Becoming Holy
Elaine Poproski Download: Audio
Sermon Notes
At the 1:28 point in the sermon, a few people shared experiences of marginalization in the church in response to the questions asked in the last paragraph of this week’s “Looking to Sunday” article printed below. These shares are not included in this recording, but you are invited to pause the recording to consider your own experiences.
Scripture: Acts 3:1-10
One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, at three o’clock in the afternoon. 2 And a man lame from birth was being carried in. Read more…
Looking to Sunday
by Elaine Poproski
Have you ever been part of something where you didn’t fit? Have you ever been part of a church you knew didn’t care if you were there? Or worse, didn’t want you there?
My friend Abby preached a couple weeks ago from a passage of Scripture in 1 Corinthians 7 in which the Apostle Paul has a bit to say about marriage and singleness. (You can listen to her sermon here, beginning at the 16:11 mark.) As part of her sermon prep, Abby reached out via Facebook, asking if anyone had any experiences or insights from the perspective of being single in church. A LOT of people responded. Over and over again in the comments, people shared stories of exclusion and marginalization as single people in local churches. They’re not alone. Many LGBTQ+ people experience similar exclusion and marginalization, though often their experience is far less subtle than that of single people. People of colour often experience exclusion and marginalization, particularly in predominantly white churches. Seniors may experience marginalization, especially in churches that have decided the only way forward is to attract and cater to young people. And young people may experience marginalization in churches steeped in the traditions of their elders.
On Sunday we’re going to be reading a story about a man who was excluded from the Temple. You can read the story in Acts 3:1-10. In this story we witness Peter and John’s encounter with this excluded man as they went to the Temple to pray. We read that they healed him – that by the power of the Holy Spirit they gave him a most extraordinary gift. This man who had been lame from birth could suddenly walk. But that wasn’t all. Because of the extraordinary gift of working legs, he was, likely for the first time in his life, able to enter the Temple – the house of God – and worship alongside his people. On Sunday we’re going to dive deep into this story and I’m going to suggest that this man’s entry into the Temple was, in fact, an even more extraordinary and important gift than that of his working legs.
As you prepare for Sunday, I invite you to spend some time considering, not just your own experiences of exclusion from the people of God, but to also consider who, we who are Walmer, have and perhaps continue to exclude and marginalize. Who doesn’t fit at Walmer? Who is not welcome at Walmer? How do we subtly communicate that we don’t have space for certain people in our mix? As you prepare for Sunday, I invite you to spend some time with God, asking Him to reveal the answers to these questions. Asking Him to shine a light on your own participation in such exclusivity and marginalizing. Repent and invite His Holy Spirit to do the work in you and in us collectively that our hospitality and welcome would truly be for everyone.