Skip to main content

Are Gays Included in the Easter Message?

Easter approaches with its egg hunts and colorful dress and the festivities of people celebrating bunnies and cashing in their Easter coupons on online shopping and at the mall.

Holy Week is here too with its shadows of darkness, its Last Supper where cowardice and betrayal transcend devotion and trust. The disciples never really understood what Jesus had in mind. Many of them still don’t.

I often worry that all of his teachings on kindness and generosity and love remain on the Cross beaten and dead to his followers; all of those wise and difficult truths; all of those calls to deeper living crushed by selfishness and fear, by greed and prejudice and the lust for power.

The governor of Indiana and his legislative devotees have passed a brutal law primarily against the LGBT community shallowly disguised as “religious freedom.” Arkansas legislators came up with an even more appalling law with even worse prejudicial intent. Why are these discriminating laws necessary?

We have the United States Constitution which certifies religious liberty for all of our citizens. But that of course is never enough for some within the political and religious community. They demand control. They apparently are not interested in freedom for everyone. But their bigotry cannot be hidden within God talk. Their hate for gays and other minorities cannot be turned into some kind of “protection for Christians.” Their contempt for people not like them is as glaring as a bloody Christ mocked and crucified.

The use of Christianity as a way of making abhorrent actions and crudely ignorant theology acceptable and even respected is the work of manipulative and deeply disturbed people. What poses as religious devotion in this country is too often little more than a thin veneer covering loathing and the scorn of others.

Is this what Christ died for, to make his followers rigid keepers of moral rules that hurt and divide people? Did he give his life for intolerance, for bullying, for preening self-righteousness, for keeping people in their poverty, for damning people for the way they were born, for breaking hearts and marring beautiful lives with cruel labels and crude talk and obscene pretentiousness?

Is the Cross a symbol of love or a weapon wielded by politicians and religious fomenters and small-minded believers to exact pain, to judge, to condemn, and to dismiss those they disagree with?

Where in our Easter celebration is there any room for open hearts, for grace, for generosity and the affection of Jesus?

“Today you will be with me,” he said to the thief on the cross beside him. A convict. A criminal. A law breaker. A nothing. And yet, included by Jesus.

Shouldn’t followers of the crucified Jesus welcome all humanity whatever their sexual orientation?

Shouldn’t followers of Jesus today, without discrimination, embrace broken souls and bring them into their circle of support? Shouldn’t they openly include those shamed and bewildered by their crumbling lives; those lost in some psychological wound; those in spiritual crisis; those hurting from prejudice from being hated because of who they are?

Can you truly follow Jesus in your life and exclude anyone?

Author Dan Barker has written, “Love is not self-denial. Love is not blood and suffering. Love is not murdering your son to appease your own vanity. Love is not hatred or wrath, consigning billions of people to eternal torture because they have offended your ego or disobeyed your rules. Love is not obedience, conformity, or submission. It is a counterfeit love that is contingent upon authority, punishment, or reward. True love is respect and admiration, compassion and kindness, freely given by a healthy, unafraid human being.” 

That’s pretty good stuff coming from an active atheist. It sounds to me like what Easter is supposed to convey.

© 2015 Timothy Moody

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

If I had five minutes to evacuate--what would I take with me?

If I was told there was a bomb in my building and I had five minutes to evacuate my apartment I’d grab a grocery bag and quickly toss these items into it: 1. A photo of my grandparents, Mom and Pop and me, when I was 15 years old. I learned what love is made of from them. I learned what it is to be kissed on and hugged in arms so tender they felt like God’s arms. I discovered self worth from those two angels in human flesh. Of all the people in my life, they were the ones who made me feel I counted. Honestly, whatever capacity I have to love others came from them. 2. A sentimental, dog-eared, stars in the margin copy of Pat Conroy’s, “The Prince of Tides.” It is a book I have read three times and often return to for its wisdom. It is a harsh, profoundly tragic novel, the story of a family so broken and tortured by such flawed and wounded people that it is sometimes difficult to turn the next page. And yet it is the story of such Herculean courage and endurance that you want...

I Saw the Delicacy of Life

I was flying Across the deep And I saw the delicacy Of life Wrinkles on the faces Of the old So pure they glistened Like awards The joy of children Running with abandon Their laughter ringing Like chimes in the wind I saw the soft moving waves Across the sea And the trees releasing Their rainbow leaves Birds joined me on my flight And I saw the surface of their wings Adorned with patterns Glorious and unfurled I saw the tears of the sad And the smiles of the glad The suffering in mourning And the celebration of birth As I descended toward the ground Slowly, slowly, softly I saw the gentle grass of the field And smelled the fresh earth It was a perfect landing © 2018 Timothy Moody

Actions Make a Difference

“We make progress in society only if we stop cursing and complaining about its shortcomings and have the courage to do something about them.” ~ Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, Physician/Author Pictured here is Kikuko Shinjo, 89 years old, a survivor of the Hiroshima atomic bomb blast. As a 17-year old nursing student she helped nurse victims of the carnage back to health. Many of them died in her care. She says she holds no grudge against America and encourages interaction between the Japanese and Americans. She has devoted her life to peace, saying, “I want all the people around the world to be friends, and I want to make my country peaceful without fighting.” Today she makes colorful paper cranes and donates them to the Children’s Peace Monument at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park.