(The title that I came up with during my worship planning was to talk about how we balance our lives between work, family, re-creation, and justice/faith work. As it is pride month and the church is Open and Affirming, I thought I should focus a little more on that during this worship)
Attention
The word, "homosexuality" first appeared in the Bible in the 1940's, the translation was written in Germany. Yes, Germany, the early 1940's was when the theologians decided that what was needed to spread the Nazi agenda. There are seven instances in the 66 books of the Bible where there is prohibitions against same-sex acts and often Sodom and Gomorrah is used as the "big one" that it was a culture of homosexuality that made it so bad. However, Jesus, when commented on the sin of those communities and Ezekiel named it as a lack of compassion for those in need, not sex of any sort, much less the violence that was threatened. After this, the word homosexuality made its way into the English translations.
I am reading the book "Jesus and John Wayne." It traces how the Religious Right and Moral Majority turned a religion of peace and justice into "family values" of patriarchy and nationalism, power and military might. The scope of God's kingdom was narrowed down into white middle class suburbia, prayer in school, dad working, mom raising the kids, and the might of the military.
Jesus becomes a cowboy, tough, masculine, and without compassion. There is no room for LGBTQ in their America, in their kingdom of heaven, and in their neighborhoods and towns.
Need
Last night on the harbor was a very peaceful, very calm evening filled with friends, music, and a celebration of life and boats. It was pointed out that in the story of Mark, the boat that Jesus was in with the disciples was not the only boat on the water and that others around them were also struggling and in danger as well. Each boat had it's own expertise or lack of experience of it's crew and passengers.
The storm of the religious right is waging on America is not affecting me as much or as directly because I have a solid white, middle class boat that I can power through with. Those who are LGBTQ do not have the long structures of social, legal, and religious to keep them afloat, much less push through, the winds of religious and political authority can capsize their lives pretty quickly.
Satisfaction
This story of Jesus asleep brings up for me the story of Jonah and the whale. For Jonah is also asleep while the boat is being sunk. However, instead of throwing Jesus overboard, he calms the wind and the waters and insures a safe passage to the other side. For Jesus is listening to God and tells those people that God loves them, rather than warning them about destruction. He is secure in that he is doing what God wants and trusts that God will watch over him and his disciples. The disciples, on the other hand, are unsure of why they have to travel outside their circles, much less go across to people who are different from themselves. They are filled with anxiety and fear, not just of the storm, but what they are doing. And in the last sentence, the disciples are overcome with awe, means they are afraid, they are greatly afraid of their traveling companion and teacher who just commanded the waves and wind to be still, and they listened became as still as the dead.
There are three greats in this short story: great winds that threaten to capsize them, great calm when Jesus commands stillness, and great fear/awe when they see the power of their teacher. Many of us probably have had wishes to see and be a part of these stories to actually hear Jesus and watch him perform these miracles, but we would probably be just as fearful, anxiety-ridden, and in the dark as them, because we are them. Jesus was a little confused and probably even exacerbated that the disciples thought themselves helpless in the face of such a great storm and is certainly confused and exacerbated when we believe that we are helpless today in whatever storms we face.
Vision
The Bible was not written so that American can be the strongest and best nation in the world and in history. Jesus did not die upon the cross so that we might have suburbs, traditional marriage, and a strict sense of what is acceptable to some who proclaim themselves our leaders. The epitome of the gospels is love. For God so loved the world... The greatest commandment is this: to love.... This is how people will know that you are my followers, that you love...
Jesus doesn't dictate who we should love and how we should love. We are to love our neighbors and Jesus says that everyone who loves is his brother, sister, and mother. But there are so many different types of families in the Bible that have nothing to do with America or it's version of marriage. Just look at the story of Ruth, or Jacob and his two wives and their two slaves, or that King David loved Jonathon more than anyone else, including his wives, all 1,000 of them.
Action
Yes, there are storms in our time. Literal storms that are wreaking havoc because of global climate change, but also storms of hate, fear, and violence that are also having a great impact on whom Jesus would call the least of these, not because they are less in the eyes of God, but because they don't have the resources to get through the storms that many of us do as white, heterosexual, cis-gendered, middle class Americans. And in the midst of our security, if we are truly compassionate, we are also filled with fear and anxiety for those who are hurting and being hurt by the storms.
We, as Christians, have to do two things, we have to supply a place of peace and rest so that they can have a safe place while the storm rages. And the second is we have to stand up in faith and speak to the hate, fear, and violence and say, "Silence! Be still!" No, we are not their saviors, but Jesus did not leave us helpless or to stand idly by. Jesus did tell us to be peacemakers, justice-doers, and to follow him in sharing God's love for all, all people and all of creation.
So can we do it? Can we love as Christ loves and find a little faith and fearlessness? Can we continue on the journey through the storm and be not homophobic, but be a better ally, and strive to be an advocate for LGBTQ persons in our community, our nation, and our world? I hope so, but more importantly, Christ does as well. Amen
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