OT and the Ugliness of Today's World

I glanced at the readings assigned for today, and was struck how the lesson from Habakkuk could speak so well to the emotions many of us in the LGBT community feel when we see report after report about kids being bullied... sometimes to death. Integrity USA is calling upon priests in the Episcopal Church to address the rampant reports of bullying in their sermons tomorrow. I am not a priest, but here's a sermon based on the OT reading in Track Two that I'd want every gay Christian to hear...

The oracle that the prophet Habak'kuk saw.
O LORD, how long shall I cry for help,
and you will not listen?
Or cry to you "Violence!"
and you will not save?

How many of us have felt this at times when we have been the target of an attack? Certainly, I have lived these lines both through my turbulent teenage years, and even as recently as the start of this decade. I wondered aloud why God was so far from me? Why was I being left to fend for myself while the wolves were breathing words of hatred and condemnation against me.

Why do you make me see wrongdoing
and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me;
strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack
and justice never prevails.
The wicked surround the righteous--
therefore judgment comes forth perverted.

And here, we have my sentiments expressed exactly about all that I have been reading this week. Young middle and high school boys perceived to be or outwardly gay are taking their lives in an effort to escape the pain of being picked on constantly. This speaks to the problem I see in a society that still treats homosexuality and homosexual persons as freaks and people who are somehow "less than". This gets reinforced by the laws that treat us as second-class citizens, and the schools that, even after lawsuits, have yet to get the message that it is NOT a rite of passage to allow kids to stalk and beat up other students. It is compounded by the words of our allies when the people who are supposed to be our "friends" talk about our "lifestyle choice", our sexual "preference" or (my least favorite word) "tolerance". Please, folks: am I so difficult to live with that you simply "tolerate" me? Is tolerance the way to show that you respect the dignity of every human being?

I will stand at my watchpost,
and station myself on the rampart;
I will keep watch to see what he will say to me,
and what he will answer concerning my complaint.

Just as I've stood in the complaint line to the Almighty, as I have moved more in the direction of God in my life, I have also known the solace and the power from going quiet, and waiting on the reply to my complaints. I am not naive. I don't expect God to send me an email or a text message to my cell with "the plan to make this a better world." But I do know that, in my continued hope, I know that there is a power beyond me that has heard the complaints and is "working on it". Can I be patient to keep watch? That's always the big question. An immediate response to the injustice would be much nicer.

Then the LORD answered me and said:
Write the vision;
make it plain on tablets,
so that a runner may read it.
For there is still a vision for the appointed time;
it speaks of the end, and does not lie.
If it seems to tarry, wait for it;
it will surely come, it will not delay.

"For there is still a vision for the appointed time; it speaks of the end, and does not lie. If it seems to tarry, wait for it; it will surely come, it will not delay." This is the Biblical way of stating, "It Gets Better." When you are in the thick of feeling shat upon by the world, it's hard to hang on to this hope. And that's what I see in the lives of these young people who are killing themselves because they've been identified as queer. There's been no discussion of what, if any, faith life they might have had. But, if they are like most of us in the LGBT community, the church has not been a safe harbor during the anti-gay storm. And yet, I firmly believe that God is with them as God was, and is, with me. Whether they want to see that God in the same way that I do, through the window of Jesus Christ, is another matter... which doesn't matter to me. What does matter is that if you are among the harassed know that there is Love in the world... as above and so below. If it seems to take forever to respond, wait for it. It is there for you to taste, but you must remain alive to know it, and not allow the bullies to grind you down.

Look at the proud!
Their spirit is not right in them,
but the righteous live by their faith.

I believe the oracle has summed this up well for the prophet and for us. Those who believe themselves superior, who are haughty and who place the stumbling blocks in front of gay people in an effort to crush their spirits... it is the spirit of those mean people which is not right in them. Remember that!! And don't let the term "righteous" scare you off. What does it mean to be counted among the righteous? It has nothing to do with you needing NOT to be gay (despite what any person on earth might have told you!) You are righteous because God, the creator, has made you good just as you are. If you are Christian, Christ has restored you to that place of righteousness through the crucifixion punctuated with the resurrection; you just have to believe it, internalize that feeling, and go forth to treat others with that same sense of being loved by Love. Can you do that and be queer? Yes!! You can!!! Don't let those who are the "proud" tell you otherwise!

With that in mind, let us pray:

Almighty God, who created us in your image: Grant us
grace fearlessly to contend against evil and to make no peace
with oppression; and, that we may reverently use our freedom,
help us to employ it in the maintenance of justice in our
communities and among the nations, to the glory of your holy
Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with
you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
--Collect for Social Justice, BCP pg. 246