Although the April issue of The Lutheran framed its cover story on last summer’s sexuality votes rather ominously, “Assessing the Fallout,” there was nothing ominous about the recent Deepening the Welcome event held here in April for metro area Lutheran churches. The workshop, put on by the Reconciling in Christ (RIC) Team of Lutherans Concerned/Twin Cities, with support from the St. Paul and Minneapolis Area Synods Joint Committee for Inclusivity, overflowed with enthusiasm according to its organizers.
Glenn Choquette, a member of the planning team explained why his congregation, Edina Community Lutheran Church (ECLC), actually campaigned to be the host site. “We’re celebrating 25 years as an RIC congregation. Our choice to be welcoming to GLBT persons has been very good to us. It’s helped us embrace the fullness of the Gospel, and we wanted to honor that by hosting an event that invites other churches to deepen their welcome.”
Indeed, ECLC’s fellowship room was downright crowded, with nearly eighty people at the start of the day. Luckily, the wide-ranging breakout sessions were scattered throughout the church’s plentiful rooms, and organizers quickly shifted the one plenary session into the sanctuary for its extra space.
One session, on the “Biblical Perspective of Welcome,” was led by Glenndy Ose, Bishop’s Associate, Minneapolis Area Synod. Laughter leaked out into the hallway as Ose led her group through an energetic presentation on “the why, the how, and the who” of welcome. Afterwards one participant exuded, “Now that was good news! When she said ‘anytime we draw a line to show where Jesus isn’t, that becomes exactly where Jesus is,’ it felt like Pentecost in the room.”
Another session paired up Tim Fisher, of Lutherans Concerned/North America (LC/NA), and Sister Noreen Stevens, Assistant to the Bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod, to provide an update on the policies intended to implement the wider welcome adopted last August. Stevens works with candidacy in the Synod office, and Fisher helped represent LC/NA at the recent ELCA Church Council meeting in Chicago. Both said they were grateful to be working in partnership at the workshop.
Theologian-hymnist David Weiss led a session on “Welcome in Worship” in which participants sang selections from welcome-themed hymns, many of them from his book, To the Tune of a Welcoming God. Discussion focused on worship—and hymnody in particular—as a place where the congregation continues to “catechize itself, to retell the biblical arc of God’s welcome so that it reaches forward into our lives today.”
Nancy Michael, executive director of aMaze, a local nonprofit, described her organization’s Families All Matter (FAM) curriculum, which guides schools in using children's picture books to explore difference and to increase children's appreciation for diversity. Circulating colorful (and sometimes award-winning) picture books among her audience, she said, “Kids start ‘sorting’ people already in preschool; it’s natural to notice differences. Unfortunately when adults send messages of silence, or, worse, prejudice, kids ‘sort’ with a vengeance. But stories that honor diversity and invite discussion can empower children to see difference as normal, healthy, and good.” She noted that this fall aMaze begins piloting a version of its FAM curriculum adapted for use in faith communities.
Other sessions covered topics like graceful engagement over difficult issues, the use of drama as a way to advance conversations about welcome, and the process of “coming out” as a congregation once you’ve decided to welcome GLBT persons. Judging from the buzz of conversation over lunch, the offerings of the day were sparking lots of new ideas as well as building new connections. While some participants came from congregations with long-standing RIC ties, others represented churches still exploring whether to become RIC, and several came from congregations with fairly conservative reputations—but with at least some members eager to explore “the upside of last August,” as one person put it.
The workshop closed mid-afternoon with song, prayer, and passing of the peace. Cathy Cook, another ECLC member and part of the RIC Team, commented while cleaning afterwards in the kitchen, “I’m not sure why the Lutheran needed to frame its article on Churchwide 2009 as being about ‘assessing the fallout’; these people today were clearly anticipating the harvest.”
Courtesy of David Weiss.
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