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).