Would We Also Be Willing to Feed Judas?

"Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared: "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.  One of his disciples--whom Jesus loved--was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him: "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish."  So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.  After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him.  Jesus said to him: "Do quickly what you are going to do." Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.  Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival"; or, that he should give something to the poor.  So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out, and it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said: "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.  If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once."

They say that dinner time can be the most contentious time of the day.  How many television shows or movies have we seen where an emotional discussion happens while the characters are eating.  May be a little brother has told his parents some big secret about his sister to his parents while everyone is dining.  Suddenly the entire evening is thrown into chaos.  Family is no longer eating peacefully because everyone is arguing.  Mother is trying to calm the father down, while sister wants to beat up the brother that just told the secret.  No one at the dinner table is happy. Yet, because there is a recognition that family is there, somehow they work things out.  Things may not be quite the way they want it.  The tensions need time to calm down.

It is one thing to eat with our friends and those we love.  It is quite another to have dinner with someone who has caused us deep pain. It is something all together different when we know someone who is sitting at table with us is about to hurt us. Most of us would take that person to task right away. We would do everything within our power to stop that person from what ever they are about to do.  The last thing we would think of doing is feeding that person.  But Jesus does exactly that. Jesus feds Judas with bread.  Jesus knows that Judas is about to betray him and hand him over.  Jesus does not try to reason with Judas or persuade him away from what Judas is about to do.  Jesus feeds Judas and sends him to do what Judas intends on doing.

The disciples are Jesus' family.  They have lived with Jesus, traveled, listened and lodged with Jesus throughout much of his public ministry.  Yet it is one of Jesus' own who betrays him.  Jesus still chooses to love even the one who is about to turn him in and have him killed. Jesus loves Judas by feeding him.

Many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people have been hurt by members of their own family.  This is particularly true for those LGBT people who have been raised in homes that are full of staunch conservatives Catholics and Christians.  As soon as a questioning member of the family comes out and announces that they are LGBT, they might experience abandonment, shame and even get thrown out of their home.  Such an experience happened to a gay youth in Atlanta who is bringing his boyfriend to the High School Prom.  Because he has become news, his parents have thrown him out of the family home.  Many parents have been known to take their gay youth to Exodus International where they are put into "change camps" after learning that their child is gay.  The problem with such behavior on the part of the parents is they often end up closing the door for the gay youth to ever return and find peace within the family.  For the LGBT youth, they are often turned out into a world where they learn about life the hard way.  This is why many LGBT youth often wind up prostituting themselves and contract HIV/AIDS and other STD's.

LGBT people experience great pain from a variety of people.  Parents, friends, churches, Priests, Bishops, the Pope, ministers, lay people and the names can be countless.  However, it is important that LGBT people never stop trying to "feed" our opponents with the bread of what it means to be LGBT.  Much of what happens to LGBT people is the result of unbelievable ignorance that results in a total lack of charity.  It is so difficult to love those who continue to bash and hurt LGBT people.  Given the political climate of groups such as the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), Focus on the Family and others, I don't think we will experience much relief from how much LGBT people will continue to experience.  This is why it is important for LGBT people to become involved with a PFLAG group and find helpful resources and relationships.  While it may be necessary to break some relationships for the time being, it is important that at some point in time everyone returns to the table to discuss things to see if new roads to reconciliation and healing can be begun.  The reconciliation and healing cannot happen very quickly.  There is just too much heart break and pain. But eventually, that pain needs to be faced for what it is.  And in one way or another the walls need to be broken down. The biggest wall that often needs to be broken down so that healing and reconciliation can begin is prejudice.

Are we willing to feed the Judas' of our lives?  Are we willing to come to the table with those who oppose us with the intention to feed them and in some cases allow them to feed us too.  By no means should we accept being fed by discrimination often disguised as the best vegetable. But we can come to the conversation asking for the bread that is compassion, understanding and mercy that can be understood and shared by all.  Can we offer that bread to those we are most angry with?  I can honestly answer that question no on many accounts.  I need the prayers of my friends and family and the healing of the Holy Spirit to arrive at that point.  I am an individual who has my father's blood in me that says only my opinion counts.  However, when we are talking about LGBT individuals and the prejudice we experience because of heterosexism, we are no longer talking about an opinion.  We are talking about an attitude that is said to be an opinion to be the excuse for such biased behavior. We are not talking about excusing the behavior here.  We are talking about conversing with the people who hold those opinions.  They are the one's that need to know the Bread of Life that is Jesus Christ who is God's compassion, mercy, understanding and peace. 

We pray for the healing of the hurt we experience because of heterosexism and ask God to lead us and those who have attitudes of discrimination to a place of reconciliation.  We will get there if we can once in a while reach across the table and serve those who have hurt us.  It will cost us something, just like sharing bread with Judas cost Jesus something. But the healing and peace we will know will find us sharing the joys of new life that the Easter Mysteries promise to bring us.

Lord God, who blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Wednesday in Holy Week, BCP, Page 220).

Do We Draw All People to Christ? Do We Walk in the Light?

"Now is the judgment of this world; now is the ruler of this world will be driven out.  And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself."  He said this to indicate the kind of death he would die. The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever.  How can  you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up?  Who is this Son of Man?"  Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you.  If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light." (John 12:31-36).

The news reports yesterday about nine members of a militia group that were arrested in Michigan was quite scary.  It was even more frightening to learn that they believed they were working in the Name of Jesus.  They believed that they were preparing to battle the Anti-Christ.  Their way of preparing was to shoot police officers and then prepare to fire their guns at police officers funerals.  The outrageous violence that is said to be for a Christian "cause" is nothing more than an excuse to behave recklessly.

Given all of the history of Christianity that is full of violence, murder and hypocrisy why should people continue to believe in the message of salvation through Jesus Christ.  When Jesus said he would draw all people to himself when he was lifted up on the Cross, I don't think he meant that it was a reason to kill people or keep people out of the Church.  When Jesus talked about drawing all people to himself when he was lifted up on the Cross, he literally meant that he was spreading his arms "on the hard wood of the Cross that everyone might come within the reach of [his] saving embrace." (Book of Common Prayer, Page 101).

When I think of all the right wing Christians talking against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, working to deny people health care reform because the bill doesn't match their moralistic ideals, I find myself looking at Jesus on the Crucifix behind me on the wall and praying.  I pray that people will stop using Jesus as their lame excuse for their prejudices and furthering the "ruler of this world" and the crusade for violence and destruction.  Jesus did not get lifted high on the Cross to be used as an excuse for bias, war, lack of charity and the furthering of capitalism.  The crucifixion is no reason to advance sexism, racism, divisions by class, heterosexism and the total disregard for the sick, challenged and lonely.

Instead, Jesus challenges all who follow him to "Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you.  If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going.  While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light." (John 12: 35b to 36).  Following Jesus means to welcome the stranger and care for those who are sick and lonely. Being a disciple of Jesus means that we should care about those that the Church would prefer to leave behind due to the bias that still lives there. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are women and men who come with an amazing desire to love and be loved.  Many LGBT people long more than anything to draw closer to Jesus who was lifted up to draw them to himself.  LGBT people just like all people want to come close to God and to know that we are loved to the point that the Son of God gave his life for us.  The LGBT people desire to walk in the light and to help serve those who are stigmatized by society and the Church.  What LGBT people do not need is those insisting that God wants us to change the very essence of who we are to serve God.  While we have sins that we need to confess and repent from, being LGBT and longing to love another person in a loving committed relationship is not one of those sins.

Walking in the light, means desiring to serve in the Name of the One who was lifted high and drew all to himself.  Such a concept means that we too are drawn to the Cross where Jesus died to not only offer ourselves with Christ, but to give of ourselves to and for others in service and love.  By our Baptism, all of us have been baptized in to Christ and are called to share in his death and resurrection through our service of one another.

May our work and prayers during this Holy Week bring those who seek to do violence in the Name of Jesus to a place where they seek peace and justice for all.  May those who think that Jesus Christ does not want them as part of the Church know that is the furthest thing from the truth.  May we who claim to be Disciples of Jesus work to help build a better kingdom of God through our own commitment to peace, justice and equality for all people.

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the Cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit; one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.  (Collect for Tuesday in Holy Week, BCP, Page 220).

Where Are We In Holy Week?

Mark 11:15-18 (NRSV)

Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, "Is it not written,  'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers."  And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 

There are some days when what is going on in the Church makes me down right angry.  When I hear about the sex abuse scandals that are being talked about in the media, it makes me angry.  When Archbishop Rowan Williams says the Episcopal Church should exercise "gracious restraint" in the ordination and consecration of lesbian and gay bishops, it makes me angry.  Some of us know of situations in our own churches and congregations that make us mad.  When we see hypocrisy such as the Church causing and/or ignoring the problems of our society all the way from health care to social justice for LGBT people it can really create anger in us.

What I love about the story of Jesus chasing the money changers out of the temple, is that Jesus got mad.  He saw something going on that just made him so angry.  Jesus saw injustice happening.  Jesus looked and noticed people misusing the house of God for purposes other than what it is there for.  Jesus got mad and drove them out of there.  Jesus threw one incredible temper tantrum did he not?  It was as if Jesus just said: "To Wanda!" and just went for it. Jesus picked up a big stick and broke the money jars of those who were collecting the money. He threw every thing into complete chaos.  


Some times when Christians see injustice going on in their own church communities, they react and then they figure what's the use?  God gave us the amazing emotions that we have for a reason. Anger can help us to decide to act on what is wrong in the Church and society.  It is true that there are many ways that we can react to our anger that are not a good idea.  But there are also moments when we just have to let the people in charge know that we are not approving of what we are seeing.  Those of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered need to let those who are supporting the attitude of heterosexism know, that it is not a Gospel response to diversity.  


The anger that many LGBT people feel towards Christians who are opposing marriage equality, the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, ENDA and the inclusion of same-sex couples immigrating to the US, is a good and right anger.  We can act on that anger through dialogue, letters to the editor of our local newspapers, blogging, helping out with the campaigns of those who support LGBT equality.  We can also help overturn the tables of injustice and inequality in our churches by helping out in our LGBT action groups such as Integrity, Lutherans Concerned and many other programs based in the denominations of our church communities.  The point is, we do not have to accept injustice and inequality.  We can do something about it.  We can get involved, speak up and tell people why the full inclusion of LGBT people in society and the Church is important.  


Speaking up about injustice is risky business.  We will face opposition for doing the right thing. We will hear from people like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council and many others like him.  We will find hypocrisy and conspiracy within the religious right that will seek to take us out just because we are LGBT and seeking equality in society and the Church.  Like Jesus, we can continue on our way never giving up, even if it means coming to the Cross and giving ourselves up completely for what is right, just and good.  God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ helps us know that God faces everything including our death with us.  We face opposition with God before, behind, around and above us in every moment of every day.  


As Holy Week will lead us to the passion and death of Jesus, may we follow him knowing that the resurrection is our hope as it was also his.

Almighty God, whose dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other that the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Monday of Holy Week, Book of Common Prayer (BCP), Page 220).

Passion/Palm Sunday: A Story of Passion and Liberation

Holy Week and the events surrounding the passion, death and resurrection of Christ are in their own way a parallel story about life. Each part of the passion narrative presents something we can all identify with. Like all stories in the Bible the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem to prepare for the events that will lead to his death and resurrection, have a lot to say to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people.

As I think of the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem with all of the people shouting to his welcome, I cannot help but be drawn to the reality that many of these same people shouted "Crucify him! Crucify him!" at his trial. What originally began as a wonderful reception, ended with betrayal and character assassination. The very essence of who Jesus was, was ridiculed and ordered to be put to death. This can mirror the experience of many LGBT people who attempt to come to the church seeking a sense of understanding of themselves. The very people that should welcome LGBT people and help them to seek out God's will as they are, sometimes play welcome only to try to change their sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression. This is the experience of many LGBT people who might have mistakenly approached a Catholic and/or Protestant Evangelical experience. Those who give a warm welcome, do so with hidden motives that are destructive to someone who is LGBT.

The entire passion narrative in Luke chapters 22 and 23 have many important overtones in it. Out in Scripture for Passion/Palm Sunday offers some insights.

Chapters 22-23 of Luke comprise the gospel's passion narrative. The word "passion" comes from the Latin word meaning suffering. The story catalogues Jesus' suffering as the consequences for being faithful to his identity as God's agent. Jesus embodies a God-given commission that manifests David's rule in the midst of imperial power (Luke 1:32) and transforms societal structures and norms (Luke 4:18-19 and Isaiah 61). Compare these verses with Psalm 72 for an outline of a ruler's responsibilities to provide justice and resources for the poor and needy.

The Jerusalem elite, allies of Rome in exercising power to defend — not change — the status quo, want to kill this messenger, Jesus, with a different social vision (Luke 22:2, 52-54). Various followers abandon him and the struggle for a different world (22:3-6, 21, 24-27, 31-34, 47-50, 54-62). Jesus is beaten and verbally abused (22:63-71). The Roman governor sides with his Jerusalem allies and crucifies him (23:1-25).

This passion narrative holds within it the rich kernels of the revolutionary struggles of the colonized Jews against the powers of oppression exerted by Rome and their Jewish upper-class collaborators. The hopes of the marginalized for liberation get dashed not only in the lynching of the leader of the revolution but also in the telling of the story. The liberating and revolutionary story has been all too often reduced to an inner religious struggle devoid of its political overtones.

Out in Scripture offers a few reflective questions that we might apply to the commentary they provided.

When do our own struggles for liberation against oppressive policies and doctrines which crush people along lines of race, gender, sexuality, class, nationality, age and the like get perverted? When have we lost sight of the struggles by fighting each other and letting our stories be diverted into escapist religion highlighting "dreams" and ignoring the risky demands for justice?

Among the ideas that the above commentary offers is the idea that Jesus was crucified because of his faithfulness to his mission as Savior and Deliverer. The One who seeks to do justice faces the greatest oppression. Jesus is committed to justice for the marginalized of society. His love for the stigmatized will ultimately cost him his life. Yet, Jesus kept true to his work.

Sometimes in our work for LGBT equality it can be very difficult to keep a good focus on our work. The prejudice that LGBT people are subject to, can weaken us as we speak up for equal rights. Because working for LGBT equality is the right thing to do, we must keep to our task. Seeking justice for those of us who are looked upon as second class citizens is undeniably the right thing to do. Even if churches and political groups think we are wrong. Not seeking equal rights protection in the public policies in society and our churches is wrong.

I know I am very much in danger of contradicting myself from yesterday's blog when I said that the church should stay out of the civil struggle for marriage equality. The goal is to achieve the full inclusion of LGBT people within Society and the Church. We do that by incorporating justice and equality in every area of our lives.

Liturgical worship's aim is to show that what and how we worship integrates itself with every day life. Jesus brought the message of God's inclusive and extravagant love into all the world through his compassionate work for justice. Those of us who are LGBT and follow Jesus, need to follow his example. We may suffer much for being faithfulness, but in the end it is the right thing to do.

Almighty and ever living God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us an example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Sunday of the Passion: Palm Sunday, BCP, 219).

Fifth Friday of Lent; The Cross, God Made Vulnerable

There are many things I can write about the Cross. The Cross on which Jesus Christ died is the means by which God sought to save us from sin. That much is known by most Christians. When we look at the Cross as a mere abstract image it is very easy to forget what really happened there. But when we open the book called the Cross and search deeper into the mystery of what happened there, we see that the Cross is as beautiful love story. The Cross is the story about how God made God's Self very vulnerable and accepted our response to God's offer.

The Cross is a love story. It is a novel written with the greatest love found within it's many pages. The night before Jesus was crucified, he gave his disciples one last commandment. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." (John 15:12-13). God's love for all of us was so great that Jesus laid down his life for all of us. This story of love that culminates in the Cross and ends with the resurrection, tells us that God risked all in Jesus and we are the beneficiaries of God's incredible gift.

This idea sounds way too close to the idea of sex. The idea of the Cross being God making God's Self vulnerable in the Person of Christ, is very close to what happens when two people share in a sexual experience.

In Bishop Gene Robinson's Book: In the Eye of the Storm, he writes:

"The vulnerability inherent in God's creation of the world, and in God's becoming flesh in Jesus, is the key to unlocking the power and meaning of human sexuality. The spiritual and physical union between two people mirrors the relationship God desires with humankind. The longing of a husband for a wife, a lover for the beloved, mirrors God's longing for us. A lover's sheer delight in the body of the beloved reflects God's sheer delight in us.

When lovemaking is really right, it's perhaps as close as we can come to knowing the kind of desire and love God holds for us. When we give ourselves to another in lovemaking, we participate in the kind of self-giving love that God has for us. This kind of love is sacramental, offering a window into the heart of the Creator. When I can express with my body what I'm feeling with my heart, the integration of body and soul is astounding. That's what we mean when we say marriage signifies the mystery of the union between Christ and the church.

That kind of experience doesn't happen to us human beings very often, even in the context of marriage. It's an ideal that we're just too self-centered to manage very often. But if you've ever come close to it you know it. And you know you've participated in something more than great sex; it is a fleeting, momentary participation in the nature of God." (Pages 38, 39).

I found the Rev. Canon Susan Russell's inclusion of the recent Theological Paper on Same-Sex Relationships that was presented at the recent meeting of the House of Bishops in the Episcopal Church to be very relevant and inspiring.

That said, I found this piece from theology committee member Deirdre Good's blog hopeful. It's from the introduction given by theologian Willis Jenkins to the presentation of the report to the House of Bishops -- which Good has posted with permission in its entirety on her blog -- but these were the two excerpts that "caught my eye:"

We do not plead for inclusion in marriage on the basis of rights, nor do we claim liberty for marriage on the basis of justice. Instead we show how all our marriages make sense within the church’s prayers and its proclamation of the gospel. Reading scripture in recognition of gifts of the Spirit evident in same- and other-sex couples, we present ourselves within the frame of an analogous debate: that of the earliest church wrestling with the question of Gentile inclusion.

By offering this frame of argument, those in same-sex marriages allow themselves and their relationships to become vulnerable to “our” interpretation. Our response, I contend, should be similar to how Peter, James, and Paul responded: by giving witness to gifts of the Spirit among these couples and making a way forward that respects tradition.

There has been way too much written and said about the pro's and cons about marriage equality over these years. The National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council continue their assault on LGBT people over the issue of marriage. I agree with Rev. Canon Susan Russell when she said: "Yes, I'm tired of my life and relationship being "studied." In my own humble opinion that may or may not be shared by all, the decision of LGBT couples expressing their love for each other in the institution of marriage is one in which the church needs to debate with in itself, but not interject itself in the issue with the State. The United States of America is one of a few countries where Ministers in religious institutions are agents of the State when it comes to marriage licenses. Let those churches that wish to perform marriage ceremonies for LGBT couples perform them, and those that do not wish should not be forced bless the relationships of same-sex couples. However, the issue of whether marriages should be legal in the civil arena, that is for the States to take up with those who are for marriage equality and those who are against. Should religious minded people including Bishops and Clergy be speaking up in support or against marriage equality? Under the idea of freedom of speech, I would say, if that is what they want to do, that is their right. But, as far as acting as a political action committee (PAC) to influence the State's decision to or not to enact marriage equality, no, the churches and religious organizations need to get out of that part of the debate. Those of us who are LGBT are tired of religious organizations making judgments upon our relationships, and deciding just how, when and where we should be able to decide the level of our devotion in our same-sex relationships. Those of us who chose to be in monogamous committed same-sex relationships are adult enough to make our own commitments as to how we make ourselves vulnerable to our partners to the degree that we too share in the love of Jesus Christ and his Cross. Religious funded organizations have no business attempting to fix the laws of the land based on how they perceive our relationships.

If I am sounding a bit angry here, the truth is, I am. Our local Catholic Archdiocese has decided to stick their nose into our struggle for marriage equality. Given all that's been going on the the Catholic church in the past few weeks, I can only react to this news with anger. We need the progressives within our Country and States to become active in the struggle for marriage equality. We cannot just sit idle and let the Religious institutions work to take the fight out of the hands of those of us who have been working hard to get us to this point after all these years.

Within the book called the Cross is a love story. It is a love story that plays itself out in the lives and love of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people and straight people a like. It is a love story that continues as we work for marriage equality and as we live out our lives with our partners, husbands, wives, friends and those we love so very much. This love story is why I love the last stanza of the hymn: "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" so much.

"Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small; love so amazing so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." (Hymn #474, Hymnal 1982).

The Annunciation: A New Beginning for All.

Here we are on March 25th. Palm Sunday is four days away. Suddenly, it is the Annunciation, when we remember the Angel Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary to announce that she would be the mother of God Incarnate. It is a wonderful time to reflect that as we are getting ready to celebrate the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, here at the Annunciation is the nine month preparation before Christmas arrives.

I don't know about you, but I don't like to think of Christmas shopping quite yet. I am too busy getting ready to enjoy Easter, Spring and Summer. The Church calendar works in such a way that it reminds us that the journey we are about to start with Christ in Holy Week began when Mary received the news that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ. In the Eastern Church, the Paschal Mystery which we will celebrate next week, began at Christ's birth. Meaning that at the moment when God took on the flesh of humankind and became one like us is the moment Christ's suffering on behalf of humankind began. The Episcopal Church likes to blend Western and Eastern Christian Theology to give room for diversity.

The Annunciation as well as the events of Holy Week that we will begin recalling next week are an invitation to reflect on who Jesus Christ is and what he means to those who believe themselves to be Christians. Jesus Christ came, lived and gave himself up for all who were on the margins of society and the religious leaders of his time. What Christ did when he was among us, he continues to do through the ministry of the Church. The work of the Gospel to invite the stigmatized to find God's love and mercy in Christ, is the also the main ministry of the Church. If the Church takes this mission seriously, then we must also acknowledge that no amount of prejudice toward any group of people is appropriate. Any level of violence and hatred that leads people to the feeling that any group of people must be stamped out because they do not fit our agenda, has to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Unfortunately there is still a lot of prejudice that lives in the Church today. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are one of a few groups of people that continue to experience such bias. When the religious right continues their crusade to keep LGBT people from obtaining their equal rights, by proclaiming us to be dirty, unacceptable or labeling LGBT people as pedophiles, or interested in bestiality, it is denigrating. Such remarks and behavior are a contradiction to the very nature of who Jesus Christ is. They violate the very purpose of Jesus Christ coming among us through the Virgin Mary.

Reports of child sex abuse continue to come forward in the Catholic church. All Pope Benedict can say is that the abuse is the result of how many gay priests are in the church. Rather than accept responsibility and be accountable for the lives that are so devastated by the abuse, the clerical leadership of the Catholic church has chosen to be like the elder son in the story of the Prodigal Child. "They are the one's most sinful, not us." The very fact that this went unchallenged for as long as it did, and that it is spread all over the world as it is, tells the level of irresponsibility of Catholic leadership towards the people their lack of action has affected. Yet, the reason all of this has happened, according to the Pope is because of all of the gay priests that are in the Priesthood, as well as the accessibility of pornography on the internet that lures his priests into misbehavior. This is a perfect example of how prejudice and hypocrisy is unfortunately very much alive in the Christian faith.

As we think about the Annunciation I think it is important to remember that Christ came into a world full of violence, hate and bias. We still live in such a world. The Church like Jesus, must meet the challenges of our present culture with a determination to meet violence, hate and bias with peaceful, all inclusive love. This is very difficult to do, because all of us have that human natural tendency to fight violence with violence. However, progressive Christians have a great history of avoiding becoming like the tea party folks who have stooped to throwing bricks through Democratic office windows. Progressive Christians meet these challenges through grassroots community organizing, candle light vigils and parades that celebrate diversity in all of it's many forms. These are excellent ways to stamp out the prejudices of our time. They must continue and we need new people with new ideas to come forward and offer to lead others to peaceful resolutions to conflicts.

As we celebrate the Annunciation, let us pray that the effects of the Incarnation of Jesus will not end with the Gospel story, but will come alive through our participation in the events. Those events come alive when we challenge people about routing out discrimination and violence from the world around us. Such challenges shake people up, but they also help convert old ideas and start new ones. The Annunciation was the start of something new that changed many lives. Hopefully, through our continued participation in the life of the Gospel through our own lives, what happened at the Annunciation will continue to be lived out in our time.

Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord, that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought to the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, on God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Annunciation, BCP, Page 240).

Where is the Health Care Reform Plan for Social Diseases?

2 Corinthians 2:14 to 16a (NRSV).

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.

What an incredible three days it has been since the health care reform bill was passed by the House. The news has been jumping all over about all of the controversy surrounding health care reform from those who are happy it happened, to others who are not so pleased.

What cannot be ignored in any way, shape or form is the growing violence that has been sparked by the tea party movement. In their attempts to stop health care reform from passing they have resorted to outrageous racial remarks. Their remarks included an anti-gay slur aimed at Rep. Barney Frank on his way into the House to cast his vote for health care reform. Since that began a wide degree of violence has begun all over America that has included everything from the vandalism of Democratic offices to threatening to assassinate the children of Democrats who voted in favor of health care reform. The problem with all of this that I see, is Christians who believe they are perpetrating such acts of violence in the Name of God. Taking a position of disagreeing and seeking to change things to the way they would like them is one thing. Using violence and racial language to achieve it, can not be understood or seen as anything good.

As I was searching for a Bible verse to use for today's blog entry I was drawn to the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians, specifically the verse that says: "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life." (Vs. 15 to 16a).

When I think of an aroma, I think of something that smells beautiful and wonderful. It is amazing how we can walk through the day totally depressed about things that are going on in our life, until we step into a bakery and smell the aroma of fresh baked bread. Suddenly those things we are so down about disappear and a new sense of self appreciation comes back into our minds. We see that life really is not worth getting so down about. What ever it was that got us so wound up, suddenly becomes not quite so important. All because of an aroma.

Christians have been given the task of being the aroma of God's unconditional and all inclusive love. Christians are not suppose to spreading the odor of discrimination and intolerance. A sweet and all encompassing aroma fills the nostrils of everyone who is in the room. It brings people a sense of security, comfort and peace. The Name of Jesus Christ has been given to share a message of peace, inclusion and grace. Sometimes in the midst of smelling an aroma, we might pick up an unusual scent that at first might repel us. However, that aroma that we might not know what it is, is a challenge to adopt an appreciation for the diversity that exists in the Church and society. That aroma might very well mean that the Church needs to continue to seek ways of including LGBT and other minorities with in it's embrace. But when new and wonderful people are added to the Church, we will find a new recipe for helping us share the Gospel with a diverse world.

I think this is the health care reform that will help heal the social diseases that still exist in the Church and society. If the outrageous violence following the passing of health care reform tells us anything, it tells us that Christians often confuse the difference between being an aroma that is life-giving, vs an odor that destroys not only life, but the opportunity for everyone to share in that life. The aroma of Christ in God is one that wants to bring consolation to those who are sick and cannot go to a doctor. The recipe of God's love seeks to bring into the fold of God's love those who are marginalized by society and the Church. Christians need to cooperate with God's will to love all people, rather than look for excuses to exclude people from the company of Christ. This is why the violence brought on by the tea party folks is so bad. This is also why the Archbishop of Canterbury's request for "gracious restraint" for the ordination of lesbian and gay bishops is so disturbing.

Next week during Holy Week, we will be accompanying Jesus through his passion, death and resurrection. We will also be met by the reality that the reason he was hung on the cross to die was to save us from our sins. However, his only crime was that he loved just a little too differently and for many people, just a little too much for the wrong people. People confused the new aroma Jesus brought to the second class citizens of society and the Church, with an odor. LGBT people continue to experience the same problem and are ridiculed and discriminated against because they love just a little differently and too much for the wrong people. May we go on loving a bit too much, so that everyone who thinks they are not loved, will know that they most certainly are.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).

Our Child Like Faith Should Welcome All

Mark 9: 30-41 (NRSV)

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

One of the things that makes my Partner Jason such a wonderful guy is his love of the Muppets. Jason has experience with puppets. He has made quite a few of them himself. Jason does a lot of knitting and he has skillfully created a number of exquisite looking puppets. One reason that his attraction to the Muppets is so great is that when life gets a little too serious and reality hits us in the face just a little too hard, the Muppets take reality and anything serious and makes it into a wonderful comedy. There are always some great meanings behind what they do. But one thing about the Muppets is that there is no vegetable, candle stick, wall, or anything that might at some point wake up and start moving or talking. Just when you think you've seen the last item come to life and begin a conversation, something else comes out of no where and adds a whole other dimension to the last surprise.

The Gospel today gives us a few different dimensional looks at Jesus. Jesus is God's perfect revelation who is about to go to Jerusalem to face his passion, death and resurrection. Jesus is telling his disciples about what he is about to do, but they do not understand.

Then Jesus gets into a conversation with them about who must be first and last, and then picks up a child. Jesus tells the disciples to welcome children in his name. Jesus reminds us in this Gospel that we are servants in his name. As we work through the reading of this Gospel it should become clear that Jesus wants the Church to be a welcoming place. Jesus has come to set free those who find themselves with no one to accept and love them. Just like the Church of today, the religion of Jesus' time has found every excuse imaginable to decide who they just cannot accept. Rather than be open and accepting, the Church can be a place where hearts grow cold and there is hypocrisy. People in the Church can talk out of both sides of their mouths and contradict the teachings of Christ and the Gospel. This is precisely why we have and need the Sacraments that remind us that no matter how wicked we are, God loves us and wants us to come back to God.

The health care debate and the issue of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people has proven to present many Christians in a light that suggests that violence is a way to get what they want. When I hear stories of Teabaggers threatening gun violence if health care reform were to pass in the US House of Representatives which it did, I cannot help but ask, just where do such people think such violence is the will of God? When I hear of so called Christian folks like the Attorney General of Virginia and several other right wing States preparing to sue over health care reform passing, I have to ask the question just where are the minds of such people? Politics in the name of God has become more important that the 45,000 people who will die because they do not have health care. Keeping health care away from those people because of a political agenda is more important that serving the poor, the sick and the helpless so to give them a chance to live, heal and find wholeness in their lives.

Our own State of Minnesota has been battling this same problem. Last year Gov. Tim Pawlenty of the State of Minnesota cut the budget that provided health care for people who are unemployed or the poorest of the poor. This year, our State Legislature passed another bill that would have reinstated General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) in Minnesota, and while Pawlenty was at the CPAC in February, he vetoed the bill in his hotel room in Washington, DC. When does giving the poorest children and families medical care become more important than a political parties agenda?

Though I am happy to hear that the Health Care Reform passed in the House, I am extremely concerned that the LGBT Provisions that would have provided Tax Equtiy for Health Plan Beneficiaries and the Early Treatment for HIV Act were not included in the reconciliation bill. In addition the unbelievable assault on women's rights in this bill was just unacceptable. When people who are still considered second class citizens by most are used as bargaining pieces to passing legislation, there can be nothing acceptable about the outcomes. It is a way for the ends to justify the means.

Jesus Christ calls on the Church to be a place where everyone is welcome and can find salvation in God's unconditional love. Jesus is concerned about everyone's health care and ability to care for themselves and the poor and neglected in our communities. Violence is never the will of God. God can make use of the consequences of violence, but it is never the will of God.

As we continue our journey of Lent into Holy Week let us all pray with sincerity for our nation and the Church. Let us ask Almighty God to reform our hearts to be concerned about those who are left on the margins of society, even if that means us. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to move on hearts that have grown cold, violent and loveless. May our nation and the Church become that place where we do offer a glass of water in the name of the God of love, and do so with hearts open to welcome everyone who comes seeking God.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).

Fifth Sunday of Lent: Between Where We've Been and Where We are Going

All of us have been on long journeys at one time or another. When we get to the point where we are between where we have been and where we are going, we tend to prepare ourselves for who we are going to meet and/or what we are expecting when we arrive. Lent is a time of preparation for Easter. Not just the Easter that occurs on the calendar, but our own Good Friday and Easter Sunday by reflecting on the actions of Jesus. Next weekend is Passion/Palm Sunday, followed by Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. Before we get there, we are invited into a story of Jesus being prepared for his passion, death and resurrection.

In the first reading the Prophet Isaiah delivers a message of hope when through the Prophet God says:

"Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:18-19).

God invites us all to see the new things God is doing in our midst. This is a wonderful message for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. During this Season of Lent we have seen marriage equality begin in Washington, D.C. We have heard the voices of those who are excited, over joyed with the excitement of legally marrying the person they love. Yet, we have also heard those opposed who are rejecting this "new thing" that they are having a problem with. LGBT people are in the midst of great and wonderful experiences. Those new things do not happen without people struggling with letting go of how things used to be. Heterosexism has had a hold on our culture for a long time. It is appalling for people who believe that being heterosexual is normal, and being anything but is not. Such people seeing LGBT people being legally allowed to marry is just something they cannot see differently than they have always understood. People do not want to see God doing new things in their midst, especially if it means them having to move over for a different understanding of how things are.

We are also seeing this happen in our national debate about health care reform. The conflict over the need for health care reform has moved so much away from those who really do need the reform. The sick people who need medical care most include those who are unemployed, those with pre-existing conditions who are unable to get health care. Their health care has become among the bargaining chips that the President and Congress are battling with the health insurance companies that want to hang on to their profits. It is not surprising to discover that LGBT people and people living with HIV/AIDS were also among the bargaining pieces in health care reform. This is why the tax equity for health plan beneficiaries that included LGBT and Domestic partners along with the Early Treatment for HIV Act were among the items chopped off during the reconciliation of the House Health Bill. Those who need health care reform the most, are those first to loose. The health insurance companies do not want to do the new thing, which is to provide health care to all people who need their services if it causes the executives to loose out on their million dollar profits. Yet, the health care legislation that is going to be voted on today, will bring some kind of relief and gives some hope that later there will be amendments to improve what needs fixing can be done later. What the outcome of this will be has yet to be seen. To keep these health care reform from becoming law, Teabaggers have resorted to threatening violence if health care reform should pass. What kind of message is this on accepting God doing things new in our midst?

This past week we heard the wonderful news that Bishop-Elect Mary Glasspool will be consecrated and ordained as Suffragan Bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles was announced. While we are all rejoicing that discrimination against people being Church leaders is no longer based on a persons sexual orientation, the Archbishop of Canterbury remains disappointed that the Episcopal Church does not wish to regard the Anglican Communions request for "gracious restraint" when ordaining lesbian or gay bishops. Is the Anglican Communion listening to God calling them towards new things, or are they stuck on old prejudices that benefit heterosexuals at the expense of those who are not?

In our Gospel story found in John 12:1-11 we read the story of Jesus enjoying the company of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. While he was reclining and enjoying dinner with his closest friends, Mary anoints Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair. This story is very important as it is the only version of this story that tells of Jesus eating in the company of all three people, where as Matthew 26:1-11 and Mark 14:1-11 writes that Jesus was in the company of Mary and Martha only. In the other Gospel accounts Martha is seen as serving, while Mary is at the feet of Christ listening. St. John's Gospel tells of Mary anointing Jesus' feet in preparation for Jesus to enter into his passion. The very scent of perfume that fills the room is the same that would fill the tomb of someone who had been anointed after death. Mary was anointing Jesus to face his passion, death and resurrection.

Out in Scripture gives a detailed analysis at what this story means for LGBT people.

This fifth Sunday in Lent leads us more directly into the anticipation of Jesus' passion. John's unique narration of the anointing of Jesus features the trio of Lazarus, Martha and Mary (John 12:1-8). Very recently in John's story, Jesus raised Lazarus from death. Lazarus' liberation created such a stir that the religious authorities begin plotting for Jesus' murder. The Lazarus story also introduced Martha and Mary, whom we recognize from Luke 10:38-41. In both Gospels, Martha "serves." The Greek has it that she performs diakonia, or ministry. And in both Gospels, Mary adores Jesus' feet. Yet in John, Mary receives criticism not for adoring Jesus, but for doing it so lavishly.

Some have found in this Bethany family — of Lazarus, Mary and Martha — a way of understanding family that embraces the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Here is a family constructed not by the bonds of marriage or models of convention, but by alternative ties of love. Whether or not Lazarus was, as some suggest, the disciple whom Jesus loved (a suggestion strengthened by the fact that the authorities want to kill Lazarus as well), it is clear that Jesus found in this chosen family a safe haven.

Among this alternative family, Jesus sought and found camaraderie, love, support and a fitting final preparation for the events of his death. That John attributes the outrage of those who would kill Jesus to his raising of beloved Lazarus from the grave has particular resonance with LGBT people whose relationships have been the source of suffering at the hands of those outraged by them. It is also worth noting that Mary understands that Jesus' physical body must be honored and anointed in preparation for his death. It is no accident that her lavish gift is sensual and embodied, nor that it is her story that Jesus says (in Matthew's parallel account in 26:13) will be remembered wherever the good news is told in the entire world.

The entire account in John must be grounded in an appreciation for the gravity of the events ahead of them and behind them: their experience (past and future) was grounded in the sacred convergence of life and death. Indeed, when Mary anoints Jesus we encounter the heart of the Lenten journey — a journey of faith and hope in the midst of death.

Judas' criticism, that Mary should consider charity above worship (John 12:5), poses a false dichotomy. In this moment, we ponder the value of the life we receive in Jesus. Many churches commit a grave theological error by separating Jesus' death from his life. The story of Lazarus, Mary and Martha reminds us that Jesus' dying resulted from his life-empowering living and his boundary-crossing loving. Jesus died not as an innocent victim but as a faithful witness to the ways of God, the author of life.

As we prepare for Holy Week to begin, we should take some time to meditate on how much we honor our own bodies, as well as the bodies of those we love. One matter that is very close to my heart is to keep in mind that the people we love are children of God and their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. When we engage in careless and promiscuous sexual activity that only uses someone's body for our own pleasure with no regard for the person, we dishonor God and the individual. Respectful, sexual pleasure that truly seeks to love another person with a sense of tenderness and appreciation for the other individual while they return that love to us is wonderful, holy and life giving. Sexual activity like many other things can be life giving or it can be destructive. As LGBT people become more integrated into society and the Church it is very important for us to seek to love people and be loved by other people with a sense of honesty, integrity and respect. Our pride in being LGBT must be reflected in our relationships with God, others and ourselves. This is a challenge in our community in which our relationships are constantly demonized by the religious right. We must be very careful not to demonize our relationships with unhealthy practices that gives any level of validity to their arguments. We must also seek the grace of God in Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, along with good therapy and personal mental health to assist us in those places where our relationships may be unhealthy.

I want to be very careful before I close the subject I have just written about to avoid anyone misunderstanding me that any relationship that has unhealthy issues in it is somehow beyond help. Some of the greatest relationships in history both gay or straight are those where the people in them know they have issues to be addressed, but they never give up trying. I also do not want any of my readers to get the message that if someone's relationship does not appear to be what everyone's definition of a relationship is, that their relationship is wrong. No, that is not what I wish to say. What I am saying is that relationships that are filled with a sense of mutual trust, respect and love that understands that people are people and not just mere sex objects, even if it means that once the relationship was that way and now it is so much more than that is a wonderful, holy marriage. No relationship is totally perfect, nor should a relationship fit into a status quo. But, mutual trust, respect and love are common understandings as they seek the common good of the people in the relationship. That is the bottom line.

Let us continue to follow Jesus as he leads us to Jerusalem where he will offer his life for the salvation of the world. May all of us gather at the Cross to experience God's saving graces for everyone. May we know God's redemptive love and experience the joy of God's peace and mercy as we finish out this season of Lent.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners. Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Book of Common Prayer (BCP), Page 219).

Fourth Friday of Lent: The Cross: The Price of Love, the Cost of Discipleship

Matthew 16: 24-26 (NRSV)

Then Jesus told his disciples, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?"

Yesterday a whole bunch of people forfeited their freedoms by sitting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office to ask for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to be voted on the House floor. In addition, LT. Dan Choi chained himself to the White House fence protesting Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) and was arrested. Every day there are countless men and women who are LGBT who risk their jobs, homes, families and safety because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression.

The Episcopal Church in the United States has chosen to shoulder the cross of acceptance by completing the consent process for Bishop-Elect Mary Glasspool for the Diocese of Los Angeles. In choosing to stand up for full inclusion of LGBT people to receive all of the Sacraments in the Church, the Episcopal Church risks causing commotion within the Anglican Communion. What "gracious restraint" the Episcopal Church demonstrates when they restrain themselves from conforming to discrimination and bias to determine when LGBT people are fit for ministry within the Church.

To deny oneself and take up our crosses, we effectively deny ourselves the pleasure that can come from apathy and inaction. When we refuse to confront discrimination and just accept bias, we can become all too comfortable and allow others to remain in the comfort zones of their biases. However, when we decide to deny ourselves those comforts we shake people up. When we no longer allow ourselves to be silent while LGBT discrimination remains present in our society we risk the loss of more than just our jobs, we risk loving other people and/or allowing other people to love us as we are. Sometimes it is easier to let people love us as the people they and we think we are, rather than love who we really are.

The Cross is the price of love and the cost of discipleship. On the Cross the Son of God gave his life out of love for all. Every Disciple of Jesus Christ must make the choice of accepting or rejecting our crosses. The Cross calls us to love in ways that are not necessarily comfortable. The Cross that every Disciple of Jesus will have to consider carrying will mean that we will not be popular in the world. The Cross does not guarantee us riches, wealth or even that we will be well known by the press or even within our own communities. The Cross will mean that we will know love as it truly is, it is the cost of being a follower. The Cross means that we accept who we are and how we love other people, and the Cross will mean that will ultimately have to allow others to love us as we are. There are costs to pay for such bold discipleship.

The reward for such costs are endless. The achievement for having allowed ourselves to live as we truly are, will bring unlimited happiness. We will find true friends and we will engage in real conflicts for the right purpose. What is that purpose? Love. The love of God, neighbor and self. And the knowledge that we accepted what God gave us and chose to shoulder it, rejecting everything that is false. Including, but not limited to anti-gay rhetoric by the religious right.

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. (Book of Common Prayer, Page 101).

A Wonderful Day in the Episcopal Church

Rather than posting my usual blog today, I am leaving the incredible news from

The Episcopal Lead:

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop’s office notifies Diocese of Los Angeles of successful canonical consent process

Bishop-Elect Glasspool ordination and consecration on May 15

March 17, 2010

The Governance of The Episcopal Church: This information is another in an ongoing series discussing the governance of The Episcopal Church.

The Office of Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori has notified the Diocese of Los Angeles that the canonical consent process for Bishop-Elect Mary Douglas Glasspool has been successfully completed.

As outlined under Canon III.11.4 (a), the Presiding Bishop confirmed the receipt of consents from a majority of bishops with jurisdiction, and has also reviewed the evidence of consents from a majority of standing committees of the Church sent to her by the diocesan standing committee.

In Canon III.11.4 (b), Standing Committees, in consenting to the ordination and consecration, attest they are "fully sensible of how important it is that the Sacred Order and Office of a Bishop should not be unworthily conferred, and firmly persuaded that it is our duty to bear testimony on this solemn occasion without partiality, do, in the presence of Almighty God, testify that we know of no impediment on account of which the Reverend A.B. ought not to be ordained to that Holy Office. We do, moreover, jointly and severally declare that we believe the Reverend A.B. to have been duly and lawfully elected and to be of such sufficiency in learning, of such soundness in the Faith, and of such godly character as to be able to exercise the Office of a Bishop to the honor of God and the edifying of the Church, and to be a wholesome example to the flock of Christ."

Glasspool was elected Bishop Suffragan on December 5, 2009. Her ordination and consecration is slated for May 15; Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori will officiate.

A recap of the process

Upon election, the successful candidate is a bishop-elect. Following some procedural matters including physical and psychological examinations, formal notices are then sent by the Presiding Bishop’s office to bishops with jurisdiction (diocesan bishops only) with separate notices from the electing diocese to the standing committees of each of the dioceses in The Episcopal Church. These notices require their own actions and signatures.

In order for a bishop-elect to become a bishop, Canon III.11.4 (a) of The Episcopal Church mandates that a majority of diocesan bishops AND a majority of diocesan standing committees must consent to the bishop-elect’s ordination and consecration as bishop. These actions – done separately - must be completed within 120 days from the day notice of the election was sent to the proper parties.

If the bishop-elect receives a majority (at least 50% plus 1) of consents from the diocesan bishops as well as a majority from the standing committees, the bishop-elect is one step closer. Following a successful consent process, ordination and celebration are in order.

Sharing the Gift of Self Responsibly

Mark 8:1-10 (NRSV)

In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way and some of them have come from a great distance." His disciples replied, "How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?" He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

This story which can point us towards the Holy Eucharist, also carries with it an important message about how we share the gift of ourselves. We live in a time where we have all been given so much. Despite the horrible economy of the times we live in they are times in which we can still reach out to someone, or be reached out to by someone in one fashion or another. A simple hello with a friendly desire to serve someone is more than enough to help us all get through these difficult days.

As Jesus was going along his way, he knew that it would not be appropriate to send these people along a journey that would only end with them being sick. Knowing that it would be better to feed them here and now, he takes seven loaves and with the goodness of God feeds the hungry people and their souls. God sees beyond their temporal needs, but realizes that if God is going to reach their souls, God has to meet their physical hunger too. Jesus gives of himself in a responsible way. Jesus chooses to see the moment as an opportunity to minister God's presence to God's people in the best way. In so doing, Jesus shares with the hungry people God's very gift of God's Self completely and responsibly.

There is a beautiful Communion hymn that we sing in the Episcopal Church. It is found at number 318 in the Hymnal 1982.

Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face; here would I touch and handle things unseen; here grasp with firmer hand eternal grace, and all my weariness upon thee lean.

Here would I feed upon the Bread of God: here drink with thee the royal Wine of heaven; here would I lay aside each earthly load, here taste the calm of sin forgiven.

I have no help but thine; nor do I need another arm save thine to lean upon; it is enough, my Lord, enough indeed; my strength is in thy might, thy might alone.

Mine is the sin, but thine the righteousness; mine is the guilt, but thine the cleansing Blood. Here is my robe, my refuge and my peace; thy Blood, thy righteousness, O Lord my God.

God shares God's Self in the Eucharist. God is present through the Body and Blood of Christ, when we receive God's gracious gift which God gives so freely and responsibly. God owns what God gives and through God's generous gift of Self, God simply offers us a way back to the bosom of God's extravagant love. It is a place where all prejudices are crushed and all sin is forgiven. However, we do not leave that presence of God back at the altar. No, we are told to carry that presence into the world and to be the Body of Christ and the Cup of Salvation for all the world. We are to confront the evils of our time, through God's compassionate mercy and justice.

In so doing, we challenge many of the attitudes and ideals that have taken hold in our society today. Attitudes such as heterosexism that says that if you are heterosexual you benefit at the expense of homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered persons. Other attitudes such as race that suggests that only those who are white should benefit at the expense of those who are not. Sexism suggests that women are still less than what men are, and therefore should still be thought of as property that men are free to abuse, neglect and control. Heterosexism is why Don't Ask, Don't Tell is such a terrible law. Heterosexism is what leads to the idea that LGBT people should not seek or be granted the right to marry the person they love. Sexism is why the Stupak amendment in the health care reform bill is so disrespectful to women. Racism is why it is wrong to stereo type people who are not white as "welfare crooks".

The Eucharist is also a call to share the gifts of ourselves in responsible ways. It means seeing things as they are, rather than how we would like them to exist. There was an interesting article in the Episcopal Lead about the child sex scandals in the Roman Catholic church and the many attitudes that have come about as people have left the Episcopal Church over the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson.

However the scandal turns out, it calls attention to a bizarre dynamic that we Episcopalians have been well-positioned to observe. Since the consecration of Gene Robinson in 2003, we've seen a steady stream of conservatives leave our church because it ordains gays and lesbians to join a church that is still covering up sex crimes against children. They have done so because they think the Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality are morally superior to ours.

One can argue, in defense of those who have departed, that Catholic teaching is indeed superior to that of the Episcopal Church, but that the teaching has been disregarded by sinful individuals. But this ignores the systematic nature of the cover-up which the Church has carried out, and it forces defenders to argue that Catholic teaching on issues of sexuality and authority within the Church are in no way responsible for this widespread scandal. That hardly seems plausible.

It would be a really good idea for all of us to give some thought as to how responsible we all are in terms of sharing our gift of self in responsible ways. As we draw closer to Easter where we see Jesus give of himself totally and completely, yet very responsibly, we would do well to ask ourselves about our own giving. Where do we see places where we could give ourselves more responsibly? How do we see ourselves giving of ourselves more responsibly as we share our gifts of self with others.

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).

Faith and Listening: Two Very Important Spiritual Exercises

Mark 7:24-37 (NRSV)

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may gothe demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

This Gospel account of the encounter between the Canaanite Woman and Jesus, concludes with Jesus healing a person who cannot hear. As the story unfolds we get the impression that Jesus is not quite the compassionate Savior that we think he should be. Just about every encounter between Jesus and others who are sick, dying, even demon possessed is met by Jesus with the greatest compassion. So what's so different about this one? An even better question is what are we to understand from this Gospel story?

Jesus like everyone was raised in a culture filled with it's own traditions, issues and it's people struggling to accept each other. The woman who comes to Jesus is an outcast of the community. She is someone that almost no one wants to associate with. The culture in which Jesus was raised in, looks upon this woman as someone who is "outside" of everyone's social group. However, if we say that Jesus was affected by a racist attitude, it suggests that even the Son of God in his human weakness was not above the attitudes of the day. My problem with this is it seems to undermine the Divinity of Christ, and suggest that the humanity of Christ is somehow superior to the Divine. If that is true, the philosophy of the Divinity of Christ has a big problem. As Christians, we understand that the Divine nature and the human nature are both complete and total. They are opposites, but both equally true. How can the God of all creation who comes to us with a human face in the Person of Jesus, have an attitude of cultural bias? I heard one opinion about all of this that has it's merit. It is not our cultural biases that are wrong, what we do with them is.

Last year during Labor Day Weekend, my partner and I enjoyed a wonderful time at Duluth/Superior Pride. During the Pride Festival held in Duluth's beautiful Riverfront Festival Park we could not help notice two fundamentalists on either side of the Park with big huge signs. Based on where they were and how they were behaving, it was obvious that they were there protesting the celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals, families and couples. They were there to see to it that they could "change" as many hearts and minds as they could. However, what was truly sad was the reaction their arrogance received. At one gate, a group of atheists had taken their place next to the fundamentalist with the big huge sign with Bible verses, and one really big statement: "You are not a good person". The atheists gained all the support and positive attention, while the fundamentalist was ignored and/or walked right by with many unkind things returned to them. Is this really the kind of Jesus that we are told to believe in? Is the Jesus that the fundamentalists encouraging us to believe in, really that narrow? Later on during the Pride parade, the same fundamentalists were walking up one way and down the other of the sidewalk trying to persuade people to see Jesus in the same judgmental way. Unless people saw Jesus in their way, they just were not the Christians they should be. It was quite the different tune when they walked past the announcer who began singing very loudly: "Jesus, save us from your followers." Are the followers of Jesus people that others flock to? Or do they run because of the confusing messages Christians send through their words and behaviors?

As we see through the Gospel story, because of the woman's persistent faith in Jesus the Son of God, Jesus recognizes her faith and grants her request. What happened here? It is very simple, God changed His mind. Why is it so difficult for us to accept the idea of God changing His mind? Because if the God who made the universe, and came to us in the Person of Christ to save the world can change His mind, that means humans have no excuse for not being willing to change their hearts and minds about others that they find difficult to accept. If in Jesus, God showed us how to change his heart and mind toward another person, then it is very possible for Jesus to help us change ours too is it not?

I think it is very appropriate that this Gospel story ends with Jesus opening the ears of a deaf person. If we are going to accept people who are different than us, then we must open our ears and listening to what they have to say. We need to be open to their experiences and ask ourselves if we are truly interested in their common good, or are we just hanging on to our own prejudices?

In this Gospel story, God shows us in Christ how to change our attitudes and it begins with listening to others. It means being open to who and how other people are, and that is not an easy thing for any of us. It means being open to the possibility that our understandings of things is very mistaken. For example the age old usage of Sodom and Gomorrah as being destroyed for homosexuality, when a careful study will reveal it was destroyed for a lack of hospitality. It means seeing God and others as being so much bigger than how we see them now. Are we willing to pay attention?

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).

LGBT People: God's Prodigal Children Yet to Be Warmly Recieved

The famous story of the Prodigal Child is the Gospel story for this weekends Liturgy. It can be found in Luke 15: 1-32. This is one story that many people are familiar with. There is a wonderful rendition of this story told on Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth.

I want to spend this time talking about the implications of the Prodigal Child for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Particularly, though not limited to the subject of LGBT and questioning youth. This issue is especially close to my heart after this past Wednesday's AIDS Action Day at the Minnesota Capitol, where there were two young gay men who are coupled and infected with HIV. One of them is 18, he contracted HIV at the tender age of 16. The other who is now 22, he was infected at the age of 18. Aside from the issue of LGBT youth affected by HIV, this past week has been a horrific week for discrimination against children who have LGBT parents, as well as children and youth. Three cases in point would begin with the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver refusing to admit a preschool age child of a lesbian couple from a Catholic school. This decision was defended by a Priest of the Archdiocese of Denver this past week on Fox Noise. The second is the story of a Mississippi High School Student who wanted to bring her girl friend to her prom. Because she petitioned her school administration to bring her girl friend and dress up in a tuxedo, and appealed to the ACLU the high school canceled the prom. The schools chosen action placed the student in a terrible situation with her peers. As a result the ACLU has filed a law suit on behalf of Constance McMillan . Thirdly, a teacher in in the Bronx has been charged with threatening to out a 9-year old. It is quite clear from cases such as these that LGBT and Questioning youth are still not accepted by their parents, peers, school systems and by much of society. The negative messages brought on by the religious right continue to have their devastating affects on all LGBT people, but in particular the youth of our community.

These and other stories like should cause us to ask the questions just how are LGBT people, youth and adults a like among God's prodigal children? How should we challenge society and the Church of our time to see LGBT people? Where do LGBT people find themselves in the story of the prodigal child?

Let us put one important card on the table. All people are sinners. All of us have failed God, ourselves and our neighbors in one fashion or another. It is only by the grace of God that gives us the opportunity to do good works that we are able to come closer to God by loving God and our neighbor. By the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who is God's perfect revelation are we able to draw closer to God and find our salvation in God's generous love. This morning at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Dean Spenser Simrill spoke of God's extravagant love, and it is an excellent way to describe God's unconditional and all-inclusive love. There is one very important point about the story of the Prodigal Child that The Very Rev. Kate Moorehead makes in her book: "Get Over Yourself; God's Here"

"In what we call The Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus invites us to consider a different picture of God. A parishioner of mine once pointed out that we should call it, The Parable of the Running Father. Here a young man leaves his father, squanders his inheritance, and returns to beg for the wages of a servant. But, as he is approaching his home, his father runs out to meet him. He runs, he embraces, he celebrates. There is no consideration given to what the young man has done or not done. All the Father does is celebrate. He pulls out all the stops for his boy who "was dead and is alive again, who was lost and is found" (Luke 15:24).

"Of course, there are more aspects of God than we will ever be able to comprehend. Judgment is one aspect, but that is not the one Jesus chooses to express in this parable. No, here we see a Father who runs out to meet his child. This Father runs! He does not leave all the effort to the young man struggling to return. Instead, he meets his son with arms outstretched" (Page 39).

The story of the Prodigal Child invites us to see God as the compassionate parent who wants us to draw closer to God to help us rebuild our relationship with God, others and ourselves. God is not as interested in what we have done. God is very interested in who we are, children of God who know that without God we cannot save ourselves, nor can we find meaning in our lives. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, once again youth and adult alike are God's children looking for a home within "God's extravagant love". God has invited LGBT individuals just as much as God has invited anyone else. Yet the attitudes of many within the religious right, along with many who remain uninformed about LGBT people suggests that there is no room in God's house for LGBT people unless we are willing to engage in a program that will change who we are. This is why so many of the youth who are homeless and or attempt to commit suicide are LGBT individuals.

Now, let me add one more level on top of this. Today, Dean Simrill talked a great deal about the problem of child sex trafficking. And I agree that there is much to be done about this horrific problem. However, I would add one more point to much of what he said. Is it possible that the negative messages about LGBT people that is so often displayed to youth who are questioning their sexual orientation, contributes to the enormous number of LGBT and questioning youth who are trafficking themselves as prostitutes, therefore putting them at greater risk for HIV and other STD's? When the religious right spends all of their time on portraying homosexuality and LGBT people with so many negative stereotypes, when that message reaches youth who are questioning and they eventually get kicked out of their homes with no job or place to live, no personal marketing skills and/or ways of knowing how to make it in life, is this not really good breeding grounds for activity that is dangerous?

One organization that is excellent at portraying a very different understanding of LGBT individuals and families is Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG.) This is an organization where many parents and friends of lesbians and gays have struggled to accept their LGBT folks and are more than willing to assist LGBT people with gaining a healthy attitude about themselves. PFLAG is one organization that appears more like the accepting parent in the Parable of the Running Parent. It is an organization that feeds LGBT and others who love them with a sense of the Bread of Life that wants to nourish and heal the soul, rather than Focus on the Family that just causes harm upon harm for LGBT people and their families and friends. Unlike ex-gay ministries such as Exodus International and the Catholic church's ex-gay ministry called Courage that was started by Cardinal Cook in the early 1980's, which teaches that LGBT people have a "sexual disorder" that needs to be routed out, PFLAG helps LGBT people see themselves as people with dignity and respect. PFLAG also looks at the pain that LGBT people and their families experience to accept and love their LGBT friends and supports them with tools for all of the things they experience. As a result of their work, they have helped to unite many friends and families of LGBT people in many wonderful ways.

In closing, I'd like for us to meditate on the title for Jesus Christ being the Bread of Life. Jesus is the one who feeds all of us with God's compassionate goodness. In Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation, God runs out to embrace all of us who are sinners with compassionate mercy and grace. God fills us with the fullness of God's Self and renews us in Christ when we receive Christ in the Eucharist. This is a reason why I have changed from being Roman Catholic to becoming Episcopalian. My experience with the Roman Catholic tradition is one in which they want only those who fit their criteria to be welcomed to receive the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In other words, the church makes the judgment call concerning how "fit" a person is to receive the Presence of God. That is not the place of any church to decide that, quite frankly. In the Episcopal Church our understanding is, that where ever you are on your faith journey, you are welcome. Everyone is welcome to the Table of Christ to receive God's Presence. In the Eucharist it is Christ who reaches out and embraces all of God's Prodigal Children. No church official has any business deciding for someone else who should and who should not be welcomed to experience God's embrace at Christ's Table.

As we continue on our Lenten Journey with Easter only three weeks away, let us reflect on our relationship with God. Let us reflect on who we are in the story of the Prodigal Child. Let us also run to God who runs towards us. May all of us embrace God, embrace one another and embrace those who are just starving to know God's extravagant love for all.

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).