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Human beings, like you and me, wrote those poems and stories that have come to be known as psalms and parables. Like you and me, they also were sexual and saintly and sinful and limited and hetero and homo. They wrote them based on their experience with the Holy One. The following mirrors were written from the experience of some of our brothers and sisters:
| Psalm of Trust |
| Psalm 22 |
| Psalm of Lament |
| Who Is My Neighbor? -- A Parable |
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Psalm of Trust The Lord is my Partner;
I need not be frantic.
He provides my peace of mind,
He removes my tiredness.
He is forever faithful even when I wander.
He sends angels on my journey to correct and guide me.Although I walk among the cynics, and hate mongers,
the homeless, and the crazies,
Even on the evening news when I see a young man
beaten and left
Like a scarecrow to die on a fence post,
I am not controlled by fear and irritability.
In consolation and desolation, You teach and comfort me.You prepare a life for me in the presence of my skeptics.
You provide more of this world's goods than
I could ever stuff in my closet.
My heart overflows.
Your care and concern are palpable to me.
Your forgiveness total.
I long to be with you forever,
As You fully are.
Psalm 22 Lord, all about me stinks
And I'm buried deep in shit.
My friends are no longer friends;
They whisper behind my back.Police surveillance stalks me;
They build their files about me.
Even you, where have you gone?
Are you watching, too?Where's that amazing grace
The simple talk about?
Can't you work your magic
And bring me back to life?"You foolish man, wake up.
Give up your foolish dreams.
Rip open your cocoon
And trust me. You have wings.It's time to reproduce,
To fertilise the woods,
To impregnate my sperm
In all who'll open up to you."My Lord, I need your strength;
My fetters are too tight.
The light's too strong for me,
But with your help I'll try.I hear you say again,
"You must feed my sheep.
Feed them with your life,
As I feed you with mine."
Psalm of Lament My Friend, my Friend,
why have you allowed them to hate me?
Why can't you stop the discrimmination, the gay bashing,
the misogyny and the homophobia?
I have called to You, but You remain silent.
You do not answer.You are supposed to be the all powerful One.
Many of my ancestors trusted You,
And You delivered them.
They cried to You, and You responded,
They were freed.But are You listening now?
I am considered deserving of being attacked,
and being left to die in an alley,
Despised by the pious, they mock me.
They gossip about me; they raise their eyebrows.The Inquisitors prepare a case against me.
The "faithful" are suspicious.
By intimidation they try to trick me,
And take away my civil liberties.My soul is anxious.
I am worried and alone.
My tongue is dry.
My chest is tight.
My body shivers in fear.Yet it was You who created me,
When I was a boy, You showed me
the simple mysteries in nature.
Since infancy, You have been my God.
Do not leave me now to die in loneliness and addiction,
Now in my middle age there is no one to help me.
I need You.
You, O Lord, do not be long in coming.
Do not put me on hold, or voice mail.
Forget the technology,
I'm tired of inanimate e- mail.
Do not be a fair-weather friend,
Gone when the winter wind whistles cold.Save me from the authoritarian legalists.
Hear my anger as well as my love, Dear Lord.
Hold me in my suffering,
and the many deaths I have experienced.
From the narrow and the self-righteous,
You save me.I will tell the others of your goodness to me.
Showing me unmasked love in the dying.
For You do not turn away from those with HIV,
or those of us who have lost friends to AIDS.
You did not ignore or feel embarassed by us.
But You revealed Your love and compassion.
When I cried to you, You heard.I will weave a panel for the quilt,
All the people shall know of your compassion.
And You shall be made known
through the lives You touch in Love.
Through the witness of those
whose hard hearts You have softened.
Before You, all will pay respect and offer praise.May the sound of quiet wind,
the silent tear falling on the cheek,
The young man left to die on the Wyoming fence post,
Bring Your name to their minds,
As they wonder at the mystery of the One who is gone
and the one who is left alive,
And they know in their hard consolation,
they are fully alive.Because there is more than what we can see,
and hear,
and smell,
and taste,
and touch.
And that Mystery is You.
If the gospel writers were writing their stories of Jesus today, they might use the example of lesbians and gays in the place of the Samaritan. Here is one of their stories for today. Who is my neighbour and who are my family? The context is family values:
..... but because the lawyer wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, "And who is my family?"
Jesus replied, "In the days before our welfare system, a man abandoned his wife and children and disappeared to another city. So she was left with two children. She was without independent economic resources and little hope of raising her children properly. A priest tried to find some help for her but no one was willing to extend their help. Her relatives lived in another city and did not want to be bothered with her story of another crisis. Across the street lived a lesbian couple. They had taken an interest in the family ever since the children were born. They frequently came over and visited them. The children were very comfortable with them and referred to each of them as auntie. They had frequently babysat the children. They both had good paying jobs. When they heard about the women's abandonment by her husband, they immediately sat down with her and started to plan ways by which they could pool their own resources and lay the groundwork by which they could provide long-term financial support for the children. They talked about the possibility of the disabled mother helping on the telephones in a little business that Martha was starting."Which of these, in your opinion," Jesus asked, "was family?"
The answer came, "The lesbian couple
who helped her and created long-term support for her."
And Jesus said to him, "Go and
change your thinking about what it means to be family."-- Justin McBride
