02 August 2015

The Church Sign, or Four little words

Today I happened to drive past a sign in front of a Methodist church in rural Wisconsin.  This isn’t, in and of itself, unusual, nor is the fact that I took notice of it.  I often look at these signs.  Sometimes they are amusing, or witty.  Sometimes they reflect the particular character of the church or its community.  Often they advertise some particular Bible verse or upcoming events at the church.  They encourage and chide and even criticise. This one did none of those things, but it really struck me.  So much so that I felt overwhelmed as I drove, tears nearly welling up in my eyes, thinking about the simple message in front of a small rural church.  It wasn’t funny or clever or rooted in any sophisticated theology, nor did it make a point that was unique to this particular church.  It said something so much more than that.  What it said was

You are welcome here.

That’s all.  Four words.

You are welcome here.

What filled me with such emotion was this simple four word message in front of a church.  Let’s face it, Christianity in its modern form doesn’t have the most welcoming reputation.  There are too many churches based on exclusion and hatred.  Many people’s sense of Christianity, rightly or wrongly, is shaped by churches that preach messages steeped in homophobia, racism, sexism, and other forms of hatred.  But this church decided that the message that it wanted to share with the community was one of openness and love.  It decided that the message it wanted to share was one of welcoming:

You are welcome here.

This message doesn’t judge who is or is not worthy to come in the door.  It doesn’t impose any conditions. It doesn’t say that you have to be sinless or that you have to confess.  It doesn’t say you have to be rich, or white.  It doesn’t say you have to be straight or even that you have to be a Christian. It doesn’t say you have to be admitted to their church or accept their ideas or be a regular contributor.  It opens the doors wide and allows everyone who wishes to come in and spend time with them.  It tells everyone

You are welcome here.

This is a statement of pure ethicality, without preconception.  It doesn’t rely on any theoretical apprehension of universal categorical necessity.  It doesn’t speak out of specific conceptions of justice.  It doesn’t prescribe particular behaviours or virtues.  It just speaks from a position of moral openness to all.  In these four words, it expresses the kind of ethical comportment that Derrida holds up in the term “hospitality.”  To be hospitable is to welcome the Other in without first interrogating her or holding her up at the threshold.  It is to look him in the face and welcome him in.  It is to say, without reservation or evasion, without worry or concern,

You are welcome here.

In the AJC, we are dedicated, in our most basic statement of principles. to the truth that the Sacred Flame resides in each and every person regardless of gender, orientation, race, ethnicity, class, or creed.  We reach out to “those who walk alone because they are different.”  To all of them, we must be welcoming.  Every AJC parish and every Johannite ought to take time to hear the simple message that our Methodist sisters and brothers cherished enough to put it in front of their church building as an expression of their faith and their commitment.  We are called to be welcoming to everyone, to experience the presence of the divine in each and every person.  Not just the people who agree with us, not just the people we like, not just the people who look like us, or speak the same language.  We are called upon to look upon every person and say

You are welcome here.

I was struck by this, and I took it as a reminder to myself.  It was a challenge.  Have I been unwelcoming?  Have I shut the door of my heart against people that I dislike or who anger or upset me?  Have I considered others to be unworthy of my concern or my compassion?  Unfortunately the answer is yes, too often, I have done all these things.  So to me this was a reminder of my own calling.  I must welcome the other not just to my church or my home or my classroom, but to my heart; I have an obligation, a sacred duty to these four words, a duty to make of my own being a sanctuary, to say


You are welcome here.

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