Coming Out Day

       We all know at least one person for whom life seems like a dream come true. While it really isn't proper for us to make such judgments, there just are people who seem to have it better than the rest. Everything goes their way.  It might be a setup from their families who are rich, it might be a stroke of luck in one area of life or another but they go through life at least relatively unscathed by things that affect others.  That isn't to say we should dismiss their issues. We know that we can never make such judgments until we take a walk in their shoes. 

         The problem is that many people do make these judgments and in the reverse as well. If you have problems, it's your own fault they might say. Pull yourself up by your own boot straps they might say. Stand up for yourself, do this, do that, stop complaining. It might appear that there is little empathy from the haves of this world.

         On this day that we marks as "Coming out day", we also honour the Deacon Phillip in the Episcopal church. One of Philips many claims to fame if you will, is the conversion of the  eunuch who was a an official of the royal court of the Queen of Ethiopia ( probably Nubia, which we now know as the Sudan ). The eunuch might well have also been considered one of the members of class we are familiar with, LGBTQ.  He was what we might consider a sexual outsider. One of the hallmarks of anti-LGBTQ  people is that they like to administer to everyone what they think you should ( or should not ) be doing with one's genitals.  Here we have the absence of.  

          What consideration do people give to the class of people we refer to as LGBTQ?  Many churches seem fit to dismiss them for the aforementioned reason and define them by what they think they do, claim the do or are unwilling to do. As a faithful person, what consideration do you give? Are you gay yourself?

       Today's passage and today's remembrance of Philip both speak to hope and salvation of people that might be considered unworthy by others, as sinners perhaps.  These are people that the hoi polloi would say just get up and change, act properly. That isn't what God says. Just as Philip welcomed, embraced and spoke of salvation to the Eunuch, so Jesus forgives and gave hope to the woman labelled as sinner who washed His feet with tears and dried His feet with her hair.

          Love of God will not be overlooked by our Creator who wants nothing more than to love the created world and all it's inhabitants and fixtures. We are called into an intimate relationship with God. We are all called to respect each other and the world we live in that just referred to as 'fixtures'. There is always hope and love in God no matter what the naysayers say.

         Happy Coming Out Day, you are a beloved child of God.

 

Luke 7:36-50

 One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and took his place at the table. And a woman in the city, who was a sinner, having learned that he was eating in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster jar of ointment. She stood behind him at his feet, weeping, and began to bathe his feet with her tears and to dry them with her hair. Then she continued kissing his feet and anointing them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw it, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what kind of woman this is who is touching him—that she is a sinner.’Jesus spoke up and said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’ ‘Teacher,’ he replied, ‘speak.’ ‘A certain creditor had two debtors; one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debts for both of them. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘I suppose the one for whom he cancelled the greater debt.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning towards the woman, he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has bathed my feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not stopped kissing my feet.You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which were many, have been forgiven; hence she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little.’ Then he said to her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.’ But those who were at the table with him began to say among themselves, ‘Who is this who even forgives sins?’ And he said to the woman, ‘Your faith has saved you; go in peace.’