesus are serious, serious about living the same radical and spacious love that he lived. Well, then we’ve got some spiritual work to do. The Gospel of Luke chapter 15 begins this way. Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. In the time of Jesus, the Word sinner didn’t mean what we think it means. It didn’t mean specific behavior, specific immoral behavior. The word sinner in the time of Jesus actually referred to people who were considered unclean, unacceptable, not welcome in the temple. So Luke 15 says the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered this man, Jesus. He welcomes sinners, he welcomes the unclean, the unacceptable, and he eats with them. The religious leaders were offended by who Jesus welcomed to his table, instead of getting into a debate, Jesus did what Jesus always did. He told a story. Jesus told him this parable, suppose one of you, suppose one of you, has 100 sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the 99 in the in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it, and when the lost sheep is found, he joyfully puts the sheep on his shoulders and returns home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, celebrate with me. Rejoice with me. What was lost is now found. I tell you that in the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who feel they don’t need to repent. The word repent kind of scares some people. The word repent actually is not, not some scary word you see in a billboard, the word repent is actually a really beautiful word, and it literally means to turn, or actually, better, it means to return. So is it possible Jesus is saying here that there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one person previously excluded on the outside, who returns, who finds their way back to God and community, than over 99 self righteous persons who don’t even realize they’re lost. Did you notice the celebration in the story, the joy? Did you notice the celebration that takes place in the heart of God when the one who is on the outside returns? They throw a party for God. It’s not only important for you to feel welcome, for you to feel included. That’s actually not far enough for God. God desires that your very presence is celebrated. Rachel said the church shouldn’t be the last place people feel safe to be fully themselves. Church should be the place where the fullness of who you are is received with celebration not suspicion, where your pronouns are respected, where your partner is welcomed, where your identity is seen as sacred, not sinful. Being inclusive, she said, Isn’t isn’t about being trendy or progressive. Being inclusive is about being faithful to the love of Jesus. Several years ago, when I was a pastor at a church in Adelaide Australia, a young man named Michael began attending the church. Michael left Adelaide years ago to live in Los Angeles, and Michael had AIDS, and he was actually returning home to die. He was really, really thin and always cold, so he would have a blanket around his shoulders. He would sit alone near the near the back of the church. I learned he had been told his whole life that he was an abomination to God, and that God rejected him as his family rejected him as he felt rejected by the Church. But as he neared the end of his life, he was desperate to know that he would be welcomed into God’s heart when he died. Now, I tried to tell him that he was already welcomed in God’s heart, loved just as he was. You know, the congregation welcomed Michael, but honestly, their fear kept them at a safe distance. They didn’t really get close to Michael, my son, Jacob, who was two years old at the time, Jacob, this two year old, knew intuitively what Michael needed every Sunday. Uh. Amazingly, Jacob would find his way to Michael, and he would crawl into his lap and let Michael hold him for the entire service the unconditional love and acceptance of a two year old helped Michael heal and be found in God’s unconditional love before he died, you know, as I look back As the pastor of the church, we welcomed Michael, but we didn’t celebrate him. We didn’t tell him that his presence in our church was not a liability but a gift. We didn’t acknowledge that our story wasn’t complete without his story. You know, we were the 99 we wouldn’t be complete without him. I regret that. Here’s what Rachel Held Evans wrote not long before she died. If you’re gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender or queer, I hope you already know you don’t need my affirmation to live whole and joyful lives, just as God made you. You are beloved children of God, and there is nothing I or any other Christian writer or church leader can say to alter that. I hope you know deep in your bones that there is no height or depth, no angel or demon, no denomination or church or pastor or parent who can separate you from the love of God in Jesus Christ, my heart grieves over the way this truth has been obscured and denied by the Church, often in destructive and deadly ways. Forgive me for all of the ways I have been complicit in your marginalization, including my silence. It is not the church or any church leader that makes love valid. It is love, and only love that makes the church valid friends. I know we won’t all land in the same theological place. Some are still wrestling. Some are still asking questions. That’s okay, that’s human. What’s not okay is using our uncertainty as an excuse for silence when the civil rights and very existence of our LGBTQ plus siblings are under siege every day. We’re allowed to be unsure, but not unloving. We may not understand, but what we don’t often realize is we’re actually not asked to understand before we love. We are called to love, and it is love, only love that will deepen our understanding the church becomes the church, not when we agree on everything, but when we welcome everyone to the table, and we choose to stay at the table and learn to love one another. Rachel Held Evans was a holy troublemaker whose vision of the church included everyone she wrote. The Gospel doesn’t need a coalition devoted to keeping the wrong people out. It needs a family of sinners saved by grace, committed to tearing down the walls, throwing open the doors and shouting, welcome, there’s bread and wine. Come and eat with us and talk friends. May we continue to build a church to be a church that looks like Jesus? Jesus, one with open doors, long long tables, a surprising guest list and enough grace for absolutely everyone. May it be so you.
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