February 20-21, 2009
Inclusion
Invocation
Gloria a Dios, gloria a Dios, gloria en los cielos (repeat)
A Dios la gloria por siemre! (repeat)
Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen.
Gloria a Dios, gloria a Dios, gloria en el Espiritu
A Dios la gloria por siemre! (repeat)
Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen.
Gloria a Dios, gloria a Dios, gloria Jesu Cristo
A Dios la gloria por siemre! (repeat)
Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen.
Hate Crimes
Two sources of misunderstanding gay and lesbian issues
1. Bible
See how important it is to Jesus… not at all.
He never mentions it.
See how important it was in the OT … not at all.
The Bible deosn't address same-sex relationships except in contexts where opposite-sex relationships would also be immoral. In other words, the kinds of same-sex relationships the Bible condemns would also be condemned if they were opposite-sex.
It is interesting, though, to see what the Bible says about sex.
Note what's punishable by death:
- sex during the menstrual cycle (Lev 18.19, 15.19-24);
- adultery (Dt 22.22);
- losing virginity for women before marriage (not applicable to men btw, Dt 22.13-21)
Look what the Bible says is sometimes okay:
- Polygamy – Abraham, Isaac, David, Solomon
- Concubinage – Solomon
- Sex with slaves – Abraham
- Levirate marriage – sex with dead brother’s wife so as to produce heir; read Genesis 38.1-11 for several of these at once, including
- Prostitution – Judah
We should be careful how we use the Bible in figuring out our sexual ethics. It approves some things we would outlaw and outlaws some things that most Christians don't think are quite that bad (is eating shellfish really an abomination?).
There are only about 6 or 7 passages in the entire Bible that are said to condemn same-sex activity. To a text, they all deal with idolatry, that is the fertility rites of other religions (Leviticus 18.22, 20.13, Rom. 1.26-27, 1 Cor. 6.9, 1 Tim 1.10), OR they deal with violations of hospitality (it’s okay to let your daughter be raped to death rather than let your guest be violated by neighbors, Gen. 19.1-29; Judges 19-21).
How does the Bible itself interpret the sin of Sodom? According to Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Lamentations (where the women, it is charged, boiled their children) Sodom's sin is idolatry. According to Ezekiel 16.49 the sin of Sodom is pride and prosperity without helping the poor and needy, a violation of hospitality to the stranger at the gate. Not once does the Bible say the sin of Sodom was about sex. We’re the ones who came up with that. Not the Bible.
The vast bulk of the teachings found in the Bible defends those at the margins, the outcast, the persecuted. Those who are condemned by the Bible are almost without fail the religiously, politically, and economically powerful, the idolatrous, and those whose resources are not used to help those farther from the margins than they are. Who’s persecuted in our society today? People like Matthew Shepard, Evan Kittridge, and Fred Martinez. Who is doing the persecuting? Christians with Bibles in their backseats. Not all Christians, no, but enough to make us take a hard look at how we talk about gender identity and ethics. Enough to make us look at what the Bible really says, not passages pulled out of context to justify violence or exclusion.
2. Science. That’s what the next video is about.
What does the Science say?
Who has been excluded?
Jesus’ first sermon gives us a clue. You can tell who is important to Jesus by the text he chooses as the theme of his entire ministry. In Luke 4.18-19, he quotes, ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ What do the poor, the captives, the blind, and the oppressed have in common? They are at the margins of society. Jesus says he came to fulfill the good news of God not to the rich captors who see perfectly well how oppressive they are, but to their victims.
What Jesus requires (and what he doesn’t)
When Jesus asks Peter who he thinks Jesus is, Peter tells him, “You are the Messiah.” Jesus does NOT then lead Peter through a list of everything else he must believe in order to follow. Instead, he gives some guidelines for making all decisions: The Great Commandment, which is to Love God and Neighbor (no exceptions). Then, in the fifth adn final speech of Jesus in Matthew 25, he makes it clear that the kingdom of God is explicitly for those who treat the hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned with the respect they deserve as children of God. This is radical inclusion. Jesus never mentions gender identity or sexual orientation. But he talks about the marginalized a lot.
Who would he talk about today?
To stand by when others are excluded is to participate in the exclusion
Challenges
I'm going to leave you with some challenges today.
- Read the Bible with the same generosity toward the oppressed that the Bible itself shows
- Go find someone excluded at school and become a friend to him or her, not on your terms but theirs
- Talk to your congregation about how to include the people Jesus came to save
Benediction
Gloria a Dios, gloria a Dios, gloria en los cielos (repeat)
A Dios la gloria por siemre! (repeat)
Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen.
Gloria a Dios, gloria a Dios, gloria en el Espiritu
A Dios la gloria por siemre! (repeat)
Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen.
Gloria a Dios, gloria a Dios, gloria Jesu Cristo
A Dios la gloria por siemre! (repeat)
Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen, Alleluia Amen.
