Love. Period.
By the Reverend Jacqueline J. Lewis, Ph.D., Senior Minister, Middle Collegiate Church
Pride Sunday is a holiday at Middle Church. Don’t misunderstand—every day we affirm that all of God’s people are awesomely and wonderfully made (Psalm 139), but every year, on Pride Sunday, we gear up to march, sing, dance, and shout down Fifth Avenue in New York City. We know our feet are going to hurt and our faces, too, from smiling and laughing, yet we LOVE Pride Sunday because, to quote the Doobie Brothers, we get to be in the throng of people “takin’ it to the streets.”
What is the “It?” The Collegiate Churches of New York and our partner, Believe Out Loud, took church to the streets last Sunday. Most of us wore hot pink T-shirts that read “Love. Period.” We took love to the streets on Sunday. We held an outdoor worship celebration for hours, sending love into the crowd, bearing witness to our faith that God is on the side of love. We made our faith audible and visible; we believed out loud in justice and equality for LGBTI persons. And it was amazing!
The Collegiate Churches of New York and Believe Out Loud joined love-forces in the march. We had a gospel choir on a float, dancers doing “step” formations, marchers with banners—about 75 marchers in all with a team of 50 caring for the hot and thirsty at a water station at Marble Church. An old spiritual about letting our lights shine and Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” were our “hymns” highlighting our call to be light to and for one another, encouraging love of neighbor along with love of God and self.
I preached at Middle Church that morning in my pink LOVE shirt, but changed into a clerical collar for the march. Here is what happened to this straight, Black married woman, an unapologetic ally to the cause of marriage equality and gay rights. I thought I was at the march to spread love, BUT the love that came shining out to me from the crowd—children, and teens, and parents, and couples, and people in drag—it was SO much love that I wished I could bottle it, hold onto it; it was a light to shine our way to freedom. How delighted they were to see our congregations in the street, outside our doors, symbolizing the Grace of God open to all people, making room for all people, standing, singing, hooting, waving flags. They met our love with even more love.
And while we were taking church to the streets, taking love to the streets and finding it already there, the Reformed Church in America, the denomination founded on the establishment of the Collegiate Churches of New York in 1628, was holding its annual meeting, the General Synod, in which business and spiritual matters are addressed. Like many others, our denomination has been wrestling with what to do about “gay.” Sadly, in this meeting, the delegates of our General Synod decided to pass a resolution in which they claimed “homosexual behavior is a sin.”
I am curious as to why some words in the Bible seem to mean more to so many of us than others. For example, there are words in the Bible about women keeping quiet in church, yet I preach almost every Sunday! There are words in the Bible about slaves obeying their masters, and thank God my ancestors chose instead to work for freedom.
The word sin in Greek is hamartia, which means “to miss the mark.” As we wrestle together about sin, and what God requires of faithful people, here is what I think is important. I believe God is still speaking and that when we listen carefully, even in the complications and disagreements, we should listen to find out how to aim at Love. Love is the mark we do not want to miss. Love. Period.
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Dr. Jacqui Lewis is Senior Minister Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village of Manhattan. Middle Church is a dynamic 750-member multiracial, multicultural, inclusive congregation in which everyone is welcome just as they are as they come through the door. Lewis is also the Executive Director of The Middle Project, an institute that prepares ethical leaders for a more just society.