Red Letters

So my previous post was a bit of a barn burner. I'll admit, I really had my temper up on that one. I'm going to readdress the issues raised previously, but I am going to try to keep it calm. So, in that spirit, we move forward.

I have in my collection of Bibles, scriptural commentaries, and other assorted religious teachings and writings, what is called a "Red Letter" Bible. In this version, all the words of Jesus are printed in red. It's very handy, especially if you want to know if Jesus really said that. Well, all you have to do is look up the verse in question, and if it is in red, then you know. I'm going to throw this in here-I am not a theologian, a Biblical scholar, a preacher, or anything like it. What I have is a Bible, a desire to connect with God, and to understand the truth of God and the expression of God in this world. Occasionally this desire compels me to write things down, and that's what you get here in this blog. Ok...moving on.

So, I got this version of my Bible and I checked, thoroughly, for ANY reference, made by Jesus himself, to homosexuality being a sin or to homosexual marriage, or really anything at all having to do with homosexuality. Would you like to guess what I found?

Yeah, nothing. I did find references to sexual immorality and adultery. Now, for those of you who might be getting ready to jump all over the "sexual immorality" bit, let's consider what that might mean. Sex outside of marriage, maybe? Sex with multiple partners? Pornography? Pederasty? Prostitution? Rape? It's not particularly clear what that is. Left up to my interpretation, I would say that it is sexual behavior that is not part of a loving, committed (consensual) relationship between two people. The sin would be if someone engaged in sexual acts or behavior that was not consensual, not loving, not committed. It would not be because sex in and of itself is immoral, but because the behavior is destructive.

I have said before, but I'll repeat, sin (in my opinion) is that which separates us from God and prevents us from hearing his call in our lives. If we're tearing around having sex all willy-nilly with whoever happens across, we're not focused on God. We're focused on pleasure and we're focused on ourselves. That is sin.

So, what about Leviticus and Genesis? The story of Lot (talk about a messed up guy...but anyway) does not strike me so much as a story about homosexuals themselves as about a group of men who are behaving in a homosexual way without necessarily being homosexual. Refer back to my comments regarding willy-nilly sex. Of course, Lot offers them his virgin daughters to rape instead (where's the outrage regarding that, by the way?) and they refuse, and then they're blinded by the angels.

In Leviticus we have two verses that people just love to quote to "prove" how wrong homosexuality is. Two comments on this.
First, in my handy-dandy red letter Bible, I find it interesting how not one quote from God is in red. Nothing that is attributed to God directly has been outlined. Not even the 10 Commandments. I don't know what the reason for that is, but here, again, are my thoughts. Ever played a game of telephone? You know, where one person says something, and then the message has to travel around the circle to the person who started it and about 99% of the time it has changed so much that it's not even the same message anymore? I wonder if we don't directly attribute God's words to God because part of us knows that we might have gotten some of the message mixed up in translation. So these two quotes, from Leviticus, although attributed to God could possibly be mixed up. They could also be falsely attributed, but I'll not get into that.
Second, we ignore an awful lot of the rules from Leviticus. I mean a LOT. For instance, I myself enjoy shellfish, pork, meat on Fridays, meat and cheese together (helloooo pizza!) and I don't recall ever sequestering myself OR undergoing ritual purification after my monthly time. I also have a tattoo. So yeah, I may not be a homosexual, but I'm already breaking a bunch of laws here.

And the kicker is...I am not one tiny bit concerned about any of them. Ask me why...go on, it's fun. (I'm going to pretend you did.)

I am not concerned because Jesus said this about the law in Matthew 22 37-40: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

On these two commandments hang ALL the law and the prophets. If I trust in the saving grace of Jesus Christ, and I strive to love God with everything I have and love my neighbor as myself, then I'm doing alright. I'm not perfect, but I'm doing what I was told as best I can with my flawed human self. I'm not going to worry about what God thinks of my tattoo, or whether I was eating shellfish. I'm also not too worried about my homosexual neighbors. What God thinks of them is between them and God and I have no business interjecting my opinion in there or judging anyone for anything. Not while I myself am so hopelessly flawed and law-breaking.

I do not believe same-sex couples are committing a sin by loving one another or by wanting to declare that love and commitment in a marriage ceremony with their family and friends. I do not believe that their marriages will somehow damage my marriage, or destroy society, or destroy the institution of marriage. I also do not believe that any person's private faith or morality has ANY business determining the legal and civil rights for other people. That's just constitutional.

Equality and love for all. I think God, and Jesus, would approve.

Variation on a Theme

I was reading back over a few of my blogs and I noticed that in the last few a theme seems to be developing. Let's see if you can pick it out by the end of this one.

My husband and I were having a conversation yesterday (it seems like a lot of my blogs start this way, but I promise, this isn't the theme...) and somehow or another we got onto the subject of discrimination. Not in a 1960s, civil rights, Martin Luther King Jr. kind of a way, but a now, happening, in-your-face kind of way. The discrimination that comes packaged in religion. Yeah. That. 

I got angry. I won't lie, I got really angry. Angry enough that I started crying because this is one of many areas where I feel helpless. And like I'm beating my head against a brick wall every time I speak out against it. I'm going to be really blunt though. Your religion, whatever it may be, does not give you the right to deny another person their rights. To anything. Ever. 

If you are Christian, and you don't think homosexual people have a right to be married because it doesn't uphold a "Biblical" definition of marriage, I've got news for you. You have no right to deny them. On legal grounds because your private morality has no business dictating the public policy of this nation. On religious grounds because Jesus told you to judge not. And to love your neighbor as yourself. I don't care if you think it's a sin. If you want to be a follower of Jesus and call yourself a Christian then step right into those sandals and get your brunch on with those sinners. You are called to love them, not condemn them.

Do you think you standing around judging them and calling them sinners and telling them they're bad and awful is going to make them want to listen to you? To believe in your God? Let's turn it around...how do you feel when the religious extremists call you a sinner or an infidel and declare that you are going to hell? Yeah, it's not so good, is it? So love them. Care for them and their well being. Sin is not an act that you find unpleasant, or wrong, or judge to be immoral. Sin is that which separates us from God, that prevents us from hearing His voice and doing his will. Sin in following our desire and not God's. 

Finally, and in the same vein...I have just about had it with people who call themselves Christian who can't or won't be bothered to help anyone less fortunate than themselves. People find all kinds of reasons not to. "It's enabling them and they won't ever learn how to take care of themselves if we do it for them." or "They're drug addicts/sinners/bad people and they don't deserve my help. They'll just abuse it." or "They're just lazy and I don't have to take care of them." or (and this might be my *favorite* reason) "It's my money/stuff/time and I earned it, so why should I give it away to those undeserving poor/shiftless/lazy/good-for-nothing/etc. people?" 

Here is the best reason I know why you not only ought to, but also must help in whatever way you can. Pretty specifically. Don't believe me? Check this out:

Matthew 25:31-46
New International Version (NIV)
The Sheep and the Goats
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fireprepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

Did you catch the "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine?" It's not the people who have just fallen on hard times and need a hand up that we are commanded to feed, and clothe, and shelter, and nurse, and visit. It is the least of these. The worst of the worst. The most wretched. The ones who are taking advantage. The criminals. The drug addicts. The ones who will never recover. Never be whole. Never be productive. Who can never repay you. These are the least. The lowest. The ones who need God's love and God's light the most. And you are the messengers of that light and love. You. And you are not going to get that message across by proclaiming the evilness, wrongness, and otherwise worthlessness of the person you're supposed to be loving.

And I get it, nobody wants to feel taken advantage of. Or that what they've done hasn't made a difference. But if you do these things with love, then you have made a difference. However small it may be. Small acts of love, of grace, of kindness can make a world of difference.

Get outside of your church. Do something for someone who can do nothing for you. Do it with love. Do it with kindness. Do it with grace. Do it without judgment.

I know that God is with me, always and everywhere. But I put a lot of distance there because God asks a lot of me. God asks me to sacrifice, and let go of my own desires and my own will and to do His and I don't like it. It's hard. And that's sin. God continues to work in my life to change this and I will never be perfect. But I will always do my best to help those who need it because I believe that God has called me, has called all of us to do just that.

Tear down the walls

I had a thought this week which I have not been able to shake. As with most thoughts like this, it has grown into an idea large enough for a blog. So, the thought, at its core was this: Most of us spend our entire lives creating distance between ourselves and the world.
In some cases this is a necessary and healthy thing to do. Creating distance between ourselves and damaging or harmful people and situations is important. Knowing the limits of our abilities, our energies, is also important. It prevents us from overextending ourselves and causing harm.
Where I take issue with the distance is when we create unnecessary distance between ourselves and our world because we are afraid of what could happen to us. We're afraid of being hurt, of being judged, of a million other things. We fear the vulnerability that comes with sharing who we truly are because we are afraid that we will be cast out. We are afraid that we will be found wanting. So we create distance. We place restrictions, and barriers, and obstacles between us and everyone and everything else. Should I take a dancing class? No, because I'm not that coordinated and I don't want to look silly. Should I strike up a conversation with that person? No, because what if they don't like me?
Here's the thing...who cares?? If you want to dance, dance. If you feel like talking to someone, do it. If you trip on your feet, or they don't like you, oh well! Do it anyway.
And one place where I think we all create distance, and we're all afraid, is between us and God. We crave the presence of God in our lives but we fear it. We create ritual and rules so that we can keep God at a distance and bring him down to a size we can manage.
Really and truly, deep down in my heart I believe this, God is right here with us. We have only to accept and acknowledge him and open our hearts to his presence. There is no special ritual, no special procedure. Just acceptance and love. Available to us all the time, every day, without price, without question. Complete acceptance, unconditional love. Just imagine. And we flee from it because we are so afraid of our own flaws and inadequacies. We judge ourselves far more harshly than our Creator ever could or would. So we shrink from contact to protect ourselves, to hide our nakedness and our shame.
The world may tell us to be ashamed, and to hide, to build walls, but God never does. God never will. And we should not place limits, and barriers, and walls around ourselves. Reach out in love, accept yourself in all of your flawed glory. Accept others in theirs. Above all love. The greatest of all things is love.
Whoever you are reading this, know that you are loved. Immeasurably, always, infinitely, and for exactly who you are right this moment. Go into the world and love as you are loved. Tear down the walls that keep you apart.