Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost: Authenticity in Leadership Means Nurturing Not Domination

Scriptural Basis

Micah 3: 5-12 (NRSV)

Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets

who lead my people astray,

who cry "Peace"

when they have something to eat,

but declare war against those

who put nothing into their mouths.

Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without revelation.

The sun shall go down upon the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them;

the seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

they shall all cover their lips,

for there is no answer from God.

But as for me, I am filled with power,

with the spirit of the LORD,

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob his transgression

and to Israel his sin.

Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob

and chiefs of the house of Israel,

who abhor justice

and pervert all equity,

who build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with wrong!

Its rulers give judgment for a bribe,

its priests teach for a price,

its prophets give oracles for money;

yet they lean upon the LORD and say,

"Surely the LORD is with us!

No harm shall come upon us."

Therefore because of you

Zion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,

and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

Matthew 23: 1-12

Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father-- the one in heaven. Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Blog Reflection

Today's reading from the Prophet Micah is timely.  During the past month and more we have seen the Occupy movements calling for economic equality and justice.  The CEO's of Wall Street and the largest banks in America have seen their profits rise. At the same time so many people have lost their jobs, homes, opportunities for higher education, some kind of future struggle just to survive. 

In an age bombarded with messengers that claim to speak for God, how do we discern messages that are truly life-giving?  With the ancient psalmist and the prophet in Micah 3:5-12, we cry out against the self-interest, greed and fear which corrupt leaders’ motives and rob social relationships of authentic justice. (Out in Scripture).

In America, a land full of technological advances, brilliant doctors, lawyers, financial institutions and more poverty is on the rise.  More individuals are not able to afford health care when they are sick.  The young people who are graduating from college are so in debt because of student loans with very little hope of finding meaningful and gainful employment.  People age 50 and older are losing their jobs that they worked years for their retirement, only to find that their retirement pensions have been eaten up by Wall Street. 

Yet, those who claim to be "speaking for God" in the Christianist organizations for America are on the side of the wealthy and those who discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people. 

What we fail to understand is that when the poor and middle class in any given nation suffers at the hands of those who are not just wealthy, but also greedy for more money and power, entire civilizations and communities including the religious groups collapse. 

Such is what Micah is saying.

In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul is calling people to remember the labor of those who are proclaiming a Christian Faith do not seek "power through domination" but desire to lead through the nurturing of communities of peace, justice and equality.

Many who lead our Christian Faith whether as denominational leaders or sit on individual church councils, eventually fall into the trappings of using their positions to exercise power at the expense of ministry.   Though many gain positions of leadership because of the good work they do, it is sadly not uncommon for them to be elected to leadership because of who they know.   Popularity of name and association at the expense of religious devotion and a desire to work towards authentic change.

The ministry of the Church is one that seeks to break down the walls of division and malice.  The demand for respect for leadership as a Bishop or Priest becomes first, while those who need to be fed or receive good council from the wounds they have endured continue to be ignored. 

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people who continue to experience the marginalization of who they are and the relationships they create are expected to embrace full monogamy no matter what.  However, the Christian Church has yet to preach and share the Gospel in such a way, so that parents, friends, work places, politicians, schools, businesses etc, do not fear the worst or feel like they were kicked in the stomach when they hear about their dear friend being LGBT.  While monogamy is a beautiful goal to work towards, until the day a  young man can tell his mother and father that he is gay without worrying if he will be homeless after saying so, monogamy is just a restriction and not something they will want to do.  All the shame for being "promiscuous" by many Priests, just sounds like "there goes the Church telling me how to live" when the Church still has not embraced every LGBT person, family, and couple.  

If we are going to call for conversion, then we must be willing to allow the Holy Spirit to convert us.

Jesus's call in today's Gospel is not a slam on the Jewish religion.  This Gospel today has unfortunately been used to justify the worst anti-Semitism.  Such a stance misses what Jesus is calling Christians to do.

Jesus is calling on all who consider themselves "leaders" to remember that they too are to be held accountable.  

We see in this passage an enduring challenge to demand for all leaders to be authentic and accountable for their just or unjust actions.

We also remember that we are all leaders in some way.  The call to authenticity here includes practicing what we preach, purifying our hearts’ motives for public ministry, and living in relationships of mutuality.   When we do these things, we place ourselves in a humble place, remembering that Jesus said “You are all students” (verse 8).  Such is the path that avoids imposing our own burdens and needs upon others for whom we are responsible.  Such is the path to inhabiting Moses’ seat (whatever the leadership role to which we’ve been called) as if we are on the holy ground of the burning bush.  There, we listen anew to the Liberator’s call to be agents of justice-making and need not be anything more or less than ourselves.

We live in a day when “All are Welcome” signs are posted outside so many churches.  Too often, however, the signs are only marketing gimmicks when churches do not truly offer God’s hospitality.  There is such a contrast between the open invitation and the congregation or denomination’s claims in its ordination position or its work for justice.  Where is the authenticity in such self-promotion?  We live in a day when leaders of both church and society may clamor for their own acceptance, status, material gain and popularity, and do or say whatever will gain them such security. Believers who do so cloud their discernment of God’s revelation and risk communal ruin.  Authentic lives, staying power and justice go hand-in-hand. (Out in Scripture).

Christians will never be authentic leaders within their communities, until many of the clouds of prejudice are no longer supported by Christians and our various communities.  The continuing mud slinging towards the Muslims, Jews, Native Americans, immigrants, women, LGBT and so on suggest that Christians are lacking in authenticity in our commitment to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Jesus calls on us today not to dominionism, but to nurturing good communities where truth, justice, equality and inclusion are every day celebrations.  

When we work together to help immigrants bring their stories to our communities and make their stories part of our stories, then the Gospel is being authenticated through our actions.  

As LGBT people become ordained as Bishops, Priests, Deacons and lay leaders who help the Church become more inclusive to the point of supporting marriage equality, ending hate crimes and no longer demonizing people on the basis of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression, the Church becomes more authentically part of God's reign. 

When the Church seeks out the protection of the rights of women to no longer be subjected to male privilege legislating their health care, job creation, education  and protection from violence and exploitation, the Church is authentically protecting the vocation of motherhood and the role of women.  

When the Church joins the people on Wall Street in calling on our government leadership to enact laws that defend the poor and middle class, and calls on the rich to ending their desire to dominate all of America, the Church is authentically participating in the mission of God's love and compassion.

God is calling on Christians to authenticate our vocation.  We must live our lives committed to our God and what our Mother the Holy Spirit is empowering us to do.  It is not enough to attend church services and exercise hypocrisy through fake political politeness.  It is important to be part of the call of God the Holy Spirit to embrace the lost, release those captive by political, religious and social oppression and heal society through radical hospitality and reconciliation.

Prayers

Almighty and merciful God, it is only by your gift that your faithful people offer you true and laudable service: Grant that we may run without stumbling to obtain your heavenly promises; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 26, Book of Common Prayer, page 235).

Gracious Father, we pray for your holy Catholic Church. Fill it with all truth, in all truth with all peace. Where it is corrupt, purify it; where it is in error, direct it; where in any thing it is amiss, reform it. Where it is right, strengthen it; where it is in want, provide for it; where it is divided, reunite it; for the sake of Jesus Christ your Son our Savior. Amen.  (Prayer for the Church, Book of Common Prayer, page 816)

Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice, Book of Common Prayer, page 823). 

Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: All We Need Is Love. Where Have We Heard That Before?

Scriptural Basis

Leviticus 19:1-2,15-18 (NRSV)

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying:

Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them: You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy.

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor. You shall not go around as a slanderer among your people, and you shall not profit by the blood of your neighbor: I am the LORD.

You shall not hate in your heart anyone of your kin; you shall reprove your neighbor, or you will incur guilt yourself. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

Matthew 22:34-46 (NRSV)

When the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?" He said to him, "`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: "What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?" They said to him, "The son of David." He said to them, "How is it then that David by the Spirit calls him Lord, saying,

`The Lord said to my Lord,
"Sit at my right hand,
until I put your enemies under your feet"'?

If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?" No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

Blog Reflection

I once read the story of a woman.  She was the wife of a man, and was very happy for many years.  One night her husband was killed in a car accident.  While she was at her husbands wake, she was greeted by a woman who was crying bitterly about the widow's husband. Over the course of their conversation, the widow learned that the woman who was so destroyed had been sleeping with her husband and expecting a child that she conceived from their relationship. In spite of the widow's grief, upon hearing this news, as confused and angry as she was, she chose to become best friends with the woman expecting a child.  She was even present when the woman gave birth to a beautiful baby girl. She helped the woman take care of the baby.  She often baby sat while the mother worked.  Later on, she drove the child to school on several occasions. The widow, the mother and the child were inseparable through out the child's life.

Over time, the relationship between the two women got deeper and in fact they fell in love. They bonded and became life long partners and raised the child right into adulthood.  They later applied for a marriage license and they were turned down, because their State does not recognize same-sex relationships.

Eventually the daughter fell in love with a man who was a Catholic. He proposed and she accepted.  However, when they went to the local Parish to arrange their wedding, they informed the Priest that the bride to be's parents were two mom's and she told him the story of her biological fathers death and the bond between the women.  The Priest informed the Bride to be that she could indeed be married in the church, but she could not claim both of her mother's as her parents.  She was crushed and then engaged couple decided to get married in a different church where the bride's two moms would not be excluded from the wedding ceremony and the proceedings.

While the daughter, her fiance and her two mom's were getting acquainted. Her fiance asked the two mom's what was it that made the widow over look the adulterous affair between her late husband and her wife that eventually led to their relationship.  The widow answered: "It was because of love.  We were told by God that we are to love God, our neighbor and ourselves.  Rather than be angry and hate this wonderful woman, I decided it was a more important decision to love her.  And love her I did and I definitely do."

I tell this story to illustrate what our Liturgy of the Word is about. We can argue all day about whether God is male or female. We can read all the theological treatises about the Immaculate Conception or whether the bread at Communion is really the Body and Blood of Christ because of transubstantiation, consubstantiation or whether it is just a symbol.  While I love a good brain frying conversation about the deepest questions in the Christian religion, in the end they mean nothing if we cannot understand that the love of God, neighbor and ourselves is the core meaning of what it means to be called a Christian.

Paul said as much in his first letter to the Corinthians 13, but to illustrate what I said in the paragraph above I want to just use verses 1 to 3.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. 

Over the past month we have seen what happens when corporate greed takes the place of loving our neighbor as ourselves.  The many protesters in the Occupy Wall Street movement in New York and all over the country and the world, is a call to recognize that money out of control destroys real human lives.  When the top 1% earns more than 10 middle class families combined, and keeps using their money to destroy the public funding for health care, consumer protections, public assistance, education, job creation and more, the lives of the 99% are affected in ways that cannot be completely understood.

When States like Arizona and Alabama pass immigration laws that punish "illegals" (and what a terrible word) by either profiling them or making it a crime for them to bath, there is no love of God, neighbor or self there.   That is nothing more than selfishness and bias at work.

When Republican candidates for President campaign suggesting that dealing with LGBT people and keeping us from equal rights, is akin to delivering the slaves in the south, there is no love there.  That is hate and "religion disguised as politics" (Frank Schaffer).

In his blog post: "So Why Did Jesus Refuse to Condemn Gay Folks?" Fr. Paul Bresnahan wrote:

Jesus insisted the we “Love one another” too. He didn’t just make that up because that was his opinion. No indeed! He selected one half of one verse from an obscure place in the book of Leviticus of all books to make his summary proclamation. “You shall love your neighbor as you do yourself. (Leviticus 19:18b)

With all the laws in Leviticus, why would Jesus pick this one. He could have chosen a whole host of other laws to condemn a whole host of people. Not Jesus! Instead he chose that one tiny law that has made all the difference then and continues to do so now.

Jesus was confronted by tiresome biblical literalists then as many of us still are. Somehow there were always Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes, and Doctors of the Law all conspiring to find a pretext to have Jesus done away with. They always seem to want to catch him in his words. I can sympathize with Jesus here.

The same literalists keep showing up. And there always seems to be a note of judgmentalism among this crowd. They always want to find a good reason to condemn people.

Fr. Paul is correct.  When Jesus was confronted by the Biblical literalists of his time, he did not begin with a long list of "do not's."  Jesus did not call for a new Bible to be written either. He went back to the very heart of the Jewish Religion and said that the most important thing is to love God, neighbor and self.

Fr. Paul concluded his post with:

Jesus is a marvel. He knew that the most difficult thing is also the most simple. Love God, Love your neighbor. Love yourself.All three of these great loves are a marvel of challenge to a spirit that is fully alive to God. 

So now I put this to you. Are you ready to love God? If you think you are, you may also have to love your neighbor, and that will include folks you may find difficult to love. Who said following Jesus was going to be easy. His first followers had to give their very lives for folks who were difficult to love. 

Ultimately you will also need to love yourself. You will need to abound in forgiveness for yourself and everyone else. If you think you’re up to it, then you may follow Jesus. 

If you don’t feel you are up to it, you may still follow Jesus. When you find yourself unable to love, Jesus will remain constant, immovable, and always standing on the cross, extending his loving arms, so that everyone may come within his saving embrace. 

That famous song: "All We Need is Love" seems to be full of truth.  When we are confronted with such an idea, we might want to remind ourselves of where have we heard that before?  

Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, increase in us the gifts of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain what you promise, make us love what you command; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 25, Book of Common Prayer, page 235).

Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within reach of your saving embrace.  So clothe us in yoru Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name.  Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, page 101).

Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.(Book of Common Prayer, page 833).

Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Manhattan or Affirmation

Scriptural Basis

Matthew 22:15-22 (NRSV)

The Pharisees went and plotted to entrap Jesus in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, "Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?" But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, "Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax." And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, "Whose head is this, and whose title?" They answered, "The emperor's." Then he said to them, "Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor's, and to God the things that are God's." When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Blog Reflection

The title of today's blog post might catch my readers off guard. The Gospel is about giving to the emperor what belongs to the emperor and to God what belongs to God. What does Manhatten or Affirmation have to do with anything?

I entitled my blog post because the Gospel reading from Matthew is the Scripture referred to by those who composed and signed the Manhattan Declaration.  The declaration states that every human life conceived in a woman's womb, and only the marriage of a straight man and woman belong to God. Any laws that support a woman's right to choose for herself, or any marriage that is not the marriage of a heterosexual man and woman are "Cesar's" laws. In the Manhattan Declaration, the authors and those who sign are determined to break the laws of any country, state or municipality to make abortion illegal and be sure that LGBT people cannot share in marriage equality, because they are defending what are God's from the laws of Cesar, those being the governments that make and/or redefine the laws of our land.

The Affirmation Declaration, the person who authored it and those have signed on  remark that:

Although the purpose of the Affirmation Declaration is not to deal with the question of whether or not homosexuality is morally benign or repugnant in God's eyes—such a question is worthy of a detailed examination, rather than a simple pronouncement—we do first and foremost emphatically state that God does affirm homosexuality as a natural state, and homosexuals as His beloved.

We reject the theological abuse of antigay doctrine, which has resulted in the spiritual and physical harm of countless people. Human beings, made in the image and likeness of God, have been made to feel lower than low because of the fear of diversity within our human family, and because of theology founded not upon rightly interpreted Scripture, but upon traditionalism with no substantial basis in sound hermeneutics.

Historically, humans have always had an aversion to diversity. That which is not like the norm has always frightened or offended, and we acknowledge with great regret that the Christian body is not innocent of this charge. But, we also readily acknowledge that God is calling us in this generation to be restorers of the breach—to identify and correct the errors that so many Christians have accepted as foregone conclusions, and to reconcile those who have been ostracized and rejected back to the loving arms of their holy God.

Jesus was well acquainted with the great harm that "spiritual leaders" so easily dispense in the name of God. Our own Scriptures tell us that He was "despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not." He knew what it was to be around people who claimed to love God, but couldn't stand to look upon people who were created in God's image. He knew what it was like to be held in low esteem just because He did not toe the line that the religious leaders demanded.

We take heart in the knowledge that Christ has been where so many in the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (GLBTI) community are. He has gone through the pain of rejection—particularly, the pain of being rejected by the very ones who should have been a wellspring of living water. We are thankful that the God of all comfort has been a keeping power to countless GLBTI Christians, who could, at many times, turn to no one but Him for love, affirmation, and support. We proclaim that He has been enough; but we also unwaveringly declare that He has more in mind for His children than spiritual and emotional isolation—that He desires all of His body of believers to be in fellowship one with the other.

Although The Affirmation Declaration uses a different Scripture, I do believe that the better answer to today's Gospel on the subject of the inclusion of LGBT people and other marginalized persons is more in line than the Manhattan Declaration.

I think before we can totally conclude my analysis of the difference between The Manhattan Declaration vs. The Affirmation Declaration and how today's Gospel points to working for justice, equality and inclusion, we need some additional understanding about what Jesus is actually talking about.

Rev. Michele Morgan, Transitional Priest at St.John's Episcopal Church in Minneapolis gave some outstanding background information to today's Gospel narrative.  When the Pharisees talk about the coins to pay tax to the Emperor, they are talking about a coin that is highly offensive to the Jewish people.  The coins by which they had to pay the tax had a picture of the Emperor on them, which for the Jewish people meant that the Emperor took the place of God.  The very LORD God of whom "there is no other" spoken of in today's reading from Isaiah 45: 1-7.  This very idea that they had to use a coin that so offended the Jewish people and reminded them of by whom they had been oppressed and held against their will was so very painful for them. 

Yet, when Jesus is questioned about whether it is right to pay the tax to the Emperor, his response is to give to the Emperor what rightfully belongs to him.  If the Emperor really believes he is the Sovereign, it is his loss.  Therefore, let him have what is his.  But what belongs to God, that is worship, praise, adoration and the care of God's people, that belongs to God and therefore don't give to the Emperor all that rightfully belongs to God.

There has been some conversation throughout the centuries on the issue of marriage equality for LGBT persons.  In November of 2009 Episcopal Bishop John Bryson Chane of the Diocese of Washington, DC made the following statement in a commentary in The Washington Post.

Christians have always argued about marriage. Jesus criticized the Mosaic law on divorce, saying "What God has joined together let no man separate." But we don't see clergy demanding that the city council make divorce illegal.

Some conservative Christian leaders claim that their understanding of marriage is central to Christian teaching. How do they square that claim with the Apostle Paul's teaching that marriage is an inferior state, one reserved for people who are not able to stay singly celibate and resist the temptation to fornication?

As historian Stephanie Coontz points out, the church did not bless marriages until the third century, or define marriage as a sacrament until 1215. The church embraced many of the assumptions of the patriarchal culture, in which women and marriageable children were assets to be controlled and exploited to the advantage of the man who headed their household. The theology of marriage was heavily influenced by economic and legal considerations; it emphasized procreation, and spoke only secondarily of the "mutual consolation of the spouses."

In the 19th and 20th centuries, however, the relationship of the spouses assumed new importance, as the church came to understand that marriage was a profoundly spiritual relationship in which partners experienced, through mutual affection and self-sacrifice, the unconditional love of God.

The Episcopal Church's 1979 Book of Common Prayer puts it this way: "We believe that the union of husband and wife, in heart, body and mind, is intended by God for their mutual joy; for the help and comfort given one another in prosperity and adversity; and, when it is God's will, for the procreation of children and their nurture in the knowledge and love of the Lord."

Our evolving understanding of what marriage is leads, of necessity, to a re-examination of who it is for. Most Christian denominations no longer teach that all sex acts must be open to the possibility of procreation, and therefore contraception is permitted. Nor do they hold that infertility precludes marriage. The church has deepened its understanding of the way in which faithful couples experience and embody the love of the creator for creation. In so doing, it has put itself in a position to consider whether same-sex couples should be allowed to marry.

Theologically, therefore, Christian support for same-sex marriage is not a dramatic break with tradition, but a recognition that the church's understanding of marriage has changed dramatically over 2,000 years.

I have been addressing the sound theological foundation for a new religious understanding of marriage, because it disturbs me greatly to see opposition to marriage for same-sex couples portrayed as the only genuinely religious or Christian position. I am somewhat awed by the breadth of religious belief and life experience reflected among more than 200 clergy colleagues who are publicly supporting marriage equality in D.C.

The issue of whether marriage is by itself an institution brought about by God as suggested is recorded in the Genesis creation story, and various other places are very weak arguments at best. The historical facts tell us that the authors of many of the Biblical texts did not have such language as heterosexuality and  homosexuality.  Sexuality in their days was more about a stronger human species vs a weaker human species.  By itself, the argument does not hold together in light of the history of the Scriptural authors. 

When Jesus talks about giving to the Emperor vs giving to God, Jesus is talking about recognizing that God is present in us and in others with whom we share our communities.  The emperor may have had his picture on the coin, but the very image and likeness of God is stamped into each human person, including women and LGBT people. Marginalizing LGBT people and women through discriminatory laws, behaviors, rhetoric, and violence is not protecting what is God's from Cesar.  It is going beyond seeing Cesar as God.  It means that God's call to the love of God, neighbor and self is violated with no cause for concern for the damage we do to God's reputation, let alone the reputation of God's Church.  By denying marriage equality rights to LGBT people, what Christianists propose is to keep all the goodness that God gives to every human being regardless of sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression is to be with held by the human understanding of Christianist organizations and anti-equality hate groups. The call of Christian Charity spoken of in 1 Corinthians 13 becomes a fifth level concern, while a witch hunt to use the Scriptures as an excuse to scapegoat takes the place of the first and second commandments.  

Our Christian Faith asks us to respond to today's Gospel by rendering unto God what rightfully belongs to God.  Among them are the recognition of God's creative beauty, and powerful redemption unto eternal salvation of every human person, including the LGBT, women whether they have abortions or not, as well as Muslims, Jewish people, African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos and so forth. What belongs to God is recognizing each individual person as a masterpiece of God's hand and that no one is a second class citizen under God's heaven.

In God's eyes, there are no 99% vs 1%.  Those who are suffering under the economic oppressions of those holding all the cards of the money on Wall Street, are just as valuable as those making the billion dollar profits.  Indeed, God does call on those who make twice as much as what others make, to help reduce the sufferings of those less fortunate than they are.  To help low income and middle class families obtain housing, medicine, food, an education, safe roads and bridges, as well as equal rights.  When the Christianists of our time egg on the wealthy further oppressing the poor and marginalized by using their money to lobby politicians to protect the wealthy interests ahead of anyone else, it is the Christianists that are selling their soul to Cesar.

When Dominionists want to take over entire governments so that they can outlaw anyone who does not think or act as they do, they are no longer proclaiming the Christian Gospel. 

When Christianists and the Tea Party insist on targeting Muslims for exploitation and criminalizing them, the Gospel of Jesus Christ which belongs to God, get's sold to Cesar for 30 pieces of silver, to be a cheap imitation rather than the genuine original.

Today's Gospel challenges us to make the Gospel story of God's salvation in Jesus Christ the living narrative of all God's holy people. 

Who is God to us?  How does God radiate the splendor of God's all inclusive and unconditional love through us and our behaviors?  How do we give to God what is authentically God's through the reality of who we are?

May God help us all to render what belongs to God with the understanding that we are never finished learning about what truly belongs to God, as God's gifts to all humankind.


Prayers

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).


A Song of True Motherhood
By Julian of Norwich

God chose to be our mother in all things
   and so made the foundation of h is work,
   most humbly and most pure, in the Virgin's womb.
God, the perfect wisdom of all,
  arrayed himself in this humble place.
Christ came in our poor flesh
  to share a mother's care.
Our mothers bear us for pain and for death;
  our true mother, Jesus, bears us for joy and endless life.
Christ carried us within him in love an travail,
  until the full time of his passion.
And when all was completed and he had carried us so for joy,
  still all this could not satisfy the power of his wonderful love.
All that we owe is redeemed in truly loving God,
  for the love of Christ works in us;
  Christ is the one whom we love. 
(Canticle R, Enriching Our Worship 1, Page 40).

National Coming Out Day: The Gospel in Motion Through Our Experiences

Scriptural Basis

Matthew 28:18-20 (NRSV)


Jesus came and said to the disciples, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Blog Reflection

Coming out and telling other people that we are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and/or queer is a sharing of the Gospel story in and through our lives.  Many individuals including myself have had our experiences of coming out to mean that we finally gain our peace with God about who we are and how we love others.

The Gospel for today's commemoration of St. Philip the Deacon calls not only the ordained ministers of the Church to share the story of God's salvation, but it is the baptismal duty of all who call themselves followers of Jesus Christ.

In Paul's letter to the Romans, he writes:

For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness. (Romans 12: 4-8).

The gifts that are given to each person to be used for the work of sharing the Gospel are not limited to those named in Romans, they are also found in the very nature of who we are and how we love other people.  They are also related to how we allow other people to love us. We cannot be about the work of sharing and proclaiming the salvation of God through Jesus effectively, so long as we are not honest with God, ourselves and those closest to us about who we are as LGBTQ people and how we love others, and who it is that others are loving in us.

I have faced this reality in my own life by coming out not once, but twice in the course of my life.  I have shared bits and pieces in my blog before.  But, I am all too happy to share again for the benefit that someone might read my blog and find themselves some where between the words that I am typing here.

I knew there was something different about me since I was twelve or thirteen years old.  While most of my peers were into sports, getting hard-ons looking at the girls and cars, I was just not there.  I was interested in playing the organ back at home, watching tv, getting into music, arts and eventually Christian Spirituality and at age 16 the Bible.  I also knew that I was attracted to men instead of women.  But my father one day threatened me by saying that if I were gay, he would send me to a doctor to have me fixed.  And a Pastor at the local Advent Christian Church told me that being attracted to men was not natural and could never be condoned by God or the Bible.

I lived in the fear of the possibility that I could be gay for many years.  But, I could not shake my interest in men both physically, sexually and emotionally.  I often had many best friends that I fell in love with.  Even at Eastern Nazarene College while I was there studying for a church music degree from 1988 to 1994.  As I was nearing graduation from college, I later became interested in Roman Catholicism, very possibly the Priesthood or monastic life. One year after I graduated from college, I converted to the Catholic church and for many years worked as a parish organist and music director. During that time, I seriously considered a vocation to become a Priest or a Monk, but I was turned down by many Diocese' and Monasteries.  The most common complaint was that I was "socially disordered" for my emotional intimacy with other men.

In the year 2000 after my father died, the reality of who I am met me face to face and there was no more getting away from it.  In October of 2000 after a whole summer of turmoil and chaos I came out and began telling people that I am gay.  From that day until May of 2009, my relationship with the Roman Catholic Church was forever changed.

In January of 2001 I moved from New England to live in the Minneapolis area where I continued to work as a church musician with limited success.  But the reality of who I am as a gay person, and my being very proud of being gay, led me to many disappointments and prejudice working for Catholic Parishes here.

After two failed relationships, many failed jobs and difficulties finding my place in the LGBT communities, I began attending the Catholic church's ex-gay group Courage that was begun by Cardinal Cook in New York in the early 1980's.   You can all read my experience with Courage at Beyond Ex-Gay.

In November of 2008 after some truth was revealed to me about how damaging Courage was and still is, I left attending their meetings and came back out.  I met my partner Jason on February 7, 2009 we fell in love and we now share our lives together.

In May of 2009 after my relationship with the Catholic church had been so bad since I came out, and given their support of a horrible organization called Courage, Jason and myself began attending St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral in Minneapolis, Minnesota.   On May 15, 2010 Jason was confirmed and I was received as a member of the Episcopal Church by Bishop Brian Prior, IX Bishop of Minnesota.  Among my many influences in the Episcopal Church is Bishop Gene Robinson, Bishop John Shelby Spong, Rev. Susan Russell, Rev. Canon Gray Temple and Rev. Paul Bresnahan.  Thank God for all of them.

Among the names in the LGBT community at large who inspire me is the late Harvey Milk. The living Cleve Jones, Joe Jervis, Pam Spaulding, Alvin McEwen and Jeremy Hooper. 

After I came out again and since, I have made myself a resolution that I will be the gay, Episcopalian that I believe God wants me to be.  I cannot allow who I am to be decided or dictated by an LGBT stereo type, social expectation, or church conference or leader.  I have to love people in the way God created me to love.  I cannot love another person as a man who is straight, because I am not a straight man.  I cannot allow another person to love me as a person loves another straight man.  I am not a straight man.  I love myself, my God, my partner and the people I socialize, work with and/or worship as a gay man. And I am proud of who and what God created me to be.  And very happy to serve God as a man who is gay.  After many years of struggling to understand myself, to look at myself in the mirror and no longer be ashamed to say I am a gay man, in love with another gay man, and know in my heart that God loves me that way and celebrates me that way, is a peace that the world cannot give.

I am also very proud of our Bishop who has written a response about the constitutional amendment that would ban marriage equality in Minnesota.

From its very origins, the Episcopal Church in Minnesota has always stood with the marginalized. Race, ethnicity, gender, gender orientation or immigrant we have embraced both the Gospel mandate of love of neighbor and the Baptismal Covenant imperative to respect the dignity of every human being. Any actions, whether sacred or secular — such as the proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit our LGBT brothers and sisters from the rights and privileges that the rest of Minnesotans enjoy - are considered to be marginalizing and contrary to the Gospel, the Baptismal Covenant and our history.

The Rt. Rev. Brian N. Prior
IX Bishop, Episcopal Church of Minnesota

I write all of this in my blog today to make several statements. To be LGBTQ and to be out, proud and doing my part for the work of justice, equality and inclusion is being faithful to the Baptismal Covenant found on pages 304-306 in the Book of Common Prayer. To be concerned about not only LGBTQ people, but all marginalized people such as African Americans, immigrants, Native Americans, women and many others is also being faithful to the Baptismal Covenant. 

I do not have to be a Bible thumping Dominionist to be a true follower of Jesus Christ, and in love with the Church, the Sacraments and the message of salvation. I also do not have to be defined by the LGBTQ community as totally untrusting of the Christian religion to some day change the hearts and minds of many people about LGBTQ people and all other marginalized persons. I also do not have to justify the Church when its leaders and communicants speak or act in a manner that is contrary to the Gospel when LGBTQ and other marginalized persons are continually marginalized and exploited.

Today's commemoration is about sharing the Gospel message through ministry and service of God's people. Coming out and being part of the movement on behalf of those who are forgotten, stigmatized and oppressed is just one way of participating in that work of sharing the Gospel. It is a part any LGBTQ person can participate at any point in time. But, it is important to begin with being honest with yourself, God and others around you. Resisting the message of Christianists and those who tell us that we are sick, pedophiles and dangerous to family and children. Being LGBTQ is wonderful, holy and beautiful. God saw all that God made about us, and said "it is very good."


Prayers

Holy God, no one is excluded from your love, and your truth transforms the minds of all who seek you: As your servant Philip was led to embrace the fullness of your salvation and to bring the stranger to Baptism, so give us all the grace to be heralds of the Gospel, proclaiming your love in Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Holy Men, Holy Women, Celebrating the Saints, page 635).


Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 23, Book of Common Prayer, page 235).

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. (Book of Common Prayer, page 815).

 

Seventeeth Sunday after Pentecost: Welcome, Eat, Celebrate, Be Inclusive

Scripture Basis

Matthew 22:1-14 (NRSV)

Once more Jesus spoke to the people in parables, saying: "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. Again he sent other slaves, saying, `Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.' But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Then he said to his slaves, `The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.' Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.

"But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, and he said to him, `Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?' And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, `Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.' For many are called, but few are chosen."

Blog Reflection

The Gospel for today does not come across to me as terribly encouraging.  To me the king sounds like a real jerk especially at the end of the story.  The king wants people to come to his dinner party.  The people the king invited didn't even come.  When the kings servants went to the king's farm and business his slaves were mistreated and seized.   The king invites those in the street whether good or bad.  Those are the one's that come.  Just because there was one person there who wasn't dressed right, that person gets thrown out.  What an ass!!

The heart of the story is not really the invites who did not come, nor is it about the guest who was thrown out because he wasn't dressed right.  The parable points to something much more. 

Out in Scripture suggests that the reading from Exodus, Isaiah, Philippians and the Gospel from Matthew are all about reputation.  Reputation is important.  In Exodus Moses challenges God to relent in God's desired punishment of the people who have chosen to worship a golden calf.  Moses calls upon God to be mindful of the God's reputation of having delivered the Israelites through the Red Sea, and what a tragedy it would be for God to destroy them now.   God is known as the God who saves, not the God who destroys.  God answers Moses by not destroying God's people.

God is not only concerned about God’s own street credibility. In Isaiah 25:1-9, while celebrating God’s future destruction of the unjust and unfaithful city, the prophet lauds God’s refuge for the poor and needy who now sing God’s glory. God provides a banquet for those once outcast replete with the finest of foods. Yet there is more! God not only wipes away the tears shed by the oppressed, God wipes away the disgrace of the people who have been shamed by their oppressors (verse 8). (Out in Scripture).

Philippians 4:1-9 combines a call to reconciliation with an exhortation to hope. It seems odd that Paul should tell the church in Philippi that they should rejoice and live beyond anxiety. After all, can we really choose to rejoice? Do we have control over our anxiety? Paul does not base his exhortation in our own ability to feel joyful and calm. He grounds it in the very nature of God, who is the God of peace. Paul's spirituality is not about "the power of positive thinking." It is the testimony of a prisoner who opens his spirit to the presence of God. (Out in Scripture).

As we are thinking about reputation this Sunday, I think there is a lot of room to think very carefully about the reputation God gets when Christianists and arch-conservative Catholics/Episcopalians/Orthodox etc, continue their violent rhetoric towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people.  Contrary to what such individuals say the sexual love between two people of the same sex is not condemned by God in Scripture.  Many of the famous clobber passages (ie. Leviticus 20:13, 1 Cor. 6:9, Romans 1:27 etc) have been so badly misinterpreted to suggest God's condemnation of homsexuality and LGBT people.  Such erroneous and misleading translations are used to justify the most egregious and vicious violence and rhetoric. The reputation of God becomes falsified. God and Jesus get a bad name.

The Holy Spirit came to the Church to stretch the arms of God's unconditional love, spread by Jesus Christ on the cross and embrace every person so that they can find salvation and community.  Jesus invites everyone without exception to receive God's Presence at the Eucharist regardless of how they are dressed, what color their skin, who and how they love other people, and what their gender identity/expression is.   

Today is Coming Out Sunday.  The day we encourage people who are LGBTQ to come out and live their lives openly and honestly as they are.  The threats to LGBTQ people are very great as religious, political and social oppression continues on the basis of one's sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression.  LGBTQ people are still denied equality and inclusion in workplaces, churches, marriage equality rights and just the opportunity to exist and be without the threat of hate crimes or total isolation.  Why should we come out?

Because when an LGBTQ person comes out, that gay joke someone likes to tell is now about us.  The remark about the fag or dyke is personal as it could be about any one close to us, or someone we know and love dearly. The news that a transgender person was beaten to death affects us and challenges us to become active in the cause for LGBTQ equality and resist the negative messages of the dominionists.  Suddenly the LGBTQ person who was the stranger, unusually dressed, acts a bit differently is just another person at God's banquet. 

So who is the individual that came to the banquet not properly dressed?  It is not the married gay couple.  It is not the child being raised by two lesbians. The improperly dressed person is not the transgender woman or man or the bisexual man who is in a relationship with both his wife and has a boyfriend, and is totally open with everyone in his life.

I think the person who is improperly dressed represents those who come to the banquet with their focus not on the enjoyment of all that God so graciously gives to all the guests, but instead is standing there passing judgement on whom she/he thinks should not be there.  Rather then celebrating the inclusion of all who is attending God's celebration, the guest's rob that lacks compassion and appreciation for diversity and community, is the one the king cannot keep in his company.  Hate and exclusion, a desire to maintain attitudes of bias and anger towards those different from ourselves, do not find good company among themselves in the presence of the God of unconditional and all-inclusive love. 

God's banquet is a community of love, justice, inclusion. In God's reign, everyone is invited to feast and celebrate God's peace and forgiving mercy. God's reputation is not one of damning everything that white, male, heterosexual, wealthy, healthy Christians constantly tell the world about. And form political parties and create capitalistic empires to dominate the world. God's reputation is love, salvation, holiness, hospitality and reconciliation. God showed God's love for all God's people when Jesus took on the form of humankind and served to the point of giving his life on the cross and rising from the dead. (See Philippians 2: 5-11).  Jesus does not have to demand dominionism. Jesus does not demand every religion to become Christianity. Jesus does not commission ex-gay groups to change gay, lesbian and bisexual people. Jesus saves all humankind through his service to all who are in need of God's compassion and gives us a place to serve along with all God's saints.   

God welcomes us to eat, celebrate and to be inclusive.  


Prayers

Lord, we pray that your grace may always precede and follow us, that we may continually be given to good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Proper 23, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

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).


Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so move every human heart, that barriers which divide us may crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice, page 823).

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Remember Who Is Owner and Who Are the Tenants

Scriptural Basis

Matthew 21: 33-46 (NRSV)

Jesus said, "Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a fence around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a watchtower. Then he leased it to tenants and went to another country. When the harvest time had come, he sent his slaves to the tenants to collect his produce. But the tenants seized his slaves and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other slaves, more than the first; and they treated them in the same way. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, `They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, `This is the heir; come, let us kill him and get his inheritance.' So they seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. Now when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?" They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death, and lease the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the harvest time."
Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the scriptures:

`The stone that the builders rejected

has become the cornerstone;

this was the Lord's doing,

and it is amazing in our eyes'?

Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the kingdom. The one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and it will crush anyone on whom it falls."

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.

Blog Reflection

At times, I think I am quite the hypocrite.  I enjoy going to union rally's and other events like it.  One of the songs they always sing is the famous "This Land is Your Land."  I enjoy singing it with the crowd.  At the same time, I often feel a sense of my own hypocrisy.  The land we are on, really is not our land.  The land we are on belonged to many Native American's before the white Christians took this land I now call mine, took it from them. Yet I sing about the land as if it were mine.  The owner of all of our lands is really God.  God created the land and gave it to whom God chose.  Yet, I sing of the land as if it were my own.

The Liturgy of the Word for this weekend begins with the giving of the commandments to Moses and the people of Israel in Exodus.   God gives the law of loving God and neighbor. God calls on those whom God has rescued from slavery to recognize God as the one God and to not create others. To avoid stealing, murder, adultery, bearing false witness, and so on.  To connect the original first reading with the optional reading from Isaiah 5: 1-7 is to understand that all who work in the vineyard of God's reign are those who have been created and commissioned by the love of God and neighbor that is required of all people.

Christianists and many archconservative Catholics/Episcopalians/Anglicans/Orthodox etc would have us believe that once Jesus Christ came and died on the Cross and rose again, means that only they are those who have chosen to work in the vineyard of God's reign.  Many Christianists and the others I have mentioned, believe that unless you agree that all abortion is murder and that any sexual activity outside of the marriage of one man and one woman, then you are not among God's workers or participants in the work in the vineyard.  In a sense, they could represent those killing the messengers.

God's reign is not made up of only one kind of person. God's spacious vineyard is not only Christians, Caucasians, legal immigrants, heterosexuals, men, European, speak English or are wealthy and healthy.  God's reign is made up of all kinds of people, each unique and with their own characteristics.  God has created the land and the work for all whom God made and loves.

The Psalmist in Psalm 19 writes and sings of how the Law of the Lord is perfect.  The Law of God revives the soul and gives joy to the heart.  The ways of God are acceptance, inclusion and love.  While the world around us seeks separation, violence and oppression, God seeks all of us out to know that in God's reign there are none who are left behind.  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and/or queer people are among those whom God loves and wants.  God's Law is present in LGBTQ people and seeks to bring salvation to us by affirming us as we are, and helping us to live our lives to the fullest.  God's Law of love and marriage is as much for LGBTQ people as it is for straight people.  Not all marriage has to include raising children and not all unions must be man and wife.  The Law of the Lord that is so perfect, is inclusive of all people who are created and loved by God.

As much as LGBTQ people and many others who experience division from families and communities because of violence and oppression, we experience a lot of religious groups rejecting us and keeping us from obtaining what God, the land owner has freely bestowed on all of us.   Many individuals who have come to God's vineyard to speak to all God's people about including others in that vineyard have been killed and/or scandalized in their work for justice and inclusion.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.   Harvey Milk. Rosa Parks. Harriet Tubman.  The list can go on and on.

Those who do experience this kind of violence identify with the crucified Jesus.  Jesus came with a message of inclusion. Jesus' life was spent seeking the lost and those excluded to be made a part of God's community. God warned of political corruption and the consequences to minorities and those marginalized by those who enjoy their prestigious power over seeking to serve others. And because Jesus loved differently, Jesus too was marginalized, executed and even after Jesus' glorious resurrection and ascension Jesus remained an outcast.    

Whether we are Christian or not, straight or not, white or not or any other privileged vs the underprivileged, our challenge is to continue in the work of the vineyard.  To work in the vineyard doing what we are supposed to do, without becoming the new oppressors as new folks come to help us better understand how to be inclusive.

In the charming Avenue Q there is the funny but truth telling song: "Everyone is a little bit racist."  And the song is all too correct.  As much as we all try to eradicate our attitudes towards people of other races, there is still that part of us that is very suspicious about someone who is not quite like us.  It does not take much to be confronted by our own racism or prejudice towards someone else. 

I think the message of today's Gospel is for all of us to be aware of when we are the prophet coming to deliver a message of God's love, as well as when we assume we are the land owners who can just take out anyone that we do not like or who say things we do not wish to hear. 

God's receiving grace as well as God's forgiving mercy are with us no matter where we find ourselves in this story.  God seeks to redeem and transform us and our communities.  Each of us needs both redemption and transformation so that we can be a part of God's reign to do the work in the vineyard.


Prayers

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we to pray, and to give more than we either desire or deserve: Pour upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things for which we are not worthy to ask, except through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Savior; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 22, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

Almighty God, who created us in your own image: Grant us grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom, help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice, The Daily Office Site).