All of us know what goes into preparing a big dinner party. We buy the food, take out the china and silver ware, we call the guests and prepare the table. The work that goes into preparing for the big day seems like a bunch of endless tasks. It can feel like it will all never get done, because there is so much to do. Lo and behold, the oven breaks down. A sink suddenly lets go. Someone calls to say that someone has died. All of these things appear to work against our efforts to prepare. Yet when all is said and done, the party guests arrive and just when we think all has gone to hell our friends are just so grateful that we provided for them a meal and a time to socialize with other people. Someone might even have put together a bunch of money to get the oven fixed, or someone else may have offered their own oven to help out. One of the party guests called and paid the plumber so that the sink is now ready and the kitchen is cleaned up. Then we learn that preparing by ourselves we exhaust ourselves and everything goes crazy. But with friends and people using their gracious gifts for the good of others, great and awesome things can happen.
As we work through this Season of Advent we are preparing for the coming of Christ into our hearts at Christmas there can be the tendency to forget that it is a work we cannot do on our own. We need the help of not only God, but also those who are near and dear to us, including an affirming community. Preparing our hearts for the coming of Christ does not only mean being in a nice cozy prayer space feeling all cozy inside while we talk to God, though that is important. Preparing our hearts to welcome Christ means working to make the world that is such a heterosexist society, into one that welcomes not only LGBT people, but everyone who lives on the margins of life.
It is no accident that on the Second Sunday of Advent, we begin to look at the person of John the Baptist who is the "voice of one crying in the wilderness." St. John the Baptist is an excellent figure with whom LGBT people can relate too. The home of St. John the Baptist in the "wilderness" is an excellent thought for LGBT people. In this weeks Out in Scripture by the Human Rights Campaign they write "Luke 3:1-6 is a text of preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ. It describes the ministry of John the Baptist, who announces his work as preparation for "the way of the Lord” (Luke 3:4). A couple things stand out in this passage. First, notice that the author, Luke, goes out of his way to set the historical context for John’s ministry. Most people would skip over this part as unnecessary filler, but it is meant to send an important message to readers. Human beings live their lives and vocations within defined historical parameters. To put it another way, there is a certain "givenness” to our lives. We are the inheritors of the contributions of those who came before us, and we provide a context within which future generations live and operate. What we have been given as a context is a tremendous gift, even if an imperfect one. (Also review how God is present in the account of John’s own birth and the hopes of his parents, Elizabeth and Zechariah, in Luke 1:57-80).
Through actions like the Stonewall riots of 1969, modern lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people were given a voice that now resonates throughout our present society. Even the current issues, like same-sex marriage and ordination, would most likely not have come about if it had not been for men and women who risked their lives and reputations in events like Stonewall. In addition, Shively T. J. Smith would have us remember, "The word of God did not come to any of the leaders named in this passage; rather it came to John, an outsider of the religious and political institutions and power of the day” (Luke 3:1-2). Looking at the setting for today’s passage, it probably was not the best time to begin preaching a message of repentance, but if John was going to prepare "the way of the Lord,” then it was the only context that was readily available (Luke 3:4).
In this passage, John’s ministry is conducted in the "wilderness” (Luke 3:2). In ancient time, many saw the wilderness as a dangerous and lonely place, isolated from the comforts of civilization and vulnerable to the violence of others. As with far too many members of the LGBT community, John lived his life on the margins. By doing so, he opened himself up to "the slings and arrows” of others. LGBT individuals understand this kind of vulnerability. Whenever they claim their identities and begin to live out their lives with dignity, they put themselves at risk. As Michael Joseph Brown says, "To live as an ‘out’ person is definitely a wilderness experience. It can feel isolating and dangerous.” In these kinds of circumstances, having a supportive community is invaluable."
One of the "dangers" that can come from the readings this week is some well meaning preachers who decide to use "Make straight the Lord's path" as a message to lesbian and gay people that they should "straighten up and fly right". In this weekends Gospel for Gays they write: "Does that mean “straight” as in “heterosexual” and “crooked” as in “gay”?
I guess there are people who would so interpret the prophet’s words – but I don’t think so. Our sexuality is a gift.
For me, “crooked” means the obvious stuff: avoiding the bars and the sex clubs, the porn, and the promiscuity (actual or imaginary, the thought being as “crooked” as the deed) that are so much a part of secular gay culture.
But it’s not just a matter of avoiding the crooked: the prophet tells us that crooked things will be made straight.
To me, that’s a call to action; that it’s not enough to wait passively for someone else to bring about a cultural transformation. I think we’re asked to be part of the Messianic mission, each in our own way – by changing ourselves, and by bearing witness to the values of the Messiah in our daily lives. That’s what the Baptist did; that’s what I am also called to do, like every other follower of Jesus.
How?
I can only speak for myself. It seems pretty obvious. By living an open life that is engaged and productive, both in the church and my community; by living a chaste life, consistent with my single status (I wish that status were different!); by living a prayerful life, asking God to guide me and sanctify me through the sexuality that he has given.
That’s not just an Advent resolution – that’s a way of life. It’s a path of faith, which is open to the quiet power of a God who can make a barren couple conceive, past their child bearing years.
But moving beyond the personal….
When our religious critics think “gay”, you know what they imagine? They think that gayness is synonymous with all the crooked stuff. They can’t see beyond it. They’re stuck; they’re unable to imagine anything else.
We are their cliché.
That’s so sad – for them, for us, and for the world of redemption, the new order that is struggling to be born.
And the thing that is particularly hard to understand – really, beyond reason – is the phenomenon of church authorities who insist that gay civil unions are wrong; indeed, that such unions actually constitute an offence against justice.
Because such unions are the opposite of “crooked”! They’re open, loving, committed, stable, engaged in the larger community: what’s wrong with that? They’re part of the solution, not the problem!
But maybe that is the problem.
Maybe it’s easier and somehow safer to hide behind a convenient cliché than to open our eyes, and our minds, and our hearts to new possibilities; to anathematize such hopeful signs of the time, rather than promote and support them.
After all, making the crooked straight could open the door to anything. A virgin could even conceive and bear a son – and what would we do then?"
As we meditate on preparing the way of Christ to come into our hearts as well as prepare for his return, how are we establishing God's reign of justice and equality for all people in the world? How do we see our "wilderness" experience as LGBT people? How do we exercise our voice as LGBT people who are rightly concerned about being seen and understood to be second class citizens in society and the Church?
As I write this blog I rejoice with the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles as they have elected their new suffragan Bishops the Rev. Canon now Bishop-elect Diane Jardine Bruce and the Rev. Canon now Bishop-elect Mary Glasspool. The news that the Diocese of L.A. has elected it's first woman Bishop and their first openly Lesbian Bishop is just news too good to not enjoy. It is such a wonderful new day in the Episcopal Church. Yet in the middle of all the joy and celebrating a new day there is the disappointment from the Archbishop of Canterbury who has not uttered one word against the "kill the gays" bill in Uganda, but has encouraged the Bishops of the Episcopal Church to turn down the election of Mary Glasspool. Yet,as Episcopalians we do well to remember that the Archbishop of Canterbury may hold the Anglican Communion together, but has no direct authority over the Episcopal Church in the United States. We are not bound to obey the Archbishop of Canterbury as the Catholics are Papa Ratzi. LGBT people are right to be outraged by the Archbishop of Canterbury's comments, as we are right to celebrate the election of Mary Glasspool. This is how the Episcopal Church prepares the way for a new form of God's justice and equality in a world where LGBT people still live on the margins of society.
Today, LGBT people and Christians everywhere are inspired by the words of the Prophet Baruch who wrote: "Take off the garment of your sorrow and affliction, O Jerusalem, and put on forever the beauty of the Glory from God" (Baruch 5:1). LGBT people have every business removing the garment of sorrow, discrimination and prejudice that shadows LGBT individuals as being "wrong" and "intrinsically disordered" and putting on the glory that God has given us as loving and holy individuals.
Let us today and every day commit ourselves over and over again, even when the tide seems to turn against us to calling for justice and equality for in so doing we prepare the way of the Lord.
Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, Collect for the Second Sunday of Advent, Page 211).
No comments:
Post a Comment