The Spiritual Discipline of Welcoming

During the sermon on Sunday, I mentioned that one of the ways we can give of ourselves like the boy with the fish and loaves is to bring our energy, excitement, and over-the-top warm welcome to anyone who walks through our doors back to church.  We also discussed being more welcoming at vestry last month, and in this specific case how to be more welcoming to LGBTQ+ children of God who attend with us.  One church member presented to the vestry on the simple act of changing our single-use bathrooms to gender-neutral bathrooms; not only will it be more welcoming to the entire gender spectrum, it will allow everyone to go to the bathroom that is available rather than waiting in a line for your specific gendered facility.  

With this in mind, the vestry has agreed to update our facilities, and change all single-use restroom to gender-neutral ones.  You may see this sign one some of the doors, giving permission for anyone to use that facility regardless of sex and gender- so help yourselves.  The restrooms near the library and choir room will be updated, along with the restrooms in the undercroft.  Multiple-occupancy restrooms, such as those near the community room, will remain as currently designated.  

The office will also now, upon request, add pronouns to the name tags for anyone who wishes to include that information- just let us know and we will get you a new one.  

Whether it is gender, sexuality, race, nation of origin, health condition, mannerisms… you name it- Jesus always saw past that surface level and looked into the soul of the people he met.  He spoke to women at wells, he touched the sick and ostracized, he talked to and healed lepers, he told parables about Samaritans being the good guys- I hope we too can be reminded to always look past the division of the day and see the child of God standing before us.  

Blessings, 
Jesse+ 

More resources that may help in complex topics such as these: 

One quick article that is good for those who are newer to this topic: https://www.weareteachers.com/gender-inclusive-classroom/

Why share pronouns?