Bible Tells Me So

Not long after the Day of Pentecost, the birth of the church; not long after those earliest Christians had begun exploring what faith in Christ might meant, did they find themselves struggling over a great divide. On the one hand there were those who celebrated a new way of grace and compassion, following a living Spirit of Christ in their midst. On the other there were those who were very suspicious of such freedom, who wanted to follow Christ, but also wanted to hang on to the old way of the law - "pleasing" God by keeping what they saw was the unchangeable law of God.

The first way was the way of the Spirit. Jesus himself - we call him the Living Word - said the Spirit of God is like the wind, unseen, unpredictable, never controlled. The second way was the way of the written word, the letter of the law, eternal - and prescribed.

St. Paul was attacked by Christians of this second way. He was too free for them; way too liberal. And so he defended what he knew to be, in his own experience, the living Spirit of Christ in the church. Heidi's first reading has as its background the giving of the commandments to Moses - those "tablets of stone" he brought down from the mountain - and in that story Moses had to cover his face, lest he see on God and die. Listen for what Paul says about the "new covenant."

The second reading includes what we call the Great Commandment. The religious leaders here challenge Jesus to say what is the most important of all the laws of God.. He can't give them just one - but he does offer the two greatest - and adds that the entire law of God is contained in these two simple commands.

Hear now texts of freedom, texts of challenge that we discern the movement of God's Spirit in our day, and in our midst.

"You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, to be known and read by all; and you show that you are a letter of Christ, prepared by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.

"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit." (2 Corinthians 3:2-7, 3:17-18, NRSV)

"When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. "Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?"

He said to him, " ?You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment.

And a second is like it: ?You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."" (Matthew 22:34-40, NRSV)

I went to a very conservative seminary - that is a term that would never be applied to the seminary that Eric attends, I might note! And I remember one of the professors warning us to, before we left seminary, decide just where we stood about certain issues - divorce and remarriage, abortion, the role of women in church and family, and the like. Know where you stand, so that he said, when you're out in the church you won't be tempted to compromise - to actually change your mind! Here was a man of the law, the letter of the law.

Now, he was right in one sense. He knew that real life - real people - tend to call into question one's preconceived notions about how things are, who people are. He knew and feared, that when you have put a face on an issue - perhaps one you thought you had settled in your mind, in theory - you will likely have a change of heart, and therefore mind, That is, when it's your marriage or your daughter, your son or uncle, friend, neighbor - you are forced to think again - to ask not what the past has told you, but what the Spirit is saying, now.

When it comes to issues that surround gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people, it is so important, crucial that we put real faces on those "issues." That's what the film, For the Bible Tells Me So, does. It doesn't allow its viewers to merely theorize about gay and lesbian people. It allows us to meet and hear the stories of four real families. We want to share the stories of three of those families.

We are pleased to welcome Eric Koepnick back to our chancel - Eric will be helping me tell the story of the film, sharing with us some of his own story, and his insights as a gay man within the Christian community.

Let me introduce you to three families.

First, the Robinsons of Nicholasville, Kentucky. Imogene and Victor Robinson were married right after World War Two, and a couple of years later Gene Robinson came along.

Gene grew up in the Disciples of Christ church; you have heard of him as the Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire - you may have heard his prayer at the Inaugural Concert at the Lincoln Memorial last month. Gene Robinson is the first openly gay bishop of the Episcopal church, and he has become for many a symbol of hope, and for others a catalyst for division among Anglicans..

We also meet the Gephardt family. You may recognize Dick Gephardt as a presidential candidate in 2004. Dick and his wife Jane had three children, one of whom is Chrissy. We'll hear their story of the day Chrissy came out to them as a lesbian.

Mary Lou Wallner tells us her story, and the tragic story of her daughter, Anna

Anna loved music, had a wonderful voice, and was active in theater. She came out to her mom as a freshman in college, and sadly - as is all too often the case - Mary Lou did not accept Anna's sexual orientation. Mary Lou's views of gay and lesbian people, formed by society and solidified by her fundamentalist church and especially radio teacher James Dobson, were unshakeable, and so their relationship was strained and broken; and just a few years later Anna took her own life. The film tells the story of how her mom through the unspeakable sadness of losing her daughter dared to challenge and to change her beliefs.

The last family I want to introduce to you is the Reitans, Phil and Randi. Here is the so-called "All-American family," from Eden Prairie, Minnesota

Their son, Jake with great courage came out in high school to his parents and his friends. A talented and strong young man, he has become an articulate and courageous advocate for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, especially within the Lutheran church.

Eric:

For too long, we have let the Radical Right claim religious and traditional values as theirs; their broad base of support reflects how valuable and vital the act of personal witness can be in affecting the hearts and minds of Christians. The basis of Jesus' ministry is further evidence that just one person telling their story can have deep and resounding effects, not only in the present, but for the future.

That is why I am here to tell you that I am Erik Koepnick, and I am a gay, white, male, Christian, son, brother, friend and lover; and I have been called to the ministry of Jesus Christ to struggle against homophobia, racism, sexism, religious bigotry, and other forms of oppression that afflict God's family.

From birth, I attended a community church that was my family. Not only did much of my extended family attend that church, but its teachers, pastors, and elders were extensions of my biological family. However, at the age of 16 I sat in my church and heard the Pastor rail against the sinfulness of homosexuality, the utter lack of morality of the homosexuals, and the destructive power of the "homosexual agenda" which had set its sights on the American "family." Further, based on this sermon, my church broke its affiliation with the American Baptist Church because the national church was allowing a congregation in California to accept gay and lesbian people as members.

In my own heart and soul I knew that I was gay, but I had told no one, and God and I were not really on speaking terms because I wasn't sure how God would take the news. And as I sat through that sermon, my heart was broken that my church family would abandon me for something that they did not even understand. Did any of them even know one of these "homosexuals?"

After this, I left church behind and mourned the loss of my faith family. I mentioned to my family that I thought I was gay, I entered a deep depression and contemplated suicide as the easy way out. I remained out of shame, being told that suicide was selfish and that I should think about my mother, my family, and all those people I would hurt. Not one word about my own value.

Then for a short time in high school I attended an Episcopal church where I endeavored to rebuild my church family among some of my high school friends. I was baptized and confirmed there, all the while remaining silent still about my affectional orientation. I was broken once again when the Rector of that church voted against the installation of Bishop Gene Robinson citing his "deep faith" as the reason that he could not affirm a "homosexual" as Bishop.

These two churches proved to me by their message and actions that homosexuals were outside of the realm of God's grace and love.

Having experienced these traumatic events in my faith life, all the while struggling to understand my sexual orientation, I entered college utterly exiled. I had no bearings in society and I had been firmly rejected by not one, but two Christian traditions.

With the understanding that I could not be a Christian, because their God would not accept me as a loving being, there was no longer anything at risk, and I came out, to myself, my friends, and my family. My sister and brother loved me just the same, and my parents pretended to understand, but their actions proved their disgust. I found a new spiritual family in LGBT Rights Activism.

In college I began to study Christianity, especially the life and ministry of Jesus, and my mind was opened to a new faith reality. As I studied, I was still struggling to understand my worth as God's creation. What I was really looking for, what I really needed, was unconditional love, from someone, anyone. I needed to have my life affirmed.

Ralph: It is courageous act for a young man or young woman to "come out" to his or her parents - not knowing for sure if they will greet the news with anger or relief, with rejection or acceptance; not knowing for sure if you will have parents after coming out - these are some of the fears. And parents have fears too: fears for the safety and the happiness of their child.

Harvard Chaplain Peter Gomes says that it is not homosexuality that is the sin we should be concerned about - for it is not a sin; but rather the sin homophobia - the fear and loathing of gay and lesbian people - that is the real sin that we should be concerned about. People use the Bible to perpetrate unspeakable violence. And that is a frightening reality to gay and lesbian, bisexual and transgender people - and their families.

Let's hear how the Gephardts describe their feelings the day that she came out to them. Her mother, she says, was not surprised. And Dick was weeping - not for disappointment, he says, but for fear - for her.

Surely the most sobering, story in the film is the story of how Anna Wallner's sexuality, so Anna herself was rejected by her mom - a painful separation that surely contributed to Anna's suicide. Here is tragedy beyond all words.

Mary Lou Wallner, having lost her daughter was forced onto a road of searching, of growing, of daring to change what she had believed all her life, what she had been told was the mind of God - from believing that God's wrath was against gay and lesbian people, to becoming an outspoken advocate for the rights of gay and lesbian people - hers is a story of sorrow but also of hope. Let's have her tell us that story in her own words.

Gene Robinson's journey to becoming a bishop has been a remarkable and difficult one. The rage expressed by certain portions of Christianity was so great that at his ordination as bishop, Robinson was forced to wear a bullet-proof vest under his vestments. Despite the hatred voiced and the violence threatened, his acceptance as bishop was cause for great joy - and a sign of great hope.

We see now the closing of that celebration, followed by comments by some people including Bishop Desmond Tutu. We'll hear again from Mary Lou Wallner and from Phil and Randi Reitan as they talk about their journey of not mere acceptance but affirmation of their son Jake's whole being.

Eric:

The words of Mel White, Desmond Tutu, Ms. Wallner, and the Reitan family are God's honest truth.

Let me say a little more about truth.

Truth is not easy in any respect

We usually fear what the truth might bring.

We fear to tell the truth.

We fear hearing the truth.

But even while wrapped up in all this fear, we usually feel relieved by the truth, we feel like we can move forward knowing that we have the truth.

When we look back at the truth, we realize that we welcome it.

All of this is part of what it is to be human?our difficulty with the truth, and our struggle with fear, and that's ok.

We all have fears to face. As I stand here I fear that I will say the wrong thing, that I will not be taken seriously as a young, gay, pastor-in-training with a weird haircut. And that's ok too.

However, it is not ok to allow our fear to overcome the truth and let it affect how we treat other people. In the scripture today Jesus teaches us "to love God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind?and to love your neighbor as yourself." But where does this leave faith? Our faith is motivated by the exchange of love, I have faith because I know that God loves me and I choose to return God's love, even with all the imperfections that I send with it.

When I hear anti-gay rhetoric from the Christian right, or from government officials, or from leaders of world nations, they often name faith as the motivation behind their message of exclusion.

What I wonder is: where's the love? What happened to Jesus' commandment to love God and your neighbor? In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes "if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but I do not have love, I am nothing."

We must reclaim Christ's message of love in our lives. We must speak up for God's never-ceasing love for humankind?especially in relationships based in love. That is the truth.

So I stand here, not a peddler of God's word like so many, but in Christ I speak as a sincere person, as a person created by the living God and standing in your presence. To claim a new covenant that is not of the letter of the law but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.