Sermon: June 22, 2025
Readings: Galatians 3:23-29 / Luke 8:26-39
Like the Galatians, we struggle with moral and ethical issues. We can allow our political viewpoints to hinder our ability to welcome others and embrace them with the love of Christ.
An excellent example of this is highlighted in the documentary “1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted a Culture.” According to Yale University, which was heavily involved in the 1946 translation of the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, states, that “The documentary reveals, the decision to insert the term “homosexual” was not rooted in historical or linguistic accuracy but rather in the cultural biases of the time. The inclusion of “homosexual” in the RSV gave religious institutions a textual foundation to condemn LGBTQ individuals. This translation became a cornerstone for anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in various denominations, leading to widespread discrimination, conversion therapy practices, and societal marginalization.”
For years, people from the LGBTQ community have been, and continue to be, the subject of physical, emotional, and spiritual abuse, not only from society and churches that professed to love them but also through government legislation, policies, and procedures that blatantly discriminate against them.
The LGBTQ community and other minority groups like immigrants, refugees, people of color, and many times women have been treated like the man in our gospel story. Not welcomed in a living, vibrant world, but relegated to the dark shadows of society, barely considered human. That way, it’s easier to demean and blame society's problems on them and pass legislation to keep them in their place so the good and proper society doesn’t have to deal with them.
Like the Galatians to whom Paul wrote to, our world needs to change, and we need to change. Jesus and Paul point out through actions and words that “There’s no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” All divisions of class, gender, and ethnicity fall away because we are all one in Jesus Christ. All of humanity is loved and cherished by God as God’s children – no exceptions.
May God’s Holy and life-giving Spirit fill our hearts with his love and compassion for all humanity so that all barriers may crumble, all fear and suspicions cease, and all hatred disappear so that we all may live as God wishes, as one human family wrapped in the tapestry of God’s Love.
