Open and Affirming

Within the United Church of Christ Open and Affirming (O & A) has a specific meaning: the intentional welcome, affirmation, and inclusion of Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual, and Transgendered folks.  But as I listened to the Senior Sermons presented by six of our youth on Sunday, I heard an expanded definition.  For them, O & A clearly means that BFCC is open and affirming of them, of where they find themselves on their journey at this particular moment in time.  O & A is not just about who you sleep with, but about an attitude of unconditional love.

Each Senior spoke with grace and good humor and alluded to an occasional lapse from perfection; they spoke of their appreciation for the love and acceptance they experienced from one another, from leaders and mentors, and thereby from the church as a whole.  For me the Senior Sermons were less about preaching and more about testimony, which is in many ways a far more profound witness.  Youth Sunday is as close as we will ever get to a Revival Meeting!

I have a feeling that Bellevue First Congregational Church has been working on this expansive definition of open and affirming for a long time.  I find it now without meaning that a few weeks ago in conversation with Nancy Wilson who grew up in this church and later went on to rock and roll fame in the group Heart, told me that the most important value she learned from this church was unconditional love.

Pretty cool.  For over forty years – at least - Bellevue First Congregational Church has shared unconditional love with youth.  Who knows how the world has thereby been transformed?  Ministry, like teaching, often leaves its practitioners with a certain sense of existential angst: “Do we really make a difference?”  Often there is no clear answer to that question, for spiritual formation is a lifetime journey and the results are often not spectacular or obvious, but subtle and unseen.  As Erica Valle reported her dad telling her, the church has such an influence on you that you don’t even know it.  That is one of the most powerful insights I have heard in a long time and a reminder that we must not depend upon a cultural understanding or definition of success.

My own belief is that many in the organized Christian church have sold out to Mammon and that worship often becomes a place to hock Jesus junk or pimp the faith.  So I listen carefully for the Gospel.  What I heard on Sunday were not the values of the Empire of Man, but those of the Kingdom of God.  And those values were inculcated in a raggedy building by an imperfect people … true signs of Kingdom living.

So in spite of the continuing crummy weather, I smile and give thanks to God that I am privileged to be here at Bellevue First Congregational Church.  Thanks kids, for reminding me of the real values of the faith.

See you in church,

kevin