Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost: Coming Out and Working for Equality is God's Will

Scriptural Basis

Exodus 17: 1-7 (NRSV)

From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. The people quarreled with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?" But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, "Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?" So Moses cried out to the Lord, "What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me." The Lord said to Moses, "Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink." Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, "Is the Lord among us or not?"

Psalm 25: 3 (BCP. Page 614)

Show me your ways, O Lord,
and teach my your paths.

Philippians 2: 1-13 (NRSV)

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

who, though he was in the form of God,

did not regard equality with God

as something to be exploited,

but emptied himself,

taking the form of a slave,

being born in human likeness.

And being found in human form,

he humbled himself

and became obedient to the point of death--

even death on a cross.

Therefore God also highly exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

so that at the name of Jesus

every knee should bend,

in heaven and on earth and under the earth,

and every tongue should confess

that Jesus Christ is Lord,

to the glory of God the Father.

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Matthew 21: 23-32 (NRSV)

When Jesus entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things. Did the baptism of John come from heaven, or was it of human origin?" And they argued with one another, "If we say, `From heaven,' he will say to us, `Why then did you not believe him?' But if we say, `Of human origin,' we are afraid of the crowd; for all regard John as a prophet." So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.

"What do you think? A man had two sons; he went to the first and said, `Son, go and work in the vineyard today.' He answered, `I will not'; but later he changed his mind and went. The father went to the second and said the same; and he answered, `I go, sir'; but he did not go. Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are going into the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him."

Blog Reflection

“Is God among us or not?”  This provocative question weaves itself through today’s readings.  In Exodus 17:1-7 we encounter a familiar scene. The Israelites begin to quarrel and complain that Moses has led them on a death march.  They ask: “Why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” (verse 3).  For his part, Moses appears frustrated at their impatience.  Yet, God miraculously provides water from a rock. (Out in Scripture).

I am sure that Troy Davis and his family asked the question: "Is God among us or not?" As the legal battle, and storms of media controversy and the blatant racism demonstrated by the State of Georgia to be sure they executed a black man whether he was really innocent or not, can feel like God just was not there to help.

Many LGBT people and others without jobs, housing, health care,  a cure for cancer, HIV/AIDS, equal rights, who experience the marginalization of the Church and society feel a lot like the community of Israel wandering through the desert.

For LGBT people the legal repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell feels like a much needed drink of water.  Before we know it, we are back in the desert working for marriage equality, work place rights while the Roman Archbishop of New York Timothy Dolan sticks his nose in to stop them.  Or worrying about youth like Jamey Rodemeyer who though he made an It Gets Better Video, took his life because of constant bullying over his sexual orientation. 

The facts of life include that no matter what walk of life we come from, we all have our moments in the desert when we are wandering aimlessly asking where do we find God in it all.  We are all wandering in the deserts of our lives. We face illness, poverty, the uncertainty of our future, discrimination and violence and so on.

As with the story about Moses and the Israelite people, God is there. We may not see or hear God acting in the way we would wish, but that does not mean God is not there with great concern about our needs.  Sometimes God answers our prayers by giving us just what we want. Other times God gives us just what we need even if it is grace to wait until God reveals God's will to us.

The verse I chose from the Psalm today, is a prayer to ask God to help us to know God's ways and paths to true peace and holiness.  God has already created LGBT people just as we are.  If we are LGBT people of faith, then we need to pray and ask God to lead us in God's ways to know what is the path to holiness as we love our partners or engage in relationships.

As Christians we believe that God revealed God's Self in God's perfect revelation in Jesus Christ.  Jesus came among us not to exploit equality with God, but to give his life in service of God's people.  Jesus is exalted by God not just because God was in Christ, but because Jesus laid down his life so that others might live in everlasting life with God who is Creator, Servant and Life-Giver.

The life God calls us to live is not one of just saying yes in the prayers and creeds found in the Book of Common Prayer, but through an honest and devoted life of service for equality for those who are marginalized and oppressed.

As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, we hear from Christianists that being gay and living in committed same-sex relationships is somehow saying yes to God, but not doing God's will.  As a gay Episcopalian Christian who struggled many years to come to a place of peace with God about who I am and who I love, I cannot agree with how Christians use today's Gospel to frame the debate about homosexuality and being Christian.

I would dare to say that knowing we are LGBT or even questioning or queer, being called by God to come out and live who we are proudly, and we say no, but later think better of it and do, we are among those who do God's will.  You see, when we settle the question between ourselves and God about who we are as LGBTQ people, after having gone through the dry desert of fear and anxiety while in the closet wondering what we should do, we then come to understand that our sexual orientation and/or gender expression/identity is a gift of God, not a choice of humankind. 

Among our decision to finally accept God's will to live as LGBT openly and with a sense of pride in who God has created us to be, we cannot be settled with just being by ourselves or just doing all for ourselves.  God challenges us to continue to participate in the work of God's creation by working for a Church and society where all individuals who face violence, prejudice and oppression can find justice, equality and inclusion.

This is why we can not just sit in silence as not just Troy Davis, but many individuals mostly African Americans get the death penalty through the political maneuvering of racist people.

It is not good for us nor the Church and/or society to keep quiet about the constant attack on women and women's reproductive health care, job programs, anti-violence laws and unequal pay. 

We are doing a terrible injustice when we do not speak up about Christianist organizations and politicians targeting Muslims and Jewish people to create atmospheres of violence and prejudice.

When we fail to take into account the suffering of immigrants and Native Americans as a result of white, Christians, we are saying yes to God, but not doing God's will. 

When Tea Party folks and Republicans exploit the poor suggesting they must do more, while giving all the tax breaks and job opportunities to corporate greedy people who just want more and more, Christians need to speak up and act to promote social justice and economic equality.

Doing God's will to achieve equality and justice in a time when there are a lot of Christianists paying good "yes" lip service to God, while acting contrary to what the Bible actually teaches, is like wandering in the desert wondering where God is in it all.   The fact is God's reign is not just some transcendent and detached being surrounded by ancient stories and theological masterpieces.  God is also close to each of us and calls every one of us to become partners in the work of disclosing God's healing and transforming presence.

In so doing, not only do we say yes to God in our worship and prayers, but we also do the work God has asked of us in the vineyard where God's people who are hungry, thirsty, oppressed and hurting are waiting and seeking God's powerful hospitality and reconciliation.  God's answer to their prayers is found in us who seek to do God's will in our lives, loving and doing as God's holy LGBT people.


Prayers

O God, you declare your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant us the fullness of your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 21: Book of Common Prayer, page 234).

Lord God,, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ triumphed over the powers of death and prepared for us our place in the new Jerusalem; Grant that we, who have this day given thanks for his resurrection, may praise you in that City of which he is the light, and where he lives and reigns, for ever and ever. Amen. (A Collect for Sundays, Book of Common Prayer, page 123).


O merciful Father, who taught us in your holy Word that you would not willingly afflict us, look with pity upon the sorrows of (name) for whom our prayers are offered. Remember her/him, O Lord, in mercy, nourish her/his soul with patience, comfort her/him with a sense of your goodness, lift up your countenance upon her/him, and give her/him peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Someone in Trouble or Bereavment, Book of Common Prayer, page 831).

St. Matthew: The Tax Man Jesus Loved

Scripture Basis

Matthew 9:9-13 (NRSV)

As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. And as he sat at dinner in the house, many tax collectors and sinners came and were sitting with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" But when he heard this, he said, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.' For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners."

Blog Reflection

How interesting and prophetic that the Apostle we are commemorating today was a tax collector.  The subject of fair taxation has been a subject in American politics for a long time now.  President Obama and the progressive democrats only want the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share so that Government programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Public Education, repairing and maintaining our infrastructure and so forth will be adequately funded.  Republican and Tea Party folks do not want taxes raised suggesting that it affects the job creators.

The grim view of America's economy over the past 10 years suggests that when the wealthiest among us are given tax breaks so that they pay 15% while the middle class pays 35% of their income tax, jobs are not created.  A look at where the unemployment rate is tells that story really well.

Matthew also known as Levi as he was not loved by the community around him.  He was a tax collector who helped the Roman Empire collect money to help them line their pockets.  The tax collectors were often known as the "Publicans".  Interesting word that is missing the "Re" before it.  They were understood to be so detestable that the Pharisees, quite well known for their own wealth and prestige, refused to marry into a family that had publicans as members.  

Jesus called Matthew to repent of his sins as Jesus calls all of us.  Jesus challenges us in the midst of our certainty of life and believing, to be willing to be redeemed again and again. 

We are all raised by our respective families and communities to believe certain things, act in a particular way and think as others inspire us to think.  The Christian religion is not a faith based on a stagnation of principles and morals.  It is a relationship with God, through Jesus by which those who believe and worship as Christians are challenged to always learn things anew.  UCC Pastor Oby Ballinger of Community United Church of Christ in St. Paul Park always points out the in the Bible "God is always doing something new."

The New Testament Reading for today's Commemoration 2 Timothy 3: 14-17 says:

As for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it, and how from childhood you have known the sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.

This particular Scripture is a favorite for Christianists to defend Biblical literalism and using it to dehumanize the poor, women, people of different races, cultures, sexual orientations, gender identity/expression etc.  Such a position assumes that any Christian or non-Christian for that matter who seeks to understand what the Bible means beyond how it is interpreted by Christianists are not heading Jesus' call to Matthew to repent and follow him.   This kind of use is incorrect and misleading.

The repentance Jesus calls Matthew to, Jesus calls all Christians to.  A repentance from the understanding that religion is not a weapon of mass destruction, nor is it an excuse for the injustice encouraged by the corruption of capitalism or racism, class discrimination, the termination of Troy Davis a black innocent man in Georgia. The Christian religion does not condone the violence of gender discrimination or heterosexism, and immigration bias. 

On the issue of capitalism Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite wrote in a Washington Post article:

"Capitalism isn’t “God’s Plan,” it’s an economic system that runs on the human desire for more, our own self-interest. This is not necessarily evil. It can actually be a very productive system, but it is not beneficent. In order for there to be good values in our economic life, capitalism needs to be regulated so it does not wreck the whole ship with unfettered greed."

Troy Davis who is scheduled to be executed at 7:00pm est today said: 
 

"The struggle for justice doesn't end with me. This struggle is for all the Troy Davises who came before me and all the ones who will come after me. I'm in good spirits and I'm prayerful and at peace. But I will not stop fighting until I've taken my last breath."

The repentance Jesus invites Matthew and all who follow him, is a call to recognize and reverence God's presence and redemption in everyone including those who are different from ourselves.

Matthew responded to that message and allowed himself to be taught to live a different life than the one he lived.  Living only for himself and not for others.  Matthew received the grace of God to be able to continue learning all the God had planned for him and the Church.   Particularly those whom society and the Church sets on the sidelines not to be bothered with, but chastised through violent rhetoric and behavior.

God calls the Church and society to recognize the social diseases that continue to harm communities all around us today.  Jesus calls us to follow him, with compassion and a commitment to justice and equality for all of God's people.


Prayers

We thank you, heavenly Father, for the witness of your apostle and evangelist Matthew to the Gospel of your Son our Savior; and we pray that, after his example, we may with ready wills and hearts obey the calling of our Lord to follow him; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, page 244).


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).


Lord Jesus, for our sake you were condemned as a criminal: Visit our jails and prisons with your pity and judgment. Remember all prisoners, and bring the guilty to repentance and amendment of life according to your will, and give them hope for their future. When any are held unjustly, bring them release; forgive us, and teach us to improve our justice. Remember those who work in these institutions; keep them humane and compassionate; and save them from becoming brutal or callous. And since what we do for those in prison, O Lord, we do for you, constrain us to improve their lot. All this we ask for your mercy's sake. Amen. (Book of Common Prayer, page 826).