Wrap Around a Paradox

I was reading Brian McLaren’s latest book, The Secret Message of Jesus the other day. In one section he talked about an interesting paradox. If we are to have a truly inclusive community, we must exclude those who would turn it into an exclusive community.

Whoa! That’s something that takes some thinking. But it is incredibly correct. I think.

He of course was speaking about the church. Underneath the discussion are the many different disagreements, divisions, etc. in the church. Some want to make sure that the church’s “umbrella” is big enough for all who want to be there. But, as McClaren’s paradox shows, that only works to a point. When the inclusive community gets more “exclusive” people in it than “inclusive” the stage is set for it to become “exclusive.”

Yet it always was. Sort of. If you truly believe, for example, that the church should be open for women clergy- an inclusive stance- you have thereby excluded those who don’t agree with that theology. I know, we say that they exclude themselves because they don’t want to accept the ways we believe, but in practice there’s no difference. Would you really want rabid anti-women clergy people in your church trying to get you to change your stance because they think you’re wrong.

I don’t think so.

What I think we need to do is reframe the wording, the language we use. It really amounts to taking a stand for what we believe in. That, whether we like it or not, sets up definitions and boundaries. Some may want to make the boundaries broader than others, but that doesn’t get rid of the boundaries.