On Wednesday...Juneteenth...I was remembering the day that would have been my mom's 97th birthday. As a way of marking the date, I posted a video I had made for her memorial service in Tallahassee of her "reporter on the scene" account she did for the international LGBTQ+ program "This Way Out" of Bishop Gene Robinson's consecration in November, 2003. It was delightful, if bittersweet, to listen to my mom's voice and in her very "Anonymous Peggins" way describe the event that rocked The Episcopal Church 20+ years ago.
I also heard some interesting interviews as I drove to a clericus meeting with a variety of black artists, part of the Juneteenth programming happening on NPR that day. More about that in a moment.
As I left clericus and started on my way to Valdosta, I was shocked and hurt by a meme posted by one of the St. Barnabas faithful. It was one of those designed to denigrate queer people while extolling the mighty and proud U.S. Army. (For the record, the church member apologized.)
And then...as I started researching the First Reading assigned for this Sunday (1 Sam. 17:57-18:5, 10-16), I was again hit with more homophobia as biblical commentators attempted to distance this reading from any suggestion that King David and Prince Jonathan might have had some feelings for one another that went beyond handshakes.
All of these thoughts...experiences...and the wounds ripped open in me...led to this sermon.
And, dear reader, please understand that I did A LOT of research for this one.
Texts: the 1 Samuel mentioned above and Mark 4:35-41.
I
will never forget the first time I saw a woman standing at the altar.
I
was about ten years old and our Episcopal Church had called a deacon.
I
didn’t know what that was…but I knew it was someone ordained…and I knew her
name was Fran Potter.
What
I didn’t know was what an impression it was going to make on me to see her…the
Reverend Fran Potter…standing up front…wearing a white alb and stole…climbing
into the pulpit at Christ Episcopal Church…and being at the table.
There
was this bubble of excitement…of joy…and of glee…to see a woman…someone who
looked about my mom’s age…standing in the same space as all the male priests
and curates I’d seen up to that point.
Even
as a little kid…I was amazed at what a difference that made in my perception of
who could be a minister in the church.
Representation
matters.
This
week…as many of us were marking and remembering Juneteenth…I was struck again
by what it means to see someone occupying space that was normally held by the
cultural majority.
I
was listening to an interview with George Shirley…the first African-American
tenor at the New York Metropolitan Opera.
Mixed
in between snippets of his singing…which was full and round and gorgeous to
listen to…Shirley talked about his faith in God…and how that helped sustain him
in a world where he was very much a minority.
He
mentioned that…as a tenor in opera…those parts are the male romantic leads…and
so he would often have to stand beside a white…often European…soprano on the
Met stage.
He
shared one story from a time in 1963.
A music critic for the Saturday Evening Post
wrote a harsh critique of his portrayal of a French nobleman in the opera “Manon.”
This
critic had said something about Shirley not “looking like a French noble man.”
Shirley
said he could not let this particular comment go without a challenge.
He
wrote a letter to this critic.
After
asking questions about some of his other comments…he put to him a pointed
question:
what
does a French noble man look like?
And
he went on to name one of the major sopranos of the Met who had sung the role
of Aida.
That
character is supposed to be an Ethiopian princess.
So…she’s
supposed to be black.
But
the sopranos singing that role at the Met in those days were not black women.
He
never received a response to his letter.
Instead…that
critic refused to look George Shirley in the eye for the rest of his career.
As
Shirley noted…”Critics don’t like to be criticized.”
And
it no doubt gave that critic something to consider when evaluating the
performance of a singer who didn’t “look like” what they believed a character
should be.
George
Shirley loves singing…and has enjoyed playing various characters of Italian
operas in his career.
One
of the things he loves about music in general is its universality.
Music…from
his perspective…is for everyone and doesn’t belong to any one group of people.
For
him…there’s no reason why black people shouldn’t sing Verdi and white people
shouldn’t sing the art songs of the late African-American composer Harry
Burleigh.
As
long as everyone is singing and honoring the texts…it’s all good.
And
I can imagine for a young black boy to see a black man cast as a duke or prince
in an opera…it sends a message of “I can be that, too.”
Again:
representation matters.
The
same can be said for the stories in the Bible.
And
this morning…we heard the start of the relationship between the brave David…the
Goliath-slayer…and King Saul’s oldest son Jonathan.
In
our English translation of the Hebrew…we hear about the love Jonathan had for
David.
That
Jonathan gave him his cloak and his tunic… and the two men made a covenant with
one another.
For
anyone who is a member of the LGBTQ+ community…these words will prick up our
ears.
After
years and years of being told we don’t belong in the church… to have two men
professing such deep affection for one another is a welcome sign.
Representation
matters, right?
But
after looking at the Hebrew…and checking sources…and doing the type of research
you’re supposed to do when writing a sermon…the truth is…it’s not clear that
this is a gay male relationship in the way that we here in the 21st
century might think of it.
Do
gay people exist in the Bible?
Yes,
of course.
Gay
people have been in the world…long before the scientists of the 19th
century invented the term, “homosexual.”
And
there are characters in the Bible who defy traditional gender stereotypes.
That
beautiful coat given to Joseph.
As
the biblical scholar Peter Toscano points out—this long-sleeve coat of many
colors—uses the same Hebrew word—for the long robe worn by virgin daughters of
kings (2 Samuel 13:18).
So
the Bible contains the full scope of God’s created humanity…without zeroing in
on Jonathan and David.
However…there’s
no denying that this is a same-gender…same-sex relationship…something that we
would call a “Bromance.”
These
two men share a close bond… even a tenderness between them.
That
type of representation matters.
It
was distressing to me…as I was looking into the meaning of this moment…that
there were male commentators who responded with vitriol and anger at the
suggestion that this could be seen as a gay relationship.
Some
of them suggested that commentators who see queerness in this story were like
the dreaded enemy…the Philistines…the ones that David destroyed and killed
their giant leader Goliath.*
Such
criticisms…to me…went beyond your normal disagreement between theologians and
scholars.
That’s
when I looked at our Gospel lesson from Mark…and this scene out on the water.
Water
carries lots of representations…one of them being emotion.
And
in this scene…the waters are turbulent and violent.
The
disciples are frantic.
They’re
caught in a tempest on their boat.
And
where’s Jesus?
Sleeping.
They’re
terrified and screaming at him to save them…which…of course… he did.
And
then Jesus asks an important question:
“Why
are you afraid? Have you still no faith?”
Yes…things
were scary.
Storms
will do that…because they’re unpredictable.
But
Jesus was still in the boat…still with them.
“Why
are you afraid?” he asks.
Why
are some of these biblical commentators afraid?
As
a culture and as a society…I think we are unkind to boys and men.
Somewhere
along the way…boys are taught or conditioned that to be men…they can’t show
feelings.
They
are not allowed to be vulnerable.
They
must be strong…choke back their tears.
That
whole “frogs and snails and puppy dog tails” rhyme comes to mind.
God
forbid any boy have a touch of sugar and spice and everything nice.
I
did a training some years back at my massage school.
We
met one weekend a month over six months to learn techniques for helping clients
release trauma through their bodies.
The
majority of the class were women but there were four men, and the instructor
was a man, a former Vietnam Veteran.
On
the last day of this intensive time together…we did the usual sharing as we
were about to part ways.
And
what I remember was that the women in this class expressed how much they had
enjoyed working with the men.
These
guys were stunned.
The
women were so grateful to have been with men…most of whom were straight men by
the way…who were confident enough in themselves and who they were…that they
could let down their guards…and share their feelings with women…and with each
other.
And
in this world…allowing oneself to show any kind of weakness…is a true sign of
strength.
I
think the idea of men having the kind of deep affection for another man that we
see happening between David and Jonathan scares people…or certainly some male
theologians.
And
out fear…they become attackers.
In
that way…they become like King Saul.
Look
at what happened to him.
Saul…who
at first seems impressed with David…sees him as a threat.
He
is jealous of his success as a soldier…his skill as a musician…
When
he sees the love that his son Jonathan and…for that matter… all of Israel… is
showing to his rival…“evil enters him” and he attacks.
He
wants to kill David.
Destroy
this one who can be both a great warrior AND a lover of men.
Saul
fears David.
Fears
make us do terrible things.
Jealousy
will make us do terrible things.
Losing
control or power can make us go wild.
When
we let those things…those emotions…take over our hearts…we strike
out and attack each other.
And
nothing moves us further away from God.
It’s
this same fear that I read in all of those commentators who express such
disgust about the possible gay reading of Jonathan and David’s relationship.
We
may not be able to say beyond a shadow of doubt that Jonathan and David were
gay.
But
what we can say is that Jonathan did love David and could see in him the kind
of man he wanted to be with.
And
their kinship is a representation of male bonding.
Their
caring for each other is proof that men can and should allow themselves to have
feelings and be vulnerable with each other.
Boys
and men should have the confidence that it is OK to be both a warrior and
person who cries when they’re hurt.
Remember:
Jesus wept at the grave of his friend, Lazarus.
We
don’t need to be afraid of these feelings and relationships…whether they’re gay
or straight.
That
representation matters.
In
the name of God…F/S/HS
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