Dear Rev. Weaver,
Recently the enclosed picture of a sign in front of your church was emailed to me by a neighbor of yours in Blairsville, Georgia. As your colleague in pastoral ministry I felt it was my professional duty to write and let you know that your sign is in error. I personally would hate for our church sign to be incorrect, so as a fellow pastor I wanted to make you aware of this mistake! I do hope you will change it as soon as possible.
I live and work in the greater D.C. Metro area and the last time I checked God was, indeed, most welcome in our fine city. In fact, the community of faith at Calvary Baptist Church on the corner of H and 8th St., NW gathered in worship just last night and does every single Sunday to celebrate God’s presence and ongoing work in our lives, in this city, in the world.
So please don’t worry—God is, most certainly welcome here. As your colleague in pastoral ministry I assure you, with first-hand experience, of this fact.
Please be sure to reassure your congregation, and all the residents of Blairsville, Georgia, that we’ll continue the Baptist witness here in Washington, D.C. by regularly welcoming God (though in my limited experience God has a tendency to show up either way). I am sure you can come up with something appropriate to correct your sign this week—maybe something like: “Oops! We made a mistake! God is, indeed, welcome in Washington, D.C. and in faithful communities all over the world! Thanks be to God!”?
If you ever have occasion to visit our city please know that you and yours are most welcome to join us for worship here at Calvary.
As is God.
Very Sincerely Yours,
Rev. Amy K. Butler Senior Pastor
Ah, Amy: You rock.
Amy, this is wonderful! I hope that you will post any reply that you receive!
It is dangerous to assume God shares your political views, no matter what they are. Personally I feel uncomfortable when preachers do anything that smacks of partisan politics.
What Amanda said.
Oh, I so hope that he comes to visit…
Love it!
There are so many things wrong with these responses! 1) EVERYONE has partisan politics. There is no way to avoid it because we each have an individual perspective. 2) For most of us our politics are driven by our religious perspective. For example, the first and biggest reason I am pro-life is because I believe every person is made in the image of God and has the right to life. 3) I know Amy is seeking to be ironic and cute, but the point being made by the sign is one held by many in the Christian community. I for one feel that the Christian faith is under attack by the current leadership, and it is no laughing matter. There is an assault on Free Speech that is couched in things like “hate speech” that could cause a loss of freedom unlike any seen in the history of the US. I appreciate the offer of love and community, and that is vital for the health of the Christan Church in the US, but you are trivializing an issue that many Christians are seriously concerned with.
Blessings,
Walt
Walt,
The issue was trivial before Amy brought it up. There is no assault on free speech. It’s a matter of basic responsibility for one’s views. If one’s words lead to violence, one needs to be held accountable for them. One is still free to speak the words, no matter how ill advised.
Paul
Walt, ask the laundry to take some of the starch out of your shirts. And your underwear.
Paul- If I understand you right I agree- you can say anything you want, anytime you want. That was even true in Nazi Germany, but those words could have gotten you killed. What I was commenting on was the fact that there is a great concern about the loss of free speech in the US. Because of “hate speech” legislation there may be growing repercussions for saying things that are not popular or in keeping with the government’s policy. If churches are put in a position where they can not read portions of scripture because it condemns homosexuality, or indicates that women should not be Elders, without the government stepping in with sanctions then we have lost free speech.
Historically, free speech in the US has meant that we are free to say just about anything we want to without the government taking action. With some of the things that are getting kicked around now (the “fairness doctrine” and it’s close cousins), that will no longer be the case.
And you are right- Amy made a mountain out of a molehill on this one.
Walt
Walt,
What this church is saying — let’s be clear — is that they believe that President Obama and the Democratic party are anti-religion and against God. You said yourself you believe the Christian faith is under attack. What makes you believe that is the case in this country under the Obama administration?
I haven’t seen any evidence of that. Are Christians free to worship in their churches? Yes. Free to pray in public places? Yes. Free to preach on street corners and proselytize door to door? Yes. Are the Christian in the U.S. imprisoned because of their beliefs? No.
Granted, this is not the case in every country around the world, but in this country, where the overwhelming majority of people identify with the Christian faith, Christians are not under attack. Indeed, Christian churches and clergy get tax breaks and some get government money to support programs they run. (If anything, Christianity is subsidized by our government’s policies.)
Where is this loss of free speech you claim? Who has been denied their constitutional right to speech by the Obama Administration? Name names. Are federal prosecutors suing this church in Georgia to remove this sign? What is the bill number of the hate speech legislation which you are concerned about? You are making very seriously allegations about our government; you should back them up.
What is offensive to me about that sign before that House of God is that those who placed it there seem to believe that somehow they have the inside track on the correct theology and the correct politics.
They don’t and even though I disagree with them, neither do I for that matter.
They are also saying implicitly that George W. Bush was the godly president in a way that Barack Obama can’t possibly be. Not true in my view.
Along the way, they are insulting my church and every other house of worship in our capital city. (God’s here in DC regardless of who is holding elective office — that’s been the case for thousands of years before the capitol ever moved to the banks of what we now call the Potomac River.)
As for you Walt, you seem to be saying, although it’s not entirely clear, that you don’t believe homosexuality is compatible with Christianity and women shouldn’t be elders, deacons or pastors.
That’s certainly your right. While I don’t believe that is based in Scripture or God’s will for His Church, I’ll leave that up to you if that’s your belief. But I would hope you and those who share that view will extend that same courtesy to me and those who disagree with you.
You see, Walt, that’s what angers me about the church sign in Georgia. I am devout Christian and a die-hard Democrat. They, and those who share their beliefs, are judging me and my beliefs in the harshest of terms.
Along the way, they are dividing Christians and dividing Americans. Somehow, I don’t think that’s what God wants and I don’t think that’s good for our country.
This morning I heard a GOP Congressman from Georgia, Tom Price, remark on TV that there are plenty of Americans who care about our country and who want to return to our core values. (His implication of course is those who disagree with him don’t care about our country and we don’t believe in our country’s core values.)
Baloney. From my point of view, that’s a slippery slope. I could just as easily say that because I do care about our country and believe in its core principles that Obama is the right president for us.
I know I’m rambling, but honestly, that church sign wasn’t saying anything about where God has been welcome since Barack Obama was inaugurated our President. Instead, they were loudly proclaiming who is welcome at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Blairsville, Georgia.
Apparently, that’s no one who disagrees with their point of view.
Thankfully, my church, my God and my politics are bigger than that.
Let em clarify- she did not make a mountain out of a molehill- she is trying to make a molehill out of something that many see as a mountain. Walt
All molehills are mountains to the ant. All mountains are molehills to the giant. I was saying that this is a non-issue for free speech, and anyone who is deeply concerned about it would be better off spending the mental energy on more important matters.
Gentlemen:
If you reread carefully you may notice that I was not addressing the pressing issue of freedom of speech. Nor, in fact, was I making an editorial comment on the important principle of separation of church and state, though clearly blog entries on both these subjects could have been inspired by the church sign in question. Actually, I was writing more about the omnipresent nature of eternal God, who is never bound by our own fanciful efforts at exclusion and who, in my experience, makes it a point to be present everywhere–maybe even most especially in the places we only sense God’s absence.
In other words, if you are primarily concerned about the end of free speech, more horrified about discrimination against Christians, or even most desperately worried about my inability to choose a worthy topic about which to blog . . . God is with you, as God is with us all.
For that I think we can all agree we are most grateful.
Amy
Amy,
I absolutely enjoyed your post and I am glad that our mutual friend has put us in touch.
Isn’t it shocking that this kind of sign would actually be outside of a church? You know, I think some people, “church people” especially, don’t really know what a church is. They are, instead, participating in a country club in the name of Jesus. And yes, He would have been at the country clubs, too, had there been any way back when — flipping the tables over and letting them all know how ridiculous they are in their discriminatory practices.
Let us all rest in the knowledge that just as God is everywhere, so are the mentally ill. And they have internet access and know how to type. I’m actually doing my own personal study of the proliferation of the undiagnosed (or unmedicated) mentally ill folks who are perusing the internet, and I’m finding that most of them also don’t like democrats (and according to our mutual friend, they watch CSpan). It’s amazing how they find me when I dare to speak out against a Republican. I’m still looking for that verse in the Bible that says, “Thou shalt be Republican.”
If you find it let me know.
Again, so nice to make your acquaintance, and I must say, “Preach on, Sister!”
2 chronicles if my people which are called by my name,shall humble themselves and pray,and seek my face, and turn from thrir wicked ways, then will i hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin,and will heal their land. i think we all could do this and should pray and turn back to god. god bless you and yours lee