1 Thessalonians 2:13-20
Yesterday I noted that as a human being but especially as a gay human being, we are called to holiness and a unique and God given holiness in light of who we are. It's not just a good idea that we should seek God, it's part of who we are. After all, God is always seeking us. In fact, I would say we are hard wired to seek our creator, to know him/her better and have a relationship that helps us to be all that we are created to be.
Somewhere along the line though we settle for "being spiritual" or we abandon God altogether. I honestly can't say that I blame anyone, especially in light of how the gay community is treated by organized religions. To this day we are vilified, scorned, labelled as sinners and perhaps worse - if that's possible. Yet we are all called and I believe Jesus did reach out to same sex couples (The Roman Centurion for example). There is even a possibility that Jesus himself was gay. That might seem blasphemous to some but I think that even if I am wrong, God understands and would see it as a none issue one way or the other. If you care to do some research you can catch a glimpse of the rise of homophobia through the last thousand or so years. It is fascinating and John Boswell wrote several great scholarly books on the subject. Suffice to say though, the obsession with same sex relationships is a more recent development. What it seems was always a problem was relations for money or relations without respect or that demean another. Those seemed wrong in any culture you find.
So where does this fit in with today's passage? The religions that condemn and vilify the gay community are made more and more guilty by their proclamations and arrogance. They are leading the faithful astray however well intentioned they think they are. They are guilty of causing countless peoples to stay away from God who loves them and yearns for them. Furthermore, these false prophets basically force the gay community members to settle for "being spiritual" when God calls us all to a much more robust relationship in community. Everything we celebrate as church or in faith is in community. The expression of faith is not a singular act, it cannot be, it is an outward, loving, encompassing gesture and expression.
It is a sin of monumental proportions to marginalize people and make them feel they are not worthy or not welcome. That people feel unwelcome and settle for "being spiritual" over a deep communal relationship is wrong. It only serves to remind me of another passage, (Luke 17:2) It would be better for them to be thrown into the sea with a millstone tied around their neck than to cause one of these little ones to stumble.? This is the passage that comes to mind when I read today's Scripture.
Grab your God given heritage and gifts by the balls and assert your rights and seek out a community that welcomes you and loves you. God will smile back.
We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers. For you, brothers and sisters, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea, for you suffered the same things from your own compatriots as they did from the Jews, who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out; they displease God and oppose everyone by hindering us from speaking to the Gentiles so that they may be saved. Thus they have constantly been filling up the measure of their sins; but God’s wrath has overtaken them at last.
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