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).