The famous story of the Prodigal Child is the Gospel story for this weekends Liturgy. It can be found in Luke 15: 1-32. This is one story that many people are familiar with. There is a wonderful rendition of this story told on Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth.
I want to spend this time talking about the implications of the Prodigal Child for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Particularly, though not limited to the subject of LGBT and questioning youth. This issue is especially close to my heart after this past Wednesday's AIDS Action Day at the Minnesota Capitol, where there were two young gay men who are coupled and infected with HIV. One of them is 18, he contracted HIV at the tender age of 16. The other who is now 22, he was infected at the age of 18. Aside from the issue of LGBT youth affected by HIV, this past week has been a horrific week for discrimination against children who have LGBT parents, as well as children and youth. Three cases in point would begin with the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver refusing to admit a preschool age child of a lesbian couple from a Catholic school. This decision was defended by a Priest of the Archdiocese of Denver this past week on Fox Noise. The second is the story of a Mississippi High School Student who wanted to bring her girl friend to her prom. Because she petitioned her school administration to bring her girl friend and dress up in a tuxedo, and appealed to the ACLU the high school canceled the prom. The schools chosen action placed the student in a terrible situation with her peers. As a result the ACLU has filed a law suit on behalf of Constance McMillan . Thirdly, a teacher in in the Bronx has been charged with threatening to out a 9-year old. It is quite clear from cases such as these that LGBT and Questioning youth are still not accepted by their parents, peers, school systems and by much of society. The negative messages brought on by the religious right continue to have their devastating affects on all LGBT people, but in particular the youth of our community.
These and other stories like should cause us to ask the questions just how are LGBT people, youth and adults a like among God's prodigal children? How should we challenge society and the Church of our time to see LGBT people? Where do LGBT people find themselves in the story of the prodigal child?
Let us put one important card on the table. All people are sinners. All of us have failed God, ourselves and our neighbors in one fashion or another. It is only by the grace of God that gives us the opportunity to do good works that we are able to come closer to God by loving God and our neighbor. By the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who is God's perfect revelation are we able to draw closer to God and find our salvation in God's generous love. This morning at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Dean Spenser Simrill spoke of God's extravagant love, and it is an excellent way to describe God's unconditional and all-inclusive love. There is one very important point about the story of the Prodigal Child that The Very Rev. Kate Moorehead makes in her book: "Get Over Yourself; God's Here"
"In what we call The Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus invites us to consider a different picture of God. A parishioner of mine once pointed out that we should call it, The Parable of the Running Father. Here a young man leaves his father, squanders his inheritance, and returns to beg for the wages of a servant. But, as he is approaching his home, his father runs out to meet him. He runs, he embraces, he celebrates. There is no consideration given to what the young man has done or not done. All the Father does is celebrate. He pulls out all the stops for his boy who "was dead and is alive again, who was lost and is found" (Luke 15:24).
"Of course, there are more aspects of God than we will ever be able to comprehend. Judgment is one aspect, but that is not the one Jesus chooses to express in this parable. No, here we see a Father who runs out to meet his child. This Father runs! He does not leave all the effort to the young man struggling to return. Instead, he meets his son with arms outstretched" (Page 39).
The story of the Prodigal Child invites us to see God as the compassionate parent who wants us to draw closer to God to help us rebuild our relationship with God, others and ourselves. God is not as interested in what we have done. God is very interested in who we are, children of God who know that without God we cannot save ourselves, nor can we find meaning in our lives. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, once again youth and adult alike are God's children looking for a home within "God's extravagant love". God has invited LGBT individuals just as much as God has invited anyone else. Yet the attitudes of many within the religious right, along with many who remain uninformed about LGBT people suggests that there is no room in God's house for LGBT people unless we are willing to engage in a program that will change who we are. This is why so many of the youth who are homeless and or attempt to commit suicide are LGBT individuals.
Now, let me add one more level on top of this. Today, Dean Simrill talked a great deal about the problem of child sex trafficking. And I agree that there is much to be done about this horrific problem. However, I would add one more point to much of what he said. Is it possible that the negative messages about LGBT people that is so often displayed to youth who are questioning their sexual orientation, contributes to the enormous number of LGBT and questioning youth who are trafficking themselves as prostitutes, therefore putting them at greater risk for HIV and other STD's? When the religious right spends all of their time on portraying homosexuality and LGBT people with so many negative stereotypes, when that message reaches youth who are questioning and they eventually get kicked out of their homes with no job or place to live, no personal marketing skills and/or ways of knowing how to make it in life, is this not really good breeding grounds for activity that is dangerous?
One organization that is excellent at portraying a very different understanding of LGBT individuals and families is Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG.) This is an organization where many parents and friends of lesbians and gays have struggled to accept their LGBT folks and are more than willing to assist LGBT people with gaining a healthy attitude about themselves. PFLAG is one organization that appears more like the accepting parent in the Parable of the Running Parent. It is an organization that feeds LGBT and others who love them with a sense of the Bread of Life that wants to nourish and heal the soul, rather than Focus on the Family that just causes harm upon harm for LGBT people and their families and friends. Unlike ex-gay ministries such as Exodus International and the Catholic church's ex-gay ministry called Courage that was started by Cardinal Cook in the early 1980's, which teaches that LGBT people have a "sexual disorder" that needs to be routed out, PFLAG helps LGBT people see themselves as people with dignity and respect. PFLAG also looks at the pain that LGBT people and their families experience to accept and love their LGBT friends and supports them with tools for all of the things they experience. As a result of their work, they have helped to unite many friends and families of LGBT people in many wonderful ways.
In closing, I'd like for us to meditate on the title for Jesus Christ being the Bread of Life. Jesus is the one who feeds all of us with God's compassionate goodness. In Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation, God runs out to embrace all of us who are sinners with compassionate mercy and grace. God fills us with the fullness of God's Self and renews us in Christ when we receive Christ in the Eucharist. This is a reason why I have changed from being Roman Catholic to becoming Episcopalian. My experience with the Roman Catholic tradition is one in which they want only those who fit their criteria to be welcomed to receive the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In other words, the church makes the judgment call concerning how "fit" a person is to receive the Presence of God. That is not the place of any church to decide that, quite frankly. In the Episcopal Church our understanding is, that where ever you are on your faith journey, you are welcome. Everyone is welcome to the Table of Christ to receive God's Presence. In the Eucharist it is Christ who reaches out and embraces all of God's Prodigal Children. No church official has any business deciding for someone else who should and who should not be welcomed to experience God's embrace at Christ's Table.
As we continue on our Lenten Journey with Easter only three weeks away, let us reflect on our relationship with God. Let us reflect on who we are in the story of the Prodigal Child. Let us also run to God who runs towards us. May all of us embrace God, embrace one another and embrace those who are just starving to know God's extravagant love for all.
Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).
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