This was my first opportunity to preach since moving from El Paso, TX to the Tampa area. I had a month’s notice. Yet, on Saturday morning, I was still stalling to write this sermon down. Weloming others sounds simple. My thoughts were swirling. Current events and the responsibility to stand behind a pulpit during this time in history made every word feel vital. The question I kept asking myself was how and why are we missing the mark as a church when it comes to following Christ’s command to love?
While the Presbyterian Church of Bloomingdale has been very welcoming of my family, I have not yet had the opportunity to get to know them on an intimate level (due to COVID restrictions). However, there are some similarities that nearly all Presbyterians share. We have a reputation for being Wasps. With that in mind I began to write out my thoughts.
From www.dictionary.com
A look into my own heart, how I was wrong, and my call to speak up
The pulpit has never been an easy place for me to stand. I grew up in a traditional and conservative home and went to a conservative seminary.
Women were not encouraged to preach. Some of the preaching classes did not require that the men stayed when it was their female classmate’s turn to present. I still have to force myself to write, “I’m preaching this Sunday” rather than “I’m speaking this Sunday.”
Last week, I was told to say speaking. It eases the tension and might make them more prone to listen to my message.
“Sure,” I said. “I’m speaking about the Bible for 15 to 20 minutes directly after announcements and before the choir sings the final hymn.”
We both laughed because it is absurd. Regardless of what I call it, speaking behind a pulpit on a Sunday morning and delivering the message is preaching. Let’s call it what it is.
Here’s the thing.
I chose to ignore Scripture that contradicted the gender roles I’d been taught. Instead, I followed leaders who claimed I wasn’t allowed behind the pulpit. I didn’t ask for clarification. Why? Because I was terrified of ending up behind a pulpit.
Scripture is living and active
Guess what! God has a way of working on all of our hearts. As we grow, we change, and our understanding of Scripture matures with us.
Scripture isn’t stagnate. It’s living and active. It is there to shape and mold our lives as we strive to become more Christ-like.
Maya Angelou said it best, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
I was wrong for not asking questions sooner. Once I knew better I discovered freedom in Scripture.
With that freedom, I also discovered an immense responsibility to wrestle with hard passages when standing at the pulpit (you can read more about that journey at 2 Kings 22: The Rest of the Story)
What happens when I am wrong?
Romans 6:12-23 says our lives as Christians belong to Christ. You and I live under grace, we are not captive to sin.
How freeing is that! I can get something wrong and still be accepted and loved by my Creator!
We live under grace, not law. But just as Romans 6 points out, that does not free us to continue in sin. Grace should fuel our desire to live more Christ-like every day.
What if we aren’t who we think we are in the story?
While here on earth, he made it simple with one command. Christ’s command to love one another would identify us to the rest of the world as belonging to him.
When we break Christ’s command to love we are sinning.
When sin does surface in our life, in my life, I must act. It is my responsibility to better myself. It is our responsibility as a community to grow together and move closer and closer to righteousness.
We are free under grace. Even when we mess up, because we have and we will again, we are loved and belong to God. Nothing can separate us from that love, but there are consequences when we do not offer that same love to others.
We do not live in a vacuum. Every decision you and I make has a ripple effect on the larger culture around us. Good and bad we are in this together.
Mathew 10, if we place ourselves in the role of the disciples, we discover if people are welcoming to us then they will receive a reward. Doesn’t that feel amazing!? It helps in those moments when we feel rejected that it isn’t personal; they aren’t rejecting us personally.
But what if you and I are not the disciples in this narrative?
What if
- we are instead the ones who are doing the rejecting
- we are the villages the disciples visited
- we’ve been looking at Matthew 10 all wrong
Were we commanded to love, or be loved?
In Les Misérables, there is a line near the end that sums up Matthew 10:40 beautifully. It also sums up what I believe to be the major theme of the movie.
“To love someone is to see the face of God.”
Matthew 10:40 says when we welcome others, we are welcoming God into our midst.
Welcoming others, and being hospitable to both the stranger and one’s neighbor, is a theme throughout all of Scripture. Here are just a few verses to explore:
- Exodus 23:9
- Leviticus 19:10, 33-34
- Isaiah 58:6-7
- Job 31:32
- Proverbs 31:20
- Matthew 25:35
- Mark 9:41
- Luke 11:37
- Hebrews 13:16
- 1 Timothy 3:2
- 1 Timothy 5:10
And my favorite Hebrews 13:2: “Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it.”
Abraham welcomed strangers who turned out to be angels in Genesis 18. Those same angels then went to the city of Sodom and Gomorrah. While visiting this city, the angels were met with cruelty, selfishness, and in-hospitabile conditions—a warning for all of us as we continue to read and interpret Matthew 10. Jesus will refer to this fallen city, pay attention.
Are we following Christ’s command to love?
Jesus called us to love one another. He modeled what that love looks like throughout his life. The story we find in Mathew 10, where he sends out the disciples, has some lessons we need to pay close attention to today.
We seem to have flipped the script, to have this whole passage upside down. Jesus didn’t command the world to love us, he commanded us to love others.
I was terrified to stand behind a pulpit and preach, I was terrified that I was misinterpreting Scripture and that the voices who had told me I was unwelcomed there for so long were right. But every time I’ve felt welcomed.
Not long after the church shooting in Texas I stood behind the pulpit and spoke on prayer vs. action. I was welcomed. Later, as children were taken from their parents at the border, mere miles from where I preached, my voice as a leader and as a mother was welcomed.
Of course, there have been times I haven’t been welcomed. I once walked into a meeting of local pastors to join in the discussion of a community event. I was told by the group that MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) was meeting down the hall.
Only one pastor, the one Black man in the room, stood and welcomed me that day. He offered me, the only woman, the seat beside him.
It only takes one individual to change the dynamic of a whole group. But it isn’t easy. It’s not a comfortable place to sit. Why? Because you are going against ingrained beliefs and cultural norms as you strive to remove sin from your life and become more Christ-like.
Love isn’t an option
Jesus, before he left this earth said, “I give you a new commandment to love one another as I have loved you. By this, they will know that you are mine.” (see John 13:34-35)
Christ’s command to love one another wasn’t an option. He spent his entire ministry showing us all how to do it.
He told us to love our neighbors because he wanted us to understand that we are all his children, made in God’s image, and cherished.
“To love someone is to see the face of God.”
When we show hospitality to strangers, we have shown kindness to angels without even knowing it.
Have we been listening? Can we honestly say as white Americans that we have done this well?
As a collective, we have blindly supported systems or even outright refused the equality of Black and Brown bodies in our country. In so doing we have ignored Christ’s command to love.
What does it mean to welcome others? If I am not the disciple in this passage, but rather a member of the village in which they were visiting, what responsibility do I hold in welcoming others?
We’ll explore that question more tomorrow. For now, drop your thoughts in the comments below, and let’s talk this out.
