Inclusive, Extravagant Welcome

Thanks to MN Conference UCC’s, Rev. Kelly Gallagher, for sharing this seasonal reflection on inclusivity – and Great Idea for living into the Christmas Story.

Gallagher invites us into the diversity and cat-herding joy that is Christmas Pageants, sharing her love for ‘the wide cast of characters who are brought together – a harbinger for the inclusive, extravagant welcome that would be the life and ministry of Jesus’, noting that ‘everyone is called and welcomed… from far and wide… rural folk and urban folk…the wealthy and the poor’ and that for almost all of these people, ‘life goes on, babies are born, animals are fed, travelers continue their journey. Never are we led to believe that the birth of this child was (or is) going to make us all alike, doing or thinking the same things, believing and living in the same way’.

And so, reflects Rev. Gallagher, ‘The birth of Jesus, and the performance of the pageants, reminds us that actually we can all come together from our separate lives and ways of being to celebrate the love of God – and to maybe see one another through that love.’

She then shares a story from MPR, ‘about two churches here in Minnesota whose members are very different from one another’. These congregations have gotten together several times over the past year to talk about all sorts of things – including politics – in an intentional effort to break down stigmas, break through barriers of understanding, and get to know one another – in short, to see one another through God’s love.

Gallagher invites congregations to consider holding similar conversations.

The Ministry Lab has two toolkits ready to support you – and unlimited free consultation (for member congregations) in implementing those toolkits.

Please let us know if we can support you in incorporating Graceful Conversations: Building Arcs across Divided Perspectives AND/OR Courageous Spaces: Congregations that Listen, Lament, & Repair.

Read Rev. Gallagher’s full post here.

Read the MPR article here.