Taking Time to Be with God, so that We May Understand Ourselves Better

I have been enjoying and being challenged by Kate Moorehead's book: "Get Over Yourself; God's Here!". Yesterday, Kate reflected on Mark 14:32: "They went to a place called Gethsemane; and Jesus said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." Today, she reflects Matthew 13:24b to 30.

"The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and when away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, "Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did those weeds come from?" He answered, 'An enemy has done this.' The slaves said to him, 'Then do you want us to go and gather them?' But he replied, 'No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn."

I beg the pardon of my readers, but that first entry about taking time to be alone was among the reasons that there was no blog entry yesterday. We all need to take some time to be alone with God to re-center ourselves on God. The world is so busy with stuff going on. Electronic mail, telephones, cell phones, internet and so much more. All of us need to use the time during Lent to take some time away from everything and focus ourselves on God and God's relationship with us. Doing that may involve centering prayer for some or more contemplative prayer for others. The point is to take time to let God tell us how much we are loved.

We take time to be alone with God so that we may better understand ourselves and our relationship with the world around us. We live in very complicated times. For lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people we are faced with prejudice and inequality all around us. In our struggle for marriage equality and civil rights we will encounter the weeds as well as the wheat. There are those who appear like they are on our side, when in fact they are just as much of a nuisance as those who are constantly in our way.

I have been thinking a lot about the slow moving action within our Congress over LGBT issues. While there are hearings to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" no one in the White House or Congress is willing to put a time frame on when we can expect the repeal to actually happen. Last Fall we saw a bill introduced called the Respect for Marriage Act that was suppose to repeal DOMA (the Defense of Marriage Act), but we have not seen the repeal bill move very fast. We saw the State of New Hampshire's House of Representatives vote down measures that would have repealed their marriage equality laws. Yesterday in my own State of Minnesota there was a House hearing on three historic bills that move us closer to marriage equality. There is movement, but it is slow and agonizing.

I return to what happened last October at the National Equality March when activists from all over the country converged on Washington, DC. Their main message, gay rights now. They like so many of us are tired of politicians seeking our votes and money saying that they support LGBT rights, yet when they are elected they drag their feet. There is always something more important than civil and equal rights for every citizen. How do we as LGBT people respond to these issues? As LGBT Christians as we see the weeds among the wheat, how are we coping with the weeds?

It is important to understand that as long as humans are on the earth there will always be weeds among the wheat. There will always be those people who have to poke their arrogance and laziness into other people's business. We can respond to them by always taking time to be alone with God, so that we can regroup and refocus ourselves on what is really important. What is most important is not the weeds, but the work for equal and human rights. What is crucial is not the injustice and inequality as much as it hurts and affects us. Our focus needs to be on our work for justice and equality by helping people know that there are LGBT people, both Christian and non-Christian around who are interested in working together to end discrimination. As people become aware of those of us who are LGBT, they become aware that their ignorance about same-sex marriage and transgendered violence affects people right in their own community. As people become informed they do sit up, take notice and they do listen to how they can be involved. There will of course be the weeds who work against our causes, and they will be a source of headaches and raw emotions along the way. But the more important matter is our work for justice and equality.

As we work through Lent, the temptations we might often encounter is to go the battle alone or even to give up. Neither is the right move. In our human condition there are two things we learn. 1. We cannot achieve our goals without the help of others who support us. 2. We never give up without working with others to help us along the way. God created us in a world with many other people and in the case of the LGBT Community we are fortunate to be with others who seek the same rights we want. It is important in this time for everyone to work together, to cooperate with each other and be supportive.

As we take time to be alone with God, we will better understand our role in the world, in equal rights, in health care reform and helping our nation move forward. We cannot go back and fix what was broken, but we can work together to make today better, for tomorrow.

Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan; Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for the First Sunday of Lent, BCP, Page 218).

How Do We Participate in the Mission of Christ?

Based on Matthew 10: 5-15

In today's Gospel, Jesus sends his Disciples into their own country asking them to proclaim the good news. "The kingdom of heaven has come near. Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment, give without payment."

We might tend to think sometimes that the greatest of work takes place in some distant land. If we really want to make a difference in the world, we have to go somewhere. However, the work of proclaiming the kingdom of heaven needs to be done right here, right now, in this time, by us. The work that God has given us to do in the here and now is how God wants us to share the good news that the kingdom of heaven is near. Right around us in our own neighborhoods are the poor, the sick, the abandoned, people facing death most often alone, the marginalized, the broken and those with spirits in despair.

In verses 11 to 15 Jesus told his Disciples: "Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your word, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town."

Jesus tells us to go where we are welcome, and if we are not welcome leave and shake the dust of our feet. As we get to the end of this Gospel, we hear about the lack hospitality of Sodom and Gomorrah and that those who reject God's messengers will not fair so well.

As we seek to bring the Gospel even in our own communities, there will be those who will not receive or listen to us. This is very often the experience of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals. We bring a message of diversity, love and calling for justice and equality. We ask for our political and religious communities to look upon us as people who come with a pure, honest desire to love other people in the way God created us. Yet we hear over and over again, how religious right leaders and individuals look upon us, not as loving individuals created in the image and likeness of God, but as individuals who are condemned by God and the Church. As we make the attempt time and again to reach across party lines and enter houses of worship, we are greeted with rejection and compared with pedophiles, common criminals, those who commit incest or desire sex with animals. Even those who seek to live their lives married to an individual of the same sex in a loving, monogomous, committed relationship are told we are living in sin and there is no place for us in God's house, in our communities, in work places, in the military, in places where we can volunteer to help the poor and needy, we find rejection over and over.

By no means are we required by God or anyone else for that matter to stay in a place where we are not viewed as individuals created and loved by God. Thankfully, there are places of worship, employment, community activism, hospitals and even places where we can make a difference that we are welcomed. Our mission is to bring the Gospel of God's loving compassion, mercy and justice so that others may see the kingdom of heaven here on earth. As we become more visible in our homes and communities, we inspire others who are trapped in their closets to come out and be who they are. We raise up the spirits of those who are in despair and help them see, that they can live lives of love and compassion, just as they are, not as others would have them be. This kind of work, is the work of Jesus Christ and his message of Salvation. Jesus Christ set us free from sin, not to live in closets wearing masks and pretending we are no one important. Jesus Christ gave his life on the Cross and rose from the dead to make us the adopted daughters and sons of God. To share in God's presence in this world, and to see in each other God's creative and redemptive love.

Regardless of what our sexual orientation is, or race, or challenge, or faith, God empowers each of us through God's love and grace to work towards the establishment of the kingdom. To each of us is given the authority and mission to make the world around us a better place for all. That is why the health care reform debate is so important. It is about helping those who are sick be able to get the health care that they need. This is a work that is needed here and now. The work of God's kingdom on earth includes seeking the common good for every person, including those we consider unlovable.

How do we participate in the mission of Christ in our communities, homes, families and churches?

Almighty God, you sent your Son Jesus Christ to reconcile the world to yourself. We praise and bless you for those whom you have sent in the power of the Spirit to preach the Gospel to all nations. We thank you that in all parts of the earth a community of love has been gathered together by their prayers and labors, and that in every place your servants call upon your Name; for the kingdom and the power and the glory are yours for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, #3 For the Mission of the Church, Page 838).

National Coming Out Day: How Do We Define Riches?

This weekend there is a group of people participating in Washington, DC for the National Equality March. Among the individuals who chairs this event is Cleve Jones who was an activist along slain Gay Civil Rights leader: Harvey Milk who was City Supervisor in San Francisco in the late 1970's early 80's. This past week Cleve Jones appeared on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 to talk about why he and others are marching in Washington tomorrow. The march is taking place because people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered want people to know that they are concerned with where the country is going. LGBT individuals, families and couples have experienced one law being passed, while three more are revoked. In many states across the country States have passed adoption laws for same-sex parents only to see them revoked some years later. Parents and families are brought together and torn apart. Last year, we saw the Supreme Court of the State of California pass laws allowing same sex couples to legally marry. In less than a year, anti-gay activists took up the cause of Proposition 8 and with a vote of the State, the gay marriage laws were removed. This is why the National Equality March is such an important activity this weekend.

Tomorrow is what is called: "National Coming Out Day." It is a day in the lives of LGBT individuals that we recognize and celebrate our sexuality and our identity as vital and equal individual members of society. We come out, because to stay in our closets is to deny the very essence of ourselves by wearing a mask, saying we are one kind of person when in fact we are another. Coming out of our shells and saying that we are lesbian women, gay men, bisexual women or men, or men who have become women, or women who have become men, we stand before God, before each other and before our family, friends, churches, work places, politicians and even our enemies as real people. Some of us come out to find that people knew we were gay all along, but wondered why we waited so long to be ourselves. Others come out only to find that those we thought or hoped would love us, suddenly show their true colors of prejudice and hate.

As I have read through the Scripture readings for this weekends Liturgy, I am struck with how much they speak to the experiences of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered people. Almost all of us have suffered in one capacity or another because of our sexual orientation or gender identity or expression. As with the Psalmist who cries out in agony in Psalm 22 we wonder where is God in the midst of what we are experiencing. In both Psalm 22 and the Old Testament Reading Job and the Psalmist are searching for God in the midst of pain and suffering only to feel as if God is totally absent. LGBT individuals know this experience all too well. We come out of our closets happy and looking for love. If we don't experience some Christian right winger trying to tell us that we are going to hell for the "choices" we make, someone else ignorant about the issues of LGBT people asks the question: "Well, why do you have to be out, how is what you do in your bed anyone else's business?" How many of us turn to God in prayer, looking for the right wing to leave us alone? How many individuals such as a Lesbian woman who's partner died in the intensive care unit in the hospital and was not allowed to see here before she died, and a Supreme Court judge won't even hear the case, feel like God has just abandoned them? How about a gay couple that has a wonderful young girl who they've been loving and raising, spending all kinds of money on in a custody battle, only to have the little girl ripped out of their lives by some discriminatory judge and legal system? I am sure such individuals feel sometimes that God is against them, or just not interested. Where is God in the midst of our suffering?

We must remember that the Bible is not only full of stories of Salvation through joys and victories, but that the people of ancient Israel often cried in lament to God. The Psalms are Israels Liturgical hymnal. In the Psalms are songs of Israel praising God, but also crying out in absolute agony and abandonment to God. A broken Psalmist in Psalm 22 wants to know where is God while their bodies are being broken and their spirits crushed? When LGBT individuals experience bigotry and hatred and it appears to win, we have every reason to cry out to God and say: Where are you? And believe that even when we don't know where God is, the Lord is closer to us than we are to ourselves.

The writer of the Hebrews gives us a look at the word of God. It tells us that the word of God pierces our thoughts and emotions. The word is "living and active". The word of God interacts with us where we are, as we are, not as others would have us be. The word of God is not interested in making us into what other members of the Christian community wants us to be. Jesus did not experience what we know all too well, just so that we can be made someone different than who we are. Jesus is the high Priest who knows that we experience temptations and disappointments and even death, because of who we are. And God in Jesus loves us as we are, and identifies with our human experience. That is why when we experience discrimination and pain because of family members, the church, political agendas and even our place of work, we should "turn boldly to the throne of grace" and seek God's will for our lives. God longs to love us and affirm who we are, by participating and interacting with us. What we might find is that God wants us to gain a healthier and happier picture of ourselves, and through God's redemptive graces in Jesus, God wants to set us free, and work for the freedom of others.

In our Gospel lesson today, we are faced with following the Commandments, those who are privileged whether LGBT or not. All of us have riches that are placed in our hands. And for many young men and women who are faced with the decision to come out or not, they are faced with what they can keep or loose. If they stay in their closets and pretend to be someone they are not, they can keep the family business, or the big will that is left to their name when their parents pass on and even their parents paying their college tuition. If they only look like they are straight and pretend to be happy, they can keep all their treasures. Yet in all that they keep, they loose so much. They loose their identity, their self esteem. They give up their hope for happiness and love for a future filled with lies, confusion and for many constant despair. All in the name of protecting themselves and their families from the truth of who they are.

Yet, if they give it all up and be who they are, they could loose their inheritance to their parent's business. Some have even been kicked out of the family home, church, school or even their own country. In giving up their closets, they have often given up treasures for a whole lot of hell. Others who have accepted what they've lost, have found someone to love them, cherish them, a church home where they are accepted and affirmed. Many who have given up their families by coming out, have started very successful businesses of their own. Others have become counselors to LGBT youth and individuals, others have become ministers. Others have become activists who have helped their communities fight for equality on any number of levels.

Submission to God's will is essential to finding salvation. While we might find some minimal comfort in the closets where no one knows our true identity, what we are in fact doing is stifling God's will. Yet, when we truly give up those things that hinder us, no matter how much we treasure them, and surrender to God's will, we find so much more to be thankful for. We can find a true path to following God in our lives when we let go of those things that weigh us down, and follow God as God has created us. We can find true happiness in God's happiness with who and how we have been created.

In closing, I want to share a story from my coming out. I was a Catholic for many years and spent a significant amount of time in my own closet. During that time, I was privileged to know a great and wonderful Priest. As I started to come out, I was so afraid of what that Priest would tell me when I told him I was gay. His response to me was one of love and affirmation. He told me: "You have to love people the way God created you to love them." In giving up our closets, we gain being able to love people in the way God created us to love them. Our closets may seem like a treasure chest, but they hold us down and keep us from going forward. Only when we open up and come out, do we gain a sense of who we really are and why our rights are so important to us.

To that end, though I am not able to join the National Equality March in person, you can bet I am there in spirit and in prayer. Because it is past time to cut the hate speech and wait rhetoric. It is time for all people including LGBT individuals to be recognized by political leaders, churches, families, social groups, schools, and many more people and places as individuals and couples seeking to love as God created us to. Amen.

Scripture References: Job 23: 1-9, 16-17. Psalm 22: 1-15. Hebrews 4: 12-16. Mark 10: 17 -31.