Not tough love but more than enough love

     'Those feck'n gays. Lord knows what they do. They ain't no good, the Bible says so'.  That's just one line and I've heard some version of it all my life, long before I even realized it stung ( or is that stunk? ) so much because I myself am gay. I didn't realize that until I was about 50 years old and how liberating and wonderful was that epiphany.  There are so many words uttered in condemnation of the LGBTQ community. I can say unequivocally that any part of Scripture that speaks against homosexuality is being grossly misinterpreted. The ancients did not know what homosexuality was. What is mentioned as sinful: prostitution with children, pedastry and sins abusing the flesh.What we know as loving committed relationships was fully known and embraced in all of history and isn't mentioned in Scripture . Well that's not quite true. Jesus did cure the Centurions "Pais" which was a junior male lover.  Jesus did in fact cure his lover. Great passage. Oh, and then there is Jonathan and David, a rather racy passage from Hebrew Scripture. All the wailing and gnashing of teeth over homosexuality are just excuses for ignorance and hatred. It is a total unwillingness to love. An easy out for lazy unloving people.

         The Apostles had an easy out too. In today's passage there are clearly way too many people to feed. Let's do the honorable, smart thing and send them out by themselves to find food. Jesus would not have that though. What have we got? Five loaves and 2 fish? That will do. The miracle of the loaves and the fishes.

         We can make excuses about the gay community, our neighbor who is gay, a coworker or cousin, son, or daughter. And this applies to anyone really, you fill in the blank, a nationality, immigrants, a different faith, you decide. Our decision to dislike, hate or ignore is so anti-Christian as to be rude, reckless and sinful. It is not that we cannot love, it is a decision to not love. Once you overcome your ignorance, stubbornness and hatred and actually decide to love, you'll find there is tons of love to go around. Everyone will be fed with an overabundance of love left over. 

     This passage of the Loaves and the fishes is supposed to be giving us a message. If you want to take it more literally, then by all means start by feeding the poor. The USA and world has more than the means to feed everyone. Not doing so is really the abomination we could speak of, not homosexuality. Vote for candidates that speak of the brotherhood of everyone and that respects life, cradle to grave and that will be helping you act on the literal nature of this passage - feeding every one's needs. But do not forget that this passage of Jesus is a parable. It speaks also of feeding everyone spiritually, it speaks of loving with love being left over.

       No excuses, no tough love, there could be more than enough love.

 

Matthew 14:13-21

Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.And those who ate we

The Gay Bui Doi

     When I read today's passage I cannot help but think of some young man living in the Bible belt, or anywhere actually, trying to get up the nerve to tell his ( or her ) parents that they are gay. In far too many instances the young person is met with hatred, judgment and derision. After all, they've taken an oath of sorts, "we're God fearing Christians". They follow blindly what they have heard and spurn the child they have always loved, nurtured and have known to be ( at least up until this point ), a good and decent, loving Christian. I want to get sick.

       What kind of Christian fails to love everyone? especially their own child?  They follow spurious translations and hateful preachers and religions and disown the very person they have cherished. A child that The Gay Bui Doi that God has entrusted to their care, to nurture and show example of God's love.  They seem to be the one's that chopped off John the Baptists head with misguided notions, oaths and beliefs.

         I once read that whenever you are challenged with a translation of Scripture or a contradiction in Scripture ( there are many of them ), the path to take is the one where love prevails. Not judgment, fake logic or hatred. The path is love. And if your are in a quagmire as to what to do, know that you will never go wrong by loving a person. Let your loving heart be your guide.

      

Matthew 14:1-12

At that time Herod the ruler heard reports about Jesus; and he said to his servants, ‘This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and for this reason these powers are at work in him.’ For Herod had arrested John, bound him, and put him in prison on account of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, because John had been telling him, ‘It is not lawful for you to have her.’ Though Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded him as a prophet.But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced before the company, and she pleased Herod so much that he promised on oath to grant her whatever she might ask. Prompted by her mother, she said, ‘Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.’ The king was grieved, yet out of regard for his oaths and for the guests, he commanded it to be given; he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. The head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, who brought it to her mother. His disciples came and took the body and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

Historical LGBTQ's

     Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? (Mt. 7:5) or, sometimes you can't see the forest for the trees. Oddly enough, today's passage (below) reminds me of this other passage, especially when I think of the LGBTQ community. The assembled congregation of Jesus' community apparently had made their own judgments about who are capable of being chosen; who could retain the wisdom and knowledge of the Sacred scrolls. A carpenters son, the 'local boy' was not one of those to be chosen. 

   How often are we concerned with someone else's failings or worse, perceived failings, that we don't even think about our own, dismissing people in wholesale fashion? And again, perhaps worse still, we are convinced we have no faults at all. We are an arrogant lot sometimes. We really should be judging less, even if the prevailing opinion or doctrines of the day say someone is wrong or just cannot be right. 

     What am I getting at? The hysteria unleashed when someone announces that they are gay, transgender, bisexual. Welcome at home? the community? Still your friend or no? How many people see one aspect of a person so as to dismiss the rest of what they are or have to say or offer?  People are judged and dismissed.

     I thought I would simply Google a few people that history would be dramatically different and are lives poorer in so many ways had we dismissed them because of their sexuality. You of course can dismiss them now but the contributions of these 'local boys' , not unlike Jesus, will forever grace our lives.

     King David ( of the scriptural gay couple, Jonathan and David  - note: steamy! )
     Aristotle, Socrates and Plato
     Alexander the Great
     Julius Caesar
     Michelangelo
     Leonardo DaVinci 
     Shakespeare
     Walt Whitman
     George Bernard Shaw
     Alan Turing
     Ralph Waldo Emerson
     Eleanor Roosevelt
     
Fascinating list and this would be the cliff notes version. When you Google it, you'll see.
We have a rather proud and illustrious community.  How rich are our lives today because of the presence of a person who could have been so easily dismissed. 

     Our self righteousness and arrogance, our blind vision and judgmental ways are often, if not always at the root of our biggest sin - failure to love as Jesus taught us.  For those of us that claim to be Christian, this is a cruel and real indictment that we should take seriously. Even worse, those that claim Christianity and being gay, we should really be at the forefront of love, inclusiveness and judgment free living.

     

     

Matthew 13:53-58

When Jesus had finished these parables, he left that place.

He came to his home town and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?’ And they took offence at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honour except in their own country and in their own house.’ And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.

a vision of Heaven

     What is the kingdom of heaven?  I know a common belief is  that Heaven is a place where everything is good. Perhaps all our indulgences are met without any of the earthly concerns. Drive any car you want, no need for money. Eat all the foods you love, you'll never get fat. In Islam it's the notion that you will be granted 72 virgins if you do the will of Allah. 

     Jesus seemed to always use parables to describe the unknown or some lesson he wished to impart. In our passage from Matthew today, Jesus makes comparisons as to what Heaven is like, all earthly examples. 

       As humans I don't think we are fully capable of knowing or understanding the full truth embodied in Christ as to what Heaven is really like. I do believe we can catch large glimpses of it here on earth. It is not the gorging banquet, it is not 72 virgins and it is not instant gratification of all our earthly wants and desires.

        It does though have a great deal to do with our desires. Specifically, our need to love and be loved.  Perhaps that's where that notion, how’re very misguided, about the 72 virgins comes into play. How many people equate sex with love? Since the two are so closely related, you can understand the confusion. Sex speaks to the core of our beings. Offering and sharing one our most intimate aspects of being. It is not merely about procreation, it is about a relationship. It is all about sharing the magnificent gifts we have as sexual beings with another or others, plural. I am not speaking of indiscriminate, mindless sex. I am speaking of the totality of our beings, spiritual and sexual, being shared to give us a clearer vision of God's creative and redemptive power.  A real vision of Heaven on earth. It has nothing to do with money or toys or power. It has to do with offering, sharing, being and allowing yourself to give and feel the joy of our gifted sexuality. 

        This cannot be confined to merely male and female. It cannot be contained by a simple biological act such as procreation. This preview of Heaven is all about who we are created to be and the totality of our essence. In this way, all of God's innumerable creations, the spectrum of the LGBTQ community, full of God's diversity is not only capable of our unique window into Heaven but it is required of us to fulfill our creative and redemptive purpose.

     Wow! Can you imagine the joy, the beauty, the power of humanity accepting, offering and sharing love on infinite levels?  Every handshake, every hug, every look, every act of physical, sexual love a vision and foretaste of our wholeness, holiness and Heaven.

     In my view of the world and heaven, we must fully accept whom God made us to be for the world to be a happy, heavenly and cooperative creation of our Creator.  There is no limit to the variety God has created. Wider even than any LGBT labels we may create. In this way we are all queer, all differently created in our own unique ways. We all have gifts to offer and share and we are called to embrace whatever that is, to the full. Only in this way will the redemptive power of God's love be fully engaged in the world and then, perhaps then, our vision of Heaven on earth will be clearer than ever before.

Matthew 13:44-52

‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which someone found and hid; then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and caught fish of every kind; when it was full, they drew it ashore, sat down, and put the good into baskets but threw out the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

‘Have you understood all this?’ They answered, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of a household who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.’

Praying the gay away?

     I didn't come out until I was 50 years old.  You might think how horrible it is to live a closeted life for fifty years but in fact it wasn't so. I knew I was different all of my life. I made every effort to live the 'normal life' I was raised to believe was correct.  The fact was, I was so busy trying to be the best 'normal person' that I might never have even realized I was gay. Coming out is no simple task. You do not wake up one morning, yawn, stretch and say "oh my, I'm gay!" This is especially true if you have so much invested in not coming to terms with your sexuality.  I am grateful and excited for the times in which we live that allows the freedom for people to discern at an early age their true identity and not have to feel embarrassed or have some need to hide who the are. Bravo! It was not as easy with my generation.

      Why am I sharing this somewhat intimate detail of my life? Well for one thing, it isn't all that intimate. Truly I could write a book about my life and my journey to wholeness, spiritually and sexually.  The reason I am sharing is because it wasn't something on my radar ( or gaydar ) to pray for.  I think we are accustomed to praying for exactly what we want. We see things the way we want and our answers  ( our prayers ) to God are for the things as we want them answered. When our prayers are not answered the way we want it causes a kind of internal upheaval. We can get mad a God. We can make the assessment that perhaps we were not good enough to get what we are asking for. Our prayers are not centered in help me, guide me, mold me, give me an answer of discovery and truth.

       I've heard someone say "who would ask to be gay?"  Who would make a decision to be part of a distinct minority even in a somewhat more enlightened world?  How many people have tried to pray the gay away? It is ludicrous idea and frankly wrong. It is an arrogant request born of an arrogant position of correctness. To deny ones essence is against God's plan of love and of a diverse creation. If you are gay, it is wrong not to embrace it in every way. 

        Yet we still pray for what we want. We want the answers that we ourselves would mete out. We are rather arrogant, cocky beings at times. The holy ones, those that are happy and true inside, those that can be true conduits of God's transforming love all have one thing in common. That is the ability to be molded. The ability to pray withing preconceived notions of what the answer is. Perhaps even pray in thanks with no requests at all and get astounding and magnificent responses.

       I prayed for wholeness and closeness to God with admittedly some pre-conceived ideas about what the answers should be. In spiritual training I learned to listen to answers to questions not even asked. I learned to listen to the movement of the Spirit.  This is what made the first crack in my shell to a rebirth, a hint that I was gay. When that revelation was in conflict with the material existence of my life, there was great turmoil. There was therapy, There was prayer. I listened and didn't like the answers. I prayed some more, worked more and listened more. When I realized who I was, I finally agreed to embrace myself in full.

        I sometimes think, I never, ever would have imagined my life now when I was younger. All I could recognize then is that I was different. I tried to hide in the comfort of the masses, literally and figuratively. Neither one is a good hiding place for who you truly are. Neither is a good closet.

        I pray always to be open and malleable to God's loving hands. To allow myself to be molded into the person I was created to be. I shutter to think how warped and angry and unfulfilled I would be if I had not listened to God. I am listening still. 

        Listening for answers to questions unasked. Listening without supplying the answers I concoct myself. My notes for today on prayer and being gay.

Luke 11:9-13

‘So I say to you, Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is there anyone among you who, if your child asks for a fish, will give a snake instead of a fish? Or if the child asks for an egg, will give a scorpion? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!’

Gay Pride month and Blandina

     Today we take up in Scripture where we were two days ago with the harvest, the end times. Jesus is speaking about 'children of the kingdom' and 'children of the evil one'.  It seems pretty straight forward and certainly the arrogance of some would simply say something like I am a child of the kingdom, "I am saved" and you are evil and going to hell. That also seems pretty straight forward.  Perhaps true when taken out of context like so many religious zealots do, but it is not so simple in light of the way Jesus lived, whom he consorted with, what he did and others things He said. Jesus was all embracing, all loving.

      Today the Episcopal church remembers Blandina who was martyred on or near this date in the year 177. In a twist of irony from today, Christians were the ones as outsiders, labelled and accused of living evil lives. Accused of incest, cannibalism, I am sure there was more, stirred up by those in power, those in the majority, those who 'knew' they were right and that Christians were, perhaps 'soul-less'  by their standards. 

      The tables have turned now. Some so called Christians are the accusers, the ones labelling others as impure, guilty of unforgivable sins, sinful lives, "intrinsically disordered".  As this begins the month of Gay Pride! , how fitting is it that we take an earnest look at how the gay community has been vilified?  Lack of understanding, lack of compassion, arrogance, all play a part in the isolation, denigration and persecution of the LGBTQ community. 

      The real funny part is that it is the so called 'straight' community that has been guilty of abominations and social sins since time immemorial.  Concubines, Lots daughters getting their own father drunk and seducing him. The Bible is full of it. In modern times, has vice, cheating, one night stands, hook-up bars and 'titty bars'  been a construct of the gay community or the straight community? The truth is anyone can live an immoral life but those ills are creations of the straight community, not the gay community.

       As ridiculous as it is to think that a real Christian would act the way Blandina and her companions were accused of and martyred for, so it is ridiculous to paint all of the LGBTQ community with a brush of filth and immoral living. As far as propensity to do good or evil, we are all quite equal no matter who we are or who we love.

        Let us all, even within the LGBTQ community, look for understanding, compassion , empathy. That could be a real and honorable goal this pride month.

Matthew 13:36-43

Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, ‘Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.’ He answered, ‘The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!

Truths without words

    When Jesus was asked what is the greatest commandment, he came up with an answer that forever changed the world. You might have thought, as so many do, that all you needed were those ten commandments but Jesus always has a lot more to say. Jesus is always trying to guide us. Apparently words alone are not always enough. We need an explanation, a comparison, a parable. We need something that spells out the Spirit of the words. We need something that touches us inside that expresses the true meaning of something. We had those Ten commandments all written down nice and easy and we flubbed it. So Jesus goes on to tell us the Two Great Commandments. They make the original ten a bit harder to follow but get to the essence of the matter. When Jesus spoke, he spoke in parables to help us get the message as in today's passage from Matthew.

       It seems that in our legalistic and own picayune ways we interpret so many things based solely on words. We tend to like the black and white of things and prefer to ignore the gray.  As humans however, we have a need to get to the crux of the matter, what is the real message. As Spock's mother would probe, "How do you feel?"

       Words so often trip us up. Politicians and religions often use words to lie, obfuscate and control. What methods are at hand to help us? Jesus as we know used parables. What more have we now?

        I think our thirst to seek truth, knowledge and heartfelt communication is why we have such varied arts. Photography, painting, poetry, movies, music, drama and myriad other forms of art are all our attempts to communicate truths about our inner beings, our souls. Just as Jesus used parables, art in in broadest term is our attempt to crash through mere words that can be used to enlighten but often can be used to confuse, mislead and lie.

        One thing I'd like to do today, perhaps this week, is to focus on how the arts touch my soul and the truth(s) that the artist is trying to convey like Jesus offering a parable.

Matthew 13:31-35

He put before them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that someone took and sowed in his field; it is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it has grown it is the greatest of shrubs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.’

He told them another parable: ‘The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour until all of it was leavened.’

Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing. This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet:
‘I will open my mouth to speak in parables;
   I will proclaim what has been hidden from the foundation of the world.’