It’s December 26 as I write. The banner headline of the Philippine Daily Inquirer announces the pope’s Christmas message: Pope prays: Break rods of oppressors. The sub headline is: Resist persecution, Christians urged.
On the surface, the pope’s message sounds beautiful, and it is – as far as it goes. He actually is targeting the oppressors in Iraq and china, and could well include Saudi Arabia and wherever Moslem extremists blow up Christian churches on Christmas and around the year. (One such bombing in our own country was reported in the same edition.)
“Help us to recognize your face in others who need our assistance,” the pope prays, “in those who are suffering or forsaken, in all people, and help us to live together with you as brothers and sisters, so as to become one family.” And surely thatg is our prayer, too.
But, Holy Father, may I humbl;y ask you to see the limitations of your prayer as shown in your action s and policies. Your own LGBT people are suffering. Your own LGBT people are forsaken by you and your church. Please don’t tell me you love the sinner, but hate the sin.
If you really want to see the face of God in all people, help us to live together as brothers and sisters. Please stop trying to set up barriers between us and our loving God. We want to be one family, but we are indeed excluded.
Jesus never showed prejudice once in his whole life, but you, your bishops and your church show prejudice in every statement, in every action against God’s beloved L:GBT people, who by birth were supposed to be your beloved people, but we have been rejected from the family.
You pray for an end to oppression. But what about the oppression from within?
You say, “Resist persecution.” Holy father, when I preach sex-positive theology, I am urging God’s beloved LGBT people to ‘resist Persecution’
When your emissary from the Vatican spoke to me a few years ago, he looked at me and said, “You are hard on the church.” Holy Father, I told him; "Monsignor, I have nothing but respect and love for the church, the church of my grandmother, the church of my parents, the church where I was born, baptized and ordained. It is not the church I denounce, ever, in any way. It is persecution."
What your emissary heard me doing was heeding your advice to Christians to “resist persecution.” It is doing what you urged Christians to do in your Easter message. It is “resisting persecution.” I love the Mass and the sacraments. I resist the persecution which comes from ostracizing and causing suffering for LGBT people who love god, who love their neighbor, and who yearn to “become one family,” as you say.
Holy Father, we all want the Moslem extremists to stop blowing up Christians. One of my very good friends, a good nun had her legs blown off while praying in the cathedral of Jakarta on Christmas Eve a few years ago. We all find that kind of persecution abominable. But Holy father, try to see that your unbiblical NO NO NO rules are also abominable, especially when you condemn the love we have for one another.
Well, what can we do?
We all want to respect the Truth, know the truth. We learn how to do that from our conscience. Avoid sin, and avoid persecution. 68% of Filipinos have done that with regard to condoms. 68% of Filipinos have formed their conscience on the RH Bill which would give Filipinos in civil society some rights about condoms.
But in the same newspaper today, a Catholic bishop is still persecuting Filipinos about the Reproductive Health Bill.
What can we do? We can keep hope alive. We can see God’s Truth prevailing. We can even now, envision 2011 with more hope, more people breaking free from the bondage of persecution. 2011 will see more and more people awakening ti the Truth of Sex-Positive Theology. 68% have a glimpse of it. More will see the whole Truth.
God’s truth is eternal;. It is not like “Yesterday all condoms were sin; today condoms are not sin for male prostitutes.”
The problem with that is, it does not open the eyes to the eternal Truth. It does not see the Light of the World who never showed prejudice and never declared condoms a sin.
Oh my! We all know that. Let’s go further. Let’s make 2011 SPT year.
Let’s get more and more of our friends to join us in the Sex Positive Theology Seminar It’s all by email. (saintaelred@gmsil. com) No charge. No travel. No weekend away from home. Just be comfortable wherever your computer is. Join the battle against persecution. Join the march in celebration of God’s Truth.
Jesus told us He is the Truth.
The Truth will set us free.
2011 will be a year of hope. 2011 will be a better year.
Yes, Holy Father, we will resist persecution.
I join with STRAP, our dear trans gender friends , in their powerful greeting:
“STRAP wishes everyone a Christmas filled with warmth, laughter and hope and a New Year that affirms our dignity, protects our right to self-determination and ensures a good quality of life for all! Happy Holidays!”www.facebook.com/strap.manila
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Christmas is About Justice
On December 20, for the 6th Simbang gabi of 2010, I had the honor of being invited to worship with and bring a message to the faithful Christians of MCC Quezon City, augmented by the good members of Bacardi.
Pastor Ceejay asked me to give a Christmas message on “Justice.”
The traffic is worse than ever this year, but it brings joy to my heart that the people are better than ever.
People ask me why I stay here. It’s not the climate. It’s not the money. It’s the people. God’s people, God’s beloved LGBT people.
May I share that Christnas message with you as my Christmas Message to you – along with a sincere prayer for you to have a blessed and merry Christmas and holidays.
Christmas is all about Justice
We are here tonight for one reason
-- and one only –
to honor Our Lord Jesus Christ,
to commemorate
the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
One time someone said to me: What’s the difference?
What’s wrong with being a Moslem?
Or a Jew or an Iglesia ni Christo? They believe good things. What’s wrong with that?
I said, nothing is wrong --
except the same thing
that would be wrong with Christmas with only a Santa Claus. I would miss
my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – no matter how much good
there would be
in those other religions,
the most important person
would be missing.
Why is the birth
of Our Lord Jesus Christ significant?
Why do we observe it every year with so much pomp and ceremony and festivity?
The CBCP (Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines) says that Christ should be the center
of the Christmas celebration –
not Santa Claus or elfs or reindeer or beautiful Christmas trees.
Make Christ the center, they say.
Oo, sige, yann. Right on!
The CBCP hit the nail on the head. Just as a religion
without Christ as the center,
Christmas
without Christ as the center
loses all the luster of its other goodies.
But, why on earth
was Jesus born as one of us,
as a human person
who lived and loved
as we live and love?
Why did he become
A person with
Intellectual, bodily,
spiritual, and emotional characteristics just like we have.
Our Christian faith tells us that Jesus came into this world
to set us free.
To set us free from what?
St. Paul says, to set us free
from sin, death, and the Old Law.
The CBCP says we should
make Christ the center
of our celebration of Christ’s birth.
Ok! Sige! But does that mean
the whole obligation
is servewd by placing a doll baby
in swaddling clothes in a manger instead of a Santa Claus
on a one horse open sleigh?
But what about the real purpose of Jesus becoming one of us,
starting as a baby in swaddling clothes in a manager?
Should we not look
at His purpose?
And that, we said,
was to set us free –
free from sin, death,
and the Old Law?
Would that not be a just and proper celebration of Christmas?
Now just look at what happened two days ago in Washington DC. There was a law for almost 20 years that said gays and lesbians had to stay in the closet
if they wanted to be
in the US military.
The would-be good Christian fundamentalist homophobic bigots wanted to keep that law.
They put heavy pressure
on congress to keep that law.
But two days ago,
justice triumphed
in Washington DC in spite of the so-called
good Christians
who wanted to save the military from the gays and the lesbians. The old “don’t ask don’t tell” law
is gone
(don’t ask if a military person is gay; don’t tell if you are a LGBT military person)
with the signature
of President Obama.
Now which of these is the justice of Jesus Christ who never in his whole life showed prejudice?
The prejudice of the good Christian bigots,
or the justice
of the Congress and president
who finally overturned the law?
Will we ever see such justice
in our country?
Will our congress ever put justice above their fear of the CBCP bishops (who would use their power to get the congress member not elected
the next time around?
What law are we thinking about that screams for justice?
One is the anti-discrimination law, to reduce the discrimination against LGBT people.
Another one is the no-divorce law. Yes, the Philippines sits
as the only country in the world besides the island of Malta
which does not give its citizens
the freedom of divorce.
Is that justice?
200+ nations see it
as a human right.
One country’s bishops block it.
So far, justice has taken
a back seat to fear of the bishops.
The church which says
make Jesus the center of Christmas –
is the same church which completely violates
the justice of Jesus,
the same church which deprives its citizens decade after decade, from the days of Damaso
to the present,
deprives its citizens
of their God-given rights to human life and dignity,
as that church just clings
to their Old Laws
of NO NO NO: no masturbation, no sex except
in marriage to make a baby,
no sex ever in your whole life, never in any way,
never in any place,
never in any position
or circumstance –
if you are gay or lesbian.
The church who says keep Christ in Christmas,
instead of living and teaching
by the teachings
and example of Jesus,
instead of freeing us
from sin and death,
imposes sin
and condemns us to death
in the fires of hell.
They would declare our love sin. What’s the justice in that?
They would declare
that divorce is sin
and pressure Congress
never to allow any Filipino – Christian, Moslem , or atheist – the right to choose divorce
in their circumstances of life.
Is that justice?
They would impose the sentence of death in hell
for the natural harmless pleasure
of masturbation.
Is that justice?
They would insist that Catholic parents of many children with no ulam, no baon,
stick to that church’s demand
of NO CONDOMS.
Is that justice?
Is that common sense?
They would likewise resist reproductive health
with the possibility of condoms
for all Filipinos.
Is that the justice of Jesus?
Is that why Jesus was born
to live and love as we live and love?
Jesus came to Bethlehem
to set us free,
Jesus said
the truth will set you free.
Jesus said, I am the truth.
My friends, The life and total lack of prejudice in the life of Jesus gives us a glimpse of the Truth. The Truth that Jesus is
sets us free
from the sin declared by the CBCP,
from the sentence of death, declared by the CBCP,
from the Old Laws
declared by the CBCP.
These old laws do not give us
the freedom that Jesus brought us. They bring slavery,
moral slavery to a list of
sexual NO No No’s
including No Condoms,
No divorce, and no same sex love.
Yes, let’s put Christ in Christmas; let’s put Christ
in the center of Christmas;
let’s put Jesus and His Truth
in the center of our lives.
Let us honor Christ at Christmas; let us honor the Christ
who is the Truth.
And the truth is
that we are
God’s beloved LGBT children
and our God sets us free to love.
But my dear friends,
we cannot just demand
that the CBCP do justice
to the message
and mission of Jesus Christ.
Is that enough?
Where is our own loyalty to the message and mission
of Jesus Christ?
We say,
THEY should allow us to love.
Do we love,
or do we seek
only our own pleasure?
Jesus Christ came to Bethlehem, yes, but he came
and lived and loved and died –
not for himself – but for others, for us, his friends.
Is the other a priority for you,
for me?
Do we want sex
just for our own pleasure?
Do we treat our partner
as a body we have used for our fun, or do we treat our partner
as a person whom we have loved?
And do I always want
to WIN every argument?
Do I always in a relationship want to get my own way?
Do I always plot –
how can I get what I want?
OR do I follow
the life and example of Jesus whom we see as one who came
not to be loved, not to be served, but to love and to serve?
When I have a disagreement with my loved one,
do I ponder how to win,
or do I do it the Jesus way,
and ponder
“WHAT CAN I DO
for my LOVED ONE?
What can I DO
TO MAKE
MY LOVED ONE HAPPY?
How can I be like Jesus who came to set us free
from selfishness and sin?
Yes, we are here to honor Jesus, to commemorate his birth among us –
Not just with a doll baby in swaddling clothes in a crib, but with our love and justice. Maybe justice is the real meaning of “Peace on earth,
good will to all.”
God bless us all.
Pastor Ceejay asked me to give a Christmas message on “Justice.”
The traffic is worse than ever this year, but it brings joy to my heart that the people are better than ever.
People ask me why I stay here. It’s not the climate. It’s not the money. It’s the people. God’s people, God’s beloved LGBT people.
May I share that Christnas message with you as my Christmas Message to you – along with a sincere prayer for you to have a blessed and merry Christmas and holidays.
Christmas is all about Justice
We are here tonight for one reason
-- and one only –
to honor Our Lord Jesus Christ,
to commemorate
the birth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
One time someone said to me: What’s the difference?
What’s wrong with being a Moslem?
Or a Jew or an Iglesia ni Christo? They believe good things. What’s wrong with that?
I said, nothing is wrong --
except the same thing
that would be wrong with Christmas with only a Santa Claus. I would miss
my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ – no matter how much good
there would be
in those other religions,
the most important person
would be missing.
Why is the birth
of Our Lord Jesus Christ significant?
Why do we observe it every year with so much pomp and ceremony and festivity?
The CBCP (Catholic Bishop Conference of the Philippines) says that Christ should be the center
of the Christmas celebration –
not Santa Claus or elfs or reindeer or beautiful Christmas trees.
Make Christ the center, they say.
Oo, sige, yann. Right on!
The CBCP hit the nail on the head. Just as a religion
without Christ as the center,
Christmas
without Christ as the center
loses all the luster of its other goodies.
But, why on earth
was Jesus born as one of us,
as a human person
who lived and loved
as we live and love?
Why did he become
A person with
Intellectual, bodily,
spiritual, and emotional characteristics just like we have.
Our Christian faith tells us that Jesus came into this world
to set us free.
To set us free from what?
St. Paul says, to set us free
from sin, death, and the Old Law.
The CBCP says we should
make Christ the center
of our celebration of Christ’s birth.
Ok! Sige! But does that mean
the whole obligation
is servewd by placing a doll baby
in swaddling clothes in a manger instead of a Santa Claus
on a one horse open sleigh?
But what about the real purpose of Jesus becoming one of us,
starting as a baby in swaddling clothes in a manager?
Should we not look
at His purpose?
And that, we said,
was to set us free –
free from sin, death,
and the Old Law?
Would that not be a just and proper celebration of Christmas?
Now just look at what happened two days ago in Washington DC. There was a law for almost 20 years that said gays and lesbians had to stay in the closet
if they wanted to be
in the US military.
The would-be good Christian fundamentalist homophobic bigots wanted to keep that law.
They put heavy pressure
on congress to keep that law.
But two days ago,
justice triumphed
in Washington DC in spite of the so-called
good Christians
who wanted to save the military from the gays and the lesbians. The old “don’t ask don’t tell” law
is gone
(don’t ask if a military person is gay; don’t tell if you are a LGBT military person)
with the signature
of President Obama.
Now which of these is the justice of Jesus Christ who never in his whole life showed prejudice?
The prejudice of the good Christian bigots,
or the justice
of the Congress and president
who finally overturned the law?
Will we ever see such justice
in our country?
Will our congress ever put justice above their fear of the CBCP bishops (who would use their power to get the congress member not elected
the next time around?
What law are we thinking about that screams for justice?
One is the anti-discrimination law, to reduce the discrimination against LGBT people.
Another one is the no-divorce law. Yes, the Philippines sits
as the only country in the world besides the island of Malta
which does not give its citizens
the freedom of divorce.
Is that justice?
200+ nations see it
as a human right.
One country’s bishops block it.
So far, justice has taken
a back seat to fear of the bishops.
The church which says
make Jesus the center of Christmas –
is the same church which completely violates
the justice of Jesus,
the same church which deprives its citizens decade after decade, from the days of Damaso
to the present,
deprives its citizens
of their God-given rights to human life and dignity,
as that church just clings
to their Old Laws
of NO NO NO: no masturbation, no sex except
in marriage to make a baby,
no sex ever in your whole life, never in any way,
never in any place,
never in any position
or circumstance –
if you are gay or lesbian.
The church who says keep Christ in Christmas,
instead of living and teaching
by the teachings
and example of Jesus,
instead of freeing us
from sin and death,
imposes sin
and condemns us to death
in the fires of hell.
They would declare our love sin. What’s the justice in that?
They would declare
that divorce is sin
and pressure Congress
never to allow any Filipino – Christian, Moslem , or atheist – the right to choose divorce
in their circumstances of life.
Is that justice?
They would impose the sentence of death in hell
for the natural harmless pleasure
of masturbation.
Is that justice?
They would insist that Catholic parents of many children with no ulam, no baon,
stick to that church’s demand
of NO CONDOMS.
Is that justice?
Is that common sense?
They would likewise resist reproductive health
with the possibility of condoms
for all Filipinos.
Is that the justice of Jesus?
Is that why Jesus was born
to live and love as we live and love?
Jesus came to Bethlehem
to set us free,
Jesus said
the truth will set you free.
Jesus said, I am the truth.
My friends, The life and total lack of prejudice in the life of Jesus gives us a glimpse of the Truth. The Truth that Jesus is
sets us free
from the sin declared by the CBCP,
from the sentence of death, declared by the CBCP,
from the Old Laws
declared by the CBCP.
These old laws do not give us
the freedom that Jesus brought us. They bring slavery,
moral slavery to a list of
sexual NO No No’s
including No Condoms,
No divorce, and no same sex love.
Yes, let’s put Christ in Christmas; let’s put Christ
in the center of Christmas;
let’s put Jesus and His Truth
in the center of our lives.
Let us honor Christ at Christmas; let us honor the Christ
who is the Truth.
And the truth is
that we are
God’s beloved LGBT children
and our God sets us free to love.
But my dear friends,
we cannot just demand
that the CBCP do justice
to the message
and mission of Jesus Christ.
Is that enough?
Where is our own loyalty to the message and mission
of Jesus Christ?
We say,
THEY should allow us to love.
Do we love,
or do we seek
only our own pleasure?
Jesus Christ came to Bethlehem, yes, but he came
and lived and loved and died –
not for himself – but for others, for us, his friends.
Is the other a priority for you,
for me?
Do we want sex
just for our own pleasure?
Do we treat our partner
as a body we have used for our fun, or do we treat our partner
as a person whom we have loved?
And do I always want
to WIN every argument?
Do I always in a relationship want to get my own way?
Do I always plot –
how can I get what I want?
OR do I follow
the life and example of Jesus whom we see as one who came
not to be loved, not to be served, but to love and to serve?
When I have a disagreement with my loved one,
do I ponder how to win,
or do I do it the Jesus way,
and ponder
“WHAT CAN I DO
for my LOVED ONE?
What can I DO
TO MAKE
MY LOVED ONE HAPPY?
How can I be like Jesus who came to set us free
from selfishness and sin?
Yes, we are here to honor Jesus, to commemorate his birth among us –
Not just with a doll baby in swaddling clothes in a crib, but with our love and justice. Maybe justice is the real meaning of “Peace on earth,
good will to all.”
God bless us all.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
LGBT People Are Spiritual Too
Fr. Richard R. Mickley, C.D.O.S., Ph.D.
In the photo above, you see me on the stage, with Pastors Egay, Ceejay, and Myke standing behind me. If you want to see several hundred more photos of the event, go to my Facebook or become my Facebook friend.
It was good to see so many friends at the Pride March. Many thanks to Chard Ng and Mark Vondraye Simbillo for the wonderful photos from their Facebook albums.)
Ten years from now if someone asks me how I celebrated my 82nd birthday, one of the things I will say is that I walked 3.5 kilometers with 5,000 beautiful people. The city of Quezon city has hosted a fabulous [3.5 kilometers long] parade and well-lighted sound stage for this 16th year after the first Gay and Lesbian Pride March in Asia was held right here in Quezon City.
But some gays and lesbians love their God so much that they want to find a solution.
In 1991, Michael Santos of San Juan did care, and did want to find a solution. He wrote a letter which I got, saying, “I have been kicked out of my church for being gay. When is MCC going to come to the Philippines and help people like me to be at peace with God?”
I left my job as pastor of a thriving MCC LGBT church in New Zealand. I left my salary, my car, my big house, my friends. I came here where I did not know one person.
I began to meet people who told me, “There is not one person helping gay and lesbian Christians in this country. There is no one speaking out publicly to tell them they are OK.”
I set up the first openly gay and lesbian organization in the country, Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), and began to preach the message in church and on television and through the newspapers and magazines – that God loves Gay and lesbian people unconditionally.
Then they asked, “If that is true, why can’t we have weddings like everybody else can?” So I started having weddings for same-sex couples. Now there are three pastors also offering Holy Unions.
Then I had a debate on TV with a popular Catholic bishop, and he said the Bible condemns gay and lesbian love-making. I told him there is not one word, one verse, or one story in the entire Bible which condemns our love. Then I developed a four-hour seminar to prove that the Bible does not condemn our love.
One day a lesbian said to me, “My church says that the Bible does not like women who love women.” I told her, “My dear, that is not true. One whole book of the Bible is about the love story of two women, Ruth and Naomi, the book of Ruth.”
Her gay friend was standing beside her and he asked, “But what about men loving men?” I told him there are some beautiful stories about men who loved men in the Bible. The great King David, who wrote the prayer book of Jesus, after he killed the giant Goliath, fell in love with Jonathan, the son of King Saul, and their beautiful love story is told in the Bible.
And, yes, even Jesus had a lover. Eight times the Bible tells us that there was one special one who was called the beloved of Jesus, the beloved disciple who was allowed to cuddle with Jesus, lie with his head on the heart of Jesus. That’s not the Da Vinci Code; that’s not a novel or fiction; that’s the Bible. And who did Jesus turn his mother over to when he was dying on the cross? He gave his mother over to the care of his lover, John, the beloved disciple. Imagine that! So, I told the gay friend of my lesbian friend, “So you see, the Bible is not against same-sex love. It’s the bishops of the church who reject us.”
They teach sex-negative theology. In contrast, I have developed three courses in Sex-Positive Theology. They deal in detail with all these things about spirituality and sexuality. They are available free of charge by email (saintaelred@gmail.com)
And you know what? The Filipino people are beginning to realize that what the bishops say about these matters is not necessarily what God says about these issues.
Today 85% of Filipinos may be Catholic, but 69% of them disagree with their bishops. 69% favor the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.
Of course we know that morality is not determined by the majority. We also know that it’s true that 69%, at least, disagree with the NO, NO, NO teachings of the bishops.
Then people kept on talking to me. “I went to confession,” the gay guy said. “The priest got real mad at me when I told him I masturbated.”
Then another gay guy, his friend, said, “That’s nothing. You should have heard what the priest said when I told him I was having sex with my boy friend.”
Everywhere I went I heard stories like that. But in church and out of church I told them that in MCC, we know that LGBT people can be Christian. And thousands are.
The Rev. Troy Perry brought that message to the world when he founded MCC in 1968, a year before the Stonewall Riots. And I brought MCC and that message to the Philippines in 1991.
The church still says NO, NO, NO. But thank goodness the pope now permits male prostitutes to use condoms to prevent AIDS. Praise the Lord! That means male prostitutes are OK. If you are a call boy, rejoice, the pope says you are OK.
Yesterday my call boy friend asked me, “What about all those condom sins I committed before the pope said it was OK? Were they sins?”
I answered, “My dear, they were not sins in the first place. It’s just that the church is very slow in catching up with modern science and modern psychology and real people in today’s real world.”
Ladies and gentlemen, there is only one Truth. God’s truth — and the truth is that God loves you.
In 1994 when MCC and Pro Gay with Oscar Atadero co-sponsored the first Pride March in Asia, somebody said, “We have a human right to our sexuality and a human right to our spirituality.”
I told my friend, “You know, MCC in Makati (Pastor Egay), MCC in QC (Pastor Ceejay), MCC in Baguio (Pastor Myke) [pointing to the three pastors standing behind me on the stage] just keep on telling people all about that. God is love. YES, YES, YES Love your neighbor, love your lover, love God. Love, love, love. It’s all about love.”
Bishop, Catholic Diocese of One Spirit, Philippines
(The following is a slight expansion of the three-minute remarks, requested by the Task Force Pride - TFP, who have been organizers of the Pride March since 1999, and prepared for delivery at the program following the 2010 Pride March, December 4, 2010 on Tomas Morato in Quezon City.
In retrospect this march has been declared the largest in Philippine LGBT Pride March history. The 51 participating organizations are a far cry from the MCC and Pro Gay Sponsors and friends who marched in the rain from EDSA on Quezon Avenue to Quezon Memorial Circle on June 26, 1994.
This year, standing on the well-lit sound stage, I could not see the huge crowd. But when the lights were dimmed for the candle lighting, it seemed like there must have been five thousand out there, united in “One Love,” the theme of this year’s celebration.
In the photo above, you see me on the stage, with Pastors Egay, Ceejay, and Myke standing behind me. If you want to see several hundred more photos of the event, go to my Facebook or become my Facebook friend.
It was good to see so many friends at the Pride March. Many thanks to Chard Ng and Mark Vondraye Simbillo for the wonderful photos from their Facebook albums.)
Ten years from now if someone asks me how I celebrated my 82nd birthday, one of the things I will say is that I walked 3.5 kilometers with 5,000 beautiful people. The city of Quezon city has hosted a fabulous [3.5 kilometers long] parade and well-lighted sound stage for this 16th year after the first Gay and Lesbian Pride March in Asia was held right here in Quezon City.
When I spoke at the first March,
I could never have dreamed that 16 years later so many many of you would be here tonight. I am thrilled. God bless you.
Many gays and lesbians don’t care whether they are kicked out of their church, or not. They are fed up with rejection, with the no, no, no preaching of their church. It’s always NO Masturbation, NO Condoms, NO Same-sex Love.
But some gays and lesbians love their God so much that they want to find a solution.
In 1991, Michael Santos of San Juan did care, and did want to find a solution. He wrote a letter which I got, saying, “I have been kicked out of my church for being gay. When is MCC going to come to the Philippines and help people like me to be at peace with God?”
I left my job as pastor of a thriving MCC LGBT church in New Zealand. I left my salary, my car, my big house, my friends. I came here where I did not know one person.
I began to meet people who told me, “There is not one person helping gay and lesbian Christians in this country. There is no one speaking out publicly to tell them they are OK.”
I set up the first openly gay and lesbian organization in the country, Metropolitan Community Church (MCC), and began to preach the message in church and on television and through the newspapers and magazines – that God loves Gay and lesbian people unconditionally.
Then they asked, “If that is true, why can’t we have weddings like everybody else can?” So I started having weddings for same-sex couples. Now there are three pastors also offering Holy Unions.
Then I had a debate on TV with a popular Catholic bishop, and he said the Bible condemns gay and lesbian love-making. I told him there is not one word, one verse, or one story in the entire Bible which condemns our love. Then I developed a four-hour seminar to prove that the Bible does not condemn our love.
One day a lesbian said to me, “My church says that the Bible does not like women who love women.” I told her, “My dear, that is not true. One whole book of the Bible is about the love story of two women, Ruth and Naomi, the book of Ruth.”
Her gay friend was standing beside her and he asked, “But what about men loving men?” I told him there are some beautiful stories about men who loved men in the Bible. The great King David, who wrote the prayer book of Jesus, after he killed the giant Goliath, fell in love with Jonathan, the son of King Saul, and their beautiful love story is told in the Bible.
And, yes, even Jesus had a lover. Eight times the Bible tells us that there was one special one who was called the beloved of Jesus, the beloved disciple who was allowed to cuddle with Jesus, lie with his head on the heart of Jesus. That’s not the Da Vinci Code; that’s not a novel or fiction; that’s the Bible. And who did Jesus turn his mother over to when he was dying on the cross? He gave his mother over to the care of his lover, John, the beloved disciple. Imagine that! So, I told the gay friend of my lesbian friend, “So you see, the Bible is not against same-sex love. It’s the bishops of the church who reject us.”
They teach sex-negative theology. In contrast, I have developed three courses in Sex-Positive Theology. They deal in detail with all these things about spirituality and sexuality. They are available free of charge by email (saintaelred@gmail.com)
And you know what? The Filipino people are beginning to realize that what the bishops say about these matters is not necessarily what God says about these issues.
Today 85% of Filipinos may be Catholic, but 69% of them disagree with their bishops. 69% favor the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.
Of course we know that morality is not determined by the majority. We also know that it’s true that 69%, at least, disagree with the NO, NO, NO teachings of the bishops.
Then people kept on talking to me. “I went to confession,” the gay guy said. “The priest got real mad at me when I told him I masturbated.”
Then another gay guy, his friend, said, “That’s nothing. You should have heard what the priest said when I told him I was having sex with my boy friend.”
Everywhere I went I heard stories like that. But in church and out of church I told them that in MCC, we know that LGBT people can be Christian. And thousands are.
The Rev. Troy Perry brought that message to the world when he founded MCC in 1968, a year before the Stonewall Riots. And I brought MCC and that message to the Philippines in 1991.
The church still says NO, NO, NO. But thank goodness the pope now permits male prostitutes to use condoms to prevent AIDS. Praise the Lord! That means male prostitutes are OK. If you are a call boy, rejoice, the pope says you are OK.
Yesterday my call boy friend asked me, “What about all those condom sins I committed before the pope said it was OK? Were they sins?”
I answered, “My dear, they were not sins in the first place. It’s just that the church is very slow in catching up with modern science and modern psychology and real people in today’s real world.”
Ladies and gentlemen, there is only one Truth. God’s truth — and the truth is that God loves you.
In 1994 when MCC and Pro Gay with Oscar Atadero co-sponsored the first Pride March in Asia, somebody said, “We have a human right to our sexuality and a human right to our spirituality.”
[In the photo below, taken at the first Pride March in the Philippines and in Asia in 1994, Oscar is shown top left among the MCC participants.]
Today the Pride March, LGBT Pride, includes the right to love God and our lover according to our conscience – Catholic, Protestant, Moslem, atheist or whatever. We have a right not to be denied our spiritual rights.
I told my friend, “You know, MCC in Makati (Pastor Egay), MCC in QC (Pastor Ceejay), MCC in Baguio (Pastor Myke) [pointing to the three pastors standing behind me on the stage] just keep on telling people all about that. God is love. YES, YES, YES Love your neighbor, love your lover, love God. Love, love, love. It’s all about love.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)