God brings a new creation: 23rd after Pentecost C

Today, I preached at Trinity las Americas United Methodist Church (TLA).  My sermon was rooted in my queerying the text this week.

This Sunday is the Sunday before the 20th annual Trans Day of Remembrance, so that was a big part of my sermon.  Below is the manuscript.  Because TLA is multicultural and worships bilingually, the sermon also is bilingual. 

I'm doing my best to include the manuscript more or less as it was preached.  The italicized is English and bold is Spanish.

Isaiah 65:17-25
17 For I am about to create new heavens
    and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
    or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
    and its people as a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
    and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
    or the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
    an infant that lives but a few days,
    or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
    and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain,
    or bear children for calamity;[a]
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
    and their descendants as well.
24 Before they call I will answer,
    while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
    but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.

-----

Isaías 65:17-25
17 »Miren, yo voy a crear
un cielo nuevo y una tierra nueva.
Lo pasado quedará olvidado,
nadie se volverá a acordar de ello.
18 Llénense de gozo y alegría para siempre
por lo que voy a crear,
porque voy a crear una Jerusalén feliz
y un pueblo contento que viva en ella.
19 Yo mismo me alegraré por Jerusalén
y sentiré gozo por mi pueblo.
En ella no se volverá a oír llanto
ni gritos de angustia.
20 Allí no habrá niños que mueran a los pocos días,
ni ancianos que no completen su vida.
Morir a los cien años será morir joven,
y no llegar a los cien años será una maldición.
21 La gente construirá casas y vivirá en ellas,
sembrará viñedos y comerá sus uvas.
22 No sucederá que uno construya y otro viva allí,
o que uno siembre y otro se aproveche.
Mi pueblo tendrá una vida larga, como la de un árbol;
mis elegidos disfrutarán del trabajo de sus manos.
23 No trabajarán en vano
ni tendrán hijos que mueran antes de tiempo,
porque ellos son descendientes
de los que el Señor ha bendecido,
y lo mismo serán sus descendientes.
24 Antes que ellos me llamen,
yo les responderé;
antes que terminen de hablar,
yo los escucharé.
25 El lobo y el cordero comerán juntos,
el león comerá pasto, como el buey,
y la serpiente se alimentará de tierra.
En todo mi monte santo
no habrá quien haga ningún daño.»
El Señor lo ha dicho.

-----

This Wednesday is Trans Day of Remembrance, or TDOR. Every year on November 20, we gather and read all the names that we know of the transgender people who have died in the last year. Although the list can often include some of those who died by suicide, the majority of trans people who died were intentionally killed. This year we know of 369 trans people who died. 36 of them have been killed or died here in the United States. One trans woman died in prison on Riker's Island, New York, and another was in ICE custody. The vast majority of those killed in the united states are Black trans women. 


El miércoles que viene es el día internacional de la memoria trans.  Cada año el 20 de noviembre, nos reunimos y leemos todos los nombres que conocemos de las personas transgénero que se murió en el año pasado.  Aunque muchas veces incluye algunas de las personas que se murieron por medio del suicidio, la mayoría de personas trans que se murieron es matada.  Este año sabemos de 369 personas trans que se murieron. 36 de estas personas han sido asesinadas o se han muerto aquí en los estados unidos.  Una mujer trans se murió en la cárcel en Riker’s Island, Nueva York, y otra fue en la custodia de la migra.  La mayoría en los ee uu es mujeres descendientes de Africa.

Cada noviembre leemos cientos de nombres y sentimos como si fuera inevitable hacerlo cada año.  Es como pensaron el pueblo de Israel en la lectura de hoy.  La gente está regresando del exilio y no sabe como encontrará la vida nueva.  Piensa en el exilio como si fuera inevitable otra vez.


Every November we read hundreds of names and it feels like the next Trans Day of Remembrance is inevitable, much as the people of Israel thought in today's reading.  They are a people returning from exile with no idea how they will find a new life—or if there even is life after exile.



It was easy for them to resign themselves to an exiled life forever, and it is easy for us now to think that violence against trans people will always exist — that racism, sexism, and transphobia will never end, but our God says otherwise. God says, “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.” And God continues with this new vision, saying, “No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” 


Era fácil para la gente regresando del exilio y es fácil para nosotrxs pensar que la violencia contra personas trans siempre estará—que el racismo, el sexismo, y la transfobia siempre existirán, pero nuestro Dios dice que no.  Dios dice, “Miren, yo voy a crear un cielo nuevo y una tierra nueva. Lo pasado quedará olvidado, nadie se volverá a acordar de ello.”  Y sigue con una vista de vida, diciendo, “Allí no habrá niños que mueran a los pocos días, ni ancianos que no completen su vida. Morir a los cien años será morir joven, y no llegar a los cien años será una maldición. La gente construirá casas y vivirá en ellas, sembrará viñedos y comerá sus uvas.” 

Dios tiene otro plan para nosotrxs y para el mundo entero.


God has another plan for us and for the whole world.



It is not an easy plan to achieve — it never is. It requires major changes in how we function as human beings and in our cultures. God’s vision that “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox;” requires changes on the part of the wolf and the lion.  It’s not possible for the wolf and the lamb to eat together if the wolf is eating the lamb.


No es fácil alcanzarlo—nunca es fácil seguir a Dios.  Requiere grandes cambios en como funcionamos como seres humanos y como culturas.  El plan de Dios, que “El lobo y el cordero comerán juntos, el león comerá pasto, como el buey” requiere un cambio fundamental por parte del lobo y del león.  No es posible que el lobo y el cordero coman juntos si el lobo esta comiendo el cordero. 

Para crear un mundo donde toda la gente puede vivir sin miedo, la gente con poder—la gente que han abusado su poder, que han hecho más difícil la vida para la gente marginalizada—los lobos, no pueden tener tanta poder—no pueden comer a los corderos.  El poder que tienen sobre otras personas es poder sin amor y poder injusto.  Hay que enfrentarse con las consecuencias de sus acciones.  La cultura necesita cambiar para que los lobos no puedan hacer daño a otras personas.


To create a world where all people can live without fear, people with power — people who have abused their power, who have made life harder instead of easier for marginalized people — the wolves and lions, cannot have all that power. The power they have over other people is power without love—it is unjust power. The wolves must face the consequences of their actions. Culture needs to change so that they cannot harm other people.



And we, here, can be part of the change that God makes. We have power. We especially have power together as this community of faith. But also, every person here — some more than others, but each person — has power.  We can honor each person, protect the most vulnerable people, share power, and limit the damage done.


Y nosotrxs aquí somos parte del cambio que hace Dios. Tenemos poder.  Especialmente tenemos poder juntos como comunidad de fe.  Pero también cada persona aquí—algunas más que otras, pero cada persona—tiene poder.  Somos capaces de honrar a cada persona, de dar protección a la gente más vulnerable, a compartir el poder y limitar el daño hecho. 

Tenemos el poder de corregir unos a otros cuando decimos los pronombres incorrectos, cuando alguien habla de “esas personas.”  Nuestras acciones solo son una parte, pero son una parte importante, especialmente ahora que el gobierno no funciona bien.  Lo que podemos hacer, tiene que ver con nuestres amigues, nuestras comunidades.


We have the power to correct each other when we say the wrong pronouns, when someone talks about “those people.” Our actions are only one part, but they are an important part, especially when the government feels so hopeless. What we can do has to do with our friends and our communities.

Pastor Alejandro has asked about great, great, grandmothers.  I will ask about friends and friends of friends.  Can we talk to our friends about racism, sexism, and transphobia?  Can we speak up about these things when we´re in a group and don´t know everyone in the group?  When trans people aren’t present?  When it is just white folks?  How can we influence our neighbors for the good?


Pastor Alejandro preguntó de las tatarabuelas.  Yo pregunto de les amigues de les amigues.  ¿Podemos hablar con nuestres amigues sobre el racismo, el sexismo, y la transfobia?  ¿Podemos decir algo, cuando estamos en un grupo y no conocemos a cada persona en el grupo?  ¿Cuando personas trans no estén presentes? ¿Cómo podemos influir a nuestras projimas?

Dios está creando un mundo nuevo, está llamándonos, ¿seguimos a Dios? ¿Creemos en la posibilidad de otro tipo de mundo?  Podemos hacerlo juntxs.


God is creating a new world, God is calling us.  Do we follow God?  Do we put our faith in the possibility of a different kind of world?  We can do it together.

Amén.

the end is still to come: 26th after pentecost year b

On November 18th, I preached and led worship at Capitol Hill Lutheran Church.  Rooted in my queerying of Mark, as well as my engagement with Daniel and Hebrews, this sermon dove deep into the context of the texts and our understanding of Apocalyptic literature in the bible as well as the reality of humanity's potential for evil.

We explored fear and the ways fear is used as a political tool to make our culture sacrifice people, specifically thinking of gun violence, violence against immigrants, and Transgender Day of Remembrance.  Acknowledging that the end is still to come, the possibilities of what kind of end we will join God in making ended the sermon.

This is the image I preached from for both worship services.

I can clearly tell how this sermon was connected to my queeries, but feel free to let me know if you need help with the connections or have any other comments or questions!

Christ shows up in the suffering: Reign of Christ

The other reading referenced is Colossians 1:11-20.

 

The holy gospel according to Luke (23:33-43)

³³When they came to the place that is called The Skull,

       they crucified Jesus there with the criminals,

              one on his right

              and one on his left.

³⁴⟦Then Jesus said,

       “Father, forgive them;

              for they do not know what they are doing.”⟧

And they cast lots to divide his clothing.

³⁵And the people stood by, watching;

       but the leaders scoffed at him, saying,

              “He saved others;

                     let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God,

                            the chosen one!”

³⁶The soldiers also mocked him,

       coming up and offering him sour wine, ³⁷and saying,

              “If you are the King of the Jews,

                     save yourself!”

³⁸There was also an inscription over him,

       “This is the King of the Jews.”

³⁹One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding Jesus and saying,

       “Are you not the Messiah?

              Save yourself and us!”

⁴⁰But the other rebuked him, saying,

       “Do you not fear God,

              since you are under the same sentence of condemnation?

              ⁴¹And we indeed have been condemned justly,

                     for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds,

                            but this one has done nothing wrong.”

⁴²Then he said,

       “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kindom.”

⁴³Jesus replied,

       “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

The gospel of the lord.

-----

Today, as the final Sunday in the church year, is Reign of Christ Sunday. It is the day we name Christ as the ultimate authority over all.  We celebrate our God who has all the power.

When we say Christ reigns or Christ is King or Lord—or, in today’s language we might say, Christ is our President—we are making a statement about whose authority we follow.  This is the day that our Gospel reading especially gives us great insight not only into who Jesus is, but more deeply into what power and authority mean to God.

What do they mean?  How do we best understand Jesus? 

Through the cross.

Christ’s reign—Jesus’ power and authority—is best understood in the One who would rather die than kill anyone, who talks to criminals, and challenges the assumptions of his day; the One who doesn’t give into complacency, the One willing to suffer for another.

As Jesus suffers and dies on the cross, we find that, as the letter to Colossians says, “in Christ all the fullness of God [is] pleased to dwell.”  When all of God’s power and might is on display, that power places itself below—it takes on the suffering of the world. God becomes incarnate—taking on our very flesh all the way to the cross, so that when we proclaim that Christ reigns, it is really that Christ is most present in and with those who suffer.

Christ shows up when we’re filled with anxiety at unmarked cars driving by and word of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, la migra, in the area.  Christ sits with us in our anxiety, recalling what it was like when his own family had to flee his home country and live without papers in a strange land.

Christ shows up when the doctor calls about the biopsy and says we should come in to talk to her.  In the waiting and the heartbreak, in the treatment and the sickness.  Christ sits with us in our pain, recalling the pain of the cross.

Christ shows up when we wonder if it’s safe to go out in public because at least 295 of our transgender and gender nonconforming siblings were killed this year just because of their gender identity—23 in this country alone.  Christ sits with us in our fear and dies with us in our death, crucified again and again with each person killed.

Christ shows up.

Whenever and wherever there is suffering, Christ is there. 

Tears rolling down, beaten and broken by people or life itself, Christ shows up.  That is the God we know and the God we worship.  The One who shows up.  The One who takes on all our suffering. 

Because God has literally been to hell and back, there is no experience too foreign, too painful, or too awful, for God.

Christ gathers “all the strength that comes from God’s glorious power” and sits down in the sackcloth and ashes.  Christ relocates the power and authority from the places we usually look to, to the places of suffering.  For Christ, power exists to be given up and given over, because no matter how loud or how strong we try to become, strength and power cannot have the final word for a God who gave it all up to come be with us.

It’s like Kid President says, “Even if hate has a bullhorn, Love is louder.”   It is love—in solidarity—that has the final say.

It is in our ability to be with—to be in solidarity with those who suffer—that we also encounter Christ’s truest self.  When we sit and breathe, when we go to doctor’s appointments, when we cry, we encounter Christ with us.

So we follow Christ—our Lord, King, and President.  We follow Jesus to the cross and we look on wondering what to do about that one who suffers.  Do we stand by watching with the crowd?  Do we scoff, mock, and deride?  Or, like the criminal, do we ask Jesus to recognize us, to draw us in? 

And Christ does—Christ always will.  Again and again Christ shows up.  When fear, anxiety, illness, and even death overwhelm us, Christ shows up in full.

Sometimes we recognize it and sometimes we don’t. But Christ is still there.

Christ is in the brokenness.  There is an art form in Japan called Kintsugi where broken pottery is repaired with gold so that the thing that was broken becomes even more beautiful in the brokenness—a new thing is born out of the old that would be discarded or destroyed.

That is Christ’s work.  In communion, Christ, the bread that is broken, connects us to each other and to God.  Our broken bodies come for broken bread and become one body of Christ.  In Christ’s fullness, bread is broken, wine is poured—and Jesus gathers all the brokenness of the world to himself on the cross and fills our cracks, our anxiety, illness, and pain with a love that casts out fear.  Christ’s presence in communion fills us and Christ walks with us in our fear through a dangerous world, through a sick world, through a scary world. 

Christ shows up and Christ shows up on the cross.  Perfect power and authority made known in perfect love and service, not because it is required, but precisely because it is so freely given.

That is who Christ is.  Christ, our King, Lord, and President, is Christ crucified, Christ who suffers with the suffering ones.

Thanks be to God

heartbreak

My heart broke twice today.  Once before worship and once on the way home and it is still broken.  Before worship, I learned of an act of domestic terrorism on my people.  A gunman killed over 50 people and wounded more in the largest mass shooting in this country last night.  What some people didn’t say is that Pulse, the club the man opened fire at is a queer club in Orlando, Florida.  My heart broke.  And yet, from the start, this has been labeled an act of domestic terror. 

Before worship I had no news of the attacker.  It was weird to not hear any details apart from gender about this man and yet to know that it was being considered domestic terrorism.  During worship we prayed for the victims of the domestic terrorism last night and we prayed for the victims of domestic terrorism almost a year ago at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina.  June 17th of last year a terrorist who is a member of mydenomination opened fire on a Bible Study.  This was not called domestic terrorism by much of the media and much of the country, but that is what it was.  In Charleston, the shooter was white.

After worship, as I looked at the reports, I found out that the shooter was Muslim and claimed to be attacking for ISIS.  My heart broke again.  That is why it was called domestic terrorism from the start.  It is an act of domestic terrorism.  Not because the shooter was Muslim, but because that’s what the act was.  The attack on Mother Emanuel was an act of domestic terrorism also.

My heart is broken.  This is terrible and yet our own community is not allowed to donate blood for those who were injured.  Our own community is still barred from donating blood to the Red Cross even as we are bleeding ourselves. 

Our own community is killed all the time.  Trans women of color, the originatorsof Pride Marches, the reason we celebrate Pride this month, face this threat in their own lives ALL. THE. TIME.  Now it is also hitting the places we go to be free, the mainstream.  To be ourselves and let our guard down.  This is not a new reality.  Maybe for some, but for many this is one more thing in a daily reality of fear for LGBTQ lives, especially for trans women of color everywhere.

My heart is broken.  It has been for a long time.  

To those of you who are straight, cis folks, you get to be heartbroken with us and pray with us, but I also expect you to do something: Change the gun laws. Preach from the pulpit. Educate people about Islam and LGBTQ folks, especially those in the BTQ category. Be present at TDOR in November. Change blood donation laws. Give money to LGBTQ organizations (especially organizations from/for communities of color and BTQ folks). Confess, repent, receive forgiveness.

god recognizes us and all our gender: reign of christ / christ the king

the holy gospel according to matthew (25:31-46)

[Jesus said,]

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in his glory,

       and all the angels with him,

              then he will sit on the throne of his glory.

       ³²All the nations will be gathered before him,

              and he will separate people one from another

                     as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats,

                            ³³and he will put the sheep at his right hand

                            and the goats at the left.

³⁴Then the king will say to those at his right hand,

       ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father,

              inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world;

                     ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave me food,

                     I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink,

                     I was a stranger and you welcomed me,

                     ³⁶I was naked and you gave me clothing,

                     I was sick and you took care of me,

                     I was in prison and you visited me.’

³⁷Then the righteous will answer him,

       ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food,

              or thirsty and gave you something to drink?

       ³⁸And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you,

              or naked and gave you clothing?

       ³⁹And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’

⁴⁰And the king will answer them,

       ‘Truly I tell you,

              just as you did it to one of the least of these

                     who are members of my family,

                            you did it to me.’

⁴¹Then he will say to those at his left hand,

       ‘You that are accursed,

              depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels;

                     ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave me no food,

                     I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

                     ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me,

                     naked and you did not give me clothing,

                     sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

⁴⁴Then they also will answer,

       ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you

              hungry

              or thirsty

              or a stranger

              or naked

              or sick

              or in prison,

                     and did not take care of you?’

⁴⁵Then he will answer them,

       ‘Truly I tell you,

              just as you did not do it to one of the least of these,

                     you did not do it to me.’

⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment,

       but the righteous into eternal life.”

the gospel of the lord.

 -----

throughout this month, we have been talking about and sharing where we’ve found jesus and i hope you’ve gotten the chance to check out jesus on the back wall.  if not, take a look today after worship or during communion, because it’s pretty powerful.  you all have found jesus in a lot of different places.  and, today, we’ve heard again who jesus is; where to find him: the hungry, the stranger, the naked, the outcast.  today’s gospel raises the question: how do we recognize jesus, and other people? 

when i began seminary, i had a professor, dr. ralph klein, who was the perfect combination of dumbledore and moses.  he was wise and funny and many of us were convinced that he could read genesis in the original hebrew because he was the one who wrote it.

the first day of class, dr. klein took a picture of us all so that he could study our faces, matched with names, and start to recognize us between classes.  well, after a week, when we came back to class, there was one person that dr. klein couldn’t recognize.

the first week of classes, when he took the picture, my hair was long and i had worn it down and curly, like a lion’s mane as my mom used to call it.  the next week (and much of the semester to follow), it was pulled quickly back into a ponytail.  dr. klein had studied our stand-out, most obvious characteristics in that first week, but hadn’t looked deeper.  he hadn’t gotten past my hair to see even my glasses, let alone who i really was.  since those first weeks, dr. klein has come to know me, and my hair, more fully in all of its diverse lengths and in all of my questions, comments, and experiences.

but, to this day new people in my life still don’t recognize me if i wear my hair differently the second time they see me…and, they tend to grow quite attached to my hair.              i don’t have that same problem, mainly because i am not very attached to my hair and enjoy changing its length frequently, making people recognize me by more than just my hair.

and while dr. klein couldn’t recognize me those first weeks, he was the one to introduce me to a god i knew and yet hadn’t recognized.  dr. klein taught us hebrew bible, or old testament, and that man could find grace anywhere.  as i explained to the confirmands this week, dr. klein was the one to point out: the grace in the 10 commandments, where the first commandment, according to jewish numbering, is “i am the lord your god, who brought you out of the land of egypt, out of the house of slavery.”  not a commandment at all, but a proclamation of god’s love active in our lives. 

dr. klein was also the first person to refer to god with diverse pronouns.  we know from study and from faith that we are made in the image of god—all of us, together—so it would make sense that god would not just be male—in fact, the holy spirit is feminine in hebrew and gender neutral in greek.  dr. klein recognized the fullness of god’s diversity and was the first person i heard refer to god as she as well as he.

these days we spend a lot of time being concerned with gender—usually that of someone else.  we can spend so much time worrying about and policing other people’s gender that we lose sight of the jesus in them.  this past thursday was the annual transgender day of remembrance where we gathered for a vigil and read the names of those beloved children of god who others chose to harm and kill because their gender didn’t fit in the box that person had for them. 

i went to the vigil, as i have the past few years, for several reasons.  i went to bear witness that violence is wrong.  i went to bear witness that god’s love is for everybody.  and i went because sometimes people get confused by the way i dress, when i wear a tie, or by how i cut my hair.

in today’s gospel the son of man is talking to the gentiles, people who don’t know or follow the way of jesus.  people who really don’t have a context in which to recognize jesus.  it’s not just that the “goats” don’t recognize jesus, nobody does!

there are so many ways that each of us can get caught up in our expectations and assumptions that we fail to recognize each other and, more importantly, we fail to recognize jesus            in            the            other.  sometimes it’s because we are more concerned with figuring out their gender than recognizing that god is a god of all genders.  sometimes we are too concerned with what papers they have, forgetting that we are a country of strangers and immigrants and that god comes to us as a stranger in our midst. 

other times we can see too much of ourselves—specifically those characteristics in ourselves that we don’t like to acknowledge.  we see too much of us in them to remember that god created us all—them and us—as beloved children, just as we are.

at this end of the church year, we celebrate christ the king, our namesake.  we celebrate the One whose power and love is made known in the “least of these.”  christ’s presence in the hungry, the stranger, the naked, the outcast, is the way we know: god’s love is for everybody.  we know god’s diversity as we are all made, in our diversity, in god’s image.  we know god’s love as we are all called beloved children.

so whether our hair changes length or style, whether we have the right papers, whether we lose our jobs, or are diagnosed with a grave illness, we never lose the ability to recognize jesus in those we encounter.

more importantly, though, god will never lose the ability

       not only to recognize each of us as beloved children,

              but also to be present in us,

                     to know us more deeply than how we wear or don’t wear our hair,

                     to know us more deeply than our gender,

                            our immigration status, our job, or our health.

god knows us deeply enough to call us beloved, and god knows each person we encounter deeply enough to call them beloved as well.

thanks be to god.