LGBTQ People are Cross-Bearers

1 Peter 4:12-19 (NRSV)

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And
 
"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?"
 
Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God's will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

This is a very busy week for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer people.  This week on the floor of the United States Senate is scheduled a vote to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  DADT as we know is the ban that keeps open LGBTQ people from serving in the United States Military.  We have an open war that has already begun as Senator John McCain is promising to stop the repeal at all costs.  Already the Christianists have started their attack of LGBTQ people not only about DADT but also marriage equality.

Just this past week the news was released that the Minnesota Catholic Conference is going to send a DVD to all Minnesota Catholic households to encourage them to oppose marriage equality in Minnesota.

What a relief it was to open a Facebook item from Integrity USA about a letter that was sent by members of The Religious Institute  suggesting that it is time for religious institutions to make open the way for Christians to support equality for LGBTQ people in terms of repealing DADT, marriage equality and ending work place discrimination.   In the document I read I found written: 

At the center of our traditions is the Biblical mandate to love, do justice, seek equality,
and act with compassion. The richness of our sacred texts allows for a variety of
interpretations, and there is room for legitimate and respectful disagreement about the
meaning of specific passages. However, using the Bible to exclude or attack people
violates the very spirit of our traditions and is morally unconscionable.
 
Sacred texts provide moral wisdom and challenge, but some passages may also
conflict with contemporary ethical insights. As we move toward a more just society,
we approach our texts and traditions with fresh questions and new understandings.
For example, biblical texts that condone slavery, regard women as property, forbid
divorce, or equate disease with divine retribution can no longer be regarded as
authoritative. We honor instead those texts and traditions that invite us to welcome the
stranger, love our neighbor as ourselves, and view all people as created in God’s image.
Even so, we cannot rely exclusively on scripture or tradition for understanding sexual and
gender diversity today. We must also pay attention to the wisdom of excluded, often
silenced people, as well as to findings from the biological and social sciences.

LGBTQ people are experiencing the cross of Jesus Christ as we work towards full equality in the laws of our nation as well as full inclusion with in the Church. The phrase from Integrity USA is "All the Sacraments for All the Baptized".  The reading from 1 Peter today tells us not to be surprised if we suffer because of our identity as Christians, and that includes LGBTQ Christians.  Because we are individuals of sexual and gender diversity, and believe in Jesus Christ we face persecution from society, Christianists and even from people within our LGBTQ communities.   Just because we are experiencing such difficulties is no reason to give up the fight for equality, inclusion or from living our sexual and gender diversity as believers in Jesus Christ.  


In today's Gospel of Mark 8: 34-38 we read:

Jesus called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "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 lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

When we accept our sexual and gender diversity and work towards equal justice and inclusion while clinging to the cross, we are living out our faith as Christians.  Jesus Christ was crucified because he was different.  LGBTQ people experience discrimination and persecution because we are different.  We are people who like Jesus come with a message of loving people in different ways, and we are mistaken for villains and sick people, even traitors to the Christian faith.  John Coleridge Patteson and his companions whom we commemorate today were killed by the Natives of Melaneasia because they were thought to be enemies of the people there.  It took the work of Bishop Selwyn to reconcile the Natives of Melaneasia with the understanding that Bishop Patteson had come to help them, not harm them.  


When people are ignorant, they become fearful, and as a result they become prejudiced.  And fear and prejudice rips societies and even churches apart, until someone comes along and helps them to reconcile and understand that the fear they once had, has no foundation to exist.  Fear and hate killed Harvey Milk.   Fear and hate are trying to rip the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion apart over the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson and Mary Glasspool.  Fear and hate are at work in Uganda and the Anglican Bishop there.  Fear and hate are at work through the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council, the American Family Council, Concerned Women for America, The National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Focus on the Family, and The Call by Rev. Lou Engle.  Rather than preach a Gospel of unconditional and all inclusive love they are resorting to hate and fear as they fill more American Christians, and other Christians abroad to countries like Uganda, with misinformation and rhetoric that is designed to stir up violence in speech and action.  


The public attention given to Pastor Jones a week ago is about hate and fear, not about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The fear and hate that has filled many American Christians about the Islamic people and their religion is based on things that are not true.  As a result the peaceful people who are seeking peace in their lives and the lives of other people, are scandalized and ruined.  

The Christian Religion does not hold a monopoly on truth.  The Christian Faith is not suppose to be a capital enterprise to raise billions of dollars on selling fear and hate to raise up rebellions and political upsets.  The Tea Party and the Christianists are depending on people's fears to win seats in Congress.  And if we do not pay attention, it just might work. What and who will pay the price?  Those of us who are trying to live honest, peaceful and loving lives.  It is often one of the most real consequences of picking up our cross and following Jesus Christ, the true Prince of Peace.


Those of us who follow Jesus Christ with our cross, believe in love inclusive, diverse and in being open minded.  Following Jesus Christ calls us to recognize within ourselves and others different than ourselves the beauty that God has made and redeemed through Christ who died and rose again.  To carry our cross and follow Jesus, to loose our life means that we wish to serve and love God first and foremost and to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.  We are called to go beyond the status quo and be people who believe and act on our Faith no matter what cost our Faith and our diversity might require.  


Many of us LGBTQ people have given up our families, former careers and whole communities of people we once knew to grow and become who we really are.  When others told us to hate our sexual and gender diversity, we chose to learn to love ourselves as God made us.  When Christianists told us to "pray away the gay" we said, no, we are called to carry the cross of recognizing God's image and likeness within everyone regardless of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression.  As LGBTQ people we also recognize the goodness of all people regardless of their race, religion, gender, ability, challenge, ability to speak or write in one language, employment, wealth, health, and occupation.  We will face the cross as we embrace the diversity of all humankind.  At times our acceptance of others will mean the lose of our reputations or even our lives.  In such moments we can say with Paul: "May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6: 14).

The world LGBTQ Christians are crucified to, is the world that says discrimination and violence based on sexual and gender diversity, racial diversity etc is to be tolerated.  The world that we are crucified to is the world that makes peace with oppression.  The Church that we are crucified to, is the one that uses the Bible to condemn us for our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression and our healthy and committed relationships.   In so doing, we are among the followers of Christ, bearing our cross.

Grant us, Lord, not to anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things which are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 20, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

Almighty God, you called your faithful servant John Coleridge Patteson and his companions to be witnesses and martyrs in the islands of Melanesia, and by their labors and sufferings raised up a people for your own possession: Pour out your Holy Spirit upon your Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many, your holy Name may be glorified and your kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for John Coleridge Patteson and his Companions, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 595).

Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. (A Collect for Peace, Book of Common Prayer, page 123).