There is a fear growing in the church, a fear of a church too colourful. It is not a new fear, it is one that those privileged by the church have faced again and again in the history of the church, but it is becoming pressing. The issue is that our calls for diversity and inclusion are bringing us to a tipping point. There comes a point when a ministry, a church, even a whole denomination crosses that line from repeatedly stating that it wants to be a diverse place inherently inclusive and welcoming and then actually becomes a revolutionary space where the very structures of the world around us are inherently set into chaos and disorder. That point when we move from a space of peaceful homogeneity to a near seizure inducing discotheque worthy light show. The point when a community becomes too colourful.
In the midst of all our good intentions, our hopes and dreams, at our heart most of the privileged in our midst still fear that space. We fear the space that is as much in the control of the colourful as it is of the normative. We realize that if our church becomes too colourful it will no longer be appealing to those who do not want to confront the light show. We want a diversity that seeks to rally around our expectations of conformity, not a diversity that will question and undermine the long held tenants upon which our worldview, and our privilege, depend. A church that is too colourful will by default distance itself from the expected norms of our culture, it will be a foreign space for those who expect affirmation of their best intentions and the status quo because it requires of them a call to humility and a recognizing of their limited world view. This is why the church cannot be too feminine, too queer, to black, to latino, or too so many other things. Ministries may be feminine, queer, black, or latino but a church can never be too any of these things, otherwise it is no longer “welcoming”.
The issue is that the church is not called to be welcoming, the vows of ordained ministry are not ones that call our clergy to welcome all we meet but ones that call us to love all we meet. This means that we must seek to create a space that welcomes those who are disenfranchised, rejected, and unwelcome in the world around us and bring those who are enfranchised, lauded, and welcome in the world around them to see the lack of justice and mercy in the system. This means a church that will leave a good number of those sitting in the pews on Sunday, even in the most progressive of congregations, feeling a touch more than uncomfortable. It means getting the pew sitting wall flowers to jump and jive and wail.
Now this must be done pastorally, this must be done so it causes as little trauma as possible, at no point can shame be used as a motivator, but it has to be done. Dance lessons, a chance to get a feel for the rhythm, the freeing of the inner contained self must be done with care... but at some point one simply has to be faced with the reality that stage fright or no it is time for the floor show. At some point the church must let go of its fear of becoming too colourful and face the reality that it is time to empty itself of its homogeneity. We must enter into a kenosis of our conformity so that there is space for a colourful cacophony of Proclaiming Christ Crucified, such that we can all be transformed, those currently high up laid low and those currently laid low brought up to a road as equitable and justice filled as possible. This means that the ready welcome of some must wane so that the welcome of others may wax.
This is not the easy ask, it is not the ask that we want to hear, but continued queries about how the church may become too feminine, too queer, too black, to latino, or too whatever it currently is not must end. For this to occur the church must place aside all the things that make it too not these things, most of which we inside of it do not even recognize as existing, or even know to be a too much of something. If, however, we are going to maintain ourselves as a space where all may enter and proclaim the work of the crucified God in their lives then it is time to face our fears and become way too coloourful indeed.
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