Matthew 10:24-39The Message (MSG)
24-25 “A student doesn’t get a better desk than her teacher.
A laborer doesn’t make more money than his boss. Be content—pleased, even—when
you, my students, my harvest hands, get the same treatment I get. If they call me,
the Master, ‘Dungface,’ what can the workers expect?
26-27 “Don’t be intimidated. Eventually everything is going
to be out in the open, and everyone will know how things really are. So, don’t
hesitate to go public now.
28 “Don’t be bluffed into silence by the threats of bullies.
There’s nothing they can do to your soul, your core being. Save your fear for
God, who holds your entire life—body and soul—in his hands.
Forget About Yourself
29-31 “What’s the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right?
And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater
attention to you, down to the last detail—even numbering the hairs on your
head! So, don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a
million canaries.
32-33 “Stand up for me against world opinion and I’ll stand
up for you before my Father in heaven. If you turn tail and run, do you think
I’ll cover for you?
34-37 “Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to
cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride
and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for
God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer
father or mother over me, you don’t deserve me. If you prefer son or daughter
over me, you don’t deserve me.
38-39 “If you don’t go all the way with me, through thick
and thin, you don’t deserve me. If your first concern is to look after
yourself, you’ll never find yourself. But if you forget about yourself and look
to me, you’ll find both yourself and me.
That was the message version of today’s reading
“One of the Major complaints of Jesus’ critics was that he
ate with those he shouldn’t; his radical egalitarianism at table was threating
to those elements of Judeo-Roman Society that fostered separation between
people as a way of preserving the imperial status quo.”[1]
Imagine being a young follower of Christ while your parents
are devout members of Jewish society.
You are in direct conflict with your parents, you are in direct conflict
with your culture and you conflict with custom and law. Your acceptance of
Jesus and his teachings have driven a sword between you and your family, you must
choose what you know in your heart to be right, to be what you are called to be
or to go home and live in suppression trying to give the illusion that all is
the same though for you there has been a radical shift in your way of thinking
and being.
I should stop here and warn you I am going to use a word
that some may find offensive or may be concerned with my use of it that word is
Queer. Queer once a word that was used
to demean gay people is now a widely accepted term used for many different
reasons.
Charlie Glickman States it this way:
One of the things about the word queer that fascinates me is
how many meanings it has. It can be used as an adjective, a pejorative, a noun,
an identity, a sexual orientation, and as a gender identity (as in
genderqueer). But there’s one use that we don’t hear as much anymore: queer is
also a verb. What does it mean to queer something? There was a time when that
phrase meant “to mess it up,” as in queering a business deal. While I’m glad
that use has gone out of fashion, I like using queer as a verb.
To queer something, whether it’s a text, a story, or
an identity, is to take a look at its foundations and question them. We can
explore its limits, its biases, and its boundaries. We can look for places
where there’s elasticity or discover ways we can transform it into something
new. To queer is to examine our assumptions and decide which of them we want to
keep, change, discard, or play with. This becomes a practice in transcending
the habit of settling for pre-defined categories and creating new ones. And
even when we leave something unchanged, we have changed our relationship to it.[2]
So why would I mention all this,
well on this Gay pride Sunday I would venture to say that this Church has, to
quote Rev. Tom Bohache, a queer sensibility. Now a “A queer sensibility that
seeks to stir up and spoil the status quo of imperial heteronormativity will,
like Jesus our Christ, be welcoming of everyone; we who have been kept from
many tables, both literally and figuratively, dare not keep others from the
table.”[3] This is what my call is, therefore I speak of
earth care, accessibility for all, I will address migrant welcoming communities
and sanctuary. I will work toward a queer sensibility
Unfortunately, we know we are not
there yet. We must tell people that our
church is welcoming and open to all.
Why? And Why fly the rainbow colors? Won’t that just draw attention to
us? Maybe even make us a target? We as
united church of Christ and this church by covenant proclaim we are open and
affirming. This congregation voted to
publicly proclaim our welcome. And we must proclaim that welcome because there
are other places in the Christian landscape that don’t say anything but allow
their pulpit to speak for them and often times those pulpits are not the
friendliest. We must proclaim we are an
open affirming congregation because kids are still kicked out of their homes,
Gay men are still attacked in the street and transgender people are
murdered. These events are not from faraway
places but here in America.
My husband and I, by the way I
legally could not call him my husband until just a few years ago. Each have our
own personal stories and experiences.
Some painful, some joy full and all part of the struggle to reach the
day when I do not have to say I am gay and it be a political statement.
I was born and raised in Detroit
Mi. I was adopted a year after my Birth
by may parents who also fostered me for that first year. Two years later my
brother was adopted and my sister was adopted. As a kid, I had a hard time
adjusting. I always had a social worker
in school. In grade school, I taught my
counselor how to play chess, well tried too we usually ended up playing
checkers.
I was bullied and picked on. Part of
the issues was I had a muscle deformity and so I walked funny as a kid, my ears
were too big, I couldn’t play baseball, I wasn’t very socially oriented to kids
of my age…whatever, kids will find excuses to tease and or bully. It probably didn’t help that the longest I
was in one school was high school for 4 years.
When I went off to college is when
my life changed. I went into catholic
seminary and there I discovered my sexuality. Not the best place to discover
that or try to figure it out. I left
after the first year and transferred to school where I majored in sign language
studies. There I found other people like
me. (my mother’s words not mine). I
started to get involved in the community and in 1986 I went to Detroit’s first
pride rally.
It was Father’s Day, June 15th,
I had been asked to interpreter for the speakers at the rally for the
march. By then I was well known in the
community for working with the gay men’s chorus, which I joined in 1983 as
their interpreter, as well as serving other events around the city. Any way it was a big deal, there was a
protest march, nothing like todays pride, there were political speeches at the
rally stage. Leaders from the Michigan
organization for human rights and other big wigs were going to address the
crowd.
So, I am on stage and suddenly I
feel this nudge it’s a camera man who wants to film the audience for the
evening news report. I thought nothing
of it. It wasn’t until I got home that I
was made aware that the camera focused on me for a bit. When I arrived home my father’s face was red
and my mother was crying. My family does
have a dramatic flair. My father yelled,
my mother cried even more. They
complained because I told them I was at a human rights rally. I said I was and they asked who rights were I
fighting for? So, I asked the rhetorical
question whose do you think. I think
then was when my father used the word faggot and shortly after I left the
house. We did find reconciliation and peace eventually.
It is interesting to note that
before I came out I was heading out for a date one night. My grandmother was on the phone with my
mother and she asked my mom who the lucky guy was. Needless to say, I had to make a bee line to
grandmothers and have a conversation. Another odd thing or maybe not but at one
point I worked for the public schools with mandatory Ed programs for disabled
kids up to the age of 26. Our campus
counselor was My counselor from grade school.
I was so surprised to see her and funny thing she tells me “I always
knew you were gay but we were not paid to tell you that.” It seemed like everone knew before I did.
My mother has a group of about 6
women that she went to high school with.
They have been friends all these years and they were always around for
special events. Two of them had openly
gay sons. I think this helped them all
to grow as they were their own PFLAG Group.
PFLAF stands for parents and friends of Lesbian and Gays. PFLAG is
working to make sure that all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and queer are not only valued by society, but take pride in and
value themselves. they do this through providing peer-to-peer support,
educating people on the issues that are important to the community, and
advocating for inclusive policies and laws.
My life since that day took me many
places. I was a practicing catholic and went to dignity for services until the
catholic church told dignity They could
not meet in a church of theirs any more.
At that point I had to leave, I could not call the catholic church home anymore
because I was not welcome.
In 1982 I met Brian. Brian was the first person to address
publicly that he was living with AIDS in Detroit. His story was heard and as he relayed his
pain and anger I saw someone who needed a companion. After his speech was over I sat down next to
him introduced myself to him and we had a great conversation. I became the person that he could talk to
about anything with except AIDS. His
life was educating people about AIDS he talked and lived AIDS every day. So we
agreed no AIDS conversation.
Through Brian I saw the everyday
struggle and what was needed. I and a
few friends formed health education association Detroit. We were the first organization to directly
fund people living with aids in order to pay emergency bills like electricity,
gas etc. In those days I spent many
hours driving around Detroit ( remember
it’s an hour across town) chasing down board members signatures so I could pay many
a heating or electric bill or buy some groceries.
In 1984 I had to say farewell to
Brian as he did succumb to AIDS. I was
one of the few people who refused to wear what we called full Martian garb to
visit. I wore a face mask just to avoid
infecting him with any cold I might be carrying. I did get to visit before he
passed but he was asleep and I did not want to disturb him. If I knew then what I know now about death
and dying I would have seen that it was his last night.
Since then I do not know how many I
had to say good bye too. Aids took
hundreds of thousands lives in the 80’s and 90’s. I saw intelligent brave men slip into
dementia. I witnessed strong hearty men
become shells of who they were. The
struggle for meds and dignity seemed to take forever and still goes on in many
places today.
I lived in Worcester and Boston and
moved to San Francisco in 1991. Ah what
a great experience October 18, 1991 I arrived in san Francisco after a 3-month
journey across the united states from Dorchester Mass. Staying at a nice little boutique hotel,
getting ready to find an apartment, the morning of the 19th the sky
was funny. It was getting dark instead
of light. Oakland firestorm had
started. When we did get an apartment
and my mother asked where we were living I told her watch the 6 o’clock news
they are interviewing a hooker on the street outside our building. We had a
studio at Polk and Geary for 800 dollars a month. The walk-in closet was so big we put our bed
in it and used it as a tiny bedroom. I started working for the ARK san Francisco
at their vocational training center for developmentally disabled adults. I had
worked with his population close to 15 years.
Shortly after moving to SF I was
introduced the imperial court system and all the glamour and fundraising that
goes with it. For those of you who don’t know;
“In 1965, Jose Sarria proclaimed herself the Empress of San
Francisco, and laid the foundation for the formation of the Imperial Court de
San Francisco. Today, the International Court System (ICS) has over 65 chapters
in the United States, Canada and Mexico, making us the second largest GLBT
organization in the world. On October 23rd, 2015, The International Imperial
Court System Celebrated its 50 Anniversary”[4]
Jose Sarria in 1961 was the first
openly gay candidate for a public office in the united states and I am proud to
say a friend. I love the imperial court system and all the nonprofit work they
do. It was because of the Imperial court system that I met miss Ginny.
Ginny was a man who lived as woman
without surgery. She came to all the court
fundraisers and events her wife would bring her in her wheelchair. Though she was technically a straight man she
found solace and acceptance in the gay community. There was no place Safe for her in her
community. It wasn’t safe for
transgender people in San Francisco yet and they had to be cautious about how
they lived.
One of my friends from the
transgender community was candy sweet,
she was a big ole lovable girl. I mean
big she needed two seats on the airplane.
she sewed all her own clothes and beaded all her own Gowns. She loved to
perform and was well known, respected and loved around the city and yet. On her way home one night she was attacked
and killed we still do not know who did it or why. But because nothing was stolen we can guess it
was a hate crime. But that was before
there was such a legal disclaimer. I have actually lost three of my friends to
Hate crimes it is impossible to comprehend or even process.
So, a year after moving to San Francisco I
declared my candidacy for grand duke. This is a public campaign and people
vote, it was fun to run. Unfortunately, my boyfriend at the time was not as
socially engaged as I and he said if I won I was out…well I won and I moved out
the next day.
It is funny because that triggered a
few things for me including burn out form caring for the extremely multiply
impaired. I went on a journey to find
new job and new ways of surviving in SF. I found myself a little job working
for a tour company that specialized in day trips and casino trips for the
senior community. I drove a 15 seater
that had a tv and everything. I drove from sf to Jackson ranchera my stops were
in alameda and up through the delta, with stops in Pittsburgh, antioch, rio
vista and Isleton. I eventually worked my way up to VP in charge of PR.
I will never forget a super happy
day in San Francisco it was august 1998 and we had a new headline on the cover
of the Bay area reporter.
"No obituaries were filed with the paper for this
issue, a first since the AIDS epidemic exploded in San Francisco's gay
community," Timothy Rodrigues writes in the Aug. 13 issue of the Bay Area
Reporter. Rodrigues laces this good news with a few words of caution.
"That doesn't mean that there were no AIDS deaths in the past week; next
week's issue may have more obits than usual," he says. However,
"after more than 17 years of struggle and death, and some weeks with as
many as 31 obituaries printed in the B.A.R., it seems a new reality may be
taking hold, and the community may be on the verge of a new era of the
epidemic," he says, adding tentatively, "Perhaps." (Rodrigues,
B.A.R., 8/13 issue). An accompanying editorial, titled, "Death Takes A
Holiday," states, "We tried not to get too excited about it too soon.
... So we waited patiently, quietly, to see how many this week's mail would
bring. And then there were none. ... Although we fully expect to receive more
obits than usual next week, for such is the nature of life and death, we also
hope to see a time when issues of the B.A.R. without obituaries are
commonplace" (Bay Area Reporter, 8/13).[5]
This is just some of my story. I am just one story and this has actually
been a few peoples story. But this
story, me I wish I had you when I first came out. I wish I knew that there was a safe place
where gay straight bi transgender questioning people can gather and worship
safely without Judgement. Maybe, just
maybe my friends would have lived longer, maybe just maybe one young person
would not have committed suicide.
Maybe just maybe someone, someone here today has experienced
the acceptance they have always sought because we are an open and affirming
congregation of the United Church of Christ and that is why we need a rainbow
outside. That is why we need to proclaim
it loud. We need to be the safe
alternative for Christians so that they know there is a loving God that made
them perfect just the way they are. Please let you Queer Sensibility Continue to Shine.
On that note, I also want to say happy ordination anniversary
to Bill Johnson for it was 45 years ago today that he was the first openly Gay
man to be ordained to mainline ministry. It was 60 years ago today that the
united Church of Christ as a denomination came into existence. So happy anniversary to the denomination and
we forgot to mention that technically two weeks ago was this Churches
anniversary the first church to vote to become United Church of Christ. So
Please let you Queer Sensibility Continue to Shine. Let us continue to be a
place that honors and welcomes the marginalized. Happy Pride Sunday.
[2] Charlie Glickman,
What does Queer Mean, April 6, 2012, accessed June 20, 2017,
http://charlieglickman.com/queer-is-a-verb/.
[4] Imperial Court
System, 50 years of Noble deeds, 2015, accessed June 21, 2017, http://www.impcourt.org/8-about-us/213-about-us-2.
[5] California
Healthline, Aids Deaths: Bay Area Reporter Posts No Obits, August 17, 1998,
accessed June 22, 2017,
http://californiahealthline.org/morning-breakout/aids-deaths-bay-area-reporter-posts-no-obits-endstoryhed/.
