Who Truly Knows Us?

I grew up in what used to be a small town. It was a town where the English, Italians, African Americans, Portuguese, Irish and any number of people migrated at one point or another. There was hardly anyone who did not know who their neighbors were. It was not uncommon that people's perception of any specific person was often determined by what their last names were. If someone moved into the town from Boston and started trouble, it was automatically assumed they were trouble because of where they came from. It was not uncommon for someone to be gossiped about because of their race, religion, sexual orientation or what little background people knew about someone else.

All of us tend to place certain stereotypes to a particular person or group of people based on what we have always understood. Most gossip tends to be about those we think we have known for a long time. Nevertheless, it takes a lot for human beings to look beyond the opinions that they are used to and see people for who they are, especially if they behave, speak or look just a little bit unusual.

This weekends Liturgy of the Word should make us ask the question: who truly knows us? This inquiry is crucial for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Religious and political conservatives make their well known opinion heard that we choose our sexual orientations and/or gender identities/expressions. Ex-gay ministries perform their damaging "therapy" using the notion that people are not born LGBT, nor do we choose it, we are attracted to people of the same-sex or transgendered because of things that went wrong with our physiological or psychological maturity during our development from children to adults. An American Family Radio Show host made the suggestion that homosexual people are sick to the point where we should be put in jail for spreading diseases like HIV/AIDS. Bryan Fischer apparently thinks that Uganda's imprisonment of gays is a good idea. Just this past Wednesday, President Barack Obama during his State of the Union Address said that he was committed to overturning Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Just since the nationalized speech several conservative members of Congress such as John Boehner and John McCain have stated that Don't Ask, Don't Tell works just fine or this is not the time to debate the issue. The Pray in the Name of Jesus organization claims that they are going to "defend our troops against open homosexual aggression."

These and many other items that made the news recently suggest that LGBT individuals are being rejected by many in our own society and within the Church and that the Christian Scriptures give them their basis for doing so. Aside from applying the Bible incorrectly to homosexuality, the lack of Christian charity being demonstrated from religious and politically conservative people contradicts Paul's first letter to the Corinthians 13: 1-13 which states the of all the Theological Virtues, faith, hope and love, "the greatest of these is love" (Vs. 13).

The first Reading from Jeremiah 1: 4-10 sounds like other conversations that God has has had with other prophets. God calls on Jeremiah to share information with God's people. Jeremiah feels that he is too insufficient to answer the call. God reminds Jeremiah: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.." (vs 5). In today's Out in Scripture the Commentator writes:

God knows Jeremiah better than anyone else does. And God knows each of us better than anyone else does. God knew us even before we came out, before we knew ourselves. Allen says that God is present in our very formation, including orientation. We are all out to God. God calls LGBT people from the very beginning and knows us in every moment. We are consecrated by God and given the holy vocation of being fully ourselves. Sometimes just being who we are as LGBT people and witnessing to God’s knowledge, love and acceptance of us in this world is our vocation, our calling. Being known is like coming out—being out is being known.

The story of Jesus saying that "no prophet is ever accepted in the prophet's own country" from the Gospel of Luke 4: 21 - 30 invites us to think about people stepping away from what is familiar to them. Jesus has just delivered his inaugural address in which he has defined his ministry as being for the poor, the blind, the oppressed and then says that the Scriptures are fulfilled in the hearing of those who are witnessing this event. And when he announces that the prophecy has come true people are questioning the claim of this man that they knew as Joseph's son. Suddenly those things that they had previously known and understood about Jesus were changed. Jesus had "come out" about what his mission in the world was. Jesus told those in the assembly what he was about, and who would benefit from God's work through Christ. Instantly, people's perception of Jesus was no longer the same. Jesus had broken from the traditions of the time and laid out a whole new approach to dealing with those marginalized by society. Jesus had challenged people to look beyond what is familiar and see a whole new way of understanding those who were different in their community.

Is this not what often happen whens LGBT individuals come out to their families, friends, communities, work places, churches and social groups? Is this not what happens to a soldier who has fought bravely in our armed forces, when they come out to other soldiers and their superiors and are forced out by the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy? Is this not a reason why this law needs to be changed? Are people like John Boehner and Tony Perkins fearing the "change of attitudes" among Americans and others who feel that allowing LGBT people to serve in our military is the right thing to do?

God knows that we are LGBT. God knows LGBT people as gifted, consecrated and enabled by the Holy Spirit to do the work the Jesus commissions to each and every follower in the work of redemption and sanctification. Yet, many in society and the Church want to do God's work for God by deciding who is proper and who is improper to live with the same rights as everybody else. They want to use the criteria of racism, classification determination, heterosexism, sexism, to decide who is fit and able, and who is not. Why do people even in the 21st Century use these inappropriate measures to decide peoples value and dignity? Because to see other people as able and capable, is to step outside what is "normal" and it can cause people to confront within themselves their own biases. To admit that people are wrong, to reach out and research and ask questions and to be educated, will require people to see outside of their Pandoras Box and see LGBT people and all others considered minorities in a new light. It will challenge people's own inferiority and sense of superiority. It may even threaten some corporations billion dollar profits. Then again, a Christianity that does not shake things up and change the status quo, is a Christian Faith that is not doing it's job.

Among the many messages we can take away from this weekends Gospel is Jesus was never afraid to walk on with the message he preached. As LGBT Christians it is important for us to walk forward with our partners, lovers, spouses, dating/romantic and physical relationships with a sense of purpose. We must remember that love is the greatest of all virtues, and that includes loving ourselves as God loves us. After all the God who created us, loves us and knows us best.

Almighty and everlasting God, you govern all things both in heaven and on earth: Mercifully hear the supplications of your people, and in our time grant us your peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany, BCP, Pge 215).

What Great Things God Can Do, If We Offer All We Have

John 6:1-15 (NRSV)

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world." When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

All of us have had the situation in which we knew of someone who experienced a terrible loss. Perhaps someone we know has been in an accident that left them with a life-long injury or a woman who has experienced a miscarriage or still birth. Our hearts are so crushed for the other person and we want to do something. We may tend to think that what we want to do is just too small. Yet it is the little things that mean so much that can bring consolation and healing.

Here was Jesus amidst 5,000 hungry people and a boy with only five barley loaves and two fish. Most likely in that crowd there were people who had been denied health coverage, or people who were homosexual, bisexual or transgendered. Most of the people there may have been rejected from the temple or other synagogues with in the area, because they said something that the local church community did not like. Jesus was most concerned about how he would feed the hungry souls looking to be satisfied by the Goodness and Presence of God. Jesus was most concerned about how God could reach out to all of the souls who want to know the God they want to love so much.

Jesus, knowing that he is God in the flesh, receives all that the boy has to offer and through the Goodness of God Jesus provides food and nourishment for all who was there. God can take the smallest of our offerings and use them to do marvelous things. God desires to feed us all at the point of our need for God. God wants to know and love us all intimately and completely.

Among our many understandings of Holy Communion is that it is union with God through the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. Just before the Priest serves Holy Communion in the Episcopal Church she or he says:

"The Gifts of God for the People of God. Take them in remembrance that Christ died for you, and feed on him in your hearts by faith, with thanksgiving." (BCP. Pge 365).

Through the Eucharist, we partake of the great wedding feast of heaven and earth, in which Christ and the Church are one in an intimate and perfect union. Very much like have sex. In the Eucharist, Jesus who is God made a human being, who is in love with every person of God's creation, becomes one with us as Christ's Body and unites us to God's Self. We experience companionship with God's life-giving presence.

As God's children lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people God endows us with gifts. We have been blessed by God with the faculties of loving someone of the same sex, or loving both opposite and/or same-sex and/or having a transgendered understanding of ourselves. What the religious right calls sinful, God sees as endowments that we are asked to place at the service of Christ, the Church and society. God can use the abilities we have to transform biased systems. The transformation of a heterosexist society begins not just with changing laws and church rules, but changing hearts and behaviors. We can do that when we place ourselves and all that we are in the hands of God and trust in the Holy Spirit to use what we have to fulfill God's will.

How will we offer God what we have so that God can use it to accomplish great things?

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, BCP, Page 215).

Do we Believe God Loves Us?

John 5:30-47 (NRSV)

"I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. "If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But I have a testimony greater than John's. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent. "You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?"

As we read through the Scriptures, particularly the Gospel of John it can become clear even if it appears a bit obscure that what many fundamentalist Christians preach is not quite the way things are. Most of us have had the experience of having a street preacher or two approach us and they just spew Bible verses, numbers and passages all for the purpose of getting us to accept their points of view. Yet even today in our Gospel from our Morning Prayer we read: "You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. I do not accept glory from human beings. But I know that you do not have the love of God in you."

Yet in the Scriptures there are certain truths that do exist among them in the very beginning of today's Gospel are the words: "I can do nothing on my own". If Jesus being God's perfect revelation knows that he cannot accomplish what he needs to do on his own, what makes us think we can do what we need to do without God's help?

In today's Forward Day by Day we read:

"We are God's. God loved us into being. We do not belong to ourselves--we belong to the one who created us in love to live in love. We are the result of an incredible love affair started by God and into which we are invited." (Page 90)

Imagine that? All of us including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are the result of an incredible love affair between God and us. Just like a great sexual encounter is always better when it is with someone we are passionately and madly in love with, so all of us with our gifts, beauty and wholeness are the result of God loving us to the point that God wants to be intimately involved with all of us. God share in our joys, celebrations as well as walks with us in the midst of our deepest sorrows and suffering. As a lover's heart breaks when the other is hurt or in trouble, so God weeps and mourns over us when we are injured or in a place of desperation. When God reaches out for us, are we willing to reach out for God?

Today many people are suffering and longing for God's answered prayers. Many have lost jobs, homes and have families that wonder how they will make it through to the next day. The LGBT community heard Pres. Obama's State of the Union speech in which he promised again to overturn Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Yet, we still did not hear a time limit and a date by which he plans to have the task taken care of. The LGBT community like all over groups of people need to remember that no one can do it all alone. Our country and those in our armed forces who wish to serve this nations defense are counting on us to speak up for them and their cause. The Courage Campaign has a great petition as does the Human Rights Campaign asking Pres. Obama to make good on his speech and get the job done this time.

How can we ask God to help us so that we do not attempt to do everything on our own?

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, BCP, Page 215)

Who Else Can Break the Rules?

John 5:1-18 (NRSV)

There was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. In these lay many invalids-blind, lame, and paralyzed. One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk. Now that day was a sabbath. So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, "It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat." But he answered them, "The man who made me well said to me, 'Take up your mat and walk.' " They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take it up and walk'?" Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you." The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, and I also am working." For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

Let's all walk just a little bit on the wild side of Jesus. Jesus was the guy that came into the scene and for the most part broke all the rules. Centuries of traditions and laws were suddenly turned over on their bellies by the coming of God's perfect revelation. Here we see what appears to be Jesus claiming himself to be one with God, which was a major rule not to be broken in Jesus' day. And then Jesus healing on the Sabbath Day, another rule that was not suppose to be broken. Notice here that those who are so concerned about the rule concerning the sabbath are not the least bit happy about the man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. He really does have something to celebrate, but those all wound up in the rules of how things are suppose to be are more concerned with the rule that had been broken.

One of our understandings of Jesus is that Jesus did not come to abolish the law, but rather he was the fulfillment of the law. Jesus makes this very clear in Matthew 5:17. The law was summarized as love of God, neighbor and self. Yet, those most concerned about loving God tend to forget neighbor and self. And this is precisely the case with those in today's Gospel story who are all wound up with how Jesus appeared to break the rules.

Clearly this appears to be the case with right wing politicians and Christians in their attitudes towards lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. As Bishop Gene Robinson suggested in his book that the real problem is "heterosexism." (See page 24). People have this system in place that says that heterosexuality is normal, healthy and proper, while anything that is other than is abnormal, unhealthy and improper. Just read this story about the new Catholic Archbishop of Belgium comparing homosexuality to Anorexia as a perfect example. Because homosexuals "break the rules" if you will, the Roman Church and the religious right have a planned agenda to obstruct our pursuit of basic human and civil rights. It is worth noting that not only are organizations such as the National Organization for Marriage willing to be barriers for basic rights for LGBT people, they too are willing to break the rules of love thy neighbor as thyself.

How do LGBT Christians respond to this message of Jesus today? How do we advance the process of releasing ourselves from civil and religious oppression? Where do LGBT Christians find themselves in the life and ministry of Jesus?

I would offer the idea that we must commit ourselves to daily prayer if we are going to be successful in anything. Whatever our prayer life is, let us take time every day to do it. I think we also need to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit so that we may understand where we can be rule breakers and yet keep the idea of love of God, neighbor and self a part of our mission to share the Gospel through our work of human and civil rights. We must offer ourselves to be voices for those who feel as if they have none. We should befriend those coming out into a world that is still so full of prejudice towards LGBT people. Where we can volunteer and support with our time and treasure, we should donate to organizations that help LGBT and questioning youth and individuals. We need to be encouraging others to be involved in the process of the liberation of LGBT people from religious and civil oppression. Everyone has different talents and gifts, but we can all do something, even if pray is all we can do for the moment.

Just and merciful God, in every generation you raise up prophets, teachers and witnesses to summon the world to honor and praise your holy Name: We thank you for sending Timothy, Titus and Silas, whose gifts built up your Church by the power of the Holy Spirit. Grant that we too may be living stones built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect on today's Feast of Sts. Timothy, Titus and Silas)

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, BCP, Page 815)

Third Sunday After the Epiphany: Jesus Proclaims His Mission and Ours

Luke 4:14-21 (NRSV)

Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone. When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. Then he began to say to them, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."

This Gospel Story today has been written for every one of us. This is the day when God has called us by name and has told us the God is interested every life God has created. We knew what Jesus was born in Bethlehem that he was born poor and helpless, and then the wise men came and offered him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. We know that he was baptized and turned the water in to wine at the marriage of Cana. When Jesus manifested God's presence to all the nations we may not have known just how far that manifestation would go. Actually God's presence, power and hope and first concern is the poor, the captives, the blind, the oppressed, those who feel that they have failed.

Bishop Gene Robinson in his book In the Eye of the Storm, Swept to the Center by God writes:

"First item on the agenda; a trip back to his hometown, where like a good Jewish boy, he goes to the synagogue in which he's grown up. To honor his return, the elders of his synagogue call him up front to read from the sacred texts. He chooses a passage from Isaiah, and in this "inaugural" speech, declares what's on his heart and what his life and ministry will be all about." (Pages 115, 116).

This Gospel story is placed in the beginning of Luke's Gospel because Luke is paving the way for what Jesus will do with his work and ministry. Shortly after, we will see him cleanse the lepers, heal the sick, free those who have been in prisons, and bring into the fold those who have been left on the sidelines. He will forgive the sins of those who have forgotten love of God and neighbor, and he will challenge the arrogant to repent.

In today's Out in Scripture we read the following Commentary:

In this reading Jesus stands before the assembly and reads from the prophet Isaiah (61:1-2). The reading is one of Isaiah’s servant songs that describes the work of the messiah. It is a ministry that delivers hope to those who are poor, captive and oppressed (Luke 4:18). This anointed one, the messiah, also proclaims a year of jubilee (Leviticus 25:8-12), a time when the land rests fallow and is restored to those who lost it through poverty or debt (Luke 4:19). At the conclusion of reading the passage, in verse 21, Jesus claims the fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy. Words to be spoken by the messiah are words now embodied in Jesus: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me" (verse 18).

The readings today connect words, body, calling, community, Spirit and Christ. The LGBT community of faith is challenged to engage Scripture on its own and to embody it in the world. We must refuse to let God’s good word [RAR1]go silent. We must accept ourselves as vital members of the living body of Christ. We join our bodies with that of Christ, pray the Spirit of God rests upon us and live compassionately and justly.

The Gospel Reading from Luke definitely fits in with the reading from Second Corinthians 12:12-31a where we continue to read Paul's response to the early Church struggling with a diversity of gifts. Paul acknowledges that not every part of the Body of Christ is able to do the same things, but all have their part to play. Just because not everyone is a preacher, administrator, or teacher does not mean we do not have something valuable to offer. Likewise just because we are lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgendered does not mean that we do not have valuable and worthwhile gifts to offer the Church in our present time.

These Scripture readings very much play into the activities of this past week, and they are a wake up call to the Church and society. We are offered an opportunity to see into what happened and respond with all due concern and appropriate action.

Let's read a little bit more from Bishop Gene Robinson about today's Gospel reading.

"I don't know about you, but this doesn't exactly fit my idea of good news. Frankly, I don't like hearing this, partly because I'm one of the privileged. I have more money than I need, I'm blessed beyond my wildest dreams, I live in a house ten times the size of most families in the world. I'm more educated than most people in the world, have never known hunger, have seen a good part of the world, and consume more than my fair share of what the poor of the world produce. I like my comfortable circumstances and my mostly predictable life.

And yet in his inaugural speech, Jesus asks me, "How are you going to spend the privilege you've been given? You know of God's love for you, and you draw enormous strength adn comfort from that knowledge. But what good are you going to put that to? What risk are you going to take, what bold and daring thing are you going to do because of -- and in service to -- the Gospel? Because if you want to follow me, if you want to know me and be in relationship with me, this is where you've got to be: with the poor, with the prisoners, with the blind, the captive, the oppressed.

A church is more than a mutual admiration society. It exists for more than itself. If we are followers of Christ, we need to go where Christ is--which, as the Gospel tells us, is always with the poor, the dispossessed, the marginalized--in New Hampshire or New York, in Manchester or Belfast, in El Salvador or West Africa. The question that faces every single person who takes the title Christian is exactly the same question Jesus faced in the wilderness after his baptism: "How will you spend the privilege that is y ours? What risks will you take for the Gospel? What good will come to others from our knowing God's love for us?" (Page 117, 118).

Is it possible that God uses the prejudice and rejection that LGBT people experience in the Church and society to help open the hearts and minds of people to new and greater understandings about the world around them? Could it be that LGBT people can celebrate the fact that Jesus Christ came to serve us and to call us to serve others because we are often people oppressed and held captives by unjust laws and religious oppression? Could it also be that the reason the religious right rejects LGBT people so much, is because our gift of love is so different from what they think it ought to be, that it can cause others to see love beyond their Pandoras Box and understand love in new and diverse ways?

The horrible decision by the United States Supreme Court this week is bad for many reasons. It makes corporations and business profits to go before individual people and their fundamental civil and human rights. Health insurance companies who have been fighting health care reform and in many ways succeeding are now given the financial freedom to bring down any and all individuals who do not uphold their power over people's health care, by the use of their billion dollar profits. Why was this decision made? Because it is easier for businesses and corporations to take care of their profits, stocks and shareholders than it is to take care of people in need of health care services, better paying jobs and civil rights to pursue "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." To have to pay attention to the poor, the blind, those in captivity due to unequal rights, lack of health care and ability to take care of themselves and their families, makes many people just too damned uncomfortable. That's why this Gospel flies in the face of this Supreme Court decision. That is why LGBT individuals and all who care about themselves, health care and the future of democracy need to pay attention and be active in putting up new barriers in front of this ungodly decision.

I was recently asked "what can we do in the face of this decision that seems so final?" There are many things we can do to help. Among them is to sign the petition for Save Democracy . Also, we can also act by as much as possible letting those corporations who use their money against those who want civil rights, health care reform and better paying jobs, know that we will not support them and help them earn their billion dollar profits. Now this is easier said that done, because when we need something we need it, but when we do not, let's keep track of those who over step the use of their money and literally bankrupt them. We can also write our legislators and ask them to support legislation that will help in campaign finance reform.

We are asked today by Jesus in our Gospel to move beyond our comfort zones and be a voice for the poor, the blind, those marginalized by society, even if those people happen to be us. The good news for today is that all of us are in need of a Savior, and God has answered that prayer. Will we trust in God and do all we can for ourselves, the people of Haiti, Uganda and right here in our own Nation? Today, we heard our inaugural address, let's get to work and fulfill what we have promised to achieve.

Give us grace, O Lord, to answer readily the call of our Savior Jesus Christ and proclaim to all people the Good News of his salvation, that we and the whole world may perceive the glory of his marvelous works; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany, BCP, Page 215).

O merciful Father, who taught us in your holy Word that you would not willingly afflict us, look with pity upon the sorrows of the people of Haiti, the LGBT Community here and those in Uganda and Rwanda for whom our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for those in trouble or bereavement, BCP, Page 831)

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, BCP, Page 826).

Worship in Spirit, Truth and Compassion

John 4:22-26 (NRSV)

You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’ The woman said to him, ‘I know that Messiah is coming’ (who is called Christ). ‘When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am he the one who is speaking to you.’

Yesterday was a terrible day for our nation. The Supreme Court decision that corporations have the "right" to use unlimited amounts of money to affect national elections was a terrible ruling. It is terrible because it puts businesses and their profits first and people last. Love for our neighbors has been exchanged for love of corporate funds to sway political power. It is a decision that all who believe in democracy and the ability to fight for what is the right thing to do needs to be concerned about.

Following yesterday's decision several different individuals came together and said "let's try to do something about it." Among them Rep. Alan Grayson of Florida. If you click on his name link, you will be taken to a web site of his through which you can sign a petition to help him move forward six pieces of legislation that will help American's through the effects of the Supreme Courts decision yesterday. You can also sign a petition on the web site for People for the American Way . Lastly there is a web site called Move to Amend. All of these web sites will help us to become activists in response to the Supreme Courts decision yesterday.

Why is the subject of the Supreme Courts decision so important to this blog today? Because as I read the Gospels the one reality that I see is that Jesus Christ came to honor what is in people's hearts. The longing to be seen and loved as human beings created in the image and likeness of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and valued to the point of being saved from our sins. We long to go beyond the prejudices and destructive forces that are within this world. But, Lord knows we cannot achieve salvation on our own.

"Christian faith in salvation and liberation is based on a fundamental conviction that nothing in the world is simply fated to be. there is nothing in the universe that simply cannot be helped. No evil is so impregnable as to be absolutely irremediable. Everything is capable of renewal, and the world is destined to realize the utopia of the reign of God." --Leonardo Boff

God longs to redeem this world, and has already done so in Jesus. However, the fullness of salvation has yet to be realized when Jesus Christ returns at the end of time. But God does not leave us alone in our difficulties and struggles that are part of our human condition. In Jesus Christ, God shined God's Light onto all humankind and let us know that God is closest to us in our difficulties and celebrates all victories with us. When we are hurting, when the world is beyond our understanding and control, God is with us to help us embrace God's unconditional love and find a sense of peace in the midst of all conflicts.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are as affected by yesterday's terrible Supreme Court Decision as anyone else, but in many ways more so. Corporations that are against LGBT rights that includes the Catholic Church a "non-profit corporation" and even Evangelical Christians who are against LGBT rights and marriage equality can use their money to influence politicians and elections that do not work in our favor. However, there are other possibilities that could work to the LGBT Communities favor. Organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force are also "non-profit corporations". They can also be called upon by those of us who support them to put forth the money they receive and help win elections for the benefit of LGBT people. The point is, LGBT people are again on the spot and we are challenged to rise to the occasion.

In today's Gospel Jesus challenges us to worship God in Spirit and truth. We cannot worship God if we are not true to who we are, and if we do not allow the Holy Spirit to use and move us beyond our Pandoras Box. Apathy and in-activism in this day and age is just not a good choice at this time. Where we are able to use our voices, we must use them. Where we can make a difference, we must make that difference. When and where we can pray and worship God, seeking God's will in the midst of prejudice and corporate abuses of their funds and judges misusing their powers, we must pray and search for God's will and how we can cooperate with God's plan of salvation.

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Second Sunday After the Epiphany, BCP, Page 215).

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen. (A Prayer Attributed to St. Francis, BCP, Page 833).

Jesus the Living Water

John 4: 1-15 (NRSV)

Now when Jesus^* learned that the Pharisees had heard, ‘Jesus is making and baptizing more disciples than John’— ² although it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who baptized— ³he left Judea and started back to Galilee. ⁴But he had to go through Samaria. ⁵So he came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.

7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, ‘Give me a drink’. ⁸(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, ‘How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?’ (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.)^{* 10}Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink”, you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’ ¹¹The woman said to him, ‘Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?’ ¹³Jesus said to her, ‘Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.’ ¹⁵The woman said to him, ‘Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.’

These past few days have presented us all with some incredible challenges. The Proposition 8 trial continues to challenge everyone on the issue of Marriage Equality. The win of Republican Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts after the late Ted Kennedy held that seat for 47 years. This vote has caused the Democrats to take a hard look at how they are going to pass health care and deal with financial institutions that continue to benefit over Americans loosing their homes, jobs and life plans. Just this morning the Supreme Court approved for corporations "right" to spend "an unlimited amount of money to influence and manipulate Federal elections". As the Year 2010 proceeds the fight for LGBT rights is getting more challenging. Prejudice and corruption continues through out our nation. In addition, the country of Haiti already devastated by the earthquake last week experienced a terrible aftershock that continues to make the recovery process that much more difficult.

In Psalm 37:1-18 for morning prayer today we read in verses 1-7:

Do not fret because of the wicked;
do not be envious of wrongdoers,
²for they will soon fade like the grass,
and wither like the green herb.

³Trust in the Lord, and do good;
so you will live in the land, and enjoy security.
⁴Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

⁵Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him, and he will act.
⁶He will make your vindication shine like the light,
and the justice of your cause like the noonday.

⁷Be still before the Lord, and wait patiently for him;
do not fret over those who prosper in their way,
over those who carry out evil devices.

⁸Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath.
Do not fret—it leads only to evil.
⁹For the wicked shall be cut off,
but those who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land.

How can God ask us to be patient when there is so much evil afoot in the world? As people continue to suffer due to their race, religion, sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression, health, challenge, gender and for so many other reasons, how do we find God in the midst of all of these difficult circumstances.

One of the important foundations of Benedictine Spirituality is to search for God in all circumstances. For the purposes of what I want to say in my blog today, I am going to use the old Revised Standard Version for the next Bible quote. While I have regard for inclusive language, sometimes an older version can help me state what I wish to convey in a better way.

"For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile." (Jeremiah 29: 11-14).

While God in no way wills for violence and prejudice to happen, God is able to use such difficult circumstances to bring about great things if only God's people will trust in God.

In Jesus' encounter with the woman at the well, Jesus is confronted by the prejudices of his time. The Samaritans were people who were cut off from the worshiping community. In this exchange Jesus offers to the woman as he offers to all of us that water that will keep us from being thirsty. Jesus offers us new life through his own Living Water. The Living Waters of our Baptism, that have cleansed us from original sin and brought us into the fellowship of God's Church. Jesus reaches across the traditions that have separated class, politics, religions, genders and sexual orientations and/or gender expressions/identities and offered all of God's people that new and Living Water that comes from God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ. As we have been given the graces of that new and Living Water, we too are called to help reach across those divisions to bring forth new life, where prejudices and attitudes of equality still lay claim to our world. There are plenty of poor people within all communities of people that need the Disciples of Christ to reach out their hands, to serve and to love and to give. There are all kinds of people who feel unloved, unwanted and separated from life-giving communities.

Today is an opportunity to speak out about the evils that are taking place in our society and even within the Church. Today is an opportunity to help ourselves and others who experience marginalization and prejudice to know that they are not alone in their struggle to be free of civil and religious oppression. We have here in our time, in these days the opportunity to use our voices, our email accounts, our telephones and where possible our bank accounts to let people know what causes are important to us, and who needs the help of those who have the power to influence the laws of our land for the better. We can also volunteer our time to helping others to make the world a better place.

How will the Living Waters of Jesus Christ flow from us into the lives of those who are separated from society and the Church today?

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Second Sunday after Epiphany, BCP, Page 215).

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen. (Prayer found in BCP, Page 101).

O merciful Father, who taught us in your holy Word that you would not willingly affict us, look with pity upon the sorrows of the people of Haiti, the LGBT Community here and in Uganda and Rwanda for whom our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for those in trouble of bereavement, BCP, Page 831).

God So Loved the World

John 3:16-21 (NRSV)

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God."

Here is probably the most famous of Jesus' teachings in the whole Bible. John 3:16 is quoted about as much as Psalm 23. Even those who do not consider themselves to be religious know or have heard at one point or another John 3:16 and 17. It is indeed a beautiful text and one that is rightly remembered and cherished.

Even those things that we often cherish and remember fondly, go past us without giving some thought as to what they really mean. And so probably the best question to ask from this Gospel passage is: do we really believe that God so loved the world that God's Son Jesus Christ was sent to save us, because God did not send God's Son to condemn it?

From the way right wing Christians often talk we would think that all of the world was condemned even after God's Son was crucified and resurrected. Prejudice and inequality is so rampart in the world, the Church and society. Is that really a reflection of a world that God loved and so sent God's Son? No wonder so many people look and see and respond with the question: Where in the world is God?

Since last weeks devastating earthquake in Haiti, we have seen one incredible event after another that we would not see otherwise. We have seen Presidents of different political parties coming together to work to do the right thing for those who have perished and are in desperate need. I guess the only time we can put political differences aside is when their is an earthquake and thousands of people have been killed. We have seen nations that in other circumstances would be at each others throats for power coming together to help one poor nation who has been hit by devastation, death and destruction. Why can't nations talk peacefully and work together without a devastating earthquake to bring them together? Even churches and religious based organizations have come together to donate money, food, supplies and humans to work, doctors and nurses and all the like have come together because their hearts have been moved by another country in turmoil. Why can't we put our prejudices aside at other times and see in one another God's image and likeness in all human beings, who have been redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb of God and being sanctified by God's Holy Spirit?

God so loved the world that God gave God's Son for all. God sees all of the world as worth saving and cherishing. When the religious right makes the claim that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people cannot be among God's saved because of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity and/or expression they are wrong. God's love for all the world includes LGBT people. We are among God's Beloved in Christ, and through the death and resurrection of Christ we are among those that God saved. "God did not send God's Son into the world to condemn the world, but so that the world may be saved through him." Are not LGBT people among those whom God came into the world not to condemn, but save through God's only Begotten Son?

Because we are among God's beloved, we are called to make known our voices for equality and justice for LGBT people and all who are thought of as second class citizens. We must continue to speak up and take part in calling on our courts, our Congress, President and State legislators for marriage equality and protection of our rights under the law. We are among those whom God loved in the world when God sent Jesus to redeem it. We have every business speaking up and letting people know that we are among God's beloved, with whom God is well-pleased.

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany, Book of Common Prayer, Page 215)

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).

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. A Voice and A Purpose Driven by Justice and the Gospel

I was raised by a very prejudiced father. My father was a guy who had no tolerance for anything or anyone who was different than what he thought it or they should have been. A voice like Dr. Martin Luther King would not have been well received. Dr. Martin Luther King was a man who was considered different because of the color of his skin and because he stood for civil rights of those who were classified by others as second class citizens. Those whom society had thrown to the back of the bus or told that they had to go to different schools through segregation, Dr. King insisted that one day they would be in the same place, on the same buses, in the same schools and working side by side for justice, peace and equality.

Yet we know even in our time that equality is something that many consider to be a useless ambition. After all, women are not like men, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are not like heterosexuals to many, and people who are not caucasian are "no better than anyone else" so many today still say.

A few years ago when I used to work as a school bus driver in my local school district, every so often I would have conversations with a particular man who had very racist opinions and sometimes he and I would get into some arguments about the poor. He would say things like: "The people who live in poverty today, do not know what poverty means. They are there because they don't want to get out of it." I often tried to respond to him as someone who has been at the near poverty line time and time again. It often appeared easy for him to say what he said. He later would tell me about how he had only one pair of shoes when he was growing up in a poverty that many families today in his mind, do not know and will never know.

Dr. Martin Luther King's over all message was to find ways to bring all opposing parties together to the table to talk about equality for everyone. As far back as human history can go groups of people have always found reason to place one group of people below themselves. In many times and places in history, one group of people feels that they are so important that another group of people must suffer oppression at their hands. Leaders oppress non-leaders. Someone in power must be brought down by someone else more powerful. It's never been enough to say you are you, and I am me. You have yours and I have mine. Human history has lived time and again with people wanting what someone else has, so that there will be those who have an abundance and others who barely have what they need to survive.

The message of Jesus Christ and the message spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King was a message that every human being is created in the image and likeness of God. All people are loved and should be loved. All people make mistakes, and everyone at one time or another needs to be forgiven or ask forgiveness. Today is as good of a day as any to commit and recommit ourselves to working for justice, peace and equality in whatever capacity we find ourselves. We should never accept oppression, nor should we take part in being an oppressive people. However, we can come to that place where we understand things now that we did not understand at another point in time. We can begin to change the world for the better, and we can always play our part what ever that part happens to be.

Let us today remember Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by remembering all who still live with oppression and discrimination even if that happens to be ourselves. Let us pray and work together to make the world a better place for everyone.

O God, the creator and preserver of all, we humbly beseech you for all sorts and conditions of people; that you would be pleased to make your ways known unto them, your saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for your holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by your good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to your fatherly goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; that it may please you to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. (Prayer for All Sorts and Conditions, Book of Common Prayer, Page 814)

O merciful Father, who taught us in your holy Word that you would not willingly afflict us, look with pity upon the sorrows of the people of Haiti, LGBT people here and in Uganda and Rwanda for whom our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for those in trouble or bereavement, Book of Common Prayer, Page 831)

Lord our Governor, bless the leaders of our land, that we may be a people at peace among ourselves and a blessing to other nations of the earth.

Lord, keep this nation under your care.

To all who have executive authority and to all who have administrative authority, grant wisdom and grace in the exercise of their duties.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To those who make our laws give courage, wisdom, and foresight to provide for the needs of all our people, and to fulfill our obligations in the community of nations.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

To the Judges and officers of our Courts give understanding and integrity, that human rights may be safeguarded and justice served.

Give grace to your servants, O Lord.

And finally, teach our people to rely on your strength and to accept their responsibilities to their fellow citizens, that they may elect trustworthy leaders and make wise decisions for the well-being of our society; that we may serve you faithfully in our generation and honor your holy Name. For yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Amen. (Prayer for Sound Government, Book of Common Prayer, Page 821)

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).

Second Sunday After the Epiphany: God Manifests God's Self In New Ways

This weekends choices of readings gives us a lot to think about. Yet, all of them have some subjects of meditation and conversation by which we can talk about the Gospel's call and the full inclusion of LGBT people in society and the Church.

Some Episcopal congregations will be celebrating the Second Sunday after Epiphany by which the first reading they will use will be Isaiah 62:1-25. This wonderful reading tells us how God is doing new and wonderful things among God's people. God tells us that no longer will we be called: "Forsaken" or "Desolate". Instead we will be called God's Delight, and that our God "will rejoice in" us.

This reading would suggest that God sees all of his people as having great possibilities. Through the new work that God is going to to do, God is promising to deliver God's people from oppression and to give us a new identity and purpose. Today's Out in Scripture suggests:

Isaiah 62:1-5 is part of a collection of prophetic speeches often known as 'Third Isaiah' (chapters 56-66). These speeches are directed to the Israelites who are in exile in Babylon. The tone of the words is of comfort and hope. In chapter 62, the prophet assures the people that God will not keep silent, nor will God rest until "vindication shines out like the dawn" and "salvation burns out like a torch" (verse 1). God's deliverance of the people from oppression will shine in such a way that all will see it. In addition, the exiles will be given a new name, a fresh, new beginning.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people may identify with the exiles in this passage from Isaiah and with the prophet who speaks on behalf of God. In a time when the church is struggling with full inclusion of LGBT people, we can take comfort and hope in knowing God will not rest until there is a day when no-one will be in exile. LGBT people also join their voices with the prophet, covenanting not to keep silent, but instead to name and share their gifts with the larger church.

Other Episcopal congregations will be celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. The first reading for the Eucharistic Liturgy will be Exodus 3:7-12 the commissioning of Moses to go to Pharaoh to ask that the people of Israel be let go. This Scripture Reading also suggests a people held by oppression. As we prepare to remember the outstanding work of Martin Luther King, Jr. on Monday, we remember that he led America and many African Americans through a very difficult time. When African Americans were still being oppressed because of racism this outstanding person stepped forward and challenged the society of his time to a new understanding and a new civil rights movement was born.

In Pam's House Blend, Rev. Irene Monroe asks the question: "Would King have spoken out on LGBTQ Justice?"

King understood the interconnections of struggles. And an example of that understanding is when Martin Luther King said, "The revolution for human rights is opening up unhealthy areas in American life and permitting a new and wholesome healing to take place. Eventually the civil rights movement will have contributed infinitely more to the nation than the eradication of racial justice."

This statement clearly includes LGBTQ justice but would King have spoken on this subject at that time and even now?

King's now deceased wife says yes.

In 1998, Coretta Scott King addressed the LGBT group Lambda Legal in Chicago. In her speech, she said queer rights and civil rights were the same. "I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King's dream to make room at the table of brother and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people," she said.

Sadly, Bayard Rustin, the gay man who was chief organizer and strategist for the 1963 March on Washington that further catapulted Martin Luther King onto the world stage, was not the beneficiary of King's dream.

In the Civil Rights movement Bayard Rustin was always the man behind the scene and a large part of that had to due with the fact that he was gay. Because of their own homophobia, many African American ministers involved in the Civil Right movement would have nothing to do with Rustin, and they intentionally rumored throughout the movement that King was gay because of his close friendship with Rustin.

In considering LGBT justice, it is important to keep in mind that all of us who are considered "minorities" (a word I hate by the way) fight for the same causes essentially. All LGBT people want is to be recognized as equal members of society and that is all other minorities want as well. Yet, I have known all too many LGBT individuals who have no problem harboring a racist attitude. Likewise there are many African Americans such as Bishop Harry Jackson who have very anti-gay attitudes. Why can't we all see that we are fighting for the same causes.

In Paul's letter to the Corinthians chapter 12 1-11 it is apparent that the early Church had problems seeing the diversity of gifts in their time too. Just as many in our present day age do not see a different sexual orientation or gender identity/expression as a gift with great possibilities, so the Church in Corinth at the time of Paul was having a difficulty seeing how different people had different gifts. In today's Church as in the days of Paul, there are all kinds of people who bring their unique gifts in the service of God and the Church. Yet, because of people's presuppositions as to how things are suppose to be, people assume that if you are not a heterosexual then you are not quite right. The Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America looked at this very same issue last summer when they decided as Church bodies that LGBT individuals could be considered for discernment for all levels of ministry within the Church. These were outstanding days, because the Epiphany of the Lord was revealed as we have learned time and time again that different people come with different gifts and when they place them at the service of Christ and the Church amazing things can happen.

My partner Jason and I were privileged to be present for a reception of three Priests from other traditions who came with their unique selves and gifts to share with the Episcopal Church. Two of those Priests are gay men and you can read about them in this story link that I have provided.

In the Gospel of John 2:1-11 we read the story of Jesus changing the water into wine. As I wrote about this Gospel this past Friday, I am going to give you this weekends Out in Scripture commentary for a slightly different understanding.

In John 2:1-11, the turning of water into wine at the wedding feast of Cana is the first of seven signs Jesus performs in John's gospel. It is a traditional reading for this season — the first of many signs, epiphanies or manifestations. The signs function in the gospel to point to Jesus as the one sent from God (John 1:14) and to evoke faith in Jesus from the people who witness them. What seems to be the miracle in the story, based on the steward's reaction, is not only Jesus turning of the water into wine. The good news is expressed in the steward’s perception that the wine, the Jesus-made-wine, was the very best and saved for the last (John 2:10). Taste and see how good God truly is!

In the Collegeville Bible Commentary, New Testament Volume we read:

"John has also used this story to initiate his theology of glory."....and so revealed his glory" (v. 11). This is the beginning of a magnificent Johannine conception of glory as being God's manifested presence. God glorifies us when he manifests himself in us; we glorify him when we manifest him to the world. In this instance at Cana, God's presence is manifested in his Son, his Revealer." (Page 984)

This great reading suggests that when God takes something and puts it to God's use, wonderful and exciting things happen. Imagine what can happen when LGBT people place our sexual orientations and/or gender identities/expressions to use for God's work on earth in terms of working for justice and equality together how we can help change the world for the better. Think of the ways we can take the old water of prejudice and inequality and through the work of the Gospel of Jesus as our basis and help people understand that God desires to build a new society and a new Church where everyone can celebrate God's wonderful work together. God's abundant graces can work through our brokenness, our heart breaks, even the prejudices that we experience and turn them in to the wine of compassion, healing and work for justice, peace and the full inclusion of LGBT people in society and the Church.

Let today be a new day, as this Epiphany is about new beginnings. Let us offer our gifts to God, no matter what they are and put them to the service of God and the Church. May we look to Jesus as the One who came to make all things new and may Jesus make us new people to do a new work in a world stuck on the old ways of injustice and prejudice. Let Jesus use us to change that old water into the wine of compassion and mercy, and conversion of the hearts of people so that the work of justice and equality may indeed find room to be born, to be nurtured and to begin a new life today.

Almighty God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ is the light of the world: Grant that your people, illumined by your Word and Sacraments, may shine with the radiance of Christ's glory, that he may be known, worshiped, and obeyed to the ends of the earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, now and forever. Amen. (Collect for the Second Sunday of Epiphany, Book of Common Prayer, Page 215).

O merciful Father, who taught us in your holy Word that you would not willingly affict us, look with pity upon the sorrows of the people of Haiti, the LGBT community here and in Uganda and Rwanda for whom our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for People in Trouble or Bereavement, Book of Common Prayer, Page 831).

What Do We Bring to the House of God?

John 2: 13-22 (NRSV).

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. ¹⁴In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money-changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money-changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶He told those who were selling the doves, ‘Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a market-place!’ ¹⁷His disciples remembered that it was written, ‘Zeal for your house will consume me.’ ¹⁸The Jews then said to him, ‘What sign can you show us for doing this?’ ¹⁹Jesus answered them, ‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ ²⁰The Jews then said, ‘This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?’ ²¹But he was speaking of the temple of his body. ²²After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

If Jesus were here today, do you think he would tell evangelists like James Dobson and Pat Robertson to stop making his house into a market place against homosexuals? Did you know that anti-gay religious right organizations are a million dollar industry? Prejudice and discrimination, hate and encouraging division in the Church is a multi-million dollar market place. Yet, organizations such as the National Organization for Marriage and Focus on your own Family, promote the anti-gay agenda as doing the "Gospel" thing, at huge profits.

In all kinds of churches throughout this country, many of them have book stores and gift shops to help raise money to keep church doors open. There are those who would suggest that these kinds of things are similar to the money changers outside the Temple that Jesus threw out in the Gospel reading for today. I would suggest that selling books and other items to help us identify and better understand our faith is not quite the same kind of thing.

The idea that church-based organizations can be created for the purpose of promoting discrimination against homosexuals or any group of people so as to make a profit and look good to others is most definitely something that Gospel preaching Christians might want to look at. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people come to the house of God to offer their loving relationships, their struggles to come out and live honestly and openly as women and men of Faith. When religious-based organizations run campaigns against LGBT people, same-sex marriage and transgendered people and asking Christians to donate money to use against any group of people, it is far from a charitable cause.

Yet, even as LGBT Christians, we too need to be careful where we put our hearts and what we bring to the house of God. We need to bring to God our brokenness that is often the result of civil and religious oppression so that the Holy Spirit can heal us with her gentle graces. The holiness of God is as much like a Father's loving embrace and a Mother's gentle touch and caress of God's children. We need to bring to God our quest to make the world a better place for LGBT people and their families. However, we must be careful about bringing in with us the attitude that refuses to forgive those who hate us. The Gospel calls us to love those, yes even those who do not love us. God knows that forgiving others who hurt us is difficult. Do we think that Jesus crying out "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34) was easy for him to do? Ok, Jesus was God so therefore God could forgive all of us. Yet the God who forgave us, also has the power help us forgive others. We have to ask God for that grace that we may want to forgive. It may take us a while to ask for that grace, but it is a grace we all must ask for from time to time.

Today as we continue our journey through Epiphany we are called to examine what we bring with us to the house of God, as we pray for those who bring hate toward us as LGBT people to the house of God. Our relationships, our struggles, our happiness and our hurts must come to the house of God, so that God can help us at the point of our need. However, we must be careful that we also bring a heart willing to experience conversion and a new openness to the power or God working in our lives. This Season of Epiphany is about being open to new things taking place in our midst. A new Star led the three kings to the newborn King, the Baptism of Jesus was a new beginning in Salvation history, and the water changed into wine tells us that an old way of thinking about God's abundant goodness has past and a new manifestation of God through Christ has begun. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people must always be open to God's power working to doing new and wonderful things through us to help bring about justice and equality in a world that is still stuck in prejudice and discrimination for LGBT people.

How will we allow God to do new things in us in God's manifestation through Christ today?

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Collect for the Second Sunday after Epiphany: the Baptism of the Lord, Book of Common Prayer, Page 214).

O merciful Father, who taught us in your holy Word that you would not willingly afflict us, look with pity upon the sorrows of the people of Haiti, the LGBT Community here and in Uganda and Rwanda for whom our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for people in trouble or bereavement, Book of Common Prayer, Page 831).

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).

The Abundance of God's Goodness

John 2: 1-12 (NRSV)

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’ Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it. When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’ Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. ^234567891011

12 After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there for a few days.

This first of many miracles of Jesus is meant to help us understand that God is not utilitarian nor prudish as the Gospel for Gays has noted. The turning of water into wine that occurred here is an assurance of God's abundant goodness that never runs out, nor is it discriminatory. God's loving presence is shared with all of humanity as God manifests God's glorious presence and kindness through the incarnate Word. God's goodness never leaves us without more than we could ask or imagine (see Ephesians 3:20, 21). God is always ready and willing make God's Self present and available if we will only trust and believe in God. God wishes to serve us at the point of our need and meet us at our hearts desire.

It is suggested that perhaps this particular wedding that Jesus attended could have been a gay wedding. If the wedding Jesus attended did turn out to be a gay wedding, would that change this story? Or would it just change how some read this story? Do we read the Gospel of Jesus reading what we want to see, or do we put into the Gospel story things that are not really there? Is it possible that conservative Christians who have been preaching against same-sex marriage and pushing for constitutional amendments against gay marriage such as what has happened in Iowa, could it be that they have had it wrong for over 2,000 years? If that proves to be the case will organizations like NOM and Stand for Marriage Maine admit that they've been doing it wrong?

It is amazing to me how the Goodness of God flows so wonderfully to everyone without distinction or prejudice. Yet, when people make the decision that a particular group of people such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are violating their comfort zones, that they make the decision to go all out against us "in the Name of God." However, God's Goodness does not stop at the door of our sexual orientation or gender identities/expressions. God's manifestation in Christ and the message of Salvation includes LGBT people. LGBT people are part of God's amazing plan to help us see that God loves everyone, totally and without reservation. The Goodness of God always flows in abundance for everyone to experience and receive with joy, thankfulness and loving affection. The unique ability to love people of the same sex or those who are transgendered is one way in which God's Goodness has flowed over all of God's creation and brought into the center LGBT people who are so very precious to God.

How do we as LGBT people celebrate the Goodness of God in our lives? How do we share that abundance with our partner/lover, friends, family and in our work place? How do we make use of the overflowing Goodness of God to help bring down those walls of prejudice and hate for LGBT people in society and the Church? Where do we see God's abundance coming into our lives in those complicated relationships, with people that hurt us, or challenge us in our acceptance of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expressions? Where is a place in our lives where we are not letting the abundance of God's unconditional and all inclusive love enter our lives and convert our hearts? Do we hear Jesus knocking on the doors of our hearts? What might be preventing us from letting Jesus come in and share with us the Goodness of God's Grace?

Manifest at Jordan's stream, Prophet, Priest and King supreme;
and at Cana, wedding guest, in thy God-head manifest; Manifest in power divine, changing water in to wine; anthems be to thee addressed, God in man made manifest.(Songs of Thankfulness and Praise, Hymnal 1982, #135).

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of the Lord, Book of Common Prayer, Page 214).

O merciful Father, who taught us in your holy Word that you would not willingly afflict us, look with pity upon the sorrows of the people of Haiti, the LGBT Community here and in Uganda and Rwanda for whom our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for people in trouble or bereavement, Book of Common Prayer, Page 831).

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).

Come and See, Holy Partners, Follow Jesus Christ

Yesterday we read during our Daily Office that after John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said: "Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world," two of John's disciples asked Jesus: "Rabbi, Where are you staying?" Jesus answered them saying "Come and see." (See John 1:28 to 42).

In today's Office we read that Jesus found Philip who would be one of Jesus' disciples and said: "Follow me" (See John 1:43-51). In addition there is a wonderful call given to us through the writer of the Hebrews today. In Hebrews 3:1 the writer begins with: "Therefore, brothers and sisters, holy partners in a heavenly calling,,,"

How does one say WOW!? All of God's creation is called to recognize Jesus, God's perfect revelation as the Lamb of God who will take away our sin. Furthermore, all who desire to follow him, have answered God's call and then are invited to go and see where Jesus is staying. What's more, we are considered "holy partners in a heavenly calling." So much good news, so many blessings, it is like Christmas day all over again.

As we continue through this season of Epiphany when God manifests God's Self through God's incarnate Word, God also invites all of us to know Jesus better, to follow him and to become holy partners in the work of God's salvation and redemption. When we go to see where Jesus stays, we see that he stays with those who are marginalized and considered outcasts of society. God calls those who catch fish for a living, or collect taxes, even those called sinners by society to come and follow Jesus and become holy partners in the heavenly calling of letting the world know of God's unconditional and all inclusive love. We are called to recognize God's incredible gift of God's perfect revelation in Jesus and to share the gifts that have been given to each of us through God creating all of us in love, to help share the Gospel.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are called by God to recognize our unique gift of loving other people and to use it to share God's love and compassion with others who are regarded as outcasts of society. Many LGBT individuals think that God has no use for them because of what people from the religious right have said about them based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. This is why the organization called Soul Force calls what the religious right does Spiritual violence. Our sexuality is God's gift to us, to share with our lovers, partners, boy/girl friends and other friends in various ways that they are loved by God and that their presence in this world is valued by us and by their Creator. When Pope Benedict says that gay people are a threat to humanity, he is committing Spiritual violence toward LGBT people. The very people God creates with a unique capacity to love in a different way than what others call "normal" is blessed by God. Jesus loved other people in unique way, so God has blessed LGBT people with that wonderful and unique way to love.

When Jesus answered his soon to be disciples to"come and see" he is invited them and all Christians to learn to love and know God in new and different ways. The times in which Jesus lived and loved, were times when the religious establishment had made rules about who was to be welcomed in to God's house and community, and who was not. They were suppose to be of a particular way of living, thinking and behaving. If they did not live, think or behave in the way they were expected, they were suppose to stay away from God's house and community. This sounds an awful lot like what LGBT people experience from the religious right. A people with a wonderful way of loving that is not quite what heterosexism says. Heterosexism is that sin that makes sure that heterosexuality is understood as normal, appropriate and healthy, while anything other than including homosexuality and bisexuality and transgendered people are to be seen as deranged, unhealthy, inappropriate. Jesus in his ministry and life made those who were understood to be abnormal, unhealthy and inappropriate know that God has a very special place for them within God's community of love. In Matthew 19:10 to 12, Jesus made very clear that the "eunuchs" the homosexuals of his time were blessed of God. That means LGBT people are called to see where Jesus stays, that we are God's holy partners in the heavenly calling and that we are to follow Jesus and find redemption and salvation through him.

What wonderful, wonderful news. This means that Pat Robertson is not only blatantly wrong about the earthquake hitting Haiti because they made a pact with the devil centuries ago, but he is also wrong about condemning LGBT people. It also means that the Supreme Court has made an unjust decision on not allowing the proceedings of the Prop 8 trial to be made public through UTube. It means that the National Organization for Marriage is not protecting the rights of others when they raise money and use it to take marriage equality laws away from States that pass them. It means that LGBT people are included as God's holy partners in helping the world know that God loves us all. The Gospel message is our commission to continue our work for LGBT equality under the laws of our land. This is why we must call on our civil and religious leaders to stop the oppression of LGBT people.

How will we follow Jesus as holy partners today?

Father in heaven, who at the baptism of Jesus in the River Jordan proclaimed him your beloved Son and anointed him with the Holy Spirit: Grant that all who are baptized into his Name may keep the covenant they have made, and boldly confess him as Lord and Savior; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Collect for First Sunday after Epiphany, The Baptism of the Lord, Book of Common Prayer, Page 214).

O merciful Father, who taught us in your holy Word that you would not willingly afflict us, look with pity upon the sorrows of the people of Haiti, the LGBT community here and in Uganda and Rwanda for whom our prayers are offered. Remember them, O Lord, in mercy, nourish their souls with patience, comfort them with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon them, and give them peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for those in trouble or bereavement, Book of Common Prayer, Page 831).