I remember beginning to think that way shortly after my father died. I thought: "If we are only going to die at some point, why put in so much effort to getting an education, a job, make money? After we die, it's all gone." The writer of Ecclesiastes as well as Psalm 49 would appear to agree. Everything we gain we will eventually lose. So why bother?
Contrary to what I might have sounded like I was thinking after my father died and what this weekend's Bible readings are about, Christianity has nothing against acquiring those things we need to live, work and provide a life for ourselves that is as comfortable as possible until we die. What the Scripture readings are telling us this weekend is when we put so much of our lives into storing up for ourselves those treasures that we cannot take with us when we leave this earth, we run the risk of squeezing out God whom we do need not only in this life, but in the life to come.
It is real easy to discuss not becoming greedy when as privileged members of society and the Church we can comfortably make that choice. If you are a white, heterosexual, healthy, wealthy, English speaking and writing male, employed etc., you might never have the issue of having someone tell you how to avoid greed by finding God. Those who are not the privileged of society, in particular but certainly not limited to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning/queer people will have a bit more difficultly coming to terms with "seeking God alone." So many LGBTQ people are driven away from God and the Christian Church by those determined to hold on to politically oppression disguised as "orthodoxy." The Christian tradition is so full of abuses namely sexism, heterosexism, anti-Semitism, racism and the like all in the name of "orthodoxy." The one thing we fail to see is how much the Church drives people away from God by such political and social oppression into lives of greed and the like.
I have begun reading an excellent book called: Gay Unions: In the Light of Scripture, Tradition, and Reason by Gray Temple. You can find and purchase the book through Church Publishing. Much of what I wrote in my last paragraph comes from Fr. Temple's magnificent chapter on Tradition that begins on page 101. As with Fr. Temple, I too must say that I am love with all of the great teachings that "orthodoxy" affords us as Episcopalians and/or Anglicans. However, it is so easy for us to forget that our tradition that is wrapped up in "orthodoxy" has with it a history that is filled with political maneuvering that benefits someone in power. What is happening in the Church and even in society today is not unlike where we have come from. We just now have technology to fast forward things, including our own corruption. If the Church is going to call upon LGBTQ people to seek after God so as to find satisfaction in God alone so as to ward off greed, substance abuses, domestic abuses and the like, then the heterosexism that currently blocks LGBTQ people from discovering that will need to be wiped out of our church communities. Falsely claiming that the Bible condemns homosexuality and marriage equality and that Church Tradition must continue to uphold it because of "orthodoxy" does the work of evangelizing LGBTQ Christians absolutely no good. We might as well not believe in the Trinity or the Virgin Birth at all if holding onto "orthodoxy" is our only excuse for not including LGBTQ people equally in the life of the Church's life, Sacraments and mission.. To the LGBTQ people who are rejected by the Church in the name of "orthodoxy" they could care less. And Christians have placed that burden upon the shoulders of LGBTQ people in the name of "orthodoxy."
Nevertheless, those of us who are LGBTQ need not wait for those who lead the Church to discover for ourselves that finding our riches in God is the best way to find true happiness in our lives. As difficult as the spiritual and religious abuses of LGBTQ people by Christians are, we cannot keep making them our excuse for not finding peace with God. In this way, we give the conservative Christians the ammunition they so terribly use to suggest that LGBTQ people cannot find happiness in our lives, because we do not seek God. We can make every excuse available including blaming the Church for our choice to attempt to find happiness in money, careers, fancy lofts and expensive clothing, not to mention promiscuous sexuality. However, as long as we harbor the feelings of anger and fail to deal with those emotions in a healthy way, we will turn to things and make them "gods" when God is really who we need We can store up for ourselves all of the sex parties, bar hops, sex tricks and internet cruising sites to find happiness. Unless we are willing to try to seek happiness and holiness in God first and foremost than everything else we might look to will only leave us feeling empty and alone.
Could such be why ex-gay ministries are one of the places sad and lonely LGBTQ people go thinking that if they get rid of the gay thing they will be happier? Guess what, I have been there. Yup! I did that too. However ex-gay ministries are actually counterproductive in what they are hoping to do. Rather than help us to see that God needs to be the God of our lives who wants to love us as we are and help us find healthy and happy lives and relationships, ex-gay ministries instead cause us to make our sexual orientations our "god." Ex-gay ministries talk LGBTQ people into treating our God given and blessed sexual orientation and/or gender identities/expressions as our enemy. In so doing, ex-gay ministries turn healthy sexual orientation for a distressed LGBTQ person in to her or his new idolatry. When we suppress who we are making working on "that" being "changing our sexual orientation" when God gave it to us to find love in God, others and ourselves, then suddenly that which God created, becomes "god." And every time we obey our "god" and disappoint ourselves because we masturbated or whatever, suddenly "god" is that something we can no longer run from . Only when we surrender to God's will that being LGBTQ is how God created us and place our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression at the service of the one God, will we be richly rewarded because God is the center of our lives, not our gayness or whatever else we happen to be.
The Preacher Roger L. Franzen at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral this morning was correct. What LGBTQ people and quite frankly every person needs to be spiritually and personally healthy and happy is the fruits of the Holy Spirit that are found in Galatians 5: 22 to 23. "By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things." If all Christians including LGBTQ Christians could invest more of ourselves into the fruits and gifts of God the Holy Spirit, then we will find true riches, happiness, holiness and wholeness.
Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 13, Book of Common Prayer, Page 232).
Holy One, who satisfies our souls with good things,
Empower us to set our minds on you,
not on things only of the earth.
Fill any emptiness and fear with your grace.
Give us the courage to set aside that which perishes,
and to live in freedom —
speaking truth,
offering bread, shelter and comfort to others,
trusting in you, our Freedom, our Truth, our Bread.
In the name of Jesus, giver all good gifts,
Amen. (Out in Scripture, Proper 13, Year C).
No comments:
Post a Comment