As a progressive Christian, I believe there are many names for God and many ways to a loving God; this article reflects one of those ways. Take from here what works for you. Celebrate life with joy and peace!
What an amazing year this has been so far! Who would have ever thought marriage equality would be the law of the land? And that the ban on transgender people serving in the military is closer to being completely lifted.
How wonderful to celebrate our wholeness and our authentic selves as an act of worship – our lives are better as a result. We celebrate equality and pride – and our symbol is the rainbow flag – look around, we are a rainbow people!
The rainbow is a natural occurrence. Light refracted and dispersed by water droplets in the atmosphere is all that a rainbow is. And yet, in sacred literature, it symbolizes something pretty amazing.
In Genesis 9, after a great flood, we see the rainbow as a sign of hope and of connection with our Divine Source.
The prophet Ezekiel envisioned the glory of God as a rainbow in the sky. Many colors, overarching the diversity of creation, an inclusive symbol of light and beauty and hope is how the prophetic imagination of Ezekiel presents the experience of God.
In Revelation, that very imaginative and creative writer saw in his mind the presence of God being surrounded by a rainbow. And again, that writer imagined an angel of God being wrapped in clouds, with a face like the sun, and the angel was surrounded by a rainbow.
The rainbow image is one we’ve adopted for our community, and how wonderful that for the first time in San Diego history, it’s now flying in City Hall. And after June 26, the Day of Decision, the White House and many other national monuments shone brilliantly in rainbow colors (so awesome to see), and how cool that for us as people of faith, the rainbow is also an image we’ve inherited for our God.
The Source and Substance of the universe expresses as light and diversity and hope and beauty and we are made in that image – in God’s image! We are a rainbow people!
On the night of June 27 and the early morning hours of June 28, 1969 in the West Village of New York City, a rainbow revolution broke out. It is the Stonewall story. It was, in this country, the LGBT community’s shot heard around the world!
A bar that was not gay owned but that catered to gay people, and the most marginalized of gay people…homeless youth, drag performers, cross dressers, transgendered people, and blue collar gays and lesbians…and this bar was raided by NYC police. Such raids were common, but somehow, this group of people at this bar, on this night, refused to take the harassment. One legend says that because gay icon Judy Garland had died less than a week earlier, and her huge funeral services had just concluded, that her devotees were just extra raw that night. That can’t be verified, but something happened that night that would forever change history.
On that fateful night, the police attacked and started to round people up for the paddy wagon, but the unheard of then happened…queers fought back! They chanted, they screamed, they threw rocks and bottles, they lit garbage on fire, and as police would be dealing with one group of rioters, another group would come up behind them.
The Stonewall troops included trans people and drag queens, and while the police swung their night sticks – wigs, false eyelashes, and Lee press-on nails flew through the air. For our community, it was the rockets’ red glare!
Of course, we do not condone violence, but how amazing that people dared to stand up for themselves and insist that they had self-worth and dignity worth fighting for!
At the same time in history, women’s liberation, civil rights, anti-war and many other movements demanding change were happening. Perhaps the spirit of revolution was just in the air. In any case, LGBT people were heard and would never again be completely invisible in our society.
Almost a year earlier, another counter-cultural, under the radar, world changing event took place. In the fall of 1968 a defrocked Pentecostal minister started a church to affirm, celebrate and empower same-gender loving people. It would, of course, include allies of the gay community and would soon take up feminist causes and in the following decade would take the lead in caring for people with AIDS, but it all began with one country preacher from Northern Florida starting a church with 12 people in his living room with a message that God’s love was all-inclusive and unconditional.
Since that courageous beginning of Metropolitan Community Churches, other denominations have made reconciling gestures toward the LGBT community. I am forever grateful for the courage and vision of Rev. Troy Perry who stood up when almost no one else would and decades before most did to say that same-gender loving people are valued as much as anyone of the people of God.
Let’s never forget the cutting edge agent of change that MCC has always been and always MUST be. Before Stonewall, there was MCC, and that’s something that MCC can be very proud of on this Pride Sunday.
MCC began in 1968
The Stonewall Riots occurred in 1969
The first Gay Pride Parades were held in 1970 to commemorate Stonewall
In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association took homosexuality off its list of psychiatric disorders.
And yet, all these decades later, there are still large groups of people who hide behind religion to say their fear or hatred or ignorance of same-gender loving people is mandated by scripture. IT IS NOT!
That same argument has been used to justify the suppression of women, child abuse, slavery and any number of atrocities. Eventually, the leaders of religion are always embarrassed that religion was allowed to be misused so abusively, and religion must repent.
I like how fellow MCC minister in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Rev. Durrell Watkins said, “As followers of Jesus, we have a right and an obligation to re-think the oppressive ways that scripture has been interpreted. Jesus valued the human being more than the tradition, the text, or the institution. And so like Jesus, we value people in the name of God rather than give lip service to God at the expense of human dignity.”
In our scripture reading today we hear Jesus tell his disciples to show kindness to these little ones. Little ones meant those without status, the so-called “little people” – those who didn’t have the protections of wealth or power or privilege or even citizenship sometimes. The little ones were children, and women, and slaves, and the chronically ill, the eunuchs, and the poor…anyone on the margins of society, anyone not part of the dominant, privileged class.
Rather than using religion to marginalize people, Jesus wanted spirituality to be used to liberate and empower the marginalized, because in the kingdom of God, all people have sacred value and dignity. ALL people!
Friends, I leave you with three points:
First, we are more powerful than we realize … together we can do amazing things … together we can grow the most dynamic and life-changing ministry right here at The Met. We have a mission of bringing people closer to God and one another and a vision to be a vibrant, inclusive and progressive community of faith that transforms lives and transforms the world. We can confront injustice and we can heal from the wounds of the past and create something new and miraculous. We are a rainbow people – made in the image of God – a beautiful part of God’s creation!
Second, let’s always be grateful and never forget those who have gone before us and whose shoulders we now stand on. And let’s be grateful for those who bravely stand with us. Praise God for our allies, and may we be as present to others who also struggle for equality. We are all a rainbow people!
Third, justice is never for just us. Marriage equality, taking down the Confederate flag, transgender equality are all important to celebrate. However, cures for AIDS, for Alzheimer’s, for cancer, for MS, for all that causes suffering and hardship also must be found. Correcting the damage of institutionalized racism, challenging sexism, protecting the environment, standing up for peace, caring for victims of abuse, caring for our planet … friends, there is a lot to do!
As Abraham Lincoln said, “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.” We deserve justice, and we must also remember that justice is never for JUST US.
We are all children of God, made in God’s image, filled with God’s spirit, and we are all part of the creation that God calls “very good!”
We are a rainbow people. All of us children of a rainbow God!
