Reviewing the Exile, Part 1: Erasing the Boundaries

This is part of a 5-year review of my unexpected spiritual journey into the post-church wilderness.  It was five years ago that my local church blew up and I found myself  - along with 150 of my church friends - on the outside.  What I am sharing here is part of an intentional re-evaluation of my spiritual direction since my exile from the evangelical world.  What began as a 6-month sabbatical has stretched into a 5-year absence... and counting.

There are some things I have learned while on this journey....

Part One:  Erasing the Boundaries.

"He drew a circle that shut me out,

Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout,

But love and I had the wit to win,

We drew a circle and took him in."

                        -- Edwin Markham, Outwitted.

My dad quoted this poem several times in his sermons that I heard over the first 18 years of my life.  He was preaching about Godly love, about forgiveness and acceptance, about love for the unlovable.  It was a lifestyle that he lived himself.  Gene Sims was known as a magnanimous fellow, the kind that took notice of needy individuals from every strata of society, without regard for social status or wealth or intellect.  He taught his kids this respect for everybody.  He drew a large circle that took everybody in.  It was probably what made it possible for him to continue to embrace his own son - when my brother came out of the closet in his mid-thirties.  Dad just drew his circle a bit bigger - and took Ron in, along with his many gay friends and partners.  Amazing.

Actually, Dad may have moved beyond the theme of his favorite poem...

Like Jesus, he erased the circles entirely.

In his sermons, Jesus made it clear that only God was to judge people, that humans were never to judge each other.  "Do not judge, and you will not be judged.  Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned.  Forgive, and you will be forgiven." (Luke 6:37)  Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" (Matt 7:3)

If Jesus drew a circle, it was a very large one.  He was called the "friend of sinners" because he hung out with outsiders (probably because they throw better parties).  Like Jesus, I am planning to spend the rest of my life making no differentiation between insiders and outsiders.  The wheat (believers) and the tares (nonbelievers) look exactly alike, after all.(Matt 13:24-30)  Well, to be honest, since I spent my first 60 years almost entirely with insiders, I would really like to spend much of the rest with outsiders.  There's just less expectation going on, less tension, less pressure to measure up, more acceptance.

There is a mathematical concept called the Bounded Set which has a circle with points located both inside and outside the circle.  This is rather like the evangelical world today.  The whole environment - from the church service, Bible study, Christian summer camp sermon, prayer meeting, discussion group, TV and radio broadcast, song and book - yes, thousands of books - is all about who is in and who is out.  "Are you saved? (are you inside the fold?)"  "Are you faithful about daily devotions?"  "Are you tithing?"  "Did you vote Republican?"  Boundaries everywhere.

Yet, only God judges who is in and who is out.

There is another concept called the Centered Set.  This set has no divisive circle, only a bold point at the very center, then smaller points located on a field all around the center, some close, some farther away.  This is more the way I think about my earthly journey now.  I can be living in such a way that, not only am I moving closer to the center (God) but I can be helping others move closer to the center as well.  But nobody gets to declare when another is inside or outside based on their closeness or their distance from the center.  There may be a circle that God alone has established, but none of us sees the circle or knows where it is, because none of us has the right to judge another.  We must live in total mystery regarding any invisible boundary that God has established.  That frees us to "be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Luke 6:36)  "Because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked." (Luke 6:35)  

God is kind to the ungrateful and wicked!  Let the same be said of me!

When Paul spoke to the Athenians about the "unknown god", he included them all inside God's circle.  He was speaking to gentiles and non-believers when he said, "God is not far from each one of us... For in him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)

This sounds like the centered set.  Everybody is present, at varying distances from the center, and nobody knows where the boundary is between in and out.

Now, here's the thing:  God apparently operates with a centered set and is the only one who knows when someone is in or out.

And here's the other thing:  The evangelical church operates mostly with the bounded set, drawing circles, making judgements every Sunday morning, and invitations to sinners to cross the next line and become an insider.  For the most part, it is oppressive  and keeps a lot of folks feeling guilty and worried and insecure.  It's a dangerous environment to be part of, even if you like to think for yourself like I do.

Now back to me:  One of the most wonderful things that has happened to me since leaving the institutional church has been the erasure of those circles.  I see everybody as the same: fallible, imperfect human beings deeply loved by God.  My job as a believer is simple:  Love.  And leave the hard judgements up to the Lord.

When Jesus said his yoke was easy and his burden was light, he really meant it.  I can testify to it.  I feel free and unburdened, because, despite the evangelical message, "there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." (Romans 8:1)  There is nothing I need to do for God but love people - people of all kinds.  Paul said the entire Law was summed up in a single command:  Love your neighbor. (Gal 5:14)

Join me.  Erase the circles, like Jesus did.  Assume that every human being is on the playing field somewhere, and go from there.

Love without judgement and without boundaries.  Just love.

Erasing the exclusive circles does not come easily for the evangelical community, but there are many, like my dad, who have set the pace.  "There's a wideness in God's mercy!" Let there be a wideness in our lives as well.

*For an excellent explanation of churches with Bounded and Centered Sets see Jeremy Myers here.