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Pride Month Weekly Devotional: Week of June 15, 2021
Introduction Welcome to Lutheran Church of Christ the King’s weekly devotional during June 2021! If this is your first time with us, take a minute to pause and go back to watch or read the previous weeks. I’m Pastor Megan Filer, my pronouns are she/her/hers, and I am part of the LGBTQ+ community. As a Reconciling in Christ congregation, we seek to let all people know they are welcome regardless of race, age, culture, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation. As part of our ongoing commitment to welcome and affirm all people, LCCK is invited during this pride month to learn more about our siblings in the LGBTQ+ community as we continue to set the banquet of grace for all people. History On the 9th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, people gathered to continue in the annual celebration that began in 1970. And in 1978 at a San Francisco pride event, artist Gilbert Baker brought his rainbow flag. At the time, the flag was 8 colors, but due to production logistics, now has 6, with each color representing a part of life. Red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, blue for art, and violet for spirit. The pride flag, the rainbow, has become a symbol for LGBTQ+ folx and has become a symbol of support for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Because the many colors reflect the diversity of all people and all it represents, the rainbow has become a symbol of pride in just authentically and honestly existing in the world today. Now there are dozens of different pride flags that represent the different identities that make up the LGBTQ+ community, and since 2018 the design by Daniel Quasar known as the “Progress Pride” flag has been popularized as we raise up people of color and people who are transgender in this community as well. And for us as Christians, the rainbow holds another meaning, one ancient and filled with God’s promise and hope for all. Scripture God’s Promise in the Rainbow (Genesis 8:20 – 9:17 from the Inclusive Bible Translation)
5At the same time, I will demand an accounting from your own lives, your own blood: from every animal I will demand it, and from every member of the human race in regard to one another, I will demand an accounting of human life. 6If anyone sheds the blood of another, by others will their blood be shed; for in the image of God has the human race been created. 7Now go, bear fruit and be many – abound on the earth and increase your numbers!” 8God then said to Noah and his family, 9“I hereby establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you, 10and with every living creature that is with you – birds, cattle, and the earth’s wildlife – everything that came out of the ark, everything that lives on the earth. 11I hereby establish my covenant with you: All life will never again be swept away by the waters of the flood; never again will a flood destroy all the earth.” 12God said, “Here is the sign of the covenant between me and you and every living creature for ageless generations: 13I set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14When I bring clouds over the earth, my rainbow will appear in the clouds. 15Then I will remember the covenant that is between me and you and every kind of living creature, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. 16Whenever my rainbow appears in the clouds I will see it, and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature on the earth. 17God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all living things on the earth.” Story I’ve muted the colors for my portions of today’s video devotional today, at least as we begin, because something that we sometimes forget as we continue in our commitment to welcome all, is the physical, spiritual, and emotional danger for LGBTQ+ people, the reality that not everyone is safe to wear their rainbows proudly, to exist fully as themselves proudly. No one person from any community can speak to the breadth of varied experiences or opinions, but I’d like to share a bit of mine with you today. For me, I love rainbows, but seeing a rainbow shirt at Target or a pride balloon at the grocery store aren’t huge excitements for me. They’re nice, and they’re just sources of excitement for my daughter, Hadley, who loves all things unicorns and rainbows. But I know that for those who struggle with accepting the existence of LGBTQ+ people as beloved children of God, the onslaught of rainbows from stores, television, and wherever they look can cause people to lash out - often against people from the queer community. Hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community happen year round, but they often spike during pride month. And so I’m aware of the backlash many from my community face during this month. I’m aware of the physical danger that can occur for simply existing for so many from the LGBTQ+ community. But I also love rainbows. So for me, seeing rainbow everywhere I go is a helpful reminder that I am not alone. And I will say, all the rainbows do make me smile, even if it’s a blatant cash grab by some companies. And there is a difference in seeing a rainbow flag on a church’s website, outside and/or inside their building. That’s something else entirely. Because the flag in those spaces is not just about being seen or supported, it’s about safety. It means that church is a place where I am safer to walk in the doors than in many other religious spaces. Like, just physically and emotionally safer – which may be a surprise if walking into a church building has never felt like much of a risk for you. But not only does that rainbow mean I am more likely to be safer, it also means that there is at least someone in that church who believes that I am included in the whole human race God talks about in our reading from Genesis today. That not only am I included in humanity, but I’m included in God’s promises to all of humanity, to all the earth. I once had lunch with a colleague who serves in a church that I would feel less safe in on a Sunday morning…if you catch my drift. It was shortly after I publicly came out, and I had a feeling he would want to talk about me being bisexual and what that means – and I was right. But to my glad surprise, it wasn’t a conversation of judgment or condemnation, but simply caring curiosity. He shared with me something he had found in his studies on Genesis 8 and 9, which stays with me whenever I read or hear these verses. In his reading, he shared that although the word in Hebrew used for flood in Genesis 8 and 9 is specific to Noah’s flood (the Greek translation is the word we derive “cataclysm” from) just before this in Genesis 7 the writer describes the destruction of the flood as the waters overwhelming everything around it. Sometimes, when I’m feeling overwhelmed with being told I’m brave for wearing my rainbow shirts, for sharing my story, for walking into spaces that may or may not be safe for me to do so, when I hear from others that I am not worthy of God’s love or call…I look for rainbows around me. Rainbows in the sky, on a storefront, in a church – rainbows that remind me of God’s promise to Noah, to his family, to all his descendants, to all the divine-image formed human race, to me - we will not be overwhelmed to the point of destruction again. Even in the face of a cataclysmic flood – God still brings hope. And so whenever I see the rainbow flag, made up of life, healing, sun, nature, art, and spirit, I think of the excited words Hadley says to me whenever it rains, whenever I feel overwhelmed: “If there’s rain, then there will be sun, and then – RAINBOWS!” Prayer Let us pray, God we give you thanks for the promises you give to us, in the waters of our baptism, and in the receding waters of the flood, in water Lord your promises of life connect us with you. As we move about our lives this week Lord, may your promises to us and our responsibility to one another guide us, and may we see the colors of your rainbows and your divine image in all the human race, and in ourselves. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen. Continued Reading: Today’s sources: Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Gay Pride." Encyclopedia Britannica.https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gay-Pride. Priests for Equality (Organization). 2007. The inclusive Bible: the first egalitarian translation. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. Pride Flags 101: Everything You've Ever Wanted to Know About Gay, Trans, and Other Pride Flags. By Matthew Baume. https://www.them.us/story/pride-flags-101 Christian LGBTQ Author’s Story: “Rainbow Theology: Bridging Race, Sexuality, and Spirit” 2013. By Patrick S. Cheng Reconciling in Christ & Reconciling Works reconcilingworks.org
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