Fifth Friday of Lent; The Cross, God Made Vulnerable

There are many things I can write about the Cross. The Cross on which Jesus Christ died is the means by which God sought to save us from sin. That much is known by most Christians. When we look at the Cross as a mere abstract image it is very easy to forget what really happened there. But when we open the book called the Cross and search deeper into the mystery of what happened there, we see that the Cross is as beautiful love story. The Cross is the story about how God made God's Self very vulnerable and accepted our response to God's offer.

The Cross is a love story. It is a novel written with the greatest love found within it's many pages. The night before Jesus was crucified, he gave his disciples one last commandment. "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." (John 15:12-13). God's love for all of us was so great that Jesus laid down his life for all of us. This story of love that culminates in the Cross and ends with the resurrection, tells us that God risked all in Jesus and we are the beneficiaries of God's incredible gift.

This idea sounds way too close to the idea of sex. The idea of the Cross being God making God's Self vulnerable in the Person of Christ, is very close to what happens when two people share in a sexual experience.

In Bishop Gene Robinson's Book: In the Eye of the Storm, he writes:

"The vulnerability inherent in God's creation of the world, and in God's becoming flesh in Jesus, is the key to unlocking the power and meaning of human sexuality. The spiritual and physical union between two people mirrors the relationship God desires with humankind. The longing of a husband for a wife, a lover for the beloved, mirrors God's longing for us. A lover's sheer delight in the body of the beloved reflects God's sheer delight in us.

When lovemaking is really right, it's perhaps as close as we can come to knowing the kind of desire and love God holds for us. When we give ourselves to another in lovemaking, we participate in the kind of self-giving love that God has for us. This kind of love is sacramental, offering a window into the heart of the Creator. When I can express with my body what I'm feeling with my heart, the integration of body and soul is astounding. That's what we mean when we say marriage signifies the mystery of the union between Christ and the church.

That kind of experience doesn't happen to us human beings very often, even in the context of marriage. It's an ideal that we're just too self-centered to manage very often. But if you've ever come close to it you know it. And you know you've participated in something more than great sex; it is a fleeting, momentary participation in the nature of God." (Pages 38, 39).

I found the Rev. Canon Susan Russell's inclusion of the recent Theological Paper on Same-Sex Relationships that was presented at the recent meeting of the House of Bishops in the Episcopal Church to be very relevant and inspiring.

That said, I found this piece from theology committee member Deirdre Good's blog hopeful. It's from the introduction given by theologian Willis Jenkins to the presentation of the report to the House of Bishops -- which Good has posted with permission in its entirety on her blog -- but these were the two excerpts that "caught my eye:"

We do not plead for inclusion in marriage on the basis of rights, nor do we claim liberty for marriage on the basis of justice. Instead we show how all our marriages make sense within the church’s prayers and its proclamation of the gospel. Reading scripture in recognition of gifts of the Spirit evident in same- and other-sex couples, we present ourselves within the frame of an analogous debate: that of the earliest church wrestling with the question of Gentile inclusion.

By offering this frame of argument, those in same-sex marriages allow themselves and their relationships to become vulnerable to “our” interpretation. Our response, I contend, should be similar to how Peter, James, and Paul responded: by giving witness to gifts of the Spirit among these couples and making a way forward that respects tradition.

There has been way too much written and said about the pro's and cons about marriage equality over these years. The National Organization for Marriage and the Family Research Council continue their assault on LGBT people over the issue of marriage. I agree with Rev. Canon Susan Russell when she said: "Yes, I'm tired of my life and relationship being "studied." In my own humble opinion that may or may not be shared by all, the decision of LGBT couples expressing their love for each other in the institution of marriage is one in which the church needs to debate with in itself, but not interject itself in the issue with the State. The United States of America is one of a few countries where Ministers in religious institutions are agents of the State when it comes to marriage licenses. Let those churches that wish to perform marriage ceremonies for LGBT couples perform them, and those that do not wish should not be forced bless the relationships of same-sex couples. However, the issue of whether marriages should be legal in the civil arena, that is for the States to take up with those who are for marriage equality and those who are against. Should religious minded people including Bishops and Clergy be speaking up in support or against marriage equality? Under the idea of freedom of speech, I would say, if that is what they want to do, that is their right. But, as far as acting as a political action committee (PAC) to influence the State's decision to or not to enact marriage equality, no, the churches and religious organizations need to get out of that part of the debate. Those of us who are LGBT are tired of religious organizations making judgments upon our relationships, and deciding just how, when and where we should be able to decide the level of our devotion in our same-sex relationships. Those of us who chose to be in monogamous committed same-sex relationships are adult enough to make our own commitments as to how we make ourselves vulnerable to our partners to the degree that we too share in the love of Jesus Christ and his Cross. Religious funded organizations have no business attempting to fix the laws of the land based on how they perceive our relationships.

If I am sounding a bit angry here, the truth is, I am. Our local Catholic Archdiocese has decided to stick their nose into our struggle for marriage equality. Given all that's been going on the the Catholic church in the past few weeks, I can only react to this news with anger. We need the progressives within our Country and States to become active in the struggle for marriage equality. We cannot just sit idle and let the Religious institutions work to take the fight out of the hands of those of us who have been working hard to get us to this point after all these years.

Within the book called the Cross is a love story. It is a love story that plays itself out in the lives and love of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people and straight people a like. It is a love story that continues as we work for marriage equality and as we live out our lives with our partners, husbands, wives, friends and those we love so very much. This love story is why I love the last stanza of the hymn: "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" so much.

"Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small; love so amazing so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." (Hymn #474, Hymnal 1982).

The Annunciation: A New Beginning for All.

Here we are on March 25th. Palm Sunday is four days away. Suddenly, it is the Annunciation, when we remember the Angel Gabriel came to the Virgin Mary to announce that she would be the mother of God Incarnate. It is a wonderful time to reflect that as we are getting ready to celebrate the passion, death and resurrection of Christ, here at the Annunciation is the nine month preparation before Christmas arrives.

I don't know about you, but I don't like to think of Christmas shopping quite yet. I am too busy getting ready to enjoy Easter, Spring and Summer. The Church calendar works in such a way that it reminds us that the journey we are about to start with Christ in Holy Week began when Mary received the news that she would be the mother of Jesus Christ. In the Eastern Church, the Paschal Mystery which we will celebrate next week, began at Christ's birth. Meaning that at the moment when God took on the flesh of humankind and became one like us is the moment Christ's suffering on behalf of humankind began. The Episcopal Church likes to blend Western and Eastern Christian Theology to give room for diversity.

The Annunciation as well as the events of Holy Week that we will begin recalling next week are an invitation to reflect on who Jesus Christ is and what he means to those who believe themselves to be Christians. Jesus Christ came, lived and gave himself up for all who were on the margins of society and the religious leaders of his time. What Christ did when he was among us, he continues to do through the ministry of the Church. The work of the Gospel to invite the stigmatized to find God's love and mercy in Christ, is the also the main ministry of the Church. If the Church takes this mission seriously, then we must also acknowledge that no amount of prejudice toward any group of people is appropriate. Any level of violence and hatred that leads people to the feeling that any group of people must be stamped out because they do not fit our agenda, has to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.

Unfortunately there is still a lot of prejudice that lives in the Church today. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are one of a few groups of people that continue to experience such bias. When the religious right continues their crusade to keep LGBT people from obtaining their equal rights, by proclaiming us to be dirty, unacceptable or labeling LGBT people as pedophiles, or interested in bestiality, it is denigrating. Such remarks and behavior are a contradiction to the very nature of who Jesus Christ is. They violate the very purpose of Jesus Christ coming among us through the Virgin Mary.

Reports of child sex abuse continue to come forward in the Catholic church. All Pope Benedict can say is that the abuse is the result of how many gay priests are in the church. Rather than accept responsibility and be accountable for the lives that are so devastated by the abuse, the clerical leadership of the Catholic church has chosen to be like the elder son in the story of the Prodigal Child. "They are the one's most sinful, not us." The very fact that this went unchallenged for as long as it did, and that it is spread all over the world as it is, tells the level of irresponsibility of Catholic leadership towards the people their lack of action has affected. Yet, the reason all of this has happened, according to the Pope is because of all of the gay priests that are in the Priesthood, as well as the accessibility of pornography on the internet that lures his priests into misbehavior. This is a perfect example of how prejudice and hypocrisy is unfortunately very much alive in the Christian faith.

As we think about the Annunciation I think it is important to remember that Christ came into a world full of violence, hate and bias. We still live in such a world. The Church like Jesus, must meet the challenges of our present culture with a determination to meet violence, hate and bias with peaceful, all inclusive love. This is very difficult to do, because all of us have that human natural tendency to fight violence with violence. However, progressive Christians have a great history of avoiding becoming like the tea party folks who have stooped to throwing bricks through Democratic office windows. Progressive Christians meet these challenges through grassroots community organizing, candle light vigils and parades that celebrate diversity in all of it's many forms. These are excellent ways to stamp out the prejudices of our time. They must continue and we need new people with new ideas to come forward and offer to lead others to peaceful resolutions to conflicts.

As we celebrate the Annunciation, let us pray that the effects of the Incarnation of Jesus will not end with the Gospel story, but will come alive through our participation in the events. Those events come alive when we challenge people about routing out discrimination and violence from the world around us. Such challenges shake people up, but they also help convert old ideas and start new ones. The Annunciation was the start of something new that changed many lives. Hopefully, through our continued participation in the life of the Gospel through our own lives, what happened at the Annunciation will continue to be lived out in our time.

Pour your grace into our hearts, O Lord, that we who have known the incarnation of your Son Jesus Christ, announced by an angel to the Virgin Mary, may by his cross and passion be brought to the glory of his resurrection; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, on God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Annunciation, BCP, Page 240).

Where is the Health Care Reform Plan for Social Diseases?

2 Corinthians 2:14 to 16a (NRSV).

But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession, and through us spreads in every place the fragrance that comes from knowing him. For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life.

What an incredible three days it has been since the health care reform bill was passed by the House. The news has been jumping all over about all of the controversy surrounding health care reform from those who are happy it happened, to others who are not so pleased.

What cannot be ignored in any way, shape or form is the growing violence that has been sparked by the tea party movement. In their attempts to stop health care reform from passing they have resorted to outrageous racial remarks. Their remarks included an anti-gay slur aimed at Rep. Barney Frank on his way into the House to cast his vote for health care reform. Since that began a wide degree of violence has begun all over America that has included everything from the vandalism of Democratic offices to threatening to assassinate the children of Democrats who voted in favor of health care reform. The problem with all of this that I see, is Christians who believe they are perpetrating such acts of violence in the Name of God. Taking a position of disagreeing and seeking to change things to the way they would like them is one thing. Using violence and racial language to achieve it, can not be understood or seen as anything good.

As I was searching for a Bible verse to use for today's blog entry I was drawn to the second letter of Paul to the Corinthians, specifically the verse that says: "For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one a fragrance from death to death, to the other a fragrance from life to life." (Vs. 15 to 16a).

When I think of an aroma, I think of something that smells beautiful and wonderful. It is amazing how we can walk through the day totally depressed about things that are going on in our life, until we step into a bakery and smell the aroma of fresh baked bread. Suddenly those things we are so down about disappear and a new sense of self appreciation comes back into our minds. We see that life really is not worth getting so down about. What ever it was that got us so wound up, suddenly becomes not quite so important. All because of an aroma.

Christians have been given the task of being the aroma of God's unconditional and all inclusive love. Christians are not suppose to spreading the odor of discrimination and intolerance. A sweet and all encompassing aroma fills the nostrils of everyone who is in the room. It brings people a sense of security, comfort and peace. The Name of Jesus Christ has been given to share a message of peace, inclusion and grace. Sometimes in the midst of smelling an aroma, we might pick up an unusual scent that at first might repel us. However, that aroma that we might not know what it is, is a challenge to adopt an appreciation for the diversity that exists in the Church and society. That aroma might very well mean that the Church needs to continue to seek ways of including LGBT and other minorities with in it's embrace. But when new and wonderful people are added to the Church, we will find a new recipe for helping us share the Gospel with a diverse world.

I think this is the health care reform that will help heal the social diseases that still exist in the Church and society. If the outrageous violence following the passing of health care reform tells us anything, it tells us that Christians often confuse the difference between being an aroma that is life-giving, vs an odor that destroys not only life, but the opportunity for everyone to share in that life. The aroma of Christ in God is one that wants to bring consolation to those who are sick and cannot go to a doctor. The recipe of God's love seeks to bring into the fold of God's love those who are marginalized by society and the Church. Christians need to cooperate with God's will to love all people, rather than look for excuses to exclude people from the company of Christ. This is why the violence brought on by the tea party folks is so bad. This is also why the Archbishop of Canterbury's request for "gracious restraint" for the ordination of lesbian and gay bishops is so disturbing.

Next week during Holy Week, we will be accompanying Jesus through his passion, death and resurrection. We will also be met by the reality that the reason he was hung on the cross to die was to save us from our sins. However, his only crime was that he loved just a little too differently and for many people, just a little too much for the wrong people. People confused the new aroma Jesus brought to the second class citizens of society and the Church, with an odor. LGBT people continue to experience the same problem and are ridiculed and discriminated against because they love just a little differently and too much for the wrong people. May we go on loving a bit too much, so that everyone who thinks they are not loved, will know that they most certainly are.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).

Our Child Like Faith Should Welcome All

Mark 9: 30-41 (NRSV)

They went on from there and passed through Galilee. He did not want anyone to know it; for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, "The Son of Man is to be betrayed into human hands, and they will kill him, and three days after being killed, he will rise again." But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask him.

Then they came to Capernaum; and when he was in the house he asked them, "What were you arguing about on the way?" But they were silent, for on the way they had argued with one another who was the greatest. He sat down, called the twelve, and said to them, "Whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all." Then he took a little child and put it among them; and taking it in his arms, he said to them, "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me." John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. Whoever is not against us is for us. For truly I tell you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you bear the name of Christ will by no means lose the reward.

One of the things that makes my Partner Jason such a wonderful guy is his love of the Muppets. Jason has experience with puppets. He has made quite a few of them himself. Jason does a lot of knitting and he has skillfully created a number of exquisite looking puppets. One reason that his attraction to the Muppets is so great is that when life gets a little too serious and reality hits us in the face just a little too hard, the Muppets take reality and anything serious and makes it into a wonderful comedy. There are always some great meanings behind what they do. But one thing about the Muppets is that there is no vegetable, candle stick, wall, or anything that might at some point wake up and start moving or talking. Just when you think you've seen the last item come to life and begin a conversation, something else comes out of no where and adds a whole other dimension to the last surprise.

The Gospel today gives us a few different dimensional looks at Jesus. Jesus is God's perfect revelation who is about to go to Jerusalem to face his passion, death and resurrection. Jesus is telling his disciples about what he is about to do, but they do not understand.

Then Jesus gets into a conversation with them about who must be first and last, and then picks up a child. Jesus tells the disciples to welcome children in his name. Jesus reminds us in this Gospel that we are servants in his name. As we work through the reading of this Gospel it should become clear that Jesus wants the Church to be a welcoming place. Jesus has come to set free those who find themselves with no one to accept and love them. Just like the Church of today, the religion of Jesus' time has found every excuse imaginable to decide who they just cannot accept. Rather than be open and accepting, the Church can be a place where hearts grow cold and there is hypocrisy. People in the Church can talk out of both sides of their mouths and contradict the teachings of Christ and the Gospel. This is precisely why we have and need the Sacraments that remind us that no matter how wicked we are, God loves us and wants us to come back to God.

The health care debate and the issue of equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people has proven to present many Christians in a light that suggests that violence is a way to get what they want. When I hear stories of Teabaggers threatening gun violence if health care reform were to pass in the US House of Representatives which it did, I cannot help but ask, just where do such people think such violence is the will of God? When I hear of so called Christian folks like the Attorney General of Virginia and several other right wing States preparing to sue over health care reform passing, I have to ask the question just where are the minds of such people? Politics in the name of God has become more important that the 45,000 people who will die because they do not have health care. Keeping health care away from those people because of a political agenda is more important that serving the poor, the sick and the helpless so to give them a chance to live, heal and find wholeness in their lives.

Our own State of Minnesota has been battling this same problem. Last year Gov. Tim Pawlenty of the State of Minnesota cut the budget that provided health care for people who are unemployed or the poorest of the poor. This year, our State Legislature passed another bill that would have reinstated General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) in Minnesota, and while Pawlenty was at the CPAC in February, he vetoed the bill in his hotel room in Washington, DC. When does giving the poorest children and families medical care become more important than a political parties agenda?

Though I am happy to hear that the Health Care Reform passed in the House, I am extremely concerned that the LGBT Provisions that would have provided Tax Equtiy for Health Plan Beneficiaries and the Early Treatment for HIV Act were not included in the reconciliation bill. In addition the unbelievable assault on women's rights in this bill was just unacceptable. When people who are still considered second class citizens by most are used as bargaining pieces to passing legislation, there can be nothing acceptable about the outcomes. It is a way for the ends to justify the means.

Jesus Christ calls on the Church to be a place where everyone is welcome and can find salvation in God's unconditional love. Jesus is concerned about everyone's health care and ability to care for themselves and the poor and neglected in our communities. Violence is never the will of God. God can make use of the consequences of violence, but it is never the will of God.

As we continue our journey of Lent into Holy Week let us all pray with sincerity for our nation and the Church. Let us ask Almighty God to reform our hearts to be concerned about those who are left on the margins of society, even if that means us. Let us ask the Holy Spirit to move on hearts that have grown cold, violent and loveless. May our nation and the Church become that place where we do offer a glass of water in the name of the God of love, and do so with hearts open to welcome everyone who comes seeking God.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners: Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are to be found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).

Fifth Sunday of Lent: Between Where We've Been and Where We are Going

All of us have been on long journeys at one time or another. When we get to the point where we are between where we have been and where we are going, we tend to prepare ourselves for who we are going to meet and/or what we are expecting when we arrive. Lent is a time of preparation for Easter. Not just the Easter that occurs on the calendar, but our own Good Friday and Easter Sunday by reflecting on the actions of Jesus. Next weekend is Passion/Palm Sunday, followed by Holy Week, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. Before we get there, we are invited into a story of Jesus being prepared for his passion, death and resurrection.

In the first reading the Prophet Isaiah delivers a message of hope when through the Prophet God says:

"Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." (Isaiah 43:18-19).

God invites us all to see the new things God is doing in our midst. This is a wonderful message for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. During this Season of Lent we have seen marriage equality begin in Washington, D.C. We have heard the voices of those who are excited, over joyed with the excitement of legally marrying the person they love. Yet, we have also heard those opposed who are rejecting this "new thing" that they are having a problem with. LGBT people are in the midst of great and wonderful experiences. Those new things do not happen without people struggling with letting go of how things used to be. Heterosexism has had a hold on our culture for a long time. It is appalling for people who believe that being heterosexual is normal, and being anything but is not. Such people seeing LGBT people being legally allowed to marry is just something they cannot see differently than they have always understood. People do not want to see God doing new things in their midst, especially if it means them having to move over for a different understanding of how things are.

We are also seeing this happen in our national debate about health care reform. The conflict over the need for health care reform has moved so much away from those who really do need the reform. The sick people who need medical care most include those who are unemployed, those with pre-existing conditions who are unable to get health care. Their health care has become among the bargaining chips that the President and Congress are battling with the health insurance companies that want to hang on to their profits. It is not surprising to discover that LGBT people and people living with HIV/AIDS were also among the bargaining pieces in health care reform. This is why the tax equity for health plan beneficiaries that included LGBT and Domestic partners along with the Early Treatment for HIV Act were among the items chopped off during the reconciliation of the House Health Bill. Those who need health care reform the most, are those first to loose. The health insurance companies do not want to do the new thing, which is to provide health care to all people who need their services if it causes the executives to loose out on their million dollar profits. Yet, the health care legislation that is going to be voted on today, will bring some kind of relief and gives some hope that later there will be amendments to improve what needs fixing can be done later. What the outcome of this will be has yet to be seen. To keep these health care reform from becoming law, Teabaggers have resorted to threatening violence if health care reform should pass. What kind of message is this on accepting God doing things new in our midst?

This past week we heard the wonderful news that Bishop-Elect Mary Glasspool will be consecrated and ordained as Suffragan Bishop for the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles was announced. While we are all rejoicing that discrimination against people being Church leaders is no longer based on a persons sexual orientation, the Archbishop of Canterbury remains disappointed that the Episcopal Church does not wish to regard the Anglican Communions request for "gracious restraint" when ordaining lesbian or gay bishops. Is the Anglican Communion listening to God calling them towards new things, or are they stuck on old prejudices that benefit heterosexuals at the expense of those who are not?

In our Gospel story found in John 12:1-11 we read the story of Jesus enjoying the company of Lazarus, Martha and Mary. While he was reclining and enjoying dinner with his closest friends, Mary anoints Jesus' feet and wiped them with her hair. This story is very important as it is the only version of this story that tells of Jesus eating in the company of all three people, where as Matthew 26:1-11 and Mark 14:1-11 writes that Jesus was in the company of Mary and Martha only. In the other Gospel accounts Martha is seen as serving, while Mary is at the feet of Christ listening. St. John's Gospel tells of Mary anointing Jesus' feet in preparation for Jesus to enter into his passion. The very scent of perfume that fills the room is the same that would fill the tomb of someone who had been anointed after death. Mary was anointing Jesus to face his passion, death and resurrection.

Out in Scripture gives a detailed analysis at what this story means for LGBT people.

This fifth Sunday in Lent leads us more directly into the anticipation of Jesus' passion. John's unique narration of the anointing of Jesus features the trio of Lazarus, Martha and Mary (John 12:1-8). Very recently in John's story, Jesus raised Lazarus from death. Lazarus' liberation created such a stir that the religious authorities begin plotting for Jesus' murder. The Lazarus story also introduced Martha and Mary, whom we recognize from Luke 10:38-41. In both Gospels, Martha "serves." The Greek has it that she performs diakonia, or ministry. And in both Gospels, Mary adores Jesus' feet. Yet in John, Mary receives criticism not for adoring Jesus, but for doing it so lavishly.

Some have found in this Bethany family — of Lazarus, Mary and Martha — a way of understanding family that embraces the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. Here is a family constructed not by the bonds of marriage or models of convention, but by alternative ties of love. Whether or not Lazarus was, as some suggest, the disciple whom Jesus loved (a suggestion strengthened by the fact that the authorities want to kill Lazarus as well), it is clear that Jesus found in this chosen family a safe haven.

Among this alternative family, Jesus sought and found camaraderie, love, support and a fitting final preparation for the events of his death. That John attributes the outrage of those who would kill Jesus to his raising of beloved Lazarus from the grave has particular resonance with LGBT people whose relationships have been the source of suffering at the hands of those outraged by them. It is also worth noting that Mary understands that Jesus' physical body must be honored and anointed in preparation for his death. It is no accident that her lavish gift is sensual and embodied, nor that it is her story that Jesus says (in Matthew's parallel account in 26:13) will be remembered wherever the good news is told in the entire world.

The entire account in John must be grounded in an appreciation for the gravity of the events ahead of them and behind them: their experience (past and future) was grounded in the sacred convergence of life and death. Indeed, when Mary anoints Jesus we encounter the heart of the Lenten journey — a journey of faith and hope in the midst of death.

Judas' criticism, that Mary should consider charity above worship (John 12:5), poses a false dichotomy. In this moment, we ponder the value of the life we receive in Jesus. Many churches commit a grave theological error by separating Jesus' death from his life. The story of Lazarus, Mary and Martha reminds us that Jesus' dying resulted from his life-empowering living and his boundary-crossing loving. Jesus died not as an innocent victim but as a faithful witness to the ways of God, the author of life.

As we prepare for Holy Week to begin, we should take some time to meditate on how much we honor our own bodies, as well as the bodies of those we love. One matter that is very close to my heart is to keep in mind that the people we love are children of God and their bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. When we engage in careless and promiscuous sexual activity that only uses someone's body for our own pleasure with no regard for the person, we dishonor God and the individual. Respectful, sexual pleasure that truly seeks to love another person with a sense of tenderness and appreciation for the other individual while they return that love to us is wonderful, holy and life giving. Sexual activity like many other things can be life giving or it can be destructive. As LGBT people become more integrated into society and the Church it is very important for us to seek to love people and be loved by other people with a sense of honesty, integrity and respect. Our pride in being LGBT must be reflected in our relationships with God, others and ourselves. This is a challenge in our community in which our relationships are constantly demonized by the religious right. We must be very careful not to demonize our relationships with unhealthy practices that gives any level of validity to their arguments. We must also seek the grace of God in Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit, along with good therapy and personal mental health to assist us in those places where our relationships may be unhealthy.

I want to be very careful before I close the subject I have just written about to avoid anyone misunderstanding me that any relationship that has unhealthy issues in it is somehow beyond help. Some of the greatest relationships in history both gay or straight are those where the people in them know they have issues to be addressed, but they never give up trying. I also do not want any of my readers to get the message that if someone's relationship does not appear to be what everyone's definition of a relationship is, that their relationship is wrong. No, that is not what I wish to say. What I am saying is that relationships that are filled with a sense of mutual trust, respect and love that understands that people are people and not just mere sex objects, even if it means that once the relationship was that way and now it is so much more than that is a wonderful, holy marriage. No relationship is totally perfect, nor should a relationship fit into a status quo. But, mutual trust, respect and love are common understandings as they seek the common good of the people in the relationship. That is the bottom line.

Let us continue to follow Jesus as he leads us to Jerusalem where he will offer his life for the salvation of the world. May all of us gather at the Cross to experience God's saving graces for everyone. May we know God's redemptive love and experience the joy of God's peace and mercy as we finish out this season of Lent.

Almighty God, you alone can bring into order the unruly wills and affections of sinners. Grant your people grace to love what you command and desire what you promise; that, among the swift and varied changes of the world, our hearts may surely there be fixed where true joys are found; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Book of Common Prayer (BCP), Page 219).

Fourth Friday of Lent: The Cross: The Price of Love, the Cost of Discipleship

Matthew 16: 24-26 (NRSV)

Then Jesus told his disciples, "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 who lose their life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?"

Yesterday a whole bunch of people forfeited their freedoms by sitting in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office to ask for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) to be voted on the House floor. In addition, LT. Dan Choi chained himself to the White House fence protesting Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) and was arrested. Every day there are countless men and women who are LGBT who risk their jobs, homes, families and safety because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression.

The Episcopal Church in the United States has chosen to shoulder the cross of acceptance by completing the consent process for Bishop-Elect Mary Glasspool for the Diocese of Los Angeles. In choosing to stand up for full inclusion of LGBT people to receive all of the Sacraments in the Church, the Episcopal Church risks causing commotion within the Anglican Communion. What "gracious restraint" the Episcopal Church demonstrates when they restrain themselves from conforming to discrimination and bias to determine when LGBT people are fit for ministry within the Church.

To deny oneself and take up our crosses, we effectively deny ourselves the pleasure that can come from apathy and inaction. When we refuse to confront discrimination and just accept bias, we can become all too comfortable and allow others to remain in the comfort zones of their biases. However, when we decide to deny ourselves those comforts we shake people up. When we no longer allow ourselves to be silent while LGBT discrimination remains present in our society we risk the loss of more than just our jobs, we risk loving other people and/or allowing other people to love us as we are. Sometimes it is easier to let people love us as the people they and we think we are, rather than love who we really are.

The Cross is the price of love and the cost of discipleship. On the Cross the Son of God gave his life out of love for all. Every Disciple of Jesus Christ must make the choice of accepting or rejecting our crosses. The Cross calls us to love in ways that are not necessarily comfortable. The Cross that every Disciple of Jesus will have to consider carrying will mean that we will not be popular in the world. The Cross does not guarantee us riches, wealth or even that we will be well known by the press or even within our own communities. The Cross will mean that we will know love as it truly is, it is the cost of being a follower. The Cross means that we accept who we are and how we love other people, and the Cross will mean that will ultimately have to allow others to love us as we are. There are costs to pay for such bold discipleship.

The reward for such costs are endless. The achievement for having allowed ourselves to live as we truly are, will bring unlimited happiness. We will find true friends and we will engage in real conflicts for the right purpose. What is that purpose? Love. The love of God, neighbor and self. And the knowledge that we accepted what God gave us and chose to shoulder it, rejecting everything that is false. Including, but not limited to anti-gay rhetoric by the religious right.

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

Sharing the Gift of Self Responsibly

Mark 8:1-10 (NRSV)

In those days when there was again a great crowd without anything to eat, he called his disciples and said to them, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way and some of them have come from a great distance." His disciples replied, "How can one feed these people with bread here in the desert?" He asked them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven." Then he ordered the crowd to sit down on the ground; and he took the seven loaves, and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they distributed them to the crowd. They had also a few small fish; and after blessing them, he ordered that these too should be distributed. They ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Now there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

This story which can point us towards the Holy Eucharist, also carries with it an important message about how we share the gift of ourselves. We live in a time where we have all been given so much. Despite the horrible economy of the times we live in they are times in which we can still reach out to someone, or be reached out to by someone in one fashion or another. A simple hello with a friendly desire to serve someone is more than enough to help us all get through these difficult days.

As Jesus was going along his way, he knew that it would not be appropriate to send these people along a journey that would only end with them being sick. Knowing that it would be better to feed them here and now, he takes seven loaves and with the goodness of God feeds the hungry people and their souls. God sees beyond their temporal needs, but realizes that if God is going to reach their souls, God has to meet their physical hunger too. Jesus gives of himself in a responsible way. Jesus chooses to see the moment as an opportunity to minister God's presence to God's people in the best way. In so doing, Jesus shares with the hungry people God's very gift of God's Self completely and responsibly.

There is a beautiful Communion hymn that we sing in the Episcopal Church. It is found at number 318 in the Hymnal 1982.

Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face; here would I touch and handle things unseen; here grasp with firmer hand eternal grace, and all my weariness upon thee lean.

Here would I feed upon the Bread of God: here drink with thee the royal Wine of heaven; here would I lay aside each earthly load, here taste the calm of sin forgiven.

I have no help but thine; nor do I need another arm save thine to lean upon; it is enough, my Lord, enough indeed; my strength is in thy might, thy might alone.

Mine is the sin, but thine the righteousness; mine is the guilt, but thine the cleansing Blood. Here is my robe, my refuge and my peace; thy Blood, thy righteousness, O Lord my God.

God shares God's Self in the Eucharist. God is present through the Body and Blood of Christ, when we receive God's gracious gift which God gives so freely and responsibly. God owns what God gives and through God's generous gift of Self, God simply offers us a way back to the bosom of God's extravagant love. It is a place where all prejudices are crushed and all sin is forgiven. However, we do not leave that presence of God back at the altar. No, we are told to carry that presence into the world and to be the Body of Christ and the Cup of Salvation for all the world. We are to confront the evils of our time, through God's compassionate mercy and justice.

In so doing, we challenge many of the attitudes and ideals that have taken hold in our society today. Attitudes such as heterosexism that says that if you are heterosexual you benefit at the expense of homosexuals, bisexuals and transgendered persons. Other attitudes such as race that suggests that only those who are white should benefit at the expense of those who are not. Sexism suggests that women are still less than what men are, and therefore should still be thought of as property that men are free to abuse, neglect and control. Heterosexism is why Don't Ask, Don't Tell is such a terrible law. Heterosexism is what leads to the idea that LGBT people should not seek or be granted the right to marry the person they love. Sexism is why the Stupak amendment in the health care reform bill is so disrespectful to women. Racism is why it is wrong to stereo type people who are not white as "welfare crooks".

The Eucharist is also a call to share the gifts of ourselves in responsible ways. It means seeing things as they are, rather than how we would like them to exist. There was an interesting article in the Episcopal Lead about the child sex scandals in the Roman Catholic church and the many attitudes that have come about as people have left the Episcopal Church over the ordination of Bishop Gene Robinson.

However the scandal turns out, it calls attention to a bizarre dynamic that we Episcopalians have been well-positioned to observe. Since the consecration of Gene Robinson in 2003, we've seen a steady stream of conservatives leave our church because it ordains gays and lesbians to join a church that is still covering up sex crimes against children. They have done so because they think the Catholic Church's teachings on sexuality are morally superior to ours.

One can argue, in defense of those who have departed, that Catholic teaching is indeed superior to that of the Episcopal Church, but that the teaching has been disregarded by sinful individuals. But this ignores the systematic nature of the cover-up which the Church has carried out, and it forces defenders to argue that Catholic teaching on issues of sexuality and authority within the Church are in no way responsible for this widespread scandal. That hardly seems plausible.

It would be a really good idea for all of us to give some thought as to how responsible we all are in terms of sharing our gift of self in responsible ways. As we draw closer to Easter where we see Jesus give of himself totally and completely, yet very responsibly, we would do well to ask ourselves about our own giving. Where do we see places where we could give ourselves more responsibly? How do we see ourselves giving of ourselves more responsibly as we share our gifts of self with others.

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).

Faith and Listening: Two Very Important Spiritual Exercises

Mark 7:24-37 (NRSV)

From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may gothe demon has left your daughter." So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

This Gospel account of the encounter between the Canaanite Woman and Jesus, concludes with Jesus healing a person who cannot hear. As the story unfolds we get the impression that Jesus is not quite the compassionate Savior that we think he should be. Just about every encounter between Jesus and others who are sick, dying, even demon possessed is met by Jesus with the greatest compassion. So what's so different about this one? An even better question is what are we to understand from this Gospel story?

Jesus like everyone was raised in a culture filled with it's own traditions, issues and it's people struggling to accept each other. The woman who comes to Jesus is an outcast of the community. She is someone that almost no one wants to associate with. The culture in which Jesus was raised in, looks upon this woman as someone who is "outside" of everyone's social group. However, if we say that Jesus was affected by a racist attitude, it suggests that even the Son of God in his human weakness was not above the attitudes of the day. My problem with this is it seems to undermine the Divinity of Christ, and suggest that the humanity of Christ is somehow superior to the Divine. If that is true, the philosophy of the Divinity of Christ has a big problem. As Christians, we understand that the Divine nature and the human nature are both complete and total. They are opposites, but both equally true. How can the God of all creation who comes to us with a human face in the Person of Jesus, have an attitude of cultural bias? I heard one opinion about all of this that has it's merit. It is not our cultural biases that are wrong, what we do with them is.

Last year during Labor Day Weekend, my partner and I enjoyed a wonderful time at Duluth/Superior Pride. During the Pride Festival held in Duluth's beautiful Riverfront Festival Park we could not help notice two fundamentalists on either side of the Park with big huge signs. Based on where they were and how they were behaving, it was obvious that they were there protesting the celebration of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals, families and couples. They were there to see to it that they could "change" as many hearts and minds as they could. However, what was truly sad was the reaction their arrogance received. At one gate, a group of atheists had taken their place next to the fundamentalist with the big huge sign with Bible verses, and one really big statement: "You are not a good person". The atheists gained all the support and positive attention, while the fundamentalist was ignored and/or walked right by with many unkind things returned to them. Is this really the kind of Jesus that we are told to believe in? Is the Jesus that the fundamentalists encouraging us to believe in, really that narrow? Later on during the Pride parade, the same fundamentalists were walking up one way and down the other of the sidewalk trying to persuade people to see Jesus in the same judgmental way. Unless people saw Jesus in their way, they just were not the Christians they should be. It was quite the different tune when they walked past the announcer who began singing very loudly: "Jesus, save us from your followers." Are the followers of Jesus people that others flock to? Or do they run because of the confusing messages Christians send through their words and behaviors?

As we see through the Gospel story, because of the woman's persistent faith in Jesus the Son of God, Jesus recognizes her faith and grants her request. What happened here? It is very simple, God changed His mind. Why is it so difficult for us to accept the idea of God changing His mind? Because if the God who made the universe, and came to us in the Person of Christ to save the world can change His mind, that means humans have no excuse for not being willing to change their hearts and minds about others that they find difficult to accept. If in Jesus, God showed us how to change his heart and mind toward another person, then it is very possible for Jesus to help us change ours too is it not?

I think it is very appropriate that this Gospel story ends with Jesus opening the ears of a deaf person. If we are going to accept people who are different than us, then we must open our ears and listening to what they have to say. We need to be open to their experiences and ask ourselves if we are truly interested in their common good, or are we just hanging on to our own prejudices?

In this Gospel story, God shows us in Christ how to change our attitudes and it begins with listening to others. It means being open to who and how other people are, and that is not an easy thing for any of us. It means being open to the possibility that our understandings of things is very mistaken. For example the age old usage of Sodom and Gomorrah as being destroyed for homosexuality, when a careful study will reveal it was destroyed for a lack of hospitality. It means seeing God and others as being so much bigger than how we see them now. Are we willing to pay attention?

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).

LGBT People: God's Prodigal Children Yet to Be Warmly Recieved

The famous story of the Prodigal Child is the Gospel story for this weekends Liturgy. It can be found in Luke 15: 1-32. This is one story that many people are familiar with. There is a wonderful rendition of this story told on Franco Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth.

I want to spend this time talking about the implications of the Prodigal Child for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people. Particularly, though not limited to the subject of LGBT and questioning youth. This issue is especially close to my heart after this past Wednesday's AIDS Action Day at the Minnesota Capitol, where there were two young gay men who are coupled and infected with HIV. One of them is 18, he contracted HIV at the tender age of 16. The other who is now 22, he was infected at the age of 18. Aside from the issue of LGBT youth affected by HIV, this past week has been a horrific week for discrimination against children who have LGBT parents, as well as children and youth. Three cases in point would begin with the Catholic Archdiocese of Denver refusing to admit a preschool age child of a lesbian couple from a Catholic school. This decision was defended by a Priest of the Archdiocese of Denver this past week on Fox Noise. The second is the story of a Mississippi High School Student who wanted to bring her girl friend to her prom. Because she petitioned her school administration to bring her girl friend and dress up in a tuxedo, and appealed to the ACLU the high school canceled the prom. The schools chosen action placed the student in a terrible situation with her peers. As a result the ACLU has filed a law suit on behalf of Constance McMillan . Thirdly, a teacher in in the Bronx has been charged with threatening to out a 9-year old. It is quite clear from cases such as these that LGBT and Questioning youth are still not accepted by their parents, peers, school systems and by much of society. The negative messages brought on by the religious right continue to have their devastating affects on all LGBT people, but in particular the youth of our community.

These and other stories like should cause us to ask the questions just how are LGBT people, youth and adults a like among God's prodigal children? How should we challenge society and the Church of our time to see LGBT people? Where do LGBT people find themselves in the story of the prodigal child?

Let us put one important card on the table. All people are sinners. All of us have failed God, ourselves and our neighbors in one fashion or another. It is only by the grace of God that gives us the opportunity to do good works that we are able to come closer to God by loving God and our neighbor. By the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ who is God's perfect revelation are we able to draw closer to God and find our salvation in God's generous love. This morning at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral, Dean Spenser Simrill spoke of God's extravagant love, and it is an excellent way to describe God's unconditional and all-inclusive love. There is one very important point about the story of the Prodigal Child that The Very Rev. Kate Moorehead makes in her book: "Get Over Yourself; God's Here"

"In what we call The Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus invites us to consider a different picture of God. A parishioner of mine once pointed out that we should call it, The Parable of the Running Father. Here a young man leaves his father, squanders his inheritance, and returns to beg for the wages of a servant. But, as he is approaching his home, his father runs out to meet him. He runs, he embraces, he celebrates. There is no consideration given to what the young man has done or not done. All the Father does is celebrate. He pulls out all the stops for his boy who "was dead and is alive again, who was lost and is found" (Luke 15:24).

"Of course, there are more aspects of God than we will ever be able to comprehend. Judgment is one aspect, but that is not the one Jesus chooses to express in this parable. No, here we see a Father who runs out to meet his child. This Father runs! He does not leave all the effort to the young man struggling to return. Instead, he meets his son with arms outstretched" (Page 39).

The story of the Prodigal Child invites us to see God as the compassionate parent who wants us to draw closer to God to help us rebuild our relationship with God, others and ourselves. God is not as interested in what we have done. God is very interested in who we are, children of God who know that without God we cannot save ourselves, nor can we find meaning in our lives. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, once again youth and adult alike are God's children looking for a home within "God's extravagant love". God has invited LGBT individuals just as much as God has invited anyone else. Yet the attitudes of many within the religious right, along with many who remain uninformed about LGBT people suggests that there is no room in God's house for LGBT people unless we are willing to engage in a program that will change who we are. This is why so many of the youth who are homeless and or attempt to commit suicide are LGBT individuals.

Now, let me add one more level on top of this. Today, Dean Simrill talked a great deal about the problem of child sex trafficking. And I agree that there is much to be done about this horrific problem. However, I would add one more point to much of what he said. Is it possible that the negative messages about LGBT people that is so often displayed to youth who are questioning their sexual orientation, contributes to the enormous number of LGBT and questioning youth who are trafficking themselves as prostitutes, therefore putting them at greater risk for HIV and other STD's? When the religious right spends all of their time on portraying homosexuality and LGBT people with so many negative stereotypes, when that message reaches youth who are questioning and they eventually get kicked out of their homes with no job or place to live, no personal marketing skills and/or ways of knowing how to make it in life, is this not really good breeding grounds for activity that is dangerous?

One organization that is excellent at portraying a very different understanding of LGBT individuals and families is Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG.) This is an organization where many parents and friends of lesbians and gays have struggled to accept their LGBT folks and are more than willing to assist LGBT people with gaining a healthy attitude about themselves. PFLAG is one organization that appears more like the accepting parent in the Parable of the Running Parent. It is an organization that feeds LGBT and others who love them with a sense of the Bread of Life that wants to nourish and heal the soul, rather than Focus on the Family that just causes harm upon harm for LGBT people and their families and friends. Unlike ex-gay ministries such as Exodus International and the Catholic church's ex-gay ministry called Courage that was started by Cardinal Cook in the early 1980's, which teaches that LGBT people have a "sexual disorder" that needs to be routed out, PFLAG helps LGBT people see themselves as people with dignity and respect. PFLAG also looks at the pain that LGBT people and their families experience to accept and love their LGBT friends and supports them with tools for all of the things they experience. As a result of their work, they have helped to unite many friends and families of LGBT people in many wonderful ways.

In closing, I'd like for us to meditate on the title for Jesus Christ being the Bread of Life. Jesus is the one who feeds all of us with God's compassionate goodness. In Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life and Cup of Salvation, God runs out to embrace all of us who are sinners with compassionate mercy and grace. God fills us with the fullness of God's Self and renews us in Christ when we receive Christ in the Eucharist. This is a reason why I have changed from being Roman Catholic to becoming Episcopalian. My experience with the Roman Catholic tradition is one in which they want only those who fit their criteria to be welcomed to receive the Presence of Christ in the Eucharist. In other words, the church makes the judgment call concerning how "fit" a person is to receive the Presence of God. That is not the place of any church to decide that, quite frankly. In the Episcopal Church our understanding is, that where ever you are on your faith journey, you are welcome. Everyone is welcome to the Table of Christ to receive God's Presence. In the Eucharist it is Christ who reaches out and embraces all of God's Prodigal Children. No church official has any business deciding for someone else who should and who should not be welcomed to experience God's embrace at Christ's Table.

As we continue on our Lenten Journey with Easter only three weeks away, let us reflect on our relationship with God. Let us reflect on who we are in the story of the Prodigal Child. Let us also run to God who runs towards us. May all of us embrace God, embrace one another and embrace those who are just starving to know God's extravagant love for all.

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 219).

The Cross and HIV/AIDS

This past Wednesday, I participated in AIDS Action Day Minnesota's State Capitol. It was a day where those of us concerned about the issue of HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and education programs gathered to lobby our State law makers. We stressed the importance of keeping the current Minnesota Budget for HIV/AIDS awareness, education and prevention in place. Our Governor is looking to cut a lot of money most of it away from the unemployed and poorest of those who live in Minnesota.

The State of Minnesota saw a 13% increase in the number of new HIV infections in 2009. This information along with all of the statistical numbers can be found at the Minnesota Department of Health's web site.

During my time there I was very moved by the stories of Deonta and Dean. They told their stories of how Deonta an 18 year old guy contracted HIV when he was 16 and Dean who is 22 contracted HIV when he was 18. Through the work of the Youth AIDS Project in Minneapolis, Minnesota Deonta and Dean a youthful couple now live in their own place and are leading fulfilling lives. You can read more about their story in the colu.mn.

Since attending AIDS Action day and hearing Deonta and Dean's story I have been thinking quite a lot about the Cross and the issue of HIV/AIDS. For many in our society HIV/AIDS is the all shameful disease. If you contracted it, it is because you were misbehaving in the first place. Though we have learned over the past 20 years that HIV/AIDS is not just a gay or bisexual man's disease, many still look at HIV/AIDS as a result of homosexual behavior, and that is why sexual activity and same sex relationships should be condemned and LGBT Rights should be avoided. Yet, in these two young men, I see two people who have been affected at such an early age taking on their cross without shame. Deonta and Dean are embracing the reality of where they are and instead of allowing HIV/AIDS to hold them down from pursuing life in all it's goodness, they are reaching out to tell others their story and witnessing to God's power when people surrender to God's will and live as they are with trust that God will see them through. Okay, neither one talked about religion. It is very possible that they are among many LGBT people who have thrown off all organized religions. Nevertheless, God still works in and through people, places and events and invites us all to a conversion of heart and life.

The Cross is that incredible something so full of shame, disgrace and guilt. At the Cross the Son of God who loved everyone he came into contact with, was crucified. As Jesus hung dying on the Cross he asked God to forgive those who had placed him there. (See Luke 23:34). Jesus forgave a repentant thief and cried out for God when Jesus thought he had been forsaken. When Jesus cried out: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27: 46), Jesus was not giving up on God, but rather was still holding on to his faith that God would eventually rescue him, which God did when Jesus was raised from the dead.

The Cross invites us all to remember that without God we cannot survive those moments when we feel that we are at the end of ourselves. When we see Jesus on the Cross we see evil at it's peak, yet even there it's hold is only temporary for those who trust in God. Our crosses do not go away, just as Christ's Cross was a reality that would not stop. However, we can face our most difficult times with total faith and trust that God will not abandon us, even when we feel we are abandoned and cry out to God wanting to know where God is. God may not reveal God's Self in the way we think God should, but when God does reveal where God is or what God is doing we can usually see that God was actually acting all along. What is more important is that we understand that God is active and concerned about every aspect of what we are facing in our lives.

As I listened to Deonta and Dean's story, I saw how they were carrying a tremendous cross together. But they were determined to not give up. In fact, they proved that when we all hang in there, even when circumstances seem hopeless, God does incredible things in our lives.

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Third Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 218).

All Who Love God are Known

1 Corinthians 8:1b to 3, 5, 6 (NRSV)

Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by him.

Indeed, even though there may be socalled gods in heaven or on earth in fact there are many gods and many lords , yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.

As I have been reflecting today on all the news surrounding the lesbian and gay couples who have just been married in Washington, DC and all the controversy over marriage equality, I was struck by the words from 1 Corinthians 8: 1b. "Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up." People who seem to think that they know that real marriage is only between one man and one woman are all puffed up, yet seeing all of the wonderful loving same sex couples exchanging vows and celebrating the love that has been building up in them for so long, to finally reach the day on which they are able to commit to each other openly and have it recognized by Washington, DC. What a wonderful tribute to their devotion to each other, and all of them have seen the rewards of their hard work.

Then I think about the following words: "Anyone who claims to know something does not yet have the necessary knowledge; but anyone who loves God is known by God." This is an affirmation that we all really know nothing if we do not know God's love. For if we love God, we are known by God. Love is the evidence of something beyond ourselves. Love is the great gift that God has given all of us, yet it is something that none of us can hold completely for ourselves. LGBT individuals like all people are not given that special gift of being able to love people of the same sex and/or wanting to experience the change of their gender without the love of God being the driving force behind it all. If God's love were not involved in some way, shape or form, then eventually the LGBT community with all of it's drive toward equality would surely disappear. But we have so not disappeared. Our movement and our purpose are ever more being driven forward and we are achieving great things. This driving force of love is coming from some where, some one beyond ourselves.

As we continue this walk through Lent, we recall that the Cross is where unconditional love is the one unifying sign above all things that happened there. At the Cross, God reached out to all human kind, even the thief that was dying along with Christ was given dignity and grace. Women were among Christ's greatest companions in his moment of torture and death. The Centurion who's servant Jesus had healed stood by, and though he was unusual to others around him, he still believed that Jesus was the Son of God. While all others denied and wondered about the man named Jesus, the Centurion believed with unwavering faith. At the Cross, everyone who wanted salvation, love and grace found it and through Christ we experience not only death of our old selves, but are raised again, renewed in the power of the Holy Spirit.

May our love for God, help us to be truly known by God and all who seek salvation and hope.

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Third Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 218).

Can All of Us Get Closer to God?

Mark 5:21-43 (NRSV)

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." So he went with him.

And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?' " He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.

I'd like to say that today's Gospel story is one chalk mark up for women. Women in the time of Jesus were second class citizens. In marriage women were property and really nothing more. Because of the religious laws surrounding women, a woman caught in adultery was treated quite a bit more harshly than the man was. Yet, here we see Jesus drawing very close to women. Or better yet, women are given the opportunity to draw closer to Jesus.

As we read this Gospel story we see Jesus' compassion for Jairus' daughter and the woman who touched the hem of Jesus' garment, knowing that if she only reached out to just his clothing that would be enough to cure her. We see women having outstanding faith, while Jesus is concerned about the wavering faith of his own disciples in Mark 4: 35 to 41. Even after the woman who touched Jesus' garment was cured and he wanted to know who had touched him, Jesus' disciples question his interest. "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'" (Mark 5:31).

I find this story so interesting in light of the recent news that the Archdiocese of Denver has recently chosen to bar a child from a Catholic school because the child's parents are two lesbian women. In their decision to remove the child from their school they stated that:

"No person shall be admitted as a student in any Catholic school unless that person and his/her parent(s) subscribe to the school's philosophy and agree to abide by the educational policies and regulations of the school and Archdiocese. Homosexual couples living together as a couple are in disaccord with Catholic teaching... "Parents living in open discord with Catholic teaching in areas of faith and morals unfortunately choose by their actions to disqualify their children from enrollment."

-- statements made by the Archdiocese of Denver. Archdiocese spokeswoman Jeanette R. De Melo didn't return calls or e-mails inquiring whether students whose parents are divorced, non-Catholic or used fertility medication also are not allowed to attend the preschool.

In making their decision the Archdiocese has made the decision to choose who and what they accept and who and what they reject based upon outrageous bias.

The Gospel for today is an invitation to reflect on who is kept from reaching out to God? Are we such a standard driven Church that we are so presumptuous as to decide who we think should be welcomed into the presence of God and who should not? Jesus in today's reading makes it quite clear that God wants to reach out to every person who makes their way into God's presence. Who are God's followers to decide who is important to God and who is not? There is no person of faith that God does not wish to honor. Sometimes when it comes to people and their relationship with God, God's people including it's ministers, Priests and laity need to get themselves out of the way.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are just such an example of a community that wishes to reach out to God for healing, mercy and wholeness. Thank God there are many open and affirming churches that are willing to reach out to LGBT people to help. However, even there sometimes the people with the best intentions need to give LGBT people some room to find out where they belong and allow their relationship with God to take shape based on who God is to each person in each situation. Sometimes within congregations where LGBT people are welcomed and affirmed there are those well meaning people who think they should tell each LGBT person not to have a chip on their shoulder or not be so angry at things. However, most who say things like that, do so ever so innocently, yet, what they are doing in fact is getting in the way of God working with a particular person. LGBT people do not have chips on their shoulders of their own choosing. We have experienced a great deal of rejection from all the wrong people in all the wrong places. We have experienced being lied to before, and many of us are looking for places where we can heal from those experiences through our own conversations with God on our own time and in our own way. It is very important that people in welcoming and affirming churches allow their LGBT people to experience healing and wholeness through the means that are best for the individual. "The Church is not a museum for Saints, it is a hospital for sinners." (Bishop Donald Trautman of the Catholic Diocese of Erie, PA). LGBT people are sinners in need of healing, thanks in large part to the misuse of the holier than thou sinners of the religious right.

As for us LGBT people, let us not take the unfortunate situations we experience thanks to the religious right, as an excuse not to take time to get closer to the God of love who wants to heal and help us. God is the best person to help us with all the anger, hurt and shame we experience. God does not want for us to live with all of those wounds with no one to help us. God wants us to turn to God and know God's healing mercy. The Cross of Jesus Christ is not only where Jesus died for all of our sins, but where God identified with loneliness, rejection and total abandonment from everything we have known and loved. The Cross is where everything that should have gone one way, went completely in the opposite direction. One of those directions was that death was not the final word. The Resurrection of Jesus was the final response. If we embrace Jesus and his Cross, we can also rise with Christ renewed in the Holy Spirit. And in the Eucharist we can experience and share that Presence of Christ who is with us and helps us as Christ's Holy Body.

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Third Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 218).

Third Sunday of Lent: A Practical Look at Judgement Ideology

I remember shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana in 2004, a number of anti-gay organizations began writing that New Orleans experienced the horrific storm because of the Cities acceptance of homosexuality. Because New Orleans holds the yearly gay party Southern Decadence, God sent a massive hurricane that broke the levees and thousands of people were killed, with homes and businesses destroyed. I guarantee you that if a natural disaster hits Washington, DC all of the fundamentalists will say that the newly passed marriage equality law will be to blame. The tsunami that hit Hawaii happened because they almost passed civil unions.

Even though Jesus preached peace, love and reconciliation, many Christians are more apt to suggest the Old Testament idea that God strikes and destroys lands because God is angry and wants to wipe us out. In other words, many Christians still have the age old idea that God is the mighty parent that punishes God's people with the worst crisis because of our sins. This weekend in the Human Rights Campaign's Out in Scripture, the commentators talk a little bit about the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

"The experience of HIV/AIDS in the LGBT community provides a poignant contemporary example. In the early years, when the disease wreaked havoc on communities of gay men, religious fundamentalists claimed that AIDS was God’s gift to rid the world of the evil of homosexuality. The cloud of that judgment theology was oppressive and death-dealing to the self-esteem and spiritual well-being of many LGBT people. Yet we know that HIV/AIDS was and is no more God’s judgment against homosexuality for gay people than it is God’s judgment against heterosexuality for the straight people who are infected and affected by it. Yet the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS and its link with this judgment theology was so prevalent that it kept the United States government from even mentioning the word "AIDS" until well past the time that the disease should have been aggressively fought and compassionately treated."

Today's Gospel of Luke 13:1-9 is a conversation with Jesus about the idea that those who die in certain ways are enduring God's horrible judgment. Jesus cleverly reminds people that no one is really better than anyone else. Jesus replied:

"Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will perish just as they did." (Luke 13:2-5).

The commentators from Out in Scripture continue to give some good understanding to this Gospel.

In Luke 13:1-9, Jesus grapples with judgment theology. He hears a report that the tyrant Pontius Pilate has slaughtered a group of Galileans, mingling their own blood with their sacrifices (verses 1-2). We do not know the historical origin of this report. If it actually happened, the details are lost to us. In any case, Jesus further alludes to another occasion when 18 perished when a tower fell upon them (verse 4). To modern readers these tragedies seem random. Pilate, like all tyrants, had a penchant for killing. Many ancient buildings were weak due to human corruption or simply poor engineering. "Things happen," we tend to say. Yet advocates of judgment theology desire a theological reason for everything, especially anything unfortunate or tragic. They also insist on answering the question, "Whose fault is it when innocent people suffer and die?" Being able to blame particular human actions or failings tends to tidy up the messiness of life. It also keeps God (and often, the rest of us) far removed from human suffering.

Jesus turns the tragic accounts of the slaughtered Galileans and the fallen tower into an opportunity to undermine judgment theology. When misfortune strikes our neighbors, it’s natural to wonder why we escape while others do not. Survival’s guilt is a phenomenon with which we have grown distressingly familiar. It may not be flattering to know this about ourselves, but this impulse also tempts us to congratulate ourselves for our own well-being. Are we fortunate? Virtuous? Blessed? In Luke’s story Jesus turns away from such individualistic explanations. Those who have died were no worse than any others. Their fate, according to Jesus, may not have been their own fault, yet those who fail to repent — to turn toward life abundant — bring judgment upon themselves (verse 5).

The repentance that Jesus has in mind transcends personal moral weaknesses. Rather, Jesus, the bearer of peace, calls all people to repent — to turn away from a culture of violence, retribution and scapegoating. Jesus calls those in his company to discern the times. Pockets of resistance subverted the Roman occupation of Galilee and Judea. The path of violent resistance eventually led to a great disaster, the Jewish Revolt of 66-70 C.E. Such violence, even violence in the name of liberation, begets greater violence. Those who pursue violence, unless they repent, bring destruction upon themselves and upon others.

In the midst of this grave warning, Jesus also injects a word of hope. He weaves a story about a man who has planted a vineyard (verses 6-9). Finding no fruit on a fig tree for three years, he orders the gardener to cut it down. The gardener resists, suggesting that the landowner wait one more year for the fig tree to bear fruit. Thanks to God for God’s patience with us and with our judgment-oriented society!

In Luke, Jesus refuses judgment theology. Instead, Jesus calls people to turn from violence and exploitation.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people seek full inclusion in society and the Church. We come with a message of love, compassion and unbelievable fortitude. In spite of amazing bias that still exists within the Christian church, we still seek God's loving embrace as we struggle to see ourselves through God's eyes. We seek God's Holy Spirit that we may love others as Christ has loved us. We are blessed by God's grace that has empowered us to love in a new and different way. We are called to see past the judgment and exploitation of anti-LGBT rhetoric. Through God's generosity our gift of being LGBT allows us to love and be loved as people of Faith, and share with others the graciousness and goodness of God. Episcopal Bishop Chane's Statement giving permission for the Priests in the Diocese of Washington, DC to preside at Civil Marriage Ceremonies, deserves to be reprinted, even if I used it yesterday.

"Through the grace of Holy Baptism, there are no second class members of the Body of Christ, " Chane said. "We are of equal value in the eyes of God, and any one of us may be called by the Holy Spirit into holy relationships as well as Holy Orders."

Let us not look to the negative judgment and exploitation of the religious right to help determine our relationship with God. Instead let the knowledge of God's unconditional and all-inclusive love so that "the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7).

Almighty God, you know that we have no power within ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Third Sunday of Lent, BCP, 218).