“There’s no audition for true love. No matter what, you don’t have to earn it. If you’ve ever felt like an outcast, there’s good news if you’ve never heard it: God so loved the world He never left you out of it.”
-“Whosoever,” Rend Collective
PASTOR KORY — When I was in high school, our praise band would play songs with themes similar to Rend Collective’s “Whosoever” or Crowder’s “Come as You Are,” and I remember fiercely agreeing with those messages because they gave me the permission structure I needed to wear jeans to church. I’m not sure when I finally clued into the fact that those songs might be about more than Sunday morning wardrobe, but I know that my time at Purdue, Wesley Foundation, and First Church was critical to broadening my perspective. I was fortunate enough to be around when First Church voted to become a Reconciling Ministry and to see how much it meant to the people who spearheaded that process. Since then, FUMC has continued to expand the ways that we form connections with those whom the Church has traditionally marginalized. And yet, the work is far from complete.
This is a big year for United Methodists as the General Conference convenes in April. It is difficult to forecast what might happen at General Conference this year, but I see reason for hope in the things that have unfolded here in Indiana. At last year’s Annual Conference, resolutions were brought forward in support of the LBTQIA + community and clergy who identify with that community, and in support of removing discriminatory and harmful policies from the Book of Discipline. Much to my surprise, these resolutions passed with an overwhelming majority! I think this support of the inclusive movement in Indiana can be attributed to a couple of things:
1. The churches who disaffiliated, largely over issues of inclusion, lost their ability to participate by leaving the denomination which tipped the scales in our favor.
2. The Room For All Coalition (www.roomforallin.org/), through their organization and advocacy, have created a grassroots movement that connected the people who care about these issues so that their energy can all be channeled in the same direction.
The other thing that gives me hope in the long term is the next generation of leaders who are waiting in the wings. I have had the privilege of joining conversations with youth and young adults who are stepping up to begin to answer the call that God has placed on their lives, and these young people are so passionate, empathetic, and hungry for change that I don’t believe anything is going to stand in their way. It is exactly that kind of energy that gives me hope for where our denomination is headed. Thanks to the enthusiasm of those who are champing at the bit to take the reins, I feel that progress is inevitable, even if it won’t be immediate.
To close, I want to share one of the ideas that came out of a Room For All discussion this past year: those who are marginalized do not need allies, they need accomplices. They need people who have skin in the game. They need people who will roll up their sleeves and do the work that fosters equity in our systems. That is what makes what we do at First Church so important. We are not afraid to live our faith out loud, to show up where we are needed, to ask hard questions, to advocate for change, and to speak out against injustice.
I pray that we continue to find ways to live into that calling from God until every outsider is brought into the fold, whosoever.
Amen,
Pastor Kory
0 Comments