“Marvelously Set Apart” Colchester Federated Church, June 2, 2024, Welcoming, Open, and Affirming Sunday (Psalm 139: 1-6, 13-18)

UCC Minister Lillian Daniel once reflected on the Christian practice of hospitality.  The church she was serving desperately needed new members to keep the doors open.  Two men named Tim and Jack visited on her first Sunday there.  And they introduced themselves to folks at coffee hour as partners.  The response from one of the older women was, “And what kind of business are you two in?”  Jack and Tim shrugged it off and kindly explained their two separate jobs.  The elderly woman concluded to her pastor, “perhaps they’re in investments.”[1]

Daniel decided to visit Tim and Jack at their home and speak to them about the church.  She blurted out in this incredibly awkward visit that though the church didn’t have many gay members, they desperately needed new members.  She explained the church as she dreamed it would be, as “a place where all people would be welcome and God’s grace would abound.”[2]  Tim and Jack listened politely and said they had talked about it and prayed about it, and wanted to be part of this community of faith.  Further, they felt a particular calling that their ministry in the church could be a ministry of hospitality. 

In their first year at the church, Tim and Jack decided to throw an Epiphany party at their home.  Daniel was worried sick, hoping that the couple’s hospitality would be accepted, praying that the flock would show up for these two men who were putting themselves out there (and who were maybe denied hospitality from the Church in the past).  It ended up that the older members arranged to go to the party together on that chilly winter’s night.  They wore their Sunday’s best and balanced their tea sandwiches with grace and ease.  The elders in the church appreciated all the care Tim and Jack put into the party, down to the beautiful table setting and the doilies under the cookies.  One of the women remarked, “Now this is a party the way we used to do them.” 

Daniel concluded that on that Epiphany night hospitality went many ways, “our hosts invited us into their lives and their world.  The church accepted the invitation, which in turn invited Jack and Tim deeper into the church’s life.  But first God makes the invitations, when we take a moment to welcome a newcomer, when we make an awkward visit, when we serve a cup of tea, when we entertain angels unawares.”[3]

So, beloved congregation, what is the invitation God is making to our congregation here at Colchester Federated Church? 

That is a good question for all of us to ponder.  Because today is Welcoming, Open, and Affirming Sunday.  May 5th marked eleven years for our congregation holding this designation in the American Baptist Churches (we are a Welcoming and Affirming Church) and in the United Church of Christ (we are an Open and Affirming Church).  Let’s face it, these are churchy terms and designations.  Wonderful designations to be sure, but it may be too “inside baseball.”  This is why churches are encouraged to be public about our beliefs—to use language and symbols that people outside the institution of the Church can understand when we say that everyone is welcome.  Because no church says outright that people aren’t welcome.  Hence Sundays like Welcoming, Open, and Affirming Sunday taking place during Pride month—as a way for churches to better let our lights shine.

For those who are newer to our congregation (me included, because this process predates my arrival to Colchester), what this all means is that the congregation who was present here at CFC eleven years ago did some intentional studying and praying and teaching and listening.  A team was formed to help our congregation have healthy dialogue about what it would mean to become a Welcoming, Open, and Affirming Church.  Could any of you who served on that Team (who might be present here today) please stand so that we can thank you?  Thank you!

Eventually Colchester Federated Church’s Welcoming, Open, and Affirming Statement was crafted and edited.  Our congregation voted to formally adopt the statement and make the extravagant welcome for all people official on May 5, 2013 at a congregational meeting.  Our congregation proclaimed that all people are created in God’s image.  Thus, all people are loved and blessed equally by God.  The congregation affirmed that they took seriously Jesus’ teaching to love God, to love our neighbors, and to love ourselves.  For the greatest commandment Jesus taught his followers is this commandment to love one and all—no exceptions. 

The congregation further invited all who seek to follow Jesus into the full life of our church, ministry, leadership, worship, sacraments, rites, and fellowship.  When the congregation said all in the statement—some groups (let’s face it, some groups that have been historically marginalized within the walls of the Christian Church) were specifically named: all persons of every gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression; as well as all ages, races, nationalities, mental and physical ability, family structure, and social and economic status.

The formal Welcoming, Open and Affirming Statement ends by sharing that Jesus taught us to welcome all people into God’s covenantal community.  We can celebrate the diversity in which God has created us.  And the statement concludes with prayer—that together, we may, by this public declaration, follow the example of God’s love for all, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and in Jesus’ name.  Amen!

This statement adopted by congregational vote eleven years ago is still wonderful.  And, the work is not done.  The work is never really done—it is unending.  It’s not like we as Christians graduate from the work of justice.  Or that the call to hospitality and welcome ends once a few people come to the table. 

Because we live in a world where people are continually dehumanized for how they look and express themselves and their age and their level of education and their family make-up and who they love.  We are hopefully always a welcoming and safe place in Colchester for people to be authentically who they are and a place for people to know and truly feel that God loves them for who they are.  Though the work of welcome and inclusion and true celebration of the diversity in which God created us continues.  That’s why it’s important to sometimes have conversations and take stock and discern where God is inviting us to go next.  What is the next faithful step as an Open and Affirming congregation (the only one) in Colchester, Connecticut in 2024?  (This question is not intended to be solved and answered today, though it may be worth considering).

As we do so, we can look to the words of the Psalmist for inspiration.  Our lectionary text comes from Psalm 139.  The Psalmist declared that God is the one who created our innermost parts.  God knit us together when we were still in our mother’s wombs.  God marvelously set us apart.  In the New Revised Standard Version, Psalm 139 is entitled “the inescapable God.”  That is not meant to sound ominous or anything!  It’s uplifting and encouraging.  The truth is that despite any mask that we may wear out in public, God knows us fully (and loves us fully).  “Lord, you have examined me.  You know me.”[4]

Psalm 139 depicts the Psalmist mentally wandering through locations and situations.  Whether sitting down or standing up, from far away, traveling and resting, front and back, up to heaven, down to the grave, flying on the wings of dawn, stopping to rest on the far side of the ocean, in the womb of our mothers, in our bones and secret places—when you and I were knit together in the wombs of our mothers and woven together in the deep parts of the earth, God was and is there with us.  All of us.  Everyone. 

There’s nowhere we can go where we can hide from God.  Because there’s nowhere we can go where God is not.  The Psalmist expresses gratitude for it all, “I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart.  Your works are wonderful—I know that very well.”[5]  Every single person is created in God’s image.  Every single person is loved and blessed equally by God.  How marvelous indeed.  Let’s remember and be grateful this day.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.

[1] Lillian Daniel and Martin Copenhaver, This Odd and Wondrous Calling: The Public and Private Lives of Two Ministers, 21.
[2] Daniel and Copenhaver, This Odd and Wondrous Calling, 25.
[3] Daniel and Copenhaver, This Odd and Wondrous Calling, 25.
[4] Psalm 139:1, CEB.
[5] Psalm 139:14.

Photo by Yoav Hornung on Unsplash