Real Inclusion

I have just returned from "The Time is Now" conference sponsored by the UUA in Arlington, Virginia. It was wonderful to be in a room with over a hundred Unitarian Universalists from many places all dreaming of the day when our movement would have demographics resembling those of the lands it inhabits. Of course, we were speaking mostly of our United States congregations, which could be much more diverse, and I'm the one dreaming of the world beyond those national borders. Even the word "welcome" came under scrutiny: if there's a "we" welcoming "you" and "your kind", are you really inside? or just visiting? Are you able to gain citizenship in a UU congregation with your dark skin, Asian features, Hispanic accent? It needs to be the kind of welcome table where when everybody sits down, anyone at the table can spread the welcome for anyone else.

I came home a day early to lead worship at my own church. Afterward, I found myself talking with a couple of parishioners over lunch about matters of welcome. We spoke of the improved process the church is working on for integrating newcomers into the life of the congregation. We've been repelling visitors, as Peter Morales would say, by not following up in a friendly and consistent way to draw them in. That's everybody, not just the kind of special identified groups we talked about at the conference. Yes, there needs to be intentional outreach to all kinds of newcomers, special and not. We need to spread a welcome that draws them into the processes of the church, gets them through the nurture of Adult Enrichment programs and Small Group Ministries and onto the Hospitality Committee, the Worship and Music Committees, the Social Activities Committee, into places where all kinds of newcomers become all kinds of active church participants, citizens of the place who in turn offer welcome to others.

Once all kinds of people sit down together, the table changes. People bring individual gifts, the flavor of their own ways of being in the world, their own ways of expressing faith. Recovering Catholics have added their flavor and their culture of our congregation in recent years. And in appreciating those gifts and that flavor, the culture of the congregation has changed a bit. Who's next? We all reach out to one another, energized by that special something between us that arises because we are congregation together. Getting the "who's next?" started may take a little attention, but I'm confident in the processes of this congregation, confident that there will be no permanent guests, unless the people involved choose that status.

Some things stay the same, for we do have a faith tradition here. But some things change, because the faith tradition has everything to do with people appreciating one another, learning from one another, becoming their own best selves together.