The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.
I remember sitting at Mass in the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis on Pentecost 2005. It was a magnificent Catholic Liturgy on the celebration of the coming of the Holy Spirit. The message that the former Rector Michael O' Connell had to give as part of his homily was not quite the joyful celebration that Pentecost should be. The night before Fr. O' Connell and the now retired Archbishop Harry Flynn had a conversation that anyone who came forward to receive Holy Communion wearing a rainbow colored sash was not to be given the Eucharist that day. Fr. O' Connell was so very angry that he was placed in the situation he was in. He did not agree with the decision that was made, but because Fr. O'Connell was a Priest who had promised obedience to his Archbishop, he had no choice but to comply.
Throughout the following week I read in a few newspapers and web sites that Cardinal Arinze who is the Prefect of the Congregation for Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments had told Archbishop Flynn what to do in this situation. The year before a number of individuals had appealed to Rome about people wearing rainbow sashes being admitted to Holy Communion. What was the reason? "The Eucharist is not a political statement." Here again is the Catholic church using hypocrisy in an attempt to show piety. The church can make a political statement by not serving Holy Communion to people wearing a rainbow sash, but LGBTQ people and those who support us wearing a rainbow sash going to Holy Communion cannot make a political statement. The logic here is pretty bad, and the actions even worse.
Yesterday we heard Jesus talking about the Sabbath being made for human beings as well as being careful not to get so caught up in the rules that we forget the actual people who come to the Church wanting to experience God's mercy. God has not gathered the Church together just to worship in our beautiful spaces and sing great music and celebrate doctrines. God has called the Church together by sending the Holy Spirit so that we may "preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near" (Prayer for Mission, BCP. Page 100). Within the mission of the Church is not just preaching peace, but being a source of peace so that people can find Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life and the Prince of Peace. When Christians put themselves in the way of others who want to draw closer to God, but cannot, we turn the Gospel into a legendary fairy tale, the doctrines of the Church into philosophical debates that don't mean a thing, and the Sacraments into meaningless play time. The Holy Spirit came upon the Church to make us the hands, feet, body and heart of Jesus Christ visible for all the world to draw closer to him and so to "come within the reach of his saving embrace." (Prayer for Mission, BCP. Page 101).
We are continuing in our Daily Office to read the Gospel of John chapter 6 in which Jesus is proclaiming himself as the Bread of Life. The Catholic hierarchy is absolutely correct in their words, but they are most incorrect in their actions. The Eucharist is not a political statement, and everyone is invited by Jesus to come to him in the Sacrament so that Christ's Presence may be come real in the lives of everyone who encounters Jesus in Holy Communion. Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer people seeking to know God's unconditional and all inclusive love have every business coming to the Lord's Table, because God through God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ, the Word of God has invited us there. In John 6: 37 Jesus said: "anyone who comes to me I will never drive away." So why is the Church trying to drive LGBTQ people away from the Eucharist? It certainly is not the will of God.
In today's reading we hear that Jesus earnestly desires to abide in all of us as he invites all of us to abide in him through receiving him in the Sacrament of Christ's Body and Blood. Jesus desires that all of God's children with whom God is well-pleased come to Jesus in Holy Communion so that God can nurture and be with all of us where ever we are at, who ever we happen to be. This huge discourse on Jesus as the Bread of Life is to help tell us about the yearning that God has to feed all who come to Jesus with hearts hungry for God's love and thirsty for the opportunity to know a love that cannot be expressed in human words. God has created and blessed us as LGBTQ Christians with the gift of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression so as to touch and heal us, as we touch and heal a broken world full of bias, darkness and violence. In the Eucharist God's presence becomes real when we allow God to be real through us, our relationships and our difficulties as we face them.
How are we inviting to others who wish to draw closer to Jesus in the Eucharist and in the Church? How do we as LGBTQ Christians make Jesus more real in this world? How do we use what is different about us than any other person whom God has created, to help invite people into a relationship with God through Christ's Presence in Holy Communion?
Let us pray for one another that we will be Christ's Body the Church, with our doors and hearts wide open so that through us God can welcome all people to a more wonderful experience of God's love. May we be that beacon of light that is different than the darkness of the world. As we are fed with Christ's Presence may God's Presence be real in and through our lives as we open ourselves to God and all of God's people.
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirt, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 16, Book of Common Prayer, Page 232).
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, Page 101).
O God, the creator and preserver of all, we humbly beseech you for all sorts and conditions of people; that you would be pleased to make your ways known unto them, your saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for your holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by your good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to your fatherly goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; that it may please you to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. (Prayer for All Sorts and Conditions, Book of Common Prayer, Page 814).
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