A community call to prayer for marriage equality

I am sometimes asked that if Jesus were walking the earth today, whether he would be standing up for social justice issues and promoting human rights. I immediately answer, “Yes.”

In looking at his life, all he did and all he was, that answer is a no-brainer. From tax collectors to shepherds to fishermen to Mary Magdalene, like colors in a rainbow, Jesus hung out with all “stripes” of people; especially the marginalized, the poor and the disadvantaged. It is no stretch to picture him today at a peaceful protest, testifying before Congress, or washing the feet of workers as I did at the Foot Washing Ceremony and Passover Ritual at St. Paul’s Cathedral during Holy Week.

And I don’t think it impossible to envision him supporting marriage equality. After all, Jesus was about inclusion, fairness and justice and love. Just as he physically did with the temple moneychangers, he upended the traditional “carts” of thinking of the time.

Another champion of justice, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said, “The arc of history bends towards justice.” But like a flexible rod, that bend sometimes has a back-and-forth motion. We have certainly seen that with marriage equality. I reflect back Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2008. Like so many, I had conflicting emotions as the election results came in; ecstatic with the election of our first African American president and devastated with the news that Prop. 8 had passed despite the massive effort by so many. We endured other defeats and yet, finally, we sense that we are on the brink of unparalleled forward-moving momentum for LGBT rights and equality.

In that spirit the community gathered at Metropolitan Community Church for a noontime Community Call to Prayer for Marriage Equality March 25. It was a service of prayer, music, mediation and readings of scripture and quotes from notable people supporting the freedom to marry, on the eve of the Supreme Court hearings on Prop. 8 and DOMA.

We heard inspiring perspectives from San Diego City Council President Todd Gloria and CEO of our LGBT Center, Dr. Delores Jacobs, who have worked tirelessly on behalf of justice and equality. Kevin Beiser of the San Diego Unified School Board was also in attendance. Together everyone assembled sang “We Shall Overcome,” a reminder of another great and ongoing struggle.

During a time of reflection, many people wrote prayers, hopes, dreams and affirmations regarding marriage equality on small, colorful notecards and tied them to our Tree of Justice. Our congregation and guests continue to add to the tree, which will remain in our main church foyer until the U.S. Supreme Court rulings, likely in June.

We also included an ecumenical prayer of aspiration and hope:

“We give thanks, O Divine Source, Creator of Freedom, Author of Justice, Foundation of Love, for Your abiding presence and wise counsel. In this season of new life and fulfillment of promise, we rejoice in the breaking of bonds that hold us back. In the power of inalienable truth, we celebrate all that is good, all that brings light and hope to the world, and all that enables people to rise to their greatest potential! May we be inspired and empowered to remove barriers that stand in the way of what is fair and just, fosters equality, and nurtures us in naturally loving – and being loved by – whomever that may be. For it is in love, that we find our renewal, our liberty, ourselves and our God.”

We came together for the service because the LGBT community stands at the threshold of a major potential victory. We gathered as a united community, LGBT and our allies, to be the voice that is needed for “such a time as this.” President Obama himself set the tone for this effort in his inaugural address when he spoke so movingly of Seneca Falls, Selma and Stonewall, linking forever the struggles for women’s rights, civil rights and LGBT rights.

And not stopping there, along with many others, he wrote an amicus brief for the hearings. As Bob Dylan so famously sang, “the times they are a-changin’.”

Last November voters in Maine, Maryland and Washington State approved same-sex marriage, and in Minnesota a restrictive amendment was defeated. That “arc” is visibly bending. In one recent poll, reports the Washington Blade, 58 percent of Americans now support marriage rights for same-sex couples.

I have faith that we will, once again, hear the bells chime for our marvelous weddings. Where the press and cameras won’t be reporting on the phenomenon because it will be common place and old news! Where I will be able to say, like I did in that four-month window of equality in 2008, “By the power vested in me by Metropolitan Community Churches and the state of California, I pronounce that you are married!” Then comes that delightful kiss! How sweet it is! And for people of faith, victory will come not in spite of our faith, but indeed because of it.

With the U.S. Supreme Court hearings, and now the months of waiting for a ruling, emotions are overwhelming; anxiety, hopefulness, giddiness and fear. For that reason, perhaps it was ideal that we concluded our special service by singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”

After all, don’t we believe that the “dreams that you dare to dream really do come true”? We have perhaps tipped a cart that just can’t be put back. After the “storm” of Nov. 4, 2008, we sense a coming rainbow, one way or another.

And it is going to be fabulous. And blessed.

Rev. Dan Koeshall is the senior pastor at The Metropolitan Community Church (The Met), 2633 Denver Street, San Diego, California, themetchurch.org. Services every Sunday at 9 and 11 a.m.