Recent conversations - experiences

Over the past two weeks or so I have been continually reminded of the importance of hospitality and welcoming within the faith community. Sadly these reminders haven't been, "Yes, we're doing it!" Rather they have been the kind of experiences that we wish we never experienced, much less brought somone else to experience. I thought I would share some of these with you, and then my current reflection on our call to welcome and live our call to hospitality.

So, this past week many of the internship supervisors were here to interview for the 2007-2008 internship year. It was great to meet up with my former supervisor again, have a drink, and share some new things with each other. Also through this experience I was able to have a conversation (albeit short) with a pastor whom I met in my first year here at Trinity. I saw this pastor at lunch and stopped by to say hello, while he/she was amidst a conversation. He/she was basically saying that the Lutheran church's new hymnal the ELW was a waste of time, money, and just another indication that the Lutheran church has 'sold out' and lost our way and our mission as a people. He/she said that a "church that needs to have a hymnal to proclaim who they are is dying. It is like we are saying 'To be a Lutheran is to have this hymnal and the liturgies in it.'" I told him/her that I didn't disagree with everything he/she said about the ELW but that to say that the new hymn book and the use of the corporate liturgy is a selling out and a loss of mission was way off. I said that our liturgies are a part of who we have been, who we are, and who we will be - and to completely just trash that to 'attract' folks may indeed be exactly the selling out that he/she was lamenting about. Well, I had to go and the conversation stayed pretty much there - which is sad because I really am passionate about our worship being authentic, historic, and current all at once.

My second experience was at a local congregation. The worship service was great, but I was on the outside. The bulletin assumed too many things for the worshipers, and for one who is not of this tradition - well, I was lost. I, the one training to be a pastor, who has grown up in the church, and has wandered through many churches in my days, I was lost. I was shuffling the bulletin, flipping pages in the hymnal, and just looking around for someone who might help. At one point I just closed the pages and focused on what was being spoken - I participated by listening.

I have also been in much reading and thinking regarding young adults in the church, and much of the current post-modern movement. Many young adults who come to the church, they don't feel welcome. There is often no place for their full contribution and participation. There is often assumed knowlege that locks people out of the community if they don't 'possess' it. Do a quick scan of blogs authored by young adults and you will find reflections and ponderings that speak to this sense of being on the outs, this sense of hypocrisy that is felt and experienced by the church, which at its very core should be wholly and fully welcoming.

To be continued...