Radical Welcome

The National Synod of Scotland of the United Reformed Church expresses its vision through a series of affirmations. These are not fixed in stone, but form a moving (and capable of being updated) vision statement. I am exploring these in turn in a series of brief articles. This piece reflects on the third aspiration, which focusses on the radical nature of God’s call and love. As a Synod we believe that God’s radical love includes everyone. We believe that God’s RADICAL love is for everyone regardless of age, gender, sexuality, physical and mental ability, social status, ethnicity. Young people are represented with full voting rights in our councils. We recognise that we are good at putting people into categories, and just how important it is to beyond that. We affirm the need to allow people to be themselves, and look to welcome each person and the gifts that person brings. We value the differences that enhance our communal life and we look to share, for the good of all, the experiences that we each bring because of who we are. We recall the apostle Paul’s use of the image of the body in explaining to the early church the importance of the different contributions that we each are called to make. ‘If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as God chose’ (1 Corinthians 12:17-18). We recognise that, traditionally and historically, the church has not always reflected God’s radical love, and we seek, as God does, to eradicate the barriers that divide us. We remember another indicator provided by Paul, when he wrote to the Christians in the church at Galatia: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus’ (Galatians 3:28). We recognise that Paul would have used different categories if writing today, but value the concept here introduced as we make the translations into a variety of contexts. In particular, we notice that we have not always placed proper value on the contribution of children and young people. We recognise that they are part of today’s church and actively listen and watch for the insights they bring. This kind of radical inclusion of everyone seems to be an obvious gospel principle, reflecting Jesus’ unrestricted companionship for all and sundry, from the Pharisee to the prostitute, but including everyone in between and beyond. However, history and present-day practice demonstrates that it is not so easy, and we are committed to constantly exploring how we might make the ideal a reality. We recognise the need to, as Stephanie Spellers (in her book Radical Welcome) puts it, “ask the hard questions about who’s inside, who’s outside and what it would take to go beyond inclusion to mutual embrace and transformation.” One example of such questions comes in a further comment from Stephanie Spellers. “But who is The Other, the stranger, the one on the margins of your community whom God calls you to embrace and be changed by?”