Unlikely Children of God

“Unlikely Children of God”

Sermon for Celebration MCC (Naples, FL)

October 7, 2012

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

Mark 10:13-16

Hebrews 2:10-12

Today is a very special Sunday in the life of MCC. Yesterday marks 44 years since the first worship service of Metropolitan Community Churches. We tell the story every year on this Fellowship Sunday of our founder Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry and his journey of dreaming of a church for LGBT people in a time when such an idea was extremely radical. After being excommunicated from his Pentecostal denomination for being gay, Rev. Perry left his wife and children, moved to Los Angeles California after serving in the US Army, and lived as much as he could as an openly gay man in LA. Though he had friends, his despair over being gay in a homophobic society led him to attempt suicide. Thank God he survived because he soon thereafter had an epiphany that he was still called to ministry, but a different kind of ministry- to the gay community.

         Troy’s friend Willy Smith asked him, “How’re you going to organize a bunch of queens, and get them to follow any religion, or any person, or do anything together? You know how bitchy they are. They always act individually. Nobody has ever organized the gay community into anything and accomplished anything. It’s as ridiculous as trying to get a bunch of crazies in the funny farm to act as a team” (The Lord is my Shepherd and He Knows I’m Gay, 105).  Regardless of many people telling him he was crazy for the idea, Troy advertized in The Advocate magazine, even giving the address to his own home where the service would be held.

         So on October 6, 1968, twelve people showed up for worship at Troy and Willy’s home in Huntington Park, CA. Troy borrowed a preacher’s robe from a Congregational minister friend, a coffee table was used for the communion table, and a record of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was played for music in addition to hymns sung acapella. Troy’s sermon was titled, “Be True to You,” ensuring those gathered that being themselves was God’s loving will for their lives.

         When it came time for Communion, Troy made sure to give an open invitation, giving no restrictions on who could receive the Sacrament. To this day, all MCCs celebrate a fully open Communion. Though only a portion of those gathered received Communion that day, everyone was in tears. There was a very real sense in that service that it was the beginning of great things to come.

         MCC has come a long way in 44 years. We faced the arson of many of our churches, the fight for LGBT rights, the AIDS crisis, and so much more. But God has stayed faithful and we have churches all over the world. Though we hear of some individual churches closing, we are one of very few Christian denominations to be actually growing (if not holding steady). But this doesn’t mean we can sit back and watch ourselves grow. We must make our all-inclusive welcome known in every community we inhabit.

         I know that Celebration MCC has great potential. I am thrilled that Rev. Dr. Stephanie Brown will be soon here as your settled pastor. You have stayed strong through the desert of this past year and I know your strength will continue as you grow in wisdom and in numbers with your new leader.

         Now what does the gospel reading have to do with all this queer church stuff? We heard in this short reading from the Gospel of Mark a very powerful message. Some of us may miss the deeper meaning because we have heard this scripture so many times before and because it is so often illustrated in Christian children’s books. You know the scene: A very model-esque Jesus sits on a rock with his Herbal Essences hair flowing in the breeze as little pasty white children come and sit on his lap. (More recently, the children are shown in many nationalities, but I just need to point out the reality of American religious history here.) In my Methodist Sunday school growing up, we sang, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” Of course that’s not really considered politically correct anymore, but the point got across to me as a child: Jesus loves everyone. If you grew up with the King James Bible, you may remember it as, “Suffer the little children come unto me.” One of my seminary professors Rev. Dr. Jay Johnson remembers being afraid of this passage as a child because he thought it meant he had to literally “suffer.” That’s one of many reasons why we more so use contemporary versions in MCC.

         What your Sunday school teacher or preacher probably didn’t tell you is the history behind this biblical scene. In the ancient Near East, children were viewed as having little value. With so many diseases without cures, many children did not see adulthood. And in the social hierarchy, children held no power. When children were orphaned, there was no orphanage to send them to. They just wandered the streets picking up scraps for food and finding shelter wherever they could. These children were considered “untouchable.”

         Since Jesus was known to be a friend to the friendless and an advocate for those on the margins of society, people brought the street kids to Jesus. The disciples were not happy with this. They scolded the people, thinking that their Rabbi was too holy to associate with such people. Jesus was irate with them for keeping anyone away from him. So he called them to himself anyway. He embraced them with arms wide open and gave them a blessing. And remember: a blessing is not making someone or something sacred but rather affirming the sacred value of someone or something. Jesus affirmed the sacred value of these street kids.

         And remember too that Jesus was an unmarried Jewish man. By his age, he was expected to have his own wife and children. So bringing children to him for him to touch was a scandalous act.

         Unfortunately today, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender people face the same kind of stigma. We are labeled as “child molesters” and “unfit parents.” Many states prevent us from adopting children though American foster homes are filled to the brim and children around the world are homeless. Statistics show that the vast majority of child molesters are heterosexual and that such abuse does not have to do with sexuality but rather with a psychological disorder having to do with power. Unfortunately the Roman Catholic child sex abuse pandemic has deeply damaged trust of the clergy and of the church as a whole. Church: we have a lot of work to do to show the world that our community has the capacity to appropriately love the children of our world.

         We remember also that there is a child sex trafficking pandemic going on around the world. According to UNICEF, the world child trafficking market is over twelve billion dollars a year, with over 1.2 million child victims (sctnow.org). Such statistics are enough to make a person lose faith in humanity. I’m sure seeing countless children on the streets was enough for Jesus to ask, “Why?” but then proceed to call them family.

         Our reading from the New Testament book called Hebrews reminds us of this very fact. It says that Jesus is not ashamed to call ANYONE family, because we all have the same Parent, the Source and Ground of our being. Jesus did not have what people today call “traditional family values.” He probably didn’t marry or have children. And remember in chapter three of Mark where the scripture says, “Then Jesus’ mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around Jesus; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, Jesus said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

         Jesus meant no disrespect to his blood family. He was simply demonstrating that loving family is more than blood. Jesus created his family of choice from those who had no family. He could have conformed to norms, but he was called by the Spirit of God to transcend those norms to instead create what he called the “Kingdom” or Kinship of God.

         We here are all siblings in Christ. That doesn’t mean that we get to call each other brother and sister because we all believe the same doctrines and creeds. Church is not meant to be a clique. It does mean however that we claim each other as siblings because we, like Jesus, see the God-spark in each other and we call it Good. We take care of each other in love and respect in the example of Jesus.

         MCC doctrine states that we are “saved” in that we are saved from loneliness, degradation, and despair. But we can only be saved if we like those street kids two thousand years ago, in our vulnerability and humility, allow ourselves to be embraced by the open arms of Jesus. And today, those arms are yours and mine. St. Teresa of Avila, a queer Christian mystic who lived in the Middle Ages gave us this illustration: you are the hands, the feet, the face, the very body of God. And it is through you that God’s will is done.

         Saints, I urge you in your ministry going forward to open your hearts and minds to the possibility of meeting the living Christ in the most unlikely children of God. Remember that you are not yourselves helpless children needing to rely on anyone to spoon-feed you, but that you are adult children of the Living God who will always guide you to abundant life. Be authentic MCCers; that is, be true to you. God bless you all on your amazing journeys of faith. Amen.