Being Thankful for All That We Have By Giving and Remembering

On this day before we celebrate Thanksgiving when many of us will gather with family, friends and our communities, it is a good idea to remember that all that we have is a gift from God. It is interesting that today's Gospel story from Matthew 19: 23-30 is about leaving our wealth for the sake of others.

Thanksgiving for so many of us is a day to give thanks. We have been given so many blessings and favors. The good bounty of God has enabled us to experience many good things and in reality, we should be thankful every day, not just once a year. Being thankful does not come without really remembering what it is we are to be thankful for. So many times especially in a consumerist society such as ours, we just soak everything up for ourselves and forget that there are so many who are still left on the edge of society.

I was particularly interested in a web article I read yesterday that was written by Rev. Irene Monroe Entitled: Remembering Two-Spirits this Thanksgiving. In the article Rev. Monroe writes: "As I prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday, I am reminded of the autumnal harvest time's spiritual significance. As a time of connectedness, I pause to acknowledge what I have to be thankful for. But I also reflect on the holiday as a time of remembrance - historical and familial.

Historically, I am reminded that for many Native Americans, Thanksgiving is not a cause of celebration, but rather a National Day of Mourning, remembering the real significance of the first Thanksgiving in 1621 as a symbol of persecution and genocide of Native Americans and the long history of bloodshed with European settlers. "

While we are enjoying our turkey with all the trimmings, we tend to forget those who have lived with oppression and discrimination throughout the centuries and even in our own time. The very Puritans who came to this land looking for Religious Freedom brought a great deal of Religious oppression for many of the Native Americans upon their arrival. Rev. Monroe goes on to explain: "I am also reminded of my Two-Spirit Native American brothers and sisters who struggle with their families and tribes not approving of their sexual identities and gender expressions as many of us do with our families and faith communities.

"Yes, there's internalized homophobia in every gay community, but as Native Americans we are taught not to like ourselves because we're not white. In our communities, people don't like us because we're gay," Gabriel Duncan, member of Bay Area American Indian Two Spirits (BAAITS), told the Pacific News Service.

And consequently, many Two-Spirit Native Americans leave their reservations and isolated communities hoping to connect with the larger LGBTQ community in urban cites. However, due to racism and cultural insensitivity, many Two-Spirits feel less understood and more isolated than they did back home.

But homophobia is not indigenous to Native American culture. Rather, it is one of the many devastating effects of colonization and Christian missionaries that today Two-Spirits may be respected within one tribe yet ostracized in another.

"Homophobia was taught to us as a component of Western education and religion," Navajo anthropologist Wesley Thomas has written. "We were presented with an entirely new set of taboos, which did not correspond to our own models and which focused on sexual behavior rather than the intricate roles Two-Spirit people played. As a result of this misrepresentation, our nations no longer accepted us as they once had."

Traditionally, Two-Spirits symbolized Native Americans' acceptance and celebration of diverse gender expressions and sexual identities. They were revered as inherently sacred because they possessed and manifested both feminine and masculine spiritual qualities that were believed to bestow upon them a "universal knowledge" and special spiritual connectedness with the "Great Spirit." Although the term was coined in the early 1990s, historically Two-Spirits depicted transgender Native Americans. Today, the term has come to also include lesbian, gay, bisexual, and intersex Native Americans.

The Pilgrims, who sought refuge here in America from religious persecution in their homeland, were right in their dogged pursuit of religious liberty. But their actual practice of religious liberty came at the expense of the civil and sexual rights of Native Americans.

And the Pilgrims' animus toward homosexuals not only impacted Native American culture, but it also shaped Puritan law and theology.

Here in the New England states, the anti-sodomy rhetoric had punitive if not deadly consequences for a newly developing and sparsely populated area. The Massachusetts Bay Code of 1641 called for the death of not only heretics, witches and murderers, but also "sodomites," stating that death would come swiftly to any "man lying with a man as with a woman." And the renowned Puritan pastor and Harvard tutor, the Rev. Samuel Danforth in his 1674 "fire and brimstone" sermon preached to his congregation that the death sentence for sodomites had to be imposed because it was a biblical mandate.

Because the Pilgrims' fervor for religious liberty was devoid of an ethic of accountability, their actions did not set up the conditions requisite for moral liability and legal justice. Instead, the actions of the Pilgrims brought about the genocide of a people, a historical amnesia of the event, and an annual national celebration of Thanksgiving for their arrival."

In his book: In the Eye of the Storm Bishop Gene Robinson wrote: "The problem, though, isn't exactly "homophobia." That surely exists, but it's always a conversation stopper. Some claim they're not afraid of homosexuals so they're "not guilty" of homophobia. But the further sin our society is guilty of is "heterosexism."

Everyone knows what an "ism" is: a set of prejudices and values and judgments backed up with the power to enforce those prejudices in society. Racism isn't just the fear and loathing of non-white people; it's the systemic network of laws, customs, and beliefs that perpetuate prejudicial treatment of people of color. I benefit every day from being white in this culture. I don't have to hate anyone, or call anyone a hateful name, or do any harm to a person of color to benefit from a racist society. I just have to sit back and reap the rewards of a system set up to benefit me. I can even be tolerant, open-minded, and multi-culturally sensitive. But as long as I'm not working to dismantle the system, I am racist.

Similarly, sexism isn't just the denigration and devaluation of women, it's the myriad ways the system is set up to benefit men over women. It takes no hateful behavior on my part to reap rewards given to men at the expense of women. But to choose not to work for the full equality of women in this culture is to be sexist.

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

Today we need to ask ourselves what blessings are we enjoying that came at the expense of others? What are we committed to doing this Thanksgiving to help advance a world of justice and peace for others who live with oppression? Are we truly thankful to the point where we share the goods we have with others who are without?

Today I received a very nice email from HRC President Joe Solmonese thanking me for helping to advance the cause of rights for LGBT individuals. I think the LGBT community does have much to celebrate this year. We did get the Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Bill passed and it is a victory we should celebrate and be proud of. Yet, on that same bill there was a military defense bill that was written to build weapons and advance wars upon other lands. The goods we gain come with a price for others. Should we still not give thanks? Indeed, we should give thanks for progress made. But we should not stop our advocacy, our activism and concern until justice and peace for all peoples is accomplished. As long as there remains the possibility of the Ugandan Parliament passing an anti-gay law that could find homosexuals in that country imprisoned or even put to death our Thanksgiving should come with a prayer as to how God can use us to make the world a better place for everyone. As long as the insurance companies continue to rake in the money at the expense of those who cannot receive or afford health care, our activism and prayers for our Senate Leaders to pass a Health Care Reform Bill that includes a Public Option should be on our list of priorities. As long as there are people still loosing their homes, jobs and the very dreams they had dreamed due to the greed of Wall Street executives gobbling up tax-payer bail outs, we should pray about how we can play our role in being sure that everyone gets a share in the wealth.

Today's Gospel is not really about money or possessions. It is about how we honor God and our neighbor with all that God has given us. We do that through our service, prayers and willingness to do our part to make the world better for everyone.

"Almighty God, who hast given us this good land for our heritage: we humbly pray to you that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of your favor and glad to do your will. Bless our land with honorable industry, sound learning, and pure manners. Save us from violence, discord, and confusion; from pride and arrogance, from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitudes brought hither out of many kindreds and tongues. Endue with the spirit of wisdom those to whom in thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that, through obedience to your laws, we may show forth your praise among the nations of the earth. In time of prosperity, fill our hearts with thankfulness, in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in you to fail; all which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." (Book of Common Prayer, #18 For our Country, Page 820).