Today the Church celebrates Sts. Simon and Jude. These two Apostles who would have known Jesus personally were among the twelve to begin the work of the Church following the events of Pentecost. The name St. Jude is all too familiar from reading all the devotionals in the classified section of our newspapers.
The work of Apostleship is to share the good news that God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ came so that all people may know that they are loved by God. It is so much more than preaching. In fact, preaching is only 1/3 of the responsibility. Most people, including myself have heard enough preaching. What I write may be preachy, but it is also my way of sharing my thoughts so that some dialogue can happen.
One matter of personal tragedy from my standpoint is how religion and the subject of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities have such a bad relationship. Having experienced many problems with Catholic and protestant Evangelical clergy and right winged Christians, I share the outrage of my friends in the LGBT community who are just fed up. I totally understand why so many don't like organized religion. What right winged religious folks like Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Nienstedt, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Peter La Barbera and so many more do, is downright unacceptable. It is one thing to disagree. It is another to run smear campaigns against people like Kevin Jennings, Pam Spaulding and the rest of the LGBT community. Even some of the remarks that have come from the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams have been quite discouraging to say the very least. In Paul Bresnahan's newest version of "An Invitation to An Inclusive Church II"he writes: "It is no wonder that so many people have abandoned churches of all denominations. Our squabbles seem very small-minded especially when we review all the urgent issues of the day. No wonder indeed why so many opt out of “organized religion” even at a time when spiritual hunger runs so deep."
However, during my years of being involved with the Catholic church and my days at Eastern Nazarene College as a Church Music major, I learned that belief in God is one thing that never has to go out the door just because a few religious leaders and individuals cannot get their act together. Just because they cannot exercise their Christian Faith in a charitable way, doesn't mean I have to stoop to their level. When Pope Benedict makes a call for unhappy Anglicans to join the Catholic Church, I do not have to agree with that move. I happen to agree with Paul Bresnahan that such a move is creating "a safe refuge for bigotry." However wrong these attitudes are, we do not have to give up on believing in our God who is gracious and full of compassion.
This is why my partner Jason and I are so happy to have found a good Spiritual home at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral. After the years of spiritual violence by the Catholic church and the one year I spent with the ex-gay ministry Courage, finding a welcoming and affirming environment within the Episcopal Church has been a very healing experience. Following the Vatican's announcement Jim Naughton spoke with NPR's "All Things Considered." Among his many wonderful comments he said: "I think for Episcopalians, what we need to do in the wake of this announcement is to continue going out there and saying, look, we do offer very traditional liturgy, beautiful music, a style of worship that many people like. But we are a democratically governed church. We think men and women are equal at the altar, and we respect the dignity of gay and lesbian Christians. If that makes us outcasts, I think that that's a status that we embrace happily. So if what we're talking about here are people offering alternatives, I think Episcopalians offer that alternative to their Catholic brothers and sisters."
The work of Apostleship is about finding room in God's Church for EVERYONE. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus made it very clear who were the people to be called to join and serve in Christ's Church. It wasn't the one's who have it all together. The call to experience God's saving work in Jesus Christ is to be shared with and for everyone with no exceptions. This has been the message of the Gospels through out the 2000 years of it's existence, spoken or written. And the Apostles that were sent out on that day of Pentecost were called to share God's love with everyone and to add more Apostles to their numbers. One of those who has answered that call within the past 6 years is Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal Church. And ever since his being ordained, he continues to be a great Apostle of God and experiences a great deal of persecution within the Church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has gone forth from this Bishop and has been doing the work of Christ by "releasing the captives" to the point of the Episcopal Church making the decision to allow gay and lesbian Priests to discern a call to be a Bishop. The good work of God has had a ripple effect.
As we continue to work through the very important issue of inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the Church, we must be reminded of our mission as Christians to pray and work for the liberation of all God's people throughout the world. In the Daily EpiscopalianThe Rev. Lauren R. Stanley who is an Appointed Missionary of the Episcopal Church serving in the Diocese of Haiti has reminded us that there are more important things going on in the world while Rome is making it's invitation for "disaffected" Anglican's to their table. "Last Tuesday, four people living in slums in Haiti – forced to live there because they could not afford anything else – were killed in mudslides, and four others were reported missing after heavy rains … and there was almost no coverage of that at all." "On Saturday, 32 people were reported killed in three separate terrorist attacks in Pakistan, pushing the number of those killed there in October well past the 100 mark. Are we praying for peace in Pakistan?" "In Uganda, there is a bill that is threatening gay people with jail, at the very least, and the death penalty, if certain people get their way, simply for being gay. Are we speaking out on this, demanding that God’s justice be done?"
How are we carrying out the mission of Apostleship? Are we praying for peace and justice for those who are without health care? Are we concerned for all peoples not only here in the United States but elsewhere who do not have their equal rights?
The call to be an Apostle is not limited to those ordained. It is a ministry given all of us in our respective places. Our work places, families, communities, churches and even in places where God's name cannot be mentioned due to the hurt people have suffered due to spiritual abuses, those are places where the work of Apostleship is needed, and where there is inclusive responsibility.
"O God, we thank you for the glorious company of apostles and especially on this day for Simon and Jude; and we pray that, as they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so we may with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen." (Collect for Sts. Simon and Jude, Book of Common Prayer, Page 245).
No comments:
Post a Comment