What's the Question?

Yet another response article to the GA suggests that PC(USA) seminaries will be hurt because of the decisions made by the General Assembly. The focus is different, but the question is the same as all the other articles: "How many will leave?" How many congregations will leave? How many individuals will leave? How many will leave?

And we wring our hands and fret because we don't know "how many will leave." We think we know that it will be bad.

"How many will leave?" is certainly a question. It is not the question. It is a question that walks us down a path of futility and despair even when nothing has happened yet. It is "borrowing trouble" to use my grandmother's phrase. Not only do we borrow, but we pay interest on trouble that is already happening, may not happen, or cannot be stopped at any price. We have fretted over this question for the last 30 years. Our worry has not stopped people leaving our churches.

The question is "How many will come?" How many of the displaced, the unloved, the outcasts in religion or society will hear in this new action, God's invitation to inclusion. How many will come in? Once the gentile population understood that God's love and transforming work was for them and not just for the Jews, the world changed. Ironically, we who are deciding whether to leave or not would not be here had God not flung the doors of inclusiveness wide open for all people, all nations.

I am saddened by those leaving, those who have already gone, and those who will depart. But the question I ask, what I am really interested in, what I eagerly await to see is who will come in. Who will be included? Who will bring new insight into the practice of faith in 2014 and beyond? What understanding will be gained in new conversations and new relationships? What grace will become evident that we couldn't see before?

I'm not spending much time thinking about the question everyone is asking, just long enough to think it's a bad question. I'm spending much time thinking about how to invite those not involved, those who think they are not welcome, those who assume there's a secret code of behavior that they have to know before they enter our doors, those who need to know that I have experienced grace beyond measure and that grace is theirs as well.

I've been taught that one way we evaluate our decisions and behavior is by seeing if we produce the fruit of the Spirit, peace, love, joy, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To see if we achieve that, the only question is, "Who is coming in?"