This is the sermon I preached on that day.
“Affirming All Disciples” Mark 1: 14-20
by Rev. Dr. Christine Johnson
Today, Jesus is coming to the shore of the Ottawa River
to call disciples to the work of healing the world.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that
when we hear this story
we identify more with the fishers on the shore of Lake Galilee,
than we do with Jesus, who calls them to follow him.
Scholars for millennia have cautioned us
to not read too much into this passage.
That is, there’s very little detail about the who, what, why, how and where of this situation.
We don’t really know why Jesus chooses these fishers.
We don’t know how they came to learn about him.
We don’t know who these fishers are,
or their families, or their economic situation.
We don’t know what attracts them to this man
who asks them to give up everything in order to follow him.
But what we do know is that Jesus reaches out to members of the working class,
who for whatever reason,
give up their livelihoods to become students of this teacher and servants of his mission.
Today, I believe we hear ourselves being called,
and it’s important, because we need to it hear over and over again.
For the Jesus way is not always the easiest way.
Sometimes we need to give up something
in order to be students of this teacher and servants of his mission.
It’s a story that reminds us to set aside our distractions
so that we can re-commit ourselves to the Christian mission.
Yes, and with this call comes full participation in the life of the Christian church.
Or does it?
Well, it certainly has been the case for many people,
but others haven’t been so welcome.
From the earliest days, women were disciples,
but soon that discipleship was devalued by a patriarchal system
that put restrictions on how that ministry could be expressed.
It’s not that long ago,
women could not hold a position in the church,
unless it had something to do with a kitchen.
Women were not allowed to become clergy.
In 1936, women became ministers as long as you weren’t married.
Married women could not officially become ordained ministers until 1964.
Robert told me about his memory of
watching the men take off their hats in church
and women having to retain them,
because their heads needed to be covered.
Who else was limited as a disciple?
Remember when bastard children were shunned,
those children born out of wedlock.
Remember when women who conceived out of wedlock
were shunned because of their crime.
Remember when children were to be seen and not heard
because they weren’t as important as the adults.
Remember when churches were formed on racial lines
and the two would never mix.
Remember when inter-racial couples were frowned upon.
Remember when inter-religious marriages were frowned upon.
Yes, we were all called to be disciples,
or were we?
Over the last 30 years, and beyond, we’ve been asking a lot of hard questions
about who has been excluded from the Christian community.
And that brings us to today.
For historical, theological and societal reasons,
homosexuals have been excluded from being fully embraced as disciples of Christ.
And the same has happened to other persons, who struggle to identify their gender,
and who feel the need to seek surgery in order to clarify that gender.
Or, for bi-sexuals, who might be attracted to both sexes.
For a long time, we believed that Jesus is calling us all,
oh, except anyone who might not be considered normal sexually.
And who else is excluded?
Are we inclusive of all persons of all races and languages?
Are we inclusive of persons with different abilities?
Are we inclusive of persons who have committed crimes and now want to be part of us?
As we reflect on this,
it’s important to remember that when people feel excluded the consequences are great.
There is pain, persecution, violence, suffering, and wounds that linger forever.
The rate of suicide among young homosexual men is staggering.
Rejection, name calling and systemic injustice hurt us all.
When we feel excluded we feel despair and fear and life seems empty and meaningless.
For a long time the Christian church has excluded people who they feel are sinners,
and who they feel are beyond the reach of God.
Well, I don’t know about you,
but when I hear this story I don’t hear about any conditions.
And in fact, Jesus is choosing persons who are outside conventional religious circles.
He is constantly breaking down barriers, rather than building them up.
And in that tradition,
our vote today is about whether or not we want to break down the barriers
that stop people from feeling excluded.
As we’ve heard over and over again,
it’s not enough to just say “all are welcome.”
Many churches can say that,
but in reality, aren’t really all that welcoming
because on the wind are whispers of “we don’t want ‘those’ people to be part of us.”
Affirm United has been an organization on the forefront of asking the question,
“When you say that all are welcome, do you really mean it?”
The individuals who find themselves part of the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, Transgendered and Queer communities are saying, “Are we truly welcome to be a disciple of Christ?”
“Will we be safe in this community?”
Recently, I’ve heard a lot of complaints about the fact
that the Affirm Process has too much emphasis on sexuality.
But remember this; it is the LGBTQ communities that formed this organization,
and it is these communities that have pushed us to ask deeper questions
about accessibility, racism, sexism and all the ‘isms that put barriers up between us.
As my friend Cheri Dinovo writes in her book, “Querying Evanglism,”
if we can accept the “queerest of the queer”
then we can accept anyone.
To her, we are all queer, in the sense that each one of us has individual traits and conditions
that are different from our neighbours.
But some have been identified by society as more queer than others.
For a long time, the LGBTQ community was the queerest of the queer. (I pray this is changing.)
And so, if we believe that sexuality is a gift from God,
and that all persons of all sexual orientations are pleasing to God,
and if we can accept the so-called “queerest of the queer”
we can begin to affirm that ALL persons are being called to be disciples of Christ.
I think it’s pretty clear where I stand on this issue.
I hope that we can truly be a church which is continually
affirming ALL disciples
and building a church where love can dwell and all can safely live.
I hope that we can build a church of hopes and dreams and visions
where all are welcome, where all are truly welcome.
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