Inclusion and the Non-necessity of Categorizing Sin

Within the last day or two, the United Church of Christ (UCC) has launched an advertising campaign entitled "God is Still Speaking." One key component to this new identity campaign is a 30-second television commercial showing a stereotypical church. Outside of the church are bouncers who decide who gets to enter the church and who must leave. A gay couple approach the turnstyles and are turned away by the bouncers who tell them to step aside. A man and woman are, then, allowed through. Next, a minority is turned away, while two caucasian women are allowed to pass. The message of the commercial is that the UCC is an inclusive church that welcomes all people, regardless of race, economic status, or sexual orientation. The kicker is that NBC and CBS have refused to air the commercial on the grounds that it is too controversial. Political ads are controversial, but networks don't refuse to air those. The networks seem to be exercising selective discretion in their advertising. They have no problem airing beer commercials with women in bikinis catfighting, yet they refuse to air the commercials of a church wanting to spread its message of inclusion. This all doesn't quite jive.

The UCC is a progressive Protestant denomination. Not only do they welcome gay people into church membership, but they also ordain gay clergy. Furthermore, they have a ceremony for civil unions between gay couples. However, it extends more than this one issue. The UCC also helps the impoverished people within local communities. While many denominations work at a general level, where the money goes to a central location and is then disbursed, the local UCC congregations take offerings to help local charities within its own community. They ordain women, which may not seem necessarily progressive. However, the denomination is also taking active measures to create a space for women in its theology and its liturgy. A few years ago, it introduced a new hymnal that not only uses gender-neutral terms for God, but also plays upon some of the feminine images of the divine that have been supressed by other mainline denominations. I say all this to show that the issue here is not just about welcoming gays into the church, but creating a space for all people within the church—people who are often overlooked or outright shunned.

Being raised in the Church of the Nazarene, the only response I saw from my church, in terms of homosexuality, was my pastor proclaiming, "Homosexuality is an abomination of the Lord." When not being proclaimed so overtly, the more muted message I heard was, "Hate the sin; love the sinner." The whole notion of homosexuality being a sin is not one of which I am convinced. However, setting that debate aside for the moment, what if homosexuality were a sin? Would a minister loudly proclaiming people to be an abomination really be the "good news" that changes a person? Would linking homosexuals with pornography, child molestation, and sexual perversion really lead to a moment in which they encounter God? As there is a good chance I will soon be studying in a United Methodist institution, I am also aware of their stance. The United Methodist Church claims that it has open doors, open hearts, and open minds. Perhaps this is the case. However, within their denomination's social statements, they do feel the need to state that homosexuality is a sin, but that homosexuals are to be welcomed into the church. Yet once they are in the church, then what? What if they come to church Sunday after Sunday and worship and hear the gospel message and still are not "changed"? In the meantime, when a church such as a Nazarene or Methodist church welcomes gay people into their church is the church really willing to let them attend, as any other member? I find it interesting that a lot of people I know would become not only uncomfortable, but downright outraged, if a gay couple came to church and held hands during the service. On the other hand, they have no real qualms with the unmarried, cohabitating, heterosexual couple holding hands.

What this boils down to is how churches are prepared to respond. Let's say a church believes that homosexuality is a sin, but says, "We need to welcome them in because we can win them over in love." Or let's think about the church that says, "We want gay people to come to our church, as long as they don't act too gay in church." Well, friends, this is not inclusion. Inclusion is saying come as you are--come and we have no ulterior motives behind the hospitality we are showing you. Come and worship with us and experience life together with us, in our community of faith. You, just as you are, are welcomed here. And that is exactly the message the UCC is trying to send out.

I'd like to return to the question, "Is homosexuality a sin?" Really, this could be rewritten, "Is ____ a sin," and you can fill in the blank with whatever action or lifestyle you choose. I think there is very little value in developing general categories of sin and not sin. I am not suggesting that we don't continue to pray, "Search my heart, oh God." We should pray to be refined and to be made holy. However, just as God is the source of salvation, God is also the source of judgment. Regardless of who we encounter, our lives should reflect the love and grace of God. We are to love God and love our neighbors, meaning we are to welcome any and every person in our churches' doors. Here, I am not talking about a generic "Hate the sin; love the sinner." That mantra is an impossiblity, for you cannot separate a person from what he or she does. It is my lies that charactize me as a liar. It is my gossip that charactizes me as a gossiper. No, we need to love people--every single little thing within them. When we do this, I am convinced that God will speak to those who need spoken to, and those who need to respond will respond. Yet we have to be prepared to trust God--to trust that God's grace is bigger than our categories of sin; that God's understanding of the human heart exceeds our finite understanding of humanity. We might be surprised when God chooses to first speak to the person whose gossip and words have torn apart another person's life. It might be alarming to some that God might possibly choose to address those living extravagant lifestyles, using their money for luxury rather than charity. And we have to be ready for the possiblity that God may not speak to every homosexual, or any other person we have already coined a sinner, to change his or her ways. Are we really ready to surrender, admitting that God is God and we are not?

Inclusion is never a bad thing. For when a community of faith gathers together and invokes the name of the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, God will come. God will encounter each person regardless of who we have already determined that person is. To deny anyone the right to worship is not only detrimental to that individual, but it is detrimental to God in that God is hearing less voices of God's children. Let us never be guilty of denying God the worship and praise that is deserved.