Gay emisaries

1 Thessalonians 2:1-12

            I am not a diva. I am not a flamboyant drag queen and I could not ever be described as a bitchy queen. You won't generally find me snapping my fingers, swinging my hip and saying "I'm here, I'm queer, get used to it!" That's not me. For the most part that is not the majority of gay men and women that I know of.  I would say the showy loud gays do get the most attention or are the most noticeable.  I don't think it's much different than when an arrogant, rude or gaudy straight person is noted just for that kind of behavior but people don't generally transpose that behaviour to all straight people.

            As a gay man who is also a devout Christian (now officially Episcopalian), I feel a special connectedness to this passage. Not only for myself for us as a community who have suffered, who have been mistreated. As a gay Christian I am not out to convert anyone to being gay. I am however 'out' to show what a decent person I am and what a exemplary life I try to lead. I do so not by being flashy, brassy or shouting but by humbly living my life as a gay married man, living out and proud but not (too) out loud. This kind of life as a father, a husband and as a faithful person is one reason why the tides have been changing for the gay community and specifically for marriage equality. We are as normal as everyone else in most ways. I also pray though that even in our own community, men and women will see that in spite of what they are being told by some churches and in spite of what they may have learned in the churches of their youth, you can be a gay faithful person. You certainly and most assuredly can be a a person of faith. In fact not only can we, we should. We are called to do so by our very nature as human beings. Further, we have a unique perspective to offer the church and the world. 

               As gay men and women we are called to be shining examples of so many things, faith, love, great sex, sensitivity, compassion and a whole host of fine attributes and experiences that only we can offer so well to the world. We are called to so in a convincing, loving manner by the examples of our good, loving, faithful lives.

You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully maltreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us.

You remember our labour and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was towards you believers. As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you should lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory.