Unity Via Marginalization

"The church cannot be a sign of unity if it achieves unity by marginalizing those who do not fit. Unity at the expense of the weak is not a sign of Christ's hopsitality welcoming all into God's household."

A peron I know, N, teaches a girl’s high school Bible study class on Sunday mornings at Church X. She has enjoyed meeting with this group of girls as they have discussed many topics. One girl in her class, who is 17, is pregnant. But the catch is, she isn’t married. (Cue thematic music: dun dun duuunnnnnnnnnnnn)

So seeing as how she is going to keep the baby you would think that she needs lots of materials to prepare for the baby’s arrival. That’s what baby shower’s are for, right? Well this church will not have a shower for her at the building. They even will not make an announcement or put it in the bulletin to tell others when a shower could be, outside the building. The reason? I’m sure you can figure it out. The odd thing is, they had a shower for an unmarried woman in the past, but they decided not to do it again. The reason? Someone got mad and left the church.

(possible ranting ahead. you’re welcome to stop reading)
So I guess if someone isn’t happy with showing love to someone who was either raped or had sex before she said, “I do.” then we can dismiss them? Makes sense right? I mean if I don’t like what you’re doing then I can just leave and find somewhere else that will not put up with this behavior. Therefore, the church can assimilate itself to bring back the one single person who left and say, “We will never do that again. Sorry. Won’t you come back now?”

Isn’t this a massive tumor that is being avoided?!? Why is the person in the pew that probably has church doctrine down pat more important than a teenage girl that is desperately in need of love and support?

I quoted Letty Russell at the very beginning of this post. The reason why is she is a lesbian theologian at Yale Divinity School. She probably has been more marginalized than most have been in life, especially in regards to church. Even though I might not be crazy about her lifestyle, she speaks with a prophetic voice that needs to be heard.