Yesterday we celebrated Reconciling in Christ Sunday.
We welcomed back the Rev. Tuhina Verma Rasche as our preacher, and she gave us a phrase I haven’t been able to shake since. Again and again, she said it: “Don’t tell me. Show me.”
That’s the thing, isn’t it? It’s easy to say we welcome everyone. It’s printed right there on the cover of our bulletin every single week. But talk is cheap, and the world has heard plenty of churches say “all are welcome” while meaning something narrower. Pastor Tuhina’s challenge cuts through that. Don’t tell me you love your neighbor. Show me. Don’t tell me the table is open. Set a place and mean it.
That is what Reconciling in Christ has always been about. Since 1983, the RIC program has been a public way for Lutheran communities to see, name, celebrate, and advocate for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and gender expressions. Emmanuel became an RIC congregation on September 8, 2019. Yesterday, seven years later, we recommitted ourselves to that promise.
I keep coming back to the litany we prayed together. It didn’t pretend we have this all figured out. It said the quiet part out loud:
“We have not perfected God’s welcome in this place, yet we are thankful that God continues to invite us to try again and again to be the church God has called us to be.”
I love that line, because it’s honest. This is a journey, not a finish line. We get things wrong. We learn. We try again. And we keep going, trusting that God is not done with us yet. The litany named where that journey has to reach, too:
“When justice is denied to any of us, justice is denied to all of us. Until we are all free, none of us are free.”
We are not alone in this work. Emmanuel is one of 1,198 RIC communities across the Lutheran church, with another 302 currently on the journey toward that commitment. That is a lot of congregations deciding that welcome has to be shown, not just spoken.
Here is what I hope you’ll take with you. Showing God’s love doesn’t have to be big or flashy. It rarely is. It’s a real welcome, a real seat at a real table, a real sense that you belong here exactly as you are. When Jesus says “Come and see,” he isn’t checking a list at the door first. That invitation is for everyone.
Before I close, let me say thank you. Thank you, Emmanuel, for being a community willing to do both hard things at once. You show up, and you show that God’s love is for everyone. But you also do the braver thing. You admit we haven’t figured it all out, that there’s still work ahead, and that the welcome we offer can always grow wider. I’m grateful to be your pastor, and I don’t take it for granted.
So let’s keep showing up. Let’s keep showing how God loves. Not just telling, but showing. Come and see!
-Pastor Ethan