Before I continue with my meditation and thoughts for today it is only fair that I tell my readers that I was once an Evangelical Christian. I came into Christianity through the Advent Christian Church in 1983 and 1984. As a young, confused guy struggling with my sexuality, I remember being in a ministers office with him using Scripture verses like Romans 1 against me, and because I did not know any better, accepted that as truth and believed that if I did not change my sexual orientation I was going to hell at the end of my life. And so, I like so many lived in fear should I ever have any physical or emotional contact with men for the next 15 years of my life. Any time I slipped, I experienced the greatest guilt, a guilt that did not go away just because I asked God's forgiveness in my prayers. When I was a student at Eastern Nazarene College from 1988 to 1994 I was so afraid of my homosexual orientation rearing it's ugly head that in 1992 I began living a life of celibacy thinking that it was the only thing I could do to save my soul. Yet, the more I tried to evade my physical need for men, the more emotionally attached to men I became. I worked with many therapists, for many years, until in 2000 I found myself in a place where who I am and what I am just would not, could not be contained any longer. If I had not come out and began the work towards accepting myself, I would have gone insane.
As many of my readers know, I was out and active until I became involved in the Courage Apostolate that was started by Cardinal Cook. I was part of that group from August 2007 until November 2008. You can read my account of my experience with Courage at Beyond Ex-Gay. Now I am out again with my wonderful partner Jason whom I met on February 7, 2009. On November 8th, 2009 we became members of St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis. This past May 15, exactly one month ago today, Jason was confirmed an Episcopalian and I was received as an Episcopalian.
I have moved over the years from being a "The Bible is the infallible word of God, the absolute truth no matter what" Christian to understanding what Archbishop Tutu in the movie "For the Bible Tells Me So" says: "The Bible is the word of God through the words of human beings. The richness of the Bible comes from the fact that we do not take it as literally so, as if it were dictated by God." Just recently I was reading a web site that helps people pray the Daily Office and how they described the relationship of Episcopalians with the Bible. It is super wonderful.
The Episcopal Church is not fundamentalist. We don't shove religion down anyone's throat. We worship God, not the Bible; there is a profound difference. One is fixed, written down, full of glorious teachings but potentially stagnant; God is alive and continues to teach us more.
The Bible is the incomparable divine library about God, but it was written by human beings. Episcopalians revere the Bible, use it as the supreme authority in essential matters of faith and read it more than most churches do; but we also believe in ongoing revelation—and we don’t have to rewrite our theology every time a scientist discovers something new.
Episcopalians have the courage and the faith to face the fact that the earth revolves around the sun, not the other way around as the Bible suggests. The Bible assumes the earth is flat. That alone should make you question fundamentalism.
Biblical writers didn't know any better; telescopes hadn't been invented yet. The Bible is not a science text, but a profound guide to faith. It doesn't contain all the answers; but oh, the answers it contains!
God is not served by making ever more exacting, precise, legalistic, perfectionist demands on people through misinterpretations of the words. In fact this dishonors the living, steadfast God.
We have to be very careful with the holy Book. It's easy to misuse it. Religion can be dangerous. Most of the world's wars have been fought in its name. Islam is the current example, but the Christian Church has also perpetrated violence.The Old Testament seems to condone slavery, polygamy and the subjugation of women. Was that God talking or a particular society?
The central commandment of worship in ancient Israel was animal sacrifice for sins. This was an improvement over human sacrifice, but still incredibly crude. Then Jesus came along and made a once-for-all human sacrifice. It's a hard thing to understand, until we consider the massive volunteerism of police officers, firefighters, soldiers and sailors, doctors, nurses and ordinary citizens (even if we only reached into our pockets) from the Netherlands to tsunami-torn Sri Lanka to relieve the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
I present these thoughts because it is the misuse of Scripture that is the basis of heterosexism and homophobia that causes so much torture, violence and death for LGBT people all over the world. The misuse of the Bible over homosexuality has caused a great deal of idolatry among fundamentalist Christians, who elevate the Bible above Jesus Christ, who is the Word of God. The abuse of Scripture about homosexuality has helped to create and fuel the Kill the Gays bill in Uganda, and suggest that such is a good thing not only here in the US, but all over the world.
Yesterday I spent some time watching the interview between Bishop Gene Robinson and Retired Bishop of Uganda Christopher Senyonjo at the Center for American Progress. You can find more information about the interview and watch it here. During the question and answer session after the interview, the Bishops were asked about using the story of David and Jonathan to support the idea of homosexuality. Both Bishop Robinson and Bishop Christopher replied no. And among the reasons that was explained by both of the Bishops is that the Bible is really not suppose to be a weapon to support or weaken a particular point of view. The Bible is the story of how God saves all of us through God's unconditional love through Jesus Christ who is the Word of God. God saves all of us through love, not through shooting Biblical missiles at each other. Among the other answers given is that God has created every single person as different and unique. No two people have the same eye color, hair color, height, weight, abilities or challenges. It would be just wonderful if we could look for reasons to embrace everyone regardless of their differences, rather than use the Bible to justify violence and cruelty in the "name" of Scripture. Bishop Christopher captured it all very well, when he said his test of what is and is not true, is love. If what we are doing expresses love, the love of God and love for each other, it is worth fighting for and it is worth working to preserve it and protect it.
I hope that all of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered will keep to the task of working towards full equality and inclusion in the Church and society. May our work, our Pride celebrations and all that we do, be about preserving and honoring love. May our love be visible, active, real, life-giving and globally transforming.
Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 6, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230).
O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior, the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and one mouth glorify you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, Page 818)
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).
No comments:
Post a Comment