The Christian Church started soon after Christ was killed, around 35 A.D. After Jesus’ resurrection, he left to go back to heaven. Then, the disciples and others began to tell the story of Jesus to the world, inviting people to be part of a community that loves and accepts everyone. It was their orientation to life, because they believed that was the message of Jesus. No judgment, only love and compassion.
Where has the church gone wrong? At the beginning of the church, it was mostly people from the Jewish tradition that saw God doing a new thing in Jesus. By the beginning of the second century, the Gentiles, Greeks and everyone else, who felt a loving acceptance into the Kingdom of God, began to push Jewish people out of the church. This might have been the start of the anti-Semitism that has been a terrible blot on the history of the church. So, the people that Jesus had intended to experience the love of God, turned the invitation around, to find no room for others. Everyone was invited to the Great Banquet, but we locked doors to some, who we thought should not sit down next to us at the table. We have sinned.
Around 312 A.D. (or C.E.) Constantine, the Emperor of the Roman Empire, legalized Christianity. He had become a Christian a little bit earlier in his life, and decided it was good for everyone. You had no choice in the matter. If you were born a citizen of the Empire, you were also a Christian. We are all about freedom of choice in our life now; we would never go for it. No one is going to tell me what to believe or where to go to worship, or not worship. Jesus’ community became the community of the Empire. Bishops were set up, and they answered not only to Christ, but also to the Emperor. Who do you think won most of the arguments?
Since the Reformation, the Protestants have divided into many hundreds of small groups. Mennonites have a long history of division within our small group. We emphasize peace, but we have often found it difficult to get along with each other. We say that we want to be more open, but often each of our conservative or liberal groups end up with more stringent entrance requirements.
We do not know what to do with people outside the box, of Christian faith and tradition. We go very quickly to who is in, and who is out. People want to belong in their communities. Why can we not welcome everybody to the community? Sometimes people ask me, “What does Floradale Mennonite believe?“ I think people ask me this because I am seen as the gatekeeper of the church. I am not going to decide who is able to enter the door. I relate to probably 350 people as pastor, and they are a diverse group of dynamic people, who are trying their best together, to live out Kingdom of God values. We are not a static group. We are at various places on the theological perspective.
But we want to be caring and compassionate people of God. We came together this week to surround a grieving husband, when he had to deal with the accidental death of his wife. We want to be loving to him at this difficult time, but we also want to extend that kind of love to everyone who comes in our door, and whom we meet every day.
We are not quite there yet. I am not yet there, as a pastor and a member of this community. But, it is what God, through Jesus, wants us to be. Be inspired to welcome all the world into the life of the church. Now, rather than tomorrow.
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