Gays gathering the sheep

       I recall having a discussion with a coworker many, many years ago about the creation narratives in the Bible. I am a firm believer that the inspired words of God lay out who is responsible for all that we see, have and experience around us. I do not believe for one minute that God actually created the world in seven days. My friend would simply pose the question "are you saying God could not create the world in seven days?" My answer is that of course God could do so but that the evidence God has provided in the created world gives evidence of a more robust and complex story. I would add, a grand schema that the ancients could not even begin to fathom, so God put the essence of the story into their hearts and hence , onto paper, or papyrus or simply as a verbal history before that. But I would hasten to remind myself and everyone, God IS capable of doing anything. There is no proverbial rock that God can create that is too big for her to lift.

       In this passage from Jeremiah, it would almost seem unbelievable that God spoke then about what goes on today.  It is astounding how much truth is in Jeremiah's words. One need only see the message of actions produced by the Roman Church in their malformed traditions and dogma that facilitated, if not created, the scandals of child abuse and perhaps equally as repugnant, the cover ups in attempts to repress scandal.  It is horrifying how many people have been lost to God because of their actions. Today we see the bastardization of God's message by many conservative, so called Christian, evangelists that are causing countless more people to turn their backs on God's abiding and bountiful love.

        It seems to me that God is already gathering the scattered and marginalized, calling to them as only God does and giving them the mantle of responsibility to witness and carry on Her message of abiding love. God after all, can call, and does call, anyone She wishes. The Bible is replete with unlikely servants answering the call. Trumpers note: I hasten to say that there are also those unlikely people who claim to be messengers of God but who repudiate the message by their ungodly actions and lack of love. Love as I remind you is the ultimate arbiter. But I digress. Who then is it that God is calling to gather the scattered sheep?

          I can find not much better example of love, inclusiveness, struggle for recognition and whose message has been bastardized and marginalized than those of the LGBTQ community. Theirs is a love and an inclusiveness that mirrors the diversity and magnificence of Gods created world.Theirs is a love that speaks to God's relentless and abiding love for us in all of creation.  To those who will inevitably point to some puritanical code born of male dominance and misogyny or some misguided and literal translations of Scripture to boost their own anti-LGBTQ agenda, let us note how well the 'straight' community has done at the task of delivering God's message of love. Hate, philanderers, incest, child abuse, titty bars, one night stands and adultery are all born of the straight community, not from our LGBTQ brethren. If you take note of how many times God speaks of, and puts restrictions on sexual behavior in Scripture, it is far and away the straight communities actions involving relationships that God notes problems with. In fact, there are few notations of same sex relationships in Scripture and the few that are noted are loving and committed. One need only look at the stories of Ruth and Naomi or David and Jonathan or the Centurion and his Pais.

         If we look to the LGBTQ community and the promise and diversity of the rainbow, ever present in their flag, you will see the message of God's abiding love and diversity. The gay community is gathering the sheep as proclaimed in Jeremiah. Let us not squander that calling as so many others have done and let us be worthy and willing to take up God's mantle.

        For the marginalized, oppressed and for God's message of love and inclusiveness, I pray.

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’