Pride, Faith, and Swords

This is my first sermon preached at Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer in south Minneapolis, a Reconciling in Christ congregation. This is also my first Pride sermon, and I loved being able to preach such a sermon on such a day.

First Lesson: Genesis 21:8-21
Second Lesson: Romans 6:1-11
Gospel: Matthew 10:24-39

Grace and Peace to you from God our Creator, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, Amen

Sarah and Abraham waited for a very long time to have a child. A very long time. So long, that by the time God told Abraham that he’d have a child, both Sarah and Abraham were elderly. Abraham couldn’t wait, and had a child with his slave, Hagar. The child’s name? You can call him Ishmael. (That's a Moby Dick joke, btw...)
Sarah had a son eventually, and his name was Isaac. But wanting Isaac to have a childhood away from Ishmael, she asked Abraham to cast out Hagar and Ishmael. So, in the middle of the night, Abraham did just that.

God reassured Abraham that he was doing the right thing. God talking to Abraham and Abraham maintaining great faith in God - Even when that faith required the ultimate devotion and the ultimate sacrifice - Abraham’s faith didn’t waiver. Abraham’s faith was strong, but caused division. God reassured Abraham that what Sarah wanted him to do was the right thing, even though what it meant was total separation from his child. Abraham followed God’s direction, even to the point of a knife… but that’s another story for another day.

Faith is given, maintained, and shared. Faith is action, and fighting against inaction. Faith is a verb, and not always an easy one to use.

This is Pride weekend. A time for those of us who identify somewhere on the queer spectrum to celebrate the victories we’ve had, the freedom to be ourselves. We hold Pride to remember those who’ve gone before us, who boldly stood proud in the face of adversity. We have Pride to see old friends, to learn more from our queer family, to be among like-minded people that know exactly what it’s like to draw a line in the sand and say that this word - lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, queer and all the other words that fall under and around those words - these words hold importance in our lives. We’re here, we’re queer, and we’re in need of people to listen to us, to hear how these words feel to us, to stand against all those that would oppose us and say in one loud voice - enough is enough.

In today’s Gospel, Jesus was talking to his disciples, right after summoning them to walk with him, telling them all that they needed to do to follow him. In last week’s lesson, Jesus talked about walking with faith, and knowing that even if you leave everything and follow Jesus, that God’s gonna take care of you, and people will welcome you.

In this week’s lesson however, Jesus takes a more pointed look at what it means to be a follower of Christ. Jesus says that your faith will cause division. Mother against daughter, father against son. Christ came into this world to disrupt it.

Christ came into this world to cause division, to break up the status quo. The people of Judea were waiting for a war hero, a Messiah to come and free them from Roman oppression. Jesus caused division, but it wasn’t by what he was supposed to do. He caused division by doing what he wasn’t supposed to do. Preaching in the wrong spot, feeding the wrong people, healing the wrong people, teaching on the wrong day. In the eyes of the authorities, Jesus was causing trouble by not following the rules. Jesus preached in his hometown, told the people of Nazareth that they should be focusing on the people outside the walls of the city, on the poor and blind…

He went into the temple, and tossed tables, cracking a whip in the Gospel of John. Jesus was a revolutionary figure in a time when the people needed someone to lead them. Following this man meant division. His disciples knew this, and followed anyway because they had faith.

Being a Christian in this country isn’t all that revolutionary, in the wide scope of things. Being a Christian who stands for justice of the oppressed, who stands against a culture of exclusivity, who advocates for the marginalized, and fights for peace in the world we live in… That is revolutionary. It shouldn’t be. But it is.

Being a Christian who draws their own line in the sand and says enough is enough. Jesus came into this world to show us how to live with each other, and to upset the status quo.

Now, it’s dangerous to live as a Christian in some countries. In this country, Christians hold a lot of privilege, until we start actually living out our faith as followers of the table-throwing, rule-breaking, status-quo-upsetting Messiah that he was. When we start standing against the status quo, upsetting those we love by being who we are as human beings, proclaiming to the world that the words we use to describe us are diverse and divisive - but necessary. We are who we are because God calls us to live out our truth, our realities as human beings.

Pride is about showing the world who we are as beautiful individuals created in God’s image, and showing them that we will not be afraid.

In today’s second lesson, Paul writes about sin, and how we are freed from sin in Christ’s death, that we were baptized in Christ, we were baptized in his death. Out of baptism then, comes new life in Christ.

When we talk about sin, in the context of who we are as human beings, we are all sinful beings, that’s our human nature. Who we are as queer folks - as allies who stand with us… Our existence itself has been labeled sinful, because of verses in the bible that are misinterpreted and of what people think the bible says. My burden has been pretty light when it comes to being discriminated against for being who I am, and I acknowledge that. Closeted queer folk watch their friends who are out - suffer the wrath of the public by watching it happen to someone else. Allies receive backlash for being supportive of us… But being out puts us in a whole new ballgame. That’s why we have Pride.

Our identities are labeled as sinful, and people like to point to Paul, even these verses and even today’s Gospel - to show what our supposed sin is - and if only we gave it up. I have a new lens for you. What if the sin that Paul is talking about is not our queerness, but our forced-closeting. In the song, The Summons, found in your hymnal, hymn 798 -  the fourth verse reads “Will you love the ‘you’ you hide if I but call your name? Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?...” Being in the closet is safe. It’s a risk to be you. Or even talk about your identity. Even when you ceremoniously come out of the closet, society expects us to be queer in only certain spaces.
Because it’s dangerous. It’s much better than it was, but if you combine queerness with class, race, ability, religion… When our identities become intersectional in infinite ways… The danger in being true to ourselves, may be more than we can handle. As Christians, and as a society, we have to own that sin. That conditions in our society limit who we can be and where. That sin keeps us hidden, away from who we are.

Jesus came into this world not with peace, but a sword. Our identities are contentious. Our expression of our faith in Christ - is contentious. Our ability, our willingness, our calling to stand up with our queer neighbors, our neighbors of color, our differently-abled neighbors, our impoverished neighbors… that’s contentious.

Even if you don’t identify in the queer spectrum, even if Pride is the last thing on your mind right now, your faith - your connection to the divine and others - your own actions can be divisive, and we have to hold on to the hope, the knowledge that there is a Savior - the Savior of the world - who gave up everything for you and us all. Jesus the Christ lived on this earth, and he preached, spoke, healed, fed, walked among - lived among those who didn’t belong, and saved us all. Jesus the Christ saves us all from ourselves, our sin, our hatred, our bigotry, our ignorance, our inaction, our faithlessness - through faith. Faith in God, through God, from God, for God - Faith that both connects and divides, saves and destroys.

At LCCR, we are an open and welcoming community, open to all, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, or wealth. All are welcome to the table to confess our faith, to proudly exclaim to all, from the rooftops - that we belong to God, we are loved by God, and through that faith - we can all come together to take Pride in who we are as human beings. Have faith. It gets messy, but it makes all the difference.
Amen.

Faith

This is my second sermon on internship, preached at Living Waters Lutheran in Sauk Rapids.

6/18/17
Lesson: Genesis 18:1-15
Gospel: Matthew 9:35-10:8


Grace and Peace to you from God our Loving Parent, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ, Amen

Janet Mock is an author of two books, with one of them published very recently. She was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, and grew up in multiple places -  sometimes with her father, sometimes with her mother, sometimes with her grandmother. She had a rough upbringing of living with impoverished parents, moving frequently, her father was a drug addict, her mother was not a frequent presence in her life. In high school, she was a sex worker, working to pay for her medical bills. After graduating high school and landing a nice job in television after attending college, she wrote a New York Times bestseller. Her story of rags to riches, from an impoverished family to a national figure writing such a book may seem old hat, but maybe some of you don’t know that Janet Mock is a transwoman of color. Janet Mock is a transgender activist, who wrote her first book, Redefining Realness about her younger years growing up, and  beginning her understanding of her gender and transition. Her newest book Surpassing Certainty,  details her later years until now, and was published last week.

Janet is the child of a black father and a native Hawaiian mother, and as I said before, had a rough upbringing. Her struggles through life, understanding her gender differently than how the outside world saw her, sometimes not knowing where her next meal was coming from or where she’d move next, experiencing racism from all angles, but remaining confident of her goal of becoming the woman she wanted to be - faith - it took tremendous faith for her to get where she is now. Even if she is a bestselling author, an inspiring advocate and activist for so many people, her identity as a transwoman of color - is to this day - a hill too steep to climb for some people.

Faith is not knowing where or how you’re going, but going anyway. In Janet Mock’s case, faith was not knowing how she would achieve her dream of being the woman she dreamed of - but doing everything she could to make it happen.


Faith is sitting in church, in community, hearing the story of Sarah and Abraham as they awaited bearing a child. An old couple with no heir to carry on their livelihood, their traditions, their stuff. They were well past the child-bearing age. Three visitors came to Abraham and Sarah, three messengers of God came to them to form community and told them they’d have a child after all.

Being so old, Sarah laughed at the idea of ever having a child. Why would she ever be able to bear a child at this age? God hadn’t blessed her with a child before this, why now? But, sure enough, Isaac was born to a very old couple. It was faith from God, and in God - that produced Isaac.

It was faith that allowed the disciples of Jesus to follow him. It was faith in Jesus that led them away from their goods, families, and homes. They had faith that all of this would work out. They had responsibilities that they just dropped, and followed Jesus. Faith held the disciples together in community, and faith led them to and beyond the cross.

They had no reason to believe him. They questioned what they were doing throughout all four Gospels, but faith compelled them to carry on. Many times throughout the gospels, they sit and wonder what they’re doing. Many times they wonder what is really going on. There’s no way this person could be healed. No way could Jesus feed so many people with a couple loaves of bread and some fish. No way that he would die and rise again. And yet, they kept going.

Two thousand years later, here we are, in church, worshipping in fellowship and community with other people that share our faith. Worshipping a Triune God, who is the progenitor of faith, the creator of all, and the savior of all. We are here today, because of faith.

     

 Three visitors came to see Abraham and Sarah. Some scholars agree that the three visitors were the Holy Trinity. Others believe them to simply be God’s messengers. A famous icon depicted the visitors as three men. This one that appeared on my facebook news feed the other day - depicts three women of color. Whether the original is three messengers of God or the Holy Trinity - this picture of the three women of color representing the three figures - is just another way of interpreting scripture - another way of producing art, based on our faith. Whoever the three visitors were, I hope this painting adds another perspective in understanding that the world we live in is not the same for you as it is for me, but that we each look at community, at life, at faith - differently.

It is faith that keeps us going, faith from God, in God, about God, through God, and for God. Faith that moves mountains, that permeates our world, and propels our lives to interact and be there for others, when they understand life differently, and when they need us the most.

In the waters of baptism, we are called and named beloved children of God. We are washed in the same water that washes over all of us. Our faith starts there, with our parents, sponsors, friends, ministers of the sacrament… From the moment we are baptized, we are baptized in water and into community with each other. One cannot baptize themselves, there is a community aspect to baptism. Like community with other people, water connects every living thing, every human being on this planet. Each of us are created in the image of God, and in the waters of baptism, called and named beloved children of God. Your life is beautiful to God. Your life matters to God.

Whether you are black or white or any shade of skin in between. Whether you are female or male or any gender identity outside of or in between. Whether you are asexual, bisexual, homosexual, heterosexual, pansexual, polysexual or whatever sexual reality you identify with. Whether you express your gender in one way or many ways. Whether you’re attracted to one gender, many genders, or nobody at all.
God. Loves. You. Your life matters to God.


 Steve Scalise, a white congressman from Louisiana, along with four of his staff, was shot by a white man, while they were practicing for a congressional baseball game on Wednesday morning. Representative Scalise is still in the hospital, but has been upgraded to serious condition.

A year ago last Monday, this country experienced its worst mass shooting in modern times at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. A club populated by mostly latino LGBT or lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, was attacked, and fifty people were killed that night.

Two years ago yesterday, nine black parishioners of the Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal church were murdered by a young white supremacist - a member of an ELCA congregation, our larger Lutheran community.

 Philando Castile was a young black cafeteria worker riding in his car, with a young  woman next to him and a child in the backseat, when he was pulled over by a latino police officer last July. Philando Castile was murdered that night, two blocks from Luther Seminary, with the woman next to him filming it, and the child behind him watching it. The Saint Paul area police officer who shot and killed him was acquitted of all charges on Friday.

 When people cry out in anguish, that Black Lives Matter - they do so in faith. Faith that one day - people will listen to those three simple words, and not disagree, but understand. Faith that our justice system will return to what it was meant to be - justice for all. Faith that black lives in this country will begin to matter in the face of a broken justice system that penalizes, imprisons, and murders more people of color at a higher rate than it does white folks.

 Faith is not knowing where or how you’re going, but going anyway. Faith is not knowing when people will begin to listen - when the justice system will turn around - but marching anyway, in faith.
Faith is not knowing when the death and pain and anguish will stop - but knowing that there is a Savior that has bled and died for us all - a Savior that sees the death and pain and anguish - and weeps.

  Faith is knowing that there is no life without death, but also no death without life. Faith is knowing that life will rise out of the ashes. Faith is seeing the beauty in life, through the pain of death. Faith is knowing that through it all - all are saved by Grace through Faith. That one day - black lives matter will be a fact accepted by all, that Janet Mock living her life as a transwoman of color will be a more common reality, that seeing the image of God in one another, with the waters of baptism still streaming from our brows - will be our truth as human beings. Human beings - living together in community, in love, in faith. Amen.