Working Through Life's Dissappointments

Matt. 21: 33- 46 (NRSV)

"Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce.  But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way.  Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.' So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time."
 
Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures:
'The stone that the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone;
this was the Lord's doing,
and it is amazing in our eyes'? 

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls."
 
When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them.
They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet. 

Today is one of those days when all the news for LGBT people is not terribly good.  The Wisconsin Supreme Court has just upheld the States Gay Marriage Ban.  A New Hampshire GOP Congressional Candidate has compared gay marriage to marrying "men and sheep" and "women and dogs."   The GOP Governor of Rhode Island has vetoed a bill that would have extended hate crimes protection to transgendered people.  And these are just a few of the really bad news for and about LGBT people, the equality of our relationships and civil rights protection.  Much of this is being carried out by individuals who are doing so with religious convictions.  It can feel to many of us like the loud messages we sent during our Pride celebrations this past weekend have just been wasted.   


This Gospel for today seems to have the Prophets and Jesus in the same situation.  They came to bring good news to the people of their day.  Jesus came to call those who were marginalized and stigmatized by the religious leaders of his day to be part of God's family.  Jesus healed the sick, gave sight to those who could not see.  Jesus even went so far as to put a name and a face on those who were dead.  Those who knew that they needed God to help them with all of their difficulties were Jesus' best friends.  Jesus came to tell all of us who need God that we are loved by God even when society and the Church turn their backs on us.  Jesus came with his message of salvation and liberation, and those who feared loosing their prestigious place as teachers of the faith rejected God's perfect revelation.  Because God came in a way they did not like or expect God, they rejected Jesus and did all they could to destroy him.  What was happening was not because of the Jewish religion or even it's people.  We do not condone nor suggest that the Jews killed Jesus, and therefore Jewish people must be converted to Christianity to avoid condemnation by God.  Such a notion is not only not true, it is completely contrary to the Gospel and the message of Jesus.


The beauty and wonder of Jesus is that though all the odds were against him, he still continued on with what God wanted him to accomplish.  Jesus trusted in God even when it seemed like God had forgotten him.  Jesus faced every challenge and overcame it through his total trust that somehow God would help him through all that he was experiencing.  There must have been moments when Jesus felt like he should just give up.  The most important message that Jesus taught us about God is that God never gives up on us.  Even when humankind is stupid or the Church is just so arrogantly rude towards people who do not fit their status quo.  God still wishes to draw close to humankind.  God accomplishes this through Jesus Christ, and yet even then humankind continues to pay little attention.


Today's news is bad news.  But in God there is plenty of good news.  God has not given up on us and God never will.  God continues to call on women and men everywhere to a change of heart about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning people.  There are many women and men who are hearing this call of God and there are others who have chosen to harden their hearts.  God the Holy Spirit continues to call with her powerful and majestic voice wanting people to stop the violence, discrimination and cruelty.  The Holy Spirit is truly weeping that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill continues to pollute the ocean, kill wild life and destroy the livelihoods of those who need what is in the sea to make a living.  The Holy Spirit wants people to stop putting corporate greed ahead of the needs people to work, sleep, eat, drink and live with a sense of dignity, peace and security.  However, if people do not listen to her voice and promptings all she can really do is move on the hearts of people.  The Holy Spirit can move, but she cannot make those who use their freedom of will for destructive means suddenly listen and obey.  This is why we must continue to pray for the entire situation and trust somehow that God will answer our prayers.


God will in time answer the prayers of LGBTQ people.  The more people speak up and write their legislators and work to elect fair and equal minded leaders, the closer we will get to equality.  The more we continue to be open the Holy Spirit's work to change the hearts of many who lead the Church to accept all people including LGBTQ folks, the more likely in time, the change will happen.  The changes we seek will not happen if we give up.  The hope for a renewed Church and society that seeks and protects the equal rights of all people will happen because Christians and all people of good will take an interest, make bold statements and are willing to be apostles and agents of change.  The news may not be encouraging, but the opportunities to get involved to make better news in our future is the best thing any of us can do.

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 8, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

O 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, Book of Common Prayer, Page 815).  

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).

 

Sts. Peter and Paul: Pray for the Continuing Conversion of the Church

John 21:15-19 (NRSV)

When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my lambs." A second time he said to him, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" He said to him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Tend my sheep." He said to him the third time, "Simon son of John, do you love me?" Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, "Do you love me?" And he said to him, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." Jesus said to him, "Feed my sheep. Very truly, I tell you, when you were younger, you used to fasten your own belt and to go wherever you wished. But when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands, and someone else will fasten a belt around you and take you where you do not wish to go." (He said this to indicate the kind of death by which he would glorify God.) After this he said to him, "Follow me."

The Commemoration of Sts. Peter and Paul is a reminder that the Church has an Apostolic foundation to our faith in Jesus Christ.  God's message of unconditional love and call to salvation in and through God's perfect revelation was given first to these two individuals and from them to the ends of the earth. 

What we know of these two prominent figures is that both came from very diverse backgrounds.  Peter was the brother of Andrew and they were both fisherman when Jesus called them to follow him.  Peter is one of the most visible of the Apostles throughout the Gospel narratives.  It is Peter who confesses Jesus as the Son of the Living God and is told that he holds the keys as in Matthew 16: 13 to 20.  Yet it is Peter who has to be told to get behind Jesus, because Satan is speaking through him when he tells Jesus not to go to Jerusalem to experience his crucifixion and resurrection in Matthew 16: 21-23.  Earlier it was Peter who's faith was weak which was why he sank in Matthew 14: 22-33.  Yet it was also Peter who told Jesus that he would follow him where ever he went, yet denied Jesus three times as Jesus was going through his trial.  The Gospel for today is when Jesus is reinstating Peter by asking Peter three times if Peter loves Jesus.  Jesus instructs Peter to feed Jesus' sheep.

Paul was originally Saul.  Saul was the one who was persecuting the Christians.  Saul was present at the stoning of Stephen who is the first Deacon in the early Church.  Yet, Saul experienced a great conversion on his way to Damascus.  We can read about his incredible story in Acts 9.  Saul later became Paul who converted many gentile communities to the Christian Faith.  As we know there are 10 letters of Paul in the Bible all written to each community in defense and explanation of the Christian Faith.  Much of the Church's mission and doctrine both good and bad have come from the writings of Paul. 

Peter is said to have been the Apostle to the Jewish people, yet, later wound up in Rome where he was crucified upside down.   Paul was the Apostle to the Gentiles who later was imprisoned and was beheaded during the persecution of Nero.

The commemoration of St. Peter and St. Paul is a day of prayer for the continuing conversion of the Church.  Whether we wish to pray for Pope Benedict XVI who is believed to be the successor or St. Peter or we wish to pray that the many errors taught about what Paul might have meant in places like Romans 1: 26-27, 1 Corinthians 6: 9, or 1 Timothy 1: 10 would be better understood as not condemning lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered people; the important thing is to pray that everyone in the Church would be open to God's Holy Spirit to experience conversion in heart, mind and action.   The Church has all too long used the Bible and the teachings of St. Peter and St. Paul to justify vicious cruelty towards people of color, immigrants, LGBT people and women.  Rather than look at how the Holy Spirit calls us time and again to be renewed in mind and heart so that we may be welcoming and affirming of everyone created and loved in God's holy image, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and made a participant in God's Church, so many are looking for ways to exclude others from among God's many sheep.

All of the Scriptures for today's wonderful commemoration call for the Church and those who lead it to be shepherds leading and feeding the sheep.  When the leaders of the Church behave like ravenous wolves looking to devour the gender identity and sexual orientation of LGBT and Questioning individuals, so many of God's sheep who are LGBT leave the Church have been fed with hate, discrimination and the poison of exclusion.  Such attitudes are not only unhealthy for those who are LGBT and Questioning, but also for the Church.  For when the Church cannot or does not hear God the Holy Spirit calling us to open our doors to all God's people the Church's green pastures become full of brown dead grass that cannot feed anyone. 

When individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning are given an impression from Church leaders that there is no place for them and God in the Church or society because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, it really does not matter that God is one in three Persons in the Holy Trinity, or that we are saved through Baptism, or Christ is present in the Holy Eucharist.  It also does not really matter whether the Pope is the Successor to St. Peter or the Bishops are the Successors to the Apostles, when LGBT and Q people are told that they cannot find God's love because they are LGBTQ or as such we exercise our physical love with our significant others.  When LGBTQ people are told that there is no place for them to be members, or to exercise their gifts as ordained Bishops, Priests and Deacons, all the teachings in any Catechism really are meaningless.  Because if we are going to say that the love of God lives in Three Persons such as the Father/Mother/Creator, Son/Redeemer/Servant, Holy Spirit/Sanctifier/Life-Giver, but some how God's unconditional love does not extend to people of diverse sexual orientations and/or gender identities/expressions then God is not even God. God is understood as the god of people's prejudices who justifies violence and cruelty according to a legalistic crusade of one group against another. That description of a god, is not the God and Father of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.  To say that God can love and show God's powerful, loving mercy in all people except any one group of people, is to suggest that God is not all-powerful, or all-present.  If we believe God is God, then God is the God of all who are Lesbian, Gay, Straight, Bisexual, Transgendered and Questioning.  If Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Redeemer and Servant of all of God's children, then Jesus really is for everyone's Savior.   And if the Holy Spirit who is also our Sanctifier, and Life-Giver then she is that for all God's people, not just some who are so privileged to be Caucasian, straight, male and upper class. 

I chose to share the photo that I uploaded for today's blog post from this past weekend's Pride Parade in the the Twin Cities of Minnesota because I wanted to make a statement on this Commemoration of St. Peter and St. Paul.  God's Church is a place where everyone regardless of where they are on their faith journey  is welcomed.  Even if they are not sure of God's existence or what all this Christianity thing is. The good news of salvation and conversion in Jesus Christ that was preached by St. Peter and St. Paul was suppose to be one of those where even if there were people who weren't sure, they could come and find the all inclusive God of unconditional love.  The Church was founded upon the message of the Apostles were imperfect people. The Church is still lead by imperfect people who still have a lot of learning, growing and transformation to experience.  Many of us are way too comfortable in our pews, choir lofts and pulpits.  We don't like the idea of people of different cultures, races, minority groups, sexual orientations, gender identity/expression, genders, challenges and the like to come in and make themselves at home.  As the Church we still are allowing injustice to inform people's consciences, and the poor to go without some kind of attention.  We still think God and other people must conform to our image, rather than we be transformed by God and others who come to share their Gospel life stories with us.  The Church, it's leaders and members still need conversion and transformation.  

How and where do we need conversion and transformation?  What kind of conversion or transformation is the Holy Spirit calling us to today?  How and where is the Holy Spirit calling us to look at where we need transformation rather than us deciding that for others?  What is that something that the Church has always told us, that we might need to let go of so that we can be more welcoming and accepting of others who come to share the Gospel with us?  How are we being fed and nourished as part of God's sheep in the Church?

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 8, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul glorified you by their martyrdom: Grant that your Church, instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together in unity by your Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for St. Peter and St. Paul, Book of Common Prayer, Page 241).

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, Page 818).

Keeping the House of God A Place for Everyone

Matt. 21: 12- 22 (NRSV)

Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them,  "It is written,  'My house shall be called a house of prayer'; but you are making it a den of robbers."  (21: 12,13).

 

Most of us are recovering from our weekend of Pride.  It was a weekend of incredible celebration.  Pictured above is the group from St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral marching in the Twin Cities Pride Parade.  I myself am carrying the cross with my partner Jason behind me.   We enjoyed a wonderful Pride Liturgy at 4:00pm with a wonderful reception afterward. 

So how is the Gospel that comes from today's Daily Office appropriate for today?  I am sure it is a bit weird to be reading about God's house being a "den or robbers" and then see a picture of us marching in Pride.  If you read the Bible as those who practice literalism do, you might see this as an oxymoron.  But if we read the Bible from an attitude of compassion, love with lots of possibilities as to what it could be saying to us, then you can see how the Gospel and the Pride picture might make sense.

When Jesus entered the area where the money changers and all of the marketing was going on, he found himself looking at what had become of God's house.  Instead of being a house of prayer that was welcoming for all, it became a place where if you had money to buy and make raw deals you could go there and do your thing.  If you were so unfortunate to not do those things, then God's house of prayer was not the place for you.. The worship of God had become a matter of money and standards that had been laid out as part of a conspiracy against a group of people who were unacceptable to the religious authorities.

This past weekend at Twin Cities Pride we had visitors who wanted to use the event to try to convert LGBT people.  We had people giving out Bibles, and trying to preach against our equal rights.  Mostly we had preachers saying that we "were an abomination."  One sign even said: 'You are deceiving and you are being deceived."  The only way to know God from their point of view is to be straight or be converted from being LGBT to being exactly as they thought we should be.  The response of those who had the courage to do so was awesome.  While the preachers stood with their God hating gay people signs, individuals with their own signs saying: "Standing on the Side of Love" and one individual saying; "I am a gay man, and God loves me as I am!"  As a result, very few people paid any attention to them.  I think we can very easily see those who are standing on the side of love, recognizing that God loves all of us, Lesbian, Gay, Straight, Bisexual, Transgendered and Questioning could be seen as Jesus chasing the money changers out letting every one know that love is the means by which God shows God's self, not the Bible used as a head injuring instrument. 

God's house is a place of prayer.  It is a place where all who are battered by society and the evils of a world that are all too cruel are welcomed to find God's peace and pray.  It is a place where all people should be given the chance to come and be touched by God's healing love and presence.  The house of God is where we hear Scripture, we meditate on how God wants to transform us so that we can help transform society.  In the house of God all are welcome to the Table where we are fed by the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist and go forth as members of Christ's Holy Body, the Church.  The house of God, that place of prayer, is a place that does not rob any group of people their human dignity or seek to change them into someone that they are not.to.  The house of God is a place where anyone can find healing, wholeness and peace to struggle with their own issues without someone "programming" their minds or behaviors.  The house of God is not a place to use the Bible as a weapon, but where the Bible should lead us as to how to understand what our hearts may be telling us about our relationship with the God and our neighbor. 

May our homes and our hearts be a house of God.  May we be places where the Holy Spirit comes to deliver her message of Gods unconditional and all inclusive loves.  Let our hearts be a place where God houses not only our own souls, but that special place of love for someone else who is so special to us that she or he reminds us of the extravagant love, acceptance and mercy of God. 

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be made a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 8, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

Almighty God, whose Son had nowhere to lay his head: Grant that those who live alone may not be lonely in their solitude, but that, following in his steps, they may find fulfillment in loving you and their neighbors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Those Who Live Alone, Book of Common Prayer, Page 829).

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. (Prayer Attributed to St. Francis, Book of Common Prayer, Page 833). 

Pride Sunday: Living Our Lives and Faith, Can It Be Done?

One of the most interesting bumper stickers the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community has made over the years says: "Diversity Is Our Strength."  This statement seems to be saying that we recognize that within the LGBT Community there are many different people facing similar issues, yet finding strength amidst whatever is not the same about everyone who is LGBT.  Interestingly enough, diversity while it is a strength of the LGBT Community, it is also an area where we are constantly struggling to strengthen our acceptance of the diversity of what makes us who and what we are.  This is why celebrating LGBT Pride is so important.  It is the occasion at which everyone who represents or supports those who are LGBT comes together to make their statements as one people calling for justice, equality, understanding and an end to prejudice and violence. What else happens during Pride?  Everyone who is LGBT and/or supports those who are such as PFLAG comes out and makes a bold statement about who we are, and that we are settling for nothing less than to be known as individuals who are as much a part of society as anyone else.

The readings for this weekend are a call for all of us to consider carefully the seriousness of our answer to be honestly who we are, respect everyone else and be willing to follow Jesus Christ in all that we say and do.  As diverse as the LGBT Community is there are two parts of our Community that are consistently at conflict with each other.  Our lives as LGBT people and our faith and morals as Christians.  The religious right does not want us to mix being LGBT with being a Christian, while many in the LGBT Community have a lot of trouble with those who still want to be Christian.  There are tensions among those who want to live a more promiscuous lifestyle or even a polygamous style and those who want to be more monogamous and committed to one relationship.  Within the LGBT Community and those who chose to be part of any Christian Community is the struggle to be part of a predominantly LGBT church group like the Metropolitan Community Church . Then there are others who want to be more integrated with others such as being part of the United Church of Christ, the Episcopal Church or the Evangelical Lutheran Church of American to name a few.  Within the last few years groups like the Gay Christian Network (GCN) and The Evangelical Network (TEN) have been creating some community for those who want a more Evangelistic style of worship and spirituality, but still be LGBT.  There are also Pentecostal LGBT churches now. There are churches that make room for LGBT people of color and/or other cultures and languages.   Last but not least, there are those who are part of very unwelcoming Christian Communities, but keep themselves very secretive.  Such individuals do not like a lot of the theology or teaching promoted by many pro-LGBT churches, so they simply go to their respective churches and choose to ignore the anti-gay rhetoric of their communities and just smile and keep to themselves.   Yet for all of us who are LGBT and Christian or if you prefer Christian and LGBT there are friends around us that will literally give us hell for being LGBT and part of the Christian Faith.

As LGBT Christians what is the price we are willing to pay to be who we are and practice what we believe?  How do we define ourselves as LGBT Christians?  What is our interior call to being people of faith, while being diverse individuals who are LGBT?

I want to begin by taking a look at both our first Reading and the Gospel, and then I will tie it in with the second Reading to see if I can provoke some thought..

The Old Testament reading from 1 Kings 19:15-16, 19-21 and Luke 9:51 to 62 we are confronted with people being called to follow God either through the work of Elijah as in 1 Kings or Jesus as in Luke, but have some very important decisions to make. It should be mentioned that the people Jesus was calling to follow him, were the Samaritans that were rejected by the religious authorities of Jesus' time. There was a great deal of prejudice towards the Samaritans to the point that the Jewish people were discouraged from associating with them.  In both 1 Kings and Luke the people being called to serve are asking if they can simply follow the culturally right thing to do, before they follow the one calling them.  I will start by answering the easiest question first. In both situations it is not that taking care of one's folks is not important or a wise thing to do.  What is more important is the urgency of the invitation and are they ready and willing to follow this path that will lead to a new way of life in which there are much more important things to take care of.   How might this related to LGBT people or even Pride?

Way too many people have some very legitimate reasons for staying in the closet.  Their families.  Sick or unwell relatives.  Careers that can really be ruined because someone announced or acted as if they are LGBT.  Many individuals like myself who are out, can find it difficult to be patient with those who are playing straight for the benefit of their own situation.  How quickly many of us forget what it was like for us to walk around scared should someone find out who we really are.  The decision to disappoint a family member who really thinks we are wonderful, but makes anti-gay jokes all the time is a difficult decision to make.  Yet many of us have reached that point where we just cannot hide who we are any longer.  The more we stay tucked away, the more difficult it is.  For many of us the easy way "out" is to stay "in".  Or to live a life sort of like don't ask, don't tell.  Yet the more we do that, the more unhealthy many of us can become.  Contrary to what many religious right folks might think, the longer we stay tucked in our closets safe from "all of that confessing by which we become healthy people" (See Dr. Mel White in For the Bible Tells Me So), the less we are truly following Jesus and allowing him to touch and speak through our lives.

But then, once we do come out and should we make develop as healthy and proud LGBT people, but be people who follow Jesus Christ, now we find ourselves in conflict with others who are LGBT.  If you are like myself, looking to date or be in a relationship with someone who is LGBT and Christian is no easy task.  Yet, once we've found that someone, so many pieces of our lives fall into place.  Yet, with that decision to be LGBT and Christian it means that we might very well be outcasts again in one fashion or another.   The road that Jesus is calling his followers to take in Luke 9:51 to 62 is a way that will lead Jesus and all of his disciples to the Cross.  The Cross is where we sacrifice all that is so precious to us and accept God's will, even when it hurts or even kills us. We may loose the respect of religious authorities or even our best friends. Yet, because we are following Jesus Christ who is God's perfect revelation, we believe and know that it is only through the Cross that we can experience the resurrection and find new life in God's amazing love and grace.

And how do we tie in the reading from Paul's letter to the Galatians 5:1, 13-25?  This is that famous reading where Paul talks about the "flesh" and the "Spirit" being against each other, and that huge list of things that if we do them, we will not enter the kingdom of God.  This can serve as a great clobber passage when used by those who read the Bible literally.  Today's Out in Scripture offers terrific insight for a different point of view.

Galatians 5:1, 13-25 brings memories of both treasures and traumas. Paul begins (and ends) with this wonderful proclamation of grace. Yet, as soon as many people hear the word "flesh" (verse 16), they default into a legalistic and punitive theology. We are reminded that "flesh" was Paul's shorthand for the lower, carnal mind — a life driven by fear rather than love. Galatians 5:14 clearly reminds us that the fulfillment of the law is to love your neighbor as yourself. When all else is hung on this anchor, we hear it more responsibly both for ourselves and for others. It is not freedom just to follow every sexual urge, or to fly off the handle at every offense or to be controlled by strong drink or drugs. That does not mean that we should ignore every offense, or deny our sexuality or never have a drink. Free, embodied people consult deeply with their bodies as they relate to other bodies, with the God who is embodied in Christ.

So how are some good ways to blend everything together as we celebrate Pride Sunday?  As LGBT Christians we are not just creating and following a Gospel that we have tweaked to say what we want it to say.  We are looking to follow Jesus Christ as LGBT people, because we recognize that left to our own devices we might forget that our human soul still needs a companion to help us along the way in life.  We are fully capable of failing to live our holy LGBT lives in a morally good way.  We can still drink too much, engage in sexual activity that is not life-giving or healthy and we can fail to be prudent in our decisions.  Although our sexual orientation is not sinful, how we use it can be.  Homosexual activity between people who honestly love each other and intend to love each other is good and holy.  Homosexual activity that seeks to use someone for selfish reasons is destructive.  When a bisexual person is open and honest with the people in their relationships so that everyone sincerely struggles, accepts or rejects what is or is not their thing is a good thing, and can lead to constructive relationships.  When husbands and wives keep their sexual orientation a secret and sleep around behind their spouses backs, because they cannot have an honest conversation can be very destructive.   Open and honest communication with respect for each other is good and holy.  Conversation that is designed to cheat, lie and keep things hidden is disastrous.  When we sin, we need to confess and be forgiven.  Needing to be forgiven and asking for God's mercy is the right thing to do. Not going to God with all that we may have done wrong and trying to do it all ourselves, is already a hell.  It is a hell that a good confession can get us out of, but it is up to us to take that step and ask for God's mercy.

LGBT Pride celebrates God's love for everyone.  We are all called to participate in the person and mission of the Gospel by loving God and our neighbor by the gift of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression.  Like all gifts we still need some guidance so that we can use our gifted abilities to make wise and holy decisions, so that we are seeking the common good of other people.  The call to follow Jesus to the Cross is difficult.  That call means we will have to make hard choices about how we can serve God in what ever capacity we are at.  No two people will make their decisions the same way.  But there is no situation that God cannot and will not be with us in, unless we choose to keep God out of our lives.  As LGBT Christians may all of us today decide that we will follow Jesus and love God, our neighbors, our partners, significant others, families and friends in good and holy ways.  May we continue to work for a Church and society of inclusion, equal justice and lively diversity so as to recognize God in all the ways in which God reveals God's Self through us.

Almighty God, you have built your Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their teaching, that we may be a holy temple acceptable to you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 8, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

Loving God, bless us as we gather to celebrate LGBT Pride.  We are, each of us, created in your own image lesbian, gay, straight, bisexual and transgendered, alike.  Hasten the coming of your kingdom when all are welcome and all are equal.  Anoint us with the balm of hope and send us your healing Spirit, that we may be known as a just and unified community.  We ask this in your Name, through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.  (Collect for Pride Sunday as used at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis, Minnesota.)

For some other thoughts on Pride please check out the article "The Spiritual Significance of Pride" in the Episcopal Cafe Lead. 

Come Out from the Sidelines

Matt. 20: 29- 34 (NRSV)

As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed him. There were two blind men sitting by the roadside. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they shouted, "Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!" The crowd sternly ordered them to be quiet; but they shouted even more loudly, "Have mercy on us, Lord, Son of David!"  Jesus stood still and called them, saying, "What do you want me to do for you?" They said to him, "Lord, let our eyes be opened." Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they regained their sight and followed him. 

This Gospel represents not only the blind men wanting Jesus to make them able to see.  This story is also about people left on the sidelines called to come out from them to seek the life they are to embrace.  Those who were unable to see really did not have a whole lot of life to them, except as blind beggars.  They were outcasts.  These visually challenged men knew who Jesus was when he passed by them among the crowds.  Knowing that Jesus was the Son of David, they cried out for God's mercy.  The crowds were so anxious to keep the news of who Jesus was to themselves, they wanted the visually challenged men to keep quiet.  But, oh no!!! The men just shouted for Jesus until he finally asked; "What do you want me to do for you?"  The story ends with Jesus healing the blind men and they become his followers.

The message of salvation is a call to get out from the sidelines and become participants on God's work of love and redemption.  God wants us all to get up and call out to God so that God can ask: "What do you want me to do for you?"  God may or may not do a miraculous healing.  God may be wanting us to talk with that person who has hurt us, or ask someone to forgive us who has been hurt by something we did.  When we call out to God, God may want us to look at our attitudes towards others who are different from ourselves and call us to embrace a new, inclusive understanding of other people.


Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people have been celebrating Pride month.  This is the month when we remember those brave people at Stonewall  in 1969 who said that they were no longer going to stay on the sidelines allowing police and governments to continue to justify violence and cruelty towards them just because of who they were.   Their decision to rise up and defend themselves and begin a world wide LGBT rights movement.  From Stonewall has come some wonderful people who have continued to work to change our culture here in these United States and all over.  Leaders like Harvey Milk, Cleve Jones, and many more have inspired us to tell those who want to take away our basic equal rights, that they cannot do it without us saying something about it.  Since the Stonewall riots we have seen governments, churches, whole communities transforming their understandings of LGBTQ people.  We have also seen prejudice continue to wage it's war against LGBTQ people through the rise of ex-gay ministries, and organizations like Focus on the Family, The Family Research Council, The American Family Association, the NARTH and so many more.  Yet, as these anti-gay organizations have waged their violence and hate speech toward LGBTQ people, organizations such as Soul Force, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, Truth Wins Out, The Human Rights Campaign, Integrity USA, TEACH Ministries, PFLAG and so many more have come forth to defend the equal rights for all families and genders.  Journalists such as Pam Spaulding of Pam's House Blend, Joe Jervis of JoeMyGod, Andy Towle of Towleroad, Jeremy of GoodAsYou, Rev. Irene Monroe and the folks who contribute to the Bilerico Project write their blogs to keep the Community up to date on all the news that affects the LGBT and Allied communities.  


Working together for equal rights and an end to prejudice starts with LGBTQ and people who support us coming out from the sidelines and becoming active in one way or another.  Even if being active for some people is just being aware of what goes on so as to engage in conversations with people about what being LGBTQ means and how discrimination and violence affects not only LGBTQ people, but all of society.  As conversations take place, people who are ignorant become informed.  Individuals with one perception of LGBTQ people can find some room for new understandings.  Eyes that once could not see or understand LGBTQ equality might be able to see or understand better because LGBTQ people came out from the sidelines and started conversations about who they are and how they love.  That is the beginning of the end of people being blind to the fact that homosexuality and bisexuality is just as holy of a love as being heterosexual is.  People who have an expectation of one kind of gender can begin to understand that transgendered people see within themselves a very different gender that needs to come out and be who they were meant to be.  Just as important is to understand that LGBTQ people are part of the family of God in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit who has blessed everyone with being uniquely wonderful.


Are any of us finding it difficult to see beyond where we are?  Perhaps we need to step out from the sidelines and ask God to heal our visual, spiritual and personal challenges, so that we can honor all people as part of God's human family.  Perhaps our hearts need to break a bit for those who do not have equal rights protection under the laws of our nation.  We should be disturbed by a group of missionaries going to Uganda to spread hate for LGBTQ people so that the Ugandan Parliament would consider a bill that if passed would mean open LGBT people could be put in prison for the rest of their lives or executed.  At the point that we understand that we really cannot see like we should, we can either stay on the sidelines and do nothing and be passive, or we can become pro-active in changing society and the Church in ways that will serve the justice and equality of all people.

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.(Proper 7, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth, and sent your blessed Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you; bring the nations into your fold; pour out your Spirit upon all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, Page 100).


Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice, Book of Common Prayer, Page 823).

Nativity of St. John the Baptist: Born to Announce New Things

Today the Episcopal Church commemorates the nativity of St. John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ.  John the Baptist was born to Elizabeth and Zechariah.  As he grew up he embraced a life of absolute poverty.  He wore camel's skin and ate locusts and wild honey.  John the Baptist called the people of his time to repentance as they were preparing for the coming of the Messiah.  It was John the Baptist who baptized Jesus in the Jordan and called Jesus the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. 

When something exciting is about to happen there are announcements sent out.  Someone delivers a very special message about an event so wonderful and exciting.  We often get caught up in the news itself and the announcer very seldom is of any significance.  The prophet who was to give the news that God was coming to bring salvation to God's people was a very special and unique person. He was not like most people.  He showed his love of God in a unique way and drew people into a new relationship with God and others around them.  He prepared people for the One who would soon come and increase as St. John the Baptist would decrease.  When Jesus came upon the scene the forerunner diminishes into the background and the message of God's salvation through God's perfect revelation becomes the focal point.

In many ways St. John the Baptist is a terrific figure for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.  Like St. John the Baptist, LGBT people are born for a different purpose than those who are heterosexual or single minded in terms of their gender.  John the Baptist was born to announce that a new day is dawning and wonderful things were about to take place.  LGBT people are born into this earth to announce that there is more than one way to express love than between men and women, but also between people of the same sex.  There is more than one way to understand one's gender.  It is possible to be born one gender, and gain an understanding that one is suppose to be a completely different gender.  The message that St. John the Baptist came to bring was not a simple message.  It required people to understand God and others differently, it made many people uncomfortable.  LGBT people bring a message of equality and inclusion that is uncomfortable for many to understand.  The message of LGBT equality invites among people who believe that being heterosexual is the only correct way to be, or appreciating the gender that we were born with is the only way to think or exist, to consider alternatives to sexual and gender expression and identity. 

Just yesterday a story appeared about young 10 year old Will Phillips will be leading the gay pride parade in Arkansas.  It has further been announced that the Mayor of Fayetteville will be joining Will in the parade.  The American Family Association's Tim Wildmon is lashing out at the Mayor complaining that the LGBT Community and other adults have "brainwashed" this 10 year old into thinking that LGBT people should have their equal rights.  You can read the entire story here.   If 10 year old Will had spoken out against LGBT equal rights and therefore was speaking in a public forum the AFA would be celebrating what he did.  But because Will Phillips refused to Pledge to the American Flag because he wants LGBT people to have full equal rights under the laws of our nation, Will Phillips is being abused.  Amazing lack of logic.

St. John the Baptist came to call people to a change of heart.  LGBT people call people to a change of heart.  John the Baptist was the announcer that a new era was dawning upon humankind.  LGBT people announce that the era of only one sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression is no longer the way the world is.  And therefore it is time to educate individuals, institutions, churches, politicians, political parties, governments that it is time to think outside of the box called heterosexism and one gender identity/expression.  The call to a change of understanding and behavior is one that will bring lots of rejection and sadly violence.  St. John the Baptist's message brought him rejection and violence by a government that did not want him to take away their power.  LGBT people are experiencing violence by people who do not want their power taken from them, so as to include different people and alternate ways of thinking and/or behaving.  Just because the message is difficult and brings with it problems, does not mean the message is not worth delivering.  Even if there are hard times to be faced and possible political losses this November, the message of full equal rights and inclusion is still worth repeating and working for.  Even when the Anglican Communion rejects the Episcopal Church for ordaining two openly gay Bishops, the decision to go ahead and do so because the Holy Spirit is moving us in that direction is still the right thing to do.

May lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people be inspired by the person who's nativity we commemorate today, to continue to love the people we love and defend the equal rights that we should not even have to defend in the first place.  Just as the work of St. John the Baptist was worth every moment to the point of loosing his head for it, so the message of full equal rights and inclusion is worth every thing many of us are suffering to get it done.  May we never give up or give in to the religious right that tells us we are dirty, perverted or a danger to anyone.  May we be proud of who we are, and love with the very love that was so different in St. John the Baptist and Jesus Christ.  May our different way of loving be part of an inspirational message that God loves everyone, no matter who or how we love.

Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, Book of Common Prayer, Page 241).

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. (Book of Common Prayer, Page 101).

O 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, Book of Common Prayer, Page 815).

All Are Welcome to Work! Anyone Can Be God's Friend.

Matt. 20: 1- 16 (NRSV)

"For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine o'clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; and he said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.' So they went. When he went out again about noon and about three o'clock, he did the same. And about five o'clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, 'Why are you standing here idle all day?' They said to him, 'Because no one has hired us.' He said to them, 'You also go into the vineyard.'  When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, 'Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.' When those hired about five o'clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage.  Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, saying, 'These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.' But he replied to one of them, 'Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?' So the last will be first, and the first will be last." 

One of the pitfalls that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people can fall into is believing that religious right folks might have a point.  If we listen too much to their mumbo jumbo we might believe we have nothing to offer God or the world because of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression.  This Gospel suggests that there is work for everyone regardless of who they are or when they arrive to work.  The work that we are called to do for God is what we are called to because we know God's friendship, not because God is an employer just waiting to kick us off the job, or not pay us a just wage.

Today's reflection from Forward Day by Day offers a very similar approach.

It is certainly not just or fair that those who had worked for twelve hours should receive the same pay as those who had worked only one. Then why did our Lord tell this story?

The key word which unlocks the mystery of the parable is friend. We expect to hear the word laborer or employee. Such a word we could understand.

But then we should have lost the point of the parable. This is no lesson in economics, but a call to friendship. To all who seek to enter into relations with God on the basis of merit and contract, God's chosen ways of grace and friendship will seem unjust. But God will not permit us to have relations with him on the basis of merit. He would lift our relations to a higher level--that of friendship. With friends we do not keep accounts of merit. Friendship recognizes no limits of giving.

Has God dealt with you on the basis of merit or friendship? Do you want God to deal with others as he has dealt with you? (1946)

This explanation offered is a good one.  But, for LGBT people we need to make a few more observations.  Most LGBT people are told by the religious right that we can be friends of God only if we repent of being LGBT or commit to total physical and/or emotional abstinence for the rest of our lives.  Such biased suggestions come from false understandings of homosexuality through Biblical literalism.  If we measure our friendship with God as being based on a particular set of standards made by those who interpret Scripture literally and without significant study of the time, culture and meaning of a particular text, then we might come to the same conclusion.  But if we understand that the only litmus test of what is truly of God is love as Ret. Bishop Christopher Senyonjo suggests and seek out the common good of other people and see the Bible in it's historical and cultural context we will see that LGBT people and our partners are friends of God just as straight people are.  In recent weeks and months we have heard stories of all kinds of supposedly straight people who have caused more harm and grief to straight people and LGBT people, yet no one is suggesting that their friendship with God has been affected.  As such it is also not appropriate to imply that God only seeks friendship with LGBT people based on the standards of the religious right.

The friends of God are sought out by the very fact that all of us have been created, redeemed and sanctified by God who is our Creator, Servant and Life-Giver.  Therefore all of God's friends are sought out to serve in the capacity by which we have been gifted by God to serve God and our neighbors.  The rewards that God offers all of God's friends who answer God's call to service are offered the same rewards of happiness and eternal life, because they answered God's invitation and performed what we have been asked to do.  The call of God is the same call to give up our own self interests and desires and seek out the common good of other people. Especially the unprivileged in society and the Church. The work that all Christians are called to perform is feeding those who are hungry, clothing those who are naked, loving those who have no one to love them.  As we read in Matthew 25: 31 to 26, when God calls us to work, what God is calling us to do is serve Jesus in all members of God's family.  No where in the Gospels of Jesus has he even suggested that those who are gay (or the Eunuchs) are not welcomed to be part of the service of God's kingdom.  On the contrary the homosexuals of the Gospel era have been raised up in the service of God's Church as was told in Isaiah 56; 3-5.  Therefore LGBT people have every right and reason to take up their place in service of God's people as lay people, Bishops, Priests or Deacons.  Thanks be to God.

Do all of us see ourselves as God's friends?   Do LGBT people regard ourselves as being in God's friendship and called to participate in God's work?    What is it most that we would like to receive from God for the work we do on behalf of God and God's people?  How do we see ourselves in relationship with everyone else who works as God's friends?

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 7, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).

Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find suitable and fulfilling employment, and receive just payment for their labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Unemployed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 824). 

The Way Towards Equality and the Way of the Cross

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people could very well be perceived as the martyrs of the modern era of Christianity.  Many LGBT individuals, couples and families are considered the "untouchables" in the Church and society.  LGBT people in many places are those that children are told to stay away from.  LGBT politicians, Priests, Bishops and activists are people who are counter cultural in a Church and society that has placed heterosexism above even charity and mutual common courtesy. An understanding of marriage to include LGBT families is a way of destroying the meaning of marriage and family according to the National Organization for Marriage and Focus on the Family.  A newly ordained openly gay bishop is said to be a source of "disunity and deep pain" within the Anglican Communion.  The ordination of Bishop Mary Glasspool in Los Angeles is the reason why Episcopalians are being removed from membership in the ecumenical dialogues within the Anglican Communion. Exactly what is the difference between what the martyrs of the Church experienced and what LGBT people are experiencing due to the actions and attitudes of religious right Christians?

Today in the Episcopal Church we commemorate St. Alban the first Christian Martyr in Britain in 304.  Alban was originally a Pagan who was converted to Christianity by a Priest who was fleeing arrest.  Later Alban was arrested and beheaded, as was his executioner and the Priest who had converted Alban.  The early Christians were persecuted because they challenged the culture of the day.  They called people to a new understanding of God, themselves and others around them.  Is the Church of today calling people to new understandings of God, themselves and others around them?  Is the Church welcoming of those who will challenge the Church to a new understanding of people who are different from others in society? 

The Gospel reading for the Commemoration of St. Alban is Matthew 10: 34-42.

Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household.

Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

"Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. Whoever welcomes a prophet in the name of a prophet will receive a prophet's reward; and whoever welcomes a righteous person in the name of a righteous person will receive the reward of the righteous; and whoever gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple-- truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward."

How many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people have left their families, homes, countries, churches, work places and entire communities because we had to face the reality of who we are and how we love other people because we would never find acceptance there?  How many LGBT people even now are not able to talk to their parents, children, friends, classmates because if they do, they will be literally hit over the head with all of the clobber passages that are inappropriately used to condemn LGBT people?  How many of us are looking for peace through equal rights and justice for folks who are victims of hate crimes, but really not able to find any amount of solace?

Jesus Christ never promised anyone that we would be without conflict for following him.  Jesus did not and does not now promise us totally trouble free lives because we give of our lives and worship to God.  What God in Jesus does promise is that there is no difficulty or Cross that we will face, where God is not there with us and experiencing it with us, loving us through every victory, failure, laughter or tear.  When we fall in love, God celebrates that love with us as LGBT individuals.  When we receive and embrace children to raise them, God rejoices with us.  When relationships break up and our hearts are broken, God weeps with us and holds on to us to help us heal, even when we find it hard to forgive and let go.  When children are taken away from lesbian and gay families, because of the cruelty of an unjust legal system that is driven by political maneuvering, God gets angry and cries with the families and children.  When we receive the stranger fleeing Uganda so that they will not be put in prison or hung for being gay, God is happy that we welcomed Jesus.   When LGBT people are threatened by a bill that could put them in prison or execute them by hanging, God's heart shakes when countries do not pay attention or pretend like it is just another countries business.  We can shake our fist at God saying: "Okay God, why are you not doing anything about all this?"  However, God has placed us here and now to be agents of change.   God has placed all of us here to make a place for the outcasts of society and the Church.  How are we responding to what God has called us to?

The way of equality is the way of the Cross.  At the Cross we give up all that comfortable stuff.  On the Cross Jesus did not have the use of his hands or feet.  Yet, his arms were open to embrace all of humankind.  Jesus gave up all common human respect so that he could bring salvation to all who were lost, so that in God they could find their home.  How are LGBT people embracing each other as well as those who are not our best friends?  Sometimes the best way to embrace and help someone, is to completely let them go and let God take care of them.  Sometimes as LGBT people that is exactly what we have to do with our families, friends, churches and all of the things that we built our lives around.  When we stifle the Holy Spirit and keep her away from helping us know who we truly are, she cannot help us except to wait like a patient mother.  But when we are ready to surrender who we are to the Cross and be our true selves, to love the way God made us, the Holy Spirit throws open her arms of love and guides us with the crucified Jesus to a new resurrected live in him.  But before she can do that, we have to be willing to let the Holy Spirit work with us as we are, not as the religious right and other anti-gay voices have told us to do.

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 7, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

Almighty God, by whose grace and power your holy martyr Alban triumphed over suffering and was faithful even unto death: Grant to us, who now remember him with thanksgiving, to be so faithful in our witness to you in this world, that we may receive with him the crown of life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for St. Alban).

 Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, Page 100).

Jesus' Welcome to All

Matt. 19: 13- 22 (NRSV)

Then little children were being brought to him in order that he might lay his hands on them and pray. The disciples spoke sternly to those who brought them; but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of heaven belongs." And he laid his hands on them and went on his way. Then someone came to him and said, "Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?" And he said to him, "Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." He said to him, "Which ones?" And Jesus said, "You shall not murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness;  Honor your father and mother; also, You shall love your neighbor as yourself." The young man said to him, "I have kept all these; what do I still lack?"  Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, go, sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me." When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions. 

If ever I can find a text to pick at Biblical literalism, this is one of them.   For all of the claims that "this is the word of God and therefore I follow it" "go, sell your possessions and give the money to the poor" is one of those that literalists can hardly say they follow.  This is among the reasons why Biblical literalism is a false understanding of Scripture.  The Scriptures were not given to us to become a stagnant explanation of laws, rules or even doctrine. As the web site for the Daily Office says: "The Bible is not a science text, but a profound guide to faith. It doesn't contain all the answers; but oh, the answers it contains!"

Children in the time of the Scriptures represents those who have no legal claims or rights, and "receive everything as a gift.  The kingdom is for those without pretensions to status and superiority, for those who recognize that it is a gift." (Collegeville Bible Commentary, New Testament volume, Page 890).  The children come to Jesus recognizing that in him is the gift of God who is able to give everything, even to those who recognize that they have nothing.  


If all of us were to take a good look at ourselves here, we would understand that no one really owns anything.  All that we are and have is a gift from God to be used for God's purpose.  How might an understanding like this be applied to the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in the Church and society?  


First, our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression is in and of itself a gift of God.  It is not "intrinsically disordered."  Our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression is not an illness or "sexual addiction."  Our being LGBT is God's gift to us and to others that we might love God and others out of the wonderful holy gift of our ability to love.  Whether we love our significant others or partners through romantic and physical love, or in platonic ways, within our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression is our ability to love.  In that gift is the ability and power to discern how God wants us to use the marvelous gift of love.  Sexual orientation and/or gender identity in and of itself is not a disorder, evil or destructive when exercised within the context of loving, committed relationships.  Sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression when used to seek the common good of others, to serve for the benefit of the other person (or people) is the gift of being LGBT or straight in holy and life-giving ways.  When our sexual orientation and/or gender identity is used for destructive means, yes they can destroy.  Sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression is in and of itself morally neutral.  What we do or how we do it can have a good or bad moral outcome.  Discerning what is good or bad cannot be done by one rule for every person, because every person is different and must discern such for oneself.  Using the Scriptures and teachings of Christianity to help guide that process is a wise and constructive thing to do.  Using he Scriptures and Christianity to ultimately destroy or suppress who a person is, is destructive.  Telling all LGBT people that our sexual orientation is "disordered" and therefore should be changed through reparative or "change" therapy is not a good moral thing to do.  Encouraging LGBT people to exercise our sexual and gender gifts in loving, committed relationships is an excellent moral thing to do.

When Jesus calls the children unto himself and calls upon the wealthy to give what they have to the poor and follow him, Jesus is calling all of us to recognize that all that we have been given, is for the purpose of serving God and others around us.  God also knows that all of us being limited, we cannot totally give of ourselves if we do not seek to receive from God and others that which we need to live wholesome lives.  For some of us our difficulty may be not serving others enough.  For others, the problem is that we serve others too much.  In either case, God calls us to a balance of service of God and others through the gifts we have been given, as well as taking care of our own lives as God's people.  In the life of marital partnership, whether the marriage is gay or straight the "other" that we are called to take care of is our partner, husband, wife, or significant other.  However as Christians if our care and concern stops there, we still have not fulfilled what Jesus is calling us to here.  We must also be concerned about others who do not have their basic human rights.  As Christians we are to care about and for the poor, neglected, jobless, sick and those in the Gulf of Mexico who are suffering due to the oil spill.  

When we recognize that we are to share what we have been given out of the abundance of God's grace with others for the good of the kingdom of God, we are fulfilling what Jesus told this wealthy person to do.  And like all children, we know that what we truly need comes from God.  It is God to whom we are to give thanks for what we have, and it is God, our neighbors and ourselves that we are to serve with what God has given us.

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 7, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

Almighty and most merciful God, we remember before you all poor and neglected persons whom it would be easy for us to forget: the homeless and the destitute, the old and the sick, and all who have none to care for them. Help us to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow into joy. Grant this, Father, for the love of your Son, who for our sake became poor, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Poor and Neglected, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).

Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find suitable and fulfilling employment, and receive just payment for their labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Unemployed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 824). 

Everyone Can Call On God. No Exceptions.

If there is one thing every individual, culture, religion and nation struggles with, keeping boundaries is probably at the top of the list.   In the time of Jesus when the Bible stories took place the idea of the Jewish Religion going beyond the boundary of the Jewish people was something that just was not tolerated.  Yet as hard as they tried there were many countries that made their way into Jerusalem that had plundered the culture, families and the temple.  Keeping what essentially belonged to them was very difficult.  In some ways as we read through the Gospels and are reminded that they were under Roman oppression at the time these stories are told, we can understand why there were those who were hostile to the idea of Jesus changing the culture around them.  Yet the more Jesus preached, healed and included the outcasts of his time, the more it became known that Jesus came for not only the Jewish people, but all humankind.

The Lectionary readings for this weekend are an invitation to see beyond our personal comfort zones a bit, and see both ourselves and others in the Light of Jesus Christ. God's perfect revelation came to set us free from our sins.  Not only to redeem us from sin did Jesus come, die and rise again, but to help us all to shine a bit of that Light into ourselves and see how much God loves us and desires to be our companion in the difficulties of our lives. 

As we read through today's Gospel of Luke 8: 26-39 the story of the man who is full of the evils of his day could represent all of us in 2010.  He was a man without clothes, a home other than the tombs and he was crying out to be delivered. He might as well have been a man who is dead. Yet the "legions" that are part of his life in the time of Jesus represent for each of us all the multiple issues of our day.  Many of us are struggling with unemployment, low or no income, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, discrimination because of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression.  We live in a Country and a time when both the Republican and Democratic party are so worried about the good of their party, and who is paying their re-election bid that their dependence on oil and our addiction to oil is making it nearly impossible to rescue the poor people who are suffering in the Gulf of Mexico.  We can blame the spill on BP as much as we wish, or we can accuse the Government of not doing enough, quickly enough.  But how does our own dependence upon petroleum, oil and the need for all that they produce add to the catastrophe that has cost many in the Gulf their jobs, homes, and the environment that is part of their life?  The problems of one group of people, ultimately affects the over all health of all within society.

As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people we continue the work of full equality through the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the passage of an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act and the passage of the American Families Act.  As Congress and the President continue to drag their feet and the bills fail to get discussed and passed the Soldiers still get kicked out under DADT.  People in over 28 States can still be fired just for being LGB, with 39 States allowed to terminate people who are transgendered from jobs, public assistance, or financial help.  Lesbian and gay families who still cannot get married are forced to accept that they cannot file joint taxes to save the same money as straight families can.  Lesbian and Gay families cannot provide health insurance or other benefits for their domestic partners.  Gay domestic partners with one member of the family living with HIV/AIDS is not able to provide health care benefits because State and Federal legislators have either taken away previous passed laws, or fail to pass new ones that are so desperately needed.

This man who comes to Jesus who is full of the evils of his day, represents everyone of us who comes to Jesus with the evils of our time keeping us from being full, participating members of our society. We come to Jesus seeking life where there is death.  Many people cannot be full functioning members of their church communities, such as LGBT people who are told that they must change in order to find happiness.  Many fundamentalist or evangelical churches tell LGBT people that their sexual orientation and/or the practice of it within loving, committed, same sex relationships is responsible for the demons of their lives.  As such, rather than reach out and help LGBT people understand that God loves us as LGBT people and seeks to work with us and help us just as God helps and loves any person, many church communities place extra burdens on LGBT people, rather than lift them.  In so doing, church communities fail to recognize who Jesus Christ is, and what Jesus Christ came to do.  If the crucifixion and death of Jesus was not enough to keep God from raising Jesus from the dead, what makes our being LGBT place such a restriction upon God that God cannot do wonderful and miraculous things in and through our lives?

In Paul's letter to the Galatians today, Paul is dealing with a group of people that are saying that if you want to become a Christian, you must also keep to the Jewish ritual Law.  Apparently, they felt that Jesus did not change the face of human society to the point that the Old Law was still enforced.  Paul, while not saying that the law is no longer completely valid, also makes the case that Jesus Christ has brought a new understanding of things.  And therefore: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3: 28).  As Jesus is the "way, truth and life" so he is also the one who makes all things new in himself.  Therefore, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are included as God's saved people. And we do not have to surrender our sexual orientation including our romantic and physical love for our partners to receive God's help in times of distress.  Transgendered individuals do not have to give up being male to female or female to male to receive God's loving graces when life stinks. 

All Christians including LGBT are welcomed to call upon God without exception and receive God's help when our lives are a mess.  All of us whether we are LGBT or straight, female or male, any other race, ethnicity, color, culture, ability, challenge or religion are facing difficult challenges.  These challenges have not come because Christians who still worship according to an Old Testament thinking, believe that God punishes the whole country through disastrous weather and oil spills because God is angry over marriage equality or even abortion.  All kinds of problems will happen when humankind is irresponsibly addicted to things like oil, power, control, money, and selfishness.  It is interesting how Christian fundamentalists will blame the nation's miseries whether natural or human made on homosexuality or abortion, but fail to call out corporate or capital greed for what it is.  The destruction of the family has nothing to do with legalizing gay marriage.  Families are destroyed by falsehood when a gay man has married a heterosexual woman because he lives in complete fear over his sexual orientation.  Yet the answer to correct the problems of society by the Catholic church is to create an ex-gay ministry like the Courage Apostolate by the late Cardinal Cook to force gay and bisexual men to suppress their same-sex feelings and God help their souls if they ever slip without going to confession.  They are told (I was in fact told while I was there) that there is only hell if they so much as masturbate to relieve their sexual tensions.  If the Catholic church and other fundamentalist churches are so "pro-family" why this push to keep families from being honest and encourage a loveless life for LGBT people?

Jesus Christ came among us to heal and deliver us from our sins and evils.  Yet the Church and much of society seems hell bent on keeping more evils on the backs of people everywhere.  At what point do LGBT Christians recognize that they can approach God either through a welcoming and affirming church community, or through their own faith, so that they can seek the healing mercy of God? God extends that welcome to everyone without exception.  At what point do we recognize that Jesus Christ who is the Son of God, with the power of the resurrection can do "infinitely more than we can ask or imagine" (Ephesians 3:20, 21) can and will deliver us from evil if only we put our trust in him? 

O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving ­kindness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 7, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).

Who Were The Eunuchs? Is there "Courage" to find out?

Matt: 19: 11 and 12 (NRSV)

Jesus said to them, "Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can."

Christian history has moved quite a few milestones over these many centuries.  At one point in time the eunuchs referred to here in Matthew's Gospel as those men who were castrated. In the Old Testament the eunuchs were definitely understood to be those who were unable to share male seed, as such they were rejected in the worship of the community.  "No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD." (Deut. 23:1).  When we get into the Prophet Isaiah where we are hearing about the coming of a new Covenant, the eunuch will be recognized as an important member of the community.  "For thus says the LORD: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off." (Isaiah 56: 4,5).

John J. McNeil in his book "The Church and the Homosexual" writes about the eunuchs.

"The application of this prophecy to the homosexual can be defended, because the term "eunuch" in the New Testament is used not only in its literal sense--i.e., those who have been physically castrated--but also in a symbolic sense for all those who for various reasons do not marry and bear children.  For example in Matthew 19:12, Jesus discussing marriage and divorce, says to his apostles: "There are eunuchs who have been so from birth,and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven."

The first category-those eunuchs who have been so from birth--is the closest description we have in the Bible of what we understand today as a homosexual.  It should come as no surprise, then, that the first group of outcasts of Israel that the Holy Spirit includes within the new covenant community is symbolized by the Ethiopian eunuch.  It is the Spirit who takes the initiative by leading Philip to the encounter with the Ethiopian eunuch of the Court of Candace.  The eunuch believes in Christ as the Messiah and receives baptism and the Spirit and rides on into history "full of joy."  The symbolism of the passage is quite obvious.  The Holy Spirit takes the initiative in leading the new Christian community to include among its members those who were excluded for sexual reasons from the Old Testament community." (Pages 64, 65).

I also want to include here a quote from the blog of Fr. Paul Bresnahan a semi-retired Episcopal Priest from Massachusetts.  In his Invitation to an Inclusive Church, Fr. Paul writes:

"There was a special place in his (Jesus) heart too for the “eunuchs” of his time. I wonder what he meant by the following startling saying; But he said to them, "Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can." (Matthew 19:11-12) You can define that term as you like, but they clearly were not a threat to folks of the opposite sex. There is considerable evidence that when the biblical material refers to “eunuchs” we were talking of folks whose interests lay with folks of the same sex. We now refer to this group as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered, LGBT for short. And isn't it interesting to note that even Jesus realized that there were those who would find this teaching a hard one to accept. The radical love of Jesus is often hard to take because it includes our enemies.

I believe that Jesus stood up for this crowd too as he stood up for us all, and I am convinced that is why they put him to death on the cross. Jesus was not a liberal. He merely loved everyone! That’s why God died. That’s why God is Risen. That’s why God will come again!"

As God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit has raised the eunuch, the homosexual to a place of honor, acceptance and even pride, why then are so many Christians working to denigrate and smear us, in the Name of God?  And why are so many LGBT people giving into the pressures of Christians and accepting that we must not be good holy people and therefore throw away our relationship with God?  I understand that there are many church communities that do not welcome LGBT people and they are worth avoiding.  However, all people including LGBT people need God close to us so that we can find our way through this world of prejudice, fear and religious oppression.  Contrary to the words of fundamentalist Christians who have read the Bible, but never studied it to save their own lives, LGBT people are created out of the love of God as we are, and are called to love God, one another and even those who hate us, just as much as anyone else.

Yesterday in Lavendar Magazine there was a terrific article written about the local Courage Chapter.  This is a chapter of the Courage Apostolate that was started by the Late Cardinal Cook.  Anyone reading my blog can find that article here.  As I read through the article I was most intrigued by the following paragraph and please note the text that I am printing in bold.

"During the only time I heard the Catholic priest pedophile scandals mentioned, it was Catholicism that was being persecuted, not the kids. One middle-aged man insisted with great indignation that he was “sick of everyone trying to destroy my church!” The University of St. Catherine, St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis, and President Barack Obama, along with a man who had defected from the group and started a progay self-esteem website, were referred to with sarcastic derision."  

If the line in bold is suppose to refer to me, as I am a guy who left the group and started writing this blog, I am very interested in how a blog that supports the full inclusion of LGBT people in the Church and society through the use of Bible readings is referred to a "pro gay, self-esteem website."  If this is meant to suggest that those of us who are gay and for LGBT equality in the Church and society are seeking our own self-esteem because our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression does not allow us to have any, it is very interesting to hear that from an ex gay ministry that encourages people who "have the disorder of same-sex attraction" to change it suggesting that it is low self-esteem that may have created it in the first place.  Self-esteem can be very damaged by suggesting that if we are LGBT, the only way we can be happy is to abstain from all romantic and physical relationships. When we are told not to love other people in the way we are created and we suppress our feelings for people of the same-sex, low self-esteem is an inevitable and damaging consequence.  It is also very interesting to me that a group such as the Courage Apostolate suggests that people like myself who are gay are so because of rejection by our parents, culture and the like. Yet, among the many things that group has been called together to do, is to "help" us reject that very part of ourselves that is the core of how we are created by God to love other people.  Exactly how is an individual suppose to grow any level of self-esteem with a philosophy like that?  If my blog which encourages LGBT individuals to seek out a relationship with the one Triune God who created us all out of love for love and find their self-esteem in the process, I am so honored by such a title.  The fact that such individuals have to stoop so low as to refer to me or whoever they are referring to with sarcasm to make yourselves feel better about the whole thing, I think it is time someone in that group went out on a date to find some real happiness in their life.  But to call yourselves a "ministry" when you encourage low self-esteem for LGBT individuals is hardly a group that leads people to a true understanding of yourselves and our relationship to God.

In his interview with Bishop Robinson, Bishop Christopher Senyonjo said that his litmus test for what is truly of God is love.  When we express love for each other and when love honors each other and finds it's hope and mercy in God, it is a love that is not only worth expressing through the greatest means possible, it is also a love worth defending and promoting equal rights for.  Therefore, let all Christians including LGBT accept the reality that all of us are created as good people by God and loved by Jesus Christ, and empowered by the Holy Spirit to fulfill what we have been placed on this good earth to do.  Love one another as God loves us.

Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 6, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).

O heavenly Father, who has filled the world with beauty: Open our eyes to behold your gracious hand in all your works; that, rejoicing in your whole creation, we may learn to serve you with gladness; for the sake of him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (Prayer for Joy in God's Creation, Book of Common Prayer, Page 814).

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, Book of Common Prayer, Page 815).