None, but, of course, us*

Gay people need to get over their fear of St. Paul. You know, he was not homophobic, that is a stance that has been put on him (schol.: attributed to) by the right wing. Look at this lesson from the letter to the Romans, but first look at the whole of the letter to the Romans, in which his circular argument is that a) some people are homosexual; b) it scares us because we are uninformed; and c) sexuality is irrelevant, the true law is Christ’s law of loving one another.

So let’s look at this Romans 8:26-39.

“The Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray … but the Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.”

Sighs, too deep for words. How many times have you had sighs too deep for words? Many times, of course; we all have. This is how we know that we are part of God; our God has sighs too deep for words, they are the wings of the prayers of our souls borne to heaven by the Spirit. On the other hand, God hears also those sighs of ours that are too deep for words. It means it is okay, words are not necessary. God hears. God knows.

“God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit.” Well, what more explanation do you need? God searches your heart. God knows how to match what is in your heart, with what is in the mind of the Spirit. Does that seem fantastical to you? Try to think of it in concrete terms. God, who is the energy and spirit of everything, knows exactly where you plug into the everything, just like a circuit map knows where every synapse in a network lies. And, God, who is the Spirit of everything, knows how what is in your heart is the flow along the circuit of the Spirit.

“Who will separate us from the love of Christ?” Paul does not answer this question with a list of “whoms” but rather with a series of rhetorical questions. His conclusion is that “no, in all these things we are more than conquerors.”

And here is the entire sum of the Gospel of Paul, the founder of Christianity, the interpreter of the mind of God who became Man so that we might understand the mind of God:

“For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. “

So, what does that mean? It means that you and me, gay and lesbian people, need to stop keeping ourselves from the love of God. It means that nothing on earth can separate you from the love of God in Christ. Nothing. Nothing, but, of course, us. It is only we ourselves who can prevent us from knowing the love God stretches out for us.

In Matthew’s Gospel this week we have the famous parable of the mustard seed. It is like last week’s parables, in that on the surface the reader easily thinks that the meaning is about good and evil. But I want you to think back on what I said last week. The meaning is, that everything is all mixed up. Look at it. A tiny seed, planted in a huge field, still grows into a tree. A tiny yeast, mixed in with a huge measure of flour, still makes bread. A treasure buried in a field still comes to fruition. A single pearl is enough. A net thrown into the sea captures a huge mess, but the good fish are there too. The key is that the good lways overcomes even the mess that surrounds it.

Of course, we are this tiny treasure. We are a few gay and lesbian people in a vast see of over-confident people who think that they are “normal.” My heart sank to see Saturday’s column from “Dear Abby” featuring a letter from a man who in his teens was beaten by his father for being gay, who married and pretended to be straight for 25 years until his wife died. And now in his fifties he wonders whether gay people will accept him? But of course, the question is, can he accept himself? And what of the sexless marriage his deceased wife had to endure for 25 years? Talk about burying your treasure.

God wants you to bring out your treasure, your gayness, your lesbianness, your natural nurturing love. God wants you to bring that out into the open and use it to nurture all of the mustard seeds of the world.

*Proper 12 (Genesis 29: 15-28; Psalm 105:1-11, 45b; Romans 8:26-39; Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52)

Come … and help us*

Acts 16:9-15: “During the night Paul had a vision: there stood a man of Macedonia pleading with him and saying, ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.'” Now there is a story of evangelism. Paul has a dream. But the best part is that the man in the dream says “Help us.” It reminds me of that time in New York City 20 years ago when I went to the gay community center for an event about the Bible. They had set out 50 chairs but easily 250 people showed up. The place was packed. Now, I was in seminary at the time, so I recognized that the presentation was unsophisticated at best, although nothing incorrect was said much of the nuance was missing. Still, people were moved. There were lots of the usual questions about spilling seed and lying with a man, but eventually an older gentleman, by his own admission 85 or so, weeping, said “Do you mean I can be a child of God too?”

It tore me to pieces. Mainly because, although the Episcopal Church has mostly a very accepting approach to the Gospel, we just are lousy at letting people know. You see, these older gay people have been so abused by so-called “Christians” their whole lives that they just do not easily believe that somehow, suddenly, all has changed. So if we want to reach them, we have to literally reach them. But here was a gentleman asking, just like in Paul’s dream, “help.”

Paul had to sail, and travel  by donkey or on foot. And then he had to scope out the town and figure out where it was safe to preach. And when he got there it wasn’t an audience of the town’s best and there was no honorarium. It was a patch outside of the gate by a river, sitting on a rock, and talking to a working woman. But she heard the Gospel and invited them in.

That has been my experience as an evangelist in the gay community. The “church” itself looks down on my work, because it isn’t in a stone building with a pipe organ, but is on the streets and in bars and in community centers, and yes, sometimes on a rock by a stream. And I don’t talk to the “movers and shakers,” rather I talk to those who seek Christ, whoever they might be. I talk to those who ask in some way for me to  “come … and help us.”

So to all who read this blog I say that this is God’s mission for us, to say to God’s created glbt people that the good news of salvation is for you too. And all it requires is that you believe. In John 14 Jesus says “those who love me will keep my word.” And he means to love one another. So you see there is no special gay approach. But, the one thing we must do as gay people is to be as ready and open as that Macedonian woman, after a hard day’s work, by the river. We have to be open to receive the gift that God wants to give us.

That means we have to be fully who we are. There has been lots of hype this week about the professional basketball player who came out. But there is rejoicing in heaven every time any one of God’s children recognizes his created gay self and comes out. God wants you to be who God made you to be. And in that createdness you will find the openness to receive the good news of salvation. God loves you, gay as you are, God wants you, gay as you are, to be a lover of souls too.

6 Easter (Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29)

©2013 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.