June 02, 2024 | Rev. Loren McGrail
this place of prayer and praise,
but as I am and where I am,
my heart’s cry I must raise.
Excluded by the human law–
unjust, unfair, and wrong–
I lift my prayer, I worship God,
I raise an angry song.
What hurt is done to me by this?
What hurt is done to you?
You do not even know my name,
yet dare call me taboo!
Jesus did not reject people because Creator God created all in their image and it was good. Holmdel Community United Church of Christ is an Open and Affirming Church because we understand that we are called to “welcome and embrace all people in life and ministry of our congregation regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, age, mental or physical condition, race, ethnicity, nationality, or economic status.” This is what it says on our postcard being distributed today at the Pride Festival at our table. This is also the reason we fly the Pride Flag in front of our church for the world to see and at our back door to Fellowship Hall. We want the world to know who we are and what we believe.
This is also the reason that last year we took to our local school boards to say no to discrimination against Trans Youth and to stand with the LGBTQ Plus community against these repressive policies. Our voice was heard in 4 school board meetings including Holmdel where we were publicly attacked by a school board member. In November our flags were vandalized in a hate crime most likely due to our public statement. This Pride Sunday we should feel a little bit of pride in our stepping forward to act faithfully for what we believe. Unfortunately, the battles continue in the schools and elsewhere as trans youth continue to be denied their rights. Dear Ones, we need to continue not only welcoming all to this table, or the one at the Pride Festival, but to destruct those tables that deny dignity and equal rights.
As we come to our scripture this morning from the Book of Acts, I want you to let our own history about being an Open and Affirming Church mix with the story of how two men, one an Ethiopian eunuch named Simon the Black in the Orthodox Church or Bachos in the Ethiopian Church and a new convert to Christ named Philip came together to read scripture and share in the sacred rite of baptism.
Philip met this Ethiopian eunuch on his way back from Jerusalem where he probably went to study the Torah and was rejected because of his status. Philip, led by that disruptive Holy Spirit felt compelled to reach out to him and get into his chariot.
In Bible Study this week, it occurred to me that our exploring of our sacred texts together might be interesting for those of you in the congregation, so I have asked Kiff and Mary Beth to share some of their thoughts about the text. Before I turn it over to them, I invite each of you to locate yourselves in the story. Are you the one reaching out in faith to be included like Bachos? Or are you the one who needs to be opened to a new relationship of what it means to be a Christian? Let us remember too that in our non- binary world, we can be both.
Needless to say, this sacred story is a favorite of the Ethiopian Church, but it is also a favorite of the evangelical church. I invite Kiff now to speak about how this text was presented first to her.
(Kiff speaks)
Now, we will hear from Mary Beth who will share her thoughts about the story and that part of being snatched away and give us a little history about Azotus.
(Mary Beth speaks)
Doesn’t this make you wish you could join Bible Study? All of you are invited every Tuesday at 10:00 on zoom. I dare say we have very stimulating discussions and lots of laughter too.
Dear Ones as we come to a close, I invite you to see Bachos today in our social world. There are many who view lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, trans people, and those in the process of having their gender surgically altered as outsiders from the church and society at large. I hope you can see now why this scripture is celebrated by the LGBTQ Plus community and their allies as it affirms their place in church history and the world. Finally, as Womanist theologian Wil Gafney concurs, “If we understand eunuchs to be social and sexual outsiders whether born or made, then God chose to birth the faithful African Church though a queer person’s body.” And the church says, Amen.
Let us leave today remembering this part of the story. Let us affirm everyone’s right to be who they are and let us be inspired to get into as many chariots as we can and put a stick in the wheels of those chariots that do not see or affirm God’s rainbow people. Let us celebrate with pride the diversity of God’s creation. Amen.
Tobias Haller, Ethiopian Eunuch