God's Relationship With Us Is Reflected In Our Relationships With Each Other

John 14:3-7 (NRSV)

Jesus said to his disciples, "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.

As I was reading through Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints in preparation for today's blog post, I was aware that today is a day that I need to be especially careful.  The Christian Faith which is rich in tradition, symbolism and truth has also been a source of destruction and falsehood for many throughout the centuries.  While Christianity remains the source of my strength and inspiration as a gay man, there are others for whom it is a source of intense pain and rejection.  I hope through my writing I convey a sense of understanding and empathy. I have to be true to who God is in my own life and I love to share that with those who read what I write.  But I also hope that for others who read my blogs may find within these words that God is in love with all of us and desires a relationship with us regardless of who we are or where we are.  Whether you are someone who agrees with what I write or not, know that God loves you very deeply and that whether you wish to draw close to God or not you are welcome here.    Whether you believe in the God that Christians worship or not,  you are welcome here. 

The Episcopal Church commemorates Remigius a saint of the early Church and one of the patron saints of France.  He was born about 438 and the son of the Count of Laon.  Remigius became Bishop of Rheims at the age of 22.  He converted and baptized King Clovis of the Franks on Christmas Day, 496.  This changed for ever the religious history of Europe causing them to become Catholic instead of Arian, which meant that they embraced the idea that Jesus was both human and divine.  In addition to King Clovis there were also an additional 3,000 converts to Catholic Christianity. (Much of the information here is taken from Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 616).

The Episcopal and Anglican churches make no bones about the understanding that our doctrine and history has its roots in Catholicism.  The word Catholic also means "Universal" and does not only mean Roman Catholic.  Episcopalians and Anglicans embrace the truths of our Catholic Christian heritage, but we also understand that that which is Catholic and Christian is never idle. Our understanding of what God is calling us to is always expanding and growing.  Through Scripture, Tradition and Reason we continue to seek where God is leading us from where we have been to help us toward where we are going.  We can acknowledge what Christians have done well, learn from what we have done wrong and move forward with a renewed mind and heart with new ways of believing and expressing what always has been, and is yet still becoming.

One of those pieces of what makes Orthodox Christians who we are is our belief in God as One, yet revealed in three separate distinctive Persons.  God the Creator/Maker/Mother/Father, Redeemer/Servant/Son and Sancitfier/Life-Giver/Comforter/Holy Spirit.  Through the past twenty years we have begun to understand that God is beyond gender description, as well as our age old understandings in Scripture.  Most importantly, Christians have been exploring our realization that whoever God is, whether God is known by female or male gender names, God seeks a relationship with every person.  Our race, national origin, sexual and gender diversity, gender, religion, employment situation, economic condition, language etc are not obstacles to God reaching out to us and embracing us as God's holy people.  Even in our darkest places (see Psalm 139:10-11) when we are facing the worst of discrimination and economic hardship God's power and grace are able to impact who we are and where we are to bring about God's glory and our benefit.

God's relationship to all of us (see Psalm 103) is reflected in our relationships with each other.  In our Gospel reading Jesus answers that he is the way, truth and life, the path that Christians are called to take to find God.  Jesus tells us that if we know him, we shall know God.  How are we knowing Jesus in God as we hear the tragic stories of the several LGBTQ youth suicides that have been reported over the last few days, weeks and months?  How is Jesus leading us to God as we continue to work for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, to pass marriage equality laws and pass an inclusive Employment Non-Discrimination Act?  How are the Church and the LGBTQ community called to reflect a relationship with God and each other in the midst of the difficulties within the Anglican Communion, or between people of Faith and issues of sexual and gender diversity?

If Remigius called  the conservative folks of his time to recognize idolatry, can we challenge conservative Christians in our own time to see Biblical literalism or prejudice as a form of idolatry?  When we make political ambushing our work of choice rather than spreading the Gospel of love and inclusion we pollute God's name or even risk taking it in vain.  The Holy Spirit continues to challenge us in the twenty first Century as she did in the early Church that we may understand that the message of the Gospel is not limited to where we are or who we are, but includes where we are and who we are.   As we acknowledge our sins and trust in God's mercy and forgiveness, the graces of God fill our hearts and lives and empowers us to reach out to others.  These are just a few ways in which God's relationship with all of us is reflected in our relationships with each other.

As people of sexual and gender diversity who have chosen to follow Jesus Christ as the way, truth and life to God, we trust in God in our loving relationships as well as our work for full inclusion in the Body of Christ and society.  Every time we love our partners through our physical bodies, and share with them what is in our hearts and see each other through the good and bad times, we reflect God's relationship to us with each other.  The affectionate love shared between lesbian and gay people is as much a reflection of the love of Christ and the Church as it is for heterosexual people.  Christ loves the Church though the Church is far from perfect. Through love Christ is bringing the Church ever closer to him.  So as people of the same sex share their love for each other, they are bringing each other one step closer to union with God who loves us all.  That is the relationship that Remigius converted the King to.  That is the relationship God the Holy Trinity calls us to be converted to, today and every day for the good of the Church, the world and ourselves.

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

O God, by the teaching of your faithful servant and bishop Remigius you turned the nation of the Franks from vain idolatry to the worship of you, the true and living God, in the fullness of the catholic faith: Grant that we who glory in the name of Christian may show forth our faith in worthy deeds; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Remigius, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 617)

Holy Trinity,
divine and blessed relationship,
bless the ecstasy of these lovers
as their faces kiss,
as their bodies touch,
as in their lovemaking
they overcome the fear and the hatred
and the garbage heaped upon them
by the church and the culture.

Bless their adoration of each other
as they worship the holy imprint
of your divine beauty
and enjoy the communion
of a loving convenant.
May such sacrament
bring them ever closer to you,
Lover of us all.  Amen.
(Coming Out to God, Prayers for Lesbians and Gay Men, Their Families and Friends, Chris Glaser, page 85).