When in Doubt, Look at the Psalms

I direct your attention to Psalm 146, which begins...

Hallelujah!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
I will praise the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praises to my God while I have my being.

Put not your trust in rulers, nor in any child of earth,
for there is no help in them.

When they breathe their last, they return to earth,
and in that day their thoughts perish.

This is indeed true. And a very important truth that I return to when I contemplate the state of the Church and the world. Besides the Pope's plan to reinvigorate the Borg-like qualities of Rome ("You will be assimilated. Resistance is futile!"), there is the additional news out of Uganda about a new "final solution". The government, with backing from religious leaders, is proposing a law to make homosexuality a crime punishable by death.

Yes. Punishable by death.

And, as Elizabeth+ Kaeton on her blog "Telling Secrets" notes... there has been deafening silence from the leadership of the Episcopal Church and most notably the Archbishop of Canterbury, the guy who has been the first to serve up the LGBT faithful in hopes of holding together his crumbling Anglican Communion. This is the same ABC who will put out mealy-mouthed pronouncements that violence against the LGBT faithful is "bad"; HOWEVER they really are an icky bunch of people who are causing an awful lot of heartache, aren't they?

So, while some may be wondering and waiting for the leaders in Anglican world to say something about this troubling development in Uganda... I have long since lost any hope for human leaders to "get it". Even in our own country, in this state of Florida, governmental leaders think nothing of throwing LGBT people under the bus. And the Church stands silent, and this silence reads as tacit approval. At stewardship time, the Church is more than happy to take my "queer" money whether I'm celibate or not. But bless and honor my relationship? Never!

And so, where is there hope? Go back to the rest of Psalm 146:

Happy are they who have the God of Jacob for their help!
whose hope is in the Lord their God;

Who made heaven and earth, the seas, and all that is in them;
who keeps his promise for ever;

Who gives justice to those who are oppressed
and food to those who hunger.

The Lord sets the prisoners free;
the Lord opens the eyes of the blind;
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down;

The Lord loves the righteous;
the Lord cares for the stranger;
he sustains the orphan and widow,
but frustrates the way of the wicked.

The Lord shall reign for ever,
your God, O Zion, throughout all generations.
Hallelujah!

Never mistake the machinations of the men and women who claim to be "authority" with the true authority. Never forget that those who were marked as Christ's own forever with our baptism are bound to him through the Eucharist. This is the free grace of God, who is always looking out for those who are "bowed down"... and "sets the prisoners free." This grace, this love, comes through Jesus Christ who is the author of our salvation, not some purple-shirted God-wanna-be.

Your God, O LGBT community, is the Lord who reigns for ever. Sing Hallelujah! And remember that he will always be with you until the end of the age!