About a year ago, I experienced a little of what it feels like to be unwelcome.
I have to admit, I’d never known what that feels like, at a pervasively social level. ...that says something, in and of itself (about me or, at least, my experience).
Unwelcomed-ness comes in many forms, but one of the most demoralizing is when it comes from those in power. Because power, theoretically, should be the resource that is needed to enable the good that should be happening. Too often, though, it is used for the opposite effect.
Often, institutions have power. And, people often use power given to them by institutions. And, sometimes those same people used to be friends.
Power can be maintained in a number of ways—based the color of your skin, the way you act, the way you talk, or just the way you look. But, perhaps most significantly—often in religious contexts (spiritual or otherwise)—it is maintained based on what you believe.
Does God make us feel welcome because of what we believe? Didn't God love us 'while we were yet sinners'? Why, then, would introducing 'unwelcome' based on belief after-the-fact feel like a necessary thing to do? But, it often is. And, unfortunately, the church often simply borrows the same methods of control, as society does, through the use of power—through the use of the social-power of a group.
I am sure that my experience of 'unwelcome' pales in significance compared to its many more brutal forms. And, I am also sure that I have been complicit at times by extending it to others myself. The memory of my experience of unwelcome towards me still lingers today...affecting how I view myself and impacting how I think about (treat) others. Recognizing this, I am trying to allow it to reveal to me how I perpetuate unwelcome-ness.
Because, you are 'Unwelcome' here...is not the way of love.
