Dayspring to host unapologetic disciple and proponent of Christ’s radically inclusive love
by Janie Magruder
A third-generation preacher and voice for justice in the church house, at the White House, and on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, will be the guest speaker on Sunday, September 22, at Dayspring Tempe.
Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder, founder and senior pastor at City of Refuge United Church of Christ in San Francisco, and presiding bishop of the Oakland-based Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, will preach and sing during the 10 a.m. service. Later that day, at 1 p.m., she will deliver a lecture in the sanctuary on The Church’s Last Great Blind Spot.
“I’m excited for Bishop Flunder to join us because I get to hear from someone who has been fighting for queer people of color to stand in the power of the Spirit,” said Dayspring’s Associate Pastor Michael Long, “and to live a life of service to God, whole and free.”
Flunder received her Doctor of Ministry degree from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, Calif. For 40 years, she has served a call to “blend proclamation, worship, service and advocacy on behalf of those most marginalized in church and society.” The Fellowship of Affirming Ministries is a multi-denominational coalition of more than 100 primarily African American Christian leaders and laity.
An award-winning gospel music artist, Flunder also is the author of “Where the Edge Gathers: Building a Community of Radical Inclusion.”
But it was in Dayspring’s “Living the Questions,” a video- and Internet-based introduction to progressive Christians created by Dayspring’s Lead Pastor Jeff Procter-Murphy and fellow UMC Pastor David Felten, that Procter-Murphy got to know Flunder.
“Every time I teach a class, the response to her is phenomenal, and I always say to myself, ‘We really need to have her out here,’” Procter-Murphy said.
In one “Living the Questions” segment, Flunder uses humor to discuss “the either/or God” and the amusing conversations generated by that mindset.
“I know about binary constructs — right/wrong, black/white, heaven/hell, you’re either in or you’re out,” said Flunder, who was raised as a Pentecostal Fundamentalist. “There was only one answer to things theological, and once we found it, if you didn’t agree with it, you were going to hell.”
The essence of religion was to find the one, right way, she said.
“What is the right way? Once I thought I found the right way, that meant, of course, that everyone else was wrong,” said Flunder, noting that, if her creed, morals, dogma, church and worship style were correct, yours were not.
Over time, however, she said she evolved theologically, and it seemed the older she got, the less she was certain about.
“The kids asked the hard questions — ‘Who got to the tomb first? Was it Mary? Was it Peter?’ I told them, ‘I don’t know,’” Flunder said.
And that uncertainty is a blessing.
“I have more peace than I have ever had in my life, I’m more secure even though I’m filled with more questions, and I’m more at ease in my relationship with God,” she said. “And I’m not ashamed and I’m not afraid.”