In her book Radical Welcome, Embracing God, The Other, and the Spirit of Transformation,15th Edition, the Rev. Canon Stephanie Spellers defines “radical welcome,” in part as follows:
Radical welcome is first and foremost a spiritual practice. It combines
the Christian ministry of welcome and hospitality with a faithful
commitment to doing the theological, spiritual and systemic work to
eliminate historic, systemic barriers that deny the genuine embrace of
groups often oppressed and marginalized in mainline churches. (pg. xvi)
Canon Spellers who served as Presiding Bishop Michael Curry’s Canon for Evangelism, Reconciliation, and Creation Care, and recently called to lead St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco, an innovative ministry in the Episcopal Diocese of California, has studied and written about what radical welcome really entails for over 20 years. Noting that the term “welcome” by itself can connote the dynamics of inside and outside (we welcome you), by putting it in the context of a spiritual practice, it calls upon us to see welcome as more than letting people know they can come be with us, and prayerfully and faithfully see how together we can make God’s presence in the world more tangible.
This week at the Cathedral with the Light Up the Cathedral for Pride service on Wednesday and then participation in the Pride Parade with some 250,000 of our neighbors, is a wonderful example of radical welcome lived out. For many in the LGBTQ+ community, church has not only not been welcoming, it has been a source of hurt and dismissal of their God given humanity.
During Pride week, people from the LGBTQ+ community, along with allies, are both invited in, so together we can show a vision of what God’s kingdom looks like, and we in turn participate with them in the larger witness of showing (and sharing) God’s love. This allows for a transformation of all that might never happen, very likely wouldn’t happen, without this holy mix of people, perspectives and hope.
This week is both a joy and a challenge, in a good way, to find ways to live out radical welcome. I invite us all to participate in any way we can, including by praying, so we may seek and serve God, and God’s people, through all opportunities given us during this sacred time.
