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That Blessed Manger

“He came unto his own, and his own received him not.”  (John 1:11 KJV)

Into sharp straw our baby King was laid.
No other home took this alien Guest,
A reject in the world His hands had made,
And refugee in the land that He blessed.
So only this crib of wood proved its worth
By throning the King who was not a king,
And claiming the Lord of Nothing’s low birth
While only shepherds kneel—yet, angels sing!
For when this Babe will return in His might
So our vindication can then begin,
He, now King, will say to those on his right,
“I was a stranger, and ye took me in.”*
     If every heart should become yon manger,
     Nobody “different” would be a stranger.

*Matthew 25:35 KJV

(Dedicated to all gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender teens who have been told that God has no place in this world for them. Like Jesus, they came unto their own, and their own received them not.)

Dr. King in Thought

Commitment Card, Martin Luther King (1963)

I hereby pledge myself—my person and body—to the nonviolent movement. Therefore I will keep the following ten commandments:
1. Meditate daily on the teachings and life of Jesus.
2. Remember always that the non—violent movement seeks justice and reconciliation — not victory.
3. Walk and talk in the manner of love, for God is love.
4. Pray daily to be used by God in order that all men might be free.
5. Sacrifice personal wishes in order that all men might be free.
6. Observe with both friend and foe the ordinary rules of courtesy.
7. Seek to perform regular service for others and for the world.
8. Refrain from the violence of fist, tongue, or heart.
9. Strive to be in good spiritual and bodily health.
10. Follow the directions of the movement and of the captain on a demonstration.
I sign this pledge, having seriously considered what I do and with the determination and will to persevere.

Wilson Chapel at Sunrise

I am so grateful that I have found a home at Andover Newton Theological School, which is an Open and Affirming graduate school.  I took this picture this morning, and noticed that the reflection of the sunrise on the windows of Wilson Chapel makes a rainbow.  I interpret that as a celebration of LGBT Pride month!  We are not ashamed of our freedom in Christ!

Andover Newton has long been a leader in graduate theological education.  We were the first graduate school of theology and the first graduate school of any kind in the United States.  Now, we are again a leader among Christian seminaries for standing on the side of justice and inclusion rather than on the side of convenience and inertia.

Some of the students, faculty, and staff at Andover Newton have produced an “It Gets Better” video.  It gets better, because we are making it better!

Here is the video: It Gets Better

Andrew Lippa, a Broadway composer at Texas State, has written a powerful and meaningful song which embodies the message of the “It Gets Better” project. Many young LGBT persons hear primarily negative messages, like the lie that there is no place in God’s world for gay people. No one needs to live with that. I sincerely hope that this song becomes the “We Shall Overcome” of the LGBT justice movement. Lift your head and pray for God’s kingdom to come soon.

LYRICS:

I thought there was something wrong with me,
something that everyone could see,
something that made me cry,
made me try disappearing, why,
why did they treat me like they did?
I was a scared and lonely kid,
deep in the darkest hole, no control,
something whispered,

Chorus:
“It gets better! It gets better when you get past this time!
It gets better, so much better, when you outlast this time!
Go and scream at the moon if you want to.
Go and run just as far as you can,
but it gets better, it gets better and better!”

So, though every day feels like a chore,
wondering, can you face one more?
Ready to shed your skin, let them win,
just give in to pain,
the thing that you think won’t go away,
but if you lift your head and pray,
one day the final straw,
will be yours to draw.
Don’t you know that,

[Chorus]

Love’s out there waiting to banish the hating and smother the sorrow!
Now is dramatic but you’ll be ecstatic, emphatic, tomorrow!
There are people who care, there are friends everywhere,
there are hands to be held, there are hearts to be swelled,
points of view rearranged, there are minds to be changed!
And it’s going to CHANGE!!!

[Chorus]

“These are the ones who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb! For this reason they are before the throne of God, and they serve him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them. They will never go hungry or be thirsty again, and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat, because the Lamb in the middle of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 7:14–17)

1. For all the saints, who from their labours rest,
Who Thee by faith before the world confessed,
Thy Name, O Jesus, be forever blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

2. Thou wast their Rock, their Fortress and their Might;
Thou, Lord, their Captain in the well fought fight;
Thou, in the darkness drear, their one true Light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

3. For the Apostles’ glorious company,
Who bearing forth the Cross o’er land and sea,
Shook all the mighty world, we sing to Thee:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

4. For the Evangelists, by whose blest word,
Like fourfold streams, the garden of the Lord,
Is fair and fruitful, be Thy Name adored.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

5. For Martyrs, who with rapture kindled eye,
Saw the bright crown descending from the sky,
And seeing, grasped it, Thee we glorify.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

6. O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
All are one in Thee, for all are Thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

7. O may Thy soldiers, faithful, true and bold,
Fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
And win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

8. And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
Steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
And hearts are brave, again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

9. The golden evening brightens in the west;
Soon, soon to faithful warriors comes their rest;
Sweet is the calm of paradise the blessed.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

10. But lo! there breaks a yet more glorious day;
The saints triumphant rise in bright array;
The King of glory passes on His way.
Alleluia, Alleluia!

11. From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
Through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
And singing to Father, Son and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!

[This text comes from http://www.soulforce.org/article/1709]

An open letter to the Anglican Communion on the place of human rights in communities of faith by Rt. Rev. Christopher Senyonjo, Retired Bishop of West Buganda and Director of the St. Paul’s Centre for Equality and Reconciliation, Kampala. February 8th 2011

Dear Archbishop Rowan Williams, Primates and fellow bishops, clergy and people of our diverse Anglican Communion.

Peace from God: the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. I give thanks on behalf of the family and friends of David Kato for your love and prayers at this difficult time. All over the world, human beings are longing for liberation, love, respect and the dignity to have meaningful lives. This week alone, we witnessed it in Egypt. We also see this longing in the struggle for human rights for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people (LGBT) through the sacrificial life and death of David Kato. As human beings, we must respect our differences and be united in our call for listening and sharing with each other. To understand God, we are all called to understand the mystery of each other, including our sexualities. God has given us this gift and to defame, condemn, imprison and kill human beings because of their God-given nature, is a great human error. The church has a tragic history of condemning Jews, Moslems, scientists and LGBT people. Our teaching and theology has a causal effect and if we do not learn from our own historical mistakes, we will repeat the same sinful destruction of lives, families and communities.

When European churches failed to protect minority communities during World War II, people were sent to the gas chambers and concentration camps.  Many religious people in Europe emerged from that experience to help create the Declaration of Human Rights. We now have sixty years of building an internationally recognised framework for the protection of human rights in every country.  If Anglicans in one country dehumanize, persecute and imprison minorities, we must be true to the Gospel and challenge such assaults on basic human rights. They key to our ministry must be to educate our people and encourage LGBT people to tell their stories and the impact of homophobia in their lives. Listening to the stories of LGBT people was the beginning of my own transformation. This work of understanding the phenomenon of human sexuality should be taken seriously in our theological seminaries and schools. The clergy should be well equipped to serve and not to ignorantly repel the people of God. A required course in Human Sexuality should be required of all seminarians and clergy.

Many African countries imprison LGBT people because of who they are.  As a bishop in the midst of those countries, I am now a shepherd caring for the lost sheep that are persecuted by the Church and threatened by a pending anti-homosexual draconian bill in Uganda. I preach the new covenant of Jesus Christ sealed in love as we read in John 15:12. This is the heart of the Gospel-the Good News. This sacrifice of Love is mocked when sister churches tolerate or promote the violation of basic human rights. Life and liberty are at risk and we must hold each other accountable. A loving Anglican Communion should not keep quiet when the Rolling Stone tabloid in Uganda openly supports the “hanging of the homos,” including a fellow bishop who pleads for their inclusion and non-discrimination! Silence has the power to kill. We have witnessed its destruction this past week in the tragic and cruel murder of David Kato.

We African Anglicans have a rich and powerful history of speaking out on human rights in the most difficult of situations.  Bishop Colenso worked with Zulus to establish an indigenous church while being fought by his fellow English bishops.  Bishops Trevor Huddleston, John Taylor and Desmond Tutu resisted Apartheid. We must not demean our great tradition by oppressing LGBT minorities under any circumstances, even to maintain Anglican unanimity. The criminalization of homosexuality remains the greatest state and church sanctioned violence perpetrated against LGBT people and their allies in many countries. We must agree to demolish all forms of institutional homophobia beginning with the removal of all laws that punish human beings for being gay or living in loving relationships. This will be the first step in providing basic human rights to a largely invisible international community who live in daily fear of their lives.

So in thanksgiving for the unity and commitment we have together, let us continue to listen to one another, to protect the vulnerable and marginalized within our own societies and to bring our collective wisdom to the work of repairing the world and correcting the great injustices in our local communities.

+Christopher

Rt. Rev. Christopher Senyonjo

Further information on the work of the St. Paul’s Centre and Bishop Christopher may be obtained from Rev. Canon Albert Ogle at aogle@stpaulsfoundation.com. 619-338-8830.

This sign appears next to an escalator in a department store.  By a humorous coincidence, the use of all caps in this sign obscures the difference between the proper noun China and the common noun china.

However, I think the authorial intent is clear, because an elevator on another continent would not be “for your convenience” as much as an elevator in the chinaware department of the same store. Choosing to understand the term “china” to refer to the country is hilarious, but it adds a substantial amount of meaning to the text that is not there. This is just another example of what Eugene Nida has so perceptively expressed here:

As has been clearly demonstrated by mathematical techniques in decoding, the correct meaning of any term is that which contributes least to the total context, or in other terms, that which fits the context most perfectly. In contrast to this, many biblical scholars want to read into every word in each of its occurrences all that can possibly be derived from all of its occurrences, and as a result violate one of the fundamental principles of information theory.¹

Just as in the “China” example, we can also add unintended meanings to the biblical texts. If we approach the texts, not from the perspective of their own historical and cultural contexts, but from our own, we can produce some extremely wild statements.

This might be especially true concerning the narration of David and Jonathan’s friendship. For a modern reader, removed from the military and tribal conventions of the day, the physical expression of committed friendship between two men can be seen as expressing a homosexual relationship. However, this may be another case of, “For your convenience an elevator is located in China.”

Although we cannot prove that there was not a homosexual relationship between David and Jonathan, right now it seems to me that the author of 1-2 Samuel was not attempting to portray them in that manner.

I think the real relevance of this debate is that it reveals the homophobia that has infiltrated our social milieu.  Straight men in our culture can be afraid to express any physical intimacy with their friends, because that would be perceived as “gay.”  The homophobia that leads straight men to avoid physical affection with each other is the same homophobia that causes us to choose to see the kiss between David and Jonathan as gay (1 Sam 20:41).

¹Eugene A. Nida, “Implications of Contemporary Linguistics for Biblical Scholarship,” JBL 91 (1972) p. 86. [To read this article, click here].

Reading the Bible in jail,
which is where both Paul and Martin Luther King, Jr.
wrote important works for the benefit of their people.

The very first story in the Torah about the adult Moses tells us nearly everything we need to know about his character. Even before he was called by the Lord directly — before he ever spoke with God — Moses was already defending his people. He saw an Egyptian unjustly attacking a Hebrew, one of his own people, so he killed the Egyptian (Exod. 2:11–12).

It seems that the Lord chose Moses to deliver the children of Israel in part because Moses consistently stood up for his people in the face of power. Moses’s protective nature was so profound that he even challenged a very angry Lord when the Lord threatened to destroy Israel after their idolatry of the golden calf (Exod. 32:7–14).  Moses prevailed, and his people were saved even from the wrath of God.

Likewise, Esther had the same strong spirit that drove her to protect and defend her people when threatened by Haman’s plot in Persia. Esther pleaded, “For how can I bear to see the calamity that is coming on my people? Or how can I bear to see the destruction of my kindred?” (Esther 8:6)

To varying degrees, a similar fate faces my own people every day.

Though many approaches are valid, I tend to avoid using the term “LGBT” for several reasons:

• The multiplicity of letters divides and fractures the group, when more unity is needed among us.
• No matter how many letters you add, someone will always feel left out.
• Most importantly, many words for my people, such as “gay,” “queer,” and “homosexual,” bear an unfortunate stigma.  Homophobic people have an immediate negative reaction to these terms. I want to use something that has only positive connotations.

That is why I use the term “my people.” It is a strong term, a warm term, and even a Biblical term.  I have surely seen the affliction of my people and have heard their cry (cf. Exod. 3:7, Rom. 9:3).  As Moses defended his people, and Esther fought for her people, so also will I never cease laboring for the benefit of my people.

This term is truly inclusive in its ambiguity, for everyone can decide for himself or herself whether he or she identifies as one of “my people.”  And I want to let you know, brothers and sisters, that we as a people will get to the Promised Land!

This is a thought-provoking documentary about the anti-homosexuality bill in Uganda and the role some American Evangelicals have played in the persecution of my people in Uganda. Read my post here for my thoughts on Jesus as the victim of a hate crime.

For anyone who is lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, remember this gem of wisdom:  ”For You love all things that exist, and detest none of the things that You have made, for You would not have made anything if You had hated it.”  (Wis. 11:24)