Rogue Reverend

Heckling for Jesus

I went running in New Orleans on December 17, along the riverfront right at the French Quarter. It was 5:00 on a Friday afternoon, and I was only blocks away from Bourbon Street. Maybe I should have known better. As I ran down this beautiful brick boardwalk, people starting heckling me. Yes! Heckling!

They yelled things like, “What are you running from?” and “What are you afraid of?” My favorite, though, was, “You can’t run from your problems!” This one tripped me up so much (literally) that I fell right there on the bricks.

This morning I’ve been thinking about a hate letter I received from an anti-LGBTQ Christian. He wrote, “You put your soul in danger of eternal damnation for welcoming unrepentant homosexuals into God’s house. You blaspheme the Name of God.”

Then I read about the Alabama immigration law and its effect on churches. This community of believers are complacent, at best, about the loss of their Christian brothers and sisters who are in the United States illegally. The church supports the new immigration law, and seems to only be worried about their own liability. It’s a sort of “we’re glad to have you in our church as long as you don’t get us in trouble” take on Christianity.

Compassion, hell. It seems that everybody has to have somebody to hate.

My prayer for the morning has been:

Loving and compassionate God, I know there is indifference in my heart, please replace it with compassion. I know there is prejudice in my being, please root it out. I know there is cruelty, please heal me so that I may love others better. Amen.

The Absence of Graces

I awoke with the idea this morning that some days are full of grace, and some days have none. And while I know perfectly well when there are no graces, I have a hard time seeing the graces when they are present. Oh, and when I say grace? I mean those moments when you feel like you are right—right with God, right with family, right with friends and loved ones. And the absence of graces? When you are wrong—wrong with God, wrong with family, wrong with friends and loved ones. You can just be out of step, or you could really feel like you’ve stepped in something.

But even on the days where it seems like there is no grace, I am convinced that there is. You still have God. You still have family and friends and loved ones. It’s just harder to remember…

Today, I hope for the grace to remember.

Managing Christmas Expectations

I was asked this week, “Why is it that it seems like all the bad things happen during the Christmas season?”

That’s one of those questions that pastors get asked a lot. And I have my theories about it, but I really don’t have any answers. But if pressed, I’ll probably say something like, “Well, it’s a time that we do tend to get sick more, because we’re inside so much, and there are cold and flu bugs going around.”

So this week I tried this one: “Well, we just have all these expectations that things are going to go right during Christmas, but really, it’s just another time. We’re only disappointed because of our expectations.”

That seemed to resonate.

Mary, in the Magnificat, gives us a good example of how to manage out expectations.

First, notice that she faces the things that are happening to her with a lot of grace. I mean, come on! Giving birth in a manger? Having God’s baby? Really. If I found out that I was having God’s baby, I wouldn’t be particularly happy. I’m not even sure that I would say yes.

Second, there is a sense of humility about Mary’s response, “for God has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.” Try to picture her as a whole person, not just the mother of Jesus, and wonder, do you know anyone who is this humble? Perhaps this humility is not a character trait, but is rather a response to God’s choosing her.

Third, notice that Mary is grateful for what she has. “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.”

Fourth, she focuses not just on her own well-being, but on the well-being of those around her. “He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble. He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.”

Yes, Mary expects great things. But they include hardship. Having the Christ in Christmas doesn’t ensure that anything is going to go great. But it does ensure that God is going to be in it—as God always is—prodding us on to be our best, to love others, to serve others. And reminding us, over and over of God’s great love for us.

It’s easy to be the petulant children, angry about whatever is ruining our Christmas. But lets remember Mary, whose unplanned pregnancy, fear of Herod, judgment from others, near loss of her spouse, all these things could have caused her to curse, rather than praise. They could have caused her to complain, rather than celebrate. They could have cause her to cry, rather than be grateful.

Don’t Believe the Hype

When I was in high school, I was afraid of Russians. I had seen Red Dawn. I knew about the Cold War. I knew that Reagan had warned us, even the joke he told as he was doing a mic check, “My fellow Americans. I’m pleased to announce that I’ve signed legislation outlawing the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in five minutes.”

And although I had heard of it, I wasn’t afraid of AIDS. Yes, I knew that there were hundreds of people dying from it. Yes, I knew that it was contagious. But I was neither a homosexual nor a hemophiliac, so I thought I was safe. I do remember wondering what HIV was, and begin perplexed about how it began as a disease. I was taking biology at the time, so understanding the makeup of the disease was fascinating to me. But I didn’t have an opinion about the supposed justness of the disorder. I just thought that the people yelling about it being a gay disease were jerks.

I was certainly more afraid of Russians than I was of AIDS.

Now, 30 years later, I find that I’m not afraid of either Russians or AIDS. I know some lovely Russian people. They have their own economic woes. And, what do you know? They love their children, too. I also know some lovely people with HIV and AIDS. They, too, have their own woes. But AIDS doesn’t have to be a killer anymore. Now you can live with it, rather than die from it. Life with HIV and AIDS is about managing your health.

But wait. Is it true that HIV and AIDS are manageable? Or is that the same hype that we faced with Russia?

It is true that HIV and AIDS are manageable with medication and healthcare. I know people who have been diagnosed with HIV for 20+ years. Praise be. But they have access to medication and healthcare. And they are willing and able to wade through the bureaucracy that (even in this country!) it takes to have good healthcare.

But what about the ones who can’t do that? What about the individuals who don’t have a doctor down the street? What about those for whom the drugs aren’t available, and even if they were, are too expensive? What about the individuals where medical care is available but who have too many other issues to wade through to take a regular regimen of pills each day?

The CDC would have you believe the hype: that HIV and AIDS are under control. But it’s just hype. It’s as important as ever that there be access to medical care, access to drugs, and especially, access to HIV prevention services. It’s important for us to not believe the hype.

You can prevent HIV. Here’s how:

• Use condoms, consistently and correctly, every time you have sex.
• Do not share needles for intravenous drug use.
• Limit the number of sex partners you have.
• Get tested regularly and make sure your partners are tested, too.

You can help others prevent HIV, too. Encourage your local and state governments to provide needle exchange services and condoms through the local health department. Give out condoms on your own! Donate money to the International Women’s Health Coalition and Society for Women and AIDS in Africa-Cameroon (SWAAC). You can be the difference, if only you don’t believe the hype.