Devotional Messages

DEVOTIONAL MESSAGE

Our message this week is a personal perspective offered as part of our Open & Affirming Discernment Process.  
Thank you to Jessica Fallon for sharing this testimony with us!

When I think about the atmosphere at Vista La Mesa Christian Church, “Welcoming” is absolutely one of the top feelings that comes to mind. When I get the chance to visit VLM and the tight knit and loving community there, I never feel like an outsider, no matter how long it’s been or how far away I might be. People know my name, people ask about my life, people are always, always happy to see me there, and I am happy to see them. This is incredibly meaningful to me, because when I think about VLM I know that I have a family there, and not just because my mom is a member!

My history and experience with the Christian faith has largely been a very positive one. Much of that comes down to the wonderful people, but a very significant part of that comes from the stated values of the churches that I have chosen to affiliate with. When I was seeking a church home after moving to the Inland Empire, I chose to visit First Christian Church Pomona because they explicitly stated on their public website that they are an Open and Affirming community. This means that they would always welcome members of the LGBTQI+ community as people created in the image of God. On my first visit I saw that they lived this out both in the kindness of being welcoming when I walked in the door, and with their words and stated intent to be Open and Affirming at the start of the service every week.

With the rise of Christian Nationalism in this country and the conflation of human bigotry with what God “wants” from those of us who follow Jesus, it is not possible to ignore that some church communities will not share this value of welcome. In some cases they will even be overtly hostile to anyone that does not fall into the binary norms for sex, gender, and sexual orientation that are so prevalent in human society. Thousands of people who are part of the LGBTQI+ community have been traumatized, with everything that that word implies, by their religious communities. For some of these people, their Christian faith has brought very little to their lives beyond pain and ostracization. I don’t just know this from the media, I know it from my friends that have experienced it personally. One of my friends at FCC Pomona, a gay man, felt his welcome was worn out in his prior faith community when he came out. One of my newest close friends, a trans woman, realized as she continued with her social transition that she was no longer safe at her church. Can you imagine going to church and feeling, not just unwelcome, but unsafe? And the pain that that would bring?

Both of them needed time to heal from this rejection before they felt strong enough to seek out another community, and for as many people that have taken the scary step of investing trust in a new church after this betrayal, there are hundreds more that never attended church again. After all, how could they know that they wouldn’t experience that same rejection and hate at their new church, no matter how nice and kind that church might have seemed on the surface?

It is for this reason that the onus is on us to be explicit in our welcome in every way that we can. Becoming Open and Affirming is a way to say to the LGBTQI+ community: “You will find love and safety here.” This is not because basic kindness isn’t also important – it is!! – but because kindness is not able to tell the whole story about the values we live out in our church. I always want to make sure that I am clear that my welcome has NO conditions regardless of someone’s status or identity. Often the best way to show that love is being willing to wear that value right on my sleeve. It will always be worth it to engage in more ways to show our love, so that those of us that have been so deeply hurt will know where they can find a church home and a family. I am so happy to see VLM take this step, and become even more the community of love and welcome that I have always known it to be.

– Jessica Fallon

grace & peace,
Pastor Rebecca