by Pastor Lauren Muratore
If yesterday’s theme was Baptism, today's has been Truth-Telling.
There was a refreshing level of transparency in all of the presentations today, which was its own offering of sorts. A gift given to the whole assembly and to the whole church: "Here"s the truth. The way things really are. We trust you with it."
Today we heard hard and necessary truths about guns and the violence they do in our communities. We heard our Racial Justice Ministry Team Chair, Patrick Gahagen, liken racism in the church to the cancer in his own body, saying, "too many have shrugged off the warnings with 'It's fine, we don’t see it,' but it's there — this cancer we name as racism — and it must be treated." Today the Assembly told the truth about injustices being perpetuated against children in Palestine and, after a sometimes difficult but respectful debate, we passed a memorial which rejects torture and abuse of these vulnerable ones by an overwhelming majority.
Today we heard hard and necessary truths about the church. The Rev. Mike Louia set the stage in the morning business session: "We are standing at the top of a mountain looking out into a future that looks nothing like what we remember." This sentiment was echoed throughout the day in presentations and preaching. There was a refrain: the church isn't changing — it has changed. Are we willing to be changed with it? Bishop Bill Gohl gave us his annual report along with a challenge to be faithful in this moment in history. Like, really, actually faithful. Not anchored in the way things have always been done, in tradition or culture, not reliant on buildings or even years of what has been faithful ministry, but anchored in Jesus and what Jesus is calling us to now.
You could hear a pin drop when the Bishop said, "The worst thing that can happen to our congregations is not that they will die but that they will stay open and do nothing for the sake of the Gospel." Truth. Transparency. A call to unshackle ourselves from our "stained glass clubhouses." A call to faithful, holy, change. A call to the next things. A strong and clear call to new life in the gospel.
I imagine all this talk of change is hard for some but as the pastor of a redeveloping congregation that only knows change, I get the sense that many in our communities are ready for it. Hungry for it. Have been for a while. Using Brian McLaren’s language of "adventure," I think we're ready for a new one, church. An adventure which centers the love of Jesus, brought to bear in the world. A love that never arrives without bringing justice right along with it. Based on what the Delaware-Maryland Synod is up to these days, I think we're ready for a new adventure, church. An adventure which centers the voices of people who the institutional church has been speaking over for years — young adults, people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, and immigrant siblings. I think we're ready for an adventure which centers the future, not the past or even the present. An Emmaus Road kind of adventure, where even as we wander a bit anxious and unsure, each of us in our own way, we expect to meet Jesus here.
Bishop Finegan of the Northern Great Lakes Synod, our preacher today, reminded us of the truth that as we venture onward we do not go alone: "As we move around this corner of time we are being nudged, moved, and shaken out of our stupor to see that the road ahead is before us. The journey while it has taken a turn, continues. You do not walk this road alone. Jesus is with you. He knows you and you know him. In the bread and wine, in each other's faces, in the body of Christ alive in the world."
Indeed, all of our hope, our empowerment, our humility, our pleas for forgiveness, the absolution and encouragement we desire, our capacity for justice and mercy and love, the challenges and the grace we so need — all of it is found in Jesus, who is calling us out of intractable sorrow and self-interest into a promised future.
It's a little scary, but then "everything that is worthwhile in life is scary" (Paul Tournier as quoted by Brian McLaren).
What's more than that: God is not afraid.
Now, on to day three of Synod Assembly, and beyond ... thanks be to God.
Today we heard hard and necessary truths about the church. The Rev. Mike Louia set the stage in the morning business session: "We are standing at the top of a mountain looking out into a future that looks nothing like what we remember." This sentiment was echoed throughout the day in presentations and preaching. There was a refrain: the church isn't changing — it has changed. Are we willing to be changed with it? Bishop Bill Gohl gave us his annual report along with a challenge to be faithful in this moment in history. Like, really, actually faithful. Not anchored in the way things have always been done, in tradition or culture, not reliant on buildings or even years of what has been faithful ministry, but anchored in Jesus and what Jesus is calling us to now.
You could hear a pin drop when the Bishop said, "The worst thing that can happen to our congregations is not that they will die but that they will stay open and do nothing for the sake of the Gospel." Truth. Transparency. A call to unshackle ourselves from our "stained glass clubhouses." A call to faithful, holy, change. A call to the next things. A strong and clear call to new life in the gospel.
I imagine all this talk of change is hard for some but as the pastor of a redeveloping congregation that only knows change, I get the sense that many in our communities are ready for it. Hungry for it. Have been for a while. Using Brian McLaren’s language of "adventure," I think we're ready for a new one, church. An adventure which centers the love of Jesus, brought to bear in the world. A love that never arrives without bringing justice right along with it. Based on what the Delaware-Maryland Synod is up to these days, I think we're ready for a new adventure, church. An adventure which centers the voices of people who the institutional church has been speaking over for years — young adults, people of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, and immigrant siblings. I think we're ready for an adventure which centers the future, not the past or even the present. An Emmaus Road kind of adventure, where even as we wander a bit anxious and unsure, each of us in our own way, we expect to meet Jesus here.
Bishop Finegan of the Northern Great Lakes Synod, our preacher today, reminded us of the truth that as we venture onward we do not go alone: "As we move around this corner of time we are being nudged, moved, and shaken out of our stupor to see that the road ahead is before us. The journey while it has taken a turn, continues. You do not walk this road alone. Jesus is with you. He knows you and you know him. In the bread and wine, in each other's faces, in the body of Christ alive in the world."
Indeed, all of our hope, our empowerment, our humility, our pleas for forgiveness, the absolution and encouragement we desire, our capacity for justice and mercy and love, the challenges and the grace we so need — all of it is found in Jesus, who is calling us out of intractable sorrow and self-interest into a promised future.
It's a little scary, but then "everything that is worthwhile in life is scary" (Paul Tournier as quoted by Brian McLaren).
What's more than that: God is not afraid.
Now, on to day three of Synod Assembly, and beyond ... thanks be to God.