St. Aelred: The Patron Saint of LGBT People and Integrity

Today's Scripture Readings

Ruth 1: 15-18 (NRSV)

So she said, ‘See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.’ But Ruth said,
‘Do not press me to leave you
   or to turn back from following you!
Where you go, I will go;
   where you lodge, I will lodge;
your people shall be my people,
   and your God my God.
Where you die, I will die—
   there will I be buried.
May the Lord do thus and so to me,
   and more as well,
if even death parts me from you!’
When Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more to her.

Philippians 2: 1-4 (NRSV)

If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

John 15: 9-17 (NRSV)

Jesus said,"As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another."

Blog Reflection

I have a very important message today for those who wonder if the Church should be welcoming and affirming of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and/or queer (LGBTQ) people.

Being LGBTQ is about love.

Being Christian is about love. 

Our sexual orientation albeit homosexual,bisexual, pansexual, metrosexual, heterosexual is about love.

Being a Priest, Bishop, Deacon, Religious, lay member/leader etc is about love.  Allowing the Church to be more inclusive of LGBTQ people in all of our Sacraments and Sacramental Rites is about love.

Aelred was one of three sons of Eilaf, priest of St Andrew's at Hexham and himself a son of Eilaf, treasurer of Durham.^[1] He was born in Hexham, Northumbria, in 1110.

Aelred spent several years at the court of King David I of Scotland, rising to the rank of Master of the Household before leaving the court at age twenty-four (in 1134) to enter the Cistercian abbey of Rievaulx in Yorkshire. He may have been partially educated by Lawrence of Durham, who sent him a hagiography of Saint Brigid.

Aelred became the abbot of a new house of his order at Revesby in Lincolnshire in 1142^[2] and in 1147, abbot of Rievaulx itself, where he spent the remainder of his life. Under his administration, the abbey is said to have grown to some hundred monks and four hundred lay brothers. He made annual visitations to Rievaulx's daughterhouses in England and Scotland and to the French abbeys of Cîteaux and Clairvaux.
Aelred wrote several influential books on spirituality, among them Speculum caritatis ("The Mirror of Charity", reportedly written at the request of Bernard of Clairvaux) and De spiritali amicitia ("On Spiritual Friendship"). He also wrote seven works of history, addressing two of them to Henry II of England, advising him how to be a good king and declaring him to be the true descendent of Anglo-Saxon kings. Until the twentieth century, Aelred was generally known as a historian rather than as a spiritual writer; for many centuries his most famous work was his Life of Saint Edward, King and Confessor.

Aelred's work, private letters, and his Life by Walter Daniel, another twelfth-century monk of Rievaulx, have led some writers to infer that he was homosexual. In writing to an anchoress in The Formation of Anchoresses, Aelred speaks of his youth as the time when she held on to her virtue and he lost his.^[3] Nevertheless, all of his works encourage virginity among the unmarried and chastity in marriage and widowhood and warn against any sexual activity outside of marriage; in all his works he treats of extra-marital sexual relationships as forbidden and condemns "unnatural relations" as a rejection of charity and the law of God. He criticized the absence of pastoral care for a young nun who experienced rape, pregnancy, beating, and a miraculous delivery in the Gilbertine community of Watton.

Aelred died on January 12, 1167, at Rievaulx. He is recorded as suffering from the stone (hence his patronage) and arthritis in his later years (Patrologia Latina 195). He is listed for January 12 in the Roman Martyrology and the calendars of various churches.  (Source: Wikipedia).

Walking With Integrity last year wrote the story of how St. Aelred became the Patron Saint of IntegrityUSA.

At the 1985 General Convention in Anaheim, CA, at the suggestion of Howard Galley, Integrity/New York, the Standing Liturgical Commission recommended Aelred, along with a number of others, for inclusion in Lesser Feasts and Fasts. When this resolution came before the House of Bishops, the preconversion Rt. Rev. John Shelby Spong informed the house that, according to John Boswell, Aelred of Rievaulx had been gay--implying this might disqualify his inclusion. With little discussion the House of Bishops approved the others on the list but sent Aelred back to the commission which sent him back to the House of Bishops where, in spite of his being gay, and with the bishops' full knowledge that he was, he was admitted to the calendar.

During the 1987 national convention of Integrity, in St. Louis, the following resolution was submitted by the Rev. Paul Woodrum and was passed: "Whereas the Episcopal Church USA meeting in General Convention in Anaheim, California, in 1985, with full knowledge, thanks to the vigilance of the bishop of Newark, of St. Aelred's homoerotic orientation, did approve for annual commemoration in her liturgical calendar the Feast of St. Aelred on 12 January and did provide propers for the same, Therefore be it resolved that Integrity Inc. place itself under the protection and patronage of St. Aelred of Rievaulx and, be it further resolved that Integrity, Inc. dedicate itself to regularly observe his feast, promote his veneration and seek before the heavenly throne of grace the support of his prayers on behalf of justice and acceptance for lesbians and gay men." 

St. Aelred was one who though he embraced a life of celibacy did not discourage other forms of physical love between monks in his own community.

Aelred allowed his monks to hold hands and give other expressions of friendship (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 166).

Here in the 21st Century we understand that any physical relationship between consenting adults is a private matter between themselves and their Higher Power. 

I am writing this particular blog post on a day that means so much pain, sadness and anger among LGBT people.   The Canadian Prime Minister has dissolved thousands of same-sex marriages performed in Canada between couples who live in countries where they are not recognized.  The thousands of LGBT couples in the United States who went to Canada to be married there awoke this morning with the news that they are no longer married.  You can read the story of this move by the Canadian Prime Minister and the reaction of Dan Savage who's marriage in Canada has now ended here. 

Undoubtedly there are Christianist groups all over the United States who are celebrating this blow to equality for LGBT people.

The Scripture readings on this commemoration of St. Aelred remind us of how important love is to our vocation as Christians.  St. Paul tells us to have the mind of Christ who always put the needs of others a head of his own.   Even to the point of giving his own life on the Cross.   Jesus commands us in the Gospel to "Love one another as I have loved you."

The life vows of a Benedictine: Stability, Conversion of Life and Obedience are all about loving God, others and ourselves as the optional alternative Gospel reading from Mark 12: 28-34a says.  

Stability means offering ourselves to God as we are.  No masks on.  No pretenses.  No denying all that is strong and weak about us.  "The vow of stability" writes Esther de Waal in her book Living with Contradiction; An Introduction to the Spirituality of St. Benedict; "tells me that I must not run away from myself." (page 49).  By stability we mean anchoring everything about ourselves in God.

Conversion means allowing the God who invites me to not run away from myself, but ground everything about me in God; now I have to allow God to help me grow and "change".  This means that God takes me as I am, here and now and calls me to grow in my ability to love myself, my partner and others in a self sacrificing love. I am to take on the daily challenge of learning to accept others as much as I need to accept myself.  Loving myself and others is essential if I am going to live my life in a loving relationship with God.

Obedience, means that if I am going to achieve stability and allow God to help me experience conversion, I must be willing to listen to what God is calling me to do.  I must be willing to set aside all else I am doing and obey God's call to be obedient to what God is asking of me.  This means that I accept the struggle between my own will and the will of God.  If I am to experience growth in acceptance of myself and maintaining any kind of stability in God, while God calls me to conversion, I have to be willing to say yes to God's desire. 

If I accept God's will for my life as a gay man, then I must accept my sexual orientation, ground how I live it in the Gospel, the Rule of St. Benedict, and the Baptismal Covenant to serve others including my husband and many others in obedience to God's commandments.  If I make the attempt to change who I am, I am already being disobedient to God.

In St. Aelred we see an interesting dynamic about being LGBT and being someone who seeks God in our lives.  Instead of denying and trying to mask who we are, we are invited to be who we are and live it openly and honestly with God and others. 

We cannot find stability in God if we live in denial of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression. 

We will experience the most wonderful conversion when we allow ourselves to be loved as we are, and to love our spouses, friends, families, and communities in the way God created us to love.  God will show us how to put others needs before our own and find loves fulfillment and joy in serving others through the awesome gift of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression.  

When we face the reality of who we are and agree to serve others as God calls us, we are in fact obedient to God's voice in our lives and hearts. 

As we use our own experiences and tell our stories of how we learned to love ourselves and yet still fell in love with the God who created us and loves us as we are and by doing so help the reign of God to be established by working for the justice, peace, dignity, equality and inclusion of all marginalized persons including LGBT people, we are not only living the way of St. Benedict, we are also fulfilling the vows of our Baptismal Covenant.

The Baptismal Covenant, the Rule of St. Benedict, the life and patronage of St. Aelred, and the meaning of the Christian Life for LGSBT people is love. 

Let the inclusion and loving begun by our efforts continue.


Prayers

Almighty God, you endowed the abbot Aelred with the gift of Christian friendship and the wisdom to lead others in the way of holiness: Grant to your people that same spirit of mutual affection, that, in loving one another, we may know the love of Christ and rejoice in the gift of your eternal goodness; through the same Jesus Christ our Savior, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.  (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 167).

Pour into our hearts, O God, the Holy Spirit's gift of love, that we, clasping each the other's hand, may share the joy of friendship, human and divine, and with your servant Aelred draw many to your community of love; through Jesus Christ the Righteous, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.  (Prayer taken from Lesser Feasts and Fasts).

O God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, our only Savior,
the Prince of Peace: Give us grace seriously to lay to heart the
great dangers we are in by our unhappy divisions; take away
all hatred and prejudice, and whatever else may hinder us
from godly union and concord; that, as there is but one Body
and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one Faith,
one Baptism, one God and Father of us all, so we may be all
of one heart and of one soul, united in one holy bond of truth
and peace, of faith and charity, and may with one mind and
one mouth glorify thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.  (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, page 818). 

Practice Spirit, Do Justice; Worship that Values Cultural Change

Scriptural Basis

Isaiah 58: 1-12 (NRSV)

Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. "Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?" Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The LORD will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. 

Blog Reflection for Justice and Equality

As I read this Canticle from Isaiah in the Daily Office this morning, I found myself remembering all of the great things I learned and saw at Creating Change 2011. 

As a convert from being Roman Catholic to Episcopalian, I love Liturgical worship and music.  I love ritual with a message through all of it's symbolism, activity, context and seasonal traditions.  I love Liturgical worship even more when it is inclusive of diverse groups of people, with all of our stories, life experiences and cultural histories come together with a sense of respect and solidarity.  When we accept and realize that every one of us is different and decide to put those differences aside and work together, amazing things can happen.

While many of the mainline churches have become inclusive and have embraced LGBTQ people and many other minorities, we do have one major problem.  We enjoy all too much talking about charitable works and doing good for others.  Mainline churchgoers and sometimes our leaders do not enjoy talking as much about doing justice.  We are all too content with the "us" vs "them" mentality.

As good Episcopalians "we" are really good at implying who "we" means so as not to allow "them" to disturb our warm fuzzy selves.   "We have been working on becoming more inclusive, welcoming and affirming.  We don't need to do much more."  "We serve weekly suppers for the economically challenged.  We are doing all that we can." 

I do believe the issue in this canticle from the third Prophet Isaiah is worship and justice working together.  Isaiah  "is drawing on a long standing tradition of prophetic criticism (compare Amos 5: 18-27, which insists that worship without justice has no value.)" (John Collins, Collegeville Bible Commentary, Old Testament Volume, page 448).

At the opening plenary session for the Practice Spirit, Do Justice theme for people of all faiths at Creating Change 2011, we did an incredible three incredible ritual exercises.  

Before we began we were presented with a realistic explanation of what English white Christians did to the established lives of the Indigenous Community when my Pilgrim ancestor's landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

(FYI for hose who do not know, my grandfather's ancestors on my mother's side of our family were Pilgrims who lived in the Plymouth Plantation.)

As if I was not already feeling bad enough hearing their stories, the presenters began leading us through the three exercises. 

The first exercise began with all of us being asked to fold a single white sheet of paper into four pieces and tearing them into the four individual parts.   On each of those four parts we were asked to write down things that are valuable to us.  To give you examples: love, faith, opportunity, our partner(s), home, money, food etc.  Then we were asked to gather closer to the front of the room.  The leader asked us to hand over to him our values.  After he got all of the values he could get from us, he turned around and burned them.  He had taken our values and destroyed them.  Just like those first English, white Christian settlers did to the Indigenous people.  

To begin the second exercise they asked all of us who were white, African American, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Straight, LGBTQ, Immigrants, Latinos, married, divorced, rich or poor anything but Indigenous to stand in one small side corner of the room.  As we were gathering in that small corner, they took a rope and placed it in front of us.  They leaders stretched and held that rope from one corner of all of us gathered into a triangular shape to the other of the corner we were all standing in.  As those of us who were told to go into that corner grew larger, the rope closed in smaller and tighter.  Until we had one small corner of the room and the Indigenous people had all the widest space in the room to roam around and do whatever they wanted.  That also represented what the white Christians did to the Native Americans. 

The third exercise began with an Indigenous chant and dance by which the Native Americans began to gather all of us bunched inside that rope following behind the leader.   Slowly and repeatedly gathering followers behind the leader, single groups of participants followed the other, until all of the people in that bunched up space were following this one person.  She led us out of the roped in corner and began to march the followers around the outer edge of the room, until all of us were connected as one circle of people. 

Most of us who participated in that experience were either crying, just speechless or completely unable to move without taking everything in with the utmost humility.  The movement symbolized how broken, oppressed individuals who are facing injustice in our own communities and beyond, can work together as one people to change a whole generation of hearts and lives forever.   But, we must be willing to see what we are doing as it is, not through the rose colored glasses that blind us to what we cannot view. 

As good Episcopalians it is not enough for us to sit nicely in our church pews taking in the beauty of our worship.  Our celebrating and praying as beautiful and worshipful as it is, with all the correct vestments and the best of our inclusive language does nothing for the work of Justice unless we are willing to become participants in reconciliation and visible change.  The beautiful lit candles of our altar's must light the fire of compassion within our hearts that can so easily become empathetic to the needs of those who are experiencing political, social and religious based oppression. We need to move past the recitation and amens of our excellent prayerful rituals, and begin to apply the meaning of them in our everyday work of justice and equality for all people.  

Episcopalians and Anglicans cannot be content to approve an Anglican Covenant that seeks to diminish the hard work of organizations such as Integrity USA and the Chicago Consultation.  The wording of the present Anglican Covenant could be used as an instrument to silence our progress for the sake of those who's hearts are all too comfortable misusing their pastoral authority to oppress LGBT people all over the Anglican Communion.  The Covenant seeks to make to vindicate those who are sitting silently and comfortably while ignoring our responsibility to voice and act on behalf the threatened and vulnerable LGBT sisters and brothers in Uganda.  The importance of the Archbishop of Canterbury's voice condemning the actions of the Anglican Priest who disrupted David Kato's funeral proceedings cannot be overstated. 

We cannot be content with superbly stated theologies, while the horrible injustice of oppression is uplifted by those who have been ordained and called to represent and minister to those who cannot walk safely in their streets, or be left peacefully alone in their homes. We here in the Episcopal Church cannot be too satisfied with ourselves for having ordained one openly gay bishop and one openly lesbian bishop.  Our work for the justice and inclusion of LGBTQ people and other minorities in the Church and society has made great strides, but is far from finished. 

If we are willing to get up from our comfortable places and begin the give some value to our worship by working for justice and equality, God has promised to guide us and to satisfy our needs even in places that are parched.   God has promised to strengthen us to do all that we are willing to do in God's Name for those who are oppressed.  That which has been ruined will be rebuilt.  We will be known as the "repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live on." 

Prayers

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known o us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, Book of Common Prayer, page 216).


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, Book of Common Prayer, page 833).

LGBTQ People are Cross-Bearers

1 Peter 4:12-19 (NRSV)

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that is taking place among you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you are sharing Christ's sufferings, so that you may also be glad and shout for joy when his glory is revealed. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory, which is the Spirit of God, is resting on you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, a criminal, or even as a mischief maker. Yet if any of you suffers as a Christian, do not consider it a disgrace, but glorify God because you bear this name. For the time has come for judgment to begin with the household of God; if it begins with us, what will be the end for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And
 
"If it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinners?"
 
Therefore, let those suffering in accordance with God's will entrust themselves to a faithful Creator, while continuing to do good.

This is a very busy week for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered, questioning and queer people.  This week on the floor of the United States Senate is scheduled a vote to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  DADT as we know is the ban that keeps open LGBTQ people from serving in the United States Military.  We have an open war that has already begun as Senator John McCain is promising to stop the repeal at all costs.  Already the Christianists have started their attack of LGBTQ people not only about DADT but also marriage equality.

Just this past week the news was released that the Minnesota Catholic Conference is going to send a DVD to all Minnesota Catholic households to encourage them to oppose marriage equality in Minnesota.

What a relief it was to open a Facebook item from Integrity USA about a letter that was sent by members of The Religious Institute  suggesting that it is time for religious institutions to make open the way for Christians to support equality for LGBTQ people in terms of repealing DADT, marriage equality and ending work place discrimination.   In the document I read I found written: 

At the center of our traditions is the Biblical mandate to love, do justice, seek equality,
and act with compassion. The richness of our sacred texts allows for a variety of
interpretations, and there is room for legitimate and respectful disagreement about the
meaning of specific passages. However, using the Bible to exclude or attack people
violates the very spirit of our traditions and is morally unconscionable.
 
Sacred texts provide moral wisdom and challenge, but some passages may also
conflict with contemporary ethical insights. As we move toward a more just society,
we approach our texts and traditions with fresh questions and new understandings.
For example, biblical texts that condone slavery, regard women as property, forbid
divorce, or equate disease with divine retribution can no longer be regarded as
authoritative. We honor instead those texts and traditions that invite us to welcome the
stranger, love our neighbor as ourselves, and view all people as created in God’s image.
Even so, we cannot rely exclusively on scripture or tradition for understanding sexual and
gender diversity today. We must also pay attention to the wisdom of excluded, often
silenced people, as well as to findings from the biological and social sciences.

LGBTQ people are experiencing the cross of Jesus Christ as we work towards full equality in the laws of our nation as well as full inclusion with in the Church. The phrase from Integrity USA is "All the Sacraments for All the Baptized".  The reading from 1 Peter today tells us not to be surprised if we suffer because of our identity as Christians, and that includes LGBTQ Christians.  Because we are individuals of sexual and gender diversity, and believe in Jesus Christ we face persecution from society, Christianists and even from people within our LGBTQ communities.   Just because we are experiencing such difficulties is no reason to give up the fight for equality, inclusion or from living our sexual and gender diversity as believers in Jesus Christ.  


In today's Gospel of Mark 8: 34-38 we read:

Jesus called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

When we accept our sexual and gender diversity and work towards equal justice and inclusion while clinging to the cross, we are living out our faith as Christians.  Jesus Christ was crucified because he was different.  LGBTQ people experience discrimination and persecution because we are different.  We are people who like Jesus come with a message of loving people in different ways, and we are mistaken for villains and sick people, even traitors to the Christian faith.  John Coleridge Patteson and his companions whom we commemorate today were killed by the Natives of Melaneasia because they were thought to be enemies of the people there.  It took the work of Bishop Selwyn to reconcile the Natives of Melaneasia with the understanding that Bishop Patteson had come to help them, not harm them.  


When people are ignorant, they become fearful, and as a result they become prejudiced.  And fear and prejudice rips societies and even churches apart, until someone comes along and helps them to reconcile and understand that the fear they once had, has no foundation to exist.  Fear and hate killed Harvey Milk.   Fear and hate are trying to rip the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion apart over the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson and Mary Glasspool.  Fear and hate are at work in Uganda and the Anglican Bishop there.  Fear and hate are at work through the National Organization for Marriage, the Family Research Council, the American Family Council, Concerned Women for America, The National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Focus on the Family, and The Call by Rev. Lou Engle.  Rather than preach a Gospel of unconditional and all inclusive love they are resorting to hate and fear as they fill more American Christians, and other Christians abroad to countries like Uganda, with misinformation and rhetoric that is designed to stir up violence in speech and action.  


The public attention given to Pastor Jones a week ago is about hate and fear, not about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  The fear and hate that has filled many American Christians about the Islamic people and their religion is based on things that are not true.  As a result the peaceful people who are seeking peace in their lives and the lives of other people, are scandalized and ruined.  

The Christian Religion does not hold a monopoly on truth.  The Christian Faith is not suppose to be a capital enterprise to raise billions of dollars on selling fear and hate to raise up rebellions and political upsets.  The Tea Party and the Christianists are depending on people's fears to win seats in Congress.  And if we do not pay attention, it just might work. What and who will pay the price?  Those of us who are trying to live honest, peaceful and loving lives.  It is often one of the most real consequences of picking up our cross and following Jesus Christ, the true Prince of Peace.


Those of us who follow Jesus Christ with our cross, believe in love inclusive, diverse and in being open minded.  Following Jesus Christ calls us to recognize within ourselves and others different than ourselves the beauty that God has made and redeemed through Christ who died and rose again.  To carry our cross and follow Jesus, to loose our life means that we wish to serve and love God first and foremost and to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves.  We are called to go beyond the status quo and be people who believe and act on our Faith no matter what cost our Faith and our diversity might require.  


Many of us LGBTQ people have given up our families, former careers and whole communities of people we once knew to grow and become who we really are.  When others told us to hate our sexual and gender diversity, we chose to learn to love ourselves as God made us.  When Christianists told us to "pray away the gay" we said, no, we are called to carry the cross of recognizing God's image and likeness within everyone regardless of our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression.  As LGBTQ people we also recognize the goodness of all people regardless of their race, religion, gender, ability, challenge, ability to speak or write in one language, employment, wealth, health, and occupation.  We will face the cross as we embrace the diversity of all humankind.  At times our acceptance of others will mean the lose of our reputations or even our lives.  In such moments we can say with Paul: "May I never boast of anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Galatians 6: 14).

The world LGBTQ Christians are crucified to, is the world that says discrimination and violence based on sexual and gender diversity, racial diversity etc is to be tolerated.  The world that we are crucified to is the world that makes peace with oppression.  The Church that we are crucified to, is the one that uses the Bible to condemn us for our sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression and our healthy and committed relationships.   In so doing, we are among the followers of Christ, bearing our cross.

Grant us, Lord, not to anxious about earthly things, but to love things heavenly; and even now, while we are placed among things which are passing away, to hold fast to those that shall endure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 20, Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

Almighty God, you called your faithful servant John Coleridge Patteson and his companions to be witnesses and martyrs in the islands of Melanesia, and by their labors and sufferings raised up a people for your own possession: Pour out your Holy Spirit upon your Church in every land, that by the service and sacrifice of many, your holy Name may be glorified and your kingdom enlarged; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for John Coleridge Patteson and his Companions, Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 595).

Most holy God, the source of all good desires, all right judgments, and all just works: Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, so that our minds may be fixed on the doing of your will, and that we, being delivered from the fear of all enemies, may live in peace and quietness; through the mercies of Christ Jesus our Savior. Amen. (A Collect for Peace, Book of Common Prayer, page 123). 

A Gospel Gay Wedding: Celebrating God's Just and Inclusive Love

John 2: 1-11 (NRSV)

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.  When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me?  My hour has not yet come.”  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”  Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.”  And they filled them up to the brim.  He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.”  So they took it.  When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (although the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk.  But you have kept the good wine until now.”  Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him. 

We are all over joyed with the news that yesterday Judge Walker overturned Prop. 8 by declaring it "unconstitutional".   The news reports are all over the board from the conservatives outrage and determination to fight, as well as all of the support rallies and commentary that says that time is on the side of the LGBTQ community for marriage equality to become the law in America.  A USA Today article in "Faith and Reason: A Conversation About Religion, Spirituality and Ethics" wrote about both the outrage of Proposition 8's supporters and the joy of the opponents.  Rev. Susan Russell was quoted as saying:

Progressive people of faith have biblical values, too -- and one of those values is telling the truth. And the truth is, if we're going to love our neighbors as ourselves, we need to be defending all marriages and valuing all families ...

 And

"No one has the right to write their theology into our Constitution. (This) should be celebrated by people of all faiths, of any faith and of no faith."

Bishop Gene Robinson was quoted as having said:

The fight is not over but the progress forward has certainly been strengthened by this. The most important thing is that the majority of the people may not always get it right. That's one reason we have the courts.

In an article in Episcopal Life Online you can read the reaction of L.A. Episcopal Bishop Bruno's statement in which he said:

"Justice is advancing thanks to today's ruling affirming Californians' constitutional right to marriage in faithful, same-gender relationships."

"it is only a matter of time before its [Proposition 8's] narrow constraints are ultimately nullified by the courts and our citizens' own increasing knowledge about the diversity of God's creation.'"

Bishop Marc Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California cited General Convention 2006 Resolution A095, which reaffirmed "the Episcopal Church's historical support of gay and lesbian persons as children of God and entitled to full civil rights."

Later, he paraphrased the Sermon on the Mount while addressing a gathering at San Francisco City Hall. Jesus' blessings may be understood as congratulations, he said.

"All these congratulations and blessings are so that we can keep on moving, to extend congratulations to LGBT people in places where persecution is still intense, to use our great energies to help children get food and education, to give strength and support to women everywhere, to fight world-class diseases like HIV/AIDS, to heal the wounded planet," he told the gathering.

But he also added "tomorrow we continue the fight, lending our strength, the blessing of God, to those who need it."

Integrity USA's Vice President Albert Ogle made the following remarks at a rally in San Diego.  

"We are part of a statewide movement of 6,000 faith leaders who support marriage equality. Today’s decision, wonderful as it is, will be appealed to higher courts. So we all still face an intolerable delay and further obstacles to implement inclusive values that are core to our understanding of what it means to be human and beloved by God. We are here today because we believe in the full inclusion of the LGBT community the life of our faith traditions, particularly to all couples who come to us seeking God’s blessing and the blessing of their community.

"Yet, without access to a State license, clergy are now still obliged to exclude same gender couples from the sacrament of marriage (and therefore the full life of the congregation) and to treat members of the community, whom we believe are created equal in the eyes of God, as unequal. For some of us, this practice contravenes the deepest core of our religious values and we must end this state-sponsored apartheid."

All of these statements coupled with the excitement of yesterday's historic decision is why I have chosen to transfer tomorrow's Gospel for the Daily Office to today.  Tomorrow being the Transfiguration of the Lord, I will want to focus on that.

Among the things we know about the Wedding at Cana, what it does not mention is what kind of wedding it was.  Notice throughout the wedding there is no mention of a bride or groom.  There is a mention of a steward, but no mention of who was getting married.  The writers of Gospel for Gays wrote that they believe Jesus was in the attendance of a gay wedding. 

The NRSV notes that Cana was a small village, about 15 km north of Nazareth; that the “mother of Jesus” is never named in John’s gospel; that the word, “woman” was a term of respect and affection; and that (v. 11) “Jesus’ miracles were not wonders to astound, but signs pointing to his glory, God’s presence in him”.  Further, it suggests that the “hour” to which Jesus refers is the hour of his glory on the cross.

Yet among the meanings of this Gospel is that Jesus has come to transform our ordinary lives that can sometimes just be full of water, into lives that are like the best of wine.  With Jesus at the center of our lives anything that is ordinary and plain can be transformed into something absolutely wonderful and life-giving. We do not have to be straight, white, male, employed, wealthy, healthy, speak or write English or Christian, or interpret the Bible literally for God to transform the world through us.  As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people who believe in the God of love, through Jesus Christ transforming ourselves and the world around us from the most ordinary of water, into the best tasting wine can happen through our willingness to love and be loved by others.  Jeremiah Bartrum goes on to write:

If natural water is changed into wine, and the natural union of a man and woman is transformed into a sacramental one (one of the traditional implications drawn from this story) – then why can’t the “natural” union of two men or women also be transformed?

Why, in other words, must our unions remain empty of grace, sterile, closed to the transformative power of this God of abundance, which is also the transformative power of love?  I’m speaking, of course, about *current church teaching.(Note here that Jeremiah is speaking of the current teaching in the Roman Catholic tradition and not the Episcopal Church.)

In my view, the only argument against a positive answer to this question, so central to our lives, is drawn from philosophy, not from scripture.  And the fundamental issue is lack of imagination.

Our gay experience tells us something different.  It tells us that the transformative power of our God can and does live in our relationships.  And it tells us that Jesus and his mother are present at our marriages, too – if we invite them, and (sadly) that’s another story.

The reality is that Jesus and the Bible really do not disapprove of marriage equality.  Gray Temple in his book: Gay Unions In the Light of Scripture, Tradition and Reason writes that the concept of heterosexual and homosexual were not even part of the vocabulary that was used by the Biblical writers, because in the times in which they existed there was no concept of straight vs. gay.  "Our Biblical and classical ancestors did not see "homosexuality" as a unitary phenomenon." (Page 52). Conservative Christians may get all bent out of shape about it, but it is because of erroneous interpretations of the Bible, not what the Bible actually teaches. 

God has and does bless the love that exists between lesbian and gay couples, just as God blesses the love between straight women and men.  God blesses and honors all loving relationships through which the individuals in that relationship sincerely seek each others common good.  When two people commit to a life of loving companionship and compassion, placing each other and God first in their lives, they can and do receive the blessing of God.  When people receive the honor and blessing of God, it really does not matter what any court, State, Bishop, Pope, Priest or Convention thinks.  It is awesome and imperative to our common human experience to receive a level of acceptance and tolerance for our relationships.  But when the the relationship is already blessed and honored by God, God can and often does transform any plain and tasteless water around us, into the best tasting and life-giving wine.  The sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression of those in the relationship is only one part of humankind that God uses to transform a world and even the Church from darkness, hate and violence to celebrating the diversity God's love inclusively and peacefully. 

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).

O God, the creator and preserver of all, we humbly beseech you for all sorts and conditions of people; that you would be pleased to make your ways known unto them, your saving health unto all nations. More especially we pray for your holy Church universal; that it may be so guided and governed by your good Spirit, that all who profess and call themselves Christians may be led into the way of truth, and hold the faith in unity of spirit, in the bond of peace, and in righteousness of life. Finally, we commend to your fatherly goodness all those who are in any ways afflicted or distressed, in mind, body, or estate; that it may please you to comfort and relieve them according to their several necessities, giving them patience under their sufferings, and a happy issue out of all their afflictions. And this we beg for Jesus Christ's sake. Amen. (Prayer for All Sorts and Conditions, Book of Common Prayer, Page 814)

An Old Story with a New Understanding

John 8:1-11 (NRSV)

While Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, they said to him, "Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?" They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her." And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. Jesus straightened up and said to her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, sir." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again."

Neal M. Flanagan, O.S.M writes about John's Gospel in the Collegeville Bible Commentary, New Testament volume. As I read through what Flanagan wrote about today's story of the exchange between Jesus and the woman caught in adultery I had to look around a bit. This story is inserted in between a major controversial set of conversations about the validity of Jesus and his claim to Messiah-ship. There are all kinds of things being said about Jesus and whether his claim to be the One sent by God is legitimate. Of this story, Flanagan writes:

"In modern editions of the Fourth Gospel, this passage is ordinarily either dropped or placed within brackets to indicate that it is not part John's original text. It is missing from our oldest best Greek manuscripts and seems to have been unknown to the early Greek Fathers, since they did not comment on it. In various old manuscripts it is found either at 8:1, as in our text, or after 7:36, or at the end of the Gospel, or after Luke 21:38. The earliest certain reference to the story is found in a third century writing on church discipline called the Didascalia. In a word, it did not form the original Gospel of John.

Not withstanding the mystery of the story's transmission, and of its insertion into John (because of 8:15?), it contains one of the most striking portrayals of Jesus' mercy and is a strong plea for its own authenticity. It possesses all the signs of historical truth. It must be a story dating back to Jesus that was passed along by oral tradition and used, perhaps, to solve the problem of forgiveness of sin for baptized Christians. It sounds incredibly like a Lukan narrative, dealing as it does with mercy, sin, and a woman.

One of the questions always asked about this beautiful passage is what Jesus was writing on the ground. Two reasonably plausible suggestions are that the doodling indicated lack of interest or that John wished to refer to the Greek text of Jeremiah 17:13: "...may those who turn away from thee be written on the earth, for they have forsaken the fountain of life, the Lord." (Page 995).

Gospel stories such as this one are all too often used by religious conservatives as a defense for "love the sinner, but hate the sin mentality" in the direction of any and all who make the conscience choice to exercise their sexuality outside of the marriage of one man and one woman. This passage with the incorrect interpretation I just wrote about is especially used as a weapon toward lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered people. In his blog on Walking with Integrity "A Manifesto! The Time Has Come!" Bishop John Shelby Spong wrote:

"I will no longer listen to that pious sentimentality that certain Christian leaders continue to employ, which suggests some version of that strange and overtly dishonest phrase that "we love the sinner but hate the sin." That statement is, I have concluded, nothing more than a self-serving lie designed to cover the fact that these people hate homosexual persons and fear homosexuality itself, but somehow know that hatred is incompatible with the Christ they claim to profess, so they adopt this face-saving and absolutely false statement. I will no longer temper my understanding of truth in order to pretend that I have even a tiny smidgen of respect for the appalling negativity that continues to emanate from religious circles where the church has for centuries conveniently perfumed its ongoing prejudices against blacks, Jews, women and homosexual persons with what it assumes is "high-sounding, pious rhetoric." The day for that mentality has quite simply come to an end for me. I will personally neither tolerate it nor listen to it any longer. The world has moved on, leaving these elements of the Christian Church that cannot adjust to new knowledge or a new consciousness lost in a sea of their own irrelevance. They no longer talk to anyone but themselves. I will no longer seek to slow down the witness to inclusiveness by pretending that there is some middle ground between prejudice and oppression. There isn't. Justice postponed is justice denied. That can be a resting place no longer for anyone. An old civil rights song proclaimed that the only choice awaiting those who cannot adjust to a new understanding was to "Roll on over or we'll roll on over you!" Time waits for no one."

As I read through this Gospel, I cannot escape the fact that Jesus is far more concerned with the state of the hearts around him, than with the adultery this woman was caught in. As the Commentary by Neal Flanagan suggests that Jesus may have been writing on the ground as a sign that Jesus was just simply not interested in the Pharisees telling him about what he woman did and what the law says. It's just like sitting in a church on Sunday, listening to some old conservative sermon about the sin of abortion, homosexuality and/or women being ordained. We doodle and just turn off our ears. Jesus is very concerned about what is in the hearts of those looking to condemn her. Jesus wants to deliver them from their arrogance and determination to exploit a woman's situation to score points with how they can justify killing Jesus. Not only does Jesus out smart them all, but he also deals with the woman in a compassionate, loving and merciful way. Unlike the Pharisees, Jesus does not exploit the woman, instead he absolves her and shines God's light of love into her life.

Rather than look at this Gospel from the standpoint of sexuality, I think it is better to examine what is in our hearts. One thing this Gospel has right is all of us at one point or another tend to approach other people with not so good intentions. Our human nature says that when things are not quite the way we would like them to be, we can all make use of someone else to get our own way. The old saying goes: "The way to hell is paved with good intentions." We can approach a situation for very good reasons, yet on the inside we can harbor a grudge and seize a moment to get back at someone who has hurt us, and tear them apart. In Minnesota we have the rule of "It isn't Minnesota nice, it's Minnesota ice." If you ask someone: "Are you mad at me?" They will say no to you, but tell everyone else what a butt head they think you are. What are our intentions as we deal with others and their unique situation?

As we continue to watch our President and Congress debate issues like health care, finance reform and the repeal of Don't ask, don't tell are they really seeking the good of the people that have elected them, or are they only interested in pleasing the lobbyists who pay them the huge amounts of money to defend their positions? How are we calling them to be accountable?

A very important question for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people is that as we pursue marriage equality and social justice in a corrupt world, are we keeping our focus on the issues and the necessity for change, or are we all too often fixated on the opinions of people like James Dobson and Pat Robertson? While it is important that we answer their false statements about homosexuality, it is more imperative than ever that we keep our efforts focused on achieving equal rights and helping to educate minds and hearts about LGBT issues. We should double our efforts on telling the truth about LGBT people and especially those of us who are still Christians and pursuing the mission of the Gospel, instead of getting all wound up over the anti-gay rhetoric.

What is our focus today? What is in our hearts as we take on the issues that affect LGBT people? In our relationships do we seek to serve those we interact and are in love with, or do we seek to use them for our own selfishness? Are we seeking God's mercy for those times we fail? Are we willing to accept God's forgiveness and move forward? Or are we still judging ourselves by what others say about us?

Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, BCP, Page 216).

Are We Ready to Face the Real World?

The Scripture Readings for today give us two very different pictures. The reading from 1 Maccabees 3: 1-24 is a story about war and violence. Yet, the story is one in which Judas Maccabees turns the tide against the king and those who are oppressing the people of Jerusalem. The story of the transfiguration of Jesus gives us an entire alteration from the story in 1 Maccabees. The transfiguration is about Jesus in all his glory as witnessed by Peter, James and John and a prefiguring of the resurrection. Yet the story ends with Jesus and the Disciples who witnessed his transfiguration returning to every day ordinary life.

Life is an everyday event. Every day that we live and breath we face conflicts and struggles. There are moments when we loose and moments when we win. God is with us in the ups and downs of life. We are never alone. God wants to love us through the times when life is not so glorious. God celebrates with us when life is awesome. God gives us those moments when we can see right into the heart of God's glory. God is also ever so close to us when life really stinks, when evil wins out.

As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals, families and couples find churches and houses of worship where they are welcomed, affirmed and celebrated we feel really happy. We can finally worship our God and grow closer to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. When we find congregations where our sexual orientation and relationships, our gender expressions/identities are understood as gifts from God to us and the world, it can seem as if we have died and gone to heaven. I know that over the last many months since my partner Jason and I began attending Sunday Eucharist at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, the difference in our lives of prayer and worship have been like night becoming day. When LGBT people find a house of worship where they can grow in their relationship with God it sets our wondering spirits free and it energizes us in ways that we often cannot describe.

But the reality is, we cannot live forever in the house of prayer and worship. We eventually have to leave the comfort of our churches or synagogues and face the world where discrimination and prejudice are often rampart thanks in part to religious groups that do not welcome and affirm LGBT people. We continue to face job discrimination, state ballot initiatives that take away our civil rights to marry the person we love, and a political establishment that will not act fast enough to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell. We return to our communities where there are hundreds of people who will die because cannot afford health care. When we leave our churches and synagogues we deal with the grief experienced by people who are affected by HIV/AIDS and other diseases. It can seem like the house of worship where we are accepted feels like heaven, and the rest of world is just like hell.

It is because of the way that the world is about LGBT individuals that welcoming and affirming churches, synagogues and houses of worship are so important. We need the energy that comes from finding God who loves us and church communities that support us. With the negative voices of the religious right, the Catholic church, and so many political groups against the interests of LGBT individuals, couples and families we need the good energy that comes from sharing with one another in prayer and worship. There are many terrific Metropolitan Community Churches. There is the Episcopal Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, the United Church of Christ, The Disciples of Christ, many United Methodist Churches, many congregations of the Presbyterian Church, USA and many more than I can write about in this blog that are very welcoming to LGBT Christians. There are Jewish Synagogues that are welcoming to LGBT individuals. Finding places where LGBT individuals can find some peace and energy to combat the discrimination and hate of the world around us is important.

It is also important to develop good healthy friendships and relationships. Good healthy relationships help us grow closer to God, because they remind us that God is our best friend and that we are never completely alone. We need those relationships where we can grow close to people and share with them our deepest thoughts, feelings and emotions and be validated. God did not place us on this earth to be miserable. God did not put us to live through the hardships of life alone. God made us social beings for a reason.

As we go about facing the difficulties of the world around us, let us ask for God's powerful graces to help us find those people and places that affirm and lift us up. Let us pray that God will help us to have an attitude of "It is good for us to be here."

Almighty God, whose Son had nowhere to lay his head: Grant that those who live alone may not be lonely in their solitude, but that, following in his steps, they may find fulfillment in loving you and their neighbors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, #48, For Those Who Live Alone, Page 829)

Integrity Eucharist--A Celebration of Prayer for All

Last night my partner Jason and I attended a service of the Holy Eucharist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the Hill in St. Paul. The Mass was to pray for the upcoming election of the new Bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota to be held this weekend. The Eucharistic Liturgy was organized by Integrity USA, the Episcopal Church's organization that seeks the full inclusion for LGBT people into the life and ministry of the Church.

The Mass was magnificent with music, incense, choral singing, preaching and a full welcoming of everyone to the Eucharistic table. Rev. David Norgard the President of Integrity USA was the preacher for the Mass. Rev. David Norgard was the first openly gay Priest to be ordained back in the early 1980's. Rev. Norgard gave an outstanding sermon which you can find on Integrity's blog site.

I would like to highlight and share some of the statements made from the sermon.

"I was the first openly gay person to be ordained in the Diocese of Minnesota. I “entered the process” (as people say) shortly after the General Convention of 1979. (You can do the math in your heads, if you like, but I’m not going to do it for you.) It was the convention that declared – in typical Episcopalian fashion – that it was “inappropriate to ordain practicing homosexuals at that time.” The good people advising me and supporting me then were determined not to let that non-binding resolution transmute into a concrete barrier. So the question put to me was: Should I tell the truth about being gay? Or, in the interest of being expeditious, should I rather wait and let the truth about who I was come out, as it were, later? At the time, it was not courage but simple naïveté that prompted my question in response to the question: How could I build a solid Christian ministry upon the foundation of a deception? I just could not get past the simple reasoning repeating in a loop in my mind to any of the much more sophisticated theologizing others were proposing. As I understood it, Christian ministry meant adhering to a twin ethic of love and justice. Justice is always built on the truth. Therefore, Christian ministry also must be built on the truth. It would occur to me much later, by the way, that justice and truth together equate to integrity."

"Coming out does not make life easier…but it does unequivocally make life better. Telling the truth and seeking justice, while painfully difficult at times, are inherently better options for living than their alternatives because they are the constellation that leads us on the path toward integrity. And as the psalmist says, “No good thing will God withhold from those who walk with integrity.”

"So we learn to live in an in-between time. Joy abounds but it is not yet complete. Times, they are a-changing, but they still lead us through valleys of shadow and –as Matthew’s mother knows all too well – even death. We know that while our own diocese has nominated for election to the episcopate someone who is out there are other dioceses, some near here, whose bishops will not permit the good news from Anaheim even to be announced, much less celebrated or acted upon. Prejudice, the antithesis of integrity, really is a malignancy of the soul. It is no mere intellectual error. So, it will not be excised by a single brave act or legislative victory, however definitive. It will only die out gradually through a constant application of truth and justice."

"Paul, the patron both of this church and of this city, understood that. That is why he said what he did in writing to the Corinthians: “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair, persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed.” And that is why he also said: “Therefore, since it is by God’s mercy that we are engaged in this ministry, we do not lose heart.”

"Over twenty-five years ago now, a quarter of a century, a naïve young gay man sat in the office of the Bishop of Minnesota and decided that it was just not the way to go to deceive people about who he was in order to minister in the name of One known as the Way and the Truth and the Life. The truth was that he had fallen in love with a person of the same gender and everything about it felt right and good. And by the way, after thirty years, he is still with that same good man today.


But as he quickly learned and not just once but time and time again, as gay and lesbian people, our ministry has never been about proclaiming ourselves. Rather, it is a matter of being unwilling to hide the truth, particularly the truth about the way God has made everyone, including us – we who are at once very much the same and a little different from our straight brothers and sisters. And that must continue always to be the essence of our message, the truth we must both tell and seek, proclaim and honor…that a loving God, out of love (and with some good humor and good taste) created all things…and behold, without exception, they are very good. Amen. "

The Gospel for this Liturgy was John 15:1-11. My very favorite verse in this entire Gospel Reading is verse 5. "I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing." I am picking up here because I truly believe that we cannot achieve the goal of justice for equality for LGBT people in political and/or religious circles without looking to God to lead us in the way of truth. The resistance to homosexuality is religious based, therefore it must be dealt with on religious terms as well as political.

Those who have been violated by clergy, laity and others in churches and I share your grief because I am one of them. It is wise and good to look for and find our place within religious communities that welcome LGBT people. Our sexual orientation is God's gift to us and we should make use of it to do good things. In those places where we can enter into constructive and helpful dialogue, we indeed should. In places where we can help people understand what being gay means, we should tell our stories. Where people are hurting, we need to hurt with them. Where we and others can experience healing, we need to place ourselves there.

May all who are able to come to the fountain of life, come and find in Jesus the well-spring of eternal life. And do not let anyone tell you that you have no place or right to be there. God has given us the call and it is God who will do God's work in our lives, if we will only accept the invitation.

"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 full portion of the riches of this land, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen." (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, Page 826).

Responding to Love's Request

Yesterday was a historic day. When President Obama signed the Matthew Shepard/James Byrd hate crimes bill into law yesterday the long hard work of Judy Shepard saw the goal she worked for become a reality. I am continually amazed at the fortitude of Judy Shepard. When most of us experience the murder of a loved one, we might let the anger and grief of what happened weigh us down, causing to go deep into ourselves and say the hell with the rest of the world. Judy Shepard did not do any of those things. I am sure Judy's grief over the way in which her son Matthew was murdered, followed by the local Police Department saying that they had no funding to investigate such a crime, left Judy often feeling alone and like no one would listen. However, that did not stop Judy Shepard from using her horrific situation to achieve great things. You would think that after the years of pushing for the Hate Crimes legislation in Congress only to have former President George Bush say he would veto the bill, that Judy would just give up. But no, that did not stop this mother from seeking justice for others who could experience what happened to her son. Judy continued to sign copies of her book. She continued to speak about her son's death despite people calling her a "liar". And yesterday, October 28th she saw all her suffering and efforts result in changing the laws of the land.

This is the kind of love and devotion of a woman seeking to do the right thing amidst very difficult circumstances. This is how the word of God goes beyond being an abstraction, to becoming really alive and active in the world around us. This is the word of God falling on good soil and reaping much good fruit, even with all the thorns and weeds trying to keep out the good fruit that is trying to grow.

As I read through today's Gospel of Matthew 13: 18-23, I am struck and yet troubled by some of the language there. I think all of us have those moments when the words of Jesus reach us, but there are the thorns in our life that choke what is said. Addictions, challenges, relationships, events and news that all play their role in making it difficult for God to take hold of our lives and make a difference. I also think that we have to be careful about looking at ourselves arrogantly and thinking we are the good soil, while others who are different from us are some how not good soil. Everyone has issues in their lives that can make hearing God speak to us difficult and sometimes troubling.

Clearing the issues that make it difficult for us to listen to God is a process that every person has to go through for themselves. Everyone's situation is not the same. However, because God is God and because God loves us as much as God does, then we have to conclude that there is no situation too difficult for God to work through. Through prayer, quiet times and asking God for the help to trust in God to help remove the obstacles that keep us from hearing and knowing God clearer, we can find ourselves in that place where God's grace is reaching out and healing that which is broken.

One of the many obstacles for people to draw closer to God is spiritual violence. When someone makes use of Scripture, Church authority, religious principles in an attempt to change the very essence of who someone is, that is not pastoral counseling. That is spiritual violence and abuse. This is a common experience for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. When voices like the Catholic church speaks through ex-gay ministries like Courage and tell LGBT individuals that their "condition" is "intrinsically disordered" it is no longer good Spiritual advice. It is pastoral and spiritual violence. When ex-gay ministries like Exodus create "fix camps" to try to "change" people's orientation, even though they are doing it out of "loving concern", they are doing spiritual violence to LGBT people. When devoted Christian parents address their children after they come out saying that they will one day "grow out" of being gay, that is not a loving response.

Let's compare what I wrote above with an entirely different approach. Telling an LGBT person that they are loved as they are, and calling them to grow in a healthy respect of themselves and in their relationships, now that is good Spiritual counsel. Calling LGBT individuals to give up the unhealthy practices of promiscuity and work towards healthier relationships where they are truly loving other people as opposed to using each other is good progress. Looking at the brokenness with which LGBT youth often come to the Church and finding LGBT Priests, Pastors and members who can help them integrate their sexuality in healthy ways with their Spiritual lives, that is good Spiritual and Pastoral advice. That is helping LGBT people find ways to help them listen more clearly to God's word.

Jesus came into the world to give people who feel lost find hope and meaning. Jesus Christ through out his earthly ministry gave sight to the blind, called those on the sidelines to be included in the household of Faith. The Church that Christ calls is one that is inclusive and welcoming to all who wish to discern God's call in their lives. Jesus invites everyone to the Eucharistic table to experience the healing of God's holy presence.

What role will we play in discerning God's call in our lives? How will we help others listen for what God is saying to them? What are our attitudes towards people who are not quite like us? How do we respond to those who want to get closer to God, but have situations we do not understand?

As we continue on our journey of Faith, let us ask the Holy Spirit to guide us in our attitudes of inclusion and be sure that the Church is a "House of Prayer for all."

This we pray in the Name of God who is +Creator, Servant and Life-Giver. Amen.

Celebrate Inclusively

This upcoming Thursday, October 29th on the eve of the Convention for the Episcopal Diocese of Minnesota, Integrity USA will be celebrating a special Eucharist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on the Hill in St. Paul, Minnesota. We will be bringing before God our prayers for the election of the next Bishop of Minnesota. The incoming President David Norgard will be preaching, and the Rev. Mark Thompson, Rector of St. Paul's Church will be presiding.

I am very excited about this particular Eucharist. Because I love Liturgy, specifically Eucharistic Liturgy. Really good Liturgy lifts us up and out of ourselves into the realm of the transcendent God. As we acknowledge that God is greater than we are, bigger than we are, and so far beyond our comprehension, God makes God's self an ever more present reality. God is not limited by space and time. When we worship God through the Holy Eucharist, the God who transcends all time and space, and became one with us in Jesus Christ becomes present in the Holy Eucharist.

We have an old saying in America: "You are what you eat, from your head down to your feet." When we celebrate the Holy Eucharist God comes to us through the reading of God's word in the Scriptures and then becomes one with us in Holy Communion. When we receive Holy Communion, Christ comes to integrate himself with us, so that we become Christ to others in the world.

Before Jesus healed the Centurion's slave he said: "I tell you, many will come from east and west and will eat with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while the heirs of the kingdom will be thrown in to the outer darkness,,," (Matthew 8:11,12) There is room at God's Table for everyone who wants to leave the sidelines and be part of the household of Faith.

For much too long, Christians have debated about whether or not lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals should be welcome no not only partake of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist, but also serve in leadership positions within the Church. In his blog entitled "An Invitation to An Inclusive Church" Rev. Paul Bresnahan wrote: "Even in Biblical material we are “one in Christ” as the blessed Apostle put; it without respect to classification by sex, gender, orientation, class, or ethnicity. In his very own words, he put it this way, “for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26-28)

"The great question before us is this; are we a house of prayer for all people or not? Jesus made it clear by his courage in seeking out the lame, the halt, the blind, the prostitute, the tax collector, the leper and all the other outcasts that his church was to be a house of prayer for all people. This he did when he overturned the tables in the Temple in a radical revolution that continues to reverberate throughout the church."

"There was a special place in his heart too for the “eunuchs” of his time. I wonder what he meant by the following startling saying; But he said to them, "Not everyone can accept this teaching, but only those to whom it is given. For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Let anyone accept this who can." (Matthew 19:11-12) You can define that term as you like, but they clearly were not a threat to folks of the opposite sex. There is considerable evidence that when the biblical material refers to “eunuchs” we were talking of folks whose interests lay with folks of the same sex. We now refer to this group as lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgendered, LGBT for short. And isn't it interesting to note that even Jesus realized that there were those who would find this teaching a hard one to accept. The radical love of Jesus is often hard to take because it includes our enemies.

I believe that Jesus stood up for this crowd too as he stood up for us all, and I am convinced that is why they put him to death on the cross. Jesus was not a liberal. He merely loved everyone! That’s why God died. That’s why God is Risen. That’s why God will come again!"

I firmly believe that there is a place in God's House for everyone to worship, serve and lead. We do not have to be ordained to be effective in being God's witnesses. Those who feel called to serve God through ordained ministry, should be welcomed to the discernment process regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity or any other issue. If we are going to worship our God who welcomed everyone in Jesus Christ, we have to believe and understand that we must also welcome everyone. Jesus is present in the Eucharist, because he wants to share God's presence with everyone who will come to him. Whatever the state of another person's life or heart, it is God's place and duty to deal with that person, not ours. God created everyone in God's image and likeness with the same love that God created us. God's perfect revelation in Christ Jesus through his death and resurrection has made it possible for everyone to again be reunited with God in friendship, discipleship and love. God created everything and it was and is still very good. In Jesus Christ, God has redeemed everyone, and are all adopted children of God.

Therefore, let no one feel or think that there is no place at God's Eucharist for them. As the beings in heaven and on earth sing "Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord, God of Hosts, heaven and earth are full of your glory", let every voice good or bad, every woman, man, child, rich, poor, black, white, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered, every religion, challenge, class and national origin find room at God's table, where they are loved by God who is +Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.