Building Bridges Wherever Possible

On Sunday, July 4, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church was preached a sermon in the Diocese of Brisbane, in Australia. Her sermon was based on 2 Kings 5:1-14, the story of Naaman, the Gentile, who was cured of leprosy in the River Jordan by Elisha the prophet. Her words are so relevant for the church today, that I quote her here:

Our communities are still pretty well divided up between the haves and the have nots, the white and those of darker hue, the straight and those who aren't. Yet we're all meant to cross over those boundaries that keep some enslaved to others' definitions. We are all invited to bathe in the river of freedom, to be washed clean of the shame of thinking that some are different enough to be pushed out of the community, away from the feast God has set from the beginning of creation.

That's at least partly what Jesus is telling his followers when he sends them out. . . . Go and proclaim peace. Eat with anybody who offers to share a meal, offer healing to anyone who's hurting, and tell them that God is near. And if you aren't accepted, don't fuss, just move on and try the next person. Healing and reconciling need our active labor and participation. Disciples are supposed to build bridges wherever possible.

There is at least one sort of division that your context and mine share – between the inside and the outside of the church. There are growing numbers of people who think that Christians are bigots, hypocrites, and uninterested in those who differ from them. The only real way to cross over that boundary is to leave these communities of safety and go on out there to find those who think we're unclean. We're going to have to wade into the river, even if, like the Brisbane, it does have a few bull sharks in it. There are far more dangerous creatures walking around on both banks. It's past time to go swimming.

In so many ways, we in the church have become too institutionally and internally focused. We deal with our own issues to the exclusion of what is going on in the world around us. Confused and concerned about dropping attendance and participation in our churches, we fail to engage and listen to the people who seek God but won't walk through our doors.

"Disciples are supposed to build bridges wherever possible." Amen to that!

Now, how am I going to do that?