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).