Welcoming All; Commissioning All

Mark 3:7-19

Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, 'You are the Son of God!' But he sternly ordered them not to make him known. He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Look at all the people that Jesus meets, heals and helps here. I don't see Jesus telling people that they can't serve him or be healed by him if they support gay marriage or abortion. This Gospel account seems to welcome all kinds of people. The only beings that find themselves not wanted were the unclean spirits that recognized Jesus as the Son of God. Not even those who would have been sick with leprosy (the HIV/AIDS of Jesus' time) were rejected. What does this say about the Christian Church in the 21st Century?

It reminds us that God's Church is made up of all kinds of people. Everyone should be welcomed and given an opportunity to meet Jesus and to find love and compassion in God's loving embrace. We all come to God with our pains, aches, prejudices and sins. No one who serves Jesus is completely perfect. No one who leads the people of God in one way or another can completely see their own faults or justify their own motives. We all come to Jesus broken and wounded, yet we are loved unconditionally and all-inclusively. No one who comes to Jesus with a heart looking for God's love will be turned away. No one will be told by Jesus that they should be someone they are not. Everyone will be welcomed and commissioned by Jesus as they are. Everyone will be welcomed to walk along with Jesus in his journey that will ultimately lead him to the Cross and his resurrection. Will everyone who begins walking with him stay with Jesus the entire way? Or will we stop going with Jesus when we see people who are different from what we think they should be joining in the adventure?

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people come to Jesus and the the Church as wounded and broken as anyone else. We come with our sins as well as with our hopes and dreams looking for God to help us. We approach Jesus looking to know who God is. We want God to help us better understand ourselves and how to love those who hurt us with their anti-gay rhetoric and behavior. Jesus offers us not another chance to be wounded by bigotry, but a positive opportunity to encounter God's unconditional love to find healing, wholeness and peace. Yet, God also wants to commission us to be people who bring healing, wholeness and peace to others in and through the Name of Jesus Christ.

We are given another opportunity to serve God today as an LGBT Christian. We will meet people who will drive us crazy. We may even meet someone today who will approach us with their prejudice against who we are. How will we respond to that person in a way that helps them see God's love for them and others? In what ways will we be God's healing presence in a world full of bias against not only LGBT people, but many others? How will we play a role in the healing of racial divisions, gender discrimination, and help those who are mentally, physically, and psychologically challenged? What will we do to change the current direction of health care reform, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell?

All of us have been welcomed and commissioned by Jesus. How will we respond to Jesus' commission to us today?

O God, whose glory it is always to have mercy: Be gracious to all who have gone astray from your ways, and bring them again with penitent hearts and steadfast faith to embrace and hold fast the unchangeable truth of your Word, Jesus Christ thy Son; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Second Sunday in Lent, BCP, Page 218)

God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Human Family, BCP, Page 815)