Information about this Icon can be found at PrinteryHouse.org
This Sunday I am going to connect two very important and compatible stories to help us all draw closer to God and understand our mission as LGBT Christians. Rather than focus on the entire Revised Common Lectionary for today, or the entire Lectionary for the commemoration of St. Benedict, I do want to carefully bring the Gospels from both celebrations into a focus today.
The Gospel for St. Benedict is Luke 14: 27-33 where Jesus teaches that unless we are willing to carry our cross and follow Jesus, we cannot be his disciples. The Gospel for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost is the Parable of the Good Samaritan. Both of these Gospels, as well as the commemoration of St. Benedict are very compatible. In both situations we need to "open the hears of our hearts" to understand some very important things about following Jesus Christ and serving others
In the Prologue of St. Benedict's Rule, he writes (and please note that the Rule I am quoting from was not translated using inclusive language, thank you for your patience and understanding):
"Listen carefully, my son, to the master's instructions, and attend to them with the ears of your heart. This is advice from a father who loves you; welcome it, and faithfully put it into practice. The labor of obedience will bring you back to him from whom you have drifted through the sloth of disobedience. This message of mine is for you, then, if you are ready to give up your own will, once and for all, and armed with the strong and noble weapons of obedience to do battle for the true King, Christ the Lord." (Prologue vss 1 to 3, Page 15, Rule of St. Benedict 1980, The Liturgical Press).
To understand the cross is to understand what St. Benedict describes here as obedience vs. disobedience. Before we get too lost thinking that the Christianity is a sadistic religion, we need to perhaps understand the cross and obedience and what they mean for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians. The cross was well understood by those who lived in the time of Jesus. It was an instrument of total torture and death. It was death by suffocation, and extreme physical and mental pain. To face the cross was to face imminent danger and the possibility of total humiliation. It meant giving up all that might suggest prestige or even comfort. In the case of Jesus, he endured the cross for all of us who are sinners, so that through his death and resurrection many would know the justice, mercy and holiness of God. Through the cross, Jesus was able to show that death and pain do not have the last word. Those who are dead have a name and a face because of Jesus and the cross.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Christians face the cross every day and in a lot of different ways. Many of us have taken the risk of coming out to family and friends only to experience rejection and/or harassment in the worst way. Many of us have lost jobs or whole communities because our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression. Yet for many of us, though we have experienced a lot of abuse we still love those people deeply. That my friends is the cross for LGBT people, families and couples. To love even when it is very hard is the cross. Loving God even when we have been so angry at God because of how much spiritual abuse we have experienced at the hands and mouths of the followers of Jesus, that is the cross. Struggling to know what to do about our partners when they face alcohol abuse, drug abuse, sexual addiction, or just difficulty getting employed, that is the cross both active and passive. Yet we cannot truly understand total obedience to God's will by staying in the closet and faking who we are. When a bisexual man or woman is dishonest with his wife or husband about their sexual orientation, that is not quite following God's will. When the organist of a given church community has to work under a "don't ask, don't tell" policy, the organist and/or the church is failing to be obedient to God. Obedience and the cross are present when we are honest to the point that it hurts and we face it with integrity and humility.
St. Benedict and Jesus understood that facing the cross without our communities is very difficult. And so St. Benedict wrote a Rule for monks, yet the Rule can also help guide our lives in relationships to other people. All of us can learn from chapter 53 about how to welcome guests, or from being a kitchen server or caring for our sick friends as is found in the Rule. The Rule contains ideas about how to struggle with someone who is being unruly and difficult, as well as how to tolerate each others weaknesses in either behavior or body. Sometimes the cross for us is just living each day, choosing to love our partners even when she or he has habits that just drive us crazy.
But then there is the Gospel of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10: 25-37. This particular Gospel has a lot to say both to and about LGBT people and our relationships to our neighbors. The commentary from Out in Scripture for today is just outstanding.
The story of the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37, resonates deeply with LGBT concerns. The priest and the Levite could not touch blood or a dead body without becoming unclean and thereby being prevented from going into the holy place. Jesus' story suggests to us that touching one who is wounded is in itself an act of holiness. To go into the brokenness of a person and to touch them is to go into the Holy of Holies. While some people want to run from LGBT people and call them unclean or abominations, we care for one another. We know that kind of righteousness.
Recognizing the holiness of touching the one who has been wounded, we also receive God's charge to focus on those afflicted with HIV/AIDS. Yet, while some HIV/AIDS patients have received adequate attention and treatment, HIV/AIDS remains under-recognized in many communities of color, particularly for women of color. We cannot let it fall off of our radar screen just because it is not affecting the white male communities in the same numbers as before.
Connecting with the message of Deuteronomy 30, we are reminded that the opportunity to live out the law is near to you — in these wounded people. In this ministry to fragile bodies we experience the joy of fulfilling of the law.
We also note that the person who was despised (the Samaritan) acted like a neighbor. Many in the LGBT community frequently reach out to minister to gay and non-gay alike. We are being a neighbor! Remember to own that as a gift we can offer even when we are despised.
Remember that Jesus answered the question, "Who is my neighbor?" (verse 29), with a story and another question (verse 36) in : "Who acted like a neighbor?" We are also challenged to look outward to see where God's church is at work, celebrating acts of kindness wherever we find them, even by those who may not be part of the visible church.
In St. Benedict was an example of Jesus ministering to those who were wounded. Many of those who came to the monastery at Monte Cassino located between Rome and Naples at some point in time needed to know some kind of healing and St. Benedict knew that to greet all guests was to greet Christ himself. As LGBT people we are individuals who are wounded like all other people are, and so we come to the Church seeking healing and help along our journeys of faith. Half the task for LGBT Christians is to find a welcoming and affirming home that will receive us without attempting to change our orientation or interfere in our relationships. More and more there are receptive and welcoming Christian communities. Upon finding such a community, not only are we called to be healed, but we are also called to help bring healing to others who are wounded. Sometimes the person in our congregation and/or community who needs the healing message of Jesus is someone who is not receptive to us as LGBT people. Yet, we are called to reach out to them, even if they reject us. There again is the cross for LGBT Christians.
St. Benedict's Rule as well as the Gospel is one that is so open to beginning again, again and again, even after we have failed. Carrying the cross to be a disciple does not mean we will or have to get it right all the time. It does mean that we have to be willing to shoulder the cross and love our neighbor faithfully as much as we possibly can, totally trusting in God to guide us to what God wants. The endeavor may not have a happy ending. But if we are willing to follow God's will, committed to loving God and our neighbor no matter what the end result is, we will be able to know that God is pleased.
O Lord, mercifully receive the prayers of your people who call upon you, and grant that they may know and understand what things they ought to do, and may also have grace and power faithfully to accomplish them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 10, Book of Common Prayer, Page 231)
Almighty and everlasting God, your precepts are the wisdom of a loving Father: Give us grace, following the teaching and example of your servant Benedict, to walk with loving and willing hearts in the school of the Lord's service; let your ears be open to our prayers; and prosper with your blessing the work of our hands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lies and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for St. Benedict, Holy Men and Holy Women, Celebrating the Saints, Page 457).
No comments:
Post a Comment