"Blessed are those whose strength is in you, who have set their hearts on a pilgrimage" (Ps. 84:5)

In the past year I have grown more in love with words. Words create worlds, as my beloved Old Testament professor reminds me. What world/s are we creating with the words we use? The poets, the street artists, and those whose writings carry weight throughout history have inspired my care for language. So it is with this developing love for words that I offer my first reflection from RCA Conversations.

These two words came up frequently: The Lost and The Unchurched. I used to use these words back in my Evangelical days and back before my interfaith partnerships. I understand the heartbeat behind these words, I think. I choose not to use them today. I would never say about my friends who are Muslims that they are lost (and neither would they say such a thing about themselves either!) My friends who have been abused by the Christian Church and have in return walked away from the religious life would most likely not call themselves part of The Lost, in fact they would probably say that the Christian Church has lost her way. There are times when we all feel lost in this life. There are events that happen that shake our normalcy and we wonder which way we are to walk. This is normal and this happens to all people, churched and "unchurched".

The bottom line is we are people, period. When you walk through the front doors of my church I do not automatically assume you are lost waiting for someone to save you. You are a pilgrim, just like me, on a pilgrimage exploring/questioning/stating/discovering Truth and Freedom. I do not have a monopoly on Truth thus I need you to share your experiences/questions/inspirations.

I try not to use words to describe other people that they would not use for themselves. I want to honor the agency of each person I come in contact with and listen carefully to how they identify themselves and use that language out of respect for those around me. I find this is to be a compassionate interaction with my neighbors.

I guess when you are in relationship with people who choose to have a religious identity other than Christian you grow protective of their honor. Maybe I do this because of my Christian witness. The Bible calls me to love my neighbor as myself. I want someone to call me by the name I give myself. I don't want my friends of other religious identities to call me Lost because that is not how I self-identify. The heartbeat of this uncomfortability with the words The Lost and The Unchurched is out of love for my neighbor. I try, by God's grace, to take that commandment seriously.