This sort of thing is business as usual at Myers Park United Methodist Church.
 
We’ve long shared fellowship, outreach and even sermons with people and preachers of other faiths. Our congregation is a stalwart in Mecklenburg Ministries, the interfaith group that helps the community find common ground. Our partnership with South Tryon Community Church is a model for other congregations yearning to take a stand for racial reconciliation. Dr. Howell embraces the opportunity to share his wisdom and convictions with other houses of worship, challenging them as he does us to wake up each morning looking for the good in others.

But reaching across the barriers of race and religion doesn’t come easily for everyone, which is why a new venture is making a mark in sanctuaries around town. May the Xchange Sermons, as it’s known, make waves in a faith community that could use a little stirring of the pot for good.

A venture of Crossroads Charlotte, a multi-faceted effort to attack disunity on all fronts around here, Xchange Sermons is exactly that: Clergy of all kinds step forward and volunteer to preach in another house of worship. Rev. Tim Moore of Sardis Baptist, a white church in an economically comfortable part of town, agreed to preach at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, an African American congregation in Grier Heights. Rev. Donnie Garris of Antioch, in turn, will preach at Sardis. The beauty of the partnership is that it’s not just the clergy connecting, and it’s not just a one-day deal. The congregations at Sardis and Antioch are making the same commitment to connect. Reverend Garris, for example, tells us that his congregation has a continuing relationship with Sardis, as it does with Myers Park Presbyterian Church.

I have the honor of telling some of these stories at www.crossroadscharlotte.org, writing mini-profiles of the participating clergy and congregations and what drives them to join in the exchange. Next up: Rabbi Murray Ezring of Temple Israel and Rev. Ricky Woods of First Baptist Church-West.

Xchange Sermons isn’t trying to take us on a guilt trip by implying that there is something inherently wrong in this house of worship being all black and that house of worship all white because of location, family heritage and worship style. It’s not inherently wrong – unless it’s prejudice that keeps us part.

All Xchange Sermons is trying to do is to remind us that our faith life can be fuller and richer when we pray together, sing together and grow closer to God together.