Mark 1:29-45
I'm feeling bold today. How many times do we think that everything is cool, we just don't want to acknowledge the elephant in the room? Someone might say, I don't mind if people are gay - I just don't want to see it. You can see people of all ages (hetero people) showing simple signs of affection, holding, hands, a simple kiss, a simple "heh, honey" said in a food store while shopping; all these are ok until it's 2 men or two women. Screech! Halt! That's sooo disgusting. Do they have to do that in public? Don't let me fool you though, I'm not just talking being gay. It's all of life. So when I read today's passage and I read about Peter's mother-in-law, I have to laugh. That's right Peter, the first Pope, the man whom Jesus handed the keys to - he was married.
So what happened in the Roman Catholic church? I thought celibacy was a gift and a mandated 'state of grace' for Roman clergy? (aside from converting clergy who were already married. That's ok). It's so in your face that Peter was married and now they can't. Well, many Popes and priests were married and many 'on the side' as well. It's laughable. While celibacy may be a special gift, it is not a gift to all. It cannot be mandated and it should never be a tool for the church to say that, basically, you are not called because you cannot remain celibate. So there it is, out and proud, Peter was married - to a woman!
This morning I opened my computer only to find Gay Clergy Trading cards. What a hoot. How, 'in your face!' Gay clergy have been around forever, hiding amidst deniers and people who say being gay is "intrinsically disordered" while having a more than normal percentage of gay clergy within their own ranks. Let's face it, so much of what the Roman church teaches is not of God per se, it's made up and defies logic and is wrong for everyone to see. Sometimes, often times, the lunacy and hypocrisy is just so in your face. From blaming gays for clergy abuse, to 'celebate clergy, to 'annulments' instead of divorce to rampant 'birth control of the faithful and people who routinely 'live in sin'. Most of it is hypocritical BS, and the faithful know it!
So for today I am going to stick my toes in the water of everything that is 'in your face' and love it. I may even let my feet get pruney in those waters. There are so many elephants in the room, so much BS, let's spend a day acknowledging and facing some of it and really enjoying it. Don't you think God laughs at us? Let's laugh at ourselves a bit and in the process raise our conscienceless.
I'm feeling bold today. How many times do we think that everything is cool, we just don't want to acknowledge the elephant in the room? Someone might say, I don't mind if people are gay - I just don't want to see it. You can see people of all ages (hetero people) showing simple signs of affection, holding, hands, a simple kiss, a simple "heh, honey" said in a food store while shopping; all these are ok until it's 2 men or two women. Screech! Halt! That's sooo disgusting. Do they have to do that in public? Don't let me fool you though, I'm not just talking being gay. It's all of life. So when I read today's passage and I read about Peter's mother-in-law, I have to laugh. That's right Peter, the first Pope, the man whom Jesus handed the keys to - he was married.
So what happened in the Roman Catholic church? I thought celibacy was a gift and a mandated 'state of grace' for Roman clergy? (aside from converting clergy who were already married. That's ok). It's so in your face that Peter was married and now they can't. Well, many Popes and priests were married and many 'on the side' as well. It's laughable. While celibacy may be a special gift, it is not a gift to all. It cannot be mandated and it should never be a tool for the church to say that, basically, you are not called because you cannot remain celibate. So there it is, out and proud, Peter was married - to a woman!
This morning I opened my computer only to find Gay Clergy Trading cards. What a hoot. How, 'in your face!' Gay clergy have been around forever, hiding amidst deniers and people who say being gay is "intrinsically disordered" while having a more than normal percentage of gay clergy within their own ranks. Let's face it, so much of what the Roman church teaches is not of God per se, it's made up and defies logic and is wrong for everyone to see. Sometimes, often times, the lunacy and hypocrisy is just so in your face. From blaming gays for clergy abuse, to 'celebate clergy, to 'annulments' instead of divorce to rampant 'birth control of the faithful and people who routinely 'live in sin'. Most of it is hypocritical BS, and the faithful know it!
So for today I am going to stick my toes in the water of everything that is 'in your face' and love it. I may even let my feet get pruney in those waters. There are so many elephants in the room, so much BS, let's spend a day acknowledging and facing some of it and really enjoying it. Don't you think God laughs at us? Let's laugh at ourselves a bit and in the process raise our conscienceless.
As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.
That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him.
In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, ‘Everyone is searching for you.’ He answered, ‘Let us go on to the neighbouring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.’ And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.
A leper came to him begging him, and kneeling he said to him, ‘If you choose, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him, and said to him, ‘I do choose. Be made clean!’ Immediately the leprosy left him, and he was made clean. After sternly warning him he sent him away at once, saying to him, ‘See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.’ But he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.
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