Unlocking the Doors

by Rev. Eric Folkerth

As our church continues to “open,” it’s clear to me that we will have to relearn basic things that should be obvious.

Such as: “Remember to unlock the doors.”

I know. This seems *beyond* obvious. But believe it or not, two Sundays ago —on Confirmation Sunday— we forgot to do just that. 

The Confirmands and their parents were coming early to Church, to run through the worship…so they could all be comfortable with their parts. We had just finished setting up in the sanctuary, as we’ve done every week for over a year, and I was taking a pit stop in the little boys room.

I was walking by the North (parking lot side) doors, when I saw a face peering in at me and gently knocking on the window. It was Cindy McSpadden. She looked a little sheepish. She couldn’t get in because the doors were locked. 

I knew in an instant what was wrong, and my first thought in my head was “Oh yeah…we’ve got to unlock the doors again.”

I know.
As I already said, that should be self-obvious. Of *course* we have to unlock the doors.

But you have to understand that for fourteen months, we did NOT unlock the doors on Sunday mornings; or, really, any other time of the week. In fact, we settled into a very familiar Sunday routine.

We knew *exactly* who was going to be present with us on Sundays. Our staff. Brett Shipp. Maybe a soloist, now and then. And that was it. So, of course we didn’t unlock the doors. For many months, it was literally not safe.

But now, we are “open” again. Our committees are talking about when or where they will be meeting “in person,” as are our support groups like Alcoholics Anonymous. The staff is slowly returning to more office availability. There will be fits and starts to how this works. 

But I am meditating deeply on the metaphor of what it means to “unlock the doors.”

As I wrote to you last week, the nature of the contemporary Church was changing even before a year-long pandemic. Going forward, every church must be far more intentional and thoughtful about how they welcome new folks.

Far too many young people —of all races, sexual orientations, and economic circumstances— believe “The Church” is LOCKED to them and that they are *not* welcome.

For example, during this “Pride Month” we recall all too well the sometimes painful stories of how LGBTQ persons have been literally locked-out of God’s Church in far too many places.

So, as I said on Sunday, we must be intentional with our “signaling” to the greater community. Some folks crassly called this “virtue signaling” suggesting that it’s a kind of Pharisaic “Look at how righteous I am!” mentality.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

We “signal” to the LGBTQ community —through our “Reconciling Ministries” sign, and Pride Flag— precisely because we humbly understand that so many folks in that community believe ALL churches are closed to them. We grieve this, and so we make special effort to remind them that they are loved and welcomed.

We “signal” to People of Color —through things like the “Say Their Names” memorial— because far too many of them still have to wonder if a predominately White congregation will welcome them. 

It’s always easy to think “But, shouldn’t everyone know that by now?”

And that gets me back to unlocking the door.

Time and time again, we have to re-learn the basics of what it means to be faithful to God. Even basics like unlocking the doors.

This is not *just* a lesson the pandemic has taught us. It was a lesson for us, even pre-pandemic. As I say, time and again, we can’t “assume” anything. But the pandemic brings it front and center again.

The culture around us knows less and less about Christianity as a whole and what they do know tends to be what they see on television of a fundamentalists faith that many of you would reject. So, our “signaling” must be clear. We must continue to clearly say: “Our doors are unlocked to you.”

We’ve all lost some “muscle memory” over the past year. Maybe a part of your muscle memory loss has been being able to get up and out the door on Sunday morning. 

Trust me, I get it. After that moment of forgetting the most basic of things (unlocking the door) I have great sympathy for us all as we journey toward a “new normal.

We’d love to see you on a Sunday soon, and we understand the complexities of getting out the door on Sundays.

But as we journey back toward a “new normal,” let’s commit to relearning the basics.

Let’s continue to be a church whose doors are unlocked to all God’s children.

Grace and Peace,

Eric