Chapel Talk: "All God's Children"
(Andrea Een, St. Olaf College, Sept. 22, 2008 / Archived audio)
SCRIPTURE: I CORINTHIANS 12:2-26, 13:1-13
As a professional musician, I have played violin and viola at nearly a hundred weddings for friends and their children, college students, relatives and some strangers. The music has varied: from the orchestral grandeur of Mussorgsky’s” Great Gate of Kiev” played by a valiant string trio with organ, to Pachelbel’s popular “Canon” during which the cellist’s eyes glazed over from the excruciating repetition of eight notes and a gentle nudge of the foot awakened said cellist to the blessed end.
I have also been the solo Hardanger fiddler leading the bride down the aisle with a traditional Norwegian bridal march. Or, on occasion, leading two brides or two grooms to the altar as I did at the weddings of Jerri to Lisa and Marc to Peter.
One of the joys in playing for weddings is meeting with the couple to plan the music. By the time of the wedding, I know something of their hopes for their life together, in addition to their taste in music, which is sometimes another occasion for a gentle nudge. While our society uses different terms to describe weddings where gays or lesbians are joined together (“blessing ceremonies” and “commitment ceremonies”), in my experience there is no difference in their ritual power or in the joy and support of the assembled guests. Or the nature of the love manifested by the couple for each other.
The sense of gravity in making a life-long commitment to one another is heightened by the lack of legal recognition for same-sex marriages in our state of Minnesota. What a powerful step a wedding is for two people! Wedding guests come to witness a Divine consecration of the union and to celebrate the couple’s public declaration of love. A civil ceremony in front of a legal representative, while conferring welcome legal protections in a couple of states, is not the same thing as a church wedding.
The primary issue in the discussion of same-sex marriage is not whether we can all agree on the Christian or Judaic or Buddhist teachings on homosexuality in a pluralistic America; the issue is whether we value and protect equal rights for all citizens under the law. All major world religions uphold a similar Law of Divine Love: “Do unto others as you would have others do to you,” which would seem to sanction equal treatment for all.
In the denomination to which I belong, the United Church of Christ, the decision whether to welcome gays and lesbians as full members of the church, to be an “Open and Affirming” congregation in our church’s parlance, is a matter for the local church to study, discuss, and then vote yea or nay. I am proud that our Northfield church voted to become such an Open and Affirming Congregation about fifteen years ago. I am very happy that this St. Olaf Student Congregation is an ELCA “Reconciled in Christ” congregation which is welcoming to all, regardless of their sexual orientation.
This issue is threatening to pull many Protestant denominations apart. The world wide Episcopal church is on the verge of schism over the legitimacy of gay marriage as well as the issue of ordination of gay and lesbian priests. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America is wrestling with these divisive issues and has sidestepped votes at two recent conventions in the hope of finding a way to reconcile opposing views.
And why does it matter for churches to grapple with such a thorny issue that threatens church harmony? Might it not be better to just sweep it under the rug and let individual congregations do as they please in the interest of church unity?
I would like to address these questions from a theological perspective by quoting some of the scripture passages we have just heard from First Corinthians:
"For by one Spirit we are all baptized into one body – Jews or Greek, slave or free, and all were made to drink of one Spirit."
The promises of support we make at baptism to those in the congregation are powerful signs of unity; baptism is one of the ways we become a community. One of the cogent arguments for same-sex marriage is that the sacrament of marriage should not be denied to those who have received the sacrament of baptism in the church. Can we withhold God’s blessings from some members while granting those privileges to others? Just as all are welcome at our communion table by virtue of breaking bread together and sharing the cup, so God’s blessings should be extended to each member of the church family who wants to celebrate the sacrament of marriage.
Again, from First Corinthians, Chapter 12: “If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.” Paul is using the metaphor of the parts of the body to represent his vision of the community of the fledgling church he is nurturing. His letter urges unity rather than discord so that “all the members may have the same care for one another.” Isn’t this yet another stating of the Golden Rule of human interaction? And the word for this “care for one another” is compassion.
Marcus Borg, in his wonderful book entitled, “Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time”, writes, ”Compassion is the fruit of life in the Spirit and the ethos of the community of Jesus.” Borg says that where Jesus uses the word compassion, Paul uses the word love as the primary fruit of the Spirit. Let us listen to the magnificent litany of First Corinthians, Chapter 13, verses 1-7 in the Revised Standard Version with the word “compassion” inserted where Paul writes, “love”.
“If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not “compassion”, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not “compassion”, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not “compassion”, I gain nothing.”
“Compassion” is patient and kind; “Compassion” is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. “Compassion” does not insist on its own way; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. “Compassion” bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”
This is not the compassion of mercy or pity that implies a hierarchical relationship between the parties. This compassion is feeling “with the womb” in the literal root of the Hebrew word, feeling a deep empathy with the other person, as deep as giving birth. The Latin root of the word has the meaning “to suffer along with the pain” of the other.
As Marcus Borg says, “A politics of compassion would generate a more ‘communitarian’ dimension in our political life to balance the excesses generated by the dominant politics of individualism.”
How would a politics of compassion continue to inform OUR work as a congregation at St. Olaf or in our home congregation? Would WE respond to local human rights abuses, hate crimes, bullying of those who are different in school? Would we try to change discriminatory laws at the state and local level to prevent same-sex partners from receiving equal protection from the law? How would we support adolescents in our community who are struggling with gender identity issues? If we are capable of suffering on behalf of the injustice to others, what are we be called upon to do as individuals and as Christians by following Christ’s example?
This is the charge I would like to see all Christian congregations embrace, in Marcus Borg’s words:
“Believing in Jesus in the sense of giving one’s heart to Jesus is the movement from secondhand to firsthand religion, from having heard about Jesus with the hearing of the ear to being in relationship with the Spirit of Christ.”
This heart-based community of Christ can choose to be present with compassion and support at the end as well as the beginning of a life partnership.
At the funeral of my brother John’s partner, Lawrence, in New York City, I played “What Wondrous Love Is This” on the viola. Lawrence left a big void when he died of AIDS in his forties after a distinguished career heading an educational foundation to combat racism. He and my brother, John, had shared many values, including love of music and travel, and strong faith. It was a true marriage in every sense but the legal definition of the word.
I would like us to enlarge our definition of marriage in Minnesota to include gays and lesbians who love each other and want the privileges and responsibilities of marriage. Then when the end of life comes for one of the partners, the other can be present at the hospital bedside, pay for medical costs through joint insurance, make legal decisions for their partner, inherit the shared value of their life together, and be able to grieve a love relationship that was blessed by both church and family.
“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. So faith, hope, love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love.” (13:12-13)
In closing, please rise and join me in reading the “Litany for Mother’s Day” printed in your bulletin.
