The Bible: A Love Story, Not a Weapon of Mass Destruction

2 Timothy 3:14-17 (NRSV)

As for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

My blog readers know that I have written about the dangers of Biblical literalism on many occasions.  Given that today is the commemoration of St. Jerome who translated the Hebrew and Greek texts into Latin sometime between the years 347 and 420, I want to concentrate for a little bit about the Bible as a love story. Later on between 1374 and 1384 it was John Wyclif who translated the Latin into common English

The Bible has been used as a Weapon of Mass Destruction over the years.  I have written that many times before as well.  The Bible really is a love story.  It is the story of God's love for all of humankind.  The Bible contains many stories about how God interacted with people in a time and culture very different from our own.  Yet many of the things we encounter today, the people of the Biblical era definitely knew.   The Bible is not a perfect book.  The Bible is not a story about perfect people, accept one.  The Bible is not an excuse for prejudice or violence.  The Holy Scriptures contain every reason to love one another as God has loved us in Christ. 

Luke 24:44-48 (NRSV)

Jesus said to his disciples, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you-- that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, and he said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things."

In this Gospel of Luke, Jesus is instructing the disciples after he has been raised from the dead.  Rather than use his power as God to punish the disciples for abandoning him at his most desperate hour of death, Jesus is merciful, forgiving and he challenges them as God's witnesses. 

We too are witnesses of Jesus' death and resurrection.  We are among God's beloved children with whom God is well-pleased.  Everyone including those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning, and queer (LGBTQ) are among God's redeemed people in Christ.  The Bible and many of the passages of Scripture that have been used to justify violence and cruelty towards LGBTQ people or any person or group of people is not condoned by the message contained within God's written word.   The Living Word of God, Jesus Christ spent his life and ministry caring for the marginalized, and now prays in heaven for all of us to learn to love each other more and more without excuse or reason to do otherwise. 

My prayer for us and everyone is that we will find every reason to love, accept and cherish each other because of the Bible.  My prayer is that all the reasons we find to love people because of the Bible, will overshadow and convert a Church and society in which the Bible has been used as an excuse to hurt and hate.

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

O Lord, O God of truth, your Word is a lantern to our feet and a light upon our path: We give you thanks for your servant Jerome, and those who, following in his steps, have labored to render the Holy Scriptures in the language of the people; and we pray that your Holy Spirit will overshadow us as we read the written Word, and that Christ, the living Word, will transform us according to your righteous will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for St. Jerome, Holy Men, Holy Women, Celebrating the Saints, page 615).

St. Michael and All Angels: God's Presence Is In This Place

Genesis 28:10-17 (NRSV)

Jacob left Beer-sheba and went toward Haran. He came to a certain place and stayed there for the night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place. And he dreamed that there was a ladder set up on the earth, the top of it reaching to heaven; and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. And the LORD stood beside him and said, "I am the LORD, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your offspring; and your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and all the families of the earth shall be blessed in you and in your offspring. Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you." Then Jacob woke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place-- and I did not know it!" And he was afraid, and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints tells us so much about this commemoration of St. Michael and All Angels.

The scriptural word "angel" (Greek: angelos) means, literally, a messenger.  Messengers from God can be visible or invisible, and may assume human or non-human forms.  Christians have always felt themselves to be attended by healthful spirits--swift, powerful, and enlightening.  Those beneficent spirits are often depicted in Christian art in human form, with wings to signify their swiftness and spacelessness, with swords to signify their power, and with dazzling raiment to signify their ability to enlighten.  Unfortunately, this type of pictorial representation has led many to dismiss the angels as "just another mythical beast, like the unicorn, the griffin, or the sphinx."

Of the many angels spoken of in the Bible, only four are called by name: Michael, Gabriel, Uriel, and Raphael.  The Archangel Michael is the powerful agent of God who wards off evil from God's people, and delivers peace to them at the end of this life's mortal struggle. "Michaelmas," as his feast is called in England, has long been one of the popular celebrations of the Christian Year in many parts of the world.

Michael is the patron saint of countless churches, including Mont Saint-Michel, a monastery off the coast of Normandy that figured so prominently in medieval English history, and Conventry Cathedra, England's most famous church building, rising from the ashes of the most devastating war of our time." (Page 612).

Once I left a message on Rev. Canon Susan Russell's Facebook page in a post she left about Rev. Lou Engle of "The Call".  I said: "Of all the conservative fundamentalists Engle reminds me most of Adolf Hitler when he talks and rallies crowds.  I so get the feeling of chills when I hear him talk."  Rev. Susan responded: "Pay attention to your feelings, they are messengers."  

Sometimes the things we feel in our hearts, through our emotions they are messengers letting us know God is here with us.  They could be there because of angels trying to tell us that there are things of evil around us.  Many of us felt feelings of anger and disgust over the abusive language that was aimed at Muslim people at the end of this past summer.  Those were messengers telling us something was very wrong.  Many of us have been feeling a sense of real sadness and anger over the number of LGBTQ teen suicides that have been on the rise.   Those feelings are messengers calling us to continue our missionary work of advocacy for sexual and gender diversity.  When our feelings call us to contemplate the evils of this world and what we can do about them, there are angels at work in our world around us.  They are helping us to know and understand that in God's world there is room and opportunity for everyone. 

In addition to the encounter between Jacob and the angels in Genesis is the account in Revelation.

Revelation 12:7-12 (NRSV)

War broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back, but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world-- he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, proclaiming,

"Now have come the salvation and the power

and the kingdom of our God

and the authority of his Messiah,

for the accuser of our comrades has been thrown down,

who accuses them day and night before our God.

But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb

and by the word of their testimony,

for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.

Rejoice then, you heavens

and those who dwell in them!

But woe to the earth and the sea,

for the devil has come down to you

with great wrath,

because he knows that his time is short!"

 John 1:47-51 (NRSV)

When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, "Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!" Nathanael asked him, "Where did you get to know me?" Jesus answered, "I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you." Nathanael replied, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" Jesus answered, "Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these." And he said to him, "Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man."

Angels very often attended to Jesus.  Angels came and waited on Jesus at the end of his forty days of temptation in Matthew 4: 1-11.  In Luke 22: 43 an angel came and gave Jesus strength to face his death and resurrection.  We know about the activity of the Archangel Gabriel in the Annunciation in Luke 1: 26 to 38 as well as in the conversation with Zechariah earlier in Luke 1 about John the Baptist.  The host of angels that appeared to the shepherds at the birth of Jesus in Luke 2: 13 and so on.  If Jesus who was God's Son needed the help of angels and spirits from God, how much more help do we need?  

Angels are at work in our world and our lives.  They may very well be using us to give someone who is grieving comfort or food to someone who is hungry.  When someone takes on the opportunity to save someone's life in a fire, accident or donate furniture to a family that lost every thing in a fire, angels are at work in our lives and the lives of those we touch with God's love.  When church communities offer supper nights or free lunches for the homeless and those who are struggling to get up off ground one, angels are at work in those places.  When organizations and individuals work for the equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning, and queer (LGBTQ) people, the angels of God are at work.

Last night Jason and I enjoyed a magnificent multi-faith prayer service for the respect of all religions.  We prayed together with Christians, Muslims, Jewish people, Hindus, Buddhists, Baha'i, American Indians and so many others.  We acknowledged together that each of our religions have traditions and practices that are different from each other.  Yet, despite our differences we together stated that: "We value the importance of governments and peoples allowing the free exercise and expression of all religious traditions and opinions in their communities.  We advocate for mutual respect across differences and urge all to refrain from physical violence, negative stereotyping, and spreading of false information.  We believe in mutual respect, greater self-understanding, and cooperative service for the common good."  The angels of God were active last night as each tradition led us in prayer in their own unique way, as we prayed for and with each other.  It was a marvelous experience.

As we commemorate the Angels today, I also pray that we will take time to see God working in and through us.  I hope all of us will take the opportunity to know God's presence in the very place where we are.

Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Prayer for Michael and All Angels, Book of Common Prayer, page 244)

 

 

Do We Recognize Christ At Work To Change Our Culture?

Luke 5:12-26 (NRSV)

Once, when he was in one of the cities, there was a man covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he bowed with his face to the ground and begged him, 'Lord, if you choose, you can make me clean.' Then Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, 'I do choose. Be made clean.' Immediately the leprosy left him. And he ordered him to tell no one. 'Go,' he said, 'and show yourself to the priest, and, as Moses commanded, make an offering for your cleansing, for a testimony to them.' But now more than ever the word about Jesus spread abroad; many crowds would gather to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. But he would withdraw to deserted places and pray.

One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting near by (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. Just then some men came, carrying a paralyzed man on a bed. They were trying to bring him in and lay him before Jesus; but finding no way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the middle of the crowd in front of Jesus. When he saw their faith, he said, 'Friend, your sins are forgiven you.' Then the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, 'Who is this who is speaking blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' When Jesus perceived their questionings, he answered them, 'Why do you raise such questions in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Stand up and walk"? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins' -he said to the one who was paralyzed-'I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home.' Immediately he stood up before them, took what he had been lying on, and went to his home, glorifying God. Amazement seized all of them, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, 'We have seen strange things today.' 

Blog author Derek Olson wrote a magnificent post in the Daily Episcopalian.  The post Olson wrote is entitled: Christ, Culture and the Struggle Over Same-Sex Relationships.  He wrote the blog post in response to remarks made by:

"the Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, a senior figure within the Russian Orthodox church gave an address at the Annual Nicean Club Dinner at Lambeth Palace in London. His remarks were focused on the concern he had for the future of the dialogue given liberalizing trends within the Anglican Communion. The Metropolitan repudiated the Episcopal Church for the ordination and consecration of women and for the consecration of Gene Robinson (not “Jim Robertson” as the Metropolitan stated…) and suggested that a similar fate was in store for the Church of England if it did not side-line its plans for the consecration of women as bishops. Instead, the Metropolitan framed the debated as a matter of capitulation to the culture:  

We are also extremely concerned and disappointed by other processes that are manifesting themselves in churches of the Anglican Communion. Some Protestant and Anglican churches have repudiated basic Christian moral values by giving a public blessing to same-sex unions and ordaining homosexuals as priests and bishops. Many Protestant and Anglican communities refuse to preach Christian moral values in secular society and prefer to adjust to worldly standards.

Our Church must sever its relations with those churches and communities that trample on the principles of Christian ethics and traditional morals. Here we uphold a firm stand based on Holy Scripture. ....

What can these churches say to their faithful and to secular society? What kind of light do they shine upon the world (cf. Mt. 5:14)? What is their ‘salt’? I am afraid the words of Christ can be applied to them: If the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men (Mt. 5:13).

In reading the Metropolitan’s words, I’m reminded of the classic work by H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture. In this book, Niebuhr lays out five basic modes through which Christians construct the encounter between Christ—his shorthand for the faithful proclamation of the Gospel—and culture—the human environment, the backdrop in which we live and move.

Later in Olson's post we read:

With regard to liberalizing Anglicans—those who agree with the ordination of woman and those who will accept patterned homosexual clergy however conditionally—we need to take a hard look at ourselves, our theologies, and our motives. It is true that the prevailing Western culture has moved in a permissive direction over the past decades. Why are we in favor of these developments? Is it because it just seems right or because we have friends that we don’t want to disappoint—or because we truly believe that these innovations are demanded by the Gospel? All too often I see defenses of the liberal position that are based primarily in “rights” language or are grounded by warm personal anecdotes about friends, In advancing our arguments in this way, I fear that we do nothing more than confirm the caricature and, worse, ally ourselves with it. This does no service to our cause. I see the ordination and consecration of women and the ordination of people in committed exclusive life-long relationships blessed by the church—gay or straight—as mandates proceeding from the truth and morals of the Gospel. I sincerely hope that those who believe as I do understand it in the same way. It is only when we proceed from these bases that we can respond to the Metropolitan with a firm “no” and still look him—and ourselves—in the eye. We must ask ourselves whether we pass the Niehbuhr test—are we simply capitulating to the pressures of a permissive culture or do we understand the necessity for Christ to transform and rightly order our practices and relationships? Are there points where we clear identify the Gospel to be in conflict with our wider culture?

On the other hand, those who have taken for themselves a conservative label—whether they be Anglican, Russian Orthodox, or some other group—often fall short of the high ground they claim. While they may appear to be standing with Christ against Culture, all too often a deeper examination of their position reveals them to be nothing more than followers of a Christ of Culture as well. Assuredly, their culture is not the current contemporary Western culture, but sometimes the Gospel becomes nothing more than an excuse for the imposition of yet another human culture, especially one fashioned by nostalgia. Too often language about “traditional morals” is not an appeal to principles of virtue or the life of the Holy Spirit in the Church but to a by-gone all-too-human culture where women and gays stayed in their respective homes and closets.

The hard edge of the Gospel cuts against all human constructions of power and propriety. Sometimes its call to repentance, love, and virtue align with platforms either on the Left or on the Right. But neither platform ever captures the Gospel’s clarion. All platforms fall short. We inevitably fall short. But for all Anglicans, all Christians, who care about the on-going proclamation of the Gospel in a culture which needs to be redeemed by it, we must remain committed to holy conversation—with the Spirit and with one another, holy listening—to the Spirit and to our neighbors, and saturation in the Scriptures and Sacraments which are the trustworthy vehicles of the Gospel. 

I am most intrigued by this post and I think the folks in the Gospel for today's Daily Office were experiencing the same kind of "culture shocks".   Those whom Jesus healed were suppose to be separated from the rest of society.  It was thought that such people were the way they were because of some sin either they or their parents had committed.  Fortunately, today's more progressive theologians have gotten away from the idea that God punishes us through sickness and disease.   Rather we understand that sickness, disease and even death is an unfortunate part of fallen humankind. Instead of attempting to demonize people who are sick, poor, dying or different, what we believe Jesus Christ does in this Gospel and calls his followers to do, is to recognize and reverence the goodness of God in all people, and seek ways to make everyone's life more meaningful.  We may not have the answer for curing HIV/AIDS or cancer, nor can we cause a paralyzed person to walk.  But when we take the time to be compassionate and share just a little bit of our own lives with those whom society and the Church ignores, we bring the Light that is Jesus Christ into people's lives and even the whole world.  Christ becomes part of our culture and in the words of Niebuhr, "Christ transforms our culture."

Through out this year we have seen many victories on the way to equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer (LGBTQ) people.  The DOMA trial in Massachusetts where DOMA was declared "unconstitutional."  The Proposition 8 trial where that was declared "unconstitutional".  The recent trial about Don't Ask, Don't Tell that was also declared "Unconstitutional."   The recent case in Washington State where a judge has ordered a Military Nurse who was discharged under DADT to be reinstated by the Military.  All of these things are terrific work towards equal rights for LGBTQ people. 

We have also seen some very unfortunate turns for LGBTQ equality.  Most recently here in Minnesota the anti marriage equality DVD being put out by the local Catholic Archdiocese.   The number of suicides in the Anoka-Hennepin school district due to anti-gay bullying.  Just today on Box Turtle Bulletin was reported a 13 year old gay boy in Houston committed suicide because of bullying.  Earlier this year we heard the story of Constance McMillan who was barred from attending her High School Prom in a tuxedo because she is a lesbian.  She won her case for damages, but the damage done to her and other LGBTQ students cannot be ignored.  The National Organization for Marriage continues their assault on marriage equality all over the country through their bus tour.  They have launched an all out war to remove the "activist judges" who declared Iowa's Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage as "unconstitutional."  Right here in Minnesota they have spent over a million dollars to make robo calls telling Minnesotan's not to support either Tom Horner or Mark Dayton for Governor of Minnesota because they support marriage equality. 

As Jesus Christ attempts to make change many parts of our culture and even our understandings, which I believe includes accepting sexual and gender diversity, so many of his followers think they are doing the Biblical thing by standing in the way of the Holy Spirit.  Some times it is easier to create a culture war based on nostalgia than it is to allow God to help us gain a change of heart or mind.  Unless we are willing to see that Jesus does forgive sins and can change our understanding of God and others who are different from ourselves and allow equal rights for all, we will experience a spiritual and cultural like paralysis that leaves us unable to do much more than plea for help.  If we will open our hearts and minds to Jesus and say: "Heal us if you want to."  We will hear Jesus say to us: "'I do choose" or even "I say to you, stand up and take your bed and go to your home."  

May today be the day when we ask God to heal us and that we will choose to allow him to do wonderful and strange things in and through us.

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

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).

Vincent de Paul; The Saint for Those Left Out

Matthew 9: 35 to 38 (NRSV)

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. ³⁶When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. ³⁷Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; ³⁸therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’ 

The Episcopal Church gives the option today of taking a page from our Anglo-Catholic side.  We are commemorating St. Vincent de Paul "The Apostle of Charity".

Psalm 37: 27-33 (BCP page635)  reads:

The righteous are always generous in their lending,
  and their children shall be a blessing.

Turn from evil, and do good,
  and dwell in the land for ever.

For the LORD loves justice;
  God does not forsake God's faithful one's.

They shall be kept safe forever,
  but the offspring of the wicked shall be destroyed.

The righteous shall possess the land
  and dwell in it for ever.

The mouth of the righteous utters wisdome,
  and their tongue speaks what is right.

The law of their God is in their heart,
  and their footsteps shall not falter.

St. Vincent de Paul and those who have established Societies in his name serve the poor and needy in many local areas.  Right in Minneapolis a wonderful woman by the name of Janice Anderson at the Basilica of St. Mary oversees a ministry that provides free lunches to people who are suffering from economic hardship, as well as a shoe ministry on Saturdays.  The St. Vincent de Paul ministry that Janice Anderson oversees helps struggling individuals to get a fuel voucher once a year and/or a bus card so that they can have transportaiton to and from their jobs.

I am one of those individuals who has experienced difficulties during the economic downturn of the past two years.  When I was coming back out after no longer attending meetings for Courage (the ex-gay ministry in the United States and abroad), I found myself in need of a place to go for economic assistance.  This was before I found St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral as my new spiritual home, and it was before I met my partner Jason.  Janice Anderson received me with such a warmth and sense of compassion.  She remembered me from another time and when I shared with her my situation she said something to me that I will never forget.  "Isn't it interesting what can happen when we surrender to the work of the Holy Spirit, rather than try to stifle what the Holy Spirit is trying to do?"  In that, she was referring to my experience with Courage as opposed to the feelings of freedom I was experiencing after I left and found myself with a greater sense of peace and acceptance over the fact that I am gay.

St. Vincent de Paul is a reminder to all of us to see the Holy Spirit working in all situations, even the those that seem like they are hopeless and painful.  Sometimes the most difficult thing is to turn to someone and ask for help.  When we call for help there are many who will let us down and say they cannot help.  But if we will keep turning and asking, and looking for those who can lead us to someone who has the resources it is amazing what can happen.  St. Vincent de Paul reminds us to keep on looking, asking, knocking and eventually finding.  As Jesus in our Gospel did not turn anyone away, so he will not turn any of us away when we are in pain or feeling a sense of loss.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer (LGBTQ) people know what it is like to be turned away from churches, jobs, individuals and whole communities, even our families.  We know the sense of searching for someone to love us just as we are, without throwing our sexual and gender diversity in our faces as something evil or wrong.  When it comes from someone in society it hurts very deeply.  When it comes from someone in a church community it can feel as if our souls are ripped out of our chest.  This is the experience that many LGBTQ Catholics in Minnesota are now feeling with the DVD against marriage equality circulating around the State urging them to vote against candidates who support marriage between people of the same-sex.  As someone who spent 15 years of my life in the Catholic church, even though I am now Episcopalian, I still hold on to my love of things that are Catholic.  Yet the pain and the rejection that many LGBTQ people experience because of this DVD and the words behind them, create wounds that church hierarchy are responsible for. This does not represent the Gospel of Jesus Christ, nor does it represent the openness of what the Society of St. Vincent de Paul is suppose to be about.

Jesus Christ came for all those left out by society and the Church.  We read yesterday the story of Lazarus and the rich man in Luke 16: 1-13.  The rich man who had everything to give, yet left Lazarus outside found himself on the other side of Lazarus in another time and place.  What will the leaders of the Church who have enjoyed servants at their beck and call, enjoyed in many cases lavishly decorated homes, car allowances and trips to foreign countries find with those whom the Church has neglected for so long?  What will be the experience of heterosexuals who have benefited from those who are not?  How will those who are not Caucasian look to those who are?  How will men look, when women suddenly find themselves in positions of enjoying more than men ever did?  The reality is at any point in time the person who is down on our luck could be any one of us.  When we need that help, the people we ignored just might be the one's who help us most.  When that happens, will we be prepared for such a humiliation? Will we be open to the Holy Spirit's grace of conversion?

The challenge of St. Vincent de Paul is not just a challenge for the Church, it is also a call to all people of good will.  We are given the opportunity to serve the underprivileged of our time.  We are blessed with knowing many people around us who need a word of encouragement or help to find their way up from ground one.  That is why this election year is so important.  That is why every vote cast for a Tea Party Candidate or even a Republican is such a dangerous decision.  In the end those who are suffering so much from the economy now, will be even worse with extreme right wing individuals making decisions for corporations at the expense of the underprivileged.  In these hard economic times, many of us are among those who are underprivileged.

Today, let all of us pray for one another to the Holy Spirit that she will help us all to know and respond to how we can help those left out by society and the Church to draw closer to God.   May we all ask God to help us love one another better today than we did yesterday and tomorrow better than we did today.

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

Loving God, we thank you for your servant Vincent de Paul, who gave himself to training clergy to work among the poor and provided many institutions to aid the sick, orphans and prisoners.  May we, like him, encounter Christ in the needy, the outcast and the friendless, that we may come at length into your kingdom where you reign, one God, holy and undivided Trinity, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Vincent de Paul, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 607).

O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Collect for Peace, Book of Common Prayer, page 99).

Could That Have Been You Out There?

Luke 16:19-31 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man's table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.' But Abraham said, `Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.' He said, `Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father's house-- for I have five brothers-- that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.' Abraham replied, `They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' He said, `No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, `If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.'"

In today's meditation in Forward Day by Day we read:

At a time when there was a striking division between rich and poor, the rich man’s indifference to the poor man at his gate was not unusual. In fact, we all are surrounded by suffering in one form or another, and even if we do not live with the sumptuousness and extravagance of the rich man in the parable, we do find ourselves, perhaps in self-protection, turning indifferently away from the pain around us. It is difficult for us to read this story without a spasm of guilt.

What was the rich man’s sin? He did, of course, let a man lying outside his house starve for want of the bread which the rich man’s guests used to wipe their fingers before flinging it onto the floor. He did not see this poor scarecrow of a figure, racked with pain and disease, persecuted by the dogs and doubtless by flies and heat. But more than that, he failed to see that the poor man was a man exactly like himself, that in a sense he was himself. What people sated with this world’s goods choose is the hell of isolation, of being cut off from their fellow humans.

The description given sounds a lot like our own times do they not?  There are so many American's out of work.  Many are afraid of loosing their homes, jobs, futures and social security.  This past Thursday on September 23rd, more of health care reform went into effect.  Already many health insurance companies are looking for ways that they can avoid insuring children in our country.  Corporations are spending billions of dollars to use as their "free speech" so that the candidates they donate to will win the mid term elections.  They could careless if their money causes more people to be unemployed or even homeless, as long as they can keep their tax cuts and billion dollar profits and big bonuses that is all that matters to them.  As long as oil companies get to keep it quiet about how dangerous off shore drilling is, that it can lead to more disasters like in the Gulf of Mexico so what?   

Out in Scripture gives us some excellent thoughts about one of the Old Testament options for this weekend's Liturgy.

In Jeremiah 32, the prophet finds himself switching places as well. Notorious in the sight of King Zedekiah as the prophet of Jerusalem's doom, Jeremiah encounters the word of God. Jeremiah is no longer to condemn the holy city; instead, he is to purchase a field. This purchase guarantees the prophet a place in Jerusalem's long-term welfare. That's a switch.

God informs Jeremiah, "The right to possession and redemption is yours" (Jeremiah 32:8). These words, addressed to a bleak situation, may speak to marginalized church communities today. We still need prophets through whom God encourages such communities to claim themselves as "church." Many communities of faith live out of a trunk, renting space from some other organization or church — outside the traditional model of building — yet they are truly church. Many of these faith communities are served by and serve those often marginalized — including the LGBT community. What is God's word to such marginalized churches? God has a place for you. Furthermore, God's redemption is for all people, including the LGBT community. Jen Glass emphasizes, "What has been taken from us in the past, our right to attend churches — our being sent into exile, if you will — it's time we get it back. Our right of possession and redemption is God-given. How may we, like Jeremiah, invest in God's future?"

1 Timothy 6:6-19 (NRSV)

There is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will bring about at the right time-- he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty, or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but rather on God who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

In referring to our Gospel reading Jerome Kodell, OSB in The Collegeville Commentary New Testament Volume comments:

The rich man was oblivious to the needs of the beggar at his gate.  He did not realize the seriousness of the present opportunity in preparing for the eternal future (vv. 8-9).  It was not his wealth that kept him from Abraham's bosom, but his untrustworthy stewardship.  The lives of the two men were quite different, and so were their deaths.  Lazarus was carried away by angels, but the rich man is simply buried: it is the end for him, but the beginning for Lazarus.

The rich man is in the "netherworld," or Sheol, or Hades (as the Greek has it).  It is a place hopelessly separated from the place of happiness with Abraham, though not synonymous with our "hell."  The rich man can see Lazarus there (which probably increases is own torment).  The rich man still thinks of Lazarus as his errand boy, first asking that he bring a drop of water to cool his tongue, then that he go to warn his brothers.  Lazarus is probably surprised that the rich man knows his name." (Page 966).

There are so many people in our society that are still "left out" in the cold.  The poor, the elderly, the middle class these days and many minorities.  Of course that includes people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, queer and questioning (LGBTQ).  When people who are straight can get married to the person they love, join the military without getting kicked out because of who they love, keep their jobs without anyone questioning their sexual orientation, bring their spouses to America without their sexual orientation being a reason to not immigrate them, while LGBTQ people can do none of the above without our issues being part of election ballots, legislative action, or court cases, America is a place of the have's and the have not's.  When the Church is a place where people are rewarded for being heterosexual, but being punished for being LGBTQ and not allowing us to be ordained or to participate in religious marriage rites, the Church is a house of oppression.  When the Church or our common Society sees one group of people as being worthy of full and equal rights protection under the law while others have to work harder because of skin color, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, ability to work, write or speak one language, their gender, ability or challenge etc to be considered a valuable citizen, we have created a society and a Church of the privileged and the under privileged.   When we ignore these things, we are ignoring Jesus Christ who is asking us to help him in those whom we neglect.

Out in Scripture's continued commentary on the Gospel this Sunday invites us to consider:

The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 shocks us because its logic is so direct. One person enjoys wealth and pleasure in this life, while another suffers poverty and disease. In the next life they find their fortunes reversed. They have switched roles. Can it be true? Does God really reverse the fortunes of the haves and the have-nots? Is the truth so direct? So stark?

What if we imagined the story in a contemporary context with new characters, one character straight and the other gay? Let us suppose the straight person kept the gay one from church and refused the gay one access to communion, ordination and the blessing of a holy union or marriage. Perhaps the straight character thought the gay one was disordered, evil, unworthy of God's love and salvation. The straight one used the Bible against the gay one and condemned all who were gay. How ironic then that the straight person, upon death would end up in Hades, while the gay one would be carried away by the angels.

We could imagine another switch, not the straight and the gay one, but perhaps the gay and the straight one. Whatever role we privilege, the focus remains how we treat one another. Those of us in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community can certainly vilify certain persons and communities as our "enemies." However, if those "enemies" sat outside our gate wounded and in need of help, we would be just as guilty for walking past them and not caring for them as some others have done in some cases to us. Our lives in Christ, no matter who we are and whom we love, are meant for doing good, for being generous and sharing. 

The LGBTQ Communities as well as even the most welcoming of church communities struggle to make their places of entertainment, fund raising and work towards equality inclusive places and events.

This past Friday night my partner Jason and I were treated to a fund raiser event for Mark Dayton who is the first marriage equality candidate to be running for Governor of Minnesota.  The magnificent concert was performed by 2-time Tony Award Nominee Gavin Creel who sang many of his favorite show tunes.  The concert hall at the Minneapolis Girl's Club was well attended, with so many LGBTQ people and our supporters showing support for the DFL Candidate.  As I was enjoying the concert I took a good look around the auditorium only to notice that there were not hardly any African American's in attendance.  Once again, the LGBTQ community sparked everyone's interest for marriage equality, without including other parts of our society that need to be included in our equal rights promotions.  The event succeeded in one sense, but failed in another as a very important part of our community was left out of the invitation.  

Working towards an inclusive society and a Church means being open to every one who is not yet fully included.  A heart that is open to Jesus Christ and helping to heal a society and Church broken by discrimination, welcomes and invites all individuals to respond and play their part.  When our Government, our churches and when we ourselves fail to open the doors of our hearts to those who are outside the steps of equal rights, or at the gate where poverty and depression own people, do not take the time to help heal the wounds created by in justice, it is Jesus Christ we are leaving outside.  We all share responsibility for the failures of society and the Church, so we all have the responsibility to help make things better for everyone.  It is an important part of our vocation as Christians and believers in God's unconditional and all inclusive love.  The Christian who refuses to take her or his part in this election year to help turn things around and help make an equal society for everyone who is hungry, homeless, elderly, LGBTQ and the like, is neglecting their responsibility to Jesus Christ.  It is our business as Christians to be concerned, and it is our place to help change things for the better.

What are some places where we can help change people's lives for the better?  How might God the Holy Spirit be calling us to recognize who is out and hurting in our communities, churches and places where we walk?  How is God calling us to use our wealth wisely to help others?  

If God is calling us, it is because God has given us so much that God wants to use through us.  For the sake of Jesus Christ who is in all who suffer and need help may we be ready to answer God's call of ministry and mission.

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

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)

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).

Almighty God,
        our lives are in your hands.
    We thank you for the gift of our very lives
         and for the many blessings you provide.
    As you continue to bless us,
        may we dwell in the shelter of your abundant love
        and may you inspire us and provide us with the strength
         to be good, righteous, generous, gentle and godly.
    Amen.  (Prayerfully Out in Scripture).  

Sergius: Abbot of Holy Trinity in Moscow: Could We Learn to Listen to God Too?

Luke 8: 16-21 (NRSV)

Jesus said:‘No one after lighting a lamp hides it under a jar, or puts it under a bed, but puts it on a lamp stand, so that those who enter may see the light. ¹⁷For nothing is hidden that will not be disclosed, nor is anything secret that will not become known and come to light. ¹⁸Then pay attention to how you listen; for to those who have, more will be given; and from those who do not have, even what they seem to have will be taken away.’

The True Kindred of Jesus

19
Then his mother and his brothers came to him, but they could not reach him because of the crowd. ²⁰And he was told, ‘Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.’ ²¹But he said to them, ‘My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.’

This Gospel reading comes just after Luke 8: 1-15 with the following Parable beginning at verse 4.

When a great crowd gathered and people from town after town came to Jesus, he said in a parable: ⁵‘A sower went out to sow his seed; and as he sowed, some fell on the path and was trampled on, and the birds of the air ate it up. ⁶Some fell on the rock; and as it grew up, it withered for lack of moisture. ⁷Some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew with it and choked it. ⁸Some fell into good soil, and when it grew, it produced a hundredfold.’ As he said this, he called out, ‘Let anyone with ears to hear listen!’

The Purpose of the Parables

9
Then his disciples asked him what this parable meant. ¹⁰He said, ‘To you it has been given to know the secrets^* of the kingdom of God; but to others I speak^* in parables, so that
“looking they may not perceive,
   and listening they may not understand.” 

There is a real difference between hearing and listening.  It is often easier to hear than it is to listen.  When we hear something it is often something that may or may not be intended for us, but we hear the sound anyway.  The sound of a bird chirping or a lawn mower, for example.  Listening requires a sense of surrender.  When we listen we are attentive with an interior focus on what someone is saying or waiting for something we expect.  Listening involves a risk.  There is always the possibility that when we are listening, we will hear something we do not particularly care for.  When we hear something we do not care to hear, we can choose to only hear it or actually listen to what happened.  Hearing something only can stop it as soon as it is in the mind.  Listening risks something going through the mind and into the heart.  If it is something that hurts and we listened, it will turn our emotions to anger, hurt or even deep sadness.  When we listen to good news, we will experience joy and a sense of serene.

When it comes to listening for God, it requires a willingness to listen to what is beyond ourselves, and yet how God connects with the deepest parts of ourselves.  When God enters our space of silence when we cannot hear so much as a pin drop, that is when God the Holy Spirit comes to our restless hearts and makes her home deep within our souls.  The Holy Spirit calms us with her wonderful Motherly grace and tells us once again how much God loves us.  As we listen to the Holy Spirit, she will tell us to see ourselves through God's eyes not through the eyes of our common world.  The Holy Spirit makes no distinction of persons, but comes to the heart that is wounded and seeks to help us find solitude in the quietness of God's wondrous graces.

Those who often listen become people of wisdom and leadership.  A humble listener does not need to place themselves in the front rows to be seen.  A listening leader leads by example and compassion and a desire to meet the challenges around the individual and her or his community and know that by action she or he can change things for the better.  Even if she or he only helps others take a tiny step forward.

*In the middle of the Russian Civil War, Sergius began a life of seclusion in a nearby forest from which he developed the Monastery of the Holy Trinity as a center of revival for Russian Christianity.  Sergius was inspired intense devotion to the Russian Orthodox Faith.  Sergius supported Prince Dimitri Donoskoi to that helped him win a decisive victory against the Tartar overlords in the Kulikovo Plains in 1380 and laid the foundations for his people's independent national life. 

The Russian Church observes Sergius' memory on September 25.  His name is familiar to Anglicans from the Fellowship of St. Alban and St. Sergius, a society established to promote closer relations between the Anglican and Russian Churches.  (*See Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 600).

Sergius is an example of what can happen when an individual takes the opportunity to spend some time in solitude and listen to what God has to say.  One can learn to listen to God in a diversity of situations and be moved to understand things in diverse ways.  Listening has the power to turn what we listen to into actions that can change people's lives.

The Episcopal Church has been listening to the voice of the Holy Spirit to help us change our understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer people (LGBTQ).  We understand that sexual orientation and gender identity/expression is not a choice, but a gracious and wonderful gift from God to love and to be the person/people God created us to be.  Our committed and loving relationships are also a symbol of God's love for all humanity, the love of Christ and the Church.  The love of God in Jesus Christ is for all humanity, not just a particular part of humankind.  It is humankind that must learn to stretch our hearts open to love others different than ourselves.  God's heart is always wide open to love every one of God's precious children. 

Sadly, the Archbishop of Canterbury's (ABC) own language towards LGBTQ people is still old fashioned.  Archbishop Rowan Williams reportedly supports gay bishops who remain celibate.   In other words as long as gay and lesbian people are willing to refrain from our vocation to love someone of the same sex, which is why God blesses us with sexual and gender diversity.  It is a shame really that having spent some time with Pope Benedict XVI he would adopt like ideas, even if they do not reflect the truth of God's love for LGBTQ people.    This is hardly listening to the experiences of lesbian and gay people as the Lambeth Council of 1998 suggested.  Happily the Episcopal Church does not share the ABC's narrow minded opinion.  Because in the Anglican Tradition we do not have a hierarchy control such as the Papacy, each Church within the Anglican Communion can decide how to operate within it's own borders.

In her Pentecost Letter, Katherine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church wrote:

The recent statement by the Archbishop of Canterbury about the struggles within the Anglican Communion seems to equate Pentecost with a single understanding of gospel realities. Those who received the gift of the Spirit on that day all heard good news. The crowd reported, “in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power” (Acts 2:11).

The Spirit does seem to be saying to many within The Episcopal Church that gay and lesbian persons are God’s good creation, that an aspect of good creation is the possibility of lifelong, faithful partnership, and that such persons may indeed be good and healthy exemplars of gifted leadership within the Church, as baptized leaders and ordained ones. The Spirit also seems to be saying the same thing in other parts of the Anglican Communion, and among some of our Christian partners, including Lutheran churches in North America and Europe, the Old Catholic churches of Europe, and a number of others.

That growing awareness does not deny the reality that many Anglicans and not a few Episcopalians still fervently hold traditional views about human sexuality. This Episcopal Church is a broad and inclusive enough tent to hold that variety. The willingness to live in tension is a hallmark of Anglicanism, beginning from its roots in Celtic Christianity pushing up against Roman Christianity in the centuries of the first millennium. That diversity in community was solidified in the Elizabethan Settlement, which really marks the beginning of Anglican Christianity as a distinct movement. Above all, it recognizes that the Spirit may be speaking to all of us, in ways that do not at present seem to cohere or agree. It also recognizes what Jesus says about the Spirit to his followers, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come” (John 16:12-13).

The Episcopal Church has spent nearly 50 years listening to and for the Spirit in these matters. While it is clear that not all within this Church have heard the same message, the current developments do represent a widening understanding. Our canons reflected this shift as long ago as 1985, when sexual orientation was first protected from discrimination in access to the ordination process. At the request of other bodies in the Anglican Communion, this Church held an effective moratorium on the election and consecration of a partnered gay or lesbian priest as bishop from 2003 to 2010. When a diocese elected such a person in late 2009, the ensuing consent process indicated that a majority of the laity, clergy, and bishops responsible for validating that election agreed that there was no substantive bar to the consecration.

The Episcopal Church recognizes that these decisions are problematic to a number of other Anglicans. We have not made these decisions lightly. We recognize that the Spirit has not been widely heard in the same way in other parts of the Communion. In all humility, we recognize that we may be wrong, yet we have proceeded in the belief that the Spirit permeates our decisions.

If all of us could take some time to listen to the Holy Spirit lead us towards heavenly understandings, we would see that our earthly prejudices are groundless.  May a little listening help us all to love each other today better than we did yesterday, and tomorrow better than today.

Grant us, Lord, not to anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things which are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 20, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us from an inordinate love of this world, that we, inspired by the devotion of your servant Sergius of Moscow, may serve you with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Sergius, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 601).

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).

Do We Recognize Evil? What Are We Doing About It?

Luke 4:31- 37 (NRSV)

Jesus went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the sabbath.  They were astounded at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. In the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,  "Let us alone! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God."  But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" When the demon had thrown him down before them, he came out of him without having done him any harm. They were all amazed and kept saying to one another, "What kind of utterance is this? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and out they come!"  And a report about him began to reach every place in the region.

I have been engaged in a discussion with a long time friend about whether or not religious institutions should be involved in politics and if they are, should they loose their tax exempt status.  As I understand the laws of our Nation a religious institution that enjoys a non-profit status cannot publicly endorse or campaign for a candidate.  A church or synagogue can state that they support a position like LGBTQ equality or a woman's right to choose.  They are not suppose to act as a PAC by which they as a group attempt to persuade or "buy" a candidates way into office.  However, that is not what we witnessed in the case of the health care reform bill when the President of the Conference of Catholic Bishops told Rep. Bart Stupak word for word what to say or write in his amendment to ban public funding of abortion in the health care bill. 

I personally am of the opinion that if they show support or even lack of support for a particular issue that is their choice.  However when they go beyond that to create a political action committee and attempt to force an agenda and call it "religious freedom" that is when a religious institution is going past their boundary point.


I entitled this blog entry "Do We Recognize Evil? What Are We Doing About It?" because there is a lot of evil afoot thanks to the work of Christians.  Anti-LGBTQ equal rights is just one way that evil is around us because of Christians.  The work of the secretive religious group called "The Family" to infiltrate political and public offices with the explicit intention of ramming radically conservative Christian matters into America's law, is in and of itself evil.  When such groups become the backbone that helps drive American dependence on corporations so that those of us who are progressive or liberal cannot even get a word or action in edgewise, there is evil a foot.  Especially when a group like that helps export missionaries of hate to Uganda, to help them write their anti-homosexuality bill.


What is the progressive left agenda about?  Taking care of people first, corporations second.  Making sure that people have health care, human and equal rights, be sure those who have fought for our freedoms have adequate access to jobs, health care and that they are buried in the right plots at Arlington National Cemetery.  Working to be sure that our elderly and challenged have Social Security so that they do not become homeless or without means to feed themselves.  Working for the rights of women, LGBTQ, Native Americans, people from other countries, of other races, backgrounds and abilities have the opportunity to work for and toward prosperity.  When we as a nation and as a Church turn our backs on those who cannot get up off of level 1 without some kind of help, evil is afoot.  When we as a nation turn our backs on the gay and lesbian citizens who want to fight openly in our Military and tell them that they must be kicked out because of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, evil is alive and well.  When marriage equality is only available to heterosexual people, but not LGBTQ people evil is walking around with a license to kill.  When women are told that they do not have a right to choose to give birth to a child, even if they are raped or because of incest, yet conservative Christians want to take away women's health care to help them take care of a child should they choose to give birth, the ways of the wicked are living without the need of life support.  When women are also told that they better not use contraception, but must submit themselves to an outcome that affects them only if they choose to have sex with a man, that is the wickedness of our times, and Christians are responsible.  


In our Gospel reading, Jesus saw the wickedness in this man's life for who and what it was.  The evil spirit knew that it was in the presence of God's perfect revelation or it would not have been so terrified.  The evil demon knew that God was going to reach out to this man with the unconditional and all inclusive love and command that evil to leave the poor man.  Evil was no match for God.  In Jesus, God took command and drove out the evil spirit from the man.  What happened was so amazing that those around Jesus who saw what happened talked about it all over the place.  

The Christian Church has every business clinging to Jesus Christ to help us eradicate evil from our time, our society and our Church.  The Church does not have or hold a monopoly on the truth, and we do not have the right to spread evil, death, discrimination and wickedness in the Name of God.  We do not have the right under God's heaven to create a capitalistic empire that will dominate and command every women, man and child to be something God never created her or him to be.  Because of God's magnificent, extravagant, unconditional and all inclusive love, we have every business affirming and celebrating the wonderful diversity of every person that God has created, redeemed and sanctified.  Each day that we are alive and able to share in the wonders of the mystery of God's creation of others and ourselves, God is celebrating each and every one of us.  Why then are we not celebrating each other?  Why are we not looking to embrace one another?  Why are we so concerned about our wealth and profits and possessions that we are not the least bit concerned about each others welfare?  Our wealth and our profits, our possessions will one day be gone.  They will be sold at an auction or burned in the incinerator of some garbage collection company.  But the love that we share with and between each other as God's created and loved children, is the love that chases away evil in this world and prepares us to live together with God in the next.  


Do we recognize evil?  What are we willing to do to change what evil through the deeds of Christians does to humankind?  In our prayers can we pray that God who loves us will help us to love each other today, better than we did yesterday, and tomorrow even better than we did today?  What ever position of life we are in, can each of us make plans today to eradicate evil by loving those whom society and even the Church suggest should not or can not be loved?  If we have failed to love, can we honor the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ by asking God to forgiven us and send the Holy Spirit to help us do better?  

Grant us, Lord, not to anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things which are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 20, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

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).

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 of Assisi, Book of Common Prayer, page 833). 

Heterosexism: The Sanctimony of Christianists, the Oppression of Sexual and Gender Diversity

Luke 4:14- 21 (NRSV)
 

Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

"We all have our own perception of, and relationship to, some God.  We may not use the name "God."  We may think in terms of Reality, Nature, The First Cause, The Behavior of the World, The Other, The All, The Ground of Being, The Force of Evolution, The Life Spirit, or Things As They Really Are.  Each of us creates an image of the supreme mystery in which we find ourselves, and we are always in a relationship with it.

The nature of our concept of what controls life, and the character of our relationship to it changes according to our perceptions and attitudes.  Our relationship can be one of fear or trust, of  malaise or of enthusiasm.  It can be anything we make it.  We must train ourselves.  We must learn to control our thoughts and feelings about life.


Experiences is the raw material from which we create our attitude toward, our engagement with, our vision of, our God.  We are responsible for our vision, our beliefs.  We can make our experience heaven or hell."  (John McQuiston II, Always We Begin Again, The Benedictine Way of Living, pages 29,30)

The battle for marriage equality has been heating up in the State of Minnesota.  The local Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis because of a grant from the Knights of Columbus in the amount of $1.4 million are circulating a DVD to Minnesota Catholics to oppose marriage equality.  The organization Outfront Minnesota is asking Minnesota Catholics who receive the DVD to return it to the sender.  Archbishop Nienstedt was on Minnesota Public Radio stating that there is no difference between civil marriage and religious marriage.


In California the debate over marriage equality continues to bring out the worst in Christianists.   The Family Research Council has filed an amicus brief on the Proposition 8 case.  Among their many erroneous statements made to denigrate LGBTQ people and their wish to marry the person they love was:

Proposition 8 does not discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation. Homosexuals may marry someone of the opposite sex, and heterosexuals may not marry someone of the same sex.

… nothing …even remotely supports the conclusion that Californians approved Proposition 8 with the intent or purpose to discriminate against homosexuals, as opposed to their knowledge that, if adopted, Proposition 8 would have a disparate impact on homosexuals. Nor are there any facts that could support such a conclusion.

Then there is my very favorite quote by Bishop Gene Robinson from his book In the Eye of the Storm.  I have used it many times in this blog, but I do think it needs repeating.

"So the sin we're fighting now, within the secular sphere, is the sin of heterosexism.  More and more people are feeling kindly toward gay and lesbian people, but that will never be enough.  More important is the dismantling of the system that rewards heterosexuals at the expense of homosexuals.  That's why equal marriage rights are so important.  That's why "don't ask, don't tell" is such a failure, and such a painful thing for gay and lesbian people, even those who have no desire to serve in the military.  These are ever-present reminders that our identities, our lives, and our relationships are second class--because the very system of laws that govern us discriminates against us and denigrates our lives." (Page 24).

In today's Gospel reading, Jesus reads his inaugural address which consequently is the inaugural address of all Baptized Christians.  All Christians who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Jesus (see Romans 6) have the responsibility of helping "the oppressed to go free."  Christians are suppose to "let the oppressed go free" not make peace with oppression and celebrate it.  Yet, making peace with oppression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer people is precisely what Christianists and the Catholic hierarchy are about the business of doing these days.  Making peace with oppressing the religion of Islam is what Christianists have been doing over these past several months.  In so doing, they are making their own experience as well as the experiences of the people they oppress captives of an understanding of God according to their own creation.  This is not at all the God who is Father of Jesus Christ.  This is not God the Holy Spirit, Mother of all Christians and Life-Giver.  


The God who was perfectly revealed in Jesus Christ see's God's beauty and lovely self-disclosure in all whom God has made.  In God's eyes all of God's children are loved and wanted.  When God's child who is gay or lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, questioning or queer cries out to God because of the pain they are experiencing because of the oppression of Christianists and traditional Catholics, God's heart breaks with theirs.  God wraps God's loving and outstretched arms around all of God's children who are oppressed, cannot see, are captive and in need of a Savior and Deliverer.  God's love does not stop at the door of our sexual and gender diversity.  The God who is Jesus Christ is not the angry, legalistic God that Christianists and traditional Catholics make God out to be.  The God who loves all people unconditionally and all inclusively reaches out to love all people, not just some people, but all people.  


Today, the words of the reading that Jesus from the Prophet Isaiah are fulfilled.  Today, God comes to each and every one of us and tells us, all of us that we are loved.  Heterosexism is the sanctimony of Christianists and traditional Catholics, and the oppression of sexual and gender diversity.  Jesus Christ is the way to the unconditional and all inclusive love of God for both of us, yet freeing LGBTQ people from that oppression.  In Jesus Christ, God came out and told all of us held captive or oppressed that in Jesus we are free.

Grant us, Lord, not to anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things which are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 20, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (Prayer for Mission, Book of Common Prayer, page 101).

O God, 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). 

Be Thankful For the Opportunities Given Today

Matthew 9:9-13 (NRSV).

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

In his book: "Always We Begin Again: The Benedictine Way of Living" John McQuiston II writes:

At the beginning of each day,
after we open our eyes
to receive the light
of that day,

As we listen to the voices
and sounds
that surround us,

We must resolve to treat each hour
as the rarest of gifts,
and to be grateful
for the consciousness
that allows us to experience it,
recalling in thanks
that our awareness is a present
from we know not where,
or how, or why.

When we rise from sleep let us rise for the joy
of the true Work that we will be about
this day,
and considerately cheer one another on.

Life will always provide matters for concern.
Each day, however, brings with it reasons for
joy.

Every day carries the potential
to bring the experience of heaven;
have the courage to expect good from it.

Be gentle with this life,
and use the light of life
to live more fully in your time. (Pages 19-20)

I really need those words of encouragement after hearing that our United States Senate could not pass the cloture vote to debate the Defense Authorization Bill.  The bill also contained the legislative vote to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell once the study was completed and it was decided by the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President agreed that the conditions were met to officially repeal DADT.  Also included in the Defense Authorization Bill was the Dream Act.   I really need those beautiful words by John McQuiston II.  I hope they say something special and beautiful to my blog readers today.

Regardless of who we are, where we come from, what we have done or have not done, who we love or how we love others Jesus calls each of us by name to follow and serve God.  Each of us has things in our past that we are not particularly proud of.  God knows that, yet God calls us anyway.  Most of us have forgotten to love God and our neighbor as ourselves.  God calls us to serve God anyway.   Unless there is anyone including myself who is not human, most of us have maneuvered around to get what we want, even if we push others out of our way.  God still calls each of us to serve God and God's people. 

God is concerned about how we feel about our history.  God is most concerned with what are we going to do with what is here and now.  By way of a confession of sin and a prayer of absolution God can take care of our sins as God has washed away our sins through the death and resurrection of Jesus.  God wants us to here and now decide are we going to follow God.  God is not interested in whether or not we are wanting us to follow Jesus by being someone we were not even created to be.  For lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer people, God is not calling us to give up our sexual and gender diversity.  God is calling us to serve God and God's people as we are, because God has created us that way and loves us that way.  God is calling us to serve God and God's people with our sexual and gender diversity as gifts to love God, our neighbor and ourselves through serving and giving as well as receiving the graces we need to complete our tasks on earth. 

Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, whom we commemorate today, was a tax collector and an outcast.  Matthew was regarded by many as a nobody because of who he was, and what he did.  See, LGBTQ people do have representation in the Bible.  Yet, Jesus called Matthew to follow him and learn the ways of God's reign.  Okay, Matthew did not remain a tax collector, but he was still a sinner as are all of us.  Matthew now had to make the choice to become who God wanted him to be, using the very gifts he had been given when God created him.   God changed not so much who Matthew was, but how Matthew lived his life as the man God made him to be.  LGBTQ people and those often stigmatized by the Church and society need to see within ourselves the beauty and wonder of God's holy creation.  We need to be reminded that God has given us the opportunity to live and prosper in one way or another, because God is madly in love with us and wants the rest of the world around us to know that.  There in lies the gift of goodness we can expect from today as John McQuinston II wrote in the quote I used at the beginning of this blog entry.

In the General Thanksgiving we pray at the end of our Daily Office that we thank God for "God's goodness and loving-kindness, to us and to all whom God has made."  We bless God "for our creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life, but above all for your immeasurable love in the redemption of the world by our Lord Jesus Christ; for the means of grace, and for the hope of glory." (Book of Common Prayer, pages 101 and 125).  The grace to be and to continue being is in and of itself a marvelous and gracious gift of Almighty God.  Being LGBTQ or a woman, or a black person, Native American, Islamic, Buddhist, Hindu, Wiccan, Pagan, Asian, physically, mentally, and psychologically challenged etc, is a gift that God is calling us to use to establish the reign of God in the very time and place that we have been given.  In the movie The Lord of the Rings, The Fellowship of the Ring, Gandalf the Grey tells Frodo "All we have to do is decide what to do with the time that is given to us."  All we have to do is be faithful to God's call in our lives and God will do the rest.

Proverbs 3:1-6

My child, do not forget my teaching,

but let your heart keep my commandments;

for length of days and years of life

and abundant welfare they will give you.

Do not let loyalty and faithfulness forsake you;

bind them around your neck,

write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good repute

in the sight of God and of people.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart,

and do not rely on your own insight.

In all your ways acknowledge him,

and he will make straight your paths.

 

We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect of St. Matthew the Apostle and Evangelist, Book of Common Prayer, page 244).

Grant us, Lord, not to anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things which are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 20, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).


God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we will be saved, in quietness and confidence will be our strength: By the might of your Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Quiet Confidence, Book of Common Prayer, page 832).