“Radical
Liberation”
Sermon for MCC
New Haven
June 23, 2013
Rev. Brian
Hutchison, M.Div.
Texts:
Galatians
3:23-28
Luke
8:26-39
Four
days from now is the 44th anniversary of a very important event in
the LGBT Liberation movement. Do you know what it is? On June 27th
1969, police raided the Stonewall Inn gay bar in New York City, and though that
was a common event in those days, the patrons of the bar decided to finally
fight back. So the raid turned into a riot. Drag queens were the fiercest
fighters against the police. Legend says that they were mourning the loss of
gay icon Judy Garland, who had died just five days earlier at the young age of
47. Whether or not this legend is true, we know that time simply could no
longer hold us back from that point forward.
National
news of the Stonewall rebellion set the rest of the nation’s gay community on
fire. Together, the queer communities of large cities around the country said
in solidarity, “We won’t take this anymore!” Homophobia, heterosexism,
homo-hatred, homo-supremacy, and transphobia did not end that day. But that day
is marked as the beginning of the fight to end such evils.
We
in MCC remember that only 9 months earlier in October of 1968, Rev. Troy Perry
held the first service of Metropolitan Community Church in the living room of his
home in Los Angeles, California. We might say that the queer liberation
movement was conceived there and was born 9 months later in New York! Some
people ask why MCC has to talk about sexuality and gender identity so much.
After all, we’re primarily a church, right? Of course. First and foremost, our
identity is as sacred children of God, made in God’s image and likeness, filled
with God’s Spirit. But we can also testify with our very lives that we have
been gifted with a special calling through our queer sexualities and gender
identities. God has called us to show the world that the categories,
boundaries, and labels that man has made (and I do mean man), are not God’s boundaries. God transcends all boundaries and
boxes, calling us to do the same.
We
can affirm this through our scripture reading we heard today from Paul’s letter
to the Galatians. It is certainly one of my favorite passages from scripture
and I will quote it again and again. It happens to be our reading from the
lectionary today. I repeat the line that is most important for us to understand
today: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free,
there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
There it is! The scripture preaches for itself. I can sit down now; that’s all
you need to know!
Paul
recognized that when people live in beloved community that is led by the power
of Spirit, man’s categories don’t matter anymore. No matter what the world
calls you: Black, White, Brown, Asian, Latina, Native, Indigenous, Male,
Female, Intersex, Transgender, Cisgender, same-gender-loving, other-gender-loving,
younger, older, more-abled, less-abled, wealthy, low-income, etc. We are ALL
God’s children; end of story.
I
used to hear a member of MCC in Washington DC say, “Call me anything you want;
just don’t call me anything less than a child of God.” I believe with
all my heart that claiming any human being is less than a child of God is a
sin. Doing so is claiming that what God has created is not worth loving. If you
call yourself a person of faith, your call is to love to the best of your
ability the way God loves. The book of Genesis tells us that everything God
created is good. God smiled on each of us with motherly pride as She birthed
each one of us. So who are we to claim anything less?
A
wonderful and yet complicated thing happened this past week. The 37-year-old
organization called Exodus International decided to close. Exodus has attempted
for almost four decades to convert same-gender-loving people to be
heterosexuals through a particular brand of fundamentalist faith. They invented
the terms “ex-gay” and “reparative therapy.” I think they had good intentions
all along, but their good intentions paved the road to a living hell for
thousands of SGL and GV people who struggled to deny their God-given
identities. Only eight years after MCC started, Exodus preached their harmful
motto around the world: “Change is possible.”
Two
of the founders of Exodus were Michael Bussee and Gary Cooper. After a few short
years of leading the organization, these two left it and their wives and
married each other in 1982. Unfortunately, nine years later in 1991, Gary died
of AIDS. But for those nine precious years, Michael and Gary were able to live
in freedom from the ex-gay movement they had helped to create. Since then,
Michael has fought to expose Exodus for its false message and incorrect result
statistics. To this day, not a single person can be said to be so-called “cured
of homosexuality.” You know why? Because same-gender love and attraction are
not things to be cured.
Decades
ago, then vice-moderator of MCC Rev. Elder Don Eastman wrote a pamphlet that
has been distributed widely since: Homosexuality:
Not a Sin, Not a Sickness. MCC has unapologetically preached for 45 years
that we are not sinful and the American Psychiatric Association has held for 40
years (since 1973) that we are not sick. None of the verses in the Bible that
have been used against us are valid. There is no scientific evidence that same-gender-love
is mentally harmful. So for the rational human being, there is no further
argument.
Unfortunately,
groups like Exodus continued to oppress our people full-force regardless of
logic. They instead chose the path of fear and Ego in order to keep power over
those they viewed as deviant. The sensationalism of the Moral Majority of the
1980s including Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, James Dobson, and many others fed
the fires of unchristian hatred toward God’s queer children. They have said
countless times that we deserve hell, they have labeled us as “satanic,” and
they said AIDS was God’s punishment. But MCC never stopped fighting back with
the Light of God given to us. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 4:5 that all
that is in darkness will eventually come to light. That is what happened
this past week.
The most
recent president of Exodus, Alan Chambers made a very public apology to the
LGBT community, admitting that their efforts were misled all along. That is a
good start to healing, but so much more needs to be done for reparative justice
to happen. In response to Exodus announcing its close, MCC’s Moderator Rev.
Elder Dr. Nancy Wilson issued this statement:
Exodus 'Ex-Gay' movement needs 'conversion to truth-telling'
"We will not be satisfied until
we see Evangelicals bring the same fervor to saving our lives as they have to
trying to separate our souls from our God-given sexual orientations and gender
identities."
The Rev.
Dr. Nancy Wilson is the moderator of the Metropolitan Community Churches, which
has ministries in over 40 countries. Dr. Wilson was part of the first
LGBT faith delegation to meet with a sitting president in 1979. She is
currently a member of President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and
Neighborhood Partnerships.
"For decades,
Exodus International has been synonymous with the idea that people need to be
'cured' or 'healed' of homosexuality. This week's historic apology from Exodus
leader, Alan Chambers, for the harm done to lesbian, gay, bisexual and
transgender (LGBT) people by Exodus is encouraging," said the Rev. Dr.
Nancy Wilson. "Sadly, nothing will bring back the lives lost to
suicide based on pseudo-psychology and corrupt theology. Any apology for past suicides,
lost years and damage to families is only as good as real actions to counter
the lies spread throughout the world by past Exodus action.
"What is needed
is true repentance and a conversion to truth telling. The theology of
condemnation must be replaced with a theology of grace in the service of God's
good creation-including LGBT people. The trail of emotional,
psychological and spiritual damage must be mitigated by evangelistic outreach
around the world where the lives of LGBT people hang in the balance at the hands
of religious and political leaders who would shed their blood, rape their
bodies, and crucify their spirits for their own careers.
"We will not be
satisfied until we see Evangelicals bring the same fervor to saving our lives
as they have to trying to separate our souls from our God-given sexual
orientations and gender identities.
"Around the
world, MCC is known as 'The Human Rights Church' because we are sometimes the
only faith tradition standing up for the lives of LGBT people. Exodus has
the opportunity to join us.
"In just days,
MCC will celebrate 45 years of ministry and advocacy as we gather in Chicago,
July 1-5, for our 25th General Conference.
We exhort Exodus leaders to join us. Join us to celebrate the life of
Bishop Christopher Senyonjo of Uganda who risks his life every day to fight the
infamous 'kill the gays' bill. We challenge you to sit at the feet of leaders
who founded the Global Justice Institute and are working with LGBT leaders in
Asia, Africa and Latin America."
"Words are
cheap. Lives are precious," concluded Dr. Wilson. "Do not disappoint
us."
Our
global leader made our message very clear: justice is not cheap. We are
always called by God to forgive, but we will never forget. We will keep our siblings in Christ on the other side
of the spectrum accountable for the damage they have done. The countless lives
lost to suicide because of their so-called “ministry” cannot be brought back.
The countless lives ruined by their efforts and message will not necessarily be
repaired. They have sinned terribly in the name of God. This is not a judgment;
it is the unadulterated truth.
The
message of today’s Gospel reading from Luke falls right in line with this
week’s news. We can empathize with the man who was said to have been possessed
by thousands of demons. Never in this passage does Jesus blame the man for his
struggle. Instead, he simply commands the things that bound the man to leave
his life and let him be free.
The
man had lived a tortured life, naked and afraid in the tombs. He was kept
chained up so that he would not “infect” others. In ancient times, demons were
said to be spread through the nose and the mouth. (It sounds like the common
cold or flu to me!) But Jesus comes along and breaks through the boundary that
society had put on the man and fearlessly invited him back into the world of
the living.
Here
we have a perfect parallel for our lives. The closet is a tomb. It is a dreary and
smelly place of soul death and too often physical death. In our society, we
view suicide as a personal choice, but think of the man locked up in the tomb
because he was misunderstood. His mind was filled with the demons of shame,
guild, fear, self-hatred, negative self-worth, and misinformation. He never
asked for these demons. He didn’t make a deal with the Boogy Man. The man
called “the demoniac” was forced into oppression by the unforgiving power of
Empire. He struggled and broke off the chains, but scared people when he
escaped because he was still consumed by the voices that cluttered his mind.
But
the Voice of Truth spoke through Jesus and set the man free. Jesus gave him
permission to be free from the thoughts that bound him. And he could finally
take the shackles off his feet so he could dance to the rhythm of life. And
though his demons were gone, he was out of the tomb, out of the closet. And
that scared people just as much if not more than when he was still in his
former state.
Isn’t
it that way with us? Christ has called us out of dingy closets, into the light
of day to proclaim the truth of God’s calling on our lives, and it scares some
people! They ask, “How can this person who is supposed to hate herself be proud
now?” How? Because God casts out “demons” of self-hatred; there is no “demon of
homosexuality” to be cast out. Just as the Garasenes asked Jesus to leave them
because of the freedom he gave the man called the demoniac, fundamentalists
would probably ask Jesus to leave their towns today because of the freedom he
has given the queer community.
The
Gospel passage ends with a commission to the liberated man: “Return to your
home, and declare how much God has done for you.” That is God’s commission to
us, especially during this month we call LGBT Pride. No matter who you love or
who you are attracted to- go and testify to all the good that God has done in
your life. Don’t dwell on the demons of the past. Like Rev. Elder Troy Perry
said he did, burn down the closet so there’s no closet to back into! A
very happy Pride to you all; may God liberate you anew each and every day.
Amen.
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