...if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For one believes with the heart and so is justified, and one confesses with the mouth and so is saved. The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame." For there is not distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and is generous to all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."
As I read this lesson from Romans today, I really did feel that God was talking to all of us who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and Questioning. There are leaders and members of the Church who time and again takes a position that thinks they are maintaining an appearance of being a faithful Gospel preaching institution, uses the Bible in inappropriate ways to justify exclusion, discrimination and even in some cases spiritual violence towards LGBTQ individuals, families and couples. We are very much seeing that scenario play out in the Church of England and the Archbishop of Canterbury. You can read the articles and commentary here.
While institutions and individuals embrace exclusion to save their public image and financial stability, the message that God came in Jesus Christ to bring salvation to all who would profess Jesus as Lord and believe that God raised him from the dead suffers as do those who are not able to hear God's generous invitation. When God raised Jesus from the dead, God also calls LGBT and Questioning individuals to come out of the tombs of the silence about who we are and who we love. We are invited by God's Holy Spirit to embrace the cross of Jesus Christ and to love, love, and love even more not only ourselves as LGBTQ individuals, but also others around us, even when it is very difficult to love someone. So many of us LGBTQ people really do believe in God and the creeds we profess, the age old teachings Christianity. We also recognize, however, that when people are excluded from the Church because of gender, sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression and spiritual, physical and emotional violence is both condoned and almost encouraged by individual Christians and Church leaders, the prayers, creeds and even the Bible are rendered meaningless. When the Church invites the message of Christianists rather than the message of Jesus Christ the cross is just an age old symbol of torture with a lifeless body hanging from it. The empty tomb is just some rock that people say Jesus rose from the dead, but who really believes it when an LGBTQ person is told that the only way they can be "sincere followers of Christ" is to become a dead human being by hiding in the closet or trying to change something that cannot or should not be changed? Living in the closet is a life and a faith that might as well be dead.
Knowing God's salvation in Jesus Christ is more than knowing the story book that is the Gospel. Knowing that we are redeemed children of God is more than remembering the crucifixion and/or resurrection. Being God's children is a matter of what we know in our hearts, profess with our lips and how we live our lives with a sense of authenticity. When LGBTQ people live who we are as individuals who are out and proud, and love our partners and/or significant others (again, please use whatever term here works for you), despite the opinions of conservative gay-hating Christians, and show our selves to be self-less, God loving followers of Jesus Christ, we are living the faith we believe in our hearts and profess with our lips. When we live our faith in this way, the Holy Spirit reveals herself through us and shows that God's salvation really is open to all.
O God, you have taught us to keep all your commandments by loving you and our neighbor: Grant us the grace of your Holy Spirit, that we may be devoted to your with our whole heart, and united to one another with pure affection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 9, Book of Common Prayer, Page 230 and 231).
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).
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