Last night my partner Jason and I attended a service of the Holy Eucharist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the Hill in St. Paul. The Mass was to pray for the upcoming election of the new Bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota to be held this weekend. The Eucharistic Liturgy was organized by Integrity USA, the Episcopal Church's organization that seeks the full inclusion for LGBT people into the life and ministry of the Church.
The Mass was magnificent with music, incense, choral singing, preaching and a full welcoming of everyone to the Eucharistic table. Rev. David Norgard the President of Integrity USA was the preacher for the Mass. Rev. David Norgard was the first openly gay Priest to be ordained back in the early 1980's. Rev. Norgard gave an outstanding sermon which you can find on Integrity's blog site.
I would like to highlight and share some of the statements made from the sermon.
"I was the first openly gay person to be ordained in the Diocese of Minnesota. I “entered the process” (as people say) shortly after the General Convention of 1979. (You can do the math in your heads, if you like, but I’m not going to do it for you.) It was the convention that declared – in typical Episcopalian fashion – that it was “inappropriate to ordain practicing homosexuals at that time.” The good people advising me and supporting me then were determined not to let that non-binding resolution transmute into a concrete barrier. So the question put to me was: Should I tell the truth about being gay? Or, in the interest of being expeditious, should I rather wait and let the truth about who I was come out, as it were, later? At the time, it was not courage but simple naïveté that prompted my question in response to the question: How could I build a solid Christian ministry upon the foundation of a deception? I just could not get past the simple reasoning repeating in a loop in my mind to any of the much more sophisticated theologizing others were proposing. As I understood it, Christian ministry meant adhering to a twin ethic of love and justice. Justice is always built on the truth. Therefore, Christian ministry also must be built on the truth. It would occur to me much later, by the way, that justice and truth together equate to integrity."
"Coming out does not make life easier…but it does unequivocally make life better. Telling the truth and seeking justice, while painfully difficult at times, are inherently better options for living than their alternatives because they are the constellation that leads us on the path toward integrity. And as the psalmist says, “No good thing will God withhold from those who walk with integrity.”
"So we learn to live in an in-between time. Joy abounds but it is not yet complete. Times, they are a-changing, but they still lead us through valleys of shadow and –as Matthew’s mother knows all too well – even death. We know that while our own diocese has nominated for election to the episcopate someone who is out there are other dioceses, some near here, whose bishops will not permit the good news from Anaheim even to be announced, much less celebrated or acted upon. Prejudice, the antithesis of integrity, really is a malignancy of the soul. It is no mere intellectual error. So, it will not be excised by a single brave act or legislative victory, however definitive. It will only die out gradually through a constant application of truth and justice."
"Paul, the patron both of this church and of this city, understood that. That is why he said what he did in writing to the Corinthians: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” And that is why he also said: “Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.”
"Over twenty-five years ago now, a quarter of a century, a naïve young gay man sat in the office of the Bishop of Minnesota and decided that it was just not the way to go to deceive people about who he was in order to minister in the name of One known as the Way and the Truth and the Life. The truth was that he had fallen in love with a person of the same gender and everything about it felt right and good. And by the way, after thirty years, he is still with that same good man today.
But as he quickly learned and not just once but time and time again, as gay and lesbian people, our ministry has never been about proclaiming ourselves. Rather, it is a matter of being unwilling to hide the truth, particularly the truth about the way God has made everyone, including us – we who are at once very much the same and a little different from our straight brothers and sisters. And that must continue always to be the essence of our message, the truth we must both tell and seek, proclaim and honor…that a loving God, out of love (and with some good humor and good taste) created all things…and behold, without exception, they are very good. Amen. "
The Gospel for this Liturgy was John 15:1-11. My very favorite verse in this entire Gospel Reading is verse 5. "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing." I am picking up here because I truly believe that we cannot achieve the goal of justice for equality for LGBT people in political and/or religious circles without looking to God to lead us in the way of truth. The resistance to homosexuality is religious based, therefore it must be dealt with on religious terms as well as political.
Those who have been violated by clergy, laity and others in churches and I share your grief because I am one of them. It is wise and good to look for and find our place within religious communities that welcome LGBT people. Our sexual orientation is God's gift to us and we should make use of it to do good things. In those places where we can enter into constructive and helpful dialogue, we indeed should. In places where we can help people understand what being gay means, we should tell our stories. Where people are hurting, we need to hurt with them. Where we and others can experience healing, we need to place ourselves there.
May all who are able to come to the fountain of life, come and find in Jesus the well-spring of eternal life. And do not let anyone tell you that you have no place or right to be there. God has given us the call and it is God who will do God's work in our lives, if we will only accept the invitation.
"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 full portion of the riches of this land, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).
Friday, October 30, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Responding to Love's Request
Yesterday was a historic day. When President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd hate crimes bill into law yesterday the long hard work of Judy Shepard saw the goal she worked for become a reality. I am continually amazed at the fortitude of Judy Shepard. When most of us experience the murder of a loved one, we might let the anger and grief of what happened weigh us down, causing to go deep into ourselves and say the hell with the rest of the world. Judy Shepard did not do any of those things. I am sure Judy's grief over the way in which her son Matthew was murdered, followed by the local Police Department saying that they had no funding to investigate such a crime, left Judy often feeling alone and like no one would listen. However, that did not stop Judy Shepard from using her horrific situation to achieve great things. You would think that after the years of pushing for the Hate Crimes legislation in Congress only to have former President George Bush say he would veto the bill, that Judy would just give up. But no, that did not stop this mother from seeking justice for others who could experience what happened to her son. Judy continued to sign copies of her book. She continued to speak about her son's death despite people calling her a "liar". And yesterday, October 28th she saw all her suffering and efforts result in changing the laws of the land.
This is the kind of love and devotion of a woman seeking to do the right thing amidst very difficult circumstances. This is how the word of God goes beyond being an abstraction, to becoming really alive and active in the world around us. This is the word of God falling on good soil and reaping much good fruit, even with all the thorns and weeds trying to keep out the good fruit that is trying to grow.
As I read through today's Gospel of Matthew 13: 18-23, I am struck and yet troubled by some of the language there. I think all of us have those moments when the words of Jesus reach us, but there are the thorns in our life that choke what is said. Addictions, challenges, relationships, events and news that all play their role in making it difficult for God to take hold of our lives and make a difference. I also think that we have to be careful about looking at ourselves arrogantly and thinking we are the good soil, while others who are different from us are some how not good soil. Everyone has issues in their lives that can make hearing God speak to us difficult and sometimes troubling.
Clearing the issues that make it difficult for us to listen to God is a process that every person has to go through for themselves. Everyone's situation is not the same. However, because God is God and because God loves us as much as God does, then we have to conclude that there is no situation too difficult for God to work through. Through prayer, quiet times and asking God for the help to trust in God to help remove the obstacles that keep us from hearing and knowing God clearer, we can find ourselves in that place where God's grace is reaching out and healing that which is broken.
One of the many obstacles for people to draw closer to God is spiritual violence. When someone makes use of Scripture, Church authority, religious principles in an attempt to change the very essence of who someone is, that is not pastoral counseling. That is spiritual violence and abuse. This is a common experience for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. When voices like the Catholic church speaks through ex-gay ministries like Courage and tell LGBT individuals that their "condition" is "intrinsically disordered" it is no longer good Spiritual advice. It is pastoral and spiritual violence. When ex-gay ministries like Exodus create "fix camps" to try to "change" people's orientation, even though they are doing it out of "loving concern", they are doing spiritual violence to LGBT people. When devoted Christian parents address their children after they come out saying that they will one day "grow out" of being gay, that is not a loving response.
Let's compare what I wrote above with an entirely different approach. Telling an LGBT person that they are loved as they are, and calling them to grow in a healthy respect of themselves and in their relationships, now that is good Spiritual counsel. Calling LGBT individuals to give up the unhealthy practices of promiscuity and work towards healthier relationships where they are truly loving other people as opposed to using each other is good progress. Looking at the brokenness with which LGBT youth often come to the Church and finding LGBT Priests, Pastors and members who can help them integrate their sexuality in healthy ways with their Spiritual lives, that is good Spiritual and Pastoral advice. That is helping LGBT people find ways to help them listen more clearly to God's word.
Jesus came into the world to give people who feel lost find hope and meaning. Jesus Christ through out his earthly ministry gave sight to the blind, called those on the sidelines to be included in the household of Faith. The Church that Christ calls is one that is inclusive and welcoming to all who wish to discern God's call in their lives. Jesus invites everyone to the Eucharistic table to experience the healing of God's holy presence.
What role will we play in discerning God's call in our lives? How will we help others listen for what God is saying to them? What are our attitudes towards people who are not quite like us? How do we respond to those who want to get closer to God, but have situations we do not understand?
As we continue on our journey of Faith, let us ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in our attitudes of inclusion and be sure that the Church is a "House of Prayer for all."
This we pray in the Name of God who is +Creator, Servant and Life-Giver. Amen.
This is the kind of love and devotion of a woman seeking to do the right thing amidst very difficult circumstances. This is how the word of God goes beyond being an abstraction, to becoming really alive and active in the world around us. This is the word of God falling on good soil and reaping much good fruit, even with all the thorns and weeds trying to keep out the good fruit that is trying to grow.
As I read through today's Gospel of Matthew 13: 18-23, I am struck and yet troubled by some of the language there. I think all of us have those moments when the words of Jesus reach us, but there are the thorns in our life that choke what is said. Addictions, challenges, relationships, events and news that all play their role in making it difficult for God to take hold of our lives and make a difference. I also think that we have to be careful about looking at ourselves arrogantly and thinking we are the good soil, while others who are different from us are some how not good soil. Everyone has issues in their lives that can make hearing God speak to us difficult and sometimes troubling.
Clearing the issues that make it difficult for us to listen to God is a process that every person has to go through for themselves. Everyone's situation is not the same. However, because God is God and because God loves us as much as God does, then we have to conclude that there is no situation too difficult for God to work through. Through prayer, quiet times and asking God for the help to trust in God to help remove the obstacles that keep us from hearing and knowing God clearer, we can find ourselves in that place where God's grace is reaching out and healing that which is broken.
One of the many obstacles for people to draw closer to God is spiritual violence. When someone makes use of Scripture, Church authority, religious principles in an attempt to change the very essence of who someone is, that is not pastoral counseling. That is spiritual violence and abuse. This is a common experience for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. When voices like the Catholic church speaks through ex-gay ministries like Courage and tell LGBT individuals that their "condition" is "intrinsically disordered" it is no longer good Spiritual advice. It is pastoral and spiritual violence. When ex-gay ministries like Exodus create "fix camps" to try to "change" people's orientation, even though they are doing it out of "loving concern", they are doing spiritual violence to LGBT people. When devoted Christian parents address their children after they come out saying that they will one day "grow out" of being gay, that is not a loving response.
Let's compare what I wrote above with an entirely different approach. Telling an LGBT person that they are loved as they are, and calling them to grow in a healthy respect of themselves and in their relationships, now that is good Spiritual counsel. Calling LGBT individuals to give up the unhealthy practices of promiscuity and work towards healthier relationships where they are truly loving other people as opposed to using each other is good progress. Looking at the brokenness with which LGBT youth often come to the Church and finding LGBT Priests, Pastors and members who can help them integrate their sexuality in healthy ways with their Spiritual lives, that is good Spiritual and Pastoral advice. That is helping LGBT people find ways to help them listen more clearly to God's word.
Jesus came into the world to give people who feel lost find hope and meaning. Jesus Christ through out his earthly ministry gave sight to the blind, called those on the sidelines to be included in the household of Faith. The Church that Christ calls is one that is inclusive and welcoming to all who wish to discern God's call in their lives. Jesus invites everyone to the Eucharistic table to experience the healing of God's holy presence.
What role will we play in discerning God's call in our lives? How will we help others listen for what God is saying to them? What are our attitudes towards people who are not quite like us? How do we respond to those who want to get closer to God, but have situations we do not understand?
As we continue on our journey of Faith, let us ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in our attitudes of inclusion and be sure that the Church is a "House of Prayer for all."
This we pray in the Name of God who is +Creator, Servant and Life-Giver. Amen.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Call to Apostleship: An Inclusive Responsibility
Today the Church celebrates Sts. Simon and Jude. These two Apostles who would have known Jesus personally were among the twelve to begin the work of the Church following the events of Pentecost. The name St. Jude is all too familiar from reading all the devotionals in the classified section of our newspapers.
The work of Apostleship is to share the good news that God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ came so that all people may know that they are loved by God. It is so much more than preaching. In fact, preaching is only 1/3 of the responsibility. Most people, including myself have heard enough preaching. What I write may be preachy, but it is also my way of sharing my thoughts so that some dialogue can happen.
One matter of personal tragedy from my standpoint is how religion and the subject of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities have such a bad relationship. Having experienced many problems with Catholic and protestant Evangelical clergy and right winged Christians, I share the outrage of my friends in the LGBT community who are just fed up. I totally understand why so many don't like organized religion. What right winged religious folks like Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Nienstedt, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Peter La Barbera and so many more do, is downright unacceptable. It is one thing to disagree. It is another to run smear campaigns against people like Kevin Jennings, Pam Spaulding and the rest of the LGBT community. Even some of the remarks that have come from the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams have been quite discouraging to say the very least. In Paul Bresnahan's newest version of "An Invitation to An Inclusive Church II"he writes: "It is no wonder that so many people have abandoned churches of all denominations. Our squabbles seem very small-minded especially when we review all the urgent issues of the day. No wonder indeed why so many opt out of “organized religion” even at a time when spiritual hunger runs so deep."
However, during my years of being involved with the Catholic church and my days at Eastern Nazarene College as a Church Music major, I learned that belief in God is one thing that never has to go out the door just because a few religious leaders and individuals cannot get their act together. Just because they cannot exercise their Christian Faith in a charitable way, doesn't mean I have to stoop to their level. When Pope Benedict makes a call for unhappy Anglicans to join the Catholic Church, I do not have to agree with that move. I happen to agree with Paul Bresnahan that such a move is creating "a safe refuge for bigotry." However wrong these attitudes are, we do not have to give up on believing in our God who is gracious and full of compassion.
This is why my partner Jason and I are so happy to have found a good Spiritual home at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral. After the years of spiritual violence by the Catholic church and the one year I spent with the ex-gay ministry Courage, finding a welcoming and affirming environment within the Episcopal Church has been a very healing experience. Following the Vatican's announcement Jim Naughton spoke with NPR's "All Things Considered." Among his many wonderful comments he said: "I think for Episcopalians, what we need to do in the wake of this announcement is to continue going out there and saying, look, we do offer very traditional liturgy, beautiful music, a style of worship that many people like. But we are a democratically governed church. We think men and women are equal at the altar, and we respect the dignity of gay and lesbian Christians. If that makes us outcasts, I think that that's a status that we embrace happily. So if what we're talking about here are people offering alternatives, I think Episcopalians offer that alternative to their Catholic brothers and sisters."
The work of Apostleship is about finding room in God's Church for EVERYONE. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus made it very clear who were the people to be called to join and serve in Christ's Church. It wasn't the one's who have it all together. The call to experience God's saving work in Jesus Christ is to be shared with and for everyone with no exceptions. This has been the message of the Gospels through out the 2000 years of it's existence, spoken or written. And the Apostles that were sent out on that day of Pentecost were called to share God's love with everyone and to add more Apostles to their numbers. One of those who has answered that call within the past 6 years is Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal Church. And ever since his being ordained, he continues to be a great Apostle of God and experiences a great deal of persecution within the Church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has gone forth from this Bishop and has been doing the work of Christ by "releasing the captives" to the point of the Episcopal Church making the decision to allow gay and lesbian Priests to discern a call to be a Bishop. The good work of God has had a ripple effect.
As we continue to work through the very important issue of inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the Church, we must be reminded of our mission as Christians to pray and work for the liberation of all God's people throughout the world. In the Daily EpiscopalianThe Rev. Lauren R. Stanley who is an Appointed Missionary of the Episcopal Church serving in the Diocese of Haiti has reminded us that there are more important things going on in the world while Rome is making it's invitation for "disaffected" Anglican's to their table. "Last Tuesday, four people living in slums in Haiti – forced to live there because they could not afford anything else – were killed in mudslides, and four others were reported missing after heavy rains … and there was almost no coverage of that at all." "On Saturday, 32 people were reported killed in three separate terrorist attacks in Pakistan, pushing the number of those killed there in October well past the 100 mark. Are we praying for peace in Pakistan?" "In Uganda, there is a bill that is threatening gay people with jail, at the very least, and the death penalty, if certain people get their way, simply for being gay. Are we speaking out on this, demanding that God’s justice be done?"
How are we carrying out the mission of Apostleship? Are we praying for peace and justice for those who are without health care? Are we concerned for all peoples not only here in the United States but elsewhere who do not have their equal rights?
The call to be an Apostle is not limited to those ordained. It is a ministry given all of us in our respective places. Our work places, families, communities, churches and even in places where God's name cannot be mentioned due to the hurt people have suffered due to spiritual abuses, those are places where the work of Apostleship is needed, and where there is inclusive responsibility.
"O God, we thank you for the glorious company of apostles and especially on this day for Simon and Jude; and we pray that, as they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so we may with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen." (Collect for Sts. Simon and Jude, Book of Common Prayer, Page 245).
The work of Apostleship is to share the good news that God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ came so that all people may know that they are loved by God. It is so much more than preaching. In fact, preaching is only 1/3 of the responsibility. Most people, including myself have heard enough preaching. What I write may be preachy, but it is also my way of sharing my thoughts so that some dialogue can happen.
One matter of personal tragedy from my standpoint is how religion and the subject of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered communities have such a bad relationship. Having experienced many problems with Catholic and protestant Evangelical clergy and right winged Christians, I share the outrage of my friends in the LGBT community who are just fed up. I totally understand why so many don't like organized religion. What right winged religious folks like Pope Benedict XVI and Archbishop Nienstedt, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Peter La Barbera and so many more do, is downright unacceptable. It is one thing to disagree. It is another to run smear campaigns against people like Kevin Jennings, Pam Spaulding and the rest of the LGBT community. Even some of the remarks that have come from the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams have been quite discouraging to say the very least. In Paul Bresnahan's newest version of "An Invitation to An Inclusive Church II"he writes: "It is no wonder that so many people have abandoned churches of all denominations. Our squabbles seem very small-minded especially when we review all the urgent issues of the day. No wonder indeed why so many opt out of “organized religion” even at a time when spiritual hunger runs so deep."
However, during my years of being involved with the Catholic church and my days at Eastern Nazarene College as a Church Music major, I learned that belief in God is one thing that never has to go out the door just because a few religious leaders and individuals cannot get their act together. Just because they cannot exercise their Christian Faith in a charitable way, doesn't mean I have to stoop to their level. When Pope Benedict makes a call for unhappy Anglicans to join the Catholic Church, I do not have to agree with that move. I happen to agree with Paul Bresnahan that such a move is creating "a safe refuge for bigotry." However wrong these attitudes are, we do not have to give up on believing in our God who is gracious and full of compassion.
This is why my partner Jason and I are so happy to have found a good Spiritual home at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral. After the years of spiritual violence by the Catholic church and the one year I spent with the ex-gay ministry Courage, finding a welcoming and affirming environment within the Episcopal Church has been a very healing experience. Following the Vatican's announcement Jim Naughton spoke with NPR's "All Things Considered." Among his many wonderful comments he said: "I think for Episcopalians, what we need to do in the wake of this announcement is to continue going out there and saying, look, we do offer very traditional liturgy, beautiful music, a style of worship that many people like. But we are a democratically governed church. We think men and women are equal at the altar, and we respect the dignity of gay and lesbian Christians. If that makes us outcasts, I think that that's a status that we embrace happily. So if what we're talking about here are people offering alternatives, I think Episcopalians offer that alternative to their Catholic brothers and sisters."
The work of Apostleship is about finding room in God's Church for EVERYONE. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus made it very clear who were the people to be called to join and serve in Christ's Church. It wasn't the one's who have it all together. The call to experience God's saving work in Jesus Christ is to be shared with and for everyone with no exceptions. This has been the message of the Gospels through out the 2000 years of it's existence, spoken or written. And the Apostles that were sent out on that day of Pentecost were called to share God's love with everyone and to add more Apostles to their numbers. One of those who has answered that call within the past 6 years is Gene Robinson, the first openly gay Bishop in the Episcopal Church. And ever since his being ordained, he continues to be a great Apostle of God and experiences a great deal of persecution within the Church. The Gospel of Jesus Christ has gone forth from this Bishop and has been doing the work of Christ by "releasing the captives" to the point of the Episcopal Church making the decision to allow gay and lesbian Priests to discern a call to be a Bishop. The good work of God has had a ripple effect.
As we continue to work through the very important issue of inclusion of gay and lesbian people in the Church, we must be reminded of our mission as Christians to pray and work for the liberation of all God's people throughout the world. In the Daily EpiscopalianThe Rev. Lauren R. Stanley who is an Appointed Missionary of the Episcopal Church serving in the Diocese of Haiti has reminded us that there are more important things going on in the world while Rome is making it's invitation for "disaffected" Anglican's to their table. "Last Tuesday, four people living in slums in Haiti – forced to live there because they could not afford anything else – were killed in mudslides, and four others were reported missing after heavy rains … and there was almost no coverage of that at all." "On Saturday, 32 people were reported killed in three separate terrorist attacks in Pakistan, pushing the number of those killed there in October well past the 100 mark. Are we praying for peace in Pakistan?" "In Uganda, there is a bill that is threatening gay people with jail, at the very least, and the death penalty, if certain people get their way, simply for being gay. Are we speaking out on this, demanding that God’s justice be done?"
How are we carrying out the mission of Apostleship? Are we praying for peace and justice for those who are without health care? Are we concerned for all peoples not only here in the United States but elsewhere who do not have their equal rights?
The call to be an Apostle is not limited to those ordained. It is a ministry given all of us in our respective places. Our work places, families, communities, churches and even in places where God's name cannot be mentioned due to the hurt people have suffered due to spiritual abuses, those are places where the work of Apostleship is needed, and where there is inclusive responsibility.
"O God, we thank you for the glorious company of apostles and especially on this day for Simon and Jude; and we pray that, as they were faithful and zealous in their mission, so we may with ardent devotion make known the love and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen." (Collect for Sts. Simon and Jude, Book of Common Prayer, Page 245).
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Celebrate Inclusively
This upcoming Thursday, October 29th on the eve of the Convention for the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, Integrity USA will be celebrating a special Eucharist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the Hill in St. Paul, Minnesota. We will be bringing before God our prayers for the election of the next Bishop of Minnesota. The incoming President David Norgard will be preaching, and the Rev. Mark Thompson, Rector of St. Paul's Church will be presiding.
I am very excited about this particular Eucharist. Because I love Liturgy, specifically Eucharistic Liturgy. Really good Liturgy lifts us up and out of ourselves into the realm of the transcendent God. As we acknowledge that God is greater than we are, bigger than we are, and so far beyond our comprehension, God makes God's self an ever more present reality. God is not limited by space and time. When we worship God through the Holy Eucharist, the God who transcends all time and space, and became one with us in Jesus Christ becomes present in the Holy Eucharist.
We have an old saying in America: "You are what you eat, from your head down to your feet." When we celebrate the Holy Eucharist God comes to us through the reading of God's word in the Scriptures and then becomes one with us in Holy Communion. When we receive Holy Communion, Christ comes to integrate himself with us, so that we become Christ to others in the world.
Before Jesus healed the Centurion's slave he said: "I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown in to the outer darkness,,," (Matthew 8:11,12) There is room at God's Table for everyone who wants to leave the sidelines and be part of the household of Faith.
For much too long, Christians have debated about whether or not lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals should be welcome no not only partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, but also serve in leadership positions within the Church. In his blog entitled "An Invitation to An Inclusive Church" Rev. Paul Bresnahan wrote: "Even in Biblical material we are “one in Christ” as the blessed Apostle put; it without respect to classification by sex, gender, orientation, class, or ethnicity. In his very own words, he put it this way, “for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 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 3:26-28)
"The great question before us is this; are we a house of prayer for all people or not? Jesus made it clear by his courage in seeking out the lame, the halt, the blind, the prostitute, the tax collector, the leper and all the other outcasts that his church was to be a house of prayer for all people. This he did when he overturned the tables in the Temple in a radical revolution that continues to reverberate throughout the church."
"There was a special place in his 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!"
I firmly believe that there is a place in God's House for everyone to worship, serve and lead. We do not have to be ordained to be effective in being God's witnesses. Those who feel called to serve God through ordained ministry, should be welcomed to the discernment process regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity or any other issue. If we are going to worship our God who welcomed everyone in Jesus Christ, we have to believe and understand that we must also welcome everyone. Jesus is present in the Eucharist, because he wants to share God's presence with everyone who will come to him. Whatever the state of another person's life or heart, it is God's place and duty to deal with that person, not ours. God created everyone in God's image and likeness with the same love that God created us. God's perfect revelation in Christ Jesus through his death and resurrection has made it possible for everyone to again be reunited with God in friendship, discipleship and love. God created everything and it was and is still very good. In Jesus Christ, God has redeemed everyone, and are all adopted children of God.
Therefore, let no one feel or think that there is no place at God's Eucharist for them. As the beings in heaven and on earth sing "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory", let every voice good or bad, every woman, man, child, rich, poor, black, white, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered, every religion, challenge, class and national origin find room at God's table, where they are loved by God who is +Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
I am very excited about this particular Eucharist. Because I love Liturgy, specifically Eucharistic Liturgy. Really good Liturgy lifts us up and out of ourselves into the realm of the transcendent God. As we acknowledge that God is greater than we are, bigger than we are, and so far beyond our comprehension, God makes God's self an ever more present reality. God is not limited by space and time. When we worship God through the Holy Eucharist, the God who transcends all time and space, and became one with us in Jesus Christ becomes present in the Holy Eucharist.
We have an old saying in America: "You are what you eat, from your head down to your feet." When we celebrate the Holy Eucharist God comes to us through the reading of God's word in the Scriptures and then becomes one with us in Holy Communion. When we receive Holy Communion, Christ comes to integrate himself with us, so that we become Christ to others in the world.
Before Jesus healed the Centurion's slave he said: "I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown in to the outer darkness,,," (Matthew 8:11,12) There is room at God's Table for everyone who wants to leave the sidelines and be part of the household of Faith.
For much too long, Christians have debated about whether or not lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals should be welcome no not only partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, but also serve in leadership positions within the Church. In his blog entitled "An Invitation to An Inclusive Church" Rev. Paul Bresnahan wrote: "Even in Biblical material we are “one in Christ” as the blessed Apostle put; it without respect to classification by sex, gender, orientation, class, or ethnicity. In his very own words, he put it this way, “for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 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 3:26-28)
"The great question before us is this; are we a house of prayer for all people or not? Jesus made it clear by his courage in seeking out the lame, the halt, the blind, the prostitute, the tax collector, the leper and all the other outcasts that his church was to be a house of prayer for all people. This he did when he overturned the tables in the Temple in a radical revolution that continues to reverberate throughout the church."
"There was a special place in his 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!"
I firmly believe that there is a place in God's House for everyone to worship, serve and lead. We do not have to be ordained to be effective in being God's witnesses. Those who feel called to serve God through ordained ministry, should be welcomed to the discernment process regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity or any other issue. If we are going to worship our God who welcomed everyone in Jesus Christ, we have to believe and understand that we must also welcome everyone. Jesus is present in the Eucharist, because he wants to share God's presence with everyone who will come to him. Whatever the state of another person's life or heart, it is God's place and duty to deal with that person, not ours. God created everyone in God's image and likeness with the same love that God created us. God's perfect revelation in Christ Jesus through his death and resurrection has made it possible for everyone to again be reunited with God in friendship, discipleship and love. God created everything and it was and is still very good. In Jesus Christ, God has redeemed everyone, and are all adopted children of God.
Therefore, let no one feel or think that there is no place at God's Eucharist for them. As the beings in heaven and on earth sing "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory", let every voice good or bad, every woman, man, child, rich, poor, black, white, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered, every religion, challenge, class and national origin find room at God's table, where they are loved by God who is +Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Do Not Be Afraid
Did you know that the sentence: "Do not be afraid" or the other way to write it: "Fear not!" is found about 365 times in the Bible? That is one "do not be afraid" for every day of the year.
It is interesting that this phrase appears once for every day of the year, because it appears to me that many people from the Religious right want to do nothing more than instill some fear in people. There is a set of tracts done in comic style that try to get people saved through fear. The problem with this kind of proselytising is that the good news was given to free people from fear, not paralyze.
The times we live in have a lot to be afraid of. The idea that over 40,000 people this year will die because they do not have health coverage to care for their illnesses is a frightening reality. The fact that in Pakistan innocent people are being killed from bombings that are suppose to protect people from the Taliban is scary. Just being aware that the country of Iran has been building nuclear weapons and the UN is trying to negotiate so that they will disarm is scary. We don't need a Halloween full of ghosts, goblins, witches and skeletons. The real things of this world are scary enough. The very idea that our military has a law that can discharge people willing to serve if they come out and say they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered, and our President says he will repeal DADT, but with no time line, that is scary.
But God tells us through Sacred Scripture: "Do Not Be Afraid." And God tells us this, every day of the year. Why? Because God knows how frightening life can be. God knows that there are dangers all around us. When God came to us through God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ, God made God's self vulnerable to all the fears that we face. In Jesus, God showed us how to face those fears. God knows that sometimes, life is just plain scary. There are days when it is down right ugly. That is why we are told 365 times in Scripture: "Be Not Afraid".
God has called each of us by name. God has called us to follow Jesus and to recognize that in Jesus we can have courage, strength, hope and even in death we can believe that death is not the last and final word. In Psalm 16 the Psalmist prays: "For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the Pit. You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore."
There is no place we can go where God does not know our name, and what we are going through. "If I climb up to heaven, you are there; and if I make the grave my bed, you are there also." (Psalm 139: 7). God is as close to us as each cell of our body, yet God is greater than the highest mountain. God's love for us is deeper than the ocean, and stronger than the hardest rock. So, Be not afraid.
"God is Love, let heaven adore him; God is Love let earth rejoice; let creation sing before him and exalt him with one voice. God who laid the earth's foundation, God who spread the heavens above. God who breathes through all creation, God is Love, eternal Love." (The Hymnal 1982).
It is interesting that this phrase appears once for every day of the year, because it appears to me that many people from the Religious right want to do nothing more than instill some fear in people. There is a set of tracts done in comic style that try to get people saved through fear. The problem with this kind of proselytising is that the good news was given to free people from fear, not paralyze.
The times we live in have a lot to be afraid of. The idea that over 40,000 people this year will die because they do not have health coverage to care for their illnesses is a frightening reality. The fact that in Pakistan innocent people are being killed from bombings that are suppose to protect people from the Taliban is scary. Just being aware that the country of Iran has been building nuclear weapons and the UN is trying to negotiate so that they will disarm is scary. We don't need a Halloween full of ghosts, goblins, witches and skeletons. The real things of this world are scary enough. The very idea that our military has a law that can discharge people willing to serve if they come out and say they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered, and our President says he will repeal DADT, but with no time line, that is scary.
But God tells us through Sacred Scripture: "Do Not Be Afraid." And God tells us this, every day of the year. Why? Because God knows how frightening life can be. God knows that there are dangers all around us. When God came to us through God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ, God made God's self vulnerable to all the fears that we face. In Jesus, God showed us how to face those fears. God knows that sometimes, life is just plain scary. There are days when it is down right ugly. That is why we are told 365 times in Scripture: "Be Not Afraid".
God has called each of us by name. God has called us to follow Jesus and to recognize that in Jesus we can have courage, strength, hope and even in death we can believe that death is not the last and final word. In Psalm 16 the Psalmist prays: "For you will not abandon me to the grave, nor let your holy one see the Pit. You will show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy, and in your right hand are pleasures for evermore."
There is no place we can go where God does not know our name, and what we are going through. "If I climb up to heaven, you are there; and if I make the grave my bed, you are there also." (Psalm 139: 7). God is as close to us as each cell of our body, yet God is greater than the highest mountain. God's love for us is deeper than the ocean, and stronger than the hardest rock. So, Be not afraid.
"God is Love, let heaven adore him; God is Love let earth rejoice; let creation sing before him and exalt him with one voice. God who laid the earth's foundation, God who spread the heavens above. God who breathes through all creation, God is Love, eternal Love." (The Hymnal 1982).
Sunday, October 25, 2009
We Are Called to Come Out of the Sidelines
On October 11th of this year a very wonderful event took place. Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people came out from the sidelines and into the faces of politicians, religious leaders, work places, schools, television sets and internet sites. Those who participated in the National Equality March in Washington, DC and all over came out into the open and said that we are not going to remain on the sidelines any longer while people in governmental power drag their feet when it comes to equality for LGBT individuals. It was a fantastic sight. It drew people into an awareness, and it made visible the people, the situations and the reality of what it is like to be an LGBT individual, couple and/or family in America. People who had grown silent on the side lines, accepting injustice came out in to the open and said no more.
In our readings from the Scriptures this weekend, we hear from Jeremiah: "See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble" (Jeremiah 31: 8-9).
It is never enough for God to leave those who are marginalized and stigmatized by society and the church on the sidelines. Over the years as the landscape has been changing for LGBT individuals there have been moves by the Episcopal Church and the ELCA to not leave LGBT people on the sidelines, but bring them into leadership positions. Why is this important? So that those who are blinded by their own arrogance can see that LGBT individuals like anyone else left in the margins have much to offer in the service of Christ and the Church. God is never content to just let us be. God has to shake us up, move us forward and constantly bring us into a greater understanding of ourselves and others. But we cannot do that unless we allow God to bring us out of the sidelines and into the place where God wants us.
In Mark's Gospel today, we read about Bartimaeus. A blind beggar who sits on the side of the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to face his Passion and Death. How Bartimaeus knew about Jesus we are not sure. But somehow, Bartimaeus knew that Jesus would be traveling along the road where he was. "When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many sternly ordered him to be quiet,,," (Mark 10: 47, 48). his can often be the experience of LGBT people. As they try to draw closer to God through the Church, they experience rejection, they are told to "keep quiet." This is one of the many reasons why LGBT turn away from religion all together. They cannot speak or take part in the life of the church, unless they are willing to "change."
What is interesting about Mark's Gospel is that we continually see how those who are closest to Jesus are the one's who are blind as to who he is. A couple of weeks ago, we heard John and James fighting about who was to be first and last. But here is Bartimaeus reaching out, calling out to Jesus while those who want to see this blind man who is marginalized, remain marginalized tell him to keep quiet. But Bartimaeus is not going to take being marginalized any longer. He is not going to be told to keep quiet, Bartimaeus knows who Jesus is, and he wants to experience the mercy of God that Jesus can give him and so he cries out even louder: "Son of David, have mercy on me." And then those standing around tell Bartimaeus: "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." Then Bartimaeus throws off his beggars cloak the one that he used to collect money as people went by and after Jesus asked: "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimeaus replies: "My teacher, let me see again." Jesus said: "Go, your faith has made you well." (See Mark 10: 46 to 52).
Sometimes, LGBT people and many who experience marginalization from churches our very own families are so afraid to get up and throw off our anger at those who marginalize us. Given how LGBT individuals are cast off by religious institutions and told they are worthless unless they "change". It is so understandable why LGBT and many people throw off religion. Many LGBT people want to draw closer to God. They have fought their inner battle with their sexuality, thinking that they were dirty and useless just because they are attracted to members of the same-sex. There are so many stories of how lesbians and gay individuals have nearly committed suicide because they were afraid of their sexual orientation. They were afraid of their parents, families, friends, pastors and the list goes on and on. At the moment a questioning individual comes to term that who they are is who they are, and God created and loves them that way, that's when they begin to experience healing. And while they are experiencing a new found love for themselves, they have religious leaders like Pat Robertson or James Dobson telling them they are going down a path of sin. Or they read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that they are "instrinically disordered". And the LGBT individual that is coming out, feeling like there is no place for them in God's Church, go to the sidelines with this blind perception of themselves and how God sees them.
This is why it is so refreshing for me to read: "In the Eye of the Storm; Swept to the Center by God" by Bishop Gene Robinson. Instead of a Bishop writing some paper against same-sex marriage or telling an LGBT person that he is gay because his masculinity was not affirmed by their fathers, or femininity affirmed by their mothers, Bishop Robinson, shows how much the stories of LGBT people are told throughout the Bible. In stories such as the wandering of Israel in the desert in Exodus. Bishop Robinson talks about how God affirms us in Scripture by affirming every human being in their sexuality. The Bishop is being Jesus for me, by helping me to remove the blinders that I've had about myself and my sexuality. But to begin to see that, I had to get off the sidelines of my feeling guilty or dirty, to reading about an affirming prospective, and so allow Jesus to begin healing my blindness.
Today Jesus invites the blind, the black, the white, the gay, the straight, the challenged, those marginalized to come out from the sidelines and accept God's love. When the Episcopal Church and the ELCA made the allowance for LGBT individuals to discern the vocation of Priesthood and/or Bishop, as well as be married in the Church, they echoed Jesus' call to LGBT individuals to come out from the sidelines, to know and share God's love in service and sacrifice. No longer do they have to keep quiet. No longer do LGBT individuals have to remain outside of God's partnership, but they are now part of the Divine network of those who serve God not only as ordained individuals, but in all kinds of ways.
LGBT individuals who are called out from the sidelines need to take their places with others who follow Jesus Christ. We need to see that there are many people who remain marginalized by society and the church. Jesus has given us a call to help them as we are helping ourselves. And we participate in the ministry of Christ and the Church when we call on politicians and church leaders to see their own blindness when it comes to people left out by society. Every Christian and person of good will needs to be involved in this health care reform debate. The fact that over 40,000 people will die because they do not have health insurance, means that our health care system and our nation has gone blind to the people we are suppose to serve. Unless we see them as women and men of dignity and integrity, and call the insurance companies to leave behind their quest for corporate greed, and politicians from corruption, more people who could be saved, will die.
What are we doing to come out of the sidelines to participate in God's work in our lives? How do we allow the opinions of others to keep us from fulfilling what God wants? How do we use our gifts to serve others who are marginalized?
God has a place and a plan for everyone. God does not look upon anyone with shame, God looks upon us with love. God wants us to come out from our sidelines and participate in God's plan to change the world, to make the Church an inclusive place for everyone and to be God's hands, feet, and heart that extends to those who feel excluded.
God has already made the call for us to go to work. So, when and where do we begin?
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. (Book of Common Prayer, For the Human Family, #3, Page 815).
In our readings from the Scriptures this weekend, we hear from Jeremiah: "See, I am going to bring them from the land of the north, and gather them from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, those with child and those in labor, together; a great company, they shall return here. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead them back, I will let them by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble" (Jeremiah 31: 8-9).
It is never enough for God to leave those who are marginalized and stigmatized by society and the church on the sidelines. Over the years as the landscape has been changing for LGBT individuals there have been moves by the Episcopal Church and the ELCA to not leave LGBT people on the sidelines, but bring them into leadership positions. Why is this important? So that those who are blinded by their own arrogance can see that LGBT individuals like anyone else left in the margins have much to offer in the service of Christ and the Church. God is never content to just let us be. God has to shake us up, move us forward and constantly bring us into a greater understanding of ourselves and others. But we cannot do that unless we allow God to bring us out of the sidelines and into the place where God wants us.
In Mark's Gospel today, we read about Bartimaeus. A blind beggar who sits on the side of the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem to face his Passion and Death. How Bartimaeus knew about Jesus we are not sure. But somehow, Bartimaeus knew that Jesus would be traveling along the road where he was. "When he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to shout out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Many sternly ordered him to be quiet,,," (Mark 10: 47, 48). his can often be the experience of LGBT people. As they try to draw closer to God through the Church, they experience rejection, they are told to "keep quiet." This is one of the many reasons why LGBT turn away from religion all together. They cannot speak or take part in the life of the church, unless they are willing to "change."
What is interesting about Mark's Gospel is that we continually see how those who are closest to Jesus are the one's who are blind as to who he is. A couple of weeks ago, we heard John and James fighting about who was to be first and last. But here is Bartimaeus reaching out, calling out to Jesus while those who want to see this blind man who is marginalized, remain marginalized tell him to keep quiet. But Bartimaeus is not going to take being marginalized any longer. He is not going to be told to keep quiet, Bartimaeus knows who Jesus is, and he wants to experience the mercy of God that Jesus can give him and so he cries out even louder: "Son of David, have mercy on me." And then those standing around tell Bartimaeus: "Take heart; get up, he is calling you." Then Bartimaeus throws off his beggars cloak the one that he used to collect money as people went by and after Jesus asked: "What do you want me to do for you?" Bartimeaus replies: "My teacher, let me see again." Jesus said: "Go, your faith has made you well." (See Mark 10: 46 to 52).
Sometimes, LGBT people and many who experience marginalization from churches our very own families are so afraid to get up and throw off our anger at those who marginalize us. Given how LGBT individuals are cast off by religious institutions and told they are worthless unless they "change". It is so understandable why LGBT and many people throw off religion. Many LGBT people want to draw closer to God. They have fought their inner battle with their sexuality, thinking that they were dirty and useless just because they are attracted to members of the same-sex. There are so many stories of how lesbians and gay individuals have nearly committed suicide because they were afraid of their sexual orientation. They were afraid of their parents, families, friends, pastors and the list goes on and on. At the moment a questioning individual comes to term that who they are is who they are, and God created and loves them that way, that's when they begin to experience healing. And while they are experiencing a new found love for themselves, they have religious leaders like Pat Robertson or James Dobson telling them they are going down a path of sin. Or they read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church that they are "instrinically disordered". And the LGBT individual that is coming out, feeling like there is no place for them in God's Church, go to the sidelines with this blind perception of themselves and how God sees them.
This is why it is so refreshing for me to read: "In the Eye of the Storm; Swept to the Center by God" by Bishop Gene Robinson. Instead of a Bishop writing some paper against same-sex marriage or telling an LGBT person that he is gay because his masculinity was not affirmed by their fathers, or femininity affirmed by their mothers, Bishop Robinson, shows how much the stories of LGBT people are told throughout the Bible. In stories such as the wandering of Israel in the desert in Exodus. Bishop Robinson talks about how God affirms us in Scripture by affirming every human being in their sexuality. The Bishop is being Jesus for me, by helping me to remove the blinders that I've had about myself and my sexuality. But to begin to see that, I had to get off the sidelines of my feeling guilty or dirty, to reading about an affirming prospective, and so allow Jesus to begin healing my blindness.
Today Jesus invites the blind, the black, the white, the gay, the straight, the challenged, those marginalized to come out from the sidelines and accept God's love. When the Episcopal Church and the ELCA made the allowance for LGBT individuals to discern the vocation of Priesthood and/or Bishop, as well as be married in the Church, they echoed Jesus' call to LGBT individuals to come out from the sidelines, to know and share God's love in service and sacrifice. No longer do they have to keep quiet. No longer do LGBT individuals have to remain outside of God's partnership, but they are now part of the Divine network of those who serve God not only as ordained individuals, but in all kinds of ways.
LGBT individuals who are called out from the sidelines need to take their places with others who follow Jesus Christ. We need to see that there are many people who remain marginalized by society and the church. Jesus has given us a call to help them as we are helping ourselves. And we participate in the ministry of Christ and the Church when we call on politicians and church leaders to see their own blindness when it comes to people left out by society. Every Christian and person of good will needs to be involved in this health care reform debate. The fact that over 40,000 people will die because they do not have health insurance, means that our health care system and our nation has gone blind to the people we are suppose to serve. Unless we see them as women and men of dignity and integrity, and call the insurance companies to leave behind their quest for corporate greed, and politicians from corruption, more people who could be saved, will die.
What are we doing to come out of the sidelines to participate in God's work in our lives? How do we allow the opinions of others to keep us from fulfilling what God wants? How do we use our gifts to serve others who are marginalized?
God has a place and a plan for everyone. God does not look upon anyone with shame, God looks upon us with love. God wants us to come out from our sidelines and participate in God's plan to change the world, to make the Church an inclusive place for everyone and to be God's hands, feet, and heart that extends to those who feel excluded.
God has already made the call for us to go to work. So, when and where do we begin?
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. (Book of Common Prayer, For the Human Family, #3, Page 815).
Friday, October 23, 2009
Be Our Vision, O God.
Based on Matthew 13: 54-58
What is the next question we tend to ask someone after they introduce themselves? "Where are you from?" In an effort to create some intimacy with someone that we might be trying to get to know, we first make the attempt to get a bigger picture of who that person is. Where is the person from? What is their career? What are their interests or hobbies? What schools did they go to, and/or what was their course of study? As their answers come, we find common ground to talk about, or we make ourselves open to learning things that we have not known before.
When it comes to the answer about where someone comes from, it can be quite interesting as to what our attitudes might be following what we have been told. If someone is from New England as I am originally from, people might automatically think we are people who talk directly. There is no playing around. We say what we think, and we let you know where we stand. If the answer is say from Minnesota where I currently live, one might say that we are "Minnesota ice" as in "Minnesota nice." Minnesotan's have a reputation for being nice to your face, then stabbing you in the back. If someone is from the south, their personalities are very warm and hospitable, yet they too can be very direct. Interesting how we make judgments on people's character based on where they are from. Let someone do something that is off the radar of where they are from, and suddenly we might find ourselves scratching our heads and wondering "what in the world?"
That was the attitude of those who were listening to Jesus in our Gospel story today. They were listening to Jesus teach about God. Jesus taught with great wisdom and knowledge. Rather than take to heart the message of God's love revealed perfectly in Jesus Christ, all these people got wound up in where he was from, who his parents were, who his brothers were, what his father did. And all because of their preconceived notions about what all this meant, they dismissed his message and failed to believe in Jesus' message of love. That is why Jesus did not perform miracles or use his power, "because of their disbelief." (Matthew 13: 58).
This goes precisely to the problem many of us have in seeing Jesus in other people. Why don't we share our Gospel stories with people? The Gospel is not only meant to be shared through preaching and quoting, it is suppose to be lived through the stories of our own lives. The Gospel story is shared as we reach out to those who are poor, lonely, discouraged, the uninsured, those of different races, religions, classes, challenges, sexual orientations and gender identities. But, because of our preconceived notions of what such people are, where they are from, what we think they do, or are concerned about what they do not do, the Gospel story of our lives does not reach out and touch theirs. When we leave ourselves in the center of ourselves, what we do is leave our Gospel stories home in the dust covered Bible on the shelf. The cross remains an abstract dead object on the wall because we just cannot forgive someone. The Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ remains a historical myth when we cannot reach out to someone without our preconceived thinking becoming a barrier to what God wants to do between us and the other person. We are afraid of conflict. But conflicts are a part of life. We are afraid of being guilty by association. Yet it can be through facing our own guilt by association, that we can play a role in helping people to change their attitudes towards people who are different, marginalized and stigmatized.
When God came to us in the Person of God's Son, Jesus Christ, God came to shake us up. God came to get us out of our comfort zones. Unless we are willing to take part in the change of the status quo, then the Gospel story of our lives becomes just another story that people have heard before. But when we face the things that make us uncomfortable, and we "come out" of our "lands of slavery" whether that means our closets, our homes, our beds, that bad relationship that we might be hanging on to, the addiction that we are not seeking help for. When we finally face the truth about ourselves and reach across the isle with compassion and an honest search for God, we finally open the Gospel story of our lives as we shake people up and share ourselves with others. When we do that, God reveals God's love not only to us, but to others we come into contact. The dead Gospel becomes a living story of love out of the Bible on the shelf. The crucifix becomes a living way that we die to ourselves. The Death and Resurrection of Christ becomes living action, and those who are marginalized and stigmatized are given their inclusive place within God's family.
Today, I can think of no two people who have demonstrated this better than Dennis and Judy Shepard. Dennis and Judy lost their son, Matthew who was beaten and left to die because he was gay. During the many years since the tragic death of their son, Dennis and Judy have reached out to the legal community and found very little solace. Did they let that stop them? No way. Judy Shepard went on to write about her son, and tell the story of how much she loved him. Judy, who lost her own son could have turned against the gay community through denial and shame. But no. Judy Shepard shouldered the cross of love and compassion and through the telling of her story, and her fortitude of determination, Judy pushed on making appearances and statements helped push through to yesterday's victory. When the United States Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill yesterday, they acknowledged what we've known and seen in Dennis and Judy Shepard. Our United States Congress has declared that crimes due to preconceived notions about sexual orientation or gender identity are hate crimes. They cannot be tolerated. Hate crimes violate the dignity and integrity of LGBT people and any group of people due to race, class, challenge or otherwise. And they must be seen in that way. Judy did all of this, even with Religious right leaders and followers calling her a "liar" right to her face when she made appearances. Judy took her place with Jesus on the Cross, and loved her son. Judy and Dennis have never stopped loving their son for who he was. And they want to encourage others to love people for who they are, and abandon their hate and violent attitudes towards LGBT people.
When we hear Jesus speaking to us, through other people, how do we respond to him? Do we respond to God with our preconceived notions of the people we come into contact through God's intervention? Do we close ourselves off to the power of God, because we do not believe in God's transforming grace through someone who is different than us? How in those moments does our Gospel story come out of the page and into real life?
As we explore these and other questions today, let us remember that God is merciful. God has already forgiven us in Christ Jesus. All we have to do is lay our sins at the foot of the Cross, and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and God will do the rest.
Prayer of St. Francis.
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where their 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. (Book of Common Prayer, Page 833).
What is the next question we tend to ask someone after they introduce themselves? "Where are you from?" In an effort to create some intimacy with someone that we might be trying to get to know, we first make the attempt to get a bigger picture of who that person is. Where is the person from? What is their career? What are their interests or hobbies? What schools did they go to, and/or what was their course of study? As their answers come, we find common ground to talk about, or we make ourselves open to learning things that we have not known before.
When it comes to the answer about where someone comes from, it can be quite interesting as to what our attitudes might be following what we have been told. If someone is from New England as I am originally from, people might automatically think we are people who talk directly. There is no playing around. We say what we think, and we let you know where we stand. If the answer is say from Minnesota where I currently live, one might say that we are "Minnesota ice" as in "Minnesota nice." Minnesotan's have a reputation for being nice to your face, then stabbing you in the back. If someone is from the south, their personalities are very warm and hospitable, yet they too can be very direct. Interesting how we make judgments on people's character based on where they are from. Let someone do something that is off the radar of where they are from, and suddenly we might find ourselves scratching our heads and wondering "what in the world?"
That was the attitude of those who were listening to Jesus in our Gospel story today. They were listening to Jesus teach about God. Jesus taught with great wisdom and knowledge. Rather than take to heart the message of God's love revealed perfectly in Jesus Christ, all these people got wound up in where he was from, who his parents were, who his brothers were, what his father did. And all because of their preconceived notions about what all this meant, they dismissed his message and failed to believe in Jesus' message of love. That is why Jesus did not perform miracles or use his power, "because of their disbelief." (Matthew 13: 58).
This goes precisely to the problem many of us have in seeing Jesus in other people. Why don't we share our Gospel stories with people? The Gospel is not only meant to be shared through preaching and quoting, it is suppose to be lived through the stories of our own lives. The Gospel story is shared as we reach out to those who are poor, lonely, discouraged, the uninsured, those of different races, religions, classes, challenges, sexual orientations and gender identities. But, because of our preconceived notions of what such people are, where they are from, what we think they do, or are concerned about what they do not do, the Gospel story of our lives does not reach out and touch theirs. When we leave ourselves in the center of ourselves, what we do is leave our Gospel stories home in the dust covered Bible on the shelf. The cross remains an abstract dead object on the wall because we just cannot forgive someone. The Crucifixion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ remains a historical myth when we cannot reach out to someone without our preconceived thinking becoming a barrier to what God wants to do between us and the other person. We are afraid of conflict. But conflicts are a part of life. We are afraid of being guilty by association. Yet it can be through facing our own guilt by association, that we can play a role in helping people to change their attitudes towards people who are different, marginalized and stigmatized.
When God came to us in the Person of God's Son, Jesus Christ, God came to shake us up. God came to get us out of our comfort zones. Unless we are willing to take part in the change of the status quo, then the Gospel story of our lives becomes just another story that people have heard before. But when we face the things that make us uncomfortable, and we "come out" of our "lands of slavery" whether that means our closets, our homes, our beds, that bad relationship that we might be hanging on to, the addiction that we are not seeking help for. When we finally face the truth about ourselves and reach across the isle with compassion and an honest search for God, we finally open the Gospel story of our lives as we shake people up and share ourselves with others. When we do that, God reveals God's love not only to us, but to others we come into contact. The dead Gospel becomes a living story of love out of the Bible on the shelf. The crucifix becomes a living way that we die to ourselves. The Death and Resurrection of Christ becomes living action, and those who are marginalized and stigmatized are given their inclusive place within God's family.
Today, I can think of no two people who have demonstrated this better than Dennis and Judy Shepard. Dennis and Judy lost their son, Matthew who was beaten and left to die because he was gay. During the many years since the tragic death of their son, Dennis and Judy have reached out to the legal community and found very little solace. Did they let that stop them? No way. Judy Shepard went on to write about her son, and tell the story of how much she loved him. Judy, who lost her own son could have turned against the gay community through denial and shame. But no. Judy Shepard shouldered the cross of love and compassion and through the telling of her story, and her fortitude of determination, Judy pushed on making appearances and statements helped push through to yesterday's victory. When the United States Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes bill yesterday, they acknowledged what we've known and seen in Dennis and Judy Shepard. Our United States Congress has declared that crimes due to preconceived notions about sexual orientation or gender identity are hate crimes. They cannot be tolerated. Hate crimes violate the dignity and integrity of LGBT people and any group of people due to race, class, challenge or otherwise. And they must be seen in that way. Judy did all of this, even with Religious right leaders and followers calling her a "liar" right to her face when she made appearances. Judy took her place with Jesus on the Cross, and loved her son. Judy and Dennis have never stopped loving their son for who he was. And they want to encourage others to love people for who they are, and abandon their hate and violent attitudes towards LGBT people.
When we hear Jesus speaking to us, through other people, how do we respond to him? Do we respond to God with our preconceived notions of the people we come into contact through God's intervention? Do we close ourselves off to the power of God, because we do not believe in God's transforming grace through someone who is different than us? How in those moments does our Gospel story come out of the page and into real life?
As we explore these and other questions today, let us remember that God is merciful. God has already forgiven us in Christ Jesus. All we have to do is lay our sins at the foot of the Cross, and ask for the guidance of the Holy Spirit and God will do the rest.
Prayer of St. Francis.
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where their 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. (Book of Common Prayer, Page 833).
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Hate Crimes Bill Passes Senate: A Day of Rejoicing
Today, October 22, 2009 the United States Senate passed the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Bill with a vote of 68-29. The bill now heads to President Obama's desk where it is said that he will sign it into law.
Today, all of the major LGBT networks are sounding the joy of a work achieved, and indeed, we should. At last through the laws of this Country, LGBT individuals are raised up a status and given some protection. It is unfortunate that the events of our past bring us to the point where we have to have a hate crimes law. It is unfortunate that we cannot trust people to leave their prejudices behind and to leave others who are different than themselves alone.
We cannot but think of the work of Judy and Dennis Shepard who have turned a tragic death into a call to embrace the cross of injustice and inequality toward their son, Matthew. They did not let this cross weigh them down with despair and they also did not let their son die in vain. Instead they shouldered the cross and sounded a message of hope for others who face criminal actions due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Walking with Integrity a group of LGBT Episcopalians who are working for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the Church, has written a response to today's news and has included the following in their response.
"In her 2007 letter in support of the bill passed by the Senate today, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori included this quote from former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold: "The fact that Matthew was an Episcopalian makes our grief no more sharp, but it does give us a particular responsibility to stand with gays and lesbians, to decry all forms of violence against them - from verbal to physical, and to encourage the dialogue that can, with God's help, lead to new appreciation for their presence in the life of our church, and the broader community."
Let us pray and give thanks to God for God's leadership and loving witness through the Shepard family with all that they have endured. Let us take their example and rise up and walk with faithfulness and love for all who suffer hate, that there may be peach and justice for all.
Today, all of the major LGBT networks are sounding the joy of a work achieved, and indeed, we should. At last through the laws of this Country, LGBT individuals are raised up a status and given some protection. It is unfortunate that the events of our past bring us to the point where we have to have a hate crimes law. It is unfortunate that we cannot trust people to leave their prejudices behind and to leave others who are different than themselves alone.
We cannot but think of the work of Judy and Dennis Shepard who have turned a tragic death into a call to embrace the cross of injustice and inequality toward their son, Matthew. They did not let this cross weigh them down with despair and they also did not let their son die in vain. Instead they shouldered the cross and sounded a message of hope for others who face criminal actions due to their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Walking with Integrity a group of LGBT Episcopalians who are working for the full inclusion of LGBT people in the Church, has written a response to today's news and has included the following in their response.
"In her 2007 letter in support of the bill passed by the Senate today, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori included this quote from former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold: "The fact that Matthew was an Episcopalian makes our grief no more sharp, but it does give us a particular responsibility to stand with gays and lesbians, to decry all forms of violence against them - from verbal to physical, and to encourage the dialogue that can, with God's help, lead to new appreciation for their presence in the life of our church, and the broader community."
Let us pray and give thanks to God for God's leadership and loving witness through the Shepard family with all that they have endured. Let us take their example and rise up and walk with faithfulness and love for all who suffer hate, that there may be peach and justice for all.
My Beloved, With Whom I Am Pleased
Based on Matthew 12: 15-21
It can be hard to admit that we live in a world where evil sometimes wins. As we read the newspapers about crime, politics, war and inequality, we see how evil is all about us. We can blame it all on Satan which for some is the easy way out, or we can blame it on ourselves for being tolerant of it. In the end, the blame game is not really what is at issue. Some people have more choices at their disposal than others. People plagued by addiction may have the choice over how or whether they treat their addiction, but they do not always have power over what their addictions cause them to do. As long as people are addicted to control, there will be conflicts, racism,sexism,hetero-sexism and all the other "isms" of life.
It is too bad that human beings cannot become more addicted to good things. What a different world it would be if instead of fighting over world resources and who owns them, if they were seen as gifts to be shared with others. It is too bad that people hang on to their prejudices over color, nationality, challenge, religion, sexual orientation and/or gender identity or expression, and class. This big gigantic world that we are all on for a very short time, could be a much better place if we could all see ourselves and others as being equally created by a loving God, and that's why we should cherish each other too.
You see, God does not look upon us in the way we often see ourselves. God sees us through the eyes of God's Beloved in Jesus Christ. When God revealed God's self in Jesus Christ, the Word, God told us how much God loves us. In Jesus Christ, God's value of us was perfect. And it didn't matter what we came to Jesus with, even with our arrogance and ass like attitudes. God loved us even when we made choices that hurt God very much. Even to the point of Jesus dying on the cross. And God did all of this, because in Jesus God told us: "You are my beloved, with whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 12: 18) And what the author of Matthew's Gospel is telling us is borrowed from Isaiah 42:1 where God says: "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights."
But instead of valuing ourselves and each other as daughters and sons of God, we do everything we can to put ourselves and one another down. We are never satisfied with knowing that God has given us everything. In Bishop Gene Robinson's book: "In the Eye of the Storm; Swept to the Center by God" Robinson talks in chapter 6 of "Daily Resurrection" and how God has already rolled away the stone of our tombs, closets, boxes and addictions. All we need to do is trust in God and let God lead the way. Because God delights so very much in us, God is so pleased with us that in Jesus God has pulled back the curtain that separated us from God and given us new life in the death and resurrection of Christ. We have new opportunities and goals to encounter God not on our terms, but on God's terms. And God sees us as beloved and cherished. We are at the heart of God's desire.
When we see evil flourish, and equality laws taken away it is heart breaking. Not just for us, but also for God. Because, God having given us all free will made God's self very vulnerable. And no matter how much we hurt God with our choices, God still loves us and sees us as God's beloved with whom God is well pleased. Is God happy with our choices? No. But, God loves us just the same. It is God's love that we should be concerned about offending, not whether or not God will send us to hell for the choices we make. Because when we offend God who is all deserving of our love, we've already put ourselves in hell.
We must continue to do our part to alleviate evil in our world. It is so appropriate when we write or call our legislators to pass health care reform, equal rights protections for LGBT individuals and speak up when Pat Robertson says that "Homosexuals do not want marriage, but to "destroy marriage." But we also do not need to fret over their own wickedness. "Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, offer those who carry out evil devices.. Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret--it only leads to evil. For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land." (Psalm 37: 7,8). I have to say that I have a hard time with those three words: "Refrain from anger." As a gay man myself, when people like Robertson make statements like he did, it angers me. It can be difficult for me to wait on the Lord, because I want God to do things my way, in my time and for me. And aren't we all just a little too self-centered in that way?
Perhaps all of us need to take a cue from Bishop John Shelby Spong's manifesto where he says: "I will dismiss as unworthy of any more of my attention the wild, false and uninformed opinions of such would-be religious leaders as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Albert Mohler, and Robert Duncan. My country and my church have both already spent too much time, energy and money trying to accommodate these backward points of view when they are no longer even tolerable." After all, if it is so untrue, then why do we give it so much energy? Should we speak up and say it's wrong? I think so. But should we give them our energy and anger to the degree that we allow what they say to allow it to affect our relationship with God? I think not. For LGBT individuals are like all others, created and loved by the Holy Trinity, who is God. And the Scriptures I read tell me, tell us, that we are God's beloved, with whom God is well pleased.
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the people of this land], 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, #27. Page 823).
It can be hard to admit that we live in a world where evil sometimes wins. As we read the newspapers about crime, politics, war and inequality, we see how evil is all about us. We can blame it all on Satan which for some is the easy way out, or we can blame it on ourselves for being tolerant of it. In the end, the blame game is not really what is at issue. Some people have more choices at their disposal than others. People plagued by addiction may have the choice over how or whether they treat their addiction, but they do not always have power over what their addictions cause them to do. As long as people are addicted to control, there will be conflicts, racism,sexism,hetero-sexism and all the other "isms" of life.
It is too bad that human beings cannot become more addicted to good things. What a different world it would be if instead of fighting over world resources and who owns them, if they were seen as gifts to be shared with others. It is too bad that people hang on to their prejudices over color, nationality, challenge, religion, sexual orientation and/or gender identity or expression, and class. This big gigantic world that we are all on for a very short time, could be a much better place if we could all see ourselves and others as being equally created by a loving God, and that's why we should cherish each other too.
You see, God does not look upon us in the way we often see ourselves. God sees us through the eyes of God's Beloved in Jesus Christ. When God revealed God's self in Jesus Christ, the Word, God told us how much God loves us. In Jesus Christ, God's value of us was perfect. And it didn't matter what we came to Jesus with, even with our arrogance and ass like attitudes. God loved us even when we made choices that hurt God very much. Even to the point of Jesus dying on the cross. And God did all of this, because in Jesus God told us: "You are my beloved, with whom I am well pleased." (Matthew 12: 18) And what the author of Matthew's Gospel is telling us is borrowed from Isaiah 42:1 where God says: "Here is my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights."
But instead of valuing ourselves and each other as daughters and sons of God, we do everything we can to put ourselves and one another down. We are never satisfied with knowing that God has given us everything. In Bishop Gene Robinson's book: "In the Eye of the Storm; Swept to the Center by God" Robinson talks in chapter 6 of "Daily Resurrection" and how God has already rolled away the stone of our tombs, closets, boxes and addictions. All we need to do is trust in God and let God lead the way. Because God delights so very much in us, God is so pleased with us that in Jesus God has pulled back the curtain that separated us from God and given us new life in the death and resurrection of Christ. We have new opportunities and goals to encounter God not on our terms, but on God's terms. And God sees us as beloved and cherished. We are at the heart of God's desire.
When we see evil flourish, and equality laws taken away it is heart breaking. Not just for us, but also for God. Because, God having given us all free will made God's self very vulnerable. And no matter how much we hurt God with our choices, God still loves us and sees us as God's beloved with whom God is well pleased. Is God happy with our choices? No. But, God loves us just the same. It is God's love that we should be concerned about offending, not whether or not God will send us to hell for the choices we make. Because when we offend God who is all deserving of our love, we've already put ourselves in hell.
We must continue to do our part to alleviate evil in our world. It is so appropriate when we write or call our legislators to pass health care reform, equal rights protections for LGBT individuals and speak up when Pat Robertson says that "Homosexuals do not want marriage, but to "destroy marriage." But we also do not need to fret over their own wickedness. "Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, offer those who carry out evil devices.. Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret--it only leads to evil. For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land." (Psalm 37: 7,8). I have to say that I have a hard time with those three words: "Refrain from anger." As a gay man myself, when people like Robertson make statements like he did, it angers me. It can be difficult for me to wait on the Lord, because I want God to do things my way, in my time and for me. And aren't we all just a little too self-centered in that way?
Perhaps all of us need to take a cue from Bishop John Shelby Spong's manifesto where he says: "I will dismiss as unworthy of any more of my attention the wild, false and uninformed opinions of such would-be religious leaders as Pat Robertson, James Dobson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Albert Mohler, and Robert Duncan. My country and my church have both already spent too much time, energy and money trying to accommodate these backward points of view when they are no longer even tolerable." After all, if it is so untrue, then why do we give it so much energy? Should we speak up and say it's wrong? I think so. But should we give them our energy and anger to the degree that we allow what they say to allow it to affect our relationship with God? I think not. For LGBT individuals are like all others, created and loved by the Holy Trinity, who is God. And the Scriptures I read tell me, tell us, that we are God's beloved, with whom God is well pleased.
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the people of this land], 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, #27. Page 823).
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Seeking Truth Amidst Changing Traditions
Based on Matthew 12: 1-14.
Every one of us from the moment we are born are swept into a tradition. The traditions of our parents are imparted to us. The things that make our parents who they are become part of us in one fashion or another. As we develop into our adolescent stage of life, suddenly we develop into new traditions and that is often when the clash between parents and children start. No longer are children satisfied with the traditions they may have been given, now they want to develop into something and someone new. Parents reluctant to see the innocence of their children grow into adulthood will place even more obstacles in the way of their young people. The arguments that can come at a times like these can result in the child distancing themselves from their parents, who distance themselves from their child. All of this is confusing enough. The adolescent is scared, yet insistent on being their own person, but, they are not old enough to know what their parents know, while their parents are only familiar with their own history. As traditions change, so do people. As people are presented with the idea of change, they can become stubborn and resistant, insisting on how much better the old way was and how the new way is just not such a good idea.
Jesus was born into a tradition. It was a tradition that was also heavily governed by oppression. The people of Jesus' time had their laws handed down to them from Moses, interpreted and translated by the religious leaders of their age. They had all become very accustomed to those laws. Their entire week was centered around their sabbath, the day of worship. And so, to see this tradition appearing to be so disregarded for the Pharisees was too much of a scandal for them. They were so wound up in their tradition and not for the sole purpose of keeping it, but seeing how they could use it against Jesus and his followers. So, as Jesus responds to them, he is concerned with what is in their hearts and even though they are very much against him, Jesus being God's perfect revelation still chooses to love them.
And so the issue that is being brought to us, is not so much keeping our time for worship set aside, but what it is that we bring to God when we worship God. If our worship of God is for our sole purpose is not for the purpose of our soul, then why are we there? We come to God bringing our brokenness, our pain, our prayers and our needs. But what about the needs of others? The marginalized? Those left out by society and the church? What about others who are broken, poor, in need and feeling lonely or oppressed? Okay, we bring them to God in prayer which is absolutely wonderful. But, what about our heartfelt concern and a desire to be God's hands, feet and heart? What about our attitudes towards people of color, women, homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people? During the days since the election of our President Barack Obama there have even been preachers bringing to their churches worship, the prayer that he be killed. Is that really an appropriate thing to bring to the house of God?
I have been writing the past few days about this wonderful book I am reading by Bishop Gene Robinson. Because at last a Bishop in the Church is actually talking some common sense. He is a man who has experienced first hand prejudice from many leaders and individuals within the Anglican tradition. Yet, in 2003 at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Gene Robinson was elected Bishop of New Hampshire. When the man was finally ordained, Gene Robinson had to wear a bullet proof vest because of the death threats against him. In the midst of unbelievable odds, Gene Robinson continues to be an inspiration and example of Christian love as he lives his life with his partner Mark, and as Bishop of New Hampshire. In his book: "In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God" Gene Robinson remains unashamedly Christian, absolutely in love with Jesus Christ and the Church that he serves. Yet, despite his devotion and love, people email him death threats and requests for his resignation, saying that because he is not of their tradition, he is not worthy to be a Bishop.
In his book, Bishop Robinson writes: "Today, in the midst of a struggle between those who suggest that we change the "tradition" of a particular understanding of scripture and those who resist such a revision, it's instructive to note how many times within our two-thousand-year tradition--always with confusion and pain--the church has changed it's understandings." (Page 57).
"Marriage, for the first millennium, was seen as a legal arrangement, blessed by the church to provide for the proper, peaceful, and orderly transfer of property: of the woman (or sometimes, young girl) from one man, the father, to another, the husband; and of land and property to those who deserved them by virtue of marriage and legitimacy. Since such concerns were relevant only to those who owned any property to be transferred, marriage was regarded as unnecessary for ordinary people. That changed in the Middle Ages, and a fuller understanding of the sacrament of Matrimony developed; today marriage is understood as a sacrament open to and commended to all heterosexuals. And the notion of marriage-for-love is a concept that appeared only in modern times." (Page 57).
As we continue to work through the issue of marriage equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people it is important to move our understanding of sex and love from being just about procreation, to also be about integration. The idea of sex, love and marriage being only about procreation, while it is noble and a very important vocation, is not the call for everyone. Furthermore, love between two people, whether heterosexual or homosexual in a committed monogamous relationship is about connecting our love for each other, with the unconditional love of God. It is about making ourselves vulnerable so that we can be loved, and have a glimpse of God's immense love for all of us. But because our understanding of love and sexuality is so broken due to sin, we can only understand love according to the shaping of traditions that have been handed down to us. The challenge of same-sex marriage in our time, is to move even heterosexual love out of the tradition of property and propriety and become what it is meant to be, the expression of love for all of us, by the Triune God who made God's self vulnerable in giving human kind free will, and coming to us in the perfect revelation of Jesus Christ. If we could only begin to understand that, then leaving our traditional understanding of homosexuality as well as sexuality as an entire subject, imagine what we would be bringing to God in our worship?
We would understand that the God we come to worship is not just about getting all we can get out of God, but actually coming in to contact with the Presence of God in the Eucharist. We would actually let the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist change our hearts and minds and open us up to the power of the Divine in our lives. We would integrate races, classes, women and men, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, transgendered, challenged and all kinds into our lives, homes, churches and political environments. The walls of prejudice would finally be breaking down, and whole societies would experience conversion. Imagine what our worship of God would be like in that kind of world.
"Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray to you, as you will, and always to the glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen." (Prayer of Self-Dedication, Book of Common Prayer, Page 833).
Every one of us from the moment we are born are swept into a tradition. The traditions of our parents are imparted to us. The things that make our parents who they are become part of us in one fashion or another. As we develop into our adolescent stage of life, suddenly we develop into new traditions and that is often when the clash between parents and children start. No longer are children satisfied with the traditions they may have been given, now they want to develop into something and someone new. Parents reluctant to see the innocence of their children grow into adulthood will place even more obstacles in the way of their young people. The arguments that can come at a times like these can result in the child distancing themselves from their parents, who distance themselves from their child. All of this is confusing enough. The adolescent is scared, yet insistent on being their own person, but, they are not old enough to know what their parents know, while their parents are only familiar with their own history. As traditions change, so do people. As people are presented with the idea of change, they can become stubborn and resistant, insisting on how much better the old way was and how the new way is just not such a good idea.
Jesus was born into a tradition. It was a tradition that was also heavily governed by oppression. The people of Jesus' time had their laws handed down to them from Moses, interpreted and translated by the religious leaders of their age. They had all become very accustomed to those laws. Their entire week was centered around their sabbath, the day of worship. And so, to see this tradition appearing to be so disregarded for the Pharisees was too much of a scandal for them. They were so wound up in their tradition and not for the sole purpose of keeping it, but seeing how they could use it against Jesus and his followers. So, as Jesus responds to them, he is concerned with what is in their hearts and even though they are very much against him, Jesus being God's perfect revelation still chooses to love them.
And so the issue that is being brought to us, is not so much keeping our time for worship set aside, but what it is that we bring to God when we worship God. If our worship of God is for our sole purpose is not for the purpose of our soul, then why are we there? We come to God bringing our brokenness, our pain, our prayers and our needs. But what about the needs of others? The marginalized? Those left out by society and the church? What about others who are broken, poor, in need and feeling lonely or oppressed? Okay, we bring them to God in prayer which is absolutely wonderful. But, what about our heartfelt concern and a desire to be God's hands, feet and heart? What about our attitudes towards people of color, women, homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people? During the days since the election of our President Barack Obama there have even been preachers bringing to their churches worship, the prayer that he be killed. Is that really an appropriate thing to bring to the house of God?
I have been writing the past few days about this wonderful book I am reading by Bishop Gene Robinson. Because at last a Bishop in the Church is actually talking some common sense. He is a man who has experienced first hand prejudice from many leaders and individuals within the Anglican tradition. Yet, in 2003 at the General Convention of the Episcopal Church in Minneapolis, Gene Robinson was elected Bishop of New Hampshire. When the man was finally ordained, Gene Robinson had to wear a bullet proof vest because of the death threats against him. In the midst of unbelievable odds, Gene Robinson continues to be an inspiration and example of Christian love as he lives his life with his partner Mark, and as Bishop of New Hampshire. In his book: "In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God" Gene Robinson remains unashamedly Christian, absolutely in love with Jesus Christ and the Church that he serves. Yet, despite his devotion and love, people email him death threats and requests for his resignation, saying that because he is not of their tradition, he is not worthy to be a Bishop.
In his book, Bishop Robinson writes: "Today, in the midst of a struggle between those who suggest that we change the "tradition" of a particular understanding of scripture and those who resist such a revision, it's instructive to note how many times within our two-thousand-year tradition--always with confusion and pain--the church has changed it's understandings." (Page 57).
"Marriage, for the first millennium, was seen as a legal arrangement, blessed by the church to provide for the proper, peaceful, and orderly transfer of property: of the woman (or sometimes, young girl) from one man, the father, to another, the husband; and of land and property to those who deserved them by virtue of marriage and legitimacy. Since such concerns were relevant only to those who owned any property to be transferred, marriage was regarded as unnecessary for ordinary people. That changed in the Middle Ages, and a fuller understanding of the sacrament of Matrimony developed; today marriage is understood as a sacrament open to and commended to all heterosexuals. And the notion of marriage-for-love is a concept that appeared only in modern times." (Page 57).
As we continue to work through the issue of marriage equality for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people it is important to move our understanding of sex and love from being just about procreation, to also be about integration. The idea of sex, love and marriage being only about procreation, while it is noble and a very important vocation, is not the call for everyone. Furthermore, love between two people, whether heterosexual or homosexual in a committed monogamous relationship is about connecting our love for each other, with the unconditional love of God. It is about making ourselves vulnerable so that we can be loved, and have a glimpse of God's immense love for all of us. But because our understanding of love and sexuality is so broken due to sin, we can only understand love according to the shaping of traditions that have been handed down to us. The challenge of same-sex marriage in our time, is to move even heterosexual love out of the tradition of property and propriety and become what it is meant to be, the expression of love for all of us, by the Triune God who made God's self vulnerable in giving human kind free will, and coming to us in the perfect revelation of Jesus Christ. If we could only begin to understand that, then leaving our traditional understanding of homosexuality as well as sexuality as an entire subject, imagine what we would be bringing to God in our worship?
We would understand that the God we come to worship is not just about getting all we can get out of God, but actually coming in to contact with the Presence of God in the Eucharist. We would actually let the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist change our hearts and minds and open us up to the power of the Divine in our lives. We would integrate races, classes, women and men, heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, transgendered, challenged and all kinds into our lives, homes, churches and political environments. The walls of prejudice would finally be breaking down, and whole societies would experience conversion. Imagine what our worship of God would be like in that kind of world.
"Almighty and eternal God, so draw our hearts to you, so guide our minds, so fill our imaginations, so control our wills, that we may be wholly yours, utterly dedicated to you; and then use us, we pray to you, as you will, and always to the glory and the welfare of your people; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen." (Prayer of Self-Dedication, Book of Common Prayer, Page 833).
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Today's Gospel: A Call to All.
Based on Matthew 11: 25-30, NRSV.
In case no one has noticed, I love it when Jesus speaks to us on a level playing field. Jesus is the perfect revelation of God's love to everyone in today's Gospel. It gives us those warm feelings almost like a warm cup of soup on a cold day. The Word of God is not just for all those who have spent hours in Bible interpretation and theology, but it is for everyone. No one is presumed to be above anyone, for who really is greater than God?
One matter that Christians need to both struggle and come to an important place with is that when we speak of the Word of God, we are not speaking specifically about the Bible. Hell, fire and brimstone preachers are always telling people to live in accordance with God's word, which they mean to be the Bible. And to some degree that point is valid. The Scriptures have come to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by way of women and men who have handed down to us the oral tradition found in Scripture, through human experience and reason. However, while the Bible is inspired by God, it is not God. There is over 15,000 years of ancient Jewish, Hebrew, Hellenistic, Aramaic, Greek and Roman culture, history and politics that makes up the Bible. There are many traditions that were practiced by ancient Israel while wondering in the desert before entering the promised land, that we no longer observe today. Therefore, it also should not be held over anyone else's head if we have moved past many other interpretations from Scripture and have come to the conclusion that they don't really speak to us in the way they once did. Again, the Bible is inspired by God, but it is not God.
In his book: "In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God" Bishop Gene Robinson writes: "And although I believe in the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, that doesn't mean they are literally "words" of God, virtually dictated by God through human media. And let's not forget who the real "Word" of God is Jesus himself. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," begins the Gospel of John. Christians believe that it isn't the Bible but the Jesus "event"--his life, death, and resurrection--that offers the perfect revelation of God. The Bible is the best and most trustworthy witness to that event, but it neither replaces Jesus as the Word nor takes precedence over Christ's continued action in the world through the Holy Spirit. To elevate the words of Scripture to a place of higher than the revealed Word of God in Jesus Christ is an act of idolatry." (Page 22).
In today's Gospel, Jesus, the Word of God tells us that all who are weary and carry heavy burdens are to come to him so that he may give us rest. In today's time with our American economy still down and so many people unemployed wondering how they will keep their homes and provide for their families; Jesus offers a place to go and someone to talk to and confide in. As many of us continue to work with our legislators for health care reform or call for equality for all people including LGBT individuals, Jesus calls us to come to him and find in him a place of rest.
Our God who has created us in the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity, knows the deepest places of our hearts and lives. God does not always help us to understand why life has to be so unfair at times. God also does not always answer our prayers in quite the way we might like. This can be hard on our faith especially when in need of work, or after the death of a loved one. Jesus understands and knows that. Sometimes we speak up for the poor and the destitute, but we still loose. That can be so heart breaking and difficult for us. Jesus knows and understands that human life is complicated and often not so perfect. In God's perfect revelation in Jesus, who is God's Word, God identifies with the human race, even if God doesn't fix everything. But as we read in the Psalm yesterday: "God heals the brokenhearted, and binds up all their wounds." (Psalm 147: 3). For God knows everything about us. "For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and I know very well." (Psalm 139: 13, 14).
Even when we are down and sorrowful, full of pain and grief. God is closest to us and God comes when we are most in need. I can say this with quite a bit of certainty. I have had so many times in my life, when life just stinks. Everything that I may have wanted or tried to do, just collapses in my face. And I pick up and keep on going, until I just can't take it anymore. And when that happens to me, I just find a place with no phone, no computer, sometimes not even my partner whom I love and cherish with all my heart, and I just close out the world, and I cry and I tell God: "What the hell are you doing?" Sometimes all of us need to do that. Sometimes we need to come to God, totally vulnerable, with all our anger, sadness and even our hate that has been building up inside and just give it all to God and trust that God can heal our broken hearts. It is in those moments of sadness and darkness that we discover the words of Psalm 139: verses 11 and 12 are all too true. "If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night." even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as day, for darkness is as light to you."
We cannot receive rest from our weary and labors if we do not come to Jesus and trust in him, and believe in him and hope in him. God desires to be so close to all of us. God has not placed boundaries upon the doors of God's heart. In fact, in Jesus God revealed how open God's heart is to all human beings. It is human beings who often close their hearts to God. And God knows what those reasons are. God knows that sometimes it is tough to believe in God. Even when our faith is not perfect, and all our words are not in order, that is when God can draw ever closer to us, and invite us to draw ever closer to God. God is God. God is not a magician. God can still do miracles, but most important is not the extra ordinary times in which God interacts with us, it is the ordinary events of life where God can be found.
One of the biggest mistakes in Christian Spirituality, is the idea that God's grace will have truly done something when my prayers are answered, or when I finally buy that house, or get that job. God's grace is not in the next moment, and God's will is not necessarily when the post officer arrives with a package. God's grace and will is in the here and now. God is actively loving us right here, right now. It is in the here and now that we need to bring our burdens and heavy hearts and trust God in prayer, even when things do not exactly go in the right order.
What is going on in our lives in which we need to respond to Jesus' invitation to come to him with our weary and burdened hearts? How can we be people who respond to God's call to accept this Gospel as our invitation to come to God? It is okay if we are not perfect. It is alright if we don't fit the expectations that others place upon us in our relationship with God, because it is God's relationship to each of us that is most important. God invites us to come to God: "Just as I am." It is also quite okay if we ask God to show us how to approach God and relate to God, because of bad examples and experiences we have had in our past. It is those places that God wants to reach out to us, and heal us and bring us into relationship with God so that the Holy Spirit can heal us and bring us to a place of wholeness and peace within ourselves. It is also our place to decide exactly how it is we approach God. Whether through Scripture, prayers, walking, writing, even talking to God as we look at a lamp or a sacred image. Those things are not "graven images", they are reminders to us, the God can be close to us, if we will only draw closer to God.
Today, Jesus invites us to draw closer to Him and His Father, our God. God is the one who has come to us as God's perfect revelation of God. There is no need for anyone to feel excluded from the benefits of God's unconditional love and mercy through Jesus.
This meditation today, I offer in the Name of God who is + Creator, Servant and Life-Giver. Amen.
In case no one has noticed, I love it when Jesus speaks to us on a level playing field. Jesus is the perfect revelation of God's love to everyone in today's Gospel. It gives us those warm feelings almost like a warm cup of soup on a cold day. The Word of God is not just for all those who have spent hours in Bible interpretation and theology, but it is for everyone. No one is presumed to be above anyone, for who really is greater than God?
One matter that Christians need to both struggle and come to an important place with is that when we speak of the Word of God, we are not speaking specifically about the Bible. Hell, fire and brimstone preachers are always telling people to live in accordance with God's word, which they mean to be the Bible. And to some degree that point is valid. The Scriptures have come to us through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, by way of women and men who have handed down to us the oral tradition found in Scripture, through human experience and reason. However, while the Bible is inspired by God, it is not God. There is over 15,000 years of ancient Jewish, Hebrew, Hellenistic, Aramaic, Greek and Roman culture, history and politics that makes up the Bible. There are many traditions that were practiced by ancient Israel while wondering in the desert before entering the promised land, that we no longer observe today. Therefore, it also should not be held over anyone else's head if we have moved past many other interpretations from Scripture and have come to the conclusion that they don't really speak to us in the way they once did. Again, the Bible is inspired by God, but it is not God.
In his book: "In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God" Bishop Gene Robinson writes: "And although I believe in the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are the Word of God, that doesn't mean they are literally "words" of God, virtually dictated by God through human media. And let's not forget who the real "Word" of God is Jesus himself. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," begins the Gospel of John. Christians believe that it isn't the Bible but the Jesus "event"--his life, death, and resurrection--that offers the perfect revelation of God. The Bible is the best and most trustworthy witness to that event, but it neither replaces Jesus as the Word nor takes precedence over Christ's continued action in the world through the Holy Spirit. To elevate the words of Scripture to a place of higher than the revealed Word of God in Jesus Christ is an act of idolatry." (Page 22).
In today's Gospel, Jesus, the Word of God tells us that all who are weary and carry heavy burdens are to come to him so that he may give us rest. In today's time with our American economy still down and so many people unemployed wondering how they will keep their homes and provide for their families; Jesus offers a place to go and someone to talk to and confide in. As many of us continue to work with our legislators for health care reform or call for equality for all people including LGBT individuals, Jesus calls us to come to him and find in him a place of rest.
Our God who has created us in the image and likeness of the Holy Trinity, knows the deepest places of our hearts and lives. God does not always help us to understand why life has to be so unfair at times. God also does not always answer our prayers in quite the way we might like. This can be hard on our faith especially when in need of work, or after the death of a loved one. Jesus understands and knows that. Sometimes we speak up for the poor and the destitute, but we still loose. That can be so heart breaking and difficult for us. Jesus knows and understands that human life is complicated and often not so perfect. In God's perfect revelation in Jesus, who is God's Word, God identifies with the human race, even if God doesn't fix everything. But as we read in the Psalm yesterday: "God heals the brokenhearted, and binds up all their wounds." (Psalm 147: 3). For God knows everything about us. "For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works, and I know very well." (Psalm 139: 13, 14).
Even when we are down and sorrowful, full of pain and grief. God is closest to us and God comes when we are most in need. I can say this with quite a bit of certainty. I have had so many times in my life, when life just stinks. Everything that I may have wanted or tried to do, just collapses in my face. And I pick up and keep on going, until I just can't take it anymore. And when that happens to me, I just find a place with no phone, no computer, sometimes not even my partner whom I love and cherish with all my heart, and I just close out the world, and I cry and I tell God: "What the hell are you doing?" Sometimes all of us need to do that. Sometimes we need to come to God, totally vulnerable, with all our anger, sadness and even our hate that has been building up inside and just give it all to God and trust that God can heal our broken hearts. It is in those moments of sadness and darkness that we discover the words of Psalm 139: verses 11 and 12 are all too true. "If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night." even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as day, for darkness is as light to you."
We cannot receive rest from our weary and labors if we do not come to Jesus and trust in him, and believe in him and hope in him. God desires to be so close to all of us. God has not placed boundaries upon the doors of God's heart. In fact, in Jesus God revealed how open God's heart is to all human beings. It is human beings who often close their hearts to God. And God knows what those reasons are. God knows that sometimes it is tough to believe in God. Even when our faith is not perfect, and all our words are not in order, that is when God can draw ever closer to us, and invite us to draw ever closer to God. God is God. God is not a magician. God can still do miracles, but most important is not the extra ordinary times in which God interacts with us, it is the ordinary events of life where God can be found.
One of the biggest mistakes in Christian Spirituality, is the idea that God's grace will have truly done something when my prayers are answered, or when I finally buy that house, or get that job. God's grace is not in the next moment, and God's will is not necessarily when the post officer arrives with a package. God's grace and will is in the here and now. God is actively loving us right here, right now. It is in the here and now that we need to bring our burdens and heavy hearts and trust God in prayer, even when things do not exactly go in the right order.
What is going on in our lives in which we need to respond to Jesus' invitation to come to him with our weary and burdened hearts? How can we be people who respond to God's call to accept this Gospel as our invitation to come to God? It is okay if we are not perfect. It is alright if we don't fit the expectations that others place upon us in our relationship with God, because it is God's relationship to each of us that is most important. God invites us to come to God: "Just as I am." It is also quite okay if we ask God to show us how to approach God and relate to God, because of bad examples and experiences we have had in our past. It is those places that God wants to reach out to us, and heal us and bring us into relationship with God so that the Holy Spirit can heal us and bring us to a place of wholeness and peace within ourselves. It is also our place to decide exactly how it is we approach God. Whether through Scripture, prayers, walking, writing, even talking to God as we look at a lamp or a sacred image. Those things are not "graven images", they are reminders to us, the God can be close to us, if we will only draw closer to God.
Today, Jesus invites us to draw closer to Him and His Father, our God. God is the one who has come to us as God's perfect revelation of God. There is no need for anyone to feel excluded from the benefits of God's unconditional love and mercy through Jesus.
This meditation today, I offer in the Name of God who is + Creator, Servant and Life-Giver. Amen.
Monday, October 19, 2009
How is the Holy Spirit Moving Us?
Based on Luke 4: 14-21
I want to begin my blog today with a story from an excellent book I have begun to read. The book is entitled: "In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God" written by Bishop Gene Robinson.
"There is a story about Pentecost Sunday. A priest in a large church in Florida, with his usual flair for the dramatic, decided to dramatize the Holy Spirit coming like wind in a particularly spectacular way. He got the engine out of one of the boats used in the Everglades--an airplane propeller attached to a big gasoline engine--and mounted it in the choir loft high in the back of the church. The wind from the propeller would blow out across the congregation when the story of the Holy Spirit was read. It seemed like a great idea.
The priest and an usher gave it a dry run on Saturday afternoon, and although it was incredibly noisy, it worked just fine, and promised a spectacular effect for Sunday morning. So when the great moment arrived, and the lector read, "And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house," the engine coughed once and then howled into life.
But the effect was a little different than it had been at rehearsal. The sudden screaming gust of wind sent sheet music and bulletins flying out over the congregation. Coiffures came undone and hair streamed out from faces. A hairpiece flew toward the altar like a furry missile. It was like a scene from the play "Green Pastures" when the Angel Gabriel looks down from heaven and says to the Lord, "Everything that was nailed down is comin' loose!"
Everything was messy, and noisy, and absolutely unpredictable. And that's just the way it is with the Spirit. It's that part of God that refuses to be contained in the little boxes we create for God to live in, safely confined to the careful boundaries we set for God's Spirit. The problem is--the miracle is--God just won't stay put. And God won't let you and me stay put, content to believe what we've always believed, what we've always been taught, what we've always assumed. Change isn't just something to be wished on our enemies--but something God requires of us as well." (Page 9 and 10).
Our problem as followers of Christ is that we want business as usual. We've been taught all about God in our Religious Education or Sunday School classes. We sang the familiar song "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." We went through First Reconciliation and first Holy Communion. We have heard that God is One in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And because our minds have been given this awesome picture of God, we've gotten to thinking that we know all about God. But what is lacking in all of this, as correct and wonderful as it is, is that it still limits our understanding and view of God. We cannot know God until God comes into contact with us, and through our acceptance of the Holy Spirit's prompting we respond to God with that willingness to cooperate with what God wants of us.
Our problem is that we don't like change. We want God, people, places and events to be exactly as we think they ought to be. And all be damned if things do not go quite the way we think they should. I know this all too well. I was raised in a family with a father who always felt that he was right, and anyone who challenged him was treated with hostility and violence just for disagreeing with him. We want to hold our own in our hands, and we don't want anyone to take from us, what we feel is ours. We want God to be in the boxes we put God in, and we don't want to let the Holy Spirit open up those boxes and change us and mold us into anything that will challenge where we are. This is why the people of Jesus' time responded to him as they did when Jesus stood in the synagogues and proclaimed that he was the fulfillment of the prophesy he had read. The Holy Spirit was releasing a new time, a new era and new activities in their midst. God has finally come to them, but God was going to do things through Jesus that was going to challenge their way of thinking and make impacts on their community.
Another of our problems is that we still think that we worship and serve a God of fear. Fear of hell and God's retribution is still preached by many from the bully pulpits of our churches. Over time we have begun to understand, that "fear of the Lord" does not really mean "fear of God sending us to hell." Fear of God means that we understand that God has loved us so perfectly, so completely that we would never want to do anything that offends God. God has chosen through Jesus Christ to heal us and bring us closer to God through his death and resurrection. "The Lord...heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. God determines the number of the stars; God gives to all of them their names. Great is the Lord, the abundant in power; God's understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the downtrodden; God casts the wicked to the ground." (Psalm 147: 3-5).
In today's "Forward Day by Day" we read: "God, in building a kingdom on earth, seems to want more than to give us step-by-step instructions; God wants to teach us to want that kingdom enough to sacrifice for it. God knows that the human heart finds inspiration not in fear, but in love; not in a God powerful enough to "count the number of stars," but in a God tender enough to "heal the brokenhearted and bind up all their wounds." I want to please God, not because of the threat of God's punishment but because God chooses to heal me and others. I might obey a God of fear, but I am not inspired by fear. Perhaps God could tell me by threats and intimidation exactly the life I need to live to find salvation and transcendence. But isn't there something dissonant about using fear to inspire a life of love? Wouldn't this world be better changed by people who want to change it?" (Page 81)
Being a man who is gay, I cannot close this blog without something to say about how Christian fundamentalists attempt to change lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people through fear and intimidation. There cannot be this dichotomy of wanting to change what God has created out of love, through scare tactics and smear campaigns that injure individuals and families. The absurd actions of right winged Christians towards Kevin Jennings, President Barack Obama and many individuals who work for equal rights for LGBT individuals and families has been nothing short of the opposite of who Jesus Christ was and is about.
When Jesus came and read that prophesy from the Old Testament, he came with the intent on letting the Holy Spirit out so that through Jesus, God could begin to change people. God came to us in Jesus Christ to "heal the brokenhearted" not break the hearts of those already broken. The Holy Spirit anointed Jesus and anoints the Christian community to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recover the sight of the blind. The Holy Spirit did not anoint Jesus or us to make the poor even more poor, to put the captives in harsher prisons and pluck out the eyes of those who already suffer from inadequate vision to see themselves as being created in the image and likeness of a loving God.
The Christian community is called to bring a message of hope to a world where many see hopelessness. And hope comes not from creating fear, but from showing and being examples of unconditional love. People will not enter the doors of our churches if the people in the pews are constantly hearing messages of guilt and fear of condemnation. People respond to hearing that who they are, what they are and how they are, is loved by a God who sacrificed everything to come ever closer to them, so that God can save their souls. The Holy Spirit comes among us Christians to be witnesses of how we let God out of our boxes and let God change us. God does not leave us alone in our comfortable boxes, God wants us to get out of them and grow even more into people who reach beyond ourselves, and embrace everyone around us even when that is difficult for us to do.
Our broken world longs to be made whole. But healing cannot begin until we too have been healed of our own blindness of how we see God the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Until we allow God to move us from the places we are, into a deeper understanding of ourselves and how much God loves us, the world will continue to be a broken place. Until Church leaders accept that even lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are created and loved by a loving God, and given a place of mission and duty in the Church, the Church will not be living up to it's own mission that was given by Christ. Those of us who sit in the pews, need not leave it up to Church leaders to change, but let us be the one's who change and inspire change in them. For they like we are broken people who have placed God in our boxes. We like those who oppose us need to let the wind of the Holy Spirit move us from where we are, to where God wants us to be.
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. (Book of Common Prayer: For the Human Family, Page 815).
In the Eye of the Storm, by Bishop Gene Robinson. Forward by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Published by Seabury Books an Imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated. Copyright 2008. http://www.churchpublishing.org.
Forward Day by Day, (ISSN1058-6784) (USPS007-962) Vol 75, No. 3. Published by Forward Movement, an agency of the Episcopal Church. www.forwardmovement.org.
I want to begin my blog today with a story from an excellent book I have begun to read. The book is entitled: "In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God" written by Bishop Gene Robinson.
"There is a story about Pentecost Sunday. A priest in a large church in Florida, with his usual flair for the dramatic, decided to dramatize the Holy Spirit coming like wind in a particularly spectacular way. He got the engine out of one of the boats used in the Everglades--an airplane propeller attached to a big gasoline engine--and mounted it in the choir loft high in the back of the church. The wind from the propeller would blow out across the congregation when the story of the Holy Spirit was read. It seemed like a great idea.
The priest and an usher gave it a dry run on Saturday afternoon, and although it was incredibly noisy, it worked just fine, and promised a spectacular effect for Sunday morning. So when the great moment arrived, and the lector read, "And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind and it filled the entire house," the engine coughed once and then howled into life.
But the effect was a little different than it had been at rehearsal. The sudden screaming gust of wind sent sheet music and bulletins flying out over the congregation. Coiffures came undone and hair streamed out from faces. A hairpiece flew toward the altar like a furry missile. It was like a scene from the play "Green Pastures" when the Angel Gabriel looks down from heaven and says to the Lord, "Everything that was nailed down is comin' loose!"
Everything was messy, and noisy, and absolutely unpredictable. And that's just the way it is with the Spirit. It's that part of God that refuses to be contained in the little boxes we create for God to live in, safely confined to the careful boundaries we set for God's Spirit. The problem is--the miracle is--God just won't stay put. And God won't let you and me stay put, content to believe what we've always believed, what we've always been taught, what we've always assumed. Change isn't just something to be wished on our enemies--but something God requires of us as well." (Page 9 and 10).
Our problem as followers of Christ is that we want business as usual. We've been taught all about God in our Religious Education or Sunday School classes. We sang the familiar song "Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so." We went through First Reconciliation and first Holy Communion. We have heard that God is One in the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And because our minds have been given this awesome picture of God, we've gotten to thinking that we know all about God. But what is lacking in all of this, as correct and wonderful as it is, is that it still limits our understanding and view of God. We cannot know God until God comes into contact with us, and through our acceptance of the Holy Spirit's prompting we respond to God with that willingness to cooperate with what God wants of us.
Our problem is that we don't like change. We want God, people, places and events to be exactly as we think they ought to be. And all be damned if things do not go quite the way we think they should. I know this all too well. I was raised in a family with a father who always felt that he was right, and anyone who challenged him was treated with hostility and violence just for disagreeing with him. We want to hold our own in our hands, and we don't want anyone to take from us, what we feel is ours. We want God to be in the boxes we put God in, and we don't want to let the Holy Spirit open up those boxes and change us and mold us into anything that will challenge where we are. This is why the people of Jesus' time responded to him as they did when Jesus stood in the synagogues and proclaimed that he was the fulfillment of the prophesy he had read. The Holy Spirit was releasing a new time, a new era and new activities in their midst. God has finally come to them, but God was going to do things through Jesus that was going to challenge their way of thinking and make impacts on their community.
Another of our problems is that we still think that we worship and serve a God of fear. Fear of hell and God's retribution is still preached by many from the bully pulpits of our churches. Over time we have begun to understand, that "fear of the Lord" does not really mean "fear of God sending us to hell." Fear of God means that we understand that God has loved us so perfectly, so completely that we would never want to do anything that offends God. God has chosen through Jesus Christ to heal us and bring us closer to God through his death and resurrection. "The Lord...heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. God determines the number of the stars; God gives to all of them their names. Great is the Lord, the abundant in power; God's understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the downtrodden; God casts the wicked to the ground." (Psalm 147: 3-5).
In today's "Forward Day by Day" we read: "God, in building a kingdom on earth, seems to want more than to give us step-by-step instructions; God wants to teach us to want that kingdom enough to sacrifice for it. God knows that the human heart finds inspiration not in fear, but in love; not in a God powerful enough to "count the number of stars," but in a God tender enough to "heal the brokenhearted and bind up all their wounds." I want to please God, not because of the threat of God's punishment but because God chooses to heal me and others. I might obey a God of fear, but I am not inspired by fear. Perhaps God could tell me by threats and intimidation exactly the life I need to live to find salvation and transcendence. But isn't there something dissonant about using fear to inspire a life of love? Wouldn't this world be better changed by people who want to change it?" (Page 81)
Being a man who is gay, I cannot close this blog without something to say about how Christian fundamentalists attempt to change lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people through fear and intimidation. There cannot be this dichotomy of wanting to change what God has created out of love, through scare tactics and smear campaigns that injure individuals and families. The absurd actions of right winged Christians towards Kevin Jennings, President Barack Obama and many individuals who work for equal rights for LGBT individuals and families has been nothing short of the opposite of who Jesus Christ was and is about.
When Jesus came and read that prophesy from the Old Testament, he came with the intent on letting the Holy Spirit out so that through Jesus, God could begin to change people. God came to us in Jesus Christ to "heal the brokenhearted" not break the hearts of those already broken. The Holy Spirit anointed Jesus and anoints the Christian community to bring good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives and recover the sight of the blind. The Holy Spirit did not anoint Jesus or us to make the poor even more poor, to put the captives in harsher prisons and pluck out the eyes of those who already suffer from inadequate vision to see themselves as being created in the image and likeness of a loving God.
The Christian community is called to bring a message of hope to a world where many see hopelessness. And hope comes not from creating fear, but from showing and being examples of unconditional love. People will not enter the doors of our churches if the people in the pews are constantly hearing messages of guilt and fear of condemnation. People respond to hearing that who they are, what they are and how they are, is loved by a God who sacrificed everything to come ever closer to them, so that God can save their souls. The Holy Spirit comes among us Christians to be witnesses of how we let God out of our boxes and let God change us. God does not leave us alone in our comfortable boxes, God wants us to get out of them and grow even more into people who reach beyond ourselves, and embrace everyone around us even when that is difficult for us to do.
Our broken world longs to be made whole. But healing cannot begin until we too have been healed of our own blindness of how we see God the Holy Spirit at work in our lives. Until we allow God to move us from the places we are, into a deeper understanding of ourselves and how much God loves us, the world will continue to be a broken place. Until Church leaders accept that even lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are created and loved by a loving God, and given a place of mission and duty in the Church, the Church will not be living up to it's own mission that was given by Christ. Those of us who sit in the pews, need not leave it up to Church leaders to change, but let us be the one's who change and inspire change in them. For they like we are broken people who have placed God in our boxes. We like those who oppose us need to let the wind of the Holy Spirit move us from where we are, to where God wants us to be.
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. (Book of Common Prayer: For the Human Family, Page 815).
In the Eye of the Storm, by Bishop Gene Robinson. Forward by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Published by Seabury Books an Imprint of Church Publishing Incorporated. Copyright 2008. http://www.churchpublishing.org.
Forward Day by Day, (ISSN1058-6784) (USPS007-962) Vol 75, No. 3. Published by Forward Movement, an agency of the Episcopal Church. www.forwardmovement.org.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
My Beyond Ex-Gay Story
The following post can be found at: http://www.beyondexgay.com/narratives/philip
But please feel free to read it here. Everything printed here is from Beyond Ex-Gay.
Philip Lowe, Jr.
My name is Philip Lowe, Jr. I live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area. I made the decision to start going to Courage meetings here in the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis after I got out of a very bad same-sex relationship. It was a relationship in which I felt I was used a lot. While my ex and I lived together he had taken a lot of money from me without asking permission. When we broke up, he moved out while I was not at home and tried to take my cat who had belonged to me before we met and moved in together. This experience just left me lonely, angry and feeling like perhaps there really was nothing good about being gay. I was so tired of all the one night stands I had experienced. So, I decided to go to Courage meetings and got very involved with the conservative side of the Catholic church. I began attending Courage meetings from late August 2007 to about late November 2008.
Courage is the ex-gay ministry of the Roman Catholic church. The ministry was started at the end of the 1970’s under the guidance of Terrance Cardinal Cooke of the Archdiocese of New York. Courage treats homosexuality as a sexual addiction, like alcoholism and/or drug addiction. The Courage program uses the 12 step idea to help their members “recover” from “same-sex attraction.” Among the other philosophies of Courage is that individuals should not think of themselves as being “gay” or “lesbian.” To say that about ourselves is to “degrade” or to “diminish” ourselves to a “political title”. So they want their members to think of themselves as “men with same sex attraction” or “women with same sex attraction.” To basically say that the same sex attraction (SSA for short) is a “condition” that is treatable, changeable, and one that is what it is for various reasons. SSA according to Courage is not innate, but neither is it chosen. In the case of a man, something went wrong that discouraged his masculinity, and so he experiences same sex attraction, because he is searching for his masculinity and eventually finds it through “unhealthy, erotic behavior with members of the same sex.” Among the misconceptions of Courage is that Courage does not always recommend reparative therapy to “treat” same-sex attraction. In those cases where members might want reparative therapy they will gladly help them find a therapist who will do reparative therapy. For other members who might not want that, the Courage Apostolate is simply there to encourage members who attend meetings to “carry the cross” of same sex attraction and just do everything possible to avoid romantic or sexual contact with members of the same sex.
A typical Courage meeting took place on a Friday night, in a undisclosed location known only to Courage members. One of two Priests acted as a facilitator for the meeting. The meeting began with a prayer followed by reading the four goals of Courage. After the facilitator would ask “How has Courage helped you during this past week?” Then each person takes their turn talking about their struggles with chastity.
Not only does Courage not want their members to engage in sexual or romantic relationships with members of the same sex, they also attempt to treat masturbation as just another “symptom” of the greater “problem.” Many of us would go to meetings and talk about whether we had a good week or not. Did any of us masturbate? Did anyone run into someone from our past that caused us a “problem”? What kinds of spirituality did we use to help us with our “problems”?
At Courage meetings we were told to avoid any places of temptations that might exist. These included the malls, parks, bars, athletic centers or any where that might be a problem for us. We were encouraged to avoid any and all levels of “inappropriate intimacy” that could lead us to any kind of sexual or romantic intimacy with the same sex.
During my time in Courage my attitudes towards myself, my family and others became very bad. The more I avoided intimacy, the more I hungered for intimacy. By spring of my first year, I was already masturbating every day and crying bitterly after I ejaculated. I was punishing myself if I dared to look at any pornography. I was hungering to be loved, but not allowing myself to experience love. I eventually started working with an ex-gay therapist and even a spiritual director. In both cases, the more I attempted to flee being gay, the more being gay smacked me in the face. When meeting with my therapist and/or spiritual director, I would be told that either it was because of all the rejection I had experienced or because I did not know how to manage intimacy with others appropriately.
During my year with Courage, I experienced the betrayal of a different Parish Priest I had worked with as an organist during the past 3 years. This Priest was not associated with Courage, though was aware of the Apostolate. Though I did not experience any sexual abuse from him, I did experience some pastoral abuse from him as a Priest and an employer. During the year I spent in Courage, this Priest suddenly became my enemy and later in the year 2008 terminated my employment. Exactly why that happened I am not sure. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that what I had previously accepted about myself, and become comfortable with, I now was at odds with. Perhaps during that time, I became more of an enemy against myself and became angrier and angrier around other people. The Priest told me that all of the Choir members had quite because they just couldn’t take my “dictatorial” attitude anymore. I guess during that year, my attitude of being angry with myself became more than people in even a more traditional/conservative Parish could take.
At my last Courage meeting one of the guys there made the remark that he was beginning to become discouraged by the fact that because he was a man who had same sex attraction and was probably not going to overcome it any time soon, that he would never get married or have children.
There is a closeted Lutheran minister who attended Courage meetings to help him deal with his homosexuality. During the meeting that minister made a comment to the man who had the concern about not being able to marry or have children because of his sexual orientation, telling him that there are lots of gay men who are in heterosexual marriages and that he saw nothing wrong with him wanting to get married to a woman and have children, even though he is gay. That comment made me so angry because I remembered my days of being out. During my days of being out, I remember calling in on many phone date lines and hearing about the many bi/married men who just could not tell their wives about their sexual orientation and how painful that was for them. And here was a Christian minister encouraging this young man to marry with a mask over his face about who he is and what he is about.
After my experience with the Priest whose attitude towards me had changed while attending Courage meetings and my experience at the last Courage meeting, I started coming out all over again. I no longer went to Courage meetings, and I started making friends in the gay community again. I started going back to my old therapist who encouraged me to be a healthy gay man, and to seek out healthy relationships. The more I began to accept myself all over again, the better I felt. Though I was still struggling with the anger I experienced from Courage and the Priest who betrayed me, I was still yet becoming happier and finding a better sense of myself, because I was again accepting myself as I am, not as Courage thought I should be.
On February 7th of 2009, just two days after my 40th Birthday, I met Jason and we fell in love. My partner Jason’s life has also been affected by the religious right, but in a different way. But we have both been able to talk about our experiences and find companionship and intimacy with each other in a very healthy way. Since meeting Jason, we have both started attending a near by Episcopal Cathedral, where LGBT people are welcomed and affirmed. We even rode the float for the Episcopal Cathedral in the Pride Parade, and attended a Pride Liturgy that same afternoon. Since attending the Episcopal Cathedral, we have also met many ex Catholic Priests who are gay and now in relationships there.
Going through everything with Courage and now being in a happy relationship, I do think I am a better gay man for having gone through it all. I now know what goes on in an ex gay ministry, but I have also been able to come out of it with a better sense of myself and how God really wants my life to be. I have been learning that I am who I am, and God loves me as I am. As my partner Jason has told me so many times: “God knew you would be gay, long before you were born.” I believe that God knows us and loves us as we are, and wants us to be in healthy relationships with others, but also be in a healthy relationship with ourselves.
But please feel free to read it here. Everything printed here is from Beyond Ex-Gay.
Survivor Narrative
Philip Lowe, Jr.
My name is Philip Lowe, Jr. I live in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota area. I made the decision to start going to Courage meetings here in the Archdiocese of St. Paul & Minneapolis after I got out of a very bad same-sex relationship. It was a relationship in which I felt I was used a lot. While my ex and I lived together he had taken a lot of money from me without asking permission. When we broke up, he moved out while I was not at home and tried to take my cat who had belonged to me before we met and moved in together. This experience just left me lonely, angry and feeling like perhaps there really was nothing good about being gay. I was so tired of all the one night stands I had experienced. So, I decided to go to Courage meetings and got very involved with the conservative side of the Catholic church. I began attending Courage meetings from late August 2007 to about late November 2008.Courage is the ex-gay ministry of the Roman Catholic church. The ministry was started at the end of the 1970’s under the guidance of Terrance Cardinal Cooke of the Archdiocese of New York. Courage treats homosexuality as a sexual addiction, like alcoholism and/or drug addiction. The Courage program uses the 12 step idea to help their members “recover” from “same-sex attraction.” Among the other philosophies of Courage is that individuals should not think of themselves as being “gay” or “lesbian.” To say that about ourselves is to “degrade” or to “diminish” ourselves to a “political title”. So they want their members to think of themselves as “men with same sex attraction” or “women with same sex attraction.” To basically say that the same sex attraction (SSA for short) is a “condition” that is treatable, changeable, and one that is what it is for various reasons. SSA according to Courage is not innate, but neither is it chosen. In the case of a man, something went wrong that discouraged his masculinity, and so he experiences same sex attraction, because he is searching for his masculinity and eventually finds it through “unhealthy, erotic behavior with members of the same sex.” Among the misconceptions of Courage is that Courage does not always recommend reparative therapy to “treat” same-sex attraction. In those cases where members might want reparative therapy they will gladly help them find a therapist who will do reparative therapy. For other members who might not want that, the Courage Apostolate is simply there to encourage members who attend meetings to “carry the cross” of same sex attraction and just do everything possible to avoid romantic or sexual contact with members of the same sex.
A typical Courage meeting took place on a Friday night, in a undisclosed location known only to Courage members. One of two Priests acted as a facilitator for the meeting. The meeting began with a prayer followed by reading the four goals of Courage. After the facilitator would ask “How has Courage helped you during this past week?” Then each person takes their turn talking about their struggles with chastity.
Not only does Courage not want their members to engage in sexual or romantic relationships with members of the same sex, they also attempt to treat masturbation as just another “symptom” of the greater “problem.” Many of us would go to meetings and talk about whether we had a good week or not. Did any of us masturbate? Did anyone run into someone from our past that caused us a “problem”? What kinds of spirituality did we use to help us with our “problems”?
At Courage meetings we were told to avoid any places of temptations that might exist. These included the malls, parks, bars, athletic centers or any where that might be a problem for us. We were encouraged to avoid any and all levels of “inappropriate intimacy” that could lead us to any kind of sexual or romantic intimacy with the same sex.
During my time in Courage my attitudes towards myself, my family and others became very bad. The more I avoided intimacy, the more I hungered for intimacy. By spring of my first year, I was already masturbating every day and crying bitterly after I ejaculated. I was punishing myself if I dared to look at any pornography. I was hungering to be loved, but not allowing myself to experience love. I eventually started working with an ex-gay therapist and even a spiritual director. In both cases, the more I attempted to flee being gay, the more being gay smacked me in the face. When meeting with my therapist and/or spiritual director, I would be told that either it was because of all the rejection I had experienced or because I did not know how to manage intimacy with others appropriately.
During my year with Courage, I experienced the betrayal of a different Parish Priest I had worked with as an organist during the past 3 years. This Priest was not associated with Courage, though was aware of the Apostolate. Though I did not experience any sexual abuse from him, I did experience some pastoral abuse from him as a Priest and an employer. During the year I spent in Courage, this Priest suddenly became my enemy and later in the year 2008 terminated my employment. Exactly why that happened I am not sure. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that what I had previously accepted about myself, and become comfortable with, I now was at odds with. Perhaps during that time, I became more of an enemy against myself and became angrier and angrier around other people. The Priest told me that all of the Choir members had quite because they just couldn’t take my “dictatorial” attitude anymore. I guess during that year, my attitude of being angry with myself became more than people in even a more traditional/conservative Parish could take.
At my last Courage meeting one of the guys there made the remark that he was beginning to become discouraged by the fact that because he was a man who had same sex attraction and was probably not going to overcome it any time soon, that he would never get married or have children.
There is a closeted Lutheran minister who attended Courage meetings to help him deal with his homosexuality. During the meeting that minister made a comment to the man who had the concern about not being able to marry or have children because of his sexual orientation, telling him that there are lots of gay men who are in heterosexual marriages and that he saw nothing wrong with him wanting to get married to a woman and have children, even though he is gay. That comment made me so angry because I remembered my days of being out. During my days of being out, I remember calling in on many phone date lines and hearing about the many bi/married men who just could not tell their wives about their sexual orientation and how painful that was for them. And here was a Christian minister encouraging this young man to marry with a mask over his face about who he is and what he is about.
After my experience with the Priest whose attitude towards me had changed while attending Courage meetings and my experience at the last Courage meeting, I started coming out all over again. I no longer went to Courage meetings, and I started making friends in the gay community again. I started going back to my old therapist who encouraged me to be a healthy gay man, and to seek out healthy relationships. The more I began to accept myself all over again, the better I felt. Though I was still struggling with the anger I experienced from Courage and the Priest who betrayed me, I was still yet becoming happier and finding a better sense of myself, because I was again accepting myself as I am, not as Courage thought I should be.
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Philip Lowe, Jr. (right) with
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Going through everything with Courage and now being in a happy relationship, I do think I am a better gay man for having gone through it all. I now know what goes on in an ex gay ministry, but I have also been able to come out of it with a better sense of myself and how God really wants my life to be. I have been learning that I am who I am, and God loves me as I am. As my partner Jason has told me so many times: “God knew you would be gay, long before you were born.” I believe that God knows us and loves us as we are, and wants us to be in healthy relationships with others, but also be in a healthy relationship with ourselves.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
How Do We Discren Who God Is Calling?
One of the greatest inventions in the past 10 years or so, has been the caller ID. Almost every phone has one these days. The caller ID lets you know who is calling you. That way you can decide whether you really want to answer the call or let it go to voice mail. This was designed to help many of us sort of screen out all those pesky solicitations. Now a days, we also have solicitation screens where someone calling someone else will first have to hear a message asking them to hang up if they are solicitors. Interesting way to wean out unwanted attention.
When God is moving on and speaking to a human soul calling them to the service of God's people, it is no laughing matter. Something has moved upon an individuals heart to listen to what God may be asking them to do. Because there are no caller ID's when God moves on a person's heart and mind, determining who exactly is on the other end is not as easy as we might think. Just as when the LORD God moved upon Moses and called him to deliver God's people from Pharaoh, Moses responded with great fear, amazement and with lots of questions. Any good human soul responds to God with questions, amazement and even fear. Because human beings are so diverse and complex, and what God often asks of an individual can be so big or small, that discernment can often be a difficult and painful process.
Nevertheless, God does move on every human heart and invites every person to serve God in one capacity or another. God has created every human person as unique, special and with gifts and abilities that others might not have. Whether we are called to ordained ministry or not, God's call to everyone is one of service, conversion, reconciliation and to be a peacemaker in a world of selfishness, wall building, and soul wounding violence. Our answer to God is important. The roads we will take to answer God's call in our lives will have many turns and allow us to meet many people. There will be those who will understand our journey of discernment, there will be others who are intent on standing in God's way and ours. There will be those who attack us and others who aid us. The important thing is to be searching for God's will and answering God's call.
This weekends Lectionary takes us through many of the major considerations for discerning God's call not only for us, but for others around us. In our Old Testament Reading Job 38: 1-7, 34-41 we read God's response to Job. In Job 13: 24 we hear him say: "Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?" Job's "friends" have been trying to tell him that "bad things happen to bad people" and therefore he must have done something to be getting all the problems that Job is experiencing.
How often does this sort of thing happen to LGBT individuals? The religious right and groups like Exodus and Courage tell us that bad things happen to us, because we have "chosen" a life that is an "abomination to the known law of God?" Many such people specifically cite Leviticus 18: 22 as their verse of choice for such Spiritual violence.
What exactly is an abomination anyway? In his book: What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality, Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph. D. writes:
"Leviticus 20: 25-26 captures the meaning of "abomination" it reads:
"You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not bring abomination on yourselves by animal or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples to be mine."
"Evidently, "abominable" is just another word for "unclean." An "abomination" is a violation of the purity rules that governed Israelite society and kept the Israelites different from other peoples." (Page 56)
"Whatever the rationale was behind the ancient Hebrew purity laws, such thinking certainly has nothing to do with ethics as we understand it. Indeed, such thinking is almost completely foreign to our own culture." (Page 58)
John J. Mc Neil author of the book: The Church and The Homosexual wrote: "It was a practice among some of Israel's neighbors to use both sexes as part of the fertility rites in temple services. Since the gods were understood as sexual, they were to be worshiped in overt sexual acts. Whenever homosexual activity is mentioned in the Old Testament, the author usually has in mind the use male worshipers of male prostitutes provided by the temple authorities." (Page 57).
Like Job's "friend" so often we hear of well meaning Christians telling LGBT individuals that God has also rejected them, because of something about them. However God responds to Job as God responds to us "Who exactly are you anyway?" It is God who can "lift up God's voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you." (Job 38: 34 paraphrased). It is not the place of Christians to place God's judgment on LGBT individuals and state the value of their place before God.
LGBT individuals like all who are thankful to God, need to join with the voice of the Psalmist in celebration of God's creation of heaven and earth. "Bless the Lord, O my Soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as in a garment." (Psalm 104).
What explanation for our sexual orientation do we most agree with? How do we make our case for our explanation? What place does God have in our understanding of ourselves?
The reading from the writer to the Hebrews talks about the Priesthood of Jesus Christ and how that call relates to those who answer the call to serve God's people. The call to service of God's people is one of sacrifice and self surrender. There are many who answer this call and are received with great warmth and integrity. But what about those churches where those who answer the call to ministry, but are LGBT or women are told that there is no place for them in ordained ministry? This is clearly a terrible example of how bodies of believers often commit Spiritual abuses against women and LGBT individuals. What is more a problem, is how many individuals in the pews tolerate and accept such practices, suggesting that they are somehow "righteous" and "holy." The Priesthood of Jesus Christ is one of many men and women, of many races, colors, nationalities, persuasions and even sexual orientations and/or gender expressions. The Christian community is made up of people from all walks of life. And let it be well understood, that while there is no such thing as an LGBT individual who is not in need of salvation and redemption in and through the saving work of Jesus Christ, there is also no straight individual who is exempt from that need either. Whenever we say those words: "Lord, I am not worthy.." from the story of the Roman Centurion, those words apply to every human being, even the most arrogant.
In this weekends Gospel, Jesus warns that those who wish to follow and serve Jesus will face persecutions of the same kind as him. There is no one person who serves in Christ's Church who does not carry the cross as they follow our Crucified Lord. Everyone, regardless of what our walk of life, has a calling from God to follow Jesus and to share in his sufferings so that we may also share in his victory.
As I write this blog post, I am reminded that this past Summer both the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made provisions for all individuals to be invited to discern their call to serve as Bishops of Christ's Church. I can think of no better first example to this process than New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. He is a man who has indeed embraced the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has committed himself to God as a Priest, but also as a married gay man. He has dedicated his love of Christ and his partner to the life and service of God's people. When the time for his election and ordination came, Gene Robinson stood courageous and dedicated to God's will. Even in the midst of great opposition, even from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Robinson continued to pray and trust in God. Bishop Robinson's sister and brother Bishops through the movement of the Holy Spirit understood that God was calling this man to serve God's people as a successor to the Apostles and elected him Bishop of New Hampshire. Since his election and ordination, Bishop Gene Robinson has continued to embrace the Cross and deliver a message of hope and inspiration to many LGBT Christians throughout the country and the Episcopal Church. Bishop Robinson's dedication to Christ and His Church on behalf of all God's people led the way for what took place at the Episcopal General Convention this past summer. Through the faithful example of Bishop Robinson, the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies at the 76th General Convention along with the faithful work of Rev. Susan Russell of Walking with Integrity, made the courageous decision to accept LGBT individuals to discern God's call to be Bishops in the Episcopal Church.
Events like this display the Crucifixion and Resurrection. A willingness to sacrifice our own understandings and ideas of how we think things should be, so that everyone can be included in the service of Christ's Church. Let everyone discern that God loves them so much, that God has a place of service, sacrifice and success in establishing God's kingdom on earth.
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that through your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, forever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, Proper 24 for October 18th, page 235.)
See Also: http://www.hrc.org/scripture/week.asp
Scripture Readings: Job 38:1-7, (34-41) and Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c
or Isaiah 53:4-12 and Psalm 91:9-16 (not included in this conversation); Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45
http://www.amazon.com/What-Bible-Really-About-Homosexuality/dp/188636009X
http://www.johnjmcneill.com/TCTH.HTML
When God is moving on and speaking to a human soul calling them to the service of God's people, it is no laughing matter. Something has moved upon an individuals heart to listen to what God may be asking them to do. Because there are no caller ID's when God moves on a person's heart and mind, determining who exactly is on the other end is not as easy as we might think. Just as when the LORD God moved upon Moses and called him to deliver God's people from Pharaoh, Moses responded with great fear, amazement and with lots of questions. Any good human soul responds to God with questions, amazement and even fear. Because human beings are so diverse and complex, and what God often asks of an individual can be so big or small, that discernment can often be a difficult and painful process.
Nevertheless, God does move on every human heart and invites every person to serve God in one capacity or another. God has created every human person as unique, special and with gifts and abilities that others might not have. Whether we are called to ordained ministry or not, God's call to everyone is one of service, conversion, reconciliation and to be a peacemaker in a world of selfishness, wall building, and soul wounding violence. Our answer to God is important. The roads we will take to answer God's call in our lives will have many turns and allow us to meet many people. There will be those who will understand our journey of discernment, there will be others who are intent on standing in God's way and ours. There will be those who attack us and others who aid us. The important thing is to be searching for God's will and answering God's call.
This weekends Lectionary takes us through many of the major considerations for discerning God's call not only for us, but for others around us. In our Old Testament Reading Job 38: 1-7, 34-41 we read God's response to Job. In Job 13: 24 we hear him say: "Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?" Job's "friends" have been trying to tell him that "bad things happen to bad people" and therefore he must have done something to be getting all the problems that Job is experiencing.
How often does this sort of thing happen to LGBT individuals? The religious right and groups like Exodus and Courage tell us that bad things happen to us, because we have "chosen" a life that is an "abomination to the known law of God?" Many such people specifically cite Leviticus 18: 22 as their verse of choice for such Spiritual violence.
What exactly is an abomination anyway? In his book: What the Bible Really Says About Homosexuality, Daniel A. Helminiak, Ph. D. writes:
"Leviticus 20: 25-26 captures the meaning of "abomination" it reads:
"You shall therefore make a distinction between the clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; you shall not bring abomination on yourselves by animal or by bird or by anything with which the ground teems, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. You shall be holy to me; for I the Lord am holy, and have separated you from the peoples to be mine."
"Evidently, "abominable" is just another word for "unclean." An "abomination" is a violation of the purity rules that governed Israelite society and kept the Israelites different from other peoples." (Page 56)
"Whatever the rationale was behind the ancient Hebrew purity laws, such thinking certainly has nothing to do with ethics as we understand it. Indeed, such thinking is almost completely foreign to our own culture." (Page 58)
John J. Mc Neil author of the book: The Church and The Homosexual wrote: "It was a practice among some of Israel's neighbors to use both sexes as part of the fertility rites in temple services. Since the gods were understood as sexual, they were to be worshiped in overt sexual acts. Whenever homosexual activity is mentioned in the Old Testament, the author usually has in mind the use male worshipers of male prostitutes provided by the temple authorities." (Page 57).
Like Job's "friend" so often we hear of well meaning Christians telling LGBT individuals that God has also rejected them, because of something about them. However God responds to Job as God responds to us "Who exactly are you anyway?" It is God who can "lift up God's voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you." (Job 38: 34 paraphrased). It is not the place of Christians to place God's judgment on LGBT individuals and state the value of their place before God.
LGBT individuals like all who are thankful to God, need to join with the voice of the Psalmist in celebration of God's creation of heaven and earth. "Bless the Lord, O my Soul. O Lord my God, you are very great. You are clothed with honor and majesty, wrapped in light as in a garment." (Psalm 104).
What explanation for our sexual orientation do we most agree with? How do we make our case for our explanation? What place does God have in our understanding of ourselves?
The reading from the writer to the Hebrews talks about the Priesthood of Jesus Christ and how that call relates to those who answer the call to serve God's people. The call to service of God's people is one of sacrifice and self surrender. There are many who answer this call and are received with great warmth and integrity. But what about those churches where those who answer the call to ministry, but are LGBT or women are told that there is no place for them in ordained ministry? This is clearly a terrible example of how bodies of believers often commit Spiritual abuses against women and LGBT individuals. What is more a problem, is how many individuals in the pews tolerate and accept such practices, suggesting that they are somehow "righteous" and "holy." The Priesthood of Jesus Christ is one of many men and women, of many races, colors, nationalities, persuasions and even sexual orientations and/or gender expressions. The Christian community is made up of people from all walks of life. And let it be well understood, that while there is no such thing as an LGBT individual who is not in need of salvation and redemption in and through the saving work of Jesus Christ, there is also no straight individual who is exempt from that need either. Whenever we say those words: "Lord, I am not worthy.." from the story of the Roman Centurion, those words apply to every human being, even the most arrogant.
In this weekends Gospel, Jesus warns that those who wish to follow and serve Jesus will face persecutions of the same kind as him. There is no one person who serves in Christ's Church who does not carry the cross as they follow our Crucified Lord. Everyone, regardless of what our walk of life, has a calling from God to follow Jesus and to share in his sufferings so that we may also share in his victory.
As I write this blog post, I am reminded that this past Summer both the Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America made provisions for all individuals to be invited to discern their call to serve as Bishops of Christ's Church. I can think of no better first example to this process than New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson. He is a man who has indeed embraced the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. He has committed himself to God as a Priest, but also as a married gay man. He has dedicated his love of Christ and his partner to the life and service of God's people. When the time for his election and ordination came, Gene Robinson stood courageous and dedicated to God's will. Even in the midst of great opposition, even from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Bishop Robinson continued to pray and trust in God. Bishop Robinson's sister and brother Bishops through the movement of the Holy Spirit understood that God was calling this man to serve God's people as a successor to the Apostles and elected him Bishop of New Hampshire. Since his election and ordination, Bishop Gene Robinson has continued to embrace the Cross and deliver a message of hope and inspiration to many LGBT Christians throughout the country and the Episcopal Church. Bishop Robinson's dedication to Christ and His Church on behalf of all God's people led the way for what took place at the Episcopal General Convention this past summer. Through the faithful example of Bishop Robinson, the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies at the 76th General Convention along with the faithful work of Rev. Susan Russell of Walking with Integrity, made the courageous decision to accept LGBT individuals to discern God's call to be Bishops in the Episcopal Church.
Events like this display the Crucifixion and Resurrection. A willingness to sacrifice our own understandings and ideas of how we think things should be, so that everyone can be included in the service of Christ's Church. Let everyone discern that God loves them so much, that God has a place of service, sacrifice and success in establishing God's kingdom on earth.
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that through your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, forever and ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, Proper 24 for October 18th, page 235.)
See Also: http://www.hrc.org/scripture/week.asp
Scripture Readings: Job 38:1-7, (34-41) and Psalm 104:1-9, 24, 35c
or Isaiah 53:4-12 and Psalm 91:9-16 (not included in this conversation); Hebrews 5:1-10; Mark 10:35-45
http://www.amazon.com/What-Bible-Really-About-Homosexuality/dp/188636009X
http://www.johnjmcneill.com/TCTH.HTML
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