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Sodomites!

1 Timothy 1:1-17

           As a gay man my eyes widen a bit when I read scripture that speaks of sodomites in the same breath as murderers, fornicators and slave traders.

           Take a deep breath. Huhhhhh. OK, so I recall that sodomite is a word invented to refer to a single sexual act  in about 395 AD, perhaps a thousand years after the story of Sodom and Gomorrah was written. How interesting. Time to consult some biblical texts and exegesis. 

           I have always warned my readers of proper translations and in this case, the reading is rampant with translational problems. First, a sodomite might be simply a citizen of Sodom. Unfortunately, we know that is not what is being said in this passage. It is trying to refer to a sexual act. In correct translation the sin of Sodom (and Gomorrah) was not that of sexual relations between men, it was being inhospitable to Lot's guests. Even if you were to judge the male citizens of Sodom for wanting to have sex with Lot's guests it would be more on the vane of rape. It certainly does not correspond to a loving physical relationship of any kind, committed love or not. It was going to be a rape, pure and simple. I do not think that is acceptable in any reasonable religion or society. And what of Lot's daughters who were offered up in place of Lot's guests, what sin should we make of that? Is it acceptable to throw his daughters to the wolves and allow them to be raped? Where is the reasoning that the sin called Sodomy after the year 395 is homosexual anal sex and not rape? 

        If we are to accept the translation that is being used in this reading, what are we to make of some of the other listed sins? If fornicating is sinful, are we to abstain from sex altogether? Does this apply to straight and gays? What sense does that make? Is all sex a sin? No, not likely. Did God make such beautiful intimate life sustaining acts a sin? I believe intimacy is a gift from God. 

         Further, what of slave traders? I thought I read in Leviticus that having and selling slaves was OK. You can even pass them along and their children down as inheritance. At least that's true according to Leviticus.  Here it is listed with fornicators and murderers. What's up with that?

          Bad translations it seems are just that, bad translations.

          The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was inhospitality. Communities that had much and did not share or welcome strangers. Those are the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah. I would add the willingness to hand over your daughters to a gang of rapists might also be an incredible evil as well.

          As for fornicators, I would equate that with sexual promiscuity rather than loving, intimate sexual relations. Frankly, I think an argument could be made that it applies more to the straight community than it does to the gay community. Check out the one night stand crew at any club on a Friday night. Drinking and sex seem to be the order of the day for the young straight set. If sexual promiscuity is wrong, it is wrong for all, straight and gay. But if loving committed intimacy is OK, it is OK for all as well.

       As if to drive the whole bad translation thing down altogether, we see that slave trading is bad when in Hebrew scripture it is condoned as OK. How can faithful people change the Bible like that? The answer is that we have grown and realize that everything in scripture is not a universal OK. We are guided by the Holy Spirit to realize Slavery is wrong. We must pay careful attention to translation, context and the growth of mankind.

       Once again, bad translations are bad translations. Be careful. Read, inquire, nurture your faith and watch what you are reading.

Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Saviour and of Christ Jesus our hope,

To Timothy, my loyal child in the faith:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

I urge you, as I did when I was on my way to Macedonia, to remain in Ephesus so that you may instruct certain people not to teach any different doctrine, and not to occupy themselves with myths and endless genealogies that promote speculations rather than the divine training that is known by faith. But the aim of such instruction is love that comes from a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith. Some people have deviated from these and turned to meaningless talk, desiring to be teachers of the law, without understanding either what they are saying or the things about which they make assertions.

Now we know that the law is good, if one uses it legitimately. This means understanding that the law is laid down not for the innocent but for the lawless and disobedient, for the godless and sinful, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their father or mother, for murderers, fornicators, sodomites, slave-traders, liars, perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to the sound teaching that conforms to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.

I am grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he judged me faithful and appointed me to his service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the foremost. But for that very reason I received mercy, so that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example to those who would come to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.^* Amen.

Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on us.

1 Corinthians 2:1-13

          When I took philosophy in college there were certain arguments that were used in class. Not arguments that were fights, but logical discussions of sorts that were used to make a point, to prove something. As it was a Catholic University, very often it was an argument to prove the existence of God. It's all very intellectual and it is difficult to deny all the steps in the argument so that you are just carried along until you come to the final (correct) conclusion. I guess there is some value in all of it from the point of view as a believer. But for me, all you need do is open your eyes and look around to show that God exists. For those that need the intellectual approach, the philosophy stuff was good. 

            The Catholic Church has many such arguments. They have spend thousands of years formulating and perfecting arguments on a whole array of subjects and they would be loath to change anything that is not in line with approved beliefs. These beliefs become self sustaining too because after such length of time, other thoughts or arguments are dismissed because not only does the church have the so called logical arguments, they have the heavy weight of tradition behind them.

           In one fell swoop though, the arguments can be dismissed by simple and utter love. Far too little emphasis or attention is placed on the movement of the Holy Spirit within the church or in our own lives. There is a name for it, Sensus Fidelium, but it does not garner the power of logic or tradition.
Ironically , it is logic and tradition, two things that Jesus railed about.

          No one could say that Jesus life and works could be logical in any way.  From the standpoint of love it makes complete sense. But to rail against the religious elite, to stand against an occupying army, to consort with women, prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners, well, the result could easily be predicted. The only logic is that it was a way to certain death.

          The Spirit that is given to us is not to be trifled with. The power of the Spirit is alive and well. It is not born of logical arguments. It is not born of a male dominated hierarchy. The Spirit is born of love because God is love and the Spirit speaks. It was recognized by St. Francis and is true today as it ever was. It's essence is spoken of in this passage. Preach the Good news at all times, use words if necessary. Dispense with the rhetoric, the logical arguments, the tradition that falsely props up an ailing church. What is needed is love and listening to the Holy Spirit. If actions preach the Gospel, what is a faithful person to see from pedophilia, cover ups, organized suppression of women, financial scandals and the rest? What made the New Pope so endearing in his first days was his actions that were counter to tradition, actions that were open and loving, actions that showed the Spirit alive.

             Allow the Spirit in, allow the Spirit to live in our actions, words are not necessary when love abounds. Jesus whole life were actions of love for us. Emulate Jesus, welcome the Holy Spirit.

When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.

Yet among the mature we do speak wisdom, though it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to perish. But we speak God’s wisdom, secret and hidden, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
‘What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
   nor the human heart conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love him’—
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. For what human being knows what is truly human except the human spirit that is within? So also no one comprehends what is truly God’s except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the gifts bestowed on us by God. And we speak of these things in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual things to those who are spiritual.

Irony: once rejected, now a cornerstone.

1 Peter 2:4-10

       The Bible is sometimes used as a weapon against the gay community. When this is done, two things happen. One I believe is that God cringes and cries at the abuse of passages that are truly meant to be love stories between God and his people. Scripture contains immutable truths of love. If God is vengeful, I think the intolerant, unloving people who claim to hear His word as restrictive and in line with their own agenda should watch out. If not in this life, then the next. A secret corner of me wants to be at the pearly gates when they are turned away. They'll have this look of shock on their faces. That is, if God is vengeful. The second thing that happens when the Bible is misused and misinterpreted is that people in the gay community turn away from God. How many of us have been drummed into believing we are not worthy, we are evil, we are sinful? The innocents of God are turned away and the so called holy people are nothing more than agents of the devil. What else would you call someone that convinces people that God does not love them and that God's love is not inclusive and complete without restrictions. God's love is free and complete, total and without restriction.

         So when you come to a passage like this one, I almost cry because it speaks not only of Jesus as the stone rejected by man who becomes the cornerstone, it also speaks loudly to the gay community in a very positive way.

         Gays are often rejected.  To know that you were once rejected and now know that you are not evil just because of who you are is a beacon of hope and a source of joy and celebration. There are still those individuals and even churches that do not accept gays as full members of Gods love and creation just as they are. This passage is one of the ones that really helps you know that  it isn't so, you are accepted , loved and welcome.  You were rejected and now I am lifting you up, celebrating you as a special part of creation. No, not better than any other part of creation but a unique and planned part of creation. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

         What a glorious day to celebrate being gay. What a glorious day to say thank God for loving me and making me this way. Praise God. I was rejected and now am whole.

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in scripture:
‘See, I am laying in Zion a stone,
   a cornerstone chosen and precious;
and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.’
To you then who believe, he is precious; but for those who do not believe,
‘The stone that the builders rejected
   has become the very head of the corner’,
and
‘A stone that makes them stumble,
   and a rock that makes them fall.’
They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do.

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.
Once you were not a people,
   but now you are God’s people;
once you had not received mercy,
   but now you have received mercy.

Reflection on perfection

Hebrews 8:1-13

          There are those that set themselves up as leaders, both religious and secular. Then too, there are those who claim a lineage or devine right to rule. Agan, both religious and secular.

           This should not be so. There are no greater or lesser. There is no divine right to rule by any man.  Men are imperfect and as such cannot claim any direct and perfect line to the words of God. Men cannot claim infallibility for only God is infallible and perfect. Our words can only be imperfect reflections, adapatations and imperfect expressions of a perfect God. We can see God all around us and only in equality and in God's love can we claim our heritage. But we can claim nothing more than our heritage. We cannot claim to be better than anyone else. We cannot claim our journey is any better than anothers and we cannot claim that ours is the one true enlightened journey.

         We can and should help each other on our journeys to wholeness, this is the essence of our being which is to love. Help abounds all around us, in people, in texts of all kinds, in simply looking around us.

         That there is no perfect mediator here on earth, written or living. The love of God is in our hearts and is shown by our actions.

          

Now the main point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister in the sanctuary and the true tent that the Lord, and not any mortal, has set up. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; hence it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They offer worship in a sanctuary that is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly one; for Moses, when he was about to erect the tent, was warned, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.’ But Jesus has now obtained a more excellent ministry, and to that degree he is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted through better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one.

God finds fault with them when he says:
‘The days are surely coming, says the Lord,
   when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel
   and with the house of Judah;
not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors,
   on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt;
for they did not continue in my covenant,
   and so I had no concern for them, says the Lord.
This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel
   after those days, says the Lord:
I will put my laws in their minds,
   and write them on their hearts,
and I will be their God,
   and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach one another
   or say to each other, “Know the Lord”,
for they shall all know me,
   from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful towards their iniquities,
   and I will remember their sins no more.’
In speaking of ‘a new covenant’, he has made the first one obsolete. And what is obsolete and growing old will soon disappear.

The Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37

          I have mentioned before the value I place on using the Lord's Prayer as a meditation. By spending time on each word, this kind of meditation can take some time. It could take weeks if you really wanted to think about, research and pray on each word. Today's passage seems to focus on the word neighbor. Who is our neighbor, just as who is the "Our" in the Our Father.

          I am guessing it is never an easy choice no matter who you are, it almost always involves expanding your horizons, loving someone or some group that are at odds with what we think.

           For me that might be trying to understand and love the right wingnuts of American politics. For them it might very well be me, an out, proud, gay married man - and a Christian too!  It's never easy.

            What isn't easy is the part about loving and understanding. Jesus is not speaking of merely tolerating others whom we might view as social outcasts or at odds with our opinions.  Jesus wants us to love as in the verb "to love". We are called to action. We are not allowed to justify our position as the Priest or the Levite did.  To the Samaritan, it apparently did not matter what political persuasion the victim was.  It didn't matter who he was in life at all. What mattered was that he was a fellow human, a brother, part of "our" and a "neighbor" who was in need.  Empathy, love, compassion and action.

               If you recall my blog entry called "a Dear Slave" ( Sept. 27, 2012 ), you know that it was a Centurion that asks Jesus for help to cure his "slave". Look at the direct conflicts inherent in this. Officer of an occupying army. Itinerant Jewish preacher of the occupied. Jesus might have every reason to deny this man anything, even the time of day. Jesus' love though cannot be contained and we have a cure and another miracle. Not unlike the Samaritan helping the victim only kicked up a few notches.

        We are called to empathise, try, really try to understand others, not merely tolerate, to have compassion and to put our love into action as Jesus did and as the Samaritan did.  

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. ‘Teacher,’ he said, ‘what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ He said to him, ‘What is written in the law? What do you read there?’ He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’ And he said to him, ‘You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.’

But wanting to justify himself, he asked Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbour?’ Jesus replied, ‘A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who stripped him, beat him, and went away, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan while travelling came near him; and when he saw him, he was moved with pity. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, having poured oil and wine on them. Then he put him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii gave them to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him; and when I come back, I will repay you whatever more you spend.” Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?’ He said, ‘The one who showed him mercy.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’

Wolves in the Church

Acts 20:28-38

         I can see where the church hierarchy gets it's desire to maintain purity in the church and resist change if only from this one reading. The hints of problems are right here in this reading. Savage wolves will come among you leaves little doubt as to the problems the church would have.

         Before Jesus died for us on the cross, the Apostles argued about who would be first among them in heaven. This might be a glimpse of things to come. While Jesus knew what they were discussing and gave them the perfect response (if you want to be first, be the servant of all), the seeds were laid for trouble. Perhaps not in a malicious way, the faithful wanted to keep things as the were when Jesus was alive. There is a human tendency it seems to want things to remain the same and be like the good 'ol days.

           So perhaps the churches problems started with wanting it to be 'like the good ol days', it quickly moved to followers who were distorters of the truth. To heresy among followers and eventually (over hundreds of years now) to a complete distortion of the message where the crusades and the inquisition become rational ideas to address real concerns. In that case the wolves among you is actually a wolf within.   It seems a wolf within has been one of the biggest problems for the church over it's entire history.

        In wanting to protect the Church, seemingly at all costs, sometimes the Church itself has been sacrificed. There may have been a relinquishing of the message and ideals of Jesus for the sake of purity and maintaining the church. In reality, in following this approach, nothing of value is saved and what would remain becomes a hollow shell. What has become of the church, it's moral authority and the message of Jesus because of the cover ups of pedophilia and sexual abuses in the church? Where has that left the moral authority and message of the church?

        It seems ironic that the attachment to tradition and fear of change, itself a means of a wolf among the church, has lead to a further decay of exactly what the Holy Spirit has been trying to guide the church through. That is, a movement to a cohesiveness of God's message that is reconciled and reflective of the message He gives us in his natural world. Yet, the church has resisted over the centuries almost all attempts that the sciences have made to expand the mystery of God's creation. I say that because it is a truth that the more we actually know, the wider the mystery of creation becomes. The grander God becomes because of the beauty and complexity of His creation.

       This is a very broad overview of the wolves that have attacked the church, more from within than from without.  Perhaps it is the ideal time to stop and simply pray for the Church, pray for all of us.  We pray to listen well to you, Lord God, King of the Universe.
                                                          

Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son. I know that after I have gone, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Some even from your own group will come distorting the truth in order to entice the disciples to follow them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to warn everyone with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the message of his grace, a message that is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all who are sanctified. I coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothing. You know for yourselves that I worked with my own hands to support myself and my companions. In all this I have given you an example that by such work we must support the weak, remembering the words of the Lord Jesus, for he himself said, “It is more blessed to give than to receive.” ’

When he had finished speaking, he knelt down with them all and prayed. There was much weeping among them all; they embraced Paul and kissed him, grieving especially because of what he had said, that they would not see him again. Then they brought him to the ship.