Gathering the Outcasts

The Lord, your God, is in your midst,
a warrior who gives victory;
he will rejoice over you with gladness,
he will renew you* in his love;
he will exult over you with loud singing
as on a day of festival.*
I will remove disaster from you,*
so that you will not bear reproach for it.
I will deal with all your oppressors
at that time.
And I will save the lame
and gather the outcast,
and I will change their shame into praise
and renown in all the earth.
At that time I will bring you home,
at the time when I gather you;
for I will make you renowned and praised
among all the peoples of the earth,
when I restore your fortunes
before your eyes, says the Lord.
--Zephaniah 3: 17-20

As we look at the growing brightness of the candles of the Advent wreath, I am reminded that while there are four equal parts light, the spaces between those bright lights aren't quite as illuminated. And in this way, I see this as a metaphor for 'the world'. There is brightness in the corners, but we haven't achieved full enlightenment yet.
Today's international LGBT news is another illustration of what I'm talking about: on the one hand, there is an interview a friend forwarded to me from Christianity Today with David Zac Niringiye, an assistant Bishop in the Church of Uganda in Kampala, who basically is telling westerners protesting the proposed Anti-Homosexuality bill, "Shut up and stay out of our business, you colonial creeps!" It should be noted that the bishop never seems to talk about "sisters in Christ" preferring only to reference his 'brother'. This is not surprising as most homophobes are likely to be misogynists as well.
At the other end of the day, and half-a-world away from Uganda... in Mexico City, the government in this highly Roman Catholic Latin center has termed marriage, "the free union between two people." This opens the door to same-sex marriages, AND the city legislature also adopted a law allowing same-sex couples to adopt children. Wow! Light amidst the dark.
As I've been sitting with Advent this time around and prepping for the entry of God into the world, I am feeling a great sense of anticipation that, indeed, I am part of that grouping of outcasts that will be gathered. I keep hearing and seeing evidence in other parts of the country and the world that the light of Christ is illuminating these previously darkened areas.
But, see, that's the point: I hear and I see... but the light is still just a dim shimmering luminescence seen through the curtain that the opponents of such light keep holding across the window. And I wonder, "How long?" I can see this light, I know it's there, but when will it be allowed to really shine here? This is a concept that I think escapes my brothers and sisters privileged to live closer to the light. It is a reality that my straight brothers and sisters live with in their own homes, and thus can not understand what it means not to have it's warm glow shining in the living room just because there are those who do not believe I am supposed to have this light.
At least I can glimpse it's glow through the curtain-drawn window. My brothers and sisters in Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda... and elsewhere... are threatened by those who would extinguish this light from the world... or at least from their sight.

"Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation,
that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a
mansion prepared for himself..."

I have never before felt such a desire to "prepare a mansion" in me to welcome the one who will ransom this new captive Israel. We need this light to start a fire in the belly of all people to see that we must end the strife and the desire to turn love into a criminal act, one to be despised, imprisoned, and killed.
Ah, but then isn't that Holy Week?