Today This Scripture Has Been Fulfilled

As I prepare to preach at my first Reconciling Ministries Convocation this week, I have been thinking about the events that led me to be so involved in this work. Today, I thought I would publish a reflection I prepared a few years ago for a gathering of people who had signed our conference’s Covenant of Conscience, vowing to stop discriminating against same-sex couples in marriage. (For those who do not know, it is illegal in the United Methodist Church for same-sex couples to be married by our clergy or in our churches. We are working to change that in every way possible.) In the piece, I reflect on my calling as a Christian and pastor as well as several of the couples who have left an important impression on my journey.

He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because God has anointed me…”

I’m wearing the robe my mom handmade for me.

It’s NOT the right color for the occasion

And has to be overnighted from the sacred sewing machine

Of my mother’s procrastinating needles.

A parishioner drives it to the arena to get it to me

On the morning of the commissioning service.

It’s quite the drama, but worth it.

 

The robe-maker introduced me to the Christian life.

I learned at her feet what it meant to be a Christ-follower.

Growing up in the Bible Belt,

Surrounded by evolution-battling southern Baptists,

Comfortable cultural Christians,

And cool kid evangelistic youth groups that rarely shared good news with me,

Mom gave me a glimpse of her Christian life—

That called her to sit in at a lunch counter,

To travel the globe in search of God in another culture,

To take up a career in healing abused and broken children.

 

Even though she can’t be here,

In her fitted cuts and stitches,

She surrounds me,

Envelops me,

Hugs my body,

Holds me together,

Covers my vulnerabilities,

Dresses me as though I’m something precious and unique—

The way she has always done.

The way I have always imagined God doing.

 

I pull up the front of the robe as I walk toward the kneeler.

As my mother’s stitching touches the cushions,

Tears well in my eyes.

I go into full force waterworks,

As Bishop Park lays his hands on my head.

And Taka lays a hand on Mom’s sewing thread.

And Jeanette and George lay hands on the fabric

Mom and I picked out at Joanne’s in Jeff City.

 

And, from the congregation,

I can feel the prayers of Sara and Kristen and John

And so many others who taught me

What it means to have this anointing.

That to be anointed means

To struggle against evil and injustice

And to protect the vulnerable

And to love the unloved.

God’s anointing made flesh all around me.

This is true and good and right.

 

“Take authority!”

Not for the sake of authority,

Not to hang on to authority above conscience

But take authority to transform the world!

 

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because God has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor…

Good news!

A visitor.

A young one too!

She sits in the back for a few months, shy and quiet.

Until the day she sits in my office.

Chit chat

And then, “my girlfriend”.

She comes out to the pastor.

I nod to let her know that

I am not like the priest,

And this church is not like her family.

Here, you will not have to pretend

Or omit

Or casually say “friend” when you want to say

“Beloved life-giver who is as much a part of me as my own flesh”.

In this church, there is welcome.

In this church, there is sanctuary.

 

God has sent me

to proclaim release to the captives.

Facebook smiles and overflows with exclamation marks and happy emoticons.

Marriage equality is a reality!

My heart soars,

Until it hits the lump in my throat.

 

A young couple engaged!

We announce it in church.

The congregation cheers and smiles.

A new family being nurtured into existence!

All good news!

 

God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind,

My heart soars

Until it hits the lump in my throat.

They make an appointment with me.

They walk into my office smiling.

I congratulate them again,

And we are joyful.

Then the question comes.

And I realize that they have no idea.

As newcomers,

They have only seen God’s love and welcome and goodness in us.

They have never seen—

They are blind—

To our denominational disciplines,

Our bigotry and our capacity to wound.

They ask with smiles on their faces.

They have no idea.

 

I join the rest of their world

and commit my act of discrimination.

 

The room becomes more serious.

Not the sanctuary we once thought it to be,

I realize we can call ourselves “welcoming”

But it is a lie.

We have betrayed.

 

Oh—they understand!

They definitely don’t want to get me in trouble.

They know a justice of the peace.

They can maybe find space in a secular venue to rent.

Can you say a prayer over the cake?

 

God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free…

It takes me a few days to really feel the weight of it.

I am surprised at how wrong and dirty I feel.

I shed tears.

I spend hours talking it through with pastor friends.

 

Much later, we talk about it.

I didn’t realize they almost left the church.

I didn’t know how wounded they really were.

We cry together.

 

God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

October 2011.

 

A covenant community proclaims release

From the captivity of our fear and isolation.

 

A covenant community proclaims release

From the captivity of our fear and isolation.

 

The next day, a couple from my congregation makes an appointment with me.

My heart soars through the lump,

And I do.

It is their third time pushing through the ceilings of discrimination.

Once: domestic partnership.

Once: religious ceremony by the pastor of others.

This time: a bona fide, marriage-licensed, witness-signed, home-pastored wedding.

We cry and laugh.

 

The first wedding of my pastoral career.

A text from a fellow covenant signer:

“How did it go?”

Letting me know that I am being prayed for.

I confess to him and other covenanters,

“I got nervous when I thought about Facebook photos!”

            It means everything to share this with you.

 

Soon after, a Methodist couple from the south.

In love for 42 years.

Wedding invitations include three pictures—

The first: 2 cute bright-eyed twenty-somethings.

The second: Middle-aged committed beloveds.

The third: Silver-haired life partners.

“I never thought this would happen in my lifetime,” one says to me over the phone.

They are so nervous on their wedding day.

It makes me smile.

Their wedding banquet, surrounded by friends from around the country,

Feels like the kin-dom of heaven.

            Thank God I didn’t miss it.

 

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because God has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.

God has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind,

to let the oppressed go free,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor!” 

And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down.

The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 

Then he began to say to them,

“Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

Luke 4:16-21

If you’re interested in watching the Reconciling Ministries Convocation, it will be live streamed here. The events will run from August 30-September 2, and you can find the schedule here. I will be preaching on Friday, August 30 at the 7:30pm Opening Worship.