Celebrant: Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself?
People: I will, with
God's help.
God's help.
Celebrant: Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?
People: I will, with
People: I will, with
God's help.
Thus
ends the questions to parents, godparents, and the gathered community
during a baptismal service in the Episcopal Church, and thus begins the
profound work that we all are invited into as we enter the community of
Christ at baptism.
These are hard concepts to live into! Serve Christ in all persons? Respect the dignity of every
human being? What happened to picking and choosing? What about those
whom we consider worthy or unworthy? There doesn't seem to be much
wiggle room for compartmentalizing people or distinguishing between
acceptable and unacceptable.
Everybody means everybody!
Thus,
we are continually reminded (every time we witness a baptism and every
time we review this rite) that we cannot avoid the difficult call that
is central to Christianity: seeing Christ in the "other" and respecting
the dignity of every human being. And why? Because that is what Jesus would do. No. Better yet, that is what Jesus has done and continues to do.
It
is with this background that I write about President Obama's decision
to support marriage equality. I do this recognizing that there exist
naysayers regarding this type of discussion everywhere. Those who will
say that politics shouldn't be discussed in the Church. Those who will
say that the President is driven by the basest of motives: political
calculation. Those who will interpret this shift in the marriage
equality debate as negative or positive based solely on their view of
the current President.
I would like to step back from such knee jerk responses and inquire what it might mean that this political figure has come out where he has on this issue, especially in this way.
If
you read the link in the "Going Deeper" section, you will read, in
part, about Obama's Christian faith informing his change of heart. Far
from being support for this President, I am intrigued by the use of
Christ and the Golden Rule as a way to enter into a difficult social
issue of our time. Of course, I believe--whether politically motivated
or not--that the President gets it right on marriage equality, precisely
because his change of heart aligns with what we espouse in the
baptismal covenant: seeing Christ in the "other" and respecting the
dignity of every human being. (Indeed, the leadership of this parish is
on record as seeking to change the restrictions on priests in our
Diocese that do not allow them to officiate at same sex marriages, and
there is a committed group that, over time, has sought to influence the
discussion of the Episcopal Church at large.)
To those who say that Christianity is not to be political, I would say that Christianity hopefully is not partisanly political. However, the Greek root of our politics directly references citizens, people, human beings.
Thus, at its core, Christianity is very political, because Jesus was
very concerned about people and the welfare of humanity. Of course,
Christianity is not political in the present day pejorative sense that
many people hold for politics and politicians. Nevertheless, to read
the gospel narratives about Jesus, one cannot be easily separate faith
and life. Like it or not, the two are intertwined.
The
refreshing argument put forward by the President regarding marriage
equality is that the rhetoric of vituperative and virulent Christian
conservatives is called out for the xenophobic and un-Christian
expression that it is. Of course, Jesus had nothing to say about
marriage equality. The idea, within his culture, would have been
anachronistic. However, Jesus does have a great deal to say about
welcoming the "other", caring for those marginalized, recognizing the
humanity of all people, and affirming-in-ways-that-transcend-rules the
love and commitment that exists between and among people. And those who
clamor for "saving marriage" by refusing to recognize the love and
commitment of others need to ponder the breadth of Jesus' ministry and the baptismal covenant that is at the heart of our life together.
I
don't know that if those who oppose marriage equality were to do this
anything would change. I like to believe that were they to reflect upon
such exhortations of seeking Christ in the "other" and respecting the
humanity of all, the fear that drives so much of their efforts might
melt away and the face of Christ might emerge upon the very individuals
they seek to marginalize. Lord knows, that as I write this, I am aware
that I, too, am called to see Christ in the face of the one that I
believe to be driven by fear. There is no easy out in our tradition.
As I mentioned at the outset, these are hard concepts to live into. Though if we trust that God does call us to such a life, we have to wrestle with the difficulties.
Indeed, what can we say? God is an equal opportunity challenger of all of us!
Mark
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