Texts: Amos 5: 14-24; Luke 17: 5-10

“Jumping off the gw bridge sorry” was the simple, one line comment on Tyler Clementi’s Facebook page. Outed in a most humiliating way through a video posted on the internet by his roommate, this brilliant young musician simply could not face going on with his life. And he’s not the only one. Seth Walsh, bullied by his classmates because of his suspected sexual orientation, hanged himself but lingered for nine days on life support before he died; he was 13 years old. In Cypress, Texas, another 13-year old, Asher Brown, shot himself for much the same reason. The list goes on and on.

Three hundred years ago it was possible to flee a society out to get you by leaving Massachusetts Bay and settling in the marshlands of New Jersey. But the world has not only grown smaller. Fear and hate have become more intimate with the possibilities posed by the internet. There is even a new term for it: cyber bullying. Courts are divided regarding the nature of cyber bullying, trying to determine whether it is a grounds for suit or even criminal charges. As society treads questions regarding protected speech and its limits in this new world, there are deeper questions we face as a society and as a people who claim a religious grounding for our lives.

This past summer several denominations met to discuss their particular stances on questions of sexual orientation. Now, those of us who identify with the UCC shouldn’t be so smug because of our history of being open and affirming because this resolution, like so many others in the UCC, “speaks to but not for” all churches. It is a prophetic statement, one that commands our attention as people of faith. Our other half, the American Baptists, declared that the practice of homosexuality is “incompatible” with “God’s design for sexual intimacy,” which, if you didn’t know, is only within the context of marriage between one man and one woman. Amazing how we all speak for God. But in true Baptist fashion, individual churches are left to decide whether they will be “Welcoming and Affirming.”

The real issue for us as a people of faith is whether we will build a truly inclusive community, one that is open to all regardless of boundaries set by others. Even our guide in this matter had to be set straight by the Syrophoenician woman. After that encounter, however, another artificial boundary was broken down. Jesus reached out to the pariahs of his time, the lepers, and shared not just his healing power but his heart with them. Breaking down our boundaries of fear to let the mustard seeds of justice grow does not mean removing what we consider the causes of our fear from our society. It really means changing our attitudes towards others and taking positive action to broaden society’s acceptance of people we consider different than us.

If we look at the prophetic tradition in Hebrew Scripture we claim for our own, we will see that Amos was not the only one to point out the difference between what so-called “good people” do in their churches, synagogues, or other religious organizations and their behavior towards others. “Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” was one of Martin Luther King’s favorite verses as well as that of our late pastor, John Bates. But justice will not roll down unless we open the floodgates and let the stream flow. We cannot let the groups that preach hate and fear based on Scripture hold us hostage. We need to speak out as people of faith. The Gospel demands nothing less.

Historically, people have been categorized and stigmatized based on perverted readings of Scripture by the radical right cherry pickers. As people of faith, we bear some of the responsibility for this. If we keep our distance from the so-called nasty world of politics, others will step into the vacuum created by our absence. The week before it was the issue of homelessness; this week it is the suicide of young people stigmatized as other than normal. Charity alone does not help homelessness, and being an ONA/WNA church alone does not address the question of societal attitudes towards homosexuality. Tonight there will be a candlelight vigil at Rutgers by a number of faith-based groups including the campus ministries on whose board I serve. This is but one small symbolic act over a terrible event.

We need to examine how these attitudes developed and how they have been buttressed by the faith we claim. Only then will the mustard seeds we plant become trees of justice and God’s righteousness for all.

Let us pray: Holy One of welcome, open our minds, our hearts, and our senses so we can bring the hope of real change to the world around. Help us to overcome our own fear of involvement and distaste of confrontation with others to have justice roll down like waters so your righteousness is indeed an ever-flowing stream. Amen.