All Means All

As I prepared for this worship*, I couldn’t help but to be reflective of my surroundings as I read, researched, meditated and wrote. As life would have it, my schedule didn’t allow me to write my sermon a week or two in advance like I had hoped. Instead I found myself sitting at the desk in my hotel room during a break from the Common Witness actions at General Conference in Ft. Worth TX.

General Conference is the law making body and the only body that can officially speak for the United Methodist Church. General Conference is for the United Methodist Church what General Synod is for the UCC, what the General Convention is for the Episcopal Church, what General Assembly is for the Christian Church-Disciples of Christ and PC(USA)**.

So I found myself spending my afternoons and evenings watching the work of General Conference, engaging in conversations about issues related to LGBT persons, marching in protest, standing vigil as a silent witness to delegates that all means all. And I found myself spending my mornings reflecting on this passage from John.

John 14:15-21
"If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
"I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them."


What a blessing and a comfort this is! The Paraclete, the Advocate and Comforter, the Holy Spirit of Truth was promised and given, unconditionally and eternally present giving comfort, courage and strength.

In just my few days at General Conference I had the opportunity to talk with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) persons, parents, and allies all who had felt orphaned at some point in their lives – left without family or friends when they came out as queer or as allies.
But(!) they were comforted by the Spirit dwelling in and among them, comforted by Jesus’ promise not only of a place prepared for them (14.2) but also comforted by Jesus’ promise not to leave them orphaned (14.18).

Barbara Brown Taylor’s sermon “Good News for Orphans” uses the parent child image to describe the feeling of security that children long for when they’re left alone. They want to be reassured that someone greater, stronger, smarter is present and in charge. And they want to be reassured that this someone loves them.

Be assured O children of God! God the Spirit is present and you… are… loved!

Today at this time we gather and remember that love, we come as family to the table. It is no wonder that at the center of who we are sits the Table. The poem^ Amanda read wonders if perhaps the world ends here at the table. But I wonder perhaps just perhaps if the Kin-dom of God begins here.

We come to the Table in hopes of communion – strengthening ties to each other and to God. We come to the Table hoping to hear again that God has claimed us as we are, claimed as God had at our baptism, claimed and orphaned no more. We come to the Table to dine together in a great feast of grace, drinking of the cup eating of the bread hoping for a day when the doors of the institutional church are as open as this Table. We come to the Table hoping to encounter again the Savior who offers unconditional love, available to ALL persons regardless of gender, race, or creed, regardless of marital status, gender identity or sexual orientation; regardless of bank account balance, degree of education or number on the bathroom scale. All means all.

At this Table, in this Meal the community of God’s people is fully manifested. This Table and this Meal call us to experience God’s grace, to remember God’s love and to be God’s inclusive family. This Table and this Meal call us to live a more faithful and just life - to be a people of faith, which demands complete inclusiveness in the Church of Jesus Christ; To marginalize or reject any person is, in essence, an insult to the very purpose and theology of the sacrament. There is no room for lovelessness, hatred or intolerance at the Table. When the church forbids expression of one’s whole and true self the sacrament is compromised; the Table becomes nothing more than a piece of furniture and the elements are simply bread and beverage.


Y’know, really it is not so significant that Jesus was silent on homosexuality; he was silent on many things. But he was NOT silent on compassion toward those marginalized and rejected as a class or group. Jesus says to us: “If you love me you will keep my commandments. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me.”

What are his commandments?
In John 15:12 Jesus says,
"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

The sacrament of Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist – whatever you want to call it – awakens us to the spiritual in a tactile and tangible way. We, in the action of participating in the sacrament, are somatically engaged in the stories of faith. The sacrament is the open hands of God’s welcome. Unfortunately many have experienced not open and welcome arms but intimidating arms pushing them away from the Body of Christ. No matter the words of loving us and our being of sacred worth, the acts of rejection speak more loudly.

Jesus commands that we “do this in remembrance of him.” Is the act of rejection and the silencing of the LGBT community the memory Jesus intended?

We know (at least I hope you all know) that all are welcome at this table; the table of growth and community at MTSO. What we do need to remember is not everyone is welcome at every table. Some, Many are silenced…

So, Blessed Body of Christ
Do this in remembrance of us
Of our suffering and tears
Of our bashing and fears
And of our deaths
Do this in remembrance of us
Of our gifts and our talents
Of our hopes and joys
And of our living in Christ

Remember
Please remember
And be thankful.

*Preached during Chapel at Methodist Theological School in Ohio on Wednesday, April 30, 2008
**A rough analogy, especially for UCC, because these general bodies speak differently to the corresponding denomination than in UMC polity.
^ "Perhaps the World Ends Here" by Joy Harjo

Proclamation to General Conference 2008

We have heard Jesus say – to all persons without exception – “follow me.”
We are part of God’s living body in today’s world,
but our United Methodist Church refuses to accept what God has done,
refuses to keep covenant with its own words in the baptismal promise,
refuses to honor God’s call to professional ministry,
refuses to do no harm,
refuses to open its hearts, minds, and doors.

The unchurched notice.
They notice the church cruelly scapegoating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people on the altar of so-called unity
The young notice.
They notice the church denying, refusing, threatening, removing, closeting the lgbt people who faithfully serve the church.
The world notices.
We notice.
God notices.

The United Methodist baptismal liturgy calls all of us
to accept the freedom and power God gives us
to resist evil, injustice, and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.
It is our duty – our baptismal covenant – to stand against the sin of the church,
to stand for God’s freedom and power,
to affirm God’s entire body of Christ that is the church.
We are God's children,here … now.

Today we boldly declare by standing here
that our church’s doors and our ministries will radically obey the Gospel
that we defy bigotry and ignorance,
that the anti-gay policies and practices of The United Methodist Church are wrong.

By human means we cannot stand but by the grace of God we can.
By standing we reject the idea that homosexuality is a sin
By standing we affirm that sexuality is a good gift of God
By standing we affirm our intent to spread God’s love and grace
By standing we bless and celebrate families, all families.
We do not stand alone.
We stand in solidarity with all those who are not here,
who are not in our congregations.
We stand with those who’ve been forced out
and who’ve never come in,
who already affirm one another as beloved children of God,
regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity.
We stand with holy boldness
to welcome LGBT laity and clergy into our churches and pulpits, NOW;
to keep baptismal promises for all, NOW;
to affirm calls to ministries for all people, NOW;
to bless covenant relationships in our churches by our clergy, NOW;
to assure membership for all, NOW;
to provide hospitality for all, NOW.

Join us.
Stand now.
Build our future with hope and trust in God.


Proclamation – Witness – General Conference 2008 – Ft. Worth, TX – Drafted by the Witness Team of Reconciling Ministries Network, Rev. David W. Meredith, Convener
http://www.generalconference2008.org/2008/05/umns-posts-plen.html