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.
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