Dearly Beloved,
No, it's not Wednesday, but I figure better late than not at all!
I don't know about for you, but this season of Lenten Seeking has grabbed me by the heart, and I can feel my spirit being immersed in the questions. Not the most comfortable place, but a place of learning, growth and wisdom.
One of the ways that we are being invited to seek in this time came from a member of our congregation in their letter to the church Board asking that the Board consider what the American flag symbolizes for different people. I have spoken with a small handful of you who have some concerns, and I am certain those concerns (and hopefully some curiosity, too!) are shared by many more.
I want to offer some clarification and perspective on this letter.
1) No one is suggesting that we remove the American or Christian flag from our sanctuary.
If nothing else, I want to make sure you understand this.
You may have noticed last Sunday that the American flag and Christian flags were both in the back of the sanctuary. I apologize for that -- in my haste to prepare our sanctuary for Lent: to drape the wooden cross, to set the prayer table with candles, to ensure the altar is inviting and beautiful and the pulpit well placed, I failed to move the flags back up to the chancel area. This was not done intentionally. It was an oversight that I now realize caused a number of you pain and worry. I am so sorry. Please forgive me. I am grateful to those who moved the flags back to the chancel area. Thank you.
2) The letter to the Board invites us to curiosity and wonder -- to seeking.
It invites us to get curious about the symbols we have in our sanctuary, specifically in this case, the American flag. What does the American flag mean to you? What does it mean for you to have it in our sanctuary? What does it mean to other people? Our congregation has a wide range of feelings about the flag in general and about it in the sanctuary in particular. A number of these perspectives are represented in the letter received by the Board.
Having different opinions and experiences is not a bad thing -- in fact, it highlights the beautiful diversity of our congregation. Each of our experiences can be true and valid without invalidating the very real experiences of others. God calls us to hold the paradox of these different experiences with curiosity, wonder, gentleness, respect, and love.
3) The letter was sent in love, trust, and hope.
It is a sign of a healthy congregation that people in our community -- especially newer people -- trust us enough to share viewpoints that they know will be controversial!
The member who sent this letter to the Board has shared openly about their experience of being hurt by churches in the past -- being told that they were welcome but very much experiencing that their questions, voice, experience, wisdom and gifts were neither welcome nor valued. In fact, they were often taught that these very questions were signs of sinfulness and separation from God.
That this individual had the courage to send this letter to the Board is a clear sign of their trust in our congregation -- in us! in you and me! -- and their trepidatious hope that here their questions and experiences will be held with respect and love especially when we don't all share those questions or experiences. Especially when their perspective may differ dramatically from our own assumptions and experiences.
God's beloved, my beloved church, I trust that we will respond to this letter and to one another's questions and emotions with prayerful kindness, curiosity and love. I trust that we will seek to listen to each other deeply even as we seek to share honestly about our own experiences and view points. I trust that in this, as in all things, we will strive to walk together in God's spirit of love and humility -- open to learning about and from one another.
Why do I trust these things? Because I have watched us -- I have watched you! -- do them over and over again! Because I have learned about prayerful kindness, curiosity and love FROM YOU! And because we are a faith community that wrestles, like Jacob did, with God and one another, and we consistently come out the other end, maybe limping a little, but also blessed, also clearer about who and whose we are.
I am humbled to do ministry with each of you. And I look forward to having many more difficult -- even painful -- conversations with you, my church family.
In love and deep gratitude,
Thandiwe
