Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Marriage Equality: It is very Good and Holy

Today's Scripture Readings

Genesis 2:18-24 (NRSV)
 

The LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner." So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man there was not found a helper as his partner. So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said,

"This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one shall be called Woman,

for out of Man this one was taken."

Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Psalm 8 (BCP,. p. 592)


Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12 (NRSV)
 

Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God's very being, and he sustains all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Now God did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. But someone has testified somewhere,

"What are human beings that you are mindful of them,

or mortals, that you care for them?

You have made them for a little while lower than the angels;

you have crowned them with glory and honor,

subjecting all things under their feet."

Now in subjecting all things to them, God left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. For this reason Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, saying,

"I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you."

Mark 10:2-16 (NRSV)

Some Pharisees came, and to test Jesus they asked, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?" He answered them, "What did Moses command you?" They said, "Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her." But Jesus said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate."

Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, "Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it." And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Blog Reflection

This weekend's Liturgy of the Word is chock full of scriptures that are used to suggest that God only approves of marriage between one man and one woman.  Reading the Scriptures at face value it is quite simple to walk away with that impression.  Undoubtedly, in places where the future of marriage equality is on the ballot in several states including Minnesota, these texts are being used to "defend the traditional understanding of marriage as between one man, and one woman."

Unfortunately, taking from such texts such careless prejudice does not reflect an intelligent and correct understanding of the background and meaning of these Scripture readings. 

The Rev. Canon Gray Temple in his book: Gay Unions: In the Light of Scripture, Tradition and Reason writes about the meaning in Genesis 1: 26, which is similar to 2: 18-24 in message, on pages 55-58.

When the writer(s) of Genesis use the terms "male" and "female" they are not talking in the manner by which we understand those terms today.  "Male" at the time in which Genesis was written refers to a "stronger" and "dominant" species.   One in which the man had ultimate control and the power to dominate.  The "female" was referred to as the "weaker" and "subordinate" species.  These in and of themselves suggest that the woman was owned as property, to be able to produce heirs so that the next generation of males could continue to be strong and dominate, while the women could be sold or given away as property and so on. 

Genesis is really not a good place to defend the idea of marriage being only between one man and one woman.   Adam and Eve "knew" each other physically, that much is understood.  But, there is no mention of whether or not they were actually married, nor is there any evidence that men and women were only created to be married to each other, and that there was not an "Adam and Steve" as well as "Eve and Evelyn".  Just because it is not written there, does not mean that it did not exist as a possibility.

What can be understood from this reading is that whether the partner of a man is another man, a woman and another woman, or a man and woman, it is quite clear that God did not want us to exist without someone to be our "helper".  God created us in community in the Holy Trinity as well in relationship to each other.  Created in the image and likeness of God, so that we may share in God's happiness with one another, is a holy and life-giving reason "for our creation and preservation", for which we give thanks at the end of Morning and Evening Prayer daily. 

Rather than making use of this and the other readings found in today's Liturgy to determine who should and should not participate in marriage; we would do better to understand that each of us is part of the human community, by which we all share in the goodness of God's creation.  We could actually grow in our ability to see each other as a masterpiece of God's creative beauty, to cherish and honor one another in such a way, that no amount of inequality, injustice and oppression would even be conceived in the human mind.   What  a great goal to work towards.

Also, what would happen if we looked at Genesis with an educated and critical mind, and rethought about what Jesus is saying in the Gospel?   Rather than say that Jesus is recognizing how women are understood in his time, and agreeing somewhat with it, he is calling for a radical change.   I would suggest that what Jesus may be saying here is whether we are talking about a woman or a man, we are being challenged to see each person not as property to be owned.  All of us, having been created and redeemed by Jesus are not property, nor are we a "thing" to be traded when the old one doesn't work any more.  On the contrary, we are called here to see each person as a person to be loved, cherished and held as an esteemed child of God.  This then would make a lot of sense as to why the next thing Jesus does is reach out to children.  Recognizing that in each of them is an individual, innocent and without anything they personally own, but reaching out to God to find their dignity and hope in the Holy One of God for their whole lives.   We are invited to extend our own arms to those who are often thought of as lost and helpless, to help them find that in the loving and merciful arms of Jesus, God takes hold of them, holds them close to God's heart and loves them with a parental love that cherishes every person, unconditionally and all-inclusively.

Among those we can reach out to are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people.   To acknowledge them as children made in the image and likeness of God, who need to find hope for salvation in and through Jesus Christ.  To acknowledge the bodily and psychological expression of love between people of the same sex, as good and holy, and to bless those relationships as gifts from God.   We can abandon all attempts to "vote" for whether their love and relationships are provided for, or restrict them from marriage equality because of erroneous arguments that hold no water to the fire.  Instead of making excuses for senseless violence that destroys individuals and communities, we make it our mission and purpose to find ways to include them and work towards justice and equality.  We would then, build up good strong families and communities that share in prosperous futures and help to end poverty, wars, diseases, oppression and corruption. 

Recognizing that every person is someone that we work for their peace and justice, to uphold their dignity, with God's help, is among the many things that makes being Episcopalian so wonderful.  Here, now, is an opportunity to fulfill that promise to God and one another.

Amen.


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, p. 234).


Gracious Father, we pray for they 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 thy Son our Savior. Amen.  (Prayer for the Church, Book of Common Prayer, p. 816).

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, 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, p. 826). 

Truth Gets Mishandled and Misunderstood--Christian Tradition Is the Culprit

John 14:6-15 (NRSV)

Jesus said to Thomas, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him."

Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, `Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.

"If you love me, you will keep my commandments."

One of my favorite movies is Fried Green Tomatoes.  I love the story, the characters, the actors and the twists as the stories unfold.  At the very end of the movie the 82 year old Ninnie Threadgood says: "Truth is a funny thing sometimes."   She said this after she had confided to Evelyn Couch that the man Iggy Threadgood was accused of murdering was killed by Sipsie an African American woman during the 1930's while the man was trying to take off with he and his ex-wife Ruth's baby.  To keep a Sheriff from discovering that an African American killed Frank Bennet for which Sipsie would have  been sentenced to a hanging for sure, Iggy and Big George barb'qued and served up Frank.   Sipsie's famous sentence "The secret's in the sauce" while picking up the empty dish from the Sheriff investigating Frank Bennet's murder is just so hilarious.  Ninnie's phrase: "Truth is a funny thing sometimes" is so applicable to what I am going to write today.

We commemorate today in the Episcopal Church, Saint Augustine of Hippo who lived from 354 to 430.   His writings, sermons, and classics in Western Spirituality have shaped much of what Christians in the Western lung of the Church have believed for centuries.  In the Roman tradition he is said to be one of the Church Fathers.  A great deal of our theology about the Trinity and the Sacraments was given life by the incredible mind of St. Augustine.  As many Christian traditions up to this present day have been working to condemn the physical love of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer people, they have often attributed a fair amount of their moral theology to St. Augustine as one of their references. 

I have already spent a lot of time writing about how the Bible  has been misquoted and misinterpreted to condemn homosexuality.  What we do not really record accurately is that much of early Christian culture did not know or have an appreciation of homosexuality.   A blog article appeared in Alternet this week of how early Christians actually condoned same-sex marriage.  


John Boswell in his book Christianity, Social Tolerance and Homosexuality the author wrote:

"It may be objected that the general thrust of early Christian sexual ethics would have precluded homosexual intercourse regardless of the particular objections brought against it.  This argument deserves attention.  It should be noted in the first place that whether or not early opponents of gay sexuality could have deduced the sinfulness of homosexual behavior from the general systems of sexuality, they did not.  Saint Augustine, for example, who more than any other single writer determined that the sexual attitudes of the Christian West, never related homosexual activities to heterosexual ones, and discussions of homosexual acts are conspicuously absent from the treatises in which he expounded his system of sexual minorities."  (Page 161).

Keep in mind that Augustine was converted and baptized into Christianity by Ambrose of Milan in 387.   Ambrose is said to be a convert of one of Jesus' Apostles.  This quote from John Boswell's book gives some evidence of what Gray Temple spoke of in his book Gay Unions in Light of Scripture, Tradition and Reason that the writers of the Bible and the early Church did not have two concepts called heterosexuality or homosexuality.  Sexuality was at that time known as a way of how the strong dominated the weak.   St. Augustine and many of his contemporaries did raise the standard to suggest that human sexuality was mostly about procreation. It is from there that the Catholic church condemns artificial contraception, abortion and homosexuality   In the Episcopal Church we understand that in an economy that is more interested in capital gains than life itself, that raising a child in a society that does not seek to expand public education, health care, personal growth and potential so as to contribute to society, that birth control is far from the greatest of evils.  It is also amazing how many so called "prolife" people who condemn abortion, have no problem with the shooting of an abortion doctor, as well as killing all public funding by which an unwed mother would be able to give birth to and raise a child.  


In today's Gospel Jesus tells the disciples that Jesus is the way, truth and life and that we all go to God through him.  Yet in all that we have read and heard do we really know who Jesus is?  Do we understand that in Jesus, God has called unto God's Self those whom society and the Church considers the throw aways?  The poor, the sick, those who are told they are second class citizens because of their race, class, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, language, culture, religion, they are the people God seeks through Christ.  Because of God's grace through Jesus, all people are invited and able to approach God and seek salvation and wholeness.  God does not call people to give up the essence of who we are as people.   God does not expect that we will not love people in the unique way God has created us to love.   What we are called to do is recognize that what we do, who we do it with or for is all about knowing, loving and serving God in Jesus by the Holy Spirit.  LGBTQ people can love God in Jesus by the Holy Spirit through our loving relationships with our partners/husbands/wives/significant others


When we distort the truth about who God is by trying to dictate how we think God views people the results are catastrophic.  It is because of such misunderstandings about God's relationship to LGBTQ people that leads to terrible events such as a four year old girl being denied admission to a school operated by the Anglican Church of North America because she has two mommies.   A school district that has seen at least three LGBTQ related suicides,  among youth has anti-gay advocates show up at a school board meeting to oppose tougher anti-bullying policies.  The Presbyterian Church USA voted that a minister who performed several legal same-sex marriages before Prop 8 was voted on in California, that the minister violated the vows of her ordained ministry.  Because "truth is a funny thing sometimes" and gets all messed up by Church traditions that misinterpret the Bible and create policies that really do not exist, people get hurt and abused just because they followed Jesus and loved a little differently.  

Yesterday Susan Russell wrote in her blog:  

Shouldn't our lives, our relationships and our vocations be entitled to equal protection, blessing and respect without our having to justify ourselves? To prove anything? Do we really have to invite strangers into our lives -- our stories --in order to "prove" that we deserve recognition of the full humanity God gave us by our heterosexual brothers and sisters?

Welcome to the kingdom not-yet-come! Of course all those things are true, and yet again and again -- over and over -- hearts and minds are changed when we risk ... when we speak our truth ... tell our stories ... share our lives ... offer ourselves to this Godly work of healing homophobia an inch at a time.

If we are going to talk about Jesus as the way, truth and life in today's Church and society than one of the things we must do is correct the Church Tradition that has been mishandling and misunderstanding the truth.   If we believe and understand that Jesus is the truth then we have to also be willing to ask the Holy Spirit whom Jesus the truth also said would guide us into all truth. (See John 16: 13).  In other words, we do not have it all right, yet. When the Church insists that we have understood all truth and therefore we no longer need to redefine or understand truth, the Church runs the risk of causing Christianity to die.  And sadly, that has already been happening.  Perhaps there can be a new resurrection as the truth gets cleaned up and spoken of in all charity with the desire and wish for an inclusive Church.

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirt, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 16, Book of Common Prayer, Page 232).

Lord God, the light of the minds that know you, the life of the souls that love you, and the strength of the hearts that serve you: Help us, following the example of your servant Augustine of Hippo, so to know you that we may truly love you, and so to love you that we may fully serve you, whom to serve is perfect freedom; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for St. Augustine, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, Page 545). 

What Do We Consider Clean or Unclean?

Acts 10: 1- 16 (NRSV)

In Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of the Italian Cohort, as it was called.  He was a devout man who feared God with all his household; he gave alms generously to the people and prayed constantly to God. One afternoon at about three o'clock he had a vision in which he clearly saw an angel of God coming in and saying to him, "Cornelius."  He stared at him in terror and said, "What is it, Lord?" He answered, "Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa for a certain Simon who is called Peter; he is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the seaside." When the angel who spoke to him had left, he called two of his slaves and a devout soldier from the ranks of those who served him, and after telling them everything, he sent them to Joppa.
 
About noon the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.  He became hungry and wanted something to eat; and while it was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw the heaven opened and something like a large sheet coming down, being lowered to the ground by its four corners. In it were all kinds of four-footed creatures and reptiles and birds of the air.  Then he heard a voice saying, "Get up, Peter; kill and eat." But Peter said, "By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is profane or unclean." The voice said to him again, a second time, "What God has made clean, you must not call profane."  This happened three times, and the thing was suddenly taken up to heaven.

As I read this passage from the Acts of the Apostles my mind drifted to a few events that are about us.  The debate going on in our country over the Islamic Center in New York City and now in other parts of the country continues to dominate the news.  Just yesterday a group in Kentucky refused to allow an Islamic prayer center to move into a strip mall over a parking ordinance.  A local business owner made the remark that the Muslims would not park where they are suppose to, but should the space in question be occupied by Baptists they would do what they are suppose to do.   Such comments lack not only justice but a serious sense of integrity and dignity for others who are different than ourselves.

In today's reading from Acts, Peter is confronted by a sight of animals and foods that in his Jewish tradition are considered unclean.  The final point is not about foods, but about revering all individuals as beheld in the eyes and heart of God. Just because someone does not look like we think they should look, dress the way we think they should dress, act in a way that we find acceptable does not mean that they are any less children of God than anyone else.  And just because a group of people do not worship God through Jesus, does not make them any less devout or any less noble of people.  This debate about the religion of Islam in our nation, is another form or racism dressed up by conservative Christians to look like a crusade to save the nation from an otherwise peaceful and beautiful expression of worship.  


Bishop Mark Sisk of the Episcopal Diocese of New York wrote a beautiful letter about the whole controversy surrounding the Islamic Center near Ground Zero.  I am not going to post the entire letter, but I am going to post the second, third and fourth paragraphs.

The plan to build this center is, without doubt, an emotionally highly-charged issue. But as a nation with tolerance and religious freedom at its very foundation, we must not let our emotions lead us into the error of persecuting or condemning an entire religion for the sins of its most misguided adherents.

The worldwide Islamic community is no more inclined to violence that any other. Within it, however, a struggle is going on - between the majority who seek to follow a moderate, loving religion and the few who would transform it into an intolerant theocracy intent on persecuting anyone, Muslim or otherwise, with whom they disagree. We should all, as Christians, reach out in friendship and love to the peaceful Islamic majority and do all in our power to build and strengthen bridges between our faiths. We should also all remember that the violence and hateful behavior of the extremist are not confined to any one religion. Over the centuries we Christians have numbered more than a few among us who have perpetrated unspeakable atrocities in Christ's name.

I must admit that I also have a more personal connection with this issue. At the Episcopal Diocese of New York we know the leaders of this project, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf and his wife Daisy Khan. We know that they are loving, gentle people, who epitomize Islamic moderation. We know that as Sufis, they are members of an Islamic sect that teaches a universal belief in man's relationship to God that is not dissimilar from mystic elements in certain strains of Judaism and Christianity. Feisal Abdul Rauf and Daisy Khan are, without question, people to whom Christians of good will should reach out with the hand of hospitality and friendship, as they reach out to us. I understand and support their desire to build an Islamic center, intended in part to promote understanding and tolerance among different religions.

Today the Episcopal Church is commemorating Louis, King of France.  I am a bit reluctant to write much, because he was one of the kings that involved himself and his country in the Crusades.   One thing to keep in mind, however, is that many of the wonderful women and men that we regard as Saints were not people without their sins or grave moral evils.  They may have been people who wrote marvelous theologies and were what the Church and others would call devout.  Given that all of us are human beings, including the Saints that we commemorate, even our greatest devotion and theological knowledge can be short sighted.  Being a Saint requires an interior desire to do the right thing, and yet we can still get it wrong.  We are not asked to get everything exactly right, we are asked to be faithful and do the best we can with what we have.  I certainly do not want to come across as if excusing Louis for the Crusades, especially since we in 2010 have this blown up debate over the Islamic people going on.  What I do want us to consider is that no matter how right we feel we have things, we can always miss a mark somewhere.   A look at Peter in today's reading from the Acts of the Apostles shows how even a man as devoted as Peter, needs God to correct him and show him new and good things.   So it is with us here in the 21st Century.

There are still people who insist that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are "unclean" because of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression and or our relationships.   We know from having read books such as Gay Unions in Light of Scripture, Tradition and Reason by Gray Temple and In the Eye of the Storm by Bishop Gene Robinson, that the Bible does not in actuality condemn loving, committed same-sex relationships any more or less than loving, committed relationships of the opposite sex.  "What God has called clean, you should not call unclean."  It is very important for all of us at one point and another to look at what we have always been taught to think, understand and say and consider the possibility that we have been getting it all wrong.   If we have been getting it wrong, that is okay God is here to help us fix it.  God will bring those people and situations into our lives to help us not call what God has made clean, as unclean.  LGBTQ people as well as the Muslims are among God's holy and beloved children.  There is room in the Church and in society for everyone.  We should be working harder at helping everyone to find room to coexist, rather than welcoming oppression, discrimination and violence.   We are called to make peace with people, not oppression.

May today be one more opportunity that we take to move forward in our life and love with God, others and ourselves.
  

Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirt, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 16, Book of Common Prayer, Page 232).


O God, you called your servant Louis of France to an earthly throne that he might advance your heavenly kingdom, and gave him zeal for your Church and love for your people: Mercifully grant that we who commemorate him this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of your saints; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Louis, King of France, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, Page 541).

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. (Prayer Attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Book of Common Prayer, Page 833).

 

"I Never Knew There Was So Much Sex In the Bible!"

John 1: 12, 13 (NRSV)

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

One night while I was a student at Eastern Nazarene College in Quincy, Massachusetts, I was seated in the lounge we called "the Fishbowl" in the Student Union.  A friend of mine was reading through the Book of Genesis as part of the requirement to fulfill the core course "Biblical Literature and History".  Suddenly, out of no where Heather shouted out: "I never knew there was so much sex in the Bible!"  Those of us who heard her laughed so hard. To this day it is one of the funniest memories of college for me.  I have been known to remind Heather about that time and the hilarious statement she made.  

 Is it not amazing how much time the Christian Church spends on the issue of sexuality? The Catholics are really no better than Protestants about that one.  Every time the Episcopal Church passes a new resolution about LGBTQ people, we get criticized for dealing with the issue of sexuality, again.  Every time some advancement of LGBTQ people, or contraception, abortion or women comes up, the conservative Christians get all wound up because of how much we talk about sex.  The liberals on the other hand love the talk, and we are more than happy to engage in the discussion.  

Yesterday I shared that I have been reading Gray Temple's book: Gay Unions In Light of Scripture, Tradition and Reason.  I have needed to read a book such as that because I am in need of a different education about human sexuality than the one I was taught by conservative Christians at a place like ENC, the Catholic church and elsewhere.  Incidentally, yesterday was the first time so far that I got a blog comment to a former post I had made from an Evangelical Christian who attempted to tell me that homosexuality is condemned by the Bible and those who live that way will not enter the kingdom of God.  I was told by the reader to go read the Bible on a web site, and that the reason the person was telling me this is because she loved me.  For the sake of the safety of my blog readers who are LGBTQ and searching for a positive relationship with God, any such comments of that kind that get submitted, are automatically rejected.  This blog is not for having religious or even Biblical wars.  This blog is for those of us who are LGBTQ to come here with the Lectionary from the Episcopal Church to find God so that we can work towards our full inclusion in the Church and society.   All too long the Bible has been misused to spiritually abuse LGBTQ people.  My hope is to write about how the Bible actually supports loving, committed homosexual relationships, so does God and so should the Church and our common society.  

In Gray Temple's book in the chapter on Scripture that begins on page 35 and ends on page 99, he makes the point that our Biblical ancestors did not even have the same concept of sexuality as we do in 2010.  In the time in which the narratives in the Bible would have happened sexuality was to them what violence is to our present time.  It was not something for the purpose of building relationships as we think of it today.  Sexuality was an action to state and demonstrate who was strong vs. who was weak.  

"To begin with, consider that although it's obvious to us that there are two biological sexes, until less than two hundred years ago our ancestors knew for sure that there was only one sex--canonically male--and that women were an underdeveloped expression of it." (Temple, page 46, taken from Thomas Laqueur, Making Sex (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1990, 4 et passim).   

On page 51 Temple goes on to say that:

"In the sex-as-violence gender-construction that obtained until recent centuries, the basic axis was "strong/weak," with the "man" regarded as strong and the "woman" as one specimen of weakness.  Class and wealth entered into the strong/weak spectrum.  What was queer?  Not same-sex coupling per se--possibly because everyone belonged the same "sex" anyway.  It was "queer" if a man allowed himself to be mounted by a lesser person, male or female--the same as if he had allowed himself to be insulted or beaten by an inferior."   

For the most part the writers of the Bible had no such concept as "homosexuality" or "heterosexuality".  Those versions that have inserted things such as "homosexual offenders" in say 1 Cor 6:9, did not get that word from the actual translation, it was not there.  All of the passages that are so often used to condemn homosexuality such as 1 Cor 6:9, Genesis 19,  Leviticus 18: 22 or 20: 13, Romans 1: 26- 27 and 1 Timothy 1: 9-11 really do NOT condemn homosexuality at all.  They are only used that way, or translated that way by those who practice Biblical literalism to suggest as much.  This is why the spiritual violence done by fundamentalist Christians is so very dangerous and devastating.  No wonder so many LGBTQ people say the hell with Christianity.  As Gandhi was quoted saying: "I love your Jesus, I just don't like your Christians."  Who wants to love a bunch of people part of a religion that promotes so much violence in the name of a loving and inclusive God, when the image of God is so distorted by those who claim to be followers of Christ?

I began this blog with a Gospel verse that is from today's Daily Office, because there was something I read in Temple's book using that verse that I found very interesting and profound.  

"I want to suggest one more thought.  If we grasp the single-sex/sex-as-violence-between-unequals gender construction, suddenly Luke's and Matthew's insistence on our Lord's virginal conception begins to make urgent existence sense, something the most liberal among us would be fools to part with.  That's anachronistic. And it's literarily doltish to ape The Golden Bough and range our Lord's conception alongside pagan simidivinities who are suppose to have been conceived without fathers, Jesus's birth hasn't got anything to do with that.  What the first and third Gospels want us to know is that Jesus--and eventually his Movement--represent the destabilization of that gender construction--because at the level of his very tissues, Jesus has no part of it.  And to the extent that we allow Jesus's life to be our own paradigm, you and I in our spiritual rebirths are ourselves virginally conceived.  The Prologue to the Gospel of John says as much:

"But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God." (John 1: 12-13)


The notion of the virgin birth is not countersexual.  It is the beginning of God's healing the world's sexuality in Christ.  It is a revolutionary, radical notion; reclaim it from the reactionaries." (Temple, Pages 92-93).

Yes there is a lot of sex in the Bible.  Jesus brought a message of sexual revolution along with his Gospel of salvation.  It is time that progressive Christians tell the world of the good news that God has liberated all through the love of God's Son, and stand up to all forces that want to put the old Biblical notion of sexuality back into our politics, our churches and our families.  If Jesus came to bring a new message of liberating love, then we have every reason to share it with others who still remain in captivity.

Let your continual mercy, O Lord, cleanse and defend your Church; and, because it cannot continue in safety without your help, protect and govern it always by your goodness; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 13, Book of Common Prayer, Page 232).

Look with pity, O heavenly Father, 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).