Wake Forest Baptist Church

All Are Welcome, No Exceptions

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Turning Our Neighbors into Friends

Here at Wake Forest Baptist Church, we’ve been working to turn our neighbors, especially our newest neighbors, refugees and immigrants, into friends. In this new anti-immigrant administration, it’s important for us to reach out to our neighbors. Do you know that Latinx-owned businesses are struggling right now because of the fear many have about Immigration Control and Enforcement? And what better way to serve your neighbors then to frequent their businesses!

Our first initiative re-created our Wednesday night suppers. Instead of eating in our regular place (the Lower Auditorium of Wingate Hall on the beautiful WFU campus) we went to local Latinx owned restaurants for “comida tipica.” Tacos, pupusas, and Italian (although the Italian restaurant was Muslim-owned). Along with getting to know neighborhoods and businesses that we weren’t familiar with, we took Spanish lessons so that we could have the building blocks for relationships.

A few ministers have asked how to replicate our Wednesday night programs. So, first get some excellent interns who speak Spanish. They planned the Spanish lessons, which included translation of news articles for the advanced table and basic vocabulary for the beginners. Next, use this list as an example of how to do…

Checklist for Planning Field Trip

  1. Choose a location based on goal of trip (e.g., immigrant-owned restaurant for neighbors-to-friend event). Estimate the expected size of your party.
  2. About a week before the scheduled trip, visit the space to determine if it is appropriate. Will the atmosphere push people out of their comfort zone while not posing too much of a challenge? Is it large enough to accommodate your needs? Are there enough staff to assist a large party? How long does it take you to receive service/food? Plan how you will utilize the space. How do you want to arrange tables?
  3. Ask to speak with an employee, preferably a manager. Introduce yourself as affiliated with Wake Forest Baptist Church. Explain your plans, asking if they would be interested. Ensure they know you will not evangelize. Consult with them regarding your ideas on how to use the space. Finalize the reservation.
  4. Plan your time together. If you expect a large group, having appetizers waiting might be a good idea. Purchase and/or create necessary materials (for a Spanish lesson, e.g., blank index cards, pens and markers, pre-made flash cards, etc.).
  5. Announce the event in the bulletin (announcement and calendar), on Sunday in worship (announcements), and in weekly email.
  6. On the morning of the scheduled trip, call the location to confirm your reservations.
  7. Arrive at the location with plenty of time to set up—between one and one-and-a-half hours before attendees. Consider eating before attendees arrive, especially if you plan on speaking a lot.
  8. The day after the event, debrief. What went well? What could be improved next time? Check in with attendees in the days after. What was their overall impression of your time together? What did they like? What did they dislike?

After only a few weeks, one church member told the story of doing her Meals on Wheels route, with one Spanish speaking family. She was able to say to the woman, “Hello. It’s nice to see you. My name is Judy.” The Spanish-speaking woman invited Judy into her home, and even gave her a gift of dish towels. Judy turned a neighbor into a friend.

And this is just the beginning!

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Easter Sunday Worship

A sermon preached Easter Sunday, April 16, 2017 by Lia Scholl

I walked away from church when I was about 19 years old.

I knew someone who worked at our church and poor people came to the door every day. She told tales of people being turned away hungry. And yet, the church spent tens of thousands of dollars on chandeliers. The poor were not important.

There was my New Testament professor who said, “You don’t have to believe in the miracles of Jesus, you can still believe in Jesus.” My reasoning went something like this: If I don’t have to believe the miracles, I don’t have to believe any of this!”

And then there was my World Religion course, where it dawned on me to ask, “If you put a Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew in the same room, all of whom really believe their vision of God, how can you have the audacity to say that one of them is wrong?”

And finally, the football coach from my college had became my college Sunday school teacher. Every Sunday morning, Coach Terry Bowden, son of the famed Bobby Bowden of Florida State, would describe Christian living “You gotta get in there and GO FIGHT WIN!”

Instead of staying at church and trying to understand, my brain imploded and I walked away. For a bit of time, I called myself an atheist, until I had a dream that I drove my car off a ledge and it was spinning and spinning out of control, and I cried out in my dream, “Help me Jesus!” Then I knew I wasn’t an atheist.

So then I started calling myself an agnostic. I still love the way the word agnostic is a fancy way of saying “not-knowing.”

I spent a good many years not-knowing. Trying very hard to make sense of a theology that was taught in Sunday school and sermons and really bad hymns. A theology that, frankly, didn’t work for me.

I couldn’t believe in a God who justified violence by saying, “it’s your cross to bear.”

I couldn’t believe in a God who justified sexism by saying, “Wives, submit to your husbands.”

I couldn’t believe in a God who justified racism by saying, “You shall not be unequally yoked.”

I couldn’t believe in a God who would cast people into hell because God didn’t choose them.

I couldn’t believe in a God who didn’t honor all kinds of love.

And I couldn’t believe in a God whose church spewed way more hate than love, way more exclusion than inclusion, way more “Go Fight Win” than the first shall be last.

I stayed not-knowing for a really long time.

But not-knowing was not the same as not-wanting,

not-craving,

not-wishing,

not-hoping.

Not-knowing was full of pain.

I wanted to connect with God, but I needed it to be a God whose love outweighed all those other objections.

I needed a God who loved e’rbody, who believed in the equality and acceptance of all, regardless of race, gender identity, sexual orientation, intellect, a God whose invitation was wide-open to all.

I needed a God who couldn’t cast someone into eternal damnation, because it wasn’t in God’s nature to ever give up on anybody.

And I couldn’t find that God anywhere, especially not in church.

You might be wondering how I got here, in this pulpit. It was after nearly a decade of not-knowing.

I spent a couple of years of “getting my toes wet,” reading people’s thoughts about God. And trying to find a church that was trustworthy. I tried to understand that there was a different way—theology that isn’t angry or mean, stories of God that honor love, a focus on social justice and people who take the poor seriously.

Honestly, it was at the end of several years of wet toes that I realized, I believe in resurrection. I was standing in the shower on Easter Sunday morning and thought, “Yeah. Resurrection is cool.” Because I had lived it.

I’m here. I love Jesus. And I love the church. And I feel loved and accepted by God.

It is precisely that realization about resurrection that draws me to the church.

I believe in resurrection.

I believe in the resurrection of individuals and the resurrection of societies.

I believe that the whole world can be resurrected.

And I believe that work starts with the church… and your participation in it.

Let me explain…

There are two visions of the world right now—one is a fright-filled vision where our identities keep us apart.

The other is a love-filled vision where our diversity brings us together and makes us stronger. And that love-filled vision where diversity brings us together and makes us stronger is the dominant theme of the Bible, of Jesus’ life and death, and the dominant theme of the history of the early church.

It stands in opposition to the fear-filled vision,

where Bill O’Reilly is lauded during Women’s History Month,

where bombs are dropped on Holy Days,

where friendly fire kills our allies,

where politicians re-write history denying the holocaust on the first day of Passover,

where the Attorney General writes a speech filled with hate against immigrants,

where fears of nuclear war run rampant on Easter.

God’s vision, where God and our difference brings us together is how that ragtag group of disciples lived together, and where we find them today, at the empty tomb.

God’s vision looks like Muslims, Jews, and Christians working together to ensure the safety and security of undocumented Latinx immigrants.

God’s vision looks like LGBTQ Christian men and women visiting mosques and temples to turn their neighbors into friends.

God’s vision looks like little old ladies using the men’s room in opposition to HB2 and its replacement bill, being allies and accomplices to the trans community.

God’s vision looks like white people saying, “Black Lives Matter” and working to end systemic racism, fighting the school to prison pipeline and police brutality and racial profiling.

God’s vision looks like men standing up to their coworkers when they sexually harass women, men making sure that their companies are offering equal pay and equal opportunities to women.

How will you know if you’ve found that kind of God?

Love looks like love. People judge, say hateful things, ridicule others all under the guise of love. But if it doesn’t feel like love? It isn’t love.

God loves you so much, every one of you, that your picture is right there in God’s wallet.

The death, burial and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ proves one thing… Love wins. Love wins. In the end, love wins.

Amen.

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Voices of Today: Erica Grace Saunders

Erica Grace Saunders brought our “Voices of Today” testimony this past Sunday. Erica is a Wake Forest School of Divinity student, and will soon be an intern at Wake Forest Baptist Church. 

Good morning, everyone. It’s wonderful to see your smiling faces staring back at me.

As a trans woman early in transition, I’m used to stares, whether it’s passersby giving me strange looks on first inspection or a cashier looking confused after hearing my voice. I’m so used to it by now I rarely notice, but for a while I spent a lot of time thinking about this. I came to the conclusion that the stares come from their discomfort at someone else defying their expectations.

Most of us go through life with a dualistic framework of easy categories. Things are black or white, either or, this or that. When these categories are disrupted, it’s uncomfortable. Psychologists have a word for this: “cognitive dissonance.”

Gender is one of those categories. According to the traditional binary, one is expected to be either masculine or feminine. Mixing of gender roles is not encouraged. Since I don’t “pass” as a cisgender woman, I inhabit a liminal space between the two ends of that spectrum, being perceived as less than masculine but not quite feminine. This gray area makes a lot of people uncomfortable, and it often makes me feel like I don’t belong anywhere, too feminine for masculine spaces and too masculine for feminine spaces.

Current rhetoric surrounding trans issues reifies the gender binary, stokes the cognitive dissonance, and alienates trans people like me. HB2 is one example of this. When I enter the ladies’ room, I’m on high alert. I lose my trust in the goodness of people. Will another woman look at me with disgust, feel uncomfortable, and leave? Did someone’s father or partner see me, someone they consider a man in a dress out to prey on women, walk in? Violence against trans woman, especially trans women of color, is all too common. Rather than deal with this fear and anxiety, I usually avoid public restrooms. Laverne Cox, a transgender actress and activist, among others, has said that  “bathroom bills” like HB2 aren’t really about bathrooms, but about excluding trans people from all public spaces. If trans people can’t belong in a bathroom, they can’t belong anywhere. If that is their goal, they’ve succeeded in making me feel unwelcome in most places.

I am encouraged by the visibility that trans people have achieved. To preserve my sanity, I have to believe that people who support HB2 don’t intentionally want to hurt trans people, but seek only to alleviate their own discomfort brought about by their own misunderstanding. As trans people get more attention and continue to share their stories, I trust that our brothers and sisters will come to appreciate the image of God in all people, including my trans siblings. I find my hope in the people who love me for the woman I am and the communities to which I belong; I see in their acceptance the dawn of the Kingdom of God. Thank you, church family, for being God’s people in this regard.

May we all complicate our narratives and embrace the gray areas of life. Amen.

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A Day Without A Woman/Women’s Rights are Human Rights

Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day. Usually this day celebrates the strides made in women’s rights and the contributions women make to the world.

But this day will be different. Many woman across the country and across the globe will be on strike. Including me, your pastor.

I will strike because women still make $.78 to each man’s $1.00. I will strike because women work outside the home but still do the majority of work in the home. I will strike because Ohio representatives are refusing to support legislation that makes drugging and raping your wife illegal. I will strike because the new administration reinstated the global gag rule so that NGOs who receive money for health access for women around the world can no longer mention abortion as an option, including to save the life of the woman. I will strike because the so-called “religious liberty laws” may allow people or institutions to support marriage exclusively as the union of one man and one woman.

I will strike because women’s rights are human rights, and I will settle for nothing less than equality.

I’m not in the office today. If you need me, I’ll be at home doing some things I love. I’ll be baking bread, going for a long walk, sewing, and maybe even knitting. I’ll be at Wednesday night supper tonight, where the men are cooking dinner. You’re welcome to join us… I hear that pizza is for dinner. And I’m going to write a few notes today, to some amazing women who have been my role models and mentors and friends, to tell that I am so grateful for the love, generosity, and intelligence they bring into the world.

 

Wake Forest Baptist Church

PO Box 7326
1834 Wake Forest Road,
Winston-Salem 27109
Email: admin@wakeforestbaptist.org

Phone (336) 860-0777