We live in a fast paced world. Especially in these days of ipods, cell phones, computers, email and bank check cards. Many things can be done in an instant. When things do not move as fast as we would like, we become more impatient. Perhaps the electronic age is making us less patient. Or perhaps the problem is not electronics, but who or what we have placed in the center of our lives.
The readings for today are about who we place at the center of our lives. We are invited to keep in mind that no matter how much we desire to serve the marginalized of society, that in and of itself is never the focus of our lives as Christians. Our service and ministry is because of Who our focus should be, Jesus Christ who is God's perfect Self revelation. In today's New Testament reading Paul goes at length to tell us about Jesus as the "image of the invisible God." In short, Paul is telling us of God's incarnation in the Person of Jesus in Colossians 1:15-28. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning/queer individuals are who we are, because of the wonder of who God is, not by anything we have done. Our personal lives as LGBTQ cannot accomplish good things for the benefit of our community struggling for equality in the Church and society, unless we are willing to place God at the center of our lives.
Our choice to place God in the center carries with it a consequence. Many conservative Christians have been harassing LGBTQ people by saying that we cannot place God at the center of our lives unless we are willing to see our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression as sinful or a "disorder" and agree to change something that really cannot be changed. On the other hand when we choose to place God in the center of our lives, there are LGBTQ people who will reject us for being part of the Christian faith. I experienced just such a slight rejection at a friend's Pride party this weekend. An individual who I had not seen in a long time made the remark: "Oh, you are involved in that church stuff, aren't you?" And it was made with a face as if he had eaten sour grapes.
Today's Old Testament reading from Genesis 18:1-18a is a stark contrast from what comes after. Abraham and Sarah provide a terrific example of hospitality, unlike Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19. The strangers are invited to come and share a meal and be received with terrific welcome. There was no preconditions for Abraham and Sarah to welcome the strangers. When radical, welcoming hospitality is shared, God lives in the occasion. Today's Out in Scripture from the Human Rights Campaign gives the following commentary.
"And as we extend that hospitality we put ourselves in a place to hear the good news. Over and over, the church has failed to extend hospitality to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community — and the Gospel has been lost! Whether or not the strangers are angels, the expectation of extending hospitality to the stranger is not to be dismissed lightly.
The failure of welcome has not only been toward the LGBT community. Both ideological inhospitality among Christian denominations and lack of interfaith hospitality rank high in the list of ways we sabotage the hearing and proclaiming of the good news of God's love."
We need to be really careful as we look to our Gospel reading in Luke 10: 38-42. In the past it has been suggested that Martha is a real prude. However, that is an incorrect view of Martha. Considering that this Gospel comes after the Parable of the Good Samaritan it is apparent that Jesus is not against showing hospitality. After all, two Gospels ago Jesus sent out 72 to see what kind of hospitality they would find. When Jesus tells Martha that "Mary has chosen the better part" he is not telling Martha that he does not appreciate her hospitality and hard work on his behalf. What Jesus is telling Martha is that in her rush to serve Jesus, she is forgetting to first take time to enjoy the special moment they have together. Mary has placed herself at the feet of Jesus to listen to what Jesus has to say. She can listen to Jesus and enjoy his company, realizing that she is in the presence of God. Sometimes if we do not slow down and take time to stop, listen and commune with God, God will pass us by and we will have missed the opportunity to recharge our Spiritual batteries so we can serve Jesus in those who are in need.
As LGBTQ people our pursuit of equal justice cannot be complete, unless we take time to make ourselves Disciples of Jesus. And any Priest, Bishop, Pope, Minister, Deacon, lay person, psychologist, ex-gay ministry leader, television or popular evangelist etc, who tells you that you cannot be a Disciple of Jesus Christ because you are LGBTQ, is wrong. Any member of the Church, ordained or lay who tells a same-sex couple that they cannot be Disciples of Jesus is wrong. Any one who tells a transgendered person that she or he is an injured member of the Church and must learn to better accept her or his original born gender, is also wrong. Our value, dignity and integrity as followers of Jesus as LGBTQ people, is from God, and is not based upon the opinions of those who practice Biblical literalism. Focus of the Family, the Family Research Council, the National Organization for Marriage and the Catholic church, do not have the final say over who is a true follower of Jesus Christ, Only God can decide that. This is why we must be very careful not to place at the center of our lives the anti-gay rhetoric that comes from conservative anti-gay Christians. We must instead place God as our center and trust completely in God.
This week as we go about our work and activism for equal justice for LGBTQ people, let us place God at the center of our lives and day. Remember to take some time to pray and hear God speak to us in the Scriptures. God is interested in what is going on in our lives and wants to converse with us. It is important to take some time to look at ourselves through God's eyes, not the eyes of those who use anti-gay rhetoric. In God's eyes we are among God's beloved children, with whom God is well-pleased. God told us so, in Jesus. And who are we to disagree? With all the ugliness that comes from those who use anti-gay rhetoric, why not spend some time with Jesus who truly does love us as we are, and only wants to love us even more?
Almighty God, the fountain of all wisdom, you know our necessities before we ask and our ignorance in asking: Have compassion on our weakness, and mercifully give us those things which for our unworthiness we dare not, and for our blindness we cannot ask; through the worthiness of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 11, Book of Common Prayer, Page 231).
Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated unto you; and then use us, we pray you, as you will, and always to your glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (Prayer of Self Dedication, Book of Common Prayer, Page 832).
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