The Day Before A New Year Begins

I personally am happy to see 2009 end and am looking forward to 2010. This time of year is so full of stress and intensity. The Christmas Season began last Friday and continues through next Tuesday, with Epiphany starting on January 6th. People are winding down some from the Holidays and getting ready to return to the usual crunch of life.

To what extent has the birth of our Savior renewed us this Christmas Season? All of the news stations this week have been rehashing all of the major events of this past year. 2009 was a year that began with the inauguration of President Obama. There were so many hopes and dreams of what a new President would bring. The back biting of the Republican Party and the new teabaggers has been just terrible. In August we saw the health insurance companies create havoc at town hall meetings over health care reform. We saw Republicans oppose health care reform, and some Democrats getting in the way of a public option that would benefit millions of more Americans. We saw health care reform take many giant steps forward, but still not far enough for those who will still not have medical care come in 2010.

We saw LGBT rights move very slowly. We were very happy with the passage of the Matthew Sheperd Hate Crimes Act. However, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell and DOMA continues to move very slowly. The inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act was tabled until 2010. We saw Pres. Obama's Justice Department make several defenses for DADT and DOMA. We again witnessed the Democratic Party work hard for the LGBT vote, but not too hard for passing LGBT legislation.

In 2009 we saw the State of Maine pass marriage equality, and then tragically loose it through the efforts of the National Organization for Marriage and the Catholic Diocese of Portland. We saw the State of New Hampshire pass marriage equality laws. We saw the New York State Senate vote down marriage equality. We saw the City Council of the District of Columbia pass marriage equality. We have already seen NOM stepping up to crush DC's newly passed marriage equality law.

In the Episcopal Church in 2009 we saw the General Convention in Anaheim California pass legislation saying that LGBT individuals could enter into the discernment process to be Bishops in the Church. In an interview with Georgia Public Radio Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori stated that the Episcopal Church merely confirmed what the Church had already been doing. During the General Convention they also agreed that in those States where same-sex marriages are legal, those Diocese can be collecting materials to celebrate same-sex Liturgies. We saw similar legislation passed by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

We also witnessed the election of Mary Glasspool as one of two new Suffragan Bishop-Elects for the Diocese of Los Angeles. We also heard the Archbishop of Canterbury is not happy about that decision.

We also saw the rise of a new legislation for LGBT people in Uganda that would criminalize homosexuality to the point of life in prison and very possibly the death penalty by hanging. While the ABC has told a news reporter that he finds the Private-Members Bill to be of "shocking severity" we have yet to hear anything from him directly. We have heard our own Presiding Bishop condemn the Legislation along with Bonnie Anderson who is President of the House of Deputies. We have also heard several religious and national leaders condemn this outrageous legislation.

In 2009 we have seen the rising of the Manhattan Declaration. One month later The Affirmation Declaration which is a compassionate Christian response to the Manhattan Declaration. The Affirmation Declaration now has 1,226 signatures and is awaiting many more.

In 2009 we saw the courageous National Equality March on October 11th that called on our leaders to advance LGBT Equality Legislation. We saw many national, organizational and religious leaders step up and call upon our national leaders to remember that LGBT people are equal people and we want nothing more than our equal rights protected and granted under the law. We have yet to see our national leaders take that call very seriously.

As we turn to 2010 I do believe one thing we will all have to watch out for is that the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) will work very hard to replace Governor's, State and Federal Legislators who side with LGBT Equality with those who will over turn marriage equality in States and the Nation. It will be up to LGBT people to speak up and make their voices heard.

As 2009 winds down and 2010 begins tomorrow how can we as LGBT Christians make a difference in the New Year? What pledges and opportunities and challenges will we face? How will we be willing to meet those challenges?

As we prepare to depart from 2009 I would like for us to remember that Jesus Christ was born as one like us to bring all who are on the margins of society into a place of justice and equality. Jesus came for those who have often had no name or face and gave them not only a name and face, but the very value, integrity and dignity with which God created them. This includes LGBT individuals. Our quest for equal rights protection under the law and freedom from religious oppression is a mission blessed by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is a call to people to recognize that everyone is a valuable member of society and should be given a place and opportunity to pursue love and happiness, without fear of the government in our homes or bedrooms. It will be important for LGBT people and their allies to continue to work hard to remind people that we are people like anyone else and we have gifts, love and talent to share with the world. We will have opportunities to help people who are coming out to find themselves and someone to love. We will have to deal with the issue of HIV/AIDS and other STD's. We will have to speak up for health care reform and the reform of the economy and the job market.

As we all move into 2010 let us remember to give thanks to God for all God has done to help us through this year. As for myself, this is the year I met my Partner, who is my lover, best friend and husband. This was the year that we fell in love with each other and began a life together and began facing all of those things that gay couples face. I will be forever grateful to God for bringing Jason into my life and for allowing me to know that I am loved by God through the love Jason and I share together. It is a love that knows we make mistakes, but overlooks them and works through the hard times and is always ready to celebrate what is good and holy and beautiful. 2009 was the year we found St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral and a whole new Christian Family within the Episcopal Church. We have made many new friends and we thank God for you all.

May 2010 bring you and your families and friends many blessings.

Amen.

In Christ We are Treasured

From the hymn "Once in Royal David's City" Number 102 in the Hymnal 1982 the fourth and fifth stanzas we read:

"For he is our lifelong pattern; daily when on earth he grew,
he was tempted, scorned, rejected, tears and smiles like us he knew.
Thus he feels for all our sadness, and he shares in all our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see him, through his own redeeming love;
for that child who seemed so helpless is our Lord in heaven above;
and he leads his children on to the place where he has gone."

All too often I hear remarks such as these. "Christianity is nothing more than a fairy tale like all others." Or even: "The Bible is like any other story book." Such attitudes I find are based upon not so much a thorough reading of Scripture, but most likely a rejection of all organized religion based on people's experiences. Their feelings are valid. However one point that I feel needs to be made is that the central figure of Christianity is One who knows all too well what our human condition is like. Jesus Christ faced religious opposition just like LGBT people do.

My Church History professor once said: "Christianity is the most human thing you can do, because God became one like us in Christ." Our God is not removed from the human condition. Quite the contrary. In Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh God came to us and identified with everything about us. Our woes as well as our wows.

As LGBT people who have so often been mocked and stigmatized by the "Talibangelical Christian Fanatics" have we allowed our Faith in Jesus Christ to be shaped by them? Do we really believe that the God that they preach about is all saving so long as we "surrender" our gayness or transgendered feelings? At what point do LGBT Christians realize that the Jesus that evangelical bigots preach is not the God who became one of us in Jesus?

At some point it is good and wise for LGBT Christians to gain our own understanding of who Jesus Christ is for us. The God we serve is the One who became like us in Jesus and shares in all of our difficulties, rejections and our celebrations. In Jesus, God sees LGBT individuals, families and couples as God sees all people, as beautiful, wonderful and treasured by God's unconditional and all inclusive love. We are wonderful people as LGBT in the eyes of God. Like Jesus Christ, we love people differently. Like Jesus, we believe that all people should be loved as they are and given an opportunity to be part of the wider human family.

Today, let us go about our day being thankful for our gifts as LGBT Christians. Let's celebrate that fact that God did not make us like everyone else, but made us as unique as Jesus who was born in a unique way and loved in a way not like others.

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
(Collect for the First Sunday after Christmas, Book of Common Prayer, Page 213).

The Holy Innocents: The Struggle of Power and Control

In the Gospel of Matthew 2:16 to 18 we read:

When Herod saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, he was infuriated, and he sent and killed all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had learned from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet Jeremiah:

"A voice was heard in Ramah,
wailing and loud lamentation,
Rachel weeping for her children;
she refused to be consoled,
because they are no more."

If you have never had the opportunity to watch Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth the depiction of the scene where the soldiers of King Herod the Great slaughtering the Holy Innocents is truly a frightening sight. It is absolute terror beyond imagination. Grown warriors riding in to town to stab to death every male child in Bethlehem up to two years old. The terrifying screams of mothers running from the soldiers trying to save themselves and their children from the swords of Herod's tyrants sends a horrifying chill up my spin.

These little innocent children killed by Herod due to his fear of loosing his kingly throne to the newborn King in Bethlehem named Jesus, are regarded as the first to loose their lives on behalf of the Name of the Son of God. Saint Quodvultdeus wrote:

"Why are you afraid, Herod, when you hear of the birth of a king? He does not come to drive you out, but to conquer the devil. But because you did not understand this you are disturbed and in a rage, and to destroy one child whom you seek, you show your cruelty in the death of so many children.

You are not restrained by the love of weeping mothers or fathers mourning the death of their sons, nor by the cries and sobs of children. You destroy those who are tiny in body because fear is destroying your heart. You imagine that if you accomplish you desire you can prolong your own life, though you are seeking to kill Life himself.

Yet your throne is threatened by the source of grace--so small, yet so great--who is lying in the manger. He is using you, all unaware of it, to work out his own purposes freeing souls from captivity to the devil. He has taken up the sons of the enemy into the ranks of God's adopted children.

The children die for Christ, though they do not know it. The parents mourn for the death of martyrs. The child makes of those as yet unable to speak fit witnesses to himself. See the kind of kingdom that is his, coming as he did in order to be this kind of king. See how the deliverer is already working deliverance, the savior already working salvation."
(Roman Liturgy of the Hours, Advent and Christmas Season, Volume I, Page 1274).

We would like to think that today in the 21st Century that people are no longer willing to go to the point of utter destruction over the desire for power and control, however, the reality is humanity has not learned very much. How many of us have maneuvered our way around someone else in order to get our way? Okay, maybe we do not go to the length of ordering someone killed, but our own desire to be on top at the expense of someone else can still be an issue that can cause us to be lethal to another person's rightful place.

As a gay man who has fallen in love with a wonderful man, one of the reasons we avoid the bars and certain social clubs is because all too many times in the past, I have dealt with one too many men who are so miserable with their lives, that they are not happy unless they are interrupting a happy couple with their inappropriate flirting, demeaning jokes or disturbing advice about the guy we are living with. Most of the time, they have no accurate information about my partner or myself, but their number one interest appears to be to disturb something beautiful to be sure that someone else is as miserable as they are. Yet people like these are the types that avoid going to churches, because they do not like being told what to do with their lives.

Over the past five months we have seen health insurance companies, Republican and Democratic leaders use the power behind billion dollar profits and lobby machines manipulate our national legislative process at the expense of the poor and sick who need health care reform. Health insurance CEO's profits are much more important to protect rather than be sure the sick get the medical care they need without worrying about loosing their homes or their futures. Is this not an example of power and control manipulating the system? Is this also not an illustration of destroying innocent lives so that the rich and wealthy can advance with the sick and unemployed left to pay everything for those who have more than enough?

In order to get what they want, we have seen Roman Catholic Bishops acting as a political action committee to get the Stupak Amendment into the House Health Care Bill and another similar one into the Senate Bill. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is willing to hold all the sick and unemployed hostage to loosing their health care unless the anti-abortion language of their choice is included in Health Care Reform. Is this another example of arrogance, power and control being used to manipulate the system, with the innocent, sick and suffering to pay the price?

Over the past two months, I have been writing about the anti-homosexuality bill being considered in Uganda. If this bill gets passed lesbian and gay people risk being arrested and put in prison for life and very possibly executed. Counselors, Priests and parents would have 24 hours to report someone who they know is LGBT or they too would risk being put in prison. Similar bills have been considered in Rwanda. Organizations like Exodus International and even Focus on the Family with their anti-gay spiritual violence have sent the people with the information to help create this legislation. As of yesterday Focus on the Family has condemned the "Kill the Gays" Bill in Uganda. However, they and other anti-gay Christian voices are not taking responsibility for having exported the anti-LGBT attitude that they promote here in the U.S. to other countries.

In past weeks we have seen the election of an innocent and hard working Canon Priest become Suffragan Bishop-Elect of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles: Mary Glasspool. The Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams who has only stated in a newspaper interview that “the proposed legislation is of shocking severity and I can’t see how it can be supported by any Anglican who is committed to what the Communion has said in recent decades”. Yet in less than twelve hours after the election of Mary Glasspool responded with:

"The election of Mary Glasspool by the Diocese of Los Angeles as suffragan bishop elect raises very serious questions not just for the Episcopal Church and its place in the Anglican Communion, but for the Communion as a whole. The process of selection however is only part complete. The election has to be confirmed, or could be rejected, by diocesan bishops and diocesan standing committees.

That decision will have very important implications. The bishops of the Communion have collectively acknowledged that a period of gracious restraint in respect of actions which are contrary to the mind of the Communion is necessary if our bonds of mutual affection are to hold."

In other words the election of an openly Lesbian Bishop is a reason to publicly scold the Episcopal Church for threatening the unity of the Anglican Communion, but a "kill the gays" bill in Uganda is worth a "private meeting" because to state anything public would be "counterproductive." The Episcopal Church is an autonomous body that does not answer to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Could the Archbishop of Canterbury be wanting control and be willing to maneuver over gay and lesbian rights to gain power where he does not have it at the moment?

The slaughter of the Holy Innocents is not just about the murder of children, it is about the willingness to stoop to levels so low to gain what is not rightfully our own. Calling on legislators and religious leaders to end oppression of LGBT people is not political maneuvering. Manipulating and controlling the system through for example the smearing of Kevin Jennings is. Working to promote Marriage Equality is not political maneuvering. Posting "Let the People Vote on Marriage" on the sides of City buses in Washington DC and calling it "freedom of expression" is political maneuvering for the sake of power and control. In the end they have nothing to really do with the issue of homosexuality or same-sex marriage. These and other manipulative acts are being done because of an established power structure named heterosexism that is being threatened and those LGBT and allied individuals who are willing to stand up and call it out by name that are being persecuted.

As with any group of people who are looked upon as second class citizens, just because we risk our reputations and possibly our lives, does not mean we should not continue our work of justice and equality. When civil and religious oppression is tolerated by a society that claims to be "free" toward any group of people, that society needs to be spoken to and acted upon. Being true to the Name and Person of Jesus Christ who was God made human, means respecting all human beings with the dignity and integrity that God has given all. As LGBT citizens, we have every business speaking up for our equal rights and calling for freedom from religious and civil oppression and familial homophobia. We also need to call out both local, State, National and Religious leaders who look upon our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression as if we are not people who deserve our rights granted and protected.

We remember today, O God, the slaughter of the holy innocents of Bethlehem by King Herod. Receive, we pray, into the arms of your mercy all innocent victims; and by your great might frustrate the designs of evil tyrants and establish your rule of justice, love, and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Collect for The Holy Innocents, Book of Common Prayer, Page 238).

St. John the Apostle and Evangelist: The Disciple Whom Jesus Loved

As someone who is still quite new to the Episcopal Church I learned only this morning that today's Feast of the Holy Innocents was moved to tomorrow, because yesterday's remembrance of St. John was moved to today.

When I made my promises as an Oblate of St. Benedict I took the name of St. John the Apostle and Evangelist. I took that name for many reasons. The Gospel of St. John is my favorite of the four Gospels. It speaks of the Word made flesh, as well as all of the "I am..." texts. "I am the good shepherd" (John 10:11), "I am the resurrection and the life" (11:25), and "I am the bread of life" (6:35). In John's Gospel is also recorded the Last Supper Discourse including Jesus proclaiming himself to be the "way, truth and life" (14:6) And Jesus' command to "Love one another as I have loved you" (15:12).

I also love the 3 letters attributed to John. Particularly the opening to the 1 John 1: 1-10. In this amazing chapter we read: "This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we are walking in darkness. we lie and do not do what is true; but if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one antoher and the blood of Jesus God's Son cleanses us from all sin." (1 John 1:5-8).

Through out St. John's Gospel, John never names himself. Instead he often refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." (See for example John 19: 26). And one of the most common understandings is that when St. John refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" he is in fact saying that all of Jesus' disciples are the disciple whom Jesus loves.

As I work through the figure and writings of St. John one of the things that has drawn me to him is his constant usage of the word "love". This tells me that St. John saw love as a very central theme to the Person and works of Jesus. In fact one of St. John's greatest writings is: "God is love and whoever remains in love remains in God and God in 'them'". (1 John 4:16b New American Bible with the word "him" exchanged for "them" to make the language inclusive).

Yet, whenever the word "love" is talked about from the standpoint of Christianity all discussion about love appears to stop at the topic of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. This past weekend in Catholic parishes and Diocese' they celebrated the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Given all the number of States that have passed same-sex marriage laws no doubt there was mention somewhere that marriage and love are under attack because of marriage equality. However, if marriage is about commitment, family and love than the love of two people of the same-sex is just as sacred and beautiful as the love between one man and one woman. It has often been recorded that Jesus reclined at the table with St. John's head leaning on the breast of the Savior. There have been some tales that perhaps St. John and Jesus were romantically involved. Whether that is true or not, we do not know.

We do know that love was at the center of St. John in his love for Jesus and the Gospel that Jesus preached and proclaimed. St.John was persecuted as were all of the other disciples for sharing God's message of inclusive and unconditional love.

As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, we are individuals, couples and families that have love at the very heart and center of who we are and what we are about. It is our love for people of the same sex that has caused such a back lashing from the religious right. Our love for our same-sex partner, boyfriend/girlfriend, lover and best friend has been the subject of persecution by right wing Christians and politicians. Love is at the center of what we want, want to do and want to be about. It is love that aches in the heart to be free from political and religious oppression. But remaining in God's love is exactly what Jesus commanded his disciples to do in John 15: 9. No matter how much the Catholic church and other "Talibangelical Christian fanatics" tell us we are "intrinsically disordered" we are to remain in God's love. God's love and the love that God has given us for members of the same-sex as well as bisexual and transgendered people that love is of God and is ordained by God to do awesome and wonderful things. Let us never stop speaking up about the rights of LGBT people to love other people.

Shed upon your Church, O Lord, the brightness of your light, that we, being illumined by the teaching of your apostle and evangelist John, may so walk in the light of your truth, that at length we may attain to the fullness of eternal life; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
(Collect for St. John, December 27th, Book of Common Prayer, Page 238).

First Sunday of Christmas: All Are Empowered to Be God's Children

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's own son, full of grace and truth. (John testified to him and cried out, "This was he of whom I said: "He who comes after me ranks ahead of me becasue he was before me,") From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father's heart, who has made him known. (John 1: 1-18).

Congratulations, every human being has been loved and accepted by God. In the Christmas Gospel we now hear that the God who created us, and God's Word without whom nothing that was made exists has come to us as one of us. As with all human beings first born into this world God comes as one so innocent and one so tender. As every child sees everything around her or him as if everything is worth their attention, so God in the Word made flesh, Jesus Christ comes into our world and looks upon all of us as worthy of God's loving embrace and attention. As with any child who is born before they know the meaning of hate and prejudice, Jesus Christ is born yet he is born in an animal stall amidst all the messiness of human existence. Yet there is nothing and no person who is not important to Him.

And our Gospel today so beautifully says: "But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God." All means all.

In the Wisdom of Solomon 11:23 - 26 we read:

"But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things, and you overlook people's sins, so that the may repent. For you love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that you have made, for you would not have made anything if you had hated it. How wold anything have endured if you had not willed it? Or would anything not called forth by you have been preserved? You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living."

In today's reading from St. Paul to the Galatians we read:

"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28).

God treasures every thing God has made. God has shown all creation it's value in the redemption of the world through Jesus Christ the Word made flesh. And this includes beyond a shadow of a doubt lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Our value as people has been affirmed by God becoming one like us in Jesus Christ. To everyone who receives Jesus, we are empowered to be children of God. All means all.

As Jesus grew up he like LGBT people learned that we live in a world where all are not respected and loved as children of God. Jesus found out that there is a world of prejudice and hate. Tomorrow we will remember the Holy Innocents who were all of those male children up to 2 years old who were killed because of King Herod's hate for anyone who would threaten his established order of kingship over his country. As Jesus grew and matured into adult hood, though he would face hate and prejudice for himself and those marginalized by society, he would continue to embrace all, even those who hated him. Jesus continued to look at all people as being very important and treasured by God. All who accepted Jesus, were empowered to be children of God. Therefore, any and all who accept Jesus even now, are empowered to be children of God.

This acceptance is not the same as the Bible beaters and fundamentalists preach. No, this is seeing in Jesus, God's Divinity and our Humanity all in One Being with God. To accept Jesus is to see Jesus as that light whom the world does not accept. God came to his own in Jesus. Are we willing to be claimed by Jesus as God's own? Or are we among those to whom Jesus came, but we did not accept him? Our acceptance of God in Christ means that we understand that our worth, our dignity are from God who loves and accepts all people unconditionally and all inclusively. A Christian who has truly experienced what being a child of God means, does not discriminate against anyone for their race, religious background, skin color, national background, challenge, sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression, or gender. We realize that all are made one in Christ Jesus.

Today is an opportunity to recognize God's love in and for all of us. That is what the heart of the Christmas message is. And today is a day to help deliver those in bondage to freedom. Today, there is an opportunity to help the gay and lesbian citizens of Uganda against the anti-homosexuality bill. Follow the link I provide here. And sign a petition that tells the President of Uganda that a bill that sends gay and lesbian people to prison for life and threatens to take their life is wrong. Help tell Uganda that gay and lesbian people are people created in the image and likeness of God and that we are celebrated by Jesus, because Jesus once became one like us as much as God became one like all people, everywhere.

As we prepare for 2009 to become 2010 may we all commit ourselves to promoting LGBT and all people thought of as second class citizens to be people who are included in society and the Church. As the New Year dawns let us call on our Congress to pass a health care reform bill for ALL Americans who need it. Let us call on our local, State and Federal Leaders to continue the work to enact legislation where LGBT people will be accepted, affirmed and celebrated in all parts of society. Why should these things be? Because in Jesus Christ ALL have been made a treasure to God, and therefore we should also treasure ALL.

Almighty God, you have poured upon us the new light of your incarnate Word: Grant that this light, enkindled in our hearts, may shine forth in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, on God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday of Christmas, Book of Common Prayer, Page 213)

Feast of St. Stephen: An LGBT Role Model and Martyr

"When they had heard these things, they became enraged and ground their teeth at Stephen. But filled with the Holy Spirit, he gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus at the right hand of God. "Look," he said, "I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!" But they covered their ears, and with a loud shout all rushed together against him. Then they dragged him out of the city and began to stone him; and the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. While they were stoning Stephen, he prayed, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit." Then he knelt down and cried out in a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had said this, he died. And Saul approved of their killing him." (Acts 7:54-8:1)

The Church's calendar is very interesting indeed. Yesterday we celebrated the arrival of Jesus in Bethlehem. The joyous sound of the Angels singing: "Glory to God in the highest heavens, and on earth peace among those whom he favors" (Luke 1:14) yesterday is now the stoning of Stephen the first Deacon of the early Church and recorded as the first Martyr. Oh dear God, you've ruined the party. We were having so much fun yesterday, or were we?

As many of us celebrated Christmas yesterday there were those members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community that were not celebrating. Yesterday in Pam's House Blend there was a very moving post by someone who writes about something that I am sure many LGBT individuals can relate to.

"There’s a red envelope sitting near the paper shredder. It arrived about a week ago, the shape betraying it as an obvious Christmas card, the writing on the front looking like my mother’s. The envelope is still unopened.

This happened last year, too. At that time, my partner got tired of looking at it sitting there, and said, “do you mind if I open that thing? You never know, maybe she’s had a change of heart. You never know what it will say until you open it.”

“I know what it will say,” I tell her. “It will have a lengthy sentimental series of verses of love for one's son printed on the card, and inside, there will be a two-page handwritten letter from mom about how she prays for me every day and asks God to take away this feeling that I’m a girl. She’ll tell me all about how Jesus can supposedly fix it all in an instant when I ask, and then she’ll go on about how much I’ve hurt her and the family by my transition. She’ll go into a few paragraphs about how my sister is doing and how my niece and nephew are growing up, just to remind me of what I’m missing, and then she’ll finish by talking about how every day she’s just holding on in hope of seeing the day that I’ll find Jesus, go back to being a boy and then she can die knowing that my soul will be saved.”

For many LGBT individuals yesterday was not the most joyous of days. Many due to the influence of the Christian religious right are not welcomed to their parents holiday celebrations, unless of course they are willing to put "away the gay" for the day. Or better yet, accept Jesus Christ and commit to something like Courage or Exodus to "change" them. Many religious right Christians and Catholics do not understand, that being LGBT is something we cannot change, infact the more we try to change it the worse our lives become. They cannot understand how accepting ourselves as LGBT and being in a relationship with someone that we love is a good and moral thing.

As we celebrate the Feast of St. Stephen I want us to perhaps see him and ourselves as LGBT people in a bit of a different light. Why were the Apostles and other Christians down through the centuries and even today, why are they killed? Because they threatened an established order. Christians are known for shaking things up and challenging the status quo. Christians like St. Stephen challenged positions of power to remember the marginalized of society. Christians called upon people to stop treating others like second class citizens and see them as people who should be celebrated and helped.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people challenge the status quo of heterosexism. We challenge people who have established the misunderstanding that being straight, being married as "one man and one woman" is somehow the only way to live. Just as people of different skin colors reminds us that not everyone is caucasian so LGBT people reminds others that not everyone is straight. Power structures that have held that being heterosexual is the only way to be, are threatened by LGBT people. If they do not threaten Republicans and people like Pat Robertson and Dr. James Dobson, many families that have been going to church for years hearing that homosexuality is a sin, once they learn that one of their own is gay or lesbian or transgendered suddenly the structure they always knew has been disturbed. When age old structures are disturbed what do most people do? They rebel and they want to destroy and even kill to keep that structure from falling apart.

That is why Jesus Christ is such a scandal to most people. Jesus Christ when he came into our world was suddenly a threat to an established order. Jesus "disturbed" those who had gained their power through political maneuvering and challenged the established order to see God in every person. God was to be seen in those who were blind, paralyzed, sick, suffering, the stranger and the outcast. In Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, God welcomed all and refused none. For many who had established a powerful relationship with the world by their stature, Jesus was the new threat to that power structure. And so was St. Stephen and so are LGBT people.

When I think of a great gay martyr, I think of Harvey Milk. Why was Harvey Milk shot by Dan White? Because Harvey Milk for many was a threat to an established way of thinking and existing. In the days of Anita Bryant and her assault on gay rights, Harvey Milk was a voice for those being left behind by the Bryant's and Briggs of society. Harvey Milk's courageous work on behalf of the LGBT people of San Francisco got national acclaim and he even saved a boy from committing suicide. People like Harvey Milk and others who have paid the price due to being LGBT are examples of what it means to be a martyr. They stood up for what they knew was right and they paid the price of their lives on behalf of the marginalized of society.

As we the LGBT people of today work to help the people of Uganda and Rwanda and other places work for our rights, we are often reminded that working for civil rights comes with a price. Fighting religious oppression comes with a price. It may cost us our lives. It will cost us our reputation and even our relationships with those closest to us. But, if we can cling to Jesus Christ and the example of those who have gone before us, I think we can make a difference in the world. We do not have to have all of the right answers, but we do have to be willing to put ourselves, our voices and our lives out there to show people that being LGBT is not a sin. Our love lives are holy lives, even if others do not think so. Our love for our partner, significant other, friends and all that, that is the love of God at work in and through us. Putting our love on the line like that can be a dangerous thing. There is always the possibility that we will be laughed at, mocked, told we are sinning and maybe in some places thrown out. But that's because we threaten an established order. We put the "unusual" in the face of those who think that straight is the only "usual."

On this Feast of St. Stephen, let us pray that as we witness to the love of Jesus Christ that peoples eyes, ears, hearts and minds may be opened to new understandings of God's love. But let us also not be afraid to be who God has made us, and may we challenge every structure and every prejudice that says that we are second class citizens. Let us remind everyone that God came for all of us and that means all of us.

We give you thanks, O Lord of glory, for the example of the first martyr Stephen, who looked up to heaven and prayed for his persecutors to your Son Jesus Christ, who stands at your right hand; where he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
(Collect on the Feast of St. Stephen, Page 237, Book of Common Prayer).

Christmas: And the Word was Made Flesh

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.
He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.

He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father's only son, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-14).

On this beautiful Christmas Eve/Day we celebrate that humanities prayer for God to intervene in the midst of our helpless condition was answered. God answered the prayer by coming to us as one like us to show us above all things how much God loves each and every one of us. God loves us so much that God made the choice to come into our world as vulnerable to to all the evils and filth of the human condition. In Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, God shows us the best of humanity by identifying with us and challenging us to see God's glory amidst the poor and diversity of humanities existence.

When God came to us, God did not come as a mighty warrior to over throw worldly rulership and replace it with a new thirst for power and prestige through force, greed or dominance. Instead God makes God's Self submissive to human kind by being born in a messy stable in Bethlehem, and totally dependent upon a human father and mother to protect Jesus from those who do desire a thirst for dominant power and political greed.

In Jesus, God came for all of humanity. This is symbolized in most Nativity scenes including the Icon above by the presence of the donkey who represents the Jews and the Ox who represents the Gentiles. In Jesus, God raises humanity to a new level where there are no favorites, there is no one excluded from being part of God's plan of salvation.

"He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven adn on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers--all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and in him all things hold together." (Colossians 1:15-17).The Christmas Story as found in Luke 2:1-20 tells us the story of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem. God's glory is sung by the Angels who announce it to the Shepherds who immediately go to see the Christ child. Even shepherds who were among those most marginalized are given the opportunity to see God's amazing work in the new-born King.

In the Out in Scripture for Christmas we read:

"Luke 2:1-14 (15-20) describes the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. Reflecting on this passage, Alton Pollard says, "Aside from Luke, the only other historical record we have of the birth of Jesus is in Matthew. In Matthew, the story of magi is told, a story of the powerful, the elite. Society's standard-bearers were present, the kings with their gifts. In Luke, on the other hand, only the simple peasants and the shepherds were present. Two disparate accounts, two different segments of the social order are expressing themselves around this newborn child. Is it important or inconsequential that the stories are left to us this way? Why not a gospel story wherein the triumphant, the esteemed, the heads of state, the powerful aristocrats, as well as the humble, the demeaned, the forgotten and working people concentrate together on the divine mystery in their presence?"

Pollard continues, "Think about it. For if these two worlds flowed together there would have to be peace on earth. But as long as they do not come together and relate in ways that are mutually exclusive and unjust, there remains a vacuum in our world. War, violence, madness, envy, fear, hatred, all the grisly agonies by which our days are tormented persist and our nights are converted into nightmares. God's gift to us through the child Jesus is that all may know that nothing short of a miracle has come to meet our need this day."

At this joyous time of year, members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community can celebrate the birth of the child Jesus whose entrance into our world marks the beginning of a new and progressive state of affairs. Like Mary, we should treasure "all these words" and ponder them in our hearts (Luke 2:19)."

Jesus came to set prisoners free. Sometimes we in the LGBT community can feel like we are prisoners of a society that bases discrimination on misinterpreted Bible texts about homosexuality. In the Name of Jesus Christ, members of the religious right suggest that the only way they are going to save society is to keep LGBT people from advancing in society and the Church. Yet, Jesus did not commission his followers to make people marginalized captive in the Name of a God who came to us in Jesus to bring liberty to those imprisoned. Jesus came to call those on the sidelines of society such as women, homosexuals/bisexuals and transgendered people, people of different races, nationalities, religions and challenges to celebrate their relevance as part of God's creation.

Bishop Gene Robinson spends Christmas Eve in a Women's Prison. He details his experience in his book: In the Eye of the Storm: Swept to the Center by God .

"My relationship with these women began three days after my election. Among the many greetings I received after that event was a note from a woman at the prison. In part it read, "I am neither gay nor Christian, but there is something in your election that makes me believe that there is a community 'out there' who might love me, despite what I've done."

"I met the woman who had written the note. She was only eighteen, and she had killed her mother, a forensic psychiatrist, three years earlier. As I talked with her, I got my first inkling about the broad ripples in the lake of humankind my election would cause. She saw this election--in her eyes, a church choosing an outcast as its leader--hope for her acceptance as a human being despite her heinous crime." (Page 102).

When God came to us in Jesus Christ, God came to give meaning to all who have felt that their life is without a purpose. Those whom society pushes aside, God comes in Christ to bring to center stage and gives them their mission to help transform the world by the power of God's unconditional and all inclusive love. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are thought of by society and many in the Church to be those who need to be kept out of the center, because we have been labeled and thought of as failures. The reality is, our sexuality is a gift and sexual orientation is morally neutral. God came to us in Christ for those whom society and the Church calls meaningless, so that they may know they are most valuable and loved by God.

In today's Episcopal Cafe's Speaking to the Soul Vicki Black writes:

“He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities.” It should be noted that the sign given of the Savior’s birth is not a child enfolded in Tyrian purple, but one wrapped in rough pieces of cloth. He is not to be found in an ornate golden bed, but in a manger. The meaning of this is that he did not merely take upon himself our lowly mortality, but for our sakes took upon himself the clothing of the poor. Though he was rich, yet for our sake he became poor, so that by his poverty we might become rich. Though he was Lord of heaven, he became a poor man on earth, to teach those who lived on earth that by poverty of spirit they might win the kingdom of heaven.

From Bede’s Exposition of the Gospel of Luke, quoted in Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament III, Luke, edited by Arthur A. Just, Jr. (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2003).

As we gather with our significant others, friends, family, church communities or to just have a fun day, may we remember that this day belongs as much to LGBT people as it does anyone else. In Jesus Christ, God gave us relevance in the world and an opportunity to serve God through serving one another. God tells us we belong to the family of humankind just as much as anyone. God became one like us and loved everyone, even the eunuch's who are said to have been the gay people of Jesus' day. (See Matthew 19:10-12). Therefore, let no LGBT person be dismayed or think that they are not loved and cherished by One who has come to give them salvation. Like all people, LGBT people are called to love of God and neighbor. And like all people, we often fail to live out those commandments. When we do, God in Jesus saves us from our sins and gives us the power and chance to rise up and begin again.

May everyone who reads my blog have a very Merry Christmas and may you be loved by someone as I am privileged this Christmas to be loved by my wonderful husband, partner and best friend. But, on the chance that you are single and lonely, wondering how and when will God grant you that love of your life, consider spending some time in prayer and tell God you are lonely. Ask God to lead you to someone who can truly love you and be ready for God to answer the prayer in God's way. It can happen, and when it does it is beyond what you could have imagined. Give God in Jesus who was born on Christmas Day the opportunity to impact your life with God's love and let God do the rest.

Almighty God, you have given your only-begotten Son to take our nature upon him, and to be born this day of a pure virgin: Grant that we, who have been born again and made your children by adoption and grace, may daily be renewed by your Holy Spirit; through our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom with you and the same Spirit be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (One of three Collects for Christmas Day, Book of Common Prayer, Page 213).

Christmas Day: There Was No Room in the Inn

In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was Governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her first-born Son and wrapped him bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. Then the angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for see--I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is the Messiah of the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you shall find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger." And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"

When the angels left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go not to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place which the Lord has made known to us." So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them." (Luke 2:1-20).

O God, you have caused this holy night to shine with the brightness of the true Light: Grant that we, who have known the mystery of that Light on earth, may also enjoy him perfectly in heaven; where with you and the Holy Spirit he lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.
(Collect for Christmas, Book of Common Prayer, Page 212)

A Christmas Article to Ponder

I just read this amazing article in Episcopal Life Online that I wanted to share with all of you.

Proclaiming God's love this Christmas

By David F. Sellery, December 15, 2009

[Episcopal News Service] Love one another as I have loved you. John 15:10

"Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas": take your pick. For years now the armies of inclusion have battled the troops of tradition. No year passes without a breathlessly televised crèche controversy or a school pageant showdown.

Naturally, I've always been a "Merry Christmas" man myself. But this year I think it's time to step up the game.

"God loves us" captures Christmas for me. It packs a wallop. And it's even four letters shorter than "Merry Christmas."

God's love in the gift of Christ says it all. It inspires us, surrounds us, sustains us. It consoles our pain and crowns our joy.

As John Paul II preached in Central Park: We must go to this Child, this Man, this Son of God, at whatever inconvenience, at whatever risk to ourselves because to know and love him will truly change our lives.

The Christmas story is our portal to the love of God made flesh in the life of Christ. As Luke tells us so beautifully, the shepherds were the first to have their lives changed by the loving presence of God gloriously proclaimed across the skies and focused on the child in the manger.

In Matthew, it is only a few dozen paragraphs from the departure of the Magi to the Sermon on the Mount -- the timeless blueprint of God's grand design for us -- Christ's valentine to all who would live in his love.

Don't let the sugar-coated Christmas songs confuse you. God's love for you is not sentimental mush. It is the strongest power in the universe. Before Christmas 1943 pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote from a Nazi prison to his parents. He had been safe in a New York professorship, but returned to Germany as "an agent of grace" to stand against demonic evil. Beaten but not broken, he savored Christmas as never before. He wrote that Christmas would be observed in his prison with more meaning than in places where all that survives of the nativity is a hollow "Merry Christmas."

Seen through prison bars, Christmas came into sharp focus for Bonhoeffer. Christ's birth in a stable, his love of the despised, his acceptance of suffering and loneliness, all made much more sense from prison. For the prisoner, he said, Christmas is the glad tidings of freedom and redemption. It clearly says whatever your condition in this blink of eternity, God loves you; he longs for you; he will gather you home in glory.

In its essence God's love makes us seek what is good. It makes us reach out to each other. It makes us help each other, particularly the most helpless and abandoned. Every expression of genuine human love is a reflection of the love that God showers on us. This Christmas let's embrace and celebrate this powerful, powerful force. Let's live it, share it and proclaim it with the joy of rediscovery.

"God loves us."

-- The Rev. David F. Sellery is rector of St. Peter's By-the-Sea in Bay Shore, New York.

The Magnificat: The Lowly, the Poor, the Hungry

Luke 1:39-56 (NRSV)

39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.

46 And Mary said,

My soul magnifies the Lord,
47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49 for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50 His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51 He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53 he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54 He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55 according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.

56 And Mary remained with her for about three months and then returned to her home.

Among the things that needs to be pointed out is that throughout the entire Bible there are countless references to God being the best friends of those who are poor. Even in Psalm 72 used in this morning's Office we read: "For God shall deliver the poor who cries out in distress, and the oppressed who has no helper. He shall have pity on the lowly and poor; he shall preserve the lives of the needy. He shall redeem their lives form oppression and violence, and dear shall their blood be in his sight." (Psalm 72:12-14, Book of Common Prayer 686).

There is something about people who are poor that can be truly amazing. There are many people who are on the bottom of the money chain who in many ways are more educated about what goes on in society than someone who makes a six digit income. While there are those who have an abundance of wealth and possessions worry about getting the latest ipod to keep up with their stocks, those who roam the streets have finding a warm shelter and just a little morsel of food as their priorities. While many who are obsessed with consumerism and how to get ahead of everyone else, all many poor people want is to just be able to have the basic necessities of life.

Well in the Magnificat that Mary sings it is the powerful who have been thrown down and the lowly who have been raised up. The rich are sent away empty, while the hungry have been filled with good things. The one's on the margins have been brought to the center of God's plan of salvation. Mary recognizes that God has chosen her for something important. In Mary's quiet faith she seeks out what God has for her and she trusts that God will deliver on what God has promised her.

The great mystery of the Incarnation is that God who had everything at God's disposal and command gave up all that God had and became one like us in Jesus Christ. God made God's Self vulnerable and wanting and needing and totally dependent upon human beings to care for and be sure that Jesus was provided for. God who was ruler and creator of all that exists, who can control when everyone lives and dies, placed God's Self in the position of being in grave danger. God who had all power and control gave it up to a degree to show that God can do great things if only we will believe and trust in God to be our Savior. God is here with us even now in Jesus, through the Holy Spirit. God is interacting with us, sharing with us and calling us to come to the center with God to help make a difference in a world of poverty, oppression, sickness, hunger and where political powers are seeking control and domination. God makes God's Self submissive by being at the service of those who are on the margins of society, by becoming one who is on the margins of society and gives them a name and a face. Their face and name is now identified with God in Jesus the Christ.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians share with Jesus as being on the margins of society. It is apparent throughout the ministry and life of Jesus that the hearts of those people who have power and prestige as their idols do not change their hard heart very much. Just as in our society racism, sexism, and heterosexism still exists because of the system that says non-white, non-educated, females and homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered people loose while caucasian, male, heterosexuals benefit. Lest we think that LGBT and other minorities are alone, the health care reform debate is all about the powerful insurance industry vs. those who need health care. Why would the health insurance companies with all of those profits want to loose to a health care bill, when they benefit every day at the expense of those who are sick?

Well the Incarnation of Jesus Christ and especially this Magnificat reminds us that the poor, the hungry, the sick and the marginalized are very important to God. Those on the margins of society who are second class priorities are so important to God that God become on of them in Jesus Christ. Because whether we are poor, rich, black, red, copper skinned, gay, bisexual, straight, transgendered or what "All of have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; they are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:23,24). Our sins what ever they may be (and being a homosexual is not one of them) do not have the last word over our lives. "For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us." (Romans 5:6-8). In reality no one of us is without something that needs to be redeemed. In Jesus Christ, God makes it very clear that all of us without God are really very poor. But God makes it very possible for everyone who is in need to know that they are loved by God, by becoming one like us in Jesus Christ and taking our sins upon God's Self.

If we have neglected our duties to ourselves, our partners, our civil rights and others who are on the margins of society, we can come to God through Jesus and confess that "we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves." (Book of Common Prayer, Page 368). And God in God's mercy and love through Jesus will forgive us and help us to move forward. This is why Jesus came among us and raised the poor to a greater place. "For we know that generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you may be come rich." (2 Corinthians 8:9). Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are among the poor whom God has given riches to in and through God's Son, Jesus Christ.

Our sexuality and gender identities are gifts from God to be used to love ourselves, God and others as God created and redeemed us to do. Through our relationships whether they be our friends, relatives, significant other (s), our ability to love people as LGBT individuals is part of God's plan to show how much God loves the world in various ways. How are we being loving people?

Before I close my blog with the prayer of the day, I just want to say thank you to everyone who reads my blog. There will be only one blog for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that will be posted the Eve of December 24th. The next blog post will appear December 26th on the Feast of St. Stephen. My blog post for Christmas will be: "Christmas: And The Word Became Flesh" as my favorite of all Christmas Gospels is the first chapter of John's Gospel.

Let us continue to love and work for justice as LGBT Christians. May we all celebrate the Incarnation by acknowledging that we too share in the riches of God who became poor for us in Jesus Christ. Let us remember that gift was given to be shared by living our lives in thanksgiving for the great gift that we have all been given.

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Book of Common Prayer, Page 212).

Nothing Will Be Impossible With God

Luke 1:26-38 (NRSV)

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you. " 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God." 36 "And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God." 38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

All of us have the experience of saying "yes" to a project and then when we start it we realized we got into more than we bargained for. A friend may have asked us for a couple hours of work to help move them. Yet, when we begin the task we realize they may have really meant about five hours of work, but perhaps they were too afraid to ask for that much time. In our attempt to be kind we just go along with it, while on the inside we might also be complaining.

Deciding about how to handle these situations is never easy. I am like most in that I've found myself in between situations and I have not always made the best decision. But, our God does give us the grace to keep getting up and trying.

I think one thing that we can all identify with is when we are asked to take on a task and we respond: "Oh, I am not sure I am the person to take care of that for you." The other person or people we may say that to, will twist our arm and become very pursuasive . Perhaps we agree to the project, or maybe we don't. But if most of us had the confidence in ourselves that God has in us we could turn the world upside down and back up right and the world would hardly be recognizable.

As with just about any thing, we cannot accomplish it on our own accord. God created us as social human beings who need the help of others. As Mary realized her own weakness in the call God was placing upon her to bear the Child Jesus, the Angel assured her by saying: "Nothing will be impossible with God." And notice how the Angel greets Mary in the very beginning: "The Lord is with you." Do we believe that God is with us and that with God nothing will be impossible?

Our world as we know it does not really welcome the idea of letting someone else help us to make things right. We have become over the years a self-reliant people. We now have cell phones, e-mail, the internet, remote controls for television, radio, air conditioner and x-boxes. While all of these things lead to self-reliance they also give consumerism all of it's power of pursuasion . Yet the bad side of it all is that we rely more on what we see to provide for us rather than on what we do not see. It's that St. Thomas in us that says: "If I do not see,,,,I will not believe" that we discussed yesterday.

God challenges Mary as God does today to take that leap of faith and to believe that with God nothing will be impossible, because God is with us in Christ Jesus and the Holy Spirit. As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians looking into 2010 with our United States Congress suggesting that they back off LGBT legislation so as to not upset the majority during the mid-term elections, LGBT individuals need to ask how we can help our national leaders understand why not leaving LGBT people as second class citizens of society is important. We need to be preparing ourselves to welcome the Christ-Child by also calling upon our religious and national leaders to recognize that all of us are individuals created in the image and likeness of God who is Creator, Servant and Life-Giver are also people who need our civil rights given and protected. This is why the Affirmation Declaration and the work of The Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force are so important.

As issues of heterosexism result in homophobia in families and churches the work of organizations such as PFLAG, Soul Force, Beyond Ex-Gay and Truth Wins Out (TWO) becomes all the more important. With the economy still barely recovering and money being so tight these and other organizations like it need help to keep their advocacy and help services active. This blog is not about asking for money and I won't do that, I will say that if we want to see LGBT people and organizations moving forward to help than LGBT related organizations and groups need to be remembered as much as possible. In helping other LGBT individuals we are helping Jesus in other LGBT individuals through the work of organizations such as these.

Apart for organizations, we ourselves have the power with our voices and our time to help bring about the reign of Christ on earth through our participation in the advance of LGBT people. The landscape for LGBT civil rights and being released from religious oppression will not happen by us doing it on our own. We need the help of God and we need the support of each other.

As we prepare for Christmas in another couple days, let us take time to pray about how we can prepare our hearts to welcome Christ by asking him to help us to know where we can make a difference in the world around us. And if we wonder how we will get it all done, let us remember that God is with us and with God, nothing will be impossible.

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. (Prayer for the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer, Page 815)

St. Thomas the Apostle: Faith and Doubt Find Common Ground

The calendar for the Episcopal Church designates today as the Feast of St. Thomas the Apostle. The title of "Doubting Thomas" is a fitting title and one that I have heard many Christians give to themselves. The idea that Thomas spoke was "Unless I see,,,,,,I will not believe." (See John 21:24 to 29).

Over the years there has become a much different view of Thomas. The question of Thomas' doubt is actually a courageous prayer "Lord, show yourself to me, that I may believe." How many of us have often prayed: "Oh Lord, if only you will show yourself to me in this situation, then I will believe that you exist." It sounds like a bribers prayer. If only you, then I will.... and so on. But lets face some important facts. There is a lot that goes on in this world that shakes our faith in God. When natural disasters strikes, or someone we love dies or leaves us. When we do not get that job that we need so desperately, or that loved one we pray for to stop drinking too much, or stop abusing someone or stop letting themselves be abused by someone, it can make us feel as if God might not be there or listening. Our faith often seems dependent upon God answering our prayers, our way. And if we do not get what we want, then we blame it all on God for not doing what we wanted, and start questioning our belief in God.

Sometimes God does answer our prayers and desires, but not quite the way we want. God gives us what God knows is best and sometimes what is God's best is not something we want to accept or understand. God knows that we go down those paths in life. And because God is a loving God, God does not set limits on us returning to belief in God and trying again and again to trust God. God wants to reach in and help us to grow in our relationship to God and other people. But God does not do any of that without our willingness to be honest with God about how we feel inside and wanting to get up and try again. The greatest part about God's love is that we do not always have to get it right. We do not have to have it all understood or put in the right order. It is God's job to help us get it in order, all we have to do is come back to God and ask for the grace to trust and start over and over and over again. In time, God uses the things that we have struggled with and uses them to build us up and make us stronger, but we have to start with telling God that we need God to show us and help us to trust and believe in God. It is a prayer that God answers, but a prayer that every believer and doubter needs to pray at some point.

In St. Thomas the Apostle both faith and doubt find their common ground. For it is sometimes when we doubt and ask God to come in the midst of our doubt that our faith in God becomes strengthened and we find a reason to believe again and again. St. Thomas the Apostle is the patron Saint of those who question their faith. St. Thomas' saying "Unless I see,,,,I will not believe" is not so much a weakness as it is a request for Jesus to show Thomas that God really has fulfilled everything that Jesus promised. And when Jesus finally appears and shows Thomas his pierced hands and feet, it is the faith of Thomas which is confirmed and strengthened the cries out: "My Lord, and My God." (John 20:28). The question that St. Thomas asks in his doubt, when God answers his prayer, Thomas' Faith becomes an example and proclaims the Divinity of Jesus Christ as God in the Flesh, the Incarnation we are about to celebrate on Christmas Day.

As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians how do we face our doubts as we deal with right wing Christians? How are we challenging the Church in our time as many still see LGBT people as "intrinsically disordered?" In those moments when even LGBT accepting and affirming churches might make us wonder if they really are accepting and affirming, how do we face our feelings of doubt and disappointment in our prayers with God? Are we honest with God about our doubts? Are we willing to take the chance to believe and have God affirm our belief?

Today's feast of St. Thomas the Apostle is a great Saint for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians. In those moments when the Church disappoints us or discriminates against us even still at the end of the year 2009, we can call upon our God in prayer and ask for God's guidance about how we should respond. We can ask that Jesus reveal God to us as Jesus is born in us again today and on Christmas Day. Today is another opportunity to try to show charity. Today is another chance to write a letter to a newspaper editor, or State/Federal Legislator about the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda. Today is another day to let that someone special in our life know that we still love them. Today is also another day to spend with a friend or with someone who is lonely and in need of someone to love them. Things like that help God's presence be known in the world. It helps our doubts and the doubts of others begin to see that God has not abandoned the world as of yet.

Everliving God, who strengthened your apostle Thomas with firm and certain faith in your Son's resurrection: Grant us so perfectly and without doubt to believe in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that our faith may never be found wanting in your sight; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Prayer for St. Thomas, December 21st, Book of Common Prayer, Page 237).

Fourth Sunday of Advent: My Soul Magnifies the Lord

In all of the discussions going on about traditional marriages vs. marriage equality there is often one very big issue that not discussed. When Mary conceived the baby Jesus in her womb by the power of the Holy Spirit, she was not yet married to Joseph. I thought quite a bit about that as I read through two very interesting posts about The National Organization for Marriage. Both of them contain statements at length detailing how they feel that traditional marriage is threatened by passing marriage equality laws. The national organization for marriage has already threatened the passage of Washington DC's marriage equality law. People and Religious figures pour millions of dollars into NOM to "protect marriage between one man and one woman" from passing same-sex marriage laws.

Yet when Jesus Christ came on to the scene of the life of the Virgin Mary, the Scriptures tell us that she was "a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David." (Luke 1:27). What, wait a minute the Son of God was conceived out of wedlock? Worse, he was conceived by someone else other than the man that Mary was to marry. Doesn't the conception and birth of Jesus also fly in the face of a "traditional" understanding of marriage? Yet, Jesus Christ is the central figure of the Christian religion. We are told in Matthew's Gospel that Joseph had quite a time accepting Mary's situation. (See Matthew 1:18-25). Yet God broke through the traditions of the time and surpassed all human logic and become one like us in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came and ripped through traditions and laws and brought the Kingdom of God's unconditional and all inclusive love to a world full of darkness and doubt. Are traditional minded Christians who oppose same-sex marriage perhaps afraid of Jesus Christ breaking through and changing their understanding of marriage and that is why they are resisting marriage equality?

If there is one thing that many fail to remember is that through out the Scriptures God shows himself to be on the side of the poor, the humble, the hopeless, the blind, those "different" than what society and the Church of his day expected. As we read through the story today of Mary's visit to Elizabeth, Mary arrives and St. John the Baptist leaps in the womb of his mother because he knows that he is in the presence of Jesus. Do we leap for joy when we know that we are in the presence of God? Or sometimes, do we just let God's presence in other situations different than what we expect go by us without noticing?

At the end of the story of Mary's visit to Elizabeth, Mary sings the beautiful Magnificat. In today's Out in Scripture we read: "Luke 1:39-45 (46-55) contains the incredibly powerful declaration we call the Magnificat. What is odd about this song is Mary’s delight, as an unwed mother in an extremely traditional society, in taking on such an incredible burden. Unlike the birth narrative in Matthew, the angel Gabriel speaks to Mary directly and there is no record in Luke of the angel informing Joseph. In response to God, Mary embraced the distinct holy calling of being other than whom society held as the norm. She welcomed "otherness."

Mary accepted the stigma — this calling and conviction — because God was doing something new and powerful in the history of the world. Acknowledging her own situation, Mary declared that God "has looked with favor on the lowliness of God’s servant" (Luke 1:48). Like many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in our society, Mary understands what it feels like to carry the awful burden of otherness.

Unlike many LGBT people, however, Mary does not see her otherness as a reason for despair. She sees through the identification, this stigma, and recognizes that God is working through her otherness to transform the social structures that dominate the world. Through Mary’s acceptance of the identification, God scatters the proud (Luke 1:51). Her song continues that God has brought down the powerful from their thrones; lifted up the lowly; filled the hungry with good things and sent the rich away empty. God has delivered God’s people according to the promise made to Israel’s ancestors, to Abraham and Sarah, and to their descendants forever (Luke 1:52-55).

What a radical transformation! Shively T. J. Smith comments, "The emphasis on God as Savior highlights the plight of the powerless and not the powerful. The hymn is an invitation to all people to recognize that the Good News of Jesus Christ is that God stands on the side of the socially ostracized and oppressed. Those who lack recognition, appreciation and voice in the larger society and religious world are assured that God is with them first and foremost because God is Savior. Isolation from human institutions is not separation from God’s mercy and compassion." The promise of Jesus’ birth is that the oppressive structures that rule our lives will be overturned, justice will be imposed and those who were at the bottom — or on the margins — may claim their rightful places in the new social order.

As members of the LGBT community prepare for the coming of the Christ child, we should recognize the opportunity in our midst to reach out to others who carry the burden of socially imposed stigmas as well. We begin by re-thinking the idea that we are stigmatized. The idea that we carry a social stigma is one imposed upon us by others, not one that we should accept as a true definition of ourselves. Who we are is a gift from God! When we accept our lives as a gift, although one that brings along with it a calling, mission or vocation, then we can resolve to interact positively with the world around us. Like Mary, we can and should glorify God for gifting us with our genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations and other distinctive identifiers that make us who we are. In response to our amazing particularity, we should sing, "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior" (Luke 2:46-47)."

And so how do we see our being LGBT? Do we see it as that "otherness" that anti-LGBT Christians see it and accept that as a reason to no longer believe and trust in God? Or do we make use of it to grow closer to God and ask God to help us use it to make a good impact on the world around us? Mary accepts her "lowliness" and uses it as an opportunity to notice that "God has done mighty deeds". How do we see God doing mighty deeds in and through us as LGBT Christians? What opportunities will we take advantage of as God working to "do mighty things" in and through us?

In this time as we prepare to celebrate Christmas on Friday there are opportunities for us to enjoy the magic and wonder of the Christmas event. However, many of us also face difficult times, due to families that have rejected us and perhaps a relationship that has recently ended. Perhaps this is a Christmas for us to reach out to those who are lonely without family and/or someone to love them this year. Perhaps we are someone who needs others to reach out to us. How will we see Jesus during the Christmas Season this year? Jesus Christ came to us in the middle of our despair, loneliness and to those who were the "misfits" of society and the Church. Remember, if you feel like you are one of those, Jesus Christ came for you.

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, now and forever. Amen. (Prayer for the Fourth Sunday of Advent, Book of Common Prayer, Page 212).

Are We Serving Jesus in the Least?

Matt. 25:31-46 (NRSV)

31 'When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34Then the king will say to those at his right hand, "Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." 37Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?" 40And the king will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."a 41Then he will say to those at his left hand, "You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels; 42for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not give me clothing, sick and in prison and you did not visit me." 44Then they also will answer, "Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not take care of you?" 45Then he will answer them, "Truly I tell you, just as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me." 46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.'

This here is the Gospel lesson for the Divine Office for today. It is one of my favorite Gospels, yet it is also one that can send some chills up your spine and put goose bumps on your skin. If we look at this Gospel from the point of a warning it is scary. However, if we look at this Gospel from the standpoint of an opportunity to serve Jesus Christ in others who need to be served, we could also see it as our opportunity to do great things. Within this Gospel is a call to radical conversion and conversation. Because it calls us to set our priorities in order. Do we set our priorities on serving Jesus Christ in those who are on the margins of society and the Church or do we just pay attention to our own selfish desires and need for power?

Yesterday I posted a web site link to the story about The Prayer Cast led by Lou Engl on Facebook. Following the posting there was a number of interesting yet troubling comments about the Prayer Cast. One commenter said: "Christianity is archaic superstition. Nothing more..." But no comment was more correct than one title given to the work of Evangelicals organizing and praying to annihilate homosexuals. That title was "Talabangelical Xtian Christofascism, to be exact." I find both of these comments to be painful reminders of the reality that the real Christianity consisting of God's unconditional love in and through God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ, who's Incarnation we will celebrate next Friday is getting a bad name due to "Talabangelical Christian fanatics." The messages of people such as Lou Engl, Pat Robertson, Dr. James Dobson and others like them do not represent the true meaning of Jesus Christ and his Gospel of unconditional and all inclusive love. Yet, no thanks to their careless quest for power at the expense of the Gospel, all of Christianity gets such a bad name through their example. And lest we forget it is "Talabangelical Christian Fanatics" that have helped countries like Uganda and Rwanda become even more anti-gay and less charitable toward LGBT people than even America is. Yesterday I read a really disturbing story of how Parents in Uganda want the Kill the Gays Bill enacted.

So the question that comes to mind here is, how can Christians who really do believe in Jesus Christ and his unconditional, all inclusive love make Jesus Christ known and loved with all of this hate speech going on? What role can lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people play to help focus Christians on what is the essential message of the Gospel?

Well, let's be clear about a few things. The Gospel is not first and foremost about a quest for power or prestige. It is about recognizing that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God who is the Creator, Redeemer and Sanctifier. The Gospel Message is that "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being." (John 1:1-3) And that includes lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. All of us are here, because God loved us into being as we are. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ we have been redeemed and have become adopted daughters and sons of God. In Ephesians chapter 1: 5 and 6 we read: "God destined us for adoption as God's children through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of God's will, to the praise and glory of God's glorious grace that God freely bestowed on us in the Beloved." And because we have all been created and redeemed by God in Christ, we are also being sanctified as holy people through God the Holy Spirit. Because each person is created, redeemed and being sanctified by God, we must honor each person by serving Jesus Christ in whoever she or he is. God's greatest and most cherished of God's creation does not stop with lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered people. And any "Talabangelical Christian Fanatic" that attempts to preach that message is down right wrong on all fronts. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians and those who accept and affirm us must be willing to speak up and act on the premise that God has created, redeemed and sanctified us as God has done for all of God's people. And that fact alone means that we serve Jesus Christ in every person that we feed, clothe, give something to drink, visit in prison and welcome in the stranger.

As LGBT and other Christians who know that the Gospel is about serving Christ in those marginalized by society and the Church, we must show forth the Person of Christ in our service of all of God's people. As "Talabangelical Christian Fanaticism" continues to raise a voice that has nothing to do with the real message of the Gospel, LGBT and other Christians who are passionately committed to the real message of the Gospel must never be afraid or embarrassed or ashamed of the Gospel that we stand by and profess. We must also not be afraid to challenge the "Talabangelical Christian Fantatics" by calling them to the true meaning of the Gospel and living it out in our own lives, even if we do it better than they do. We must demonstrate with all conviction that the doors of Christian compassion do not stop at the doors of women who have had abortions or lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgendered people.

Where is God calling us to live the Gospel in a time when it is being so badly misrepresented by "Talabangelical Christian Fanatics"? How are we going to answer that call today?

Stir up your power, O Lord, and with great might come among us; and, because we are sorely hindered by our sins, let your bountiful grace and mercy speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be honor and glory, now and for ever. Amen. (Prayer for the Third Sunday of Advent, Book of Common Prayer, Page 212)