LGBT Pride Week: A Holy Week

photo by Winnie Miles

Tallahassee has something that most other communities do not have... and I'm not talking about the live oaks, the spanish moss, the pollen-laden air, or even the unbearably hot and humid summers.

Our LGBT Pride Week includes an interfaith service.

Lots of other places have gained support from the faith communities. Churches, especially Episcopal Churches, have set up booths along side Gay Pride parades to offer the spiritual gifts of love and charity to parade attendees. They've even marched in the parades with the banners of their congregations. But Tallahassee doesn't have a parade as part of Pride. So we do something different, and special.
We invite people to gather in the name of the Creator... called by many names and who knows each of us by our name... to offer blessings for a week of openess and honesty and fun.

I have longed to see representation of the Episcopal Church at this celebration. I have wanted St. John's, specifically, to take the good news that Christ loves queer people out of the pulpit, through the very heavy doors, and out onto the streets of our hurting city. We have preached that message. Many in the congregation have privately told me how happy they are to have me there and participating in the life of the church. The church has been OK with hosting PFLAG meetings, and even letting us gather in the beautiful setting of our library, a room that feels like a comfortable (if formal) living room.

So where, I've been wondering, is my Episcoposse when it comes time for Pride Week?

This year, I wasn't going to let this service go by without the active participation of St. John's!

I met with our rector-to-be and mentioned the Pride service to him. Much to my surprise, he whipped out his Blackberry and made note of it... but also saw that he was scheduled to celebrate at the late afternoon Eucharist at St. John's. Still, I took his enthusiasm and support for the event as a sign that St. John's was willing to be on record as being among the "welcoming" congregations. This was a huge difference from what I had encountered before. No defensiveness. No quoting of Galatians with how "In Christ there is neither Jew or Greek, male or female, free or slave" (this to say, "We don't need to make an overture to the gay community because in Christ we are one.")

So when my dear friend Diana, tasked by the Pride Committee to organize the Interfaith service, needed a volunteer to lead the opening litany, I said, "Put me down on your list to do it." I am, afterall, a Eucharistic Minister called upon to serve as an intercessor during our regular Sunday worship and noon-day Eucharists. I lead Morning Prayer, and I maintain a daily practice of prayer in my life. Plus, who better to lead a call and response litany than an Episcopalian, right?

Bonus: our assistant priest volunteered to serve as an usher at the outdoor service, handing out programs and candles to the congregation.

Bigger Bonus: there were members of St. John's, besides me and her, who attended! And there was a vestry member from Holy Comforter Episcopal Church as well. Ask, and ye shall receive: my Episcoposse had arrived!

The service itself focused on the Pride Week theme of Educate. Liberate. Celebrate. I was nodding in appreciation of the sermon by the pastor of St. Stephen Lutheran Church who noted that the education about the LGBT community is happening within some Christian churches. I was pleased that our representative from Temple Israel quoted from other parts of Leviticus which make the welcoming of the stranger imperative for the Jews. And our Red Hills Pagan Council leader called us into celebration of the spirit that unites all of us from our various paths into one path of Love.

The take away line for me came in the blessing offered from the ministerial intern at the Unitarian Church. He referred to Pride Week as a "Holy Week". It really is if you consider "holy" to mean "consecrated to God", who I know as Love. Love, in its many manifestations and colors, is at the hub of the LGBT identity. Pride Week provides that network of support for us who, in some cases, have walked a long and difficult path toward loving ourselves with little, if any, support. For those who have reached that point of self-love and acceptance, we are freer to live into the commandment Jesus makes to "love one another" in the same way we have felt God's love for us in our queer, eccentric, and sometimes boringly normal selves. Pride Week is a time when the sheep who have been scattered by some of the irresponsible and destructive shepherds of God get to rejoice in the knowledge that the shepherd of us all is calling us back into the fold. We are brought back in Love, by Love and with Love.

For those who have felt the pain of exile from your religious communities... welcome to your Holy Week in Tallahassee.

Love,
the Interfaith Pride participants.

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Participating congregations: United Church, Gentle Shepherd MCC, Red Hills Pagan Council, Unitarian Universalist Church of Tallahassee, Temple Israel, St. John's Episcopal Church, St. Stephen Lutheran Church, and Unity Eastside. The Friends Meeting also was present.

Unspoken, But Heartfelt Words: Jesus and the Raising of Lazarus

As I was looking over the Gospel lesson assigned for this Sunday, I was struck by the many dialogues that are occurring throughout. There's the communique that reaches Jesus from Martha and Mary about their brother Lazarus, who is ill.

There's Jesus telling the disciples about Lazarus' illness, and their misunderstanding that when their leader says Lazarus has "fallen asleep" it means "he's dead."

Then there is Martha's moment, the time when we see a woman of note in the Bible declare that she believes Jesus to be the Messiah. Jesus says those words we Episcopalians know well from our burial services, "I am the resurrection and the life."

But the part of this story that is catching my attention follows the statement that "Jesus began to weep." (John 11:35) Assembled around, or at least nearby him, are Jews who were the minyan of comfort that came to be with the grieving sisters.

So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" But some of them said, "Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?"

Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, "Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone.

I am pausing here. Jesus loved Lazarus, and like the others, is in grief. And what I'm seeing here is a man grappling with the reality of the human experience of death. I get the sense that he is a bit weary and perhaps all cried out when he answers Martha's prostests about rolling back the stone. And so we go on to these next lines of the reading:

And Jesus looked upward and said, "Father, I thank you for having heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me."

This seems as though Jesus was saying these words out loud, but I think this is a moment of personal prayer. "Father, I thank you for having heard me." When, exactly, did the Father hear him? My guess is in that place of weeping and being greatly disturbed. In times of sorrow and despair, those are the times when I am most likely to consciously turn to God. And the God in whom I believe meets me in that place of deep pain, and hangs with me as I wail and slam my fist into a pillow. God is with us always, but it is in our dark moments where God steps in to keep us together, and hear our rant. It's through this process that I think Jesus offers up his prayer of thanksgiving as he prepares to speak up...

When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, "Laz'arus, come out!" The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."

Lazarus is free, unbound for a little while longer, and Jesus has shown the people... again... what amazing power can come when one is working with God. Blind people and dead people and marginalized people all become like him: the light of the world leading more folks out of their own darkness and despair into eternal life. Ah, what a feeling!

Deliver Us From Uterus

For those of you outside the state of Florida, please understand that we have a very special population that appears like a fungus in Tallahassee each year called the state legislature. For two months (sometimes more!) these elected representatives of the people come together to commit crimes of no compassion on the meek and lowly, and random acts of meanness mixed in with crass, rude and otherwise stupid behavior.

I spent twleve years covering this stuff as a public radio reporter. Trust me; I know what I'm talking about here.

But recently the House Speaker hit a homerun in the utterly absurd department when he chastised a member of the chamber for using the term "uterus" in a debate. State Representative Scott Randolph, an Orlando Democrat, was making an argument on the floor of the House, defending workers' rights against Republican attempts to bust unions. He repeated a comment that his wife had made to him at dinner one night as they discussed the GOP's 18 anti-abortion bills:

"If my wife incorporated her uterus, you all would say hands off. If my friends incorporated their bedroom, you'd say hands off. But now we're standing here and we're saying we're going to increase regulation on a specific type of membership organization. And that's unions."

Shortly after that, word reached Rep. Randolph through the Minority Leader that he was not to use references to body parts in debate. Apparently, House Speaker Dean Cannon was concerned that the teenagers working as pages in the chamber would be scarred for life by hearing "Uterus".

No, I am not making this up.

Had the Speaker left well enough alone, nobody would have given a damn about Randolph's statement. But now, "Uterus" has become the word du jour or mois!

Legislators and lobbyists are sporting pink buttons with the word in big, bold, black capital letters. And there are postings all over Facebook as women flaunt the fact that we have a uterus. You've heard of "penis envy". Well, clearly the House Speaker is in want of a womb. Perhaps this is what really lies behind the Republicans insatiable appetite for anti-abortion legislation. Perhaps these men are feeling incomplete, inadequate, and they long for a pair... of fallopian tubes.

Uterus!

As one friend pointed out, perhaps the Speaker didn't hear what was said and thought that Randolph's wife wanted to "neuter us". Hmmm... yes. Be afraid, Mr. Speaker. Be very, very, very afraid!

By Whose Authority?

Does one need to have qualifications to write a blog that explores theology, and questions church policies and politics?

Boy, I hope not!

This morning, there was a question that made me think, again, if there is an expectation that bloggers must have some special authority in order to write on the subjects we write about. The question came in the context of my studies in Education for Ministry... and some allusions I'd made in the conversation to my blog and the recent entry where I reworked the language of John 9. The person was curious that I was writing on the gospel, but haven't finished EfM and am only finishing out Year Three of the four-year course.

And for a moment, I felt that nagging doubt. "Do I have the authority to write about this stuff?" I stress, "for a moment". Because I maintain that this is my blog, and I can write about whatever crosses my mind, and for me, that tends to be puzzling out those portions of Scripture that I read and hear and squaring that against my experience in the here and now. It's like I'm in constant theological reflection... whether I want to be or not.

Somewhere along the line, a sad thing happened in the church. Priests, deacons and bishops became "THE authority" and the laity was supposed to just take whatever the person in black and white said without putting any thought to how that might fare in their own understanding of the world. It's one thing for children to behave that way and give the thinking power over to the authority, but when adults are unwilling to ask questions or (much worse) are discouraged from doing any exploration of their beliefs, then we have the scales tipped unfairly in favor of the ordained clergy. This is probably something some of the ordained are happy with because then they won't be bothered and their egos can remain in tact. But I see it as disempowering people, and that doesn't seem to be what God as Jesus intended.

In my reading of the gospels, Jesus is wanting to give those within ear shot plenty to chew on, so that they might come to see what is right before their eyes; namely, that eternal life starts now... and the kingdom is at hand. He speaks in parables and riddles because that makes people think. And when they think, and begin to see, it transforms them. And then they are in a place to share.

And that's what this blog is about: sharing. I'm sharing here the sometimes random firings in my brain that keep leading me along a path toward God. And mine is one which is colored brightly by my sexual orientation, something that does play into my view of the world. I invite you into this sharing with me. Go ahead and leave me a comment, or click on one of the quick comment buttons at the end of this blog. Tell me what you like or don't like about what you read here. I'm interested.

Taking Liberties: John 9 Updated

Some may think this heretical, but as I listened to the Gospel reading this morning, I had this nagging desire to rework this story to be more reflective of what I know to be true today. In the 21st Century, there aren't many people or places that believe that a person born blind is blind because of a sin committed either by the person herself or the parents. But there are still many who profess to be Christian who think that to be gay is a sin. Some have "evolved" to a place of saying that gay people are allowed to identify as gay; just don't do anything that might be considered "gay" (i.e. have same-sex relations). That would be icky.

Anyway, I have taken the liberty to rework the story of the blind man given his sight to instead be the gay man who was given the dignity to be his true self. I think this reframing of John's gospel gives a modernized understanding of Jesus' lesson here. And so with that, "The Holy Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John... with a re-edit by Susan" (Oh, go ahead: "Glory be to you Lord Christ....)

John 9: 1 - 41
As he walked along, he saw a man gay from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born gay?" Jesus answered, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born gay so that God's works might be revealed in him. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man's mouth, saying to him, "Go, wash in the pool of Silo'am" (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and he came out and proclaimed his true self.

The neighbors and those who had seen him before, and assumed he was straight, began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and be quiet?" Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." But they kept asking him, "Then how are you now so openly gay?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my mouth, and said to me, "Go to Silo'am and wash.' Then I went and washed and came out and became who I am and have been since birth." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."

They brought to the Preachers the man who had come out. Now it was a Sunday morning when Jesus made the mud and opened his mouth to proclaim his true self. Then the Preachers also began to ask him how he came out. He said to them, "He put mud on my mouth. Then I washed, and now I am out." Some of the Preachers said, "This man is not from God, for he does not attend Sunday church." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided. So they said again to the gay man, "What do you say about him? It was he who encouraged you to come out." He said, "He is a prophet."

The “Christians” did not believe that he was really gay and thought he could be changed until they called the parents of the man who had come out and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born gay? Why has he come out?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born gay; but we do not know how it is that now he has come out, nor do we know who opened his mouth to allow him to proclaim his true self. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the “Christians”; for the “Christians” had already agreed that anyone who comes out would be put out of their church. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

So for the second time they called the man who had come out, and they said to him, "Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was once quiet and in the closet, now I am out and am not ashamed." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he tell you this is OK?" He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become gay?" Then they reviled him, saying, "You are gay, but we are heterosexual. We know that God has spoken to us, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my mouth to allow me to proclaim my true self. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the Victorian era has it been heard that anyone opened the mouth of a person born gay in this way. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out of their church.

Jesus heard that they had driven him out of their church, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him. Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who are gay, and those who judge them may be judged." Some of the Preachers near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not being judged, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were gay, you would not have sin. But now that you say, "We are heterosexual and we exercise judgement,' your sin remains.

(This post updated at 10:20pm with some suggested changes.)

When People Don't Listen: A Dialogue with the Blind Man

I was really surprised and delighted this past week to see such an uptick in visits to this blog. I couldn't imagine what suddenly caught everyone's attention. But upon further examination, there was a run on people looking at the entry, "Here's Mud In Your Eye!" That makes sense given that the Gospel lesson for Sunday is from John 9 which is the story of the blind man given his sight after Jesus spits on the ground, makes mud, rubs it on his eyes and tells him to wash in the water of Siloam.

In my previous entry, I talked a lot about the disabled, and the whole notion of seeing a disabled person as a sinner, or a person who is being punished by God. This time around, when reading the story, I was struck by the way this guy who has experienced the touch of God tries to tell people about it and his audience ignores him, or worse.

The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, "Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?" Some were saying, "It is he." Others were saying, "No, but it is someone like him." He kept saying, "I am the man." But they kept asking him, "Then how were your eyes opened?" He answered, "The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, "Go to Silo'am and wash.' Then I went and washed and received my sight." They said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I do not know."

It is not unusual for people to talk about the disabled, but not bother to talk to them. Such is the case here. And when they asked him, and he told the story of what Jesus did, they didn't accept the explanation. Instead, they wanted to know, "Where is he?" The man tells them the truth: "I don't know." And this is not good enough...

They brought to the Phar'isees the man who had formerly been blind. Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. Then the Phar'isees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, "He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see." Some of the Phar'isees said, "This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath." But others said, "How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?" And they were divided. So they said again to the blind man, "What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened." He said, "He is a prophet."


OK... this should suffice. But here, again, the Pharisees are obsessing over the idea that Jesus performed this healing on the Sabbath. And they know that you aren't supposed to do anything on the Sabbath. And what type of guy does this sort of thing on the Sabbath. Meanwhile, our formerly blind man is sitting in the corner wondering "Do you still need me, or can I go now?" No, he can't because now the Pharisees and the neighbors want proof that this man was really blind... even though they'd seen him as a blind beggar for years:

The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight and asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?" His parents answered, "We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. Therefore his parents said, "He is of age; ask him."

So, now we can't trust the guy to tell his own story: we have to ask his parents. One of the things I note in this passage is the mention of "anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue." This is the major thrust of John's gospel every time he says, "The Jews". John's gospel was written at a time and for a people who were being cast out from their synagogue's for professing "The Way". They were the minority inside a minority religion in the Roman world. In some ways, the relationship of "the Jews" to "the Way" is a little like some of the tensions one sees in the gay community. There are those who are anxious for us to be accepted and think the way to achieve that is by having us behave and dress in ways that are more staid and conservative. But there are many of us who shun that idea, and like to express our differences from the heterosexual world through our clothing and hairstyles. This leads to tension... and much drama.

Something similar happens to our formerly blind man. He now is such a non-entity and not trustworthy that we have to ask his parents if he had really been blind. "Yes, he was blind. No, we don't know who did it. Ask him!" With nowhere else to turn, the crowd looks again at the formerly blind man.

"Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner." He answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see." They said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?" Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from." The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing." They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.

Again, remembering who John is writing for here, it is not a surprise that the formerly blind man gets identified with Jesus... and is driven out of the synagogue. That's what was happening. It still happens today. Again, looking at the gay community, how many have risked revealing their sexual orientation only to find themselves put out by their faith communities? Sexual orientation, whatever it is, is a gift from God. And if it is of God, then it's good. If it is not exploitative or abusive, it is good. And if it results in companionship, it is good. Gender does not matter in love.

This is not the message many have heard from their churches or other faith communities, and it is a shame. They should hear this message, even if their priest or pastor is incapable of communicating it because this is the message that is throughout Scripture. If "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to the end that all should not perish but have everlasting life," then that means he came to redeem gay people, too... and not until they have completed some bogus re-education program that leaves them more messed up and self-loathing. So, to any of you still on the outs with your faith community, I invite you to read closely this next section of John's story about the blind man:

Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him." Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he." He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him.

Two things I notice here. One, and this is a big one, when Jesus hears that the man had been kicked out of his community, he found him. This is really "the way" of Jesus. He has touched this man's life and led him to the place of having new eyes to see the world for the first time. And his community has responded poorly to that and kicked him out. But Jesus sought him out again. If you take the idea that sexual orientation is a gift of God, it would seem that when one 'discovers' his or her orientation, this is a bit like having had mud stuck in the eye and washing it out. If your orientation makes you "different" and results in you getting kicked out of your church community, I'm convinced by this scene, that Jesus WILL seek you out. Do you believe in this? That's the question you have to answer for yourself.

Another thing strikes me is the statement, "And he worshipped him." Some might see this as, "him" meaning "Jesus". But I am not so sure that "him" is referring to "Jesus" the flesh and blood human being. Jesus is very carefully directing the attention to the "Father who sent me." I've always thought this is because Jesus is on a mission to bring the people of Israel back to the God who delivered them from Egypt; not the God who gets them the winning lottery numbers. The John passage ends on a curious exchange with Jesus and the Pharisees:

Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." Some of the Phar'isees near him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, "We see,' your sin remains.

I read this as Jesus saying, "This blind man, who you were happy to ignore, is the very sheep that I have been looking for. But once he had his sight, you turned on him because you are unable to see him as the blessed sheep I know him to be. For shame!" Let that be a message for those who would turn away and cast out any of God's gay children. We are some of the very sheep that the good shepherd is searching for and bringing back into the flock. See us as the sheep we are and quit asking us who invited us inside the gate. Isn't it obvious?

April Fool's? No, just Dove World Outreach Center

From the New York Times via The Washington Independent: [Lal Mohammad] Ahmadzai, the [Afghan National Police] spokesman, said the demonstrators were angry about the burning of the Koran at the church of Pastor Terry Jones on Mar. 20. Mr. Jones had caused an international uproar by threatening to burn the Koran last year on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, and demonstrations at the time led to deaths throughout Afghanistan, but on a small scale. Mr. Jones subsequently had publicly promised not to burn a Koran, but then presided over a mock trial and the burning of the Koran at his small fringe church in Gainesville, Fla.

Fran Ingram, an assistant at the Dove World Outreach Center, in Gainesville, Fla., said that the church had burned the Koran after a ceremony on March 20. “We put the Koran on trial and we did burn it,” she said. Ms. Ingram said she and other church members were no more concerned about their safety than before the burning and the killings of the United Nations workers in Afghanistan. “We have a huge stack of death threats,” she said. “We take precautions. I have a handgun. A lot of us have concealed weapons permits. We’re a small church and we don’t have money to hire security.”

COMMENT: Putting another religion's holy book on trial, and then burning it?: Stupid. As in so stupid that it's hard to know where to begin with any commentary. And it has resulted in the attack on a United Nations headquarters in Afghanistan with twelve UN staffers killed. Why? Because when one set of loonie extremists commit violence upon the sacred text of another religion, the loonie extremists in that group will respond in kind.

Everyone told Pastor Jones last September that his threat to burn the Qur'an would ratchet up violence and attacks on foreigners in the Middle East, especially Americans and American troops. We THOUGHT Jones got it. Instead he apparently was biding his time until he could follow through on his hateful, un-Christian plan. The blood of the innocent are on his hands. What a freaking moron!

This is BBC's footage of the attack on the UN in Afghanistan. I apologize for the overly-dramatic music. You might want to turn the sound off to watch.