Come on baby light my pyre-- first spark

When I wrote a "thoughts to ponder" pre-service piece for a bright Sunday in June I had yet to even hear of Sara Palin, yet alone of her strong arm efforts to remove "Daddy's Roommate" from the shelves of a small town Alaska public library-- or of a VP nominee for my country being attached at the hip to a church in Ancorage which boasts about its "fix gays" ministry. Hate that "gay" -- wash it away-- in the blood of the lamb. (Or something like that.) Normal frustrations within the church aside-- at least I could feel safe from "them." Or could I? As much as I feel it is a Gospel imperative to be who you are--created and loved by God-- I believe it is a Gospel imperative to unmask hypocrasy and warn of danger. It all starts with a baptismal vow that says "I will respect the dignity of every human being." It's hard for that promise to walk hand in hand with anything less than "inclusive church" and full ecclesiastical civil rights for all. I shouldn't worry-- I was in a diocese that is a major proponent of inclusive church and at the heart of diocesan activities. And yet the hostility, low grade homophobia, and not really subtle marginalization was rearing its ugly head through a priest in charge. My meditation was censored and pulled from publication-- after about four years and two hundred pages of articles, and a few dozen hymns, choral pieces, and liturgies. The battle goes on for equality-- equality in Christ.

Here's my "radical" commentary on newness of life, the Gospel for a Sunday in June, the California court lifting of the ban on gay marriage, and God with us in the trenches. Judge for yourself-- was I too radical for print?

In the Gospel for today St. Matthew boldly proclaims "Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." NEWNESS OF LIFE!!! And, yet, it seems, that there are few places where one would historically find more resistance to change and to "newness of life" than the church. In many denominations and in many settings women are still denied full inclusion in all roles in the church. Gay and lesbian people are marginalized or openly persecuted. Honorable people with a spirit-led vocational discernment are equated with "potential" pedophiles and barred from seminaries. Suddenly the 21st Century is contemporary with the times of the Inquisition. Even ecclesiastical actions can be shameful and grieve the heart of God.

This week there are some couples surely walking in a "newness of life" after the courts upheld the right of same sex couples to marry in the State of California! These same sex couples have begun marking their unions with legal civil marriage — lifting the veil of "invisibility" and discrimination against those who desire the blessing of the state on the God-given gift and responsibility of partnership. In the meanwhile many are scrambling in response. We see everything from unbridled joy to hateful placards — pathetically invoking God’s name — with "God hates fags." (The same group that routinely sends out protesters to funerals, like that of slain gay Episcopalian college student Matthew Shepherd.) In West Hollywood there were long lines, joyful balloons, and flowers, interspersed with ‘hate’ placards in the name of God. "Pervert Weddings/Honeymoon in hell!" Shameful — that anyone would use God as a basis for such judgment and hate.

Jesus tells the disciples — "Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops." The Good News of the Gospel, since its first proclamation, is good news for all!" Jesus isn’t a Bible thumping redneck hell bent on prejudice and condemnation in the name of God. He is the embodiment of God’s love for us all! Nor is he a robed punitive parser of the law behind the closed doors of some ecclesiastical enclave looking for ways to play "Gotcha!" or for loop-holes in the promises of God. Jesus Christ our Redeemer is the lover of our souls! "Consider the sparrows!" (In the marketplace they were two for a penny.) God watches over them — and knows when even one falls. How much MORE does God value you! Jesus cares. But Jesus is also provocative when he says, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword." A sword of justice does not always bring "peace" — in the sense of not upsetting old apple carts, old ways, old power structures, limited thinking-- barriers to "newness of life."

You may be joyful about same sex marriages or troubled. The debate will go on and on. There will be many "to bless or not to bless" soliloquies. But God — and now it seems the State of California — is not waiting on them. God has clearly blessed the unions of same sex couples way before the church or the State of California even thought about it.

An article in the New York Times June 18, 2008 marking the momentous day Rev. Susan Russell, associate pastor at All Saints Church, Pasaden and president of Integrity, a gay and lesbian advocacy group in the Episcopal Church was misquoted as saying that marriages in the church were already authorized." In fact she said "Our bishop has not "authorized" us to perform same-sex marriages." He has reminded us that we are called to act as pastors to our people. And that's what we're doing. I remind you that pastoral acts are personal decisions between clergy and members of your congregation."

She stated later that "... at All Saints Church we have been performing blessings of same-sex couples for over 16 years within that parameter, while at the same time advocating for systemic change within the Episcopal Church to acheive the full and equal claim it has promised it's gay and lesbian faithful since 1976. Now that civil marriage is legally available for same-sex couples in California we will be performing them within the same parameters."

The N.Y. Times article also stated "Bishop Mark Handley Andrus of the Episcopal Diocese of California, which covers the San Francisco Bay Area, is urging all couples, heterosexual and homosexual, to first be married in a secular service and then come to the church for a blessing. Since the Episcopal Church does not allow rites for same-sex marriages, he said, this is a way to treat all couples equally. ‘Sometimes the church is not quite caught up with the civil society, and this is one of those times.’ Bishop Andrus said."

This Cathedral Congregation — St. Athanasius-- can be proud of its "welcome mat" and history of bold statements of inclusivity. But we must continue to live up to that legacy. We must be a community of faith with an empowered laity where no one is voiceless or invisible. Ours must not be a feudal model of wait and obey; but, rather, a true Anglican model of rich involvement in ministry through our individual gifts of hearts, minds, and vocations. And anyone who honorably enters this place for God’s blessing, forgiveness, and nourishment of Word and Sacrament should have no doubt that it is there for all — with no proviso, save for God’s own invitation to all. If we are unequivocal in our welcome, God will bless us and this will be a place where the church is not lagging behind secular justice and civil rights. When we love one another, and trust God, and remain open to ever new insights and applications of God’s holy word by the power of the Holy Spirit, we have nothing to fear, for "Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. Pre-service Meditations James Koenig, ©2008

Since June, the Bishop clarified his position on full inclusion for gay and lesbian persons in the life of the church. The bishops of California held a news conference to make a bold statement against Prop 8 on the California ballot which would overturn the California Supreme Court Decision and define marriage as only between and man and woman. Clergy and laity of the diocese were invited to the news conference-- but the invitation sent to all congregations and the event itself was never mentioned in our church. Parishoners could read about it in the L.A. Times or see it on television on the evening news.