| p1. April 1-8 Covenant:
April 1. No one, when tempted, should say, �I am being tempted by God�, for God cannot be tempted by evil and� tempts no one (James 1:13). In the Lord�s Prayer, we pray for God to �lead us from temptation,� but we also pray for God to �deliver us from evil,� because a temptation-free life is not possible. In today�s verse from James, the writer asserts that we are tempted by our own desire, which leads to sin. Our most tempting desire may be to live without suffering. For example, there is nothing good or godly about AIDS. But AIDS does challenge us, calling forth God-like compassion. Compassion means �to suffer with.� We fail the test of life if we give in to our desire to avoid suffering and withhold love and care. April 2. �God be merciful to me, a sinner (Luke 18:13)!� Being Gay is not a sin, but we are sinners. We are called �unrepentant� if we are well-adjusted and self-affirming. But we are repentant: of closets, of duplicity, of complicity with the oppression of other lesbians and gay men, and of a heretical belief that we could be beyond God�s creativity and grace. And we are still sinners. It�s just that our sexuality needs no repentance. There may be instances of how we reach out to another sexually (or fail to reach out) that we confess as sin. And there may be instances of how we affirm (or fail to affirm) our sexuality that are inappropriate. God, be merciful to me, a sinner! April 3. �O Lord! Is not this what I said while I was still in my own country?... I know that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.� I wonder how eager we will be to see God forgive those who have battered and bruised us. Gracious and merciful God, grant us grace to cope with it. April 4. Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, rend your hearts and your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing (Joel 2:12-13). God is our first and current lover. Our ideal lover is what God offers to be: one who wants us, wants our love, forgives our turning away, and loves us steadfastly. Romantic love, eat your heart out: you can�t ever quite match this. God loves us as no human lover could. Touch us, Holy Lover, through Jesus, and inspire us to touch others with the same healing and delight. April 5. Many, even of the authorities, believed in Jesus. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God (John 12:42-43). The resistance to lesbians and gay men in both church and culture is not simply because religious conservatives oppose us. It is because many of those who support us are not willing to risk their reputations in speaking out. Most people are silent. It takes a lot to get a good person to act (Kevin Jennings). Give power and courage to those who believe in us to come out of their closets. April 6. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed (2 Corinthians 4:8). The church has forgotten its early persecution. Or maybe the church acts it out, just as abused children frequently abuse their own children. The fierce anger toward the church within our community cannot be adequately explained unless we understand it as the result of the church, in turn abusing its own children. Father and mother God, heal the child within us, afflicted, but not crushed; persecuted, but not forsaken by you. April 7. We also boast in our suffering, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God�s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given us (Romans 5:3). Suffering has shaped the characters of many of us in positive ways. At the same time, we recognize that suffering has destroyed others of us through suicide, abuse, addiction, mental illness, or denial. Better to consider what suffering has done for us, or rather, how suffering has been transformed into our stamina, character, and hope. Standing alone, we developed inner resources to cope with the world. When everyone else seemed to hate us, many of us opened up to God�s love all the more. Abandoned by the church, we �free lanced� our spirituality and the Spirit transformed our suffering into the hope that we would move beyond our pain and prevent suffering for others. April 8. I consider that the suffering of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us (Romans 8:18). The experience of risking our lives to save them by coming out of the closet offers us a power that is unique. Coming out was not dramatic for all, but for the rest, the experience keeps us mindful that �the suffering of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us.� God of all times and destinations, in the suffering of our present, keep us mindful of the glories of your future. |
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