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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