Throughout October and November, Haley Hamblin led a small group called “Koinonia: A Journey of Justice and Belonging with the Apostle Paul.” During our final week, Haley invited us to write letters to a community, fashioned by Paul’s letters. This practice was deeply meaningful, so we are going to share some of the letters we wrote:
Jack Salt’s Letter:
Dear Inclusion Community,
I dedicate this letter to you – a progressive community centered on justice, belonging, empathy, creative worship, and spiritual nourishment.
Like Paul, we are each on a journey where we encounter different communities throughout the course of our lives. I feel like I stumbled upon Inclusion Community serendipitously even though it’s only a few miles down the road from where I went to college. I found this community after a series of decisions that now seem interconnected: I took some education policy courses my senior year of college which led me to realize my passion for education and apply to work for the College Advising Corps which placed me at Hopewell High School where I met Teresa Costa. Teresa would periodically invite me to Pub Theology, Inclusion’s monthly hangout at Old Town Public House in Cornelius, and I would usually make some excuse not to go until one night I finally showed up. That night, we were debating the theological arguments for and against tattoos and people were sharing their tattoo stories and I thought this was the strangest religious community I’ve ever encountered. It was so different from anything I had ever experienced. And yet I was drawn to it.
Before finding Inclusion Community, I didn’t feel connected to church. Worship felt rigid, I didn’t really know members of my congregation beyond small talk, and I didn’t feel like I could relate to the sermons or prayers.
But Inclusion Community taught me what it means to be a progressive Christian and worship in a way that recognizes our individual and collective humanity. I’ve found myself painting during church service, giving communion to my peers, watching candles be lit for loved ones, engaging in community conversation, and in what happened to be the most unforgettable service of all – improvising lines as Joseph during the paper bag nativity day.
Inclusion Community taught me that worship is artistic, empathetic, justice-centered, solemn, emotional, and hilarious. I learned that worship isn’t passive but one filled with a variety of experiences and emotions with a community of people that wrestle with what it means to be human.
So, I call on Inclusion Community to continue to find people like me: those that are curious but disconnected from church; those struggling with religious trauma and exclusion and in need of a welcoming, inclusive space; and those who want to express vulnerability at church and in front of a community that will love them as they are.
The world would be a better place with more communities and spaces like this one.
With love,
Jack Salt
