Pride and Promise!

It is pride month and the Episcopal Church is full of rainbows and banners celebrating our LGBTQIA siblings as beloved children of God. Pride, we explain is not the same as the sin of pride that Scripture repeatedly warns us about, but a healthy outlook, a rejoicing in the way God has created all persons to be. 

Yet in our celebration of all things LGBTQIA, I do have to ask myself; what is it we want for our beloved siblings?

The God we believe in and serve loves and welcomes all persons into fellowship with him! He accepts us exactly how we are! Yet, we well know that, acceptance is not certificate of completeness or perfection! All humans are imperfect, in need of healing, restoration and change! God’s character and his great love demand it! He receives us and changes us to the very best that we can be! He disciplines and  “corrects” us so that we can be participants in his glory!

If you want to be a Christian, prepare, because change is inevitable! 

These are the words of the Apostle Paul to the Corinthians some of which were certainly LGBTQIA : 

“such were some of you. But, you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Spirit of our God."

Are we prepared to be truthful to those in the LGBTQIA community that are part of our church family or feel drawn to it by our invitation and support? Are we prepared to say that following Jesus is less about pride and much more about humility? That sometimes it entails taking up our cross to follow him? That often the things we think most valuable about ourselves are precisely those God wants to mold, change or maybe have us give up altogether? 

Can we be sincere in saying that when a person comes to Christ a new identity comes into being, where “old things pass away and there is a new creation”?  Can we be candid in explaining that; as we “put on Christ” in baptism, relationship with God, being children of God, becomes the primary identity of a Christian, above race, nationality, status and even gender?

I would hope so! It is what Christians know to be true! 

God is faithful, what he has begun in each of us he has promised to bring unto completion,  St. Paul claims that it is until each of us has come to the measure of Christ….that is quite a tall order.

Of course a question which would be in the mind of all, specially those who have been persecuted because of their sexual orientation, is whether God finds it sinful? Whether being a Christian means attempting to deny their deepest feelings? and if it were possible change who they love?  

As a physician, I do not think sexual orientation can be changed! As a Christian and a priest, I do not think that it is any different from heterosexuality.

What I do know is that no matter whom you love, God will certainly change HOW you love!   

Human love tends to be conditional, selfish and imperfect, often temporary. When it comes to sexuality, we can be led by our desire for intimacy, to people and places sure to hurt us!

I have had the opportunity over many years in my profession and ministry to see the results of this! People who, looking for love, ended up feeling used and abandoned, going from one hook up to the next, with an STD, overusing drugs and alcohol in an attempt to fit in , or stuck in relationships that were hurtful and abusive.

LGBTQIA persons are not exempt from any of that! 

As we celebrate the love God has for each person, we have to be sensitive to those who may be struggling with the effects of sin or tied to behaviors or relationship patterns that are destructive! These things hinder us  from becoming the person God has destined us to be!  

Christians have to be able to lovingly, without judgement, point out that for all of us , God wants better!

Just like for the heterosexual, there may be different paths to holiness for Christians who are LGBTQIA! For some there may be marriage to a same or opposite gender spouse, mixed orientation marriages although difficult, do occur!  For others celibacy or committed friendships might be the path God chooses!    

The Episcopal Church’s To Set Our Hope In Christ, written as response to the Windsor report, reminds us of the qualities that, for Christians, make LGBTQIA and all relationships holy:

“…Exclusive, life-long, unions of fidelity and care for each other have been experienced as holy. These unions have evidenced the fruit of the Holy Spirit: “joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22- 23). More specifically, members of our congregations have seen the fruit of such unions as sanctifying human lives by deepening mutual love and by drawing persons together in fidelity and in service to the world….”

It goes further by comparing these holy relationships to prevailing patterns in our world:

Their holiness stands in stark contrast with many sinful patterns of sexuality in the world. As a report to the Lambeth Conference of 1998 stated very well: Clearly some expressions of sexuality are inherently contrary to the Christian way and are sinful. Such unacceptable expressions of sexuality include promiscuity, prostitution, incest, pornography, pedophilia, predatory sexual behavior, and sadomasochism (all of which may be heterosexual or homosexual), adultery, violence against women and in families, rape … From a Christian perspective these forms of sexual expression remain sinful in any context.

May we celebrate pride along our LGBTQIA siblings, and continue to strive for a world where there is equality for all, where none have to hide or pretend to be different that how God has created them!

May we point those outside the church or far from God to the arms of Christ, who loves all persons and who has a life better that any of us have imagined. 

May we be allies, friends, prayer partners, as people are led to the life of holiness God has set for them!

May we remember that celebration of who we are is but the beginning, that there is a promised becoming that will be revealed, when Christ has come!  

What do we want for our LGBTQIA siblings…nothing but God’s best!

Blessings

Seraph