for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people

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          Introduction

          Resources for Understanding Homosexuality and the Bible

          Opposing the "Marriage Amendment"

      Links to other Sites Supporting G/L/B/T People

  Introduction

   For over 30 years the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) has actively supported the rights and worth of gays, lesbians, bisexuals, and transgendered people, and its congregations are served by many openly gay and lesbian ministers. Unitarian Universalist ministers perform services of union for same-gender couples, and in 1996 the UUA became the first denomination to go on record in favor of legalizing same-gender marriages.

      The UUA inaugurated the Welcoming Congregation Program in 1989 to help make our congregations more intentionally welcoming for people of all sexual orientations. In 1998 our church voted to apply to become recognized as an official Welcoming Congregation and shortly afterwards we did receive such recognition from the UUA for the series of workshops and programs we had presented over three years leading up to the congregational decision and for our ongoing activities and commitment in support of g/l/b/t people. These activities, most of which are ongoing, include:

·        Using inclusive language and content in worship and ensuring that religious education programs include recognition of the different kinds of families formed by gay and lesbian parents and children.

·        Establishing a chapter of the national organization PFLAG -- Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. This group meets regularly in our church and many of its officers and members come from our congregation.

·        Having many members of our church join PFLAG in marching in Canton's annual "Dairy Princess Parade."

·        Offering our ministers to speak to campus groups at the local colleges on gay rights, particularly on "Homosexuality and the Bible," demonstrating the ambiguity of Biblical passages and the preference for people of faith to draw out an affirming message.

·        Being one of the sponsors of the annual local g/l/b/t film festival.

·        Our Church Council writing a letter to local papers supporting same gender marriages.

·        As an entire congregation, endorsing the Marriage Project resolution in support of same gender marriage rights in New York.

·        Hosting the national traveling photo exhibit, "Love Makes a Family," featuring g/l/b/t families.

·        Being one of the only places in St. Lawrence County where the ministers gladly perform services of union for same gender couples (weddings not recognized by the state).

·        Sponsoring a support group, the Youth Empowerment Alliance (YEA), for gay and questioning area high school youth, monitored by volunteer health care professionals.

      We believe that achieving equal rights in law and affirmation in society for g/l/b/t persons is the major civil rights imperative currently facing our society. We are strongly committed to eradicating this last permitted prejudice. As a religious community that firmly believes in the inherent worth and dignity of every individual, we feel a particular obligation to promote justice for all.

Resources for Understanding Homosexuality and the Bible

We acknowledge that there is a perceived hurdle against accepting g/l/b/t people because of one version of how to interpret a certain, small number of passages from the Bible. We offer the resources below as a way to understand those passages in context and to see that there is a path that can lead people of good will and religious commitment to reach a position of unreserved affirmation of g/l/b/t people.

·        Sermon:  "Abominations and Affirmations"

·        Sermon:  "The Real  Sins of Sodom" 

Opposing the "Marriage Amendment"

            The following materials will help in understanding the importance of achieving marriage equality for same gender couples and of opposing the proposed constitutional amendment to ban same gender marriage.

·        Resources for opposing the Marriage Amendment

·       Letter to editor from Church Council supporting same gender marriage

Links to Other Sites Supporting G/L/B/T People

·        The Youth Empowerment Alliance (YEA), for gay and questioning high school youth in St. Lawrence County, NY, monitored by volunteer health care professionals and sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton.

·        Unitarian Universalist Association, Office of Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian and Transgender Concerns 

·        PFLAG -- Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. The St. Lawrence County chapter of this national support and advocacy organization meets regularly in our church. Call the church office (386-2498) or REACHOUT (265-2422) for meeting information. www.pflag.org

·        Human Rights Campaign, national advocacy for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equal rights.

·        Empire State Pride Agenda, promoting g/l/b/t issues in New York state.

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ABOMINATIONS AND AFFIRMATIONS

Sermon by Anne Marsh and Wade Wheelock

Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton

March 8, 1998

Introduction (Anne)

In March 1994, I gave a sermon in which I spoke of our denomination's 30-year history of fighting discrimination against gays, lesbians, and bisexuals.  But I also said I had experienced in this congregation mostly silence on the issue. I said I could count the number of our openly gay and lesbian members on one hand, and I wondered aloud whether this was indeed a safe and welcoming place.  My diagnosis was that we suffered from "heart-lag."  We understood the issues and affirmed gays and lesbians intellectually, but our hearts, our emotions, our assumptions were lagging behind.  I challenged myself and all of us to grow beyond heart-lag -- to move from tolerance to affirmation to celebration of a diversity of sexual orientations.

It was a scary sermon to give.  Your reactions were mixed, and I had no idea what, if anything, would ever come of it.  Now, just four years later, I am so proud of what you have accomplished that I could burst!  Every one of the issues in that sermon -- and many more besides -- have been brought to the surface and acted upon.  I now need not just both hands, but both feet and then some to count the gay, lesbian, and bisexual people who grace our religious community with their presence. 

            Of course we have not quite arrived at perfection.  The struggle continues, within ourselves, and, especially, in the wider society.  As recent letters to the editor attest, many still use the Bible to justify hatred of and discrimination against gays.  My knee-jerk response is, "Who cares what the Bible says?  How can anyone take this uneven collection of legends, laws, poetry, and theologies literally?"  As Unitarian Universalists, we draw from the wisdom of all the world's religions, including Judaism and Christianity, but our reason, intuition, and experience tell us that not all parts of the Bible are wise.  Indeed, if the entire Bible was dictated by God, then God is clearly confused, for contradictions and falsehoods abound.

            But although we may not worry about taking the Bible literally, we live in a world with people who do.  We cannot remain silent in the face of injustice and ignorance, but we can respond more intelligently if we are knowledgeable about the biblical passages cited against gays.  So today we invite you to explore with us these so-called "proof-texts," four of which are on the cover of your order of service.  These texts and the way they are used make me angry, and I get a sick feeling just seeing them in print in this sanctuary.  But our anger is healthy, because we can use it to push us toward working for a world grounded not in hate and fear, but in the more important biblical themes of justice and compassion.

Hebrew Bible (Wade)

            "Abomination" is such a strong word. It condemns so utterly, in an archaic, musty fashion out of place with our modern sensibilities. Perhaps we've become inured to most forms of human depravity, rendered commonplace topics by the likes of Jerry Springer or Geraldo Rivera. But "abomination" is a term, and with it, a judgement, resurrected to contemporary currency by conservative Christians in their culture wars against homosexuality. The Hebrew Bible, the Christian Old Testament, states baldly in Leviticus (18:22, Revised Standard Version): "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." For many Christians, that's enough. The Bible, God's word, labels homosexuality an "abomination" and that's the end of the discussion.

            For others of us, however, that's only the beginning of the discussion Anne and I will take time this morning to show that it is far from clear what the Bible says about homosexuality, and that many thoughtful and faithful Christians have reached the conclusion that they do not have to regard homosexuality as an abomination. They can, in fact, affirm gay people as they are and thereby be faithful to the greater Biblical ethic:  "Love your neighbor as yourself." Examining this struggle of Christians with their tradition over the issue of homosexuality can be instructive to all of us, as we engage our own legacies of socialization while trying to do what is right.

            But back to abominations. If we were drawing up our own list, what might we put on it? I might include:  a plate of Brussels sprouts, the Welfare Reform bill, a tie-breaker shoot-out in hockey. Others would put down different things -- like leaving hair in the bath tub, or eating meat. The point is, there are some things that arouse in us a visceral, irrational loathing -- from the trivial to the profound. It behooves us to examine these instinctual judgements before elevating them to the status of commandments.

            So let's return to that passage in Leviticus and examine it more closely. Again, it says, "You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination." This seems to let lesbians off the hook, part of the Bible's general disregard of women or relegation of them to subservient status. We now know to be immediately suspicious of any policy-maker who would be so clearly biased against women, and this prohibition does imply a definite inferiority to acting like a woman.  Our suspicions are borne out by looking at some of the other Biblical laws regarding women. For example, polygamy is permitted and regularly practiced in the Old Testament, as is a man having a concubine. A woman having her menstrual period is unclean, we are told, and sex with her during this time is not permitted. Merely touching a menstruating woman renders you impure. Such condescending attitudes toward women do not undo the fact that Leviticus condemns homosexual acts between men. But it begins to show the context for this condemnation -- it is the view of socially dominant men who are obsessed about details of purity.

            Just consider a few of the other objects and acts the authors of Leviticus deem abominable. "All in the seas or rivers that do not have fins and scales…are an abomination to you." (11:10) That is, eating a lobster or clams is an abomination. Of course we know that pigs were regarded as unclean, too, and prohibited as food. (11:24) But also, consuming the blood in a permitted animal was grounds for expulsion from the community. (17:10) Various skin diseases could get you pronounced unclean. (13) Also, touching semen (like touching a menstruating woman) made a person unclean, requiring hours or days of purification before being allowed to rejoin normal society. (15).

            If we would feel queasy about trying to follow such a list of proscriptions, we will get downright nauseous when we read some of the penalties our Biblical lawmakers had in mind. Let's go back to the homosexuality abomination, which the priestly writers of Leviticus repeat at a later point (20:13) adding, "If a man lies with a male as a woman…they shall be put to death." Even few fundamentalist Christians, who supposedly take every word of the Bible literally, want to follow the Good Book this far (though there are a few). The book of Leviticus also calls for the death penalty when a child curses his or her parents, for those committing adultery, for the person who takes the Lord's name in vain. Shouldn't all who look to the Bible as the source for their condemnation of homosexuality begin to question its authority when they see such unsupportable extremism?

            These two passages in Leviticus are the only unequivocal statements against homosexual sex acts. in the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. The story of Sodom in Genesis (19:1-29), which Christianity has traditionally interpreted as showing God's displeasure with homosexuality, has been demonstrated by recent scholarship to be clearly about the sin of inhospitality toward strangers. A mob of men in the city threaten to gang rape two visiting male strangers as a way of humiliating them and showing their disdain for aliens. The story has nothing to do with consensual, loving same-sex relations. Later Jewish writings mention various sins of the people of Sodom, from pride to idolatry, but any kind of sexual sin is never mentioned. So it is odd, and sad, that we now have the English word "sodomy" to describe a purported sin that the Biblical authors never attributed to the residents of Sodom.

            The star of the Sodom story, one patriarchal male by the name of Lot, tries to save the two strangers who have sought shelter in his house. Lot's answer:  appease the mob by offering to let them have their way with his two virgin daughters! He's the one (along with his poor family) whom God saves, while loudly punishing the citizens of Sodom. Where is the moral lesson here? As with far too much of the Hebrew Bible -- for example, I was just reading the other night the account of why Saul, the first king of Israel, lost favor with God:  he had neglected to obey the letter of the Lord's command to kill every man, woman, child, and beast in an enemy town (he saved out a few sheep to offer as a sacrifice) -- we find cases that ought to be treated with the Dennis Rodman principle. You can admire his abilities and entertainment value on the basketball court, but he ain't no role model. You can appreciate the historical importance, the lofty passions, the moral earnestness, the artful language throughout much of the Hebrew Bible. But in most instances, it does not provide today's thoughtful, caring, educated, discerning person a worthwhile role model.

            So if you scorn slavery, do not prefer polygamy, love lobster, savor spare ribs, find militaristic violence vile, think women equally worthy, it is not because the Bible told you so. Then why should we, or faithful Christians, succumb to the Bible's authority in the case of our attitude toward homosexuality?

            My inner light, nurtured in this church, where it is has been encouraged to seek out wisdom in science, personal experience, and others' stories, as well as in ancient traditions, is helping me to bury some of the outmoded lists of abominations which were part of my enculturation. Rising in their place I can at least count one grand new affirmation -- of all those who seek to give and to know love, in whatever form. Isn't this the Bible's enduring message, too?

New Testament (Anne)

            Even those with terrible memories can learn everything Jesus had to say about homosexuality, because, according to the Bible, he never mentioned it.  Only Paul writes of what some translations from the original Greek render as "homosexuals."  Actually, however, there was no noun in ancient Greek for homosexual, because the term originated only in the 19th century.  So if you see "homosexual" in a Bible verse, a red flag should go up, for issues of translation and interpretation must come into play.

            The first anti-gay passage in the New Testament comes in Paul's letter to the Romans (1:26-27).  Here he says God punishes women who engage in unnatural relations and men who commit indecent (or shameless, in some translations) acts with other men.  If you read what comes before and after, you'll see that Paul understands this behavior as part of a progression that begins with the really important sin, failure to acknowledge God.  The people have slipped into pagan ways -- they worship idols and engage in heterosexual fertility rites.  This, says Paul, leads to same-gender sex, and then to other non-sexual sins, like theft, envy, and murder.

            For men, it's not clear whether Paul is here condemning all homosexual behavior, or whether he is speaking of homosexual sex only in the context of pagan rituals.  For women, it's not clear what the "unnatural" acts are.  The Greek is more accurately rendered as "unconventional" acts, so Paul may be referring to heterosexual behavior.  There is no certainty that lesbian sex is involved.  All we can say for sure is that the sex Paul opposes is heavy with lust and promiscuity, and connected with pagan worship.

            The other passages often cited against gays are from First Corinthians (6:9) and First Timothy (1:9-10)  In these passages, condemnation of homosexuality turns on the translation of two Greek words.  The first is malakoi, which literally means "soft," but which here has a sexual connotation.  In some Greek texts, malakoi is used to mean licentious, and in others it refers to boys who take the passive position in sex, often for money.  Some Bibles translate malakoi as "effeminate," which is inaccurate; "boy prostitutes" is more likely.  This does not constitute a condemnation of all gay men and has nothing whatever to do with lesbians.

            No one knows what the other Greek word, arsenokoitai, means.  It is not found elsewhere in the Bible or in other literature of the period, including Greek homoerotic literature. "Arseno" means "male" or "strong," and "koitai" means "bed" or "sexual intercourse."  But what did Paul mean when he put them together?  The word has been translated variously over the centuries - as "temple prostitutes," "masturbators," "male prostitutes," and, more recently, "homosexuals" or "homosexual practices."  Many scholars believe that arsenokoitai relates to male prostitution; it may refer to the older men who hired boys for sex.  Or Paul may have been condemning the kind of relationships praised by Plato, in which an older man is both mentor and lover to a young man or adolescent boy.  Plato wanted these pairings to be primarily intellectual and spiritual, but he admitted that the practice often turned into rape or child abuse, especially in the parts of the Greek world where Paul did most of his work.

            Taken in context, these three New Testament "proof texts" don't actually prove much of anything.  They are ambiguous, but seem to relate not to homosexuality in general, but to paganism and prostitution.  Paul may have considered all same-gender sexual behavior a rebellion against God, but we can't be sure.  Besides, Paul had no concept of homosexuality as we understand it.  Some of the participants in Greek man-boy relationships were doubtless homosexual according to modern definitions, but they were considered heterosexual by their culture.  Paul's era was unaware that there are different sexual orientations, fixed before birth or early in life, over which one has no choice.  He assumed everyone was heterosexual, and so considered same-gender sex unnatural.  He would have had no experience of the kind of gay or lesbian love partnerships we see today. 

Of course Paul wasn't that happy about heterosexual sex, either.  He felt celibacy was the best course, though few fundamentalists seem to be following his advice.  Paul gave us some perceptive insights into the human condition, but his ideas about sex aren't among them.  Nor are his approval of slavery or his views on women.  As with the Hebrew Bible passages Wade discussed, few follow Paul in every respect - theirs is a selective literalism, and too often they use the Bible to attack those who were not the targets of the original text.  We must speak out when we hear these texts misused.  We need not surrender the Bible to those who would distort and misinterpret it.

It's a long shot, perhaps, but the Paul who wrote "There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female, for all of you are one in Christ" might even have added "gay or straight" to his list if he were alive today.  For Paul opposed blind allegiance to the ancient purity laws on which anti-gay folks often rely.  Both Paul and Jesus believed that the boundaries of the old codes must be transcended, as we are to serve not the law, but the life of the spirit.  Jesus didn't have anything to say about homosexuality, but the man who consorted with prostitutes and tax collectors had a lot to say against domination by power and privilege, even as he challenged his followers to a radical kind of compassion.  The question Jesus raises is not "What is permitted?" but "What does it mean to love my neighbor?"  We have opportunities every day to live our answers to that holy question.  Let us join hands, gay and straight together, and be about the business of building a world where justice and compassion know no bounds

Closing Words - by William Schulz

I have heard it said that these resolutions [on gay and lesbian rights] represent the needs of a "special interest" group, and that the Unitarian Universalist Association is once again succumbing to the influence of special interests.  Well, let me tell you that the most effective way to undermine human rights is to favor them in the abstract but to dismiss them in the particular.  But every human right, my friends, is a right of a particular person or group, and every violation of a particular person's rights corrupts the covenant which binds us all.  Gay and lesbian rights are not the concern of a "special interest."  They are the concern of every person who sees oppression and cannot stay still. 

Recommended reading:

Gomes, Peter.  The Good Book: Reading the Bible with Mind and Heart. (Morrow, 1996)

Ontario Center for Religious Tolerance. "Homosexuality in the Bible: Conservative and Liberal Views." Internet address: http://www.religioustolerance.org/hom_bibl.htm

Placher, William.  "Is the Bible True?" Christian Century, October 11, 1995.

Scroggs, Robin. The New Testament and Homosexuality. (Fortress, 1983)

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THE REAL SINS OF SODOM

Sermon by Anne Marsh

Unitarian Universalist Church of Canton

October 19, 2003

CALL TO WORSHIP

Whoever you are, whomever you love, wherever you are on your journey,

Know that you are welcome here in this community of memory and hope.

Here we share our joys and our struggles, and our search for what is good and true,

In space made holy by our presence here together.

SERMON

            We Unitarian Universalists draw inspiration from all the world's religions, and Wade and I usually offer several sermons each year based on passages from the Bible.  Our children's religious education program also takes an eclectic approach: using a four-year cycle, our kids learn about Unitarian Universalism, world religions, peace and justice, and, this year, Jewish and Christian Bible stories.  I'm planning a series of Bible-inspired sermons to complement the children's explorations.  This is the first in that series, but it's not the sermon advertised in the newsletter.  I apologize to those who came to hear about the burning bush, but as events of the past few weeks unfolded, I felt bubbling up inside me a need to postpone that scheduled topic and look instead at the story of Sodom, which appears in chapters 18 and 19 of Genesis.

First, it was the strong backlash -- locally as well as nationally and internationally -- against the appointment of a gay Episcopal bishop.  Then, four area clergy wrote a long letter to the editor about the sinfulness of homosexuality.  Then, when Wade drafted a letter of response for more liberal clergy, only the SLU chaplains were willing to sign on with us.  Then, President Bush signed a proclamation designating the week just past "Marriage Protection Week" -- an effort aimed at restricting legal marriage to "one man and one woman."  Arrggh!!  And here I was thinking we were finally moving toward full equality for all our citizens, regardless of sexual orientation.  The quest for justice and compassion continues, within us and around us.

The stated reasons for opposition to same-gender marriage and for the more general view of homosexuality as sinful are always based on biblical passages.  A few years ago, Wade and I preached what we thought was pretty much the definitive sermon on homosexuality and the Bible, but apparently the folks at the churches down the street didn't read it.  (Copies of that sermon, "Abominations and Affirmations," are available at the back of the sanctuary.)  Of course, we may be tempted to dismiss biblical arguments.  After all, the Bible was written by human beings, and is a product of the times, places, and agendas of its many authors and editors, who were subject to both inspiration and ignorance. 

Yet, however irrelevant we may think the biblical texts are, I am not willing to let the religious right's statements of hatred and discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender persons stand as the position of all religious people.  As Unitarian Universalists, we, too, are religious people.  And our faith calls us to a radical inclusivity which welcomes, affirms, and celebrates gay, straight, and in between, in all the fullness of our being, no ifs, ands, or buts.  Depriving gays and lesbians of civil rights on biblical grounds violates the separation of church and state, and infringes on our religious freedom.

These points were eloquently made by Donna Williamson and Eileen Raymond when they spoke in favor of legalizing same-gender marriage on the Channel 7 News show "Hot Topics."   Donna and Eileen were calm, reasonable, and articulate.  A fundamentalist minister presented his equally calm but, to my mind, not so reasonable and articulate points -- or, more accurately, point, since no matter what the question, he gave the same response.  When it came time for viewers to phone in their comments, one caller asked Eileen and Donna, "Haven't you ever heard of Sodom and Gomorrah?"  I retorted back to the TV screen, "Have you ever actually read the story of Sodom and Gomorrah??"

Because the fate of Sodom is so often used to "prove" that homosexuality is sinful and that gays shouldn't be allowed to marry, I think it's worth unpacking that story in some detail.  The more we know about what the Bible really says, the better we can respond to those who would misuse and abuse it.  So I invite you to explore the tale of Sodom, to understand what it meant for those who chose to include it in the Bible, and to reflect on what it might mean for us today. 

The story is set back near the beginnings of Jewish history.  God has turned a wrathful eye on Sodom and Gomorrah.  "How grave is their sin!" says God, who has been getting a lot of complaints about the two cities.  God's plan is to send two angels to investigate, and, if the cities are indeed as wicked as they are said to be, God will destroy them.  What, exactly, are the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah?  We don't yet know, but we are about to find out.  The Bible tells it this way:

"The two angels came to Sodom in the evening...  When [Abraham's nephew] Lot saw them, he rose to meet them...and said, "Please, my lords, turn aside to your servant's house and spend the night..."  They said, "No, we will spend the night in the square."  But Lot urged them strongly, so they...entered his house, and he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.  But before they lay down, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people, surrounded the house, and they called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight?  Bring them out to us, so that we may know them."  Lot went out, shutting the door after him, and said, "I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly.  Look, I have two daughters who have not known a man; let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please; only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof."  But they replied, "Stand back!"  And they said, "This fellow [Lot] came here as an alien, and he would play the judge!  Now we will deal worse with you than with them."  They pressed hard against Lot and came near the door to break it down.  But the men inside reached out their hands and brought Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.  And they struck with blindness the men who were at the door of the house, both small and great, so that they were unable to find the door."

Thus do the angels save Lot and his family from the mob.  They then help them escape from Sodom just as God rains down fire and brimstone, destroying the cities of the plain and their inhabitants.  (Lot's wife doesn't survive, but that's another sermon.)  God had told Abraham that Sodom would be spared if there were but ten righteous men living there.  Apparently the city was nine short.  But why does God punish Sodom?  What had the Sodomites done that was so awful?  The story, which is based on an ancient legend that most likely precedes the time of Abraham, was around for at least two thousand years before some religious authorities decided in the fourth century C.E. that same-gender sex was part of Sodom's wickedness.  A heterosexual version of the tale appears in the book of Judges, where the plot is very similar, but the scene is the wicked city of Gibeah.  No angels intervene here, however, and the guest's concubine is given to the mob to be raped and killed.

The sin -- in Sodom as in Gibeah -- is inhospitality.  In the desert cultures of the Middle East, the code of hospitality was -- and is -- a central value.  Depending on the weather, spending a night out in the desert might be fatal.  Even so, in Sodom, only Lot had the kindness to offer shelter to the strangers.  Once he had done so, it became his obligation to protect them.  We are repelled at the lengths to which Lot was prepared to go to uphold his responsibilities as host.  Offering his daughters to the mob in place of his guests?  This is the hero of the story, whom we should admire?  It is horrible, almost beyond our imagining, but the Bible does not disapprove.  Which, by the way, should remind us that no one in today's world affirms all the ethics of the Bible.

When the people of Sodom said they wanted to "know" Lot's guests, did they use the word with a sexual connotation?  Perhaps.  If so, we add to Sodom's sins of inhospitality and insult to travelers, the violent crime of attempted gang rape.  And rape, of course, has nothing to do with consensual, loving relationships of whatever gender.  Male-male rape was common practice in that time and place for victors in battle.  It was seen as a way of humiliating defeated soldiers by forcing them to act "like women" by taking a traditional "woman's position" in anal sex.  A similar dynamic can be found today in our prisons.  Then, as now, it is not so much about sex as it is about sexism -- and about power and subjugation.  Sodom's crime was magnified by the fact that Lot's guests were angels -- God's emissaries -- in disguise.

This understanding of the sins of Sodom as inhospitality and attempted rape is not some politically correct UU revisionist interpretation.  On the contrary, the assertion that the story is about homosexuality is revisionist.  For while the sins of Sodom are mentioned many times in the Bible by various authors, nowhere are these sins related to same-gender sex.  In some passages, Sodom is simply used as a symbol of general unrighteousness.  In others, specific wrongs are named.  According to the prophet Isaiah, the sins of Sodom were its failure to do justice, help the oppressed, and defend widows and orphans.  Ezekiel says Sodom's sins were pride, greed, and refusal to share their food and wealth with the poor and needy.  Zephaniah lists pride, boasting, and scoffing at Israel; Jeremiah cites dishonesty and adultery; while the Wisdom of Solomon intimates that it was hatred of the stranger that brought Sodom's downfall.

In the King James Bible, the word "sodomites" was used as a mistranslation of the Hebrew word for temple prostitutes, but later versions have corrected this error.  The early rabbis agreed that the sins of Sodom had nothing to do with homosexuality.  Jewish commentary focused instead on the rabbis' belief that the Sodomites were wealthy people who refused to share with those in need and who treated travelers with cruelty.  An ancient midrash says that the reason God sent angels to investigate Sodom in the first place was that a woman had been executed by her fellow citizens for sharing her food with someone who was starving.

In the New Testament, when Jude says the residents of Sodom "went after other flesh," he means they lusted after angels, not after men.  As for Jesus, he, too, criticizes Sodom -- not for homosexuality, but for inhospitality to God's messengers.  In both Matthew and Luke, Jesus says villages that do not welcome his disciples and their message of God's love and healing may suffer Sodom's fate.  Again, hospitality is the issue, with the added idea that those who are "other" -- those who, like Jesus and his followers, live on the margins of society -- may be the very ones who offer us the gift of the sacred.  It was not until several hundred years after Jesus that some church fathers decided that Sodom was a symbol of what they called "unnatural" or "defiling" sex.  Even then, "sodomy" included not just same-gender sex acts, but also masturbation and any heterosexual acts that avoided procreation.

So...  No matter what Episcopal bishops or Baptist ministers say, here are the real sins of Sodom, according to the Bible: inhospitality to the stranger; injustice; ignoring the poor and oppressed; greedy unwillingness to share one's wealth; pride; and failure to recognize the messengers of the sacred.  Who, then, are the real "Sodomites" today?  It is tempting to answer, "the religious right," for they are inhospitable and unjust to gays and lesbians, and fail to recognize that the sacred dwells in all loving relationships.  And in a dangerous combination of fear and arrogance, they try to impose their beliefs on society at large. 

But in another sense, we are all Sodomites at times.  It has nothing to do with our sexual orientation or with whatever sex acts we do or do not engage in.  But it does have to do with our failure to welcome those who seem "other," those not quite like ourselves.  It does have to do with our hesitation to join forces with the poor and oppressed.  It does have to do with our failure to pay attention and to notice God or the holy in each other and in the world around us.  And it does have to do with our remaining silent in the face of injustice.

As Edmund Burke wrote, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing."  So let us not remain silent.  Let us speak our truth -- and dare to live it.  Each of us can find our own ways to do this, our own ways to "be the change we want to see."  We can deepen our awareness of the sacred around us; welcome those who are different into our lives; campaign for marriage equality; insist on safe schools; raise children who care about others and respect diversity -- whatever it takes to transcend boundaries of sexual orientation, and of color and class.  Not because we "should," but because we want to, because it is part of who we are. 

We live our values when we choose to act from the depth of our spiritual experiences, experiences that tell us we are all connected, to the earth and to each other.  Experiences that remind us that no one is "other," that our neighbor is our self, that all are equally and blessedly part of the larger whole.  No one is free until everyone is free, and "the subjugation of one person or group corrupts the covenant which binds us all."  One spirit of life and love surrounds and upholds us.  May we open our hearts and minds to its gifts, and build a world where justice and compassion have no bounds.

CLOSING WORDS

from Victoria Safford

People ask me sometimes: "Is this a gay church?"  It is a privilege to answer: "Ours is absolutely, gladly, hopefully and humbly, gaily, a gay church, where everyone, including hetero-sexual members and friends, is welcome, where everyone is needed, where everyone's experience is cherished as a sacred text -- because no one's experience of living or loving can be comprehensive, because each of us holds clues the others need about how to live with dignity and joy as a whole person...

Gay church, straight church, peoples' church, a human congregation made holy by the hopes and fears and dreams of all who wish to come.  Come in, we say.  Come out, come in.  We're all in this together.