All Welcome: Christian Beliefs of Love & Acceptance are more than just Lip Service at the Potter‘s House

During last month’s election, millions of gay and lesbian Americans got a rude awakening as to how well they are accepted by their countrymen. Significantly, many religious leaders urged voters to the polls to destroy the hope of even secular civil unions for gay and lesbian Americans, as has been the case in Michigan under Proposal 2.
For ministers Corey Sanderson and Robin Long-Sanderson of the new Potter’s House congregation of the United Church of Christ in Traverse City, the anti-gay religious involvement of the election is at odds with Christianity’s principles of love and acceptance.
“We’re a progressive expression of Christianity,” says Rev. Sanderson. “We openly welcome gays and lesbians, we’re committed to peace and justice, we’re ecologically minded, committed to the arts, and value diversity.”
Yet the United Church of Christ made headlines earlier this month when NBC and CBS refused to air its commmercial which offered a Christian welcome “to people who have felt alienated by churches” during the election.
“Our church’s all-inclusive welcome has been deemed ‘too controversial,’” Sanderson says. “The ad states that -- like Jesus -- the United Church of Christ seeks to welcome all people, regardless of ability, age, race, economic circumstance or sexual orientation. According to a written explanation from CBS, the United Church of Christ is being denied network access because its ad implies acceptance of gay and lesbian couples.”

DON’T GO THERE
Specifically, CBS refused the ad in the following written explanation:
“Because this commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations, and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the (CBS and UPN) networks.”
The anti-free speech cowardice exhibited by CBS and NBC drew national condemnation from civil libertarians as well as religious leaders.
“Our point is that everybody is created in the image of God and is therefore welcome to our church,” says Rev. Long-Sanderson. “NBC airs very negative stereotypes of gay men on its ‘Will and Grace’ show, and yet refuses to air a commercial that deals in dignity. Our country is so divided right now, you’d think it would be good to have a unified message in the media about religious tolerance for everyone.”

PROGRESSIVE CHURCH
On the other hand, the United Church of Christ (UCC) has always been ahead of the historical curve in terms of advocating social justice through a Christian lens. It was a leader in the movement to abolish slavery as early as 1700, was the first church to ordain a woman in 1853 and the first to ordain a gay man in 1972 among a long list of “firsts” (see sidebar).
\In Traverse City, many know the UCC as the sprawling First Congregational Church occupying a huge A-frame building at the base of Mission Peninsula. In contrast to the Potter’s House, the First Congregational is a more traditional, conservative church.
\The new Potter’s House is a much smaller affair, holding services at 5:30 p.m. each Sunday at the Friends Meeting House at the corner of Oak and Fifth streets in town.
It meets on Sunday afternoons because that seems a more reasonable hour.
“We discovered that in 17th century England the milking schedules for cows dictated when people went to church,” Rev. Sanderson says. “And we don’t have any cows,” adds his wife.
Like most churches, the Potter’s House attracts a mix of young and old, rich and poor, but most come with left-leaning attitudes which dovetail with the pacifist views of the Friends (Quakers) who meet at the church on Sunday mornings. Posted on the church bulletin board are memos on anti-war meetings, social justice issues, and lectures on human rights in the Mideast.

ALL WELCOME
Although it’s not a “gay church” like the Metropolitan Community Church in Detroit, the Potter’s House is in step with the “all welcome” message of the censored UCC ad.
“I think the gay community has become symbolic of everyone who’s been oppressed and held down,” says Rev. Sanderson.
“That means everyone who’s been historically oppressed by the Church, including women and children and minorities,” Rev. Long-Sanderson adds. “We also welcome doubters and people who are unsure about Christianity. That’s one group that appreciates what the Potter’s House is all about. We’re not a my-way-or-the-highway church.”
While most religions preach doctrines of love and acceptance, the proof of such often simply isn’t there, the Sandersons say.
Rev. Long-Sanderson notes that after the Episcopal Church ordained an openly gay minister, many congregations have threatened to secede and a number of worshippers have left the church.
“Other churches insist on a vow of chastity from gay members, and to me, that’s not a full and radical welcome; it’s a welcome with conditions,” she adds.
“I think that for every denomination in the nation, this has become a hot-button issue... it’s just that the UCC dealt with this a long time ago.”

THE CALLING
The Potter’s House name comes from the biblical book of Jeremiah: “Come down to the potter’s house and you will hear the work of the Lord.”
Rev. Long-Sanderson ways she came across the passage while on a religious retreat in Rhode Island. “I loved the image of the Lord as a potter,” she says. “If the piece he was working on came out misshapen, he tried again and again until it was perfect. It showed God as a nurturer.”
Robin Long-Sanderson, 30, was called to the ministry at the age of 15 while living in northwestern Ohio. Her religious journey led to her ordination in 2000.
Corey Sanderson, 34, grew up outside Boston. He earned a degree in automotive repair before becoming interested in philosophy in his junior year in college.
“I was studying the medieval philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and I got so frustrated that it was so dry and analytical,” he recalls. “I felt so much interest in a life of faith that I decided I should just become a minister.”

MOVING NORTH
Coincidentally, the two met in a Christian social ethics class while attending seminary in Boston. Their shared interest in justice and ethics led to their new congregation.
While reading the want ads in a religious publication, they learned that the United Church of Christ was planning to establish a new congregation in Traverse City.
“The ad said that the faint of heart shouldn’t apply because it was going to be a peace and justice church,” Rev. Sanderson says.
“Each United Church of Christ congregation is free to be as liberal or conservative as it wants, but they felt that Traverse City would be a good place to have a really cutting-edge, progressive, out-of-the-box new church,” he adds.
The idea behind the Potter’s House was to strive towards the United Church of Christ’s broader vision of what a church should be in terms of social justice.
“The fact that this is a growing area was also a big reason to establish a new church here,” Rev. Long-Sanderson adds. “Traverse City is a cultural center for the region and we feel that our ethos of a shared community will do well here.”

The Potters House is holding a Christmas Eve candle-lighting and caroling service at 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 24 and a Sunday service at 5:30 p.m. on the 26th at the Friends Meeting House on the corner of Oak and Fifth streets in Traverse City. For more on the congregation, check out www.pottershouseucc.org.

sidebar:
A radical church, ahead of its time:
The United Church of Christ’s
rich historical tradition includes:

• launching the first attempt at congregational democracy (1630);

• leading the movement to abolish slavery (1700) and the spiritual revival known as the Great Awakening (1730);

• staging the nation’s first act of civil disobedience that inspired the “Boston Tea Party” (1773);

• hiding the Liberty Bell when the
British occupied Philadelphia (1777);

• the first mainline denomination to ordain an African-American pastor (1785);

• forming the United States’ first
foreign missionary society (1810);

• coming to the aid of the illegally-enslaved Amistad captives, an event that led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s first civil rights ruling (1839);

• the first church to ordain a woman (1853);

• the first church to ordain an openly gay man (1972);

• coining the term “environmental justice” (1987).






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