Love Welcomes All to the Dance

He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, “Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all.” Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me.” -- Mark 9:35-27

Jesus' gesture of welcoming the child [our gospel lesson for this coming Sunday] must have been profoundly disturbing to the disciples because, in that time and place, children had so little status. They ranked somewhere between a woman and a slave. They had no legal rights. They could not own property. They spent their time in the care of women and knew better than to interfere in men's affairs.

For a rabbi like Jesus to take a child in his arms in the presence of his disciples was an unusual and compelling gesture. There was nothing to be gained by helping a child in Jesus' society. There were no great rewards or medals or prestige. Therefore, Jesus turned the tables on societal expectations with regards to what it meant to be successful.

We tend to think of successful people as being "on top" and unsuccessful people as being "at the bottom." Jesus was saying that there is no top or bottom and chose another image, the image of "arounders" to describe what our world is supposed to look like.

What I mean by "arounders" is that Jesus is in the center. And true inclusion in Jesus' circle involves positioning oneself around Jesus. Those around Jesus do not need to jockey for positions in the inner ring because there is room for everyone in the circle of "arounders," including children as well as anyone else who has no voice, status or position in society. Another way of saying this is "Everyone has a place at the table. There is no preferred guest list and there is always room for one more."

By welcoming the child, Jesus modeled for us a way of doing community and church that is inclusive rather than exclusive. We are not climbing Jacob's ladder. Instead we are dancing Sarah's circle. The beauty of the dance is that there's always room for someone else to join our welcoming, compassionate community. If you have felt left out of the dance for a long time because your are lesbian, gay bisexual or transgendered, I hope you'll hear the music that inclusive and welcoming churches, like mine, are playing. The celebration wouldn't be the same without you!