Wednesday of Holy Week: The Betrayal of a Friend

Scriptural Basis

John 13:21-32 (NRSV)

At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me." The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved-- was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do." Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival"; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once."

Blog Reflection

If there is any place in the Gospels that most people can identify with Jesus, this is it.  The betrayal of a friend who sits at the dinner table.

I think most of us are unaware just how "sacred" the dinner table is.  The dinner table is where families come together to share their food, conversations, difficulties and celebrate together as a family.

Most movies that we watch have some amazing drama at a dinner table.  Such as the hilarious family conversation at the dinner table in While You Were Sleeping.  The exchange of gossip at the table where Sissy and Latrelle talk about everyone and anyone in Sordid Lives.  Some of the worst break ups occur at a dinner table in either someone's home or a restaurant. 

Nothing pierces the heart of a person more than experiencing the betrayal of a friend.  The betrayal experienced when a friend or a spouse totally destroys our trust in them, can feel worse than being cut.   The anger and bitterness that comes when we are betrayed by someone we loved or thought loved us is deep and takes a long time to heal.

In our Gospel today, Jesus experiences that betrayal first hand.  As Judas becomes the one who will betray Jesus, all we can do is look and understand.  Jesus has let us know that God walks with us even through the deep pain of being hurt by someone we have cared about.  Yet, Jesus does something that is very difficult for most of us to do.  Jesus loves Judas anyway. 

The betrayal that is portrayed in this Gospel is not unlike what many lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people experience when they come out to their families, friends, church communities, bosses and closest companions.  Many LGBTQ youth have been thrown out of their homes when they come out to their parents. The same parents who always told all their children: "We will love you no matter what."   They turn to their friends for support, only to find that their closest friends betray and abandon them because they become "guilty by association" in school and in the community, or even their own family.   And not to be left out, church communities.  Many pastors will tell distraught LGBT Youth that they can stay, but only if they submit themselves to an ex-gay group, or they keep really quiet about things so as "not to stir the pot." 

The betrayal that Jesus experiences is not unlike what many gay and bisexual men know when they have contracted HIV or any other sexually transmitted disease by someone who told them, that they loved them. 

Many transgender people are told by someone who is interested in dating her or him, that they are accepted as they are, until that someone learns they are transgender and hurts or kills them.

Bisexual individuals feel a sense of betrayal as they struggle with who should they love or form a relationship with, knowing that they want so much more from folks of both sexes. 

Imagine the betrayal that immigrants experience when they hear that America is such a welcoming place that is suppose to be equal for all, only to come here and be interrogated and thrown out of the country by unjust laws. 

The feelings of betrayal experienced by so many women by the man who says that he loves them, only to leave them when they get pregnant so as not to take equal responsibility for the welfare of the woman or the child, are so deep and painful.  And when the woman continues to be rejected by her parents that are oh so "pro-life" leaving her to fend for herself, and a political system that works against her health care, feelings of betrayal are almost guaranteed.

I think the greatest message that we can all read from today's Gospel is that God knows what betrayal is.   In Jesus' experiences God goes through the events of being betrayed right along side us.  God knows the embarrassment, the shame, the fear, the anxiety and the pain we feel when someone we've had deep feelings about lets us down. 

As we follow the events of Holy Week, we will see that these events as tragic as they are, are not the final and only word.  There is new life on Easter Sunday following the events of Good Friday.  God's grace is ever present with us and works with our situation to lead us to a place of peace, serenity and joy.

LGBT individuals, immigrants, women and all others marginalized by the Church and society can find the grace to keep on going and do what is best for themselves, by trusting in the very love and mercy of God.

Prayer

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Prayer for Wednesday of Holy Week, Book of Common Prayer, page 220).

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).

O God, of all, whose Son commanded us to love our enemies: Lead them and us from prejudice to truth; deliver them and us from hatred, cruelty, and revenge; and in your good time enable us all to stand reconciled before you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for our Enemies, Book of Common Prayer, page 816). 

Tuesday of Holy Week: The Passion Story Unfolds

Scriptural Basis

John 12:20-36 (NRSV)

Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

"Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say-- `Father, save me from this hour'? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name." Then a voice came from heaven, "I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again." The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, "An angel has spoken to him." Jesus answered, "This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die. The crowd answered him, "We have heard from the law that the Messiah remains forever. How can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?" Jesus said to them, "The light is with you for a little longer. Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you. If you walk in the darkness, you do not know where you are going. While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of light."

Blog Reflection

As the events of Holy Week get more serious in our Gospel readings, so too does the religious hypocrisy. 

I just opened my blog reader to read one story about Catholic League CEO Bill Donohue who has really been running his mouth over the past week about the issue of pedophilia, homosexuality and the victims and all that.   And now I read an LGBT news blog in JoeMyGod about Donohue who has asked why Lady Gaga doesn't pick on Muslims.

In a separate post on the same blog site is a story about a father who has been arrested for the double murder of his daughters girl friend and her mother in Texas.

During this most sacred of weeks it is a tragedy that we are being surrounded by religious based bigotry towards LGBT people and Muslims.  Religious based violence that begins because of philosophies and attitudes not unlike those that led to the crucifixion and death of Jesus.

In our Gospel reading today, Jesus knows that his time is very close.  I think he is somewhere between knowing he is about to give his life, and being absolutely terrified.    Yet, he knows that if Jesus is to draw human kind to himself, Jesus must be raised up on the cross.   Jesus accepts his vocation and gives us a glimpse of the good that is to come from his death.

Knowing the Jesus was lifted up to draw all humankind to God, makes the evil behind religious based bigotry that much more disdainful.  Religious based bigotry towards any person or group of people for any reason leaves a bad taste in the mouths of many.   The folks targeted by the bigotry.  The people witnessing the acts, but find it difficult to express their sadness and outrage.  And those who don't have an opinion one way or another, but do not understand what the blazes is going on, just have to leave it all and become empathetic.

As Jesus is talking about being lifted up to draw all to God's Self, I think it is wise to look at the ways in which we draw people to Christ or steer people away.

Is it any wonder with all the political and social maneuvering in the Christian Church, that very few are able to believe in what the Christian Faith is about? 

With all the Christians now working in our Congress against the poor and needy, the women, the LGBT, the students etc while giving huge tax breaks to the wealthiest people through their political corruption, how can Christians draw people to the Holy Week events?

One idea is to recognize that while we do not have it all together, no matter how many years we have attended worship services, read books including the Bible or sat in classes with the greatest of lecturers.   Among the ways Christians draw others to Jesus and the events of Holy Week is to admit we've been doing it wrong, and we want to make it right.  Not by doing things as we always have, but allowing those whom the Church has marginalized over the years to tell the Church how the Church can be an instrument of healing and peace.  

If churches including mainline churches are going to become good places for LGBT people and women and many others, they are going to have to begin by listening to our stories and experiences and let them become part of the story of the Church.  LGBT history is an important part of Church history as well as the history of most civilizations and countries. 

As we continue through Holy Week, may we listen to God the Holy Spirit speak to us through the Liturgies and events in new ways.  As St. Benedict writes in the Rule: "Listen with the ears of your heart."  

The United Church of Christ has a terrific slogan that all of us can put to good use during Holy Week.  "God is still speaking."  And "Don't put a period where God has placed a coma."

Prayers

O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life: Grant us so to glory in the cross of Christ, that we may gladly suffer shame and loss for the sake of your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for Tuesday in Holy Week, Book of Common Prayer, page 220),


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 you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Unity of the Church, Book of Common Prayer, page 818).

Monday of Holy Week: There is No Resurrection without the Cross

Scriptural Basis

John 12:1-11 (NRSV)

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, "Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?" (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, "Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." When the great crowd of the Jews learned that he was there, they came not only because of Jesus but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death as well, since it was on account of him that many of the Jews were deserting and were believing in Jesus.

Blog Reflection

To put the correct face on this Gospel I want to refer to Out in Scripture for the Fifth Sunday of Lent, Year C

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. 

I am glad I can refer to this commentary, because I find Gospels such as this one to be very difficult to translate on my own.

The commentary is as important to Holy Week as it was the Fifth Sunday of Lent in Year C.  

As we walk through this Holy Week with Jesus, the events are getting more tense.  The reality of Jesus' betrayal and death on the Cross this Good Friday are looming in our minds.  

I don't know about you, but one thing that I tend to do with movies that I have seen over and over again, especially a movie where the death of the main character is at the end, I tend to rewrite it to a better ending as I watch it.  

For example, the movie Milk.  Wouldn't it be great if we could all rewrite the movie that when Dan White goes to ask Harvey Milk to follow Dan into Dan's office to so Dan can assassinate Harvey.  It would be great if we could rewrite the movie for Harvey to tell Dan No so that may be Harvey might still be alive.  

But the reality is, the movie played itself out.  Harvey did follow Dan into Dan's office where Dan shot and killed Harvey Milk. 

Like wise the events leading up to Good Friday and Easter Sunday happened as they did.  

Jesus could have stopped what was going to happen to him, but Jesus chose not to.  Jesus wanted to follow the events so that he could give his life and shed his blood for the sins of the world.  Lead us all to the victory of new and unending life, through the tragedy of his death.

Yet it is through these events such as the one in John 12: 1-11 that we are being taught about the value of friendship, the ability to give of one-self, even when the end result will be death.

One of the hardest choices for LGBT individuals as we come out, is to make the choice to live as our authentic selves in the midst of the mockery and scorn of those who insult and denigrate us for our sexual orientation and/or gender identity.   Parents may push our buttons through their own ignorance.  Every time we meet our favorite mentor, she or he will tell us to turn to Jesus and change our "behavior."   There are those who will constantly recommend an ex-gay group to us especially when a relationship does not work out, or we inform them that we have lost a job because we were railroaded.  

The challenge for an LGBT person(s) is to stay true to ourselves and who we are.  Even in the face of circumstances that test our wills.

For LGBT people of faith, it can be a challenge.  Especially when church LGBT groups are full of drama so nothing that really matters gets done.  Yet on the other side are LGBT people bashing religion and LGBT people who exercise some kind of religion or spirituality.  

The point is, regardless of what we face the harder part is remaining true to who we are as we face the challenges that may end relationships or change the dynamics of relationships that we have always known.  The facts of life tell us that we will not find our way to our true selves and who our true friendships and people are, if we are not also willing to face the cross within our relationships.  There is no resurrection without the cross.

Prayer

Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Monday of Holy Week, Book of Common Prayer, page 220).

Fifth Sunday of Lent: A New Live Lived with Authenticity for Justice and Inclusion

Today on this Fifth Sunday of Lent, I have a great deal on my mind.  This past week has been terrible with the budget fights in Washington, DC, along with the Supreme Court electoral mess in Wisconsin.  The Republican controlled House of Representatives are determined to wipe out so called "entitlements" known as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

Not even on the forefront of the minds of those doing such things, are the millions of middle-class and low income Americans who are in need of the programs and services they want to eliminate.  All for the sake of giving away billions of dollars in tax breaks to wealthy corporations, and their CEO's.   All of the money in the United States can be found for tax subsidies for the oil and nuclear energy industries, while women's health care and programs that assist people in need, there just is not enough money for those any more.  I am going to say it, it is an ass backwards system.

How should Christians be responding to all of this in our time?  What does this weekend's Scripture readings have to say about the situation the Church and society finds ourselves in?   How might we become instruments of justice and equality where oppression and neglect are so visibly destroying the lives of so many people?

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NRSV)

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O Lord GOD, you know." Then he said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord."


So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.


Then he said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, `Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.' Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord GOD: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act," says the Lord.

Blog Reflection

Notice that the dry bones mentioned in Ezekiel are not one individual.  "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel."  A community once filled with concern for the stranger, interest in doing justice for those oppressed had become selfish and most likely greedy. 

As Out in Scripture says:

The well loved “dry bones” passage of Ezekiel 37: 1-14 dramatically illustrates the theme of the texts for this week: God’s desire that we enjoy not just life, but liveliness.

To live is to see beyond our own prejudices and deeply held "traditions" and see the names and faces of real people who need to hear and understand the message of the Gospel.  All persons are of high value to God.  God see's the "liveliness" in diverse groups of people, not just those who are Caucasian, white, male, wealthy, healthy, heterosexual and so on.   God calls upon us to "enjoy not just life, but liveliness" among all of God's people.


Injustice and oppression brings about death and destruction.  They dry up all of the running water and vegetation that gives life to communities of persons.   When people are excluded, people become proud to be alone and isolated from those who are different from themselves.  Out of exclusion comes greed and an unquenchable thirst for power and prestige. 


A great example of this is the ongoing problem in Uganda, where a petition of over a million people has been brought forward to pass the bill that would mean life in prison or even the death penalty for women and men who are openly LGBT.   This is the result of evangelists here in America, who have taken the message of hate into Uganda and filled the people there with the "false witness" of what LGBT is about.  Such moves are not about just being "correct" in their information.  It is about created dead societies of people who through the forcing of false information, seek to see a society gain a sense of "power" over people who are different than themselves.  It is a way of building a "society" that "fits" their ideals.

John 11:1-45 (NRSV)

Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, "Lord, he whom you love is ill." But when Jesus heard it, he said, "This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God's glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.


Then after this he said to the disciples, "Let us go to Judea again." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them." After saying this, he told them, "Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him." The disciples said to him, "Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right." Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. Then Jesus told them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him." Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go, that we may die with him."


When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world."


When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, "The Teacher is here and is calling for you." And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. He said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Lord, come and see." Jesus began to weep. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"


Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me." When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

 Out in Scripture offers more insights.

Ezekiel and John 11:1-45 offer a different view. Indeed the sign of God’s presence and power is precisely in the body coming back to life. Homophobic culture insists that lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people crucify their liveliness (live celibate lives) in order to be deemed righteous by the church. Yet, we must prophesy resurrection to all such persons. Just as Ezekiel summons Israel out of the grave of exile into its cultural life and liveliness, so LGBT people are invited by God out of denial and self-hatred, guilt and thwarted attempts at forced celibacy.  We are called into life (authenticity) and liveliness (passion).

In the gospel of John, life comes as we come out from the grave (closet?) and liveliness comes as we shed our grave clothes (unfetter the body).  It is interesting that at the end of Ezekiel 37:7-9 the disembodied bones end up with sinew, flesh, skin and ruah (spirit), but no clothes.  Similarly, Lazarus ends up in the same state with Jesus calling for the cloth to be taken off him (John 11:44). Nakedness is celebrated here as God calling forth new life.  Just as when we were born, are bodies are exposed without shame.  

In this message of life and liveliness, there is a sense of urgency. John unambiguously shows us Jesus’ error – he thought Lazarus would not die, thus he waited before going to attend to him. Yet Lazarus did die, and understandably Mary and Martha were disappointed that Lazarus’ special friend had not come when summoned. 

Do we also disappoint when we passively wait in the face of the death-dealing attitudes of condemnation, ostracism and scapegoating sometimes heaped upon LGBT people?  Who suffers when we have waited for an opportune time to speak? Or, when we wait for a better time to assert our rights to life and liveliness.  We invoke Psalm 130 to justify our waiting. Yet the waiting (qwh in the Hebrew) of the psalmist is instead an active preparatory waiting – as a runner in a relay begins running her leg of the race before the baton is passed. We must not wait for God to arrive, we must begin running before God hands us the baton.

Part of celebrating a life of equality and inclusion is living the fullness of who we are, with a sense of appreciate for God's beauty in having created us as LGBT.   

Heterosexism with it's insistence that all must be straight in order to be happy and healthy, shields not only LGBT people, but others from learning the truth about how wonderful and holy LGBT people are.  Homophobia which is the result of heterosexism, causes a fear and a reaction to that fear that is destructive for LGBT people as well as the Church an society.   

Because of how much these forces work against LGBT people, it is so difficult not to find within ourselves a sense of internalized homophobia, and live in shame of who we are.   Even though we may have come out many years ago, and are now living and working on our own.   Even if we find ourselves in happy and holy relationships.

Jesus calls LGBT people today, just as he called Lazarus to "come out" and live our lives as resurrected people. LGBT people are empowered by the Holy Spirit to live with a sense of authenticity.   We are not called out by Jesus in today's Gospel to live our lives ashamed of who we are. That is why LGBT and many others like us, need this Gospel today to remind us that God's wish for us, is to be alive and celebrating who God has made us.  

As God has called us out, so God also calls us to be instruments of equality, justice and inclusion for ourselves as LGBT people and many other's on the margins of socieyt and the Church.    

We are not called just to "lay down and die" when some Bishop or Priest says or does something that is utterly wrong.   Jesus calls us to "come out" and be the voice for those who remain oppressed because of politics, religion, spiritual and social stigmatization.   

So how can we take this Gospel and Ezekiel and affect change in our society? In what ways can we take the events of this past week and all of the evil that is around us in the Church as  well as all of society and be resurrected people, calling forth those communities that have become the dead"valley of dry bones?"

It is up to each of us to decide what we will do and how we will live the meaning of today's Scriptures. I think all of us knows where we are living as if we are dead. I also think that we also know that we do not have to remain dead in those places. Jesus calls us to "come out" and live as resurrected people.

Prayers

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 Fifth Sunday of Lent, Book of Common Prayer, page 219).

God of our weary years, God of our silent tears,
        We have tried to live as we were taught,
        denying our bodies, denying our liveliness.
        Yet we have known this is not your way.
    We have trembled before the gift of liveliness.
        We have tasted it and turned away
        to inauthentic repentance and superficial guilt.
        Yet you pursue us relentlessly with your embrace,
        with your acceptance, with your love.
    Forgive us for rejecting your acceptance.
        Forgive us for rejecting our body-selves.
        We now accept your gift, just as we are.
        In the name of Jesus, fully-embodied Christ, Amen. (Prayerfully Out in Scripture)

Perhaps It is Time to Cleanse the House

Scriptural Basis

Matthew 21:12-16

Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them, "It is written,

`My house shall be called a house of prayer';

but you are making it a den of robbers."

The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he cured them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the amazing things that he did, and heard the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David," they became angry and said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" Jesus said to them, "

Yes; have you never read,
`Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise for yourself'?"

Blog Reflection

I think everyone in the United States is just infuriated by the inability of our Congress and President as the probability of a Government shut down draws near.   


Over the past few months I have been called a "feminist with a beard" by many on the pro-choice side of American politics.  And indeed, I have done a major change from where I used to be.

As Jesus looked around him, he saw a sight that disturbed him.  Jesus saw the sight of the house of God being used for people's own financial purpose.   As he carried out his actions, he called for the Temple to be a house of prayer, not a den of thieves.


The battle in the Church and society wages on.  Who should be the more important?  The corporations or the people?   The US Military or those who cannot get a decent meal before going to bed?  Everyone having basic human rights?  Or only Caucasian, wealthy, healthy,  heterosexual men?

The problem with law makers and even many church denominational or local leaders, is that the decisions that they make do not directly affect them.   The people that their decisions do affect are not close enough to them to really affect their lives.  As a result the real losers are not the politicians or the church bureaucrats.   The real losers in these debates are the women, the LGBT, the poor, the oppressed and neglected.  Those are the people who have every thing to lose, while the decision makers have everything to gain.


Today, we commemorate William Augustus Muhlenberg and Anne Ayers.  Two people who made use of the gifts and the abilities they had to do good for the poor and sick of their time.  They started the Church of the Holy Communion in New York City.  Their companionship in ministry led to the founding of St. Luke's Hospital in the City of New York.  

The House of God, is not only a church building with gothic-style furnishings and appointments.  The Church is also not only those who preach, celebrate and administrate.  The United States of America is not the U.S. Congress or the President.   The Church, the House of God are those who worship whether they are in a church building on Sundays or not.  The United States of America is those who carry the wish for freedom and democracy within their hearts.  


My interpretation of today's Gospel is really not fair in many ways.   I regret that I do not know as much about the Jewish Faith as I would like to understand what a move like the one Jesus made in this Gospel, would mean to those who practice and know the history of the Jewish religion.   As we draw closer to Holy Week and Easter, I want to state that I do not condone any level of anti-semitism that would suggest that the Jews are responsible for the death of Jesus.  I also do not support the idea that Jewish people, or Muslims must convert to Christianity in order to find salvation.   

What I do wish to convey in this blog is not intended to be a statement about Jews or any other religious tradition outside of Christianity.  


Christians over the centuries have our history of assuming that the coming of Jesus means that all other religious and political persuasions that do not fit our ideals, must somehow be destroyed.  When in fact, the Christian faith and the arrival and ministry of Jesus was about no such thing.

Whether the story of Jesus driving out the money changers is completely accurate in it's details or not, I do believe that Jesus would want us to consider the change of heart that he is calling for.   It is not enough for us to be cozy in our houses of worship, with attitudes aimed at the destruction of individuals and ideals that are not quite like our own, and call ourselves holy people.   I think that is the message of what this Gospel story, true or made up is meant to tell us.


We are called to embrace other people and work for justice, equality and inclusion with the intent of being together in a home of prayer, by which we honor our God with all that is diverse about each of us.  

My voice for women in this debate is not only about the issue of abortion as I see it, but how our society and the Church values women.  It is not just, nor is it respectful to place upon a woman the requirement to give birth to a child that she cannot take care of.   It is also not appropriate to require a woman to carry to term a baby that she cannot take care of, because she has been denied health care, education for a better job, working conditions that do not pay her adequate wages so she can work and take care of a child,  and a legal system that places the bulk of the care responsibility on the mother.


Many so called "crisis pregnancy" centers, are not at all about helping the mother, as much as they have become about scaring a mother about having an abortion.  

Planned Parenthood does not only do abortions, they also provide cancer screenings, contraception counseling, HIV screenings, and many other health care options for women, who would not be able to get them any where else.   


If law makers are really going to shut down the government because funding for this agency which supplies so much care for women is being opposed by so called pro-"life" Christians, then this is one of the biggest acts of injustice of this whole year.  

I pray that Jesus will come and cleanse the Christian Church of the violence, hatred, malice and actions towards women, LGBT, the sick and poor, the immigrants and others in our time.  Such behaviors do not represent the person of Christ, nor the heart of what being a Christ follower is about.


Prayers

God of justice and truth, do not let your Church close its eyes to the plight of the poor and neglected, the homeless and destitute, the old and the sick, the lonely and those who have none to care for them.  Give us that vision and compassion with which you so richly endowed William Augustus Muhlenberg and Anne Ayers, that we may labor tirelessly to heal those who are broken in body or spirit, and to turn their sorrow in to joy; through Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.  (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 315)

Fourth Thursday of Lent: Think About Our Testimony Living and Spoken

Scriptural Basis

John 5:30-47

30 ‘I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge; and my judgement is just, because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
31
 ‘If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. ³²There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. ³³You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. ³⁴Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. ³⁵He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. ³⁶But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. ³⁷And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, ³⁸and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.
39
 ‘You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that testify on my behalf. ⁴⁰Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. ⁴¹I do not accept glory from human beings. ⁴²But I know that you do not have the love of God in^* you. ⁴³I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. ⁴⁴How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? ⁴⁵Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. ⁴⁶If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. ⁴⁷But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?’ 

Blog Reflection

Bishop Gene Robinson while speaking to a group of people in the Sage Chapel at Cornell University. Said that "mere tolerance of homosexuality is not enough." 

More of the article below.

Bishop Gene Robinson has a favorite bumper sticker: Guns don't kill people, religions do.

"That would be funny if it weren't true," he said. "I would argue that 95 percent of all the pain and prejudice we as LGBT people have experienced can be laid at the feet of religious people."

In his lecture, "How Religion is Killing Our Most Vulnerable Youth," Robinson drew laughs, applause and cheers. He discussed how society has arrived at this debate, said it is unknown what God thinks about homosexuality, and said it is not enough to simply be tolerant of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.



"Families are thrown into chaos," he said. "The world has changed because so many people have come out and all of us have to deal with it, including the church."

But what seems to be so clear in the Bible, he said, is really not clear at all. It is vital to look at the context of the Bible. Same-sex behavior existed in ancient times, but homosexuality did not, Robinson said.

The word "homosexual" is used in the Bible because of translations that were made, but homosexual orientation is a notion that is just 140 years old, and scripture is silent about homosexuality, he said.
"The Bible isn't talking about homosexuals," he said. "It seems to be real clear what God thinks about homosexuality, when in fact it is completely unknown."

Scripture has been used to defend slavery and the mistreatment of women, he said. Now scripture is wrongly being used to speak out against homosexuality, he said, but society has a chance to correct this misconception.

Instead of simply being tolerant of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, Robinson said, the majority must actively support this group of people and fight for their rights.

"When we get white people beginning to understand they are paying a price for racism, or men realizing they are paying a price for sexism, or straight people realizing they are paying a price for the exclusion of LGBT people, then we will get somewhere," he said.

As Lent begins to wind down with less than two weeks to Holy Week, it is a good idea to examine our testimony as Christians.  Another word for testimony is witness.  The word testimony sounds a lot like were are on trial so as to give proof to something.  For Christians, that is very important.  Because it goes without saying that "Everyone has tried Christianity, but Christianity has hardly been tried."  

When we hear of stories of LGBT youth taking their lives because of bullying in their schools, communities and in some cases their own families, and Christianist groups lobby legislators to not pass anti-bullying legislation, that does not provide a good testimony for Jesus Christ and the Church.   No wonder there are individuals that just cannot believe in the Christian religion anymore.

When I read a story about legislators in Idaho rejecting rape as an exception for abortion with the remark: "The hand of the Almighty has been at work," I beg to differ.   I seem to remember in the Gospel account of the Temptation of Christ in Matthew 4: 1-11 when Satan took Jesus on the highest point of the temple and told him to throw himself off so that the angels might keep him from dashing his foot against a stone, "Again it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test."  

In a post on Good as You, I read today that Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council has accused democratic law makers of willing to jeopardize America's national security by advancing the radical agenda of the homosexual lobby.   This is hardly a good witness to the person of Jesus Christ.

A law maker in Montana is celebrating the fact that he blocked a measure that would have decriminalized homosexuality, saying that "Gays cannot act gay in my State."

I have also read that in Orlando, Florida the local PBS station there has been sold out to a religious based station.  Are we all about to find out that the reason that the Republican House of Representatives have been working to defund National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting is because Christianist groups are lobbying to buy them out? 

Why are the examples I have just used bad for the testimony of Jesus Christ and the Christian religion?

The heart of the Christian Faith is not political, corporate and social power or control.  Contrary to the opinion of Bryan Fischer, Jesus did not come to establish a Republican Majority.   Jesus really did not come to establish any political or social majority that would subjugate any one group of people to another. 

A careful reading of the Gospels will find that Jesus' harshest words were for those who thought that if they followed all the rules, and kept all the power for themselves they were somehow a head of everyone else, to the point of ignoring the marginalized and destitute among them.  Like many Christianists suggest today.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and those who identify themselves as queer people, are not looking for a power take over of the country.  That is a false statement, often made by Dr. James Dobson and others.   LGBTQ people are looking to be able to live who we are, and marry the person we love, and serve our nation's military, and work our jobs, get public assistance, and share in all the benefits that are given to straight people, without being targeted by mean spirit individuals and groups of people.  There are many LGBTQ people who worship and would like to worship and even serve their local church groups as ordained Bishops, Priests and Deacons.   Many already do. 

Jesus talks in the Gospel at the beginning of this blog post about how God testifies to who he is.  Even the Bible itself is not a sufficient witness.  Jesus gave life and meaning to many individuals who had been shoved aside as the "unlovables" of society and the organized religion of his time.  Jesus calls on those who would follow him, and call themselves Christians to be an inclusive family of God's unconditional love. 

I have written before and I will write again, Jesus died because he loved differently.  His crucifixion which brought about our salvation, was also a rejection of loving in a way that is different from others.   The death and resurrection of Jesus are God's message to the world that suffering in the name of loving differently is blessed by God, and that death does not have the final say.

If Christians are to give a good witness of who Jesus is to us and for us, then we must begin with our attitudes towards those who are different than ourselves, and commit ourselves to prayer and fasting that we may repent and walk a new way and life as God's redeemed people.   We will need to look at our own prejudices and ask the Holy Spirit about how she can help us root them out, and learn to see other people as God sees them, not as we see them.  We need to commit ourselves with the Holy Spirit as our guide, to justice, equality and inclusion of all of God's people. 

As we commemorate Tikhon the Patriarch of Russia, who was both a Confessor and an Ecumenist (helped to brings unity to Christians), we are reminded that our witness to God's love is not only a matter of our creeds and customs, but a matter of serving those who are oppressed by the governments that do not honor the existence and freedom of their own people.   Tikhon was a Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church.

May God's testimony of us, be such that people are drawn to God and the Church, not steered away from it.

Prayers

Almighty and most merciful God, drive from us all weakness, we may with free hearts become what you intend us to be and accomplish what you want us to do: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 57).


Holy God, holy and mighty, you call us together into one communion and fellowship: Open our eyes, we pray, as you opened the eyes of your servant Tikhon, that we may see the faithfulness of others as we strive to be steadfast in the faith delivered to us, that the world may see and know you; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with you and the Holy Spirit, be glory and praise unto ages of ages. Amen. (Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 313).

Look with pity, O God, upon the people in this land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, page 826).

Healing, Living Water, Light: Everyone Can Participate

Scriptural Basis

John 5: 1-18 (NRSV)

2 Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew^* Beth-zatha,^* which has five porticoes. ³In these lay many invalids—blind, lame, and paralysed.^{* 5}One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, ‘Do you want to be made well?’ ⁷The sick man answered him, ‘Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me.’ ⁸Jesus said to him, ‘Stand up, take your mat and walk.’ ⁹At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

Now that day was a sabbath. ¹⁰So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, ‘It is the sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.’ ¹¹But he answered them, ‘The man who made me well said to me, “Take up your mat and walk.” ’ ¹²They asked him, ‘Who is the man who said to you, “Take it up and walk”?’ ¹³Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in^* the crowd that was there. ¹⁴Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, ‘See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.’ ¹⁵The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the sabbath. ¹⁷But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father is still working, and I also am working.’ ¹⁸For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the sabbath, but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God. 

Blog Reflection

After I wrote my blog post about Dr. Martin Luther King yesterday, I received two angry and mean spirited  comments, which I will not post.  They were both from the same person. 

One comment reminded me that many mainline Protestant denominations have race issues in them.  No where in my blog post did I suggest that mainline churches do not have racial issues.  Whenever I use the word "Church" with a capital "C" I am referring to the entire Christian Church, and most Christian Denominations.  All of the Christian Church have a long way to go on the issue of discrimination of people on the issues of race, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression and gender and so forth. 

In the other comment the individual chastised my intelligence and me personally because I wrote "Dr" before Dr. Martin Luther King''s name.  Yet actual history tells us that King earned his B.A, B. D., and Ph. D in Systematic Theology from Boston University. (See Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints on page 306 for the reference.)

An additional comment in there somewhere was a comment that no where did Martin Luther King speak about homosexuality.  That is quite true.  However, many of those who are closest to him will tell you, that if King were alive today, he would in fact support equality for LGBT people.  Charles Barkley said as much and was quoted in the Bilerico Project.

"People try to make it about black and white. He talked about equality for every man, every woman. We have a thing going on now - people discriminating against homosexuals in this country. I love the people. God bless the gay people. They are great people. We have discrimination against Hispanics in this country right now. We need to answer to that."

Where ever and when ever people can find every excuse on God's green earth to keep someone that they do not like as the "other."

Christians do this kind of thing to Muslims, LGBT, Native Americans, African Americans, Asians, Atheists, and so on. Some Athiests like the one that wrote the comments to me, have also been known to marginalize Christians and anyone else who believes in any kind of religion.  Groups of individuals of all walks of life have been so cruel in one way or another to those who have any kind of physical/mental/psychological or behavioral challenge.  The moment someone with a disability of any kind begins to find their place in society, there suddenly becomes this tyranny of folks who have to protest or take funding away or any other such issue.

Here in our Gospel today, Jesus is really not interested in some tradition such as the Sabbath being used to keep a poor sick person from being granted his dignity as a human being.  Jesus sees in this person who has been sick for 38 years sitting by the pool as someone who just wants to have some piece of life that he can call his own and claim some sense of being by which he too can rejoice in all of the goodness that God seeks to give him. 

The people around this person are just too busy to notice him or give him a hand into the pool.  He is just too inconvenient to bother with.  If someone were to pay attention to him, or help him suddenly the "other" that they have been ignoring becomes someone that they just do not want to get too close too.  And so when he is finally cured and healed, and can rejoice in what God has done for him, all those around him can do is talk about how Jesus broke the rule on the Sabbath Day.  They have to be killjoys.  

It should therefore not surprise us that as LGBT people and other minorities gain successes such as the repeal of DADT and the many States where marriage equality has been passed or is being debated, that there are Christianists and other religious based individuals working to be killjoys in the process of equality, inclusion and justice. 

Christianist speaker Cindy Jacobs made the statement that:

Not only did God kill all those birds in Arkansas because of the repeal of DADT, the earthquake in Japan and that tsunami? Totally because of gay soldiers in the U.S.

The ongoing assault on LGBT people as the reason why God is a psycho path, is just a Christianist lie and nothing more.

As the theology of the more modern and more common sense time has developed we no longer suggest that things happen to people and countries because God is punishing them.  That was another reason why Jesus healed this sick man when he did.  Jesus was stating that all individuals are loved and honored by God to the point the God's love is never far from any one for any reason.   God's grace is not dependent upon our actions or in ability to act.  The mercy of God is not with held because of something we've done or because of someone's sexual orientation, gender, gender expression/identity and so forth. 

Why God does not stop natural disasters or horrible infectious diseases?  I do not know.  But I also believe the very fact that loving and caring individuals rise up and express concern, and are determined to help those less fortunate than themselves, means God is still very much at work in this world.

John Michale Talbot wrote a song to the words of the prayer of St. Theresa: "Christ has no body now, but yours.  No hands, no feet on earth but yours.  Yours are the eyes through which he looks.  Compassion on this world. Yours are the feet of him who walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world."

Our caring hearts and hands are extensions of God's in a world full of hate and hurt.  We have opportunities and reasons to share what God has given to all of us.  We are the work of God's healing, living water and light when we use our gifts in service to God's people. 

Prayers

O God, with you is the well of life, and in your light we are light:  Quench our thirst with living water, and flood our darkened minds with heavenly light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Prayer for Tuesday in the Fourth Sunday of Lent. Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 55)


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. (A Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, Book of Common Prayer, page 833).

Honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Diveristy and Inclusion: America and the Church Have A Long Way to Go. Part 2

Scriptural Basis

Luke 6:27-36

Jesus said, "I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. Do to others as you would have them do to you.

"If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again. But love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful."

Blog Post

Today in cities all across the United States, middle class and low income families will be marching in memory of where Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated 43 years ago.  We will remember that while fighting the issue of racism and segregation, Martin Luther King also marched with Public Workers who were garbage collectors.   King understood as we need to understand today, that if we are going to speak up and act in the cause of justice and equality for one group of people who face marginalization and discrimination, we must be willing to join others in the same cause.

Racism and heterosexism continue to dominate our society and the Church in ways that many prefer to ignore.  Just as many turn the other way and ignore things like LGBT youth committing suicide due to bullying in their schools, families and communities, so many Americans including LGBT are looking away from racism and gender exclusion, the issue of working class America being bombarded day in and day out by the Corporate States of America, with the news that their working wages and collective bargaining rights are up for grabs.

To ignore the issue of racism and the issues the individuals of different races, classes, religions, working and/or economic class discrimination, gender bias, bias against Native Americans, the poor and disenfranchised and the list goes on and on, is to ignore the same issues that LGBT people face as well.

In the Gospel for today, Jesus reminds us that we are to love those who hate us.   We cannot love those who hate us, if we do not act on behalf of others who are stigmatized because of the color of their skin.  To love our enemies means we do our very best to help them understand why their prejudices and choices to pretend like there is no racial or gender issue, is such a crime against humanity. 

Whether we are marching or sitting at home because of family or personal reasons, let us all take a moment today to give thanks to God for the example of someone like Martin Luther King.   Let us also be thankful for the work of LGBT activists and others who have given of themselves to the point of shedding their blood so that justice, inclusion and equality may advance for the marginalized of society and the Church.

Prayers

Almighty God, by the hand of Moses your servant you led your people out of slavery, and made them free at last; Grant that your Church, following the example of your prophet Martin Luther King, may resist oppression in the name of your love, and may secure for all your children the blessed liberty of the Gospel of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Prayer for Martin Luther King. Holy Women, Holy Men, Celebrating the Saints, page 307).

4th Sunday of Lent: Are We Open to God's Light Present in the "Other" ?

One thing we have been seeing over the past couple years since Barack Obama was elected and inaugurated as President of the United States, is that it doesn't take much for well-meaning people to create an "other" that must be defeated.  The birth of the Tea Party movement and the onslaught of racist remarks and concerns over the President's birth certificate are all designed to make him that "other" that is not qualified for the office that Obama holds.

Through events such as Arizona's horrible anti-immigration law, and the law that takes money away from Medicaid and Medicare transplant patients, and the rise against health care reform all over the United States we see that immigrants and the sick are that "other" that we just cannot afford to assist.

Over the last day or so, we have heard about Gov. Rick Scott of Florida who has ordered immediate cuts to programs that assist disabled people. Disabled people are also the "other" that we just cannot spend money on now.

We have also learned the Pastor Terry Jones of Florida finally carried out his plan to burn the Quoran.  His decision has resulted in the deaths of United Nations employees who were killed as outraged individuals erupted in protest in Afghanistan.  To Pastor Jones and many other Christianists those who practice the Islamic Faith are the "other" who are destroying what America is about.

Today's Old Testament and Gospel are all about God seeing the "other" of a family in the case of Samuel anointing David as King of Israel.  In the Gospel of John, Jesus sees the person in the man born blind.  In the times that Jesus lived in, someone who was born blind was the "other" that people brushed aside.   How times and attitudes still have yet to change.

Scriptural Basis

1 Samuel 16:1-13 (NRSV)

The Lord said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the Lord said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, `I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.' Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you." Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.

When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the Lord." But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the Lord chosen this one." Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The Lord has not chosen any of these." Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one." Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

The story of Samuel anointing David as king of Israel can easily be compared to Walt Disney's classic animated feature The Sword in the Stone.   The young Wart (actually young King Arthur), is thought to be the dumbest member of his adopted family.  He is young.  He is very skinny and scrawny.   The Wizard Merlin sees in Arthur something very awesome and takes it upon himself to educate Arthur even against the wishes of his foster father.   In the very end during the tournament to decide who should wear the crown to rule all of England, the Wart forgets Kay's sword.   When he runs back to get the sword he pulls the sword from the stone that says: "Whosoever pulleth out this sword shall be crowned King of all England."  The MC of the competition calls everyone to go back to the anvil and see if Arthur can again pull the sword from the stone.  None of the strong armed men in the crowd could pull the sword.  Only Arthur pulled the sword.  And he was crowned King of England.

It is quite fair to say that until Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, he was the "other" that was thought of as insignificant.   After Arthur pulled the sword from the stone, one of the bystanders remarks: "It's a miracle.  Ordained by heaven."

I think the setting for Samuel anointing David as King of Israel is another instance of someone who was thought of as an "other" by those around him was suddenly noticed by God.   Because God did not see David as an "other."  God saw David as the one God had chosen to do great things for God's people in that time and place.  

John 9:1-41 (NRSV)

As he walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's eyes, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, `Go to Siloam and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."

They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see." Some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He said, "He is a prophet."


The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."


So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?" Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.


Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. Jesus said,

"I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, `We see,' your sin remains."

Here in the Gospel we see that Jesus recognizes the beauty and goodness of God in the "other" known as the man born blind.   To the Pharisees and many in that time, the man born blind was some "inconvenient" person who was just in everyone's way.  Taking everyone else's money and not doing a thing for himself.  Kind of like those wanting to take food stamps or collect taxes on money given to people who cannot work through no fault of their own away, because "they are just lazy and are not working because they don't want to.  Why should my money go to people who are not working for it?"

Jesus saw in the blind someone that was so valued by God, that he just couldn't walk by and do nothing for the man, knowing that Jesus could do something to help.   Jesus did not see the man born blind as an "other." Jesus saw and knew the presence of God and honored God's presence by restoring to the man, not only his sight, but the very dignity that belonged to an individual created by God.

Why were the Pharisees so angry with Jesus?

Our Deacon, the Rev. Margy Mattlin in her sermon at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral answered that question so perfectly today.

The Pharisees did not want the man born blind to suddenly be part of society as a man with his dignity restored.  Notice how they treat the man like he is still some piece of garbage.  Even his own family spoke to him in a way that dishonored what had happened to him.   When the marginalized of society suddenly begins to take their rightful place, suddenly the "mighty are cast from their thrones." (Luke 1:53).

This I think has everything to do with why the rhetoric towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning and queer people has been being ramped up.  I also believe that the gains made by the LGBTQ communities with the repeal of DADT, the proposed repeal to the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), and the enactment of marriage equality in six states, are making our opponents that much more determined to bring us down. 

There is no such thing as a non-personal anti-LGBTQ campaign.  There is also no such thing as a non-personal anti-immigration bill.  There is something very personal about denying people the opportunity to have health care coverage, food stamps, job training programs, public education and collective bargaining rights to workers.  All of these "anti" campaigns are designed to make wealthy people and large corporations as the status quo of society.  While those who are middle-class and low income individuals and families are the "other" that we just cannot help any more.  LGBTQ people cannot have our equal rights, because we are the "other" of society because the Bible according to Christianists reads that people who have sex with members of the same sex are an "abomination".  Even though the word "abomination" really means "culturally unacceptable."

As long as LGBTQ people remain the "other" we can be denied our equal rights in terms of jobs, housing, financial assistance, public assistance, marriage equality, and the right to be part of the military. LGBTQ teens cannot be protected from being bullied in their schools and communities, because they are the "other" that are being "indoctrinated" by "homosexual activists."  As soon as we begin to gain our equal rights, all those who have had their place as the status quo have to move over and share with the group of people, they still consider the "other." 

What is wrong with the picture that Republicans and Tea Party folks have been trying push on America, is that such policies fail to regard all individuals as people of sacred worth.  The assaults on women, LGBT, public workers, the poor, the Muslims and any one else that is different are all designed to remain as the "other" of society. What is worse is that many Christians have grown up or have been converted into thinking of "others" who are not exactly like them have become way too comfortable with their attitudes and actions towards the "others".  It has become the means of scapegoating and justifying the most cruel violence in the Name of God and the Bible.

The readings for today challenge us to see in all people who are different than ourselves, the need for justice, equality and inclusion.  All of us as God's people have a role to play in helping those who are less fortunate than ourselves.   We are asked to open our own often blind inner eyes and see in each person regardless of skin color, body odor, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, religion, behavior, health or wealth status, language written or spoken, and see in all people, God's created beauty and redemptive work. 

Lent is an invitation to look deep within ourselves to see how we are thinking of others who are different than ourselves?   Who is that someone that we are looking down on, as if they are worthless?  Who's ideas are we disagreeing with to the point that we also disregard the person as valued and treasured by God?  What can we do in our prayers and actions to change this world that sees the "others" and to begin doing as much as we can do for them?

The invitation of today's Scripture readings is to see the heart that God cherishes and relishes in each person as a unique masterpiece of God's creation. In God's eyes, there is no such thing as an "other" through which God's light does not and cannot shine.

May Holy Week and Easter find us recognizing the light of God in every human person.  Amen.

Prayers

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, Book of Common Prayer, page 219).

O God, you made us in your own image and redeemed us through Jesus your Son: Look with compassion on the whole human family; take away the arrogance and hatred which infect our hearts; break down the walls that separate us; unite us in bonds of love; and work through our struggle and confusion to accomplish your purposes on earth; that, in your good time, all nations and races may serve you in harmony around your heavenly throne; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.  (Prayer for the Human Family, Book of Common Prayer, page 815).