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.