Scriptural Basis
John 5:30-47
‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 33You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. 37And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.
‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41I do not accept glory from human beings. 42But I know that you do not have the love of God in* you. 43I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? 45Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’
Blog Reflection
Bishop Gene Robinson while speaking to a group of people in the Sage Chapel at Cornell University. Said that "mere tolerance of homosexuality is not enough."
More of the article below.
Bishop Gene Robinson has a favorite bumper sticker: Guns don't kill people, religions do.
"That would be funny if it weren't true," he said. "I would argue that 95 percent of all the pain and prejudice we as LGBT people have experienced can be laid at the feet of religious people."
In his lecture, "How Religion is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth," Robinson drew laughs, applause and cheers. He discussed how society has arrived at this debate, said it is unknown what God thinks about homosexuality, and said it is not enough to simply be tolerant of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
"Families are thrown into chaos," he said. "The world has changed because so many people have come out and all of us have to deal with it, including the church."
But what seems to be so clear in the Bible, he said, is really not clear at all. It is vital to look at the context of the Bible. Same-sex behavior existed in ancient times, but homosexuality did not, Robinson said.
The word "homosexual" is used in the Bible because of translations that were made, but homosexual orientation is a notion that is just 140 years old, and scripture is silent about homosexuality, he said.
"The Bible isn't talking about homosexuals," he said. "It seems to be real clear what God thinks about homosexuality, when in fact it is completely unknown."
Scripture has been used to defend slavery and the mistreatment of women, he said. Now scripture is wrongly being used to speak out against homosexuality, he said, but society has a chance to correct this misconception.
Instead of simply being tolerant of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Robinson said, the majority must actively support this group of people and fight for their rights.
"When we get white people beginning to understand they are paying a price for racism, or men realizing they are paying a price for sexism, or straight people realizing they are paying a price for the exclusion of LGBT people, then we will get somewhere," he said.
As Lent begins to wind down with less than two weeks to Holy Week, it is a good idea to examine our testimony as Christians. Another word for testimony is witness. The word testimony sounds a lot like were are on trial so as to give proof to something. For Christians, that is very important. Because it goes without saying that "Everyone has tried Christianity, but Christianity has hardly been tried."
When we hear of stories of LGBT youth taking their lives because of bullying in their schools, communities and in some cases their own families, and Christianist groups lobby legislators to not pass anti-bullying legislation, that does not provide a good testimony for Jesus Christ and the Church. No wonder there are individuals that just cannot believe in the Christian religion anymore.
When I read a story about legislators in Idaho rejecting rape as an exception for abortion with the remark: "The hand of the Almighty has been at work," I beg to differ. I seem to remember in the Gospel account of the Temptation of Christ in Matthew 4: 1-11 when Satan took Jesus on the highest point of the temple and told him to throw himself off so that the angels might keep him from dashing his foot against a stone, "Again it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test."
In a post on Good as You, I read today that Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has accused democratic law makers of willing to jeopardize America's national security by advancing the radical agenda of the homosexual lobby. This is hardly a good witness to the person of Jesus Christ.
A law maker in Montana is celebrating the fact that he blocked a measure that would have decriminalized homosexuality, saying that "Gays cannot act gay in my State."
I have also read that in Orlando, Florida the local PBS station there has been sold out to a religious based station. Are we all about to find out that the reason that the Republican House of Representatives have been working to defund National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is because Christianist groups are lobbying to buy them out?
Why are the examples I have just used bad for the testimony of Jesus Christ and the Christian religion?
The heart of the Christian Faith is not political, corporate and social power or control. Contrary to the opinion of Bryan Fischer, Jesus did not come to establish a Republican Majority. Jesus really did not come to establish any political or social majority that would subjugate any one group of people to another.
A careful reading of the Gospels will find that Jesus' harshest words were for those who thought that if they followed all the rules, and kept all the power for themselves they were somehow a head of everyone else, to the point of ignoring the marginalized and destitute among them. Like many Christianists suggest today.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and those who identify themselves as queer people, are not looking for a power take over of the country. That is a false statement, often made by Dr. James Dobson and others. LGBTQ people are looking to be able to live who we are, and marry the person we love, and serve our nation's military, and work our jobs, get public assistance, and share in all the benefits that are given to straight people, without being targeted by mean spirit individuals and groups of people. There are many LGBTQ people who worship and would like to worship and even serve their local church groups as ordained Bishops, Priests and Deacons. Many already do.
Jesus talks in the Gospel at the beginning of this blog post about how God testifies to who he is. Even the Bible itself is not a sufficient witness. Jesus gave life and meaning to many individuals who had been shoved aside as the "unlovables" of society and the organized religion of his time. Jesus calls on those who would follow him, and call themselves Christians to be an inclusive family of God's unconditional love.
I have written before and I will write again, Jesus died because he loved differently. His crucifixion which brought about our salvation, was also a rejection of loving in a way that is different from others. The death and resurrection of Jesus are God's message to the world that suffering in the name of loving differently is blessed by God, and that death does not have the final say.
If Christians are to give a good witness of who Jesus is to us and for us, then we must begin with our attitudes towards those who are different than ourselves, and commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that we may repent and walk a new way and life as God's redeemed people. We will need to look at our own prejudices and ask the Holy Spirit about how she can help us root them out, and learn to see other people as God sees them, not as we see them. We need to commit ourselves with the Holy Spirit as our guide, to justice, equality and inclusion of all of God's people.
As we commemorate Tikhon the Patriarch of Russia, who was both a Confessor and an Ecumenist (helped to brings unity to Christians), we are reminded that our witness to God's love is not only a matter of our creeds and customs, but a matter of serving those who are oppressed by the governments that do not honor the existence and freedom of their own people. Tikhon was a Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.
May God's testimony of us, be such that people are drawn to God and the Church, not steered away from it.
Prayers
Almighty and most merciful God, drive from us all weakness, we may with free hearts become what you intend us to be and accomplish what you want us to do: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 57).
Holy God, holy and mighty, you call us together into one communion and fellowship: Open our eyes, we pray, as you opened the eyes of your servant Tikhon, that we may see the faithfulness of others as we strive to be steadfast in the faith delivered to us, that the world may see and know you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be glory and praise unto ages of ages. Amen. (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 313).
Look with pity, O God, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, page 826).
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