In dealing with the situation of the Jewish Exiles coming home to Jerusalem from Babylon, Walter Brueggemann uses Isaiah to offer us a word about welcome. He will have five accent points to help us consider our own thinking about the future of the church. I will spend a few days on #1.
He continues by setting up this important notion of the reality of exile and how the "homegrown props of established society are now largely gone"....and "that reality of loss generates enormous, amorphous anxiety among us.
Thus, I propose that the church is now God's agent for gathering exiles of which I can think immediately of two groups. First, there are those exiles who have been made exiles by the force of our society, those who are rejected, ostracized, and labeled as outsiders. This, of course, includes the poor, and inevitably we would also think in one way or another of gays and lesbians. We have and exile-producing culture that displaces some folk who are variously visible and vocal among us. But second, after the obviously excluded, I suggest that the category of "exile" also include those whom the world may judge normal, conventional, establishment types. For the truth is that the large failure of old values and old institutions causes many people to experience themselves as displaced people...anxious, under threat, vigilant, ill at ease, and so in pursuit of safety and stability and well-being that is not on the horizons of contemporary society. It is not obvious among us how the dream of well-being can come to fruition among us.
Wow. When he throws the net out in order to bring folk home, he throws it out. This second group of people is one of the best ways of describing the anxiety and fear within our society and church. For many reasons, some folks have been left behind and unable to deal with how we are moving into the present and setting our eyes on the dreams of a new age of grace. It is not wonder that we are so at odds when it comes to discussions about gay and lesbians in the church. One group has been pushed out and the other group has is unsure of what it is that keep us all afloat. That is a legitimate concern. And yet, the only way to become a community of hope is to walk together through this great gap that is between us.
Both side, as Brueggemann suggests, seem to be wounded. The wounds may be different but we are still wounded people who long for the saving grace of our God to establish this blessed Home. In the present, it is difficult for some people to see how we can be the Church if we make changes in regard to who can be among us - especially if it changes the way we have walked for so long. Then again, even after a long period of time, we must remember that God's Reign continues to unfold and become known to us in new ways that keep us grounded in this God who gathers and call us out into a new dimension of life that is not a mere reflection of the world and its powers as they go on their way. We live in a community that needs this tension...a tension that demand honesty, faithfulness, and a love that is generated from our God who saves us - all.
Connection: So we must remember that there are two side...at least two sides. The day will be filled with two or more sides. All sides are longing for life. What we must look at today is whether life is grasped at the expense of the "other" or is this life something we all work toward together.
Come, O Lord of All Life. Come and help us to face our fears and everything that attempts to break us down and separate us. When we come up with the best reasons for excluding the other side, draw us into the vision of your love and remind us to walk prayerfully forward into this day. Amen.
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