A Post-b World: Close-at-hand

I read with interest a new post on The Layman by John Adams, entitled "Conservative flight could boost 'progressive' vote against 'fidelity/chastity'."

It hints, perhaps, to a shift in the vote in favor of 08-B and a subtle but important change in tactic. The required rhetoric warning against the ordination of LGBT/Q folk is there, should 08-B be passed. In addition, though, the warning has become more generalized, broadening the importance of defeating 08-B in order to prevent "men and women who are sexually active outside of marriage" from being ordained.

It may be that the author, John Adams, who I respect and with whom I have had some significant disagreements, is sensing less of a resistance against our community. By broadening the argument, it is almost like he is saying, "OK, maybe you are unsure of whether LGBT/Q folk should or should not be ordained, however, put that aside. If 08-B gets through, it's the same as telling every man and women who wants to have sex outside of marraige to go ahead and we will still ordain you." 

A clever argument, once more based on fear. And, I think, a tip of the hat to us and the progressive groups that the faith, work, education, diligence, sacrifice and heart with which we have continued to press this church -- may actually be gaining support among those who were once adversaries.

It makes sense that sooner rather than later this church begins to feel the impact of a rising tide of welcoming and support for our LGBT/Q community. It makes sense, when one hears the stories I have time and again of faithful church-going families having loved ones denied a full membership in our church because they were LGBT/Q. It makes sense, that this is the time when the tireless work of organizations like That All May Freely Serve, More Light Presbyterians, Witherspoon Society, Covenant Network, and many other groups and individuals is building to a consensus that was evident at GA218. 

What is happening is being fueled by the Spirit; we all know that.  But we are called to continue the legwork that has taken us this far, this close to the beginning of a just and welcoming church. We are in the time of a new ministry that will bring Word and Sacrament to our membership and the world in a way that has been long awaited and longer for. Among the many things God is doing in this world, this is surely one of them.

For the first time in the last decade, there are no other motions or task forces underway to siphon votes from passing the delete/change of G-6.0106b in ratifying 08-B. Those who have opposed ordination for our community frequently point to the increasing "NO" votes over the years when delete B overtures made it to the committees and plenaries of GA, or to the presbyeries. I have often felt that many of those votes were actually votes in favor of the Theological Task Force on Peace Unity and Purity to complete its work; it was a softer alternative than an outright delete B vote; it was an alternative that has its place now in our church, but it is not the answer to a full welcoming, without additional hoops to jump through, for our LGBT/Q called community. 

This time of ratification is truly a time of great anticipation and prayer. It is a time for enthusiastic and continued work within our presbyteries and with one another in our churches throughout the nation. It is also a time of thanksgiving for our faithful allies who have idefatigably spoken for many in our community who have been unable to speak for themselves. Without doubt, we are a family closer together than ever before, and the full reunion is soon to come: a reunion for all.

In this time of Advent on a day that we remember what ignorance and discrimination has done to create a pandemic called AIDS, let us not give up hope for one second, because the time for healing and unity in a post-b world is close-at-hand. 

Praise God.

Peace,

Ray

A Response to The Berkley Blog

The Berkley Blog

Dear Jim,

I am a minister of Word and Sacrament, ordained as an openly gay man in 2005, prior to PUP. Throughout my process, I made it clear that I could not abide by G-6.0106b, as a matter of conscience. I was not a child, at the time. In fact, I was in my mid-fifties. I was called to serve a congregation as a part-time interim. Over three years, we worshipped together, baptized several young children, buried more than a dozen members, and entered the Spirit together in the ways that any pastor, aware of the mystery of God, would do so: humbly and listening.

As I read your blog from time to time, I always read first how you describe yourself. I could say much of what you say about yourself – about me.

When I get to the comments, though, I wonder why folks are expending so much energy in opposition to people like me, not knowing much about who I am, or what I do, or how I live my life. Yet, because I am gay, I am a target. That is something that gives me pause, perhaps it gives pause to some of your readers, as well.

I wonder, too, about the many individuals and caring families that comment here or sit in your church and other pews that are struggling because their son or daughter, a friend, or others they know - good people whom they love - is gay. Is it possible that considering all we know, have read, and written that maybe God is giving such friends and children to us so that those who oppose and discriminate against LGBT people in God's church might change – not the other way around?

There will always be two sides to every bit of proof-texting, it is what books, seminaries, and good sermons are made of. Unfortunately, it is also what primary fund-raising efforts in many instances rely upon. We could easily pick out sections of the Bible that are no longer followed because they are clearly wrong and inappropriate for our day.  Then there are some of those we keep…because they serve a purpose, a purpose not grounded in love.

My point in all this is that we have substituted love and honoring the continuing revelation of God's call to love serve one another, with a call to judgment and marginalization of others. If we can step beyond our fear to see that this is what we are doing, maybe, maybe we will just find God in one another in ways that will heal us, allowing us to embrace one another rather than to aim at gay people as targets.

When that happens, I think, the Word and Sacrament will have changed the world, once again.

Peace,

Raymond J. Bagnuolo

Minister of Word and Sacrament

Presbytery of Hudson River, NY

The Worst Action of All: No Action

The recent recommendation of some notable allies in the struggle for LGBT/Q folk has been to "do nothing" in considering the ratification of 08-B. For many of us, many...the idea of leaving G-6.0106b intact in our constitution points to the misunderstanding common to most institutions. The "misunderstanding" is that the PC(USA) is dealing with the issue of ordination standards for LGBT/Q folk. We are not an issue, thank you very much. We are not dealing with an issue - we are living, breathing, spirit-filled creations of God just like everyone else. We cannot be objectified as "an issue" in an attempt to distance this ratification from the real lives of our sisters and brothers who are LGBT/Q and how the church's consitution impacts those lives. 

In all the years that I have been part of working with others to change the church's practices, I have always been up-ended in trying to understand how loving Christians could not recognize how these unjust practices, ensured to continue by G-6.010b, could be allowed to go on knowing the violence they cause. Indeed, some of those most vocal in recommending no action have acknowledged the violence the church has nurtured by its misguided treatment of the  LGBT/Q community and the responsibility it has to change; to stop the violence; to accept its wrong-doing; and to set an example for others to follow in welcoming Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender people into the full work and worship of the Church of Jesus Christ. To hear at this critical time of decision, "Take no action," means the same thing it has meant for more than four decades: "Wait some more, LGBT folk. Wait. Our church is not quite ready. It's going to be too disruptive. Just a while longer. Let's try another way." 

Well, sorry, we are ready, and after 40 years of conversation and trying other ways it's time for the church to be ready, as well.

What is remarkable, I think, is that I believe most Presbyterians and most presbyteries are ready to finally go forward and use the new language for G-6.0106b that will deliver us all from this ongoing blemish on our church, our ministries, and our souls. What is remarkable to me is when some who are allies start sounding much like those who oppose us. Surely, that is not true, at least not directly. However, when actions are suggested that could postpone justice for reasons that are based on "order," I begin to have difficulty in teasing apart the practical difference between the two.

In many ways, the idea that any remnant of the current intention of G-6.0106b could be left in our Book of Order, regardless of advances in other areas - is an affront to the LGBT/Q Christian community and another blow to the chance we have to minister to those LGBT/Q believers seeking sanctuary and community in their faith journey to God. 

Perhaps, even more than the physical violence that emanates from any discriminatory policy, such as G-6.0106b, the spiritual violence of turning away God's children, denying them a full welcome, especially by allies and supporters has to be the worst blow of all.

Please, work within your churches, presbyteries, committees, and elsewhere to ratify 08-B. There are wonderful resources available at mlp.org, tamfs.org, and elsewhere. And, once this work is done, the real work of healing and amends can begin. Until then, divided we will be.

Peace,

Ray

On Proposition 8 and More

In Response to "Not so Black & White" Blog

Thanks for your post. I especially liked the comment about how Jackie Robinson's invitation to play on the Dodgers showed just how racist we were. How racist, we still are in too many ways.

I am an openly gay Presbyterian Minister, one of a small number who somehow found ourselves in presbyteries with the courage to ordain us, even though there is in our constitution a "Proposition 8" called G-6.0106b that is used to exclude LGBT/Q folk from leadership in the church. It is very hard to understand, actually I don't, how we can profess the things we do and treat certain groups to power and other groups to marginalized obscurity - expecting them to go quietly into the night.

I remember the time after Matthew Sheppard was attacked and killed. I was certain, absolutely certain that it would finally wake people up to just how the bias and bigotry produced violence in horrific ways. In some ways that happened, but not in enough ways. 

Someone once said that it takes two generations for a revolution to become integrated into society. Among many other things, Obama's election proved that when enough people have had enough - change occurs.

I hope we have had enough of homophbia and its companions. While people of color have little choice about being "out," people who are LGBT/Q can too often pass under the radar. It is not easy to come out, each person needs to do so in their own time. However, the struggles we face cannot be resolved solely by allies.

If "Yes we can" is the mantra then perhaps its queer sister is "We've had enough." Enough of being placed on hold. Time for effective and radically inclusive love that opens the doors of this nation and it rights to all - is now.

Peace,

Ray

A bit of writing

Response to http://www.standfirminfaith.com/index.php/site/article/17527/

Hi Mike -

Thanks for your response. I truly do understand your comments and also honor you as a member of God's amazing family. I also know the desire to seek "proof" of one's convictions, whether theologically, scientifically, anthropologically, or against any other standard that might "resolve" what we wish could be seen clearly through that dark glass of Paul's.

The heart is an amazing organ. In the times of Jesus, it was considered the center of one's being; certainly, it was held in at least as high esteem as the mind. In so many ways, my struggle has been in trusting the heart in the face of the conflicting and ever-changing studies, debates, and, unfortunately, some of the violence that always accompanies marginalization. Whatever the connection between heart, mind, soul, and spirit - I know that it is not vengeful. Instead it is loving and accepting and it does need to be listened to. I believe that God still speaks to us, even in these times. Revelation, I believe, continues to be a somewhat forgotten way in which God is seeking to do what God has in mind for us.

All that being said, "proof" is elusive. Over the years of working for the inclusion of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) people in the full work and worship of the church, the Presbyterian Church in particular, I have observed many debates over certain Scriptural passages. Most interesting to me is that I have often watched two very faithful, intelligent Christians argue the same passage of Scripture from two different points of view. When done, neither side seems to have moved, however each side is pleased with and reaffirmed by the efforts of their colleague. Nothing is changed.

This is one example, there are others, but for me - and I speak only for me - I don't believe that the Bible was given to us as something to be debated. There are, of course, many modern exclusions of certain practices in the Bible that neither of us would agree considering to practice -- enough of them to point to influence of the socioeconomic times in which such things were written. The Bible is, though, a testament to the story of peoples' faith in God and what they were willing to do to honor that faith. I find great courage and strength in such examples. I often remember what a seminarian professor once told her class, "Remember, when you read the Bible - it reads you!"

So, I come to a place of believing in God's way of using us, all of us, to serve the wonderful diversity of God's creation. If I err in any of this, I hope I err on the side of love, the love God has for me and for you, and all of us. Such a mistake would be overlooked much more easily than sitting in judgment on God and God's creation.

I really do hope that we can find ways to be faithful together in our disagreements, even the most difficult ones. It is that witness that I believe to be the most powerful of the Gospels and teachings of Jesus we strive to follow. It is that witness that can be a model for all to follow and a path for this world closer to the God that calls us all.

In peace,
Ray

I’ll Take Number Two…

Palisades Presbyterian Church
Palisades, New York  10964
September 28, 2008

Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Readings: Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-25

Author’s Note: This was delivered today, my last Sunday after three years as interim minister. The new minister, The Rev. Angela Maddalone Skinner, begins as the next permanent pastor on November 3, 2008.

Full Text in PDF Format

I took a look back. I brought up my first sermon as Interim Minister to this congregation, delivered on October 2, 2005. If you were here, you may recall that it was a time shortly after my examination at presbytery and before my ordination, which would take place six weeks later. It was a pause in the kairos of great expansiveness and unknowing. Everything seemed wide!

My sermon title on that day was: “Do No Harm…” I began by talking about the recent capture of a giant squid by a Japanese research vessel that had hit the news. The crew hooked it, brought it in, and later dissected it – trying to force it to give up its secrets. It set-up my comments, so to speak, on how the urge to know something – sometimes does harm, sometimes unnecessarily. In this case, the squid’s life was exhausted to find out more about its mystery. Research often requires such a thing and thoughtful people to know how to balance the need to know vs. the harm.

Somewhere in the body of my sermon, I said the following:

A mystery, a true mystery, remains so – and remains real. The inability to explain it should not be cause to acknowledge it as false. There are too often times when words can not, simply should not be able to unravel to our satisfaction the ambiguity that soars through the universe, ultimately successful in its resistance to all forces of determination to “figure it out.” In fact, those are my favorite kind of mysteries; the ones than cannot be explained – some of those are the ones that give me the greatest hope.

While the readings this morning are not the same as they were on that October day in 2005, I was struck by the parallel with Matthew in the Scriptures read by Jane, especially the response of Jesus when he refused to tell the chief priests and the elders by what authority he was doing the things they had heard and seen. Jesus understood the presence of mystery and lived in it. He knew, perhaps, that there are just times when “telling” and “knowing” are too far apart. No examination or dissection can explain them. The best you can do is to just be who you have been made to be and do what you believe you have been called to do. Your example, not your words, will be enough in such instances.

In so many ways, my time here with you is a reflection from within that mystery. There is a deep and abiding “being” in this midst and a vast “knowing” that revolves well into the unexplained of God’s great universe. Living, as you strive to do in such a way places the keys to the kindom in your hands, and you regularly use them to open doors and hearts as you go. Make no mistake; it is you who are partially responsible for the increase in sightings of the Holy Spirit, unleashed here on a regular basis!

We all know that an interim minister’s job is to bridge the time between former and new pastors in a way that gives the transition time to work things out. We have done that. Truly, we have done what we set out to do and we should feel blessed, grateful, and pleased.

And, in many conversations with you, we have talked about the changes that have taken place over our time together, and frequently I hear the words “healing” and “joy” in those conversations. I have to tell you, it’s enough to do a cartwheel over!

What I know about the deep mystery from which such things as healing and joy ignite, is that they are there long before they “suddenly” appear. What is so remarkable to me about the faith we share in God and the teachings of Jesus, and the presence of the Holy Spirit in all the ways you may know God – is that even when there is deep sadness and sorrow – we don’t run. We enter it with each other and in so doing discover, -- after a while, perhaps, but nonetheless – we discover the healing God, the joyful God, and the one another beside us, holding onto God, being held by God, as well. We do that here all the time.

And, of all that we have done, in the many ways we have been sisters and brothers to one another, God, has always been with us and will always be with us. We are always assured of healing, joy, and love. We will always be called to act, to serve, to “pass it forward,” because we have accepted the invitation to the wedding of justice and love. A union that took place here long ago and is thriving, just thriving as Palisades Presbyterian Church prepares for the next chapter.

For me, this is the “full accord and of one mind” that Paul refers to in Philippians. Again, the inadequacy of words as other than pointers to something greater, but the “full accord and of one mind” is our presence (full accord) in the God that we know (the one mind). From there, we move along on our journeys, our daily lives, “trying to be of the same mind of Jesus the Christ.” We become the prayer of Paul’s charge to “pray without ceasing.” We consciously begin to find more and more of God in our lives in more and more ways. We encounter Jesus along the way. We have shared such stories. We practice what he teaches us, and we practice more, knowing this is not about perfection but progress. And in so doing, especially in community such as this, we know his presence, helping us, encouraging us, healing us. We – we are never alone with him. And, in some mysterious way, I think he is never alone with us, either.

And it is always important for me, for us, I think, to recognize that God moves in different ways and is known by many different names, yet, however it is we may find God, the balm that heals and soothes, that gives us strength and courage, that brings us to unconditional love to serve others – is always the same. It is a rose by any and every other name.

It is the unconditional love by which we are loved that calls us to serve others. The service is inherent in it and it is not complete without service. Goes together like a horse and carriage…you can’t have one without the other!

It is what binds us together, even when we are far apart. It is our church, our mission, our call…our unity.

Some of you were here a couple of weeks ago as Scott Rasmussen brought many of us to tears, when during Joys and Concerns, and through his own tears and with the help of Grandma Beatrice – he said that he didn’t want me to go.

Well, I can work it out pretty well with most of you, but Scott did me in.

After worship, Scott and I talked outside a bit. I put my arm around his shoulder and said, “You know, Scott, sometimes in life you make choices about getting to know people. Now and then you have to decide whether you are going to avoid getting too close to someone because if you do, you just know it’s going to hurt when they leave. So you keep your distance and you never get to really know them and when they go, it doesn’t hurt so much, and before you know it they are forgotten.

Other times, you just decide that you will let yourself get close, really get to know someone, and remember them the rest of your life, never forgetting them. Really, really caring for them, even though you know it’s going to hurt a bit – maybe a lot when it comes time to say, “Good-bye.”

I asked him, then, given the choice of either of those, which one he would rather have. He thought for only a second looked up at me and said, “I’ll take number two.” I looked back at him and said, “Me, too.”

And I say to you, “Me, too.”

Amen.