Explorations VII: Room in the Inn

Dear friends,

Last Sunday I mentioned a new film we had just seen entitled “Philomena.”  Although it was a beautiful portrayal of a woman who has to come to terms with the past when she was made to give up her child against her will, it also raises questions about faith.  It is also a story of how in her Catholic faith she finds herself in between the cynical journalist who accompanies her to the U.S. and who has abandoned his faith and the rigid Catholic sister who is full of judgment.  It is the predicament the progressive Church finds itself in these days it seems, caught between a segment of society which has given up on God because of the ignorance and hardheartedness of some of Christ’s followers and rigidly doctrinal believers in our own and other denominations who seek to exclude certain people from the Church.  As Hardy Kim, a Presbyterian pastor in Chicago writes: “In my conversations with people who avoid religious affiliation (or who have left the church) I have ceased to be sad when they point to examples of hypocrisy.  I can’t control what other Christians choose to say or do.  But I am increasingly troubled when these people cannot also point out to inspiring positive examples of Christian faithfulness.”

I wonder sometimes whether we can continue to succeed in creating a space for people to seek God and at the same time be also truly open to all people, for that is what you and I have been trying to do. It feels like we are a thin layer between two inflexible moving parts that are determined to grind away against each other in a “culture war.”

But then I am heartened about the positive experience many of you have been having in the five exploration/reflection groups that have in the last month.  I have heard feedback from the five facilitators and it appears you feel quite good about who we are as a congregation.  This gives me hope.

There are worries you have (like the future of the parking lot; in response to that question the session is establishing a committee to gather the facts before your Spring exploration/reflection group meetings), but also an overwhelming joy and gratitude about the way we embrace diversity in our life as a congregation and the way we make anyone feel welcome without judging them.  You see this as central to our identity as a congregation it seems. It underscores that we are well on our way to become a “faithfully inclusive” congregation.  In my years at Parkview I missed one Christmas when we went to see my mother in Texas.  I wrote a skit that was performed by our Parkview members that year entitled “No room in the inn” about a couple who returned from the World War II camp and could not find a place to have their baby.  Sound familiar?  I am grateful to know that as congregation we have been giving many people room in the inn.  May God help us to continue to do so. May you have a meaningful  Advent and Christmas season.