"You're So Gross!"

"You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them." Leviticus 15:31

"You're So Gross"
By Rev. William Dohle

As an adult I have learned I can be nastalgic about what it was like as a kid...but when I look at it honestly I have to admit...it stunk!

Being a kid is the hardest thing in the world.  First you have your parents to please.  That's not always easy.  Then you have your teachers to please.  Again, not easy.

And then you have your peers.  And that is near impossible!

Kids are mean and rude and obnoxious to each other.  They call each other fat and ugly, four-eyes and stinky, and a host of other names that I cannot even write on the internet!

As adults we try to get away from them.  At church we say that there's nothing that should stop you from worshiping with us.  Stinky, smelly, fat, ugly.  Good hair, bad hair, good dress, bad dress.  Whatever... Contrary to what we told others as kids, as adults we declare...

All Are Welcome!

Only... is that really true?  Honestly?  Are ALL welcome to your church, no matter what they dressed like, looked like, smelled like?  Are all welcome? Or are we just grown-up kids with our own little clique of people who look and sound and act just like us?

Contrary to what you might think... the Bible never makes the declaration that "All Are Welcome" to worship...especially in Leviticus.  Here we find strict guidelines of what makes you clean and unclean.  What will separate you from those who are worshiping God in the temple(or tabernacle) and what will allow you to join their circle?

According to the Bible(at least according to Leviticus 14 & 15), you may not worship if...

• If a man has a bodily discharge in the night.  Then he may not worship.
• If you touch the man who had the bodily discharge.  Even shake his hand.  Or if that man spits on you.  You may not worship.
• If you sit upon something that the man has sat upon, you may not worship either.
• If a woman is on her period, she may not worship for seven days.
• If you touch a woman on her period, you may not worship.
• If you sit upon a seat or touch anything that she touches during her period, you may not worship.
• If you touch a corpse, you may not worship.
• If you touch an unclean animal, you may not worship.

There are more... lots more!  The point is that the Bible never says that All Are Welcome at worship.  Especially in Leviticus.  It actually says that all are NOT welcome to come forward in God's holiness.

So that gets back to us...and our "All are Welcome" signs.  Perhaps we should preface what is in front of our churches with this...

"You Are Welcome if you dress like us, act like us, look like us, talk like us, and don't make too much of a fuss.  Then you are welcome to join us."

That's Biblical, after all.  That's what Leviticus is talking about.

The alternative is to actually mean what we say.  And to be Christ to our neighbor!

You see, Christ broke down all those cleanliness barriers.  Every single one.  One woman touched him who had a unclean blood flow problem and instead of banishing her, he sent her away blessed and healed.  He constantly was touching lepers and curing them(an action which would have made him completely unclean and unfit for the temple).  Jesus broke down all of those barriers.

Shouldn't we?  What if we really did mean it when we say that "All are Welcome"?  What if we welcomed the crossdresser and the lesbian couple and the homeless drunk and the wandering sojourner, and the one without parents and the ones without children, and the Republican and the Democrat, and the rich man and the one who always needs money and the clean and the unclean and everyone in between.  What if we welcomed them all?!

Then we wouldn't be living biblically according to Leviticus.  Then we'd be living life according to Christ.

Make us followers, Lord, of the original rule breaker, Jesus, that we may reach beyond the clean and the unclean and welcome and embrace you in the world.  Amen.