Luke 10:1-16 (NRSV)
After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. He said to them, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. Go on your way. See, I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals; and greet no one on the road. Whatever house you enter, first say, "Peace to this house!" And if anyone is there who shares in peace, your peace will rest on that person; but if not, it will return to you. Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, "The kingdom of God has come near to you." But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, "Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near." I tell you, on that day it will be more tolerable for Sodom than for that town. 'Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the deeds of power done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But at the judgment it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be brought down to Hades. 'Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me.'
No matter what impression the Christianists like to give of Jesus, it is obvious to me that Jesus is very different from how they present him. God is not a psycho path. God is not an angry vengeful God waiting to strike some one down. At last week's candle-vigil held in Loring Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Rev. Dr. Robyn Provis said: "The Bible is not God's penal code." "The Bible is not God's sexual ethics book." As Dean Spenser Simrill has said: "Christianity does not hold a monopoly on the truth." We Christians believe that Jesus Christ is the Truth, but that does not mean we have a monopoly against someone because they do not worship or believe as we do.
Unfortunately, Christian history is full of examples of missionaries and other individuals thinking that Christians do have a monopoly on the truth and going in to other lands and tearing down their societies to remake them. Now the Christian community is confronted with what happens when we do that kind of thing. Uganda's "Kill the Gay's" bill is just such the result of colonization of other continents believing that those who are different, should become like how we think they should be. Such behaviors are really not what evangelizing in the Name of Jesus Christ is about.
In the Gospel today, Jesus sends out 72 and calls on them to bring peace to the places where they are welcomed. Jesus also instructs the 72 to not let the places that will not receive them, get to them too much. It is important to recognize Jesus' reference to Sodom and Gomorrah as being about hospitality, not homosexuality. Jesus sends out the 72 to bring healing, community, and caring to all who welcome them. Jesus tells them to eat whatever they are given and to create a community through which God can work through those who are building the community. Jesus challenges those he sends out in his Name to build up communities, not tear them down.
Heterosexism and homophobia, as well as all other forms of prejudice towards any person or group of people, does not build community. Phobia's and isms break down communities and create walls for people to avoid accepting and embracing each other. Hate rhetoric and organizing against a group of people based on sexual orientation and/or gender diversity/expression is a way of tearing people down, not building them up. Rather than seeking to recognize God's creative beauty in other people, phobias and isms separates and divides. Over these past few months we have seen Christianists using Jesus and the Bible to justify cruelty and violence of the most vicious kind to destroy any group of people who are not like them. The Tea Party movement is about destroying people, not building them up.
One of the LGBTQ communities most famous bumper stickers reads: "Celebrate Diversity." Diversity when celebrated and embraced builds up communities. The people Jesus sent the 72 out to visit with, were diverse. Yet Jesus told the 72 to do what they could for each of them. When communities are receptive to diversity, they become welcoming communities where everyone really does care about each other. When someone is down on their luck or in need of help, members of a diverse and welcoming community will reach out to do what they can. Our race, sexual and gender diversity, ability or challenge, gender, language, culture are not barriers in a community that celebrates diversity. Rather, diversity allows each person to become who God has created her or him to be, and everyone in the community learns something about themselves as they learn about each other. This is the community that the LGBTQ communities embrace, and they should be the same communities that the Church embraces. As the United States of America, working towards equality for all people should be our pride and joy, not our most complicated political issue.
As Christians it is our duty to share the good news of God's love in Jesus Christ with all people. That is what Henry Martyn did. Yet, our sharing of the good news should not stop at the doors of compassion and caring about people who are different than ourselves. The Church is going through a lot of growing pains to learn that. We have to look back at our history and understand what we did well, and what we missed the mark on. Plundering whole countries, religions and peoples to remake them into what we thought they should be, were just a few examples off those miss the mark moments. Telling the whole world that God loves us all in Jesus Christ and invites (not threatens us if we do other wise) us to know and love him better, is exactly what the Church is suppose to do. I hope all of us celebrate as much as we rededicate ourselves to continue to work to make the Church a more welcoming and inclusive community that builds people up instead of tearing communities up.
Almighty and everlasting God, in Christ you have revealed your glory among the nations: Preserve the works of your mercy, that your Church throughout the world may persevere with steadfast faith in the confession of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 24, Book of Common Prayer, page 235).
O God of the nations, you gave your faithful servant Henry Martyn a brilliant mind, a loving heart, and a gift for languages, that he might translate the Scriptures and other holy writings for the peoples of India and Persia: Inspire in us a love like his, eager to commit both life and talents to you who gave them; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Henry Martyn, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 647).
O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer, page 815).
Amen, times a million!
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