June 29, 2008
Gay Pride Day
Pastor Richard Andersen
Today is Gay Pride Day in the Twin Cities. Someday in the future, the time must come when we can drop the adjective and just celebrate "Pride Day". We should pray for the day when Pride Day is the day on which all of God's children are welcome to become equal players in a world of peace and justice.
Everyone has a desire and need to be welcomed and history is full of examples of times when there was an Extreme Welcome and times were
when there was not. We can see traces of that history in the bible, in the history of St Paul Ref and in the headlines of our newspapers.
Today's Gospel text, Matthew 10: 40-42 is all about welcoming. In Chapter 10, Jesus gives his disciples the rules of the road as they go out to preach the Kingdom. He reminds them that he has been sent in order to stir things up among believers in order that believers come to welcome and follow him. He tells the disciples that the people who meet them along the road should welcome them in the same way they would welcome God. For anyone to treat another person as unwelcome and as an "outsider" is unacceptable behavior to Jesus and to God.
Jesus knew what it was like to be an outsider. He was an outsider in his own country because he was a Jew and not a Roman.
Bruce Chilton, in his book "Rabbi Jesus", says that Jesus was in some respects an outsider in his own village of Nazareth because of questions about the true identity of his father. The question even affected the ability of Jesus to fully participate in ceremonies in the Temple. So even in the Temple, Jesus was to be an outsider. Jesus was also an outsider in Jerusalem because he spoke Aramaic with a funny Galilean accent.
When Jesus did experience an extreme welcome, it was usually in connection with sharing a feast and it was usually an extreme welcome offered by an "outsider" who was known to be a "sinner": in one place with Zaccheus the tax collector, in another case with the prostitute at the home of Simon the Pharisee, and again at a feast at the home of Alpheus and other tax collectors. And to really irritate the authorities, Jesus often preceded or followed these occasions with an act of healing or forgiveness of sins -- and often he did it on the Sabbath.
The Samaritans of northern Israel were also considered to be outsiders and were not welcome to mix with Jews who worshipped in the Jerusalem Temple. We all know bible stories about how the Jews considered the Samaritans to be unclean and despicable. One reason the Jews discriminated against the Samaritans was because the Samaritans had been
slaves to the Jews during the time of Solomon. Through the
parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus broke a thousand year tradition of hating Samaritans and showed that Samaritans were good people who could do great acts of kindness. In another parable, "The Woman at the Well,"
Jesus ignored custom by starting a conversation with her. She, in
turn honored his welcome by drawing water for him. He
told her he knew about her sinful background. She responded and
said that he must be a prophet. Later, she led the people of her
village to Jesus and they welcomed him as "indeed the Christ, the Savior
of the World."
Another group of "outsiders" frequently mentioned in the Gospels were those "sinners" -- people who did not follow the rules of the Temple.
The Pharisees felt that strict observance of written and oral Jewish
law over-rode all other factors and Jesus disagreed with them.
In the eyes of the Pharisees, Jesus constantly broke the law when he
ate with sinners and forgave sins. They criticized Jesus when he allowed a repentant woman of the city to anoint his feet. Jesus pointed out that this woman had at least shown him welcome by washing his feet, kissing him and anointing him and that her many sins were now forgiven. In contrast, Jesus says to his neglectful host, "Little is forgiven the one whose love is small." In Luke 11 the Pharisees are offended because Jesus didn't wash before dinner but Jesus said that they should worry more about what is on the inside of a person more than what can be seen on
the outside.
There are many people in this world who need an Extreme Welcome. Should we not step up to that need? Do not immigrants to this country need to be shown respect and need to be made to feel
welcome in our communities? Many of these people have gone to
unbelievable ordeals to get here.
Also, many Palestinians have lost their ancestral land and homes and have suffered and have an enormous need to feel welcomed in their own land. In some Middle Eastern countries such as Kuwait, they are even considered to be potential slaves Should we not pray for an improvement in the lives of these poor people?
Should we brand anyone in a certain group as a "sinner" by definition and condemn them out offhand? Should we not do our est for the Islam in our own?
Like Jews and Christians, Muslims are children of the God of
Abraham and as decent human beings they are also entitled to be judged
individually and fairly and to receive extreme welcomes from us when
we meet.
St. Paul-Ref has a long history of dealing with situations that arise
when some people are considered by another group as "unwelcome
outsiders". Jesus told his disciples that the way in which we
welcome others in our life is of great importance to God and that we
should welcome others in the same way in which we welcome God into our
lives. SPR has taken that welcome command very seriously from the
beginning of the church's history. The original congregations of our
church were Swedish-speaking. If you couldn't speak Swedish you
could not fully participate in church activities. This church decided
to no longer exclude members from full participation in the church
just because they couldn't speak Swedish. English worship was
instituted. It was a big step for an immigrant church into the
future.
We in the US also have some unpleasant history not welcoming people
based on the unfair treatment of one group by another. SPR faced up to
some of these issues when it chose to override racial and cultural
contentions that existed passionately in the 19th and 20th centuries.
In one of the earliest instances of racial and cultural integration of
churches in this country, SPR chose again to live in the future and
put aside the fossils of segregation. It was an historical step that
we are all proud of.
Thirdly, SPR was the pioneer Lutheran church in instituting a policy
of Reconciled in Christ when it chose to actively promote membership
in the congregation of people who identified themselves under the
banner of GLBT. As in the time of Jesus, the religious authorities
commanded that a particular group of "sinners" should not be invited
into Lutheran membership. In the great welcoming spirit of Jesus, SPR
stood up for the "outsiders" and welcomed all people, including GLBT
folks, to be communing members of SPR in full fellowship with all
believers. And another heroic step was taken by SPR when it chose to
call GLBT candidates as pastors.
In conclusion, I encourage you to think "glocally" (Pastor Anita's
description of what it is to work both locally and globally)
continuing to work on diversity. SPR is a community where the future
is lived out today. You can do here what others won't do for the next
twenty-five years.
You, my friends, are graceful and forgiving and I am honored and happy to have had the opportunity to serve you. My heart is filled with gratitude and Pride! God bless all of you.
Amen
Pastor Richard Andersen, Interim for Wingspan