Sermon - 6-1-25

John 17:20-26; Pride Sunday; 7 Easter; June 1, 2025 Additional texts: Acts 16:16-34; Revelation 22:12-14, 16-17, 20-21 Rich Weingartner Grace to you and peace from God our parent, Jesus our Savior, and the Holy Spirit. Amen. I’m scared. We live in a scary time. When I went up to the UP to visit my parents and family for Easter, I brought my passport with me. No real reason, just some fear that I might be in a situation where I’ll have to try to prove that I’m a US citizen. I hear of friends traveling to foreign countries, some of them who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community. I fear that they won’t be able to come back into our country. I’m afraid to leave the United States for concern that I’ll be stopped at the border and end up being detained and not let back into our country. It is an unsettling time for LGBTQIA+ or Queer people these days. We hear constant attacks on people as things are said or laws are introduced or passed that try to declare our Queer siblings as “other” or to make it sound like there is something wrong with them. I also know others are scared. The queer community aren’t the only ones being attacked and put down. I know my Black, Indigenous, and People of Color community have been attacked for centuries in various ways. Our siblings of hispanic heritage are facing struggles and threats as well. Asian and Pacific Islanders as well. Immigrants, including refugees and asylum seekers, including the young men in our parish house. There are a lot of people who are apprehensive and concerned now - and for many this is just a continuation of decades or centuries of being treated like “others” and that they don’t really belong and aren’t valid as a human being. However, God, through Jesus and the bible, tells us a different story. A story that declares that we are all children of God and we can be proud of who God made us to be. A story of love that knows no bounds and never ends. Which brings us to our readings for today that show that God is always with us, even in times of trouble. We start with the reading from Acts where we find Paul and Silas thrown in jail. While they may have been feeling scared and worried - they didn’t show it by just sitting around and moping and blaming God for their troubles. Instead, we find them praying and singing hymns and connecting with the other prisoners. In the midst of it all, they kept faithful to God. Then the earthquake happens. Since, at the time, if a guard lost prisoners, it was custom that he would pay for the loss with his life, the guard had assumed that everyone would have fled and thus was about to kill himself. However, Paul and Silas kept faith and stayed where they were and saved the guard’s life - not only physically but also spiritually through their witness to the power of God. This serves not only as a reminder that God will never leave us, but also that we can serve as witnesses to the power and love of God just through who we are and doing what is right - doesn’t take anything special - just through our actions and love they can know God’s love. Just like yesterday and the pride festival. We may think we were just there at a booth, talking to people, and handing out items - but we were witnesses to the love of Christ through our actions of acceptance, welcome, and love, to the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies. Then we move to the concluding verses of Revelation. From verse 13, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 22:13) While this passage refers to the extremes of the beginning and the end; and the first and the last - we need to remember that God isn’t just there at the extreme ends, but everywhere in between. Just like all of creation, God isn’t just at one point or another - God is everywhere in between. Not just light and dark, but in all the shades in between - not just day and night but at sunrise and sunset, the dawn and twilight. In all creatures that live in the waters, on the land, and in the sky - and all of those that live in multiple places. And thus God has created all of us - in our many different varied ways - there is no binary in creation - everything spans a wide range to create the beautiful diversity of God’s creation - something to be proud of and celebrate. God is ever present across all time, all places, and all creation - the entire Cosmos from the very beginning of creation until the very end. And not only do we have this promise of God being ever present with us always, we are invited. As it says in Revelation 22:17 - all are invited to come to the Lord and His promises. Everyone who is thirsty and wishes to take the water of life as a GIFT is invited to come. This is a great reminder that God wants us to be in God’s presence and love - we are invited to receive the gift. We do not earn it, we do not have to work for it - it is a gift, a most ...