I’m pretty sure that on a certain Friday a couple of thousand years ago most people would have thought Jesus was “on the wrong side of history.”  Even that Sunday, most people still thought he had failed, story over.  But this isn’t the story Christians tell, which is why I find the persistent use of the phrase “getting on the right side of history” to be misguided.

It’s been a full week of astounding, surprising, maddening Supreme Court decisions.  I worry over the implications and battles ahead as we deal with the disintegration of the Voting Rights Act.  I celebrate the next day’s decision and the implications and new hope ahead as we live into a broader, more beautiful understanding of marriage.

My church is still arguing about sexuality.  There is currently a movement called An Altar for All, asking clergy and laity to sign on to support celebrating all marriages by our clergy and in our churches.  In my Conference there was a lot of buzz around this leading up to our Annual Conference two weeks ago.  After last Wednesday’s Supreme Court decisions, on Facebook I saw a United Methodist colleague calling our church to “get on the right side of history.”

I happen to agree with him on the sexuality issues and on the fact that if we keep going the way we are we may be seen by everyone else as having been “on the wrong side of history.”  I’m annoyed and heartbroken by where we are and I have been for a long, long time.  But the troubling part of his (and many others’ statements like this) is that they imply that our Christian priority is to be “right” and, most importantly, to be seen as right by the culture at large.  I don’t know that this is his (or anyone’s) intention, but the repeated use of that phrase suggests it.

I want us to advocate and fight for full inclusion in the life of the church for all people because it’s what the example of Jesus calls us to do – regardless of the scorn and loss of membership we might incur now and regardless of whether anyone in or outside of the church agrees that it’s the “right side of history.”  It’s Jesus’ side and that’s our priority.  Jesus is the justification, the plumb line by which we measure, not some future pronouncement by the culture.

This is not an argument, but a lament.  I know that there are good, faithful people who disagree on this issue and I don’t want to convince or debate right now.  I simply want to express my deep, faithful yearning for our change of heart.  And I want us to stop worrying about history’s “right side.”

The story Christians tell is about listening to God and following in the wake of the Holy Spirit, even and especially when it is at odds with what is conventionally considered “right.”  It’s not about being “right” or “first to be right.”  It’s about faithfulness and about being man/woman and Christian enough to change course when you realize your mistake and your sin.  At the moment, it seems that the rest of the culture is going in the direction I hear God calling.  I want my church to hear it, too, and follow.