The following post is contributed by Josh Speight, Associate Coordinator of the Kentucky Baptist Fellowship. This past August at the Movement Leadership Team (MLT) meeting, those gathered were asked to write “One Sentence Sermons.” Josh reflects on his sermon below.

Louisville, Kentucky – the city in which I live and minister – is highlighted once a year nationally for “the most exciting two-minutes in sports,” also known as the Kentucky Derby. Our city is highlighted for our hospitality, our southern charm, our wide varieties of local food selections, and the distinctiveness that sets us apart from the rest of the Commonwealth. In fact, many believe we are so distinct, weird actually, that a whole ad campaign is known in our city simply as “Keep Louisville Weird” – a campaign which promotes the unique community character of the city.

Louisville can be a wonderfully weird place to live – full of diverse, eclectice, unique individuals. “Keep Louisville Weird” reminds us that we ought to celebrate the uniqueness in all of us – the qualities that make us weird and make us stand out in the crowd. In many ways, the ideas inherent in the “Keep Louisville Weird” campaign are ones we as a community of Christ-followers should embrace more often than we do. What if we adopted a “Keep Church Weird” campaign?

A “Keep Church Weird” campaign confronts us with deeper questions about faith and community. Who are we not welcoming into our community? Who is the last person in the world you would think of being included in God’s grace? Who is too weird to be invited into our church?

1 John 4 tells us that “those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.” Loving our friends, our family, those who look like us and think like us and talk like us is not a challenge. Perhaps this is why Jesus instructs his disciples to love your enemies and pray for those who persecture you (Matthew 5:44). Who is excluded, who is outside of God’s grace for you? Republicas? Democrats? Racists? Immigrants? Atheists? Homosexuals?

The Church is truly a weird place because all are welcome, all are under God’s grace given freely. “God’s love wraps around all people, not just the people we want to pick.”¹ If we picked the people we wanted to be in God’s family, we would not be such a weird place, but I believe God wants us to be as weird as possible: To be a community of Christ-followers known by our love for our neighbors.²

¹Quote attributed to Rev. Susan Reed, Associate Pastor, Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky.

²Adapted from joint sermon given by Rev. Rebecca Caswell-Speight and Rev. Joshua Speight on May 6, 2012 at Broadway Baptist Church, Louisville, Ky.