This past election season has me burnt out like so many others. We all worked so hard. The results are not very comforting. If we do not take what happened this past Tuesday as a wake up call for progressives to get active in challenging those who lead us to do better, then who will? In case some folks forgot, many of the saints that the Church celebrates on this All Saints Sunday were thought of as total morons by many inside and outside the Church. They were unusual. They were thought of as outcasts or counter cultural. They often drove the conservatives crazy. They endured hate from many in the Church. Many of the saints stood up against Bishops and national rulers. Many saints lost their lives because they were determined to not stop telling folks in the Church and society that what they were doing was wrong.
What are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer people referred to today? Social deviants was a name I heard in the movie: Milk. Many falsely and ignorantly accuse us of incest and pedophilia. Many are blamed for the crimes and hatred of Christianists and arch-conservative Catholics/Anglicans/Episcopalians. Whole church and political bodies write insulting and hateful words towards those of us who are LGBTQ.
In the readings for this All Saints Sunday Out in Scripture reminds us: "The texts for today may seem unusual for an All Saints Day celebration. These texts remind us that not all saints are dead saints. We are called to live lives of integrity and holiness now, today!"
Members of the LGBT community must remember on this day of celebration that there are saints, known and unknown, living and dead, gay and straight, who encourage us in our struggle to affirm our humanity. This inheritance is not just for the few. It is for all of us. Daniel 7:1-3, 15-18 ties these two texts together when it says: “But the holy ones of the Most High shall receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever — forever and ever” (7:18).
Paul reminds us in Ephesians 1: 11:
In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance, having been destined according to the purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to his counsel and will, so that we, who were the first to set our hope on Christ, might live for the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you had heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and had believed in him, were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit; this is the pledge of our inheritance toward redemption as God's own people, to the praise of his glory.
Regardless of our sexual or gender diversity, Christ has selected us as among God's redeemed people. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God has claimed each of us as God's own. As so many of us LGBTQ people have maintained our belief in Jesus amidst attitudes of bias by many in the Church and beyond, we are claiming the gift of Christ's redeeming work and continuing to carry it out. The work of God's redeeming love is carried on as we attempt to bring justice and equality for all members of our communities, as well as others who are marginalized. Our Gospel of Luke 6:20-31 is Jesus' Sermon on the Plain. Out in Scripture offers the following thoughts about the Gospel reading.
The gospel passage, Luke 6:20-31, is Luke’s famous Sermon on the Plain, the analogue to Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5:3-7:29). Yet, there are a couple important differences. First, Jesus directs his words only to disciples. In Matthew, the disciples and the crowd function as the audience. Second, unlike Matthew, Luke’s language is raw and direct. Instead of Matthew’s nine beatitudes, here we only encounter four. Further, Luke’s beatitudes address the causes of social, political and economic oppression: poverty, hunger, sadness and hatred. His series of woes chastise those who believe they can maintain the status quo (Luke 6:24-26).
Luke’s sermon is a continuation of Jesus’ declaration that he came to bring release and to set others free (4:18-19). This text reminds us that we as disciples must do the same. Sainthood is not something reserved for the spiritually evolved, those who can think and act beyond the sphere of the everyday. No. Sainthood is an everyday matter. It is something experienced by people living on the margins of society. Many of us have no difficulty affirming the poor, the hungry and the sad. The problem arises for us when we get to Luke 6:22: “Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you, revile you, and defame you . . . .” It disturbs us because far too often we participate in these activities ourselves. We have even made it socially acceptable.
No one in the LGBT community can forget the recent wave of laws meant to protect the sanctity of marriage. In state after state, hatred was codified as the law of the land. The good news today is that in God’s eyes the targets of such hatred are blessed. It reminds us that the oppressed must never become the oppressor. Love must be extended to even those we hate. Help must be extended to all. Although it may be a rare experience, saintliness is something a disciple must enact everyday.
I am sure that no one here will forget very soon at least the sweeping losses we have had in Iowa. Here in Minnesota we have a very real threat looming to all of the LGBT rights we have been gaining up to this point. We thought for sure that we were going to be spending 2011 winning marriage equality. Instead it looks like we are going to be working really hard to keep a constitutional amendment banning same sex marriage off our ballots for 2012. As angry as these realities make us, and rightly so, they should not result in our relaxing our efforts for equality. They also should not cause us to become like our opponents resorting to violence or cruel rhetoric. We should indeed speak up when they state things about LGBT people and defend our communities and our equal rights. We must also not only be ready to work for our own justice and equality, but also the equality of Muslims, illegal immigrants, women and many other minorities. We need to be looking at how the gay community often puts our transgender friends on the back side and literally pays no attention to how their equal rights are so often neglected. The gay and transgender communities, need to be thoughtful and respectful to bisexual members of our communities, as well as those who are metro sexual, a sexual or even pan sexual. It is more important than ever that if we are going to be working towards equality, that equal rights for all people be our concern.
Saints were and are now those who are willing to risk for the sake of ourselves and others who need to know that they are valued and loved. As people who embrace diversity it is in our best interest to keep learning about others in our communities and beyond our communities so that we can become helpful to others as they become helpful to us. One of the most important ways in which we get rid of prejudice and cruel rhetoric and behavior is to learn about people that we do not know or understand. This past month into this month I have been learning more and more about transgender people. The more I am learning, the more attitudes and ideas I once had that were not respectful to transgender people are going away.
Saints are not only those who challenge others to change, but who are willing to challenge ourselves to change. Part of "creating change" is to be allowing change to happen to us, so that when we call others to change we are the example of change that we want others to be open to experience.
Almighty God, you have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those ineffable joys that you have prepared for those who truly love you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen. (Collect for All Saints Day, Book of Common Prayer, page 245).
Faithful God, Our True Witness,
Give us the strength and wisdom to live lives
of love, peace and acceptance
in a world fraught with hatred, dissension and exclusion.
Help us to reach out and love
both those who are oppressed and those who oppress.
Guide our journey
that we may live as saints
in remembrance of those saints who have lived before,
those saints who live among us, and those who are to come.
In the name of Jesus, Amen. (Prayerfully Out in Scripture).
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