May 22, 2011
5th Sunday of Easter. Year: A. Acts 7:55-60 Psalm 31:1-5,15-16
1 Peter 2:2-10
John 14:1-14
Knowing and claiming God's saving history as their own, ministering to those who could harm us. Remain persistent in prayer. The identity of Christ becomes our identity. We have been given the power of older works from which we dare to imagine.
Psalm 31:1-5 , 15-16 reminds us that we persevere in prayer. Amid the traps set for us by enemies and persecutors that surround us, the security of staying power of God provides security support for the road.
What spiritual discipline helps you stay in the present, dela conscious presence of God in times of trial or in other difficult times?
Acts 7:55-60, the stoning of Stephen, can be read in the context of the trial of salvation history of the speech of Stephen (Acts 7:1-53). This context invites us to reclaim history of salvation for ourselves and assume it as a source of encouragement, strength and proclamation. At the same, the stoning of Stephen can be viewed in the context of the history of Saul (later Paul) and a great presentation of the great persecutor who became a loyal apostle. Here the LGBT community can claim his legacy, go into the prophetic power, persecuted for being bold in our life and our love.
reading the following verse today's passage, Acts 8:1, we hear this: "And Saul was consenting to his death." Who knows what may be our witness before whom could reject us? And some of us, LGBT community and allies, having kept watching quietly in the past, we now find that the Spirit of God and a loyal community give us power to speak out boldly in favor of justice that is consistent with the width God's love.
What would summon the previously silent allies and others to support the LGBT community who live "out" with integrity, who face discrimination and suffering for their spiritual allegiance? What does it mean to respond to hate crimes Stephen temperance found in this text and its context?
Reading 1 Peter 2:2-10 is rooted in our identity, who we are before, so negative, what are not. We are "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God" (verse 9). Here the identity of Christ as "living stone" becomes our identity. Despite (and maybe even because of) that have been rejected as Jesus was rejected, we are able to afford more. We set up a spiritual priesthood. Christ is precious to us and we are valuable to God. Surely our worth invites us to see others as valuable. Placing us again in the current prophetic as the writer of 1 Peter, we can also echo the proclamation of Hosea to claim and proclaim that "once were not a people, but now you are the people of God" (Hosea 2:23).
What if the LGBT community and its allies allow themselves to be made spiritual house, to be sacred priesthood? In this century, what are the sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ?
Although John 14:1-14 is often quoted at funerals, the call is not in providing security after death, but about staying as grounded in our sense of belonging to the Lord that nothing will deter us from acting with passion and power in the present day. Knowing who we are and having the security of "home" allows us the freedom to believe, beyond the stories and traditions-the One who works through us in ways that the church has not been able to imagine. Belong to the house of God "Abba. We believe, we will not let our hearts be troubled.
Where do you find a home? Where foundations your faith and action in times of trial or trouble?
inclusive Prayer
living God, appoint for a spiritual house.
Valuable Christ infúndenos the safety of our worth.
Holy Spirit, help us to rise up as a holy nation,
called to be light for a world living in darkness and fear.
Abba, be home for every rejected
their families and churches,
and for us who walk the paths unknown.
we be steadfast in prayer,
to continue grounded in our identity as God's people
and be bold in our proclamation of your love.
Amen.
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