September Note

From Donna Kelly

Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live,

A place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.

Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;

Here the love of Christ shall end divisions:

All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard,

And loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.

Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace,

Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:

All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place. ELW 641

This is one of, if not the number one favorite hymn of mine. In it we proclaim God’s and our love for all people. Those who sit next to us in the pew, watch online. Longtime members, new members; old, young, and in between. Those who look and dress like us, those who don’t. Those who talk like us, those who speak differently. Those who fit our ideal of who a ‘Christian’ is and those who do not. But does what we proclaim in this song match how we welcome? I found this poem on, of all places, TikTok.

     “You got hammered at the bar on Saturday but came to church on Sunday…

     You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

     You’re a drug addict but came to church on Sunday…

     You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

     You’re divorced, and the last church you attended condemned you for it…

     You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

     You’ve had an abortion and it’s slowly eating away at your heart, but you came to church on Sunday…

     You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

     You’ve been unfaithful to your spouse but came to church on Sunday…

     You can sit with me. You’re right where you need to be.

     Here’s the thing, people don’t come to church on Sunday for us to sit in the Pew and quietly judge them because we feel that we’re somehow better than them.

     People come to church because in their deepest, darkest, most painful moments, they heard about a man named Jesus who could save their soul and they’d like to know him.”

     Author unknown

This poem really touched me as I had just gotten back from vacation where I spent ten days with my young niece who is as of today, two months sober. Each night as I drove her to her meeting and picked her up two hours later, we talked about her addiction and how it had affected her life and what sobriety meant to her. And as I read this I wondered, if someone came to worship looking as rough and tattooed as she did, how many would say to her, “You can sit with me, you’re right where you need to be”. Would I? Would you?

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners. “ Mark 2:17

Donna Kelly

Email Donna:  donna@sotpmail.com