All In- Rev. Wendy McCormick
“All In” Rev Wendy McCormick. First Presbyterian Church – Granville
May 5, 2024
Who’s in and who’s out is a question as old as the church. If you got most of your Bible education in Sunday School as a young person, you may be less familiar with the Peter and Cornelius story. It’s wildly dramatic. That wonderful image of the four-cornered sheet lowering down, full of animals and birds and reptiles could be as fun as the Noah’s ark story, but it’s all so complicated to explain. Ancient dietary laws and how following them was tied to faith, how it did – and does – help God’s chosen people to set themselves apart.
But this amazing little story in the earliest days of the church changes everything: “You yourselves know that it is unlawful for a Jew to associate with or to visit a Gentile,” Peter tells Cornelius; “but God has shown me that I should not call anyone profane or unclean.” And then he sums it up: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality.” There it is. Book of Acts. First century. Wonderful dramatic story of visions and dreams and trances that leads to a most unlikely meeting of the Jew and early church leader Peter with the Gentile and Roman centurion Cornelius.
That should take care of it, shouldn’t it? Nearly 2000 years ago. That should have put an end to every form of exclusion when it came to church.
But the church – which means people – church people – those calling themselves God-fearing followers of Jesus – those invoking the favor of God for all eternity – church people have continued to exclude in the name of God in nearly every way imaginable. Up to our very own time.
Racial prejudice separated American Christians for generations. It’s no longer socially acceptable, but that heritage is the primary reason that our churches are racially segregated to this day. We grew up differently. That was the original design. And not just race, there has also been ethnic prejudice. I once worked with closely with a Presbyterian elder in the Terre Haute, Indiana area. He had a recognizably Italian last name, and his family had been established Presbyterians in the area for over a hundred years. I was curious about how that happened that there are so many Presbyterians of Italian heritage in that area. . . . . and my friend told me that when the Italians began to emigrate to west central Indiana in the early 20th century they were excluded from the Catholic Church because of their ethnicity. But the children were welcomed in the Presbyterian Sunday School. I felt proud, but of course exclusion continues.
There actually seems to be something in us that enjoys leaving people out.
And even doing it in the name of God. It’s insidious.
This week our United Methodist friends made international news when as a denomination they officially put an end to what may be the last acceptable prejudice in the Christian Church, the last acceptable exclusion in the name of God: that of LGBTQ people.
Oh yes, those who exclude can quote scripture. So could those who supported slavery and those who supported church segregation and those who supported ethnic exclusion. So can those who still insist it is sinful for women to lead in the church. They can quote scripture. And they aren’t interested in scripture that says something else. They aren’t interested in discerning how the overall biblical message of God’s love for all people helps us make sense of the variety of different messages we can find throughout the whole Bible.
I rejoice with our Methodist friends over this decision, and I hope you do too. I also mourn with them the damage that has already been done, and I hope you do too.
And I remind you that we’re all in the same boat. It was only a few years ago that the same thing was going on in our own beloved Presbyterian Church USA. Like our Methodist cousins, about a 50-year battle with a lot of carnage and hurt along the way. People withholding money to get their way. Churches saying nothing for fear of offending those who have a “right” to their prejudice. And lots of congregations leaving the denomination especially when the issue was put to rest from a church constitution and policy point of view. In case you don’t recall, the Presbyterians – quote – settled – this issue by saying that individual congregations can choose who to ordain as elders and deacons and which marriages they will allow in their buildings – and individual presbyteries can choose who they will ordain as clergy. It actually left the door wide open for those who want to continue to exclude even as it opened the door for those who had long been constrained by church law from showing no partiality. It’s not like every Presbyterian church suddenly flung their doors wide open.
What our Methodist friends have done is similar. We can pat ourselves on the back and we can welcome our Methodist friends to this side, but let’s not forget that while changing the rules is an important step, it’s only one step.
It wasn’t enough for Peter to have a vision and a message from God and then accept in the abstract that God shows no partiality. To say that those who want to show no partiality – those who are into that sort of thing – well, that’s their option. To each his own, and all that.
No, Peter had to meet Cornelius and his people face to face, all gathered together. Meet them on their turf, hear their story, and only then did he put two and two together what God had been saying in that vision.
And, my friends, this is where we are. It will not be enough to say to ourselves, well, that’s taken care of. It will not be enough to tell ourselves that should any LGBTQ person find their way here, we will not turn them away.
If we believe God shows no partiality, if God has shown us we should not call any person profane or unclean, then we need to leave our comfort zones and travel to new places, so to speak, as Peter did when he went to meet Cornelius.
We Presbyterians and Methodists are small in number compared to all Christians everywhere. And the overriding message on behalf of the Church of Jesus Christ is still so exclusive, so partial, so hurtful. We Presbyterians in central Ohio support a campus ministry at Ohio State in Columbus called Jacob’s Porch. Jacob’s Porch is one of sixty Christian organizations registered on campus. It is one of two that welcomes LGBTQ students. Let that sink in. Thank God for Jacob’s Porch, but if we believe that God shows no partiality, we have to join them in speaking up.
I probably don’t have to tell you that mental illness and suicide are significantly higher among LGBTQ youth and young adults than their peers. That alone should break our hearts and stiffen our spines. The price of partiality and exclusion is high. It is life and death. If you do not personally know someone who has a story to tell of how they have been hurt in the name of Jesus because of who they are, then ask around or google it – the stories are legion.
We can’t just be content in the knowledge that we aren’t like that. Even though we ourselves didn’t do it, God needs us – Jesus needs us – to stand up for a church that shows no partiality, a church that knows God calls no one profane or unclean.
This is fundamentally about offering a counter message to the culturally dominant – that is, the loudest – Christian message in our society.
And that matters for our LGBTQ friends and neighbors and family members. But it also matters for our future as a church, and here’s why. Several generations of young people now have learned from the dominant Christian voices that being Christian is fundamentally about intolerance: particularly intolerance of LGBTQ people and intolerance of other religions, in the name of God.
Dear GranPres, I hear you. They did not learn that here. And thank God for that. But here’s the thing. We can’t sit passively in here quietly saying God shows no partiality and all are welcome. We have to speak up. Not just as a church, though that is important. You and I have to speak up in those one-on-one encounters that happen every day in this society. We have to find the courage to say and do the right thing. Remember that “What would Jesus do” fad? Well, what would Jesus do when someone you work with makes an anti-LGBTQ slur? What would Jesus do when an impressionable and vulnerable young person is told by some Christian leader – perhaps at school -- that God has rejected her – forever?
Ask our kids what they are hearing from their friends and from the Christian leaders that are in their schools. Twenty years ago kids from my church were told by their friends at school that they were going to hell because they went to church with a woman preacher. Today their LGBTQ friends hear that they are the ones going to hell.
And if you don’t have middle and high school kids to listen to, then listen to what your friends and neighbors and co-workers are saying. If we believe God with Peter that our minds can be changed, if we believe that God shows no partiality and that God’s heart breaks at LGBTQ people being told their existence is a moral failure – or worse, then we need to get up and go to Joppa. In other words, stand up, speak up. We are not just called to take passive pride in being part of a denomination that no longer perpetuates fear and hatred of LGBTQ people. It wasn’t enough for Peter to tuck that vision away as a lesson that God loves everyone. He had to get up and go to Joppa. He had to speak up on behalf of God and the Church of Jesus Christ against bigotry and exclusion. He had to meet someone who had been left out. Peter travelled to Joppa. We don’t have to go even that far. The last acceptable prejudice is alive and well all around us.
Thank God for those who Presbyterians and United Methodists who persevered on behalf of all of us to open doors that show no partiality. But just like racism still exists even though we no longer say it was God’s idea, this last acceptable prejudice will not evaporate on its own. So come again to the table of the one who shows no partiality. Like Peter’s vision, imagine gathering at this table with those who have been hurt and broken by Christianity. And pray that you and I will be strengthened here to feed those who are still being starved of God’s love. Amen.
