The Gospel According to Me. And You. And you, and you, and...

Philip baptizing the Ethiopian eunuch (image generated by Google Gemini with prompt)

I grew up in a conservative, evangelical Christian denomination where sharing the gospel broadly meant convincing a nonbeliever or sinner to confess their sins, pray the sinner’s prayer, accept Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior, and become a part of the church in order to avoid eternal torment in the lake of fire. Lord have mercy on your soul if you later sinned and died without repenting because that meant an eternity of pain and agony for you.

Now, in daily practice, our church was not very much like that. The people were kind and supportive of one another. They welcomed strangers and withheld judging “sinners” such as divorced people and unwed mothers, at least to their faces. In our house, religious talk was more about doing what was right in the world through kindness and generosity than it was about hell and torment. For that, I am very grateful.

But as I grew older and ventured outside the bubble of family and local church, I encountered more evangelical followers, and the message when it came to the gospel was mostly the same: repent or spend an eternity separated from God; in other words, turn or burn.

Thankfully, my opinion on what the good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ is has radically transformed over the years, due in large part to my coming to terms with my sexuality and accepting myself for who I am, then finding fellow followers of the Way of Jesus who accept me for who I am. It has also been transformed by my interactions with people who love and follow Jesus outside of the evangelical world. I no longer see the kin-dom of God (here I use kin-dom instead of kingdom to be more gender-inclusive and to de-emphasize monarchical metaphors because I live in 2026 CE and not the first century AD) as a far-away, yet-to-be-realized spiritual world, but a here-and-now reality accessible to anyone who will choose love over fear and greed (two things which I personally believe are at the root of all sin, which is anything which separates us from God, who is love). The Good News of Jesus Christ is that God loves us, wants us, and desires us to love one another (and God’s creation, I believe) without condition. Jesus gave us two commandments: love God with everything we are, and love others as we love ourselves. And Jesus made it very clear that this kin-dom includes everyone: Jews, Gentiles, Samaritans, men, women, slaves and free people – everyone. Period.

As a gay man, the story of the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8, verses 26 through 40 resonates especially strongly. In the story, a high-ranking official from the land of Kush, which covered what is present-day Sudan and southern Egypt, has traveled about 1000 miles to Jerusalem to worship. In that time, Gentiles who worshipped the God of the Jews were known as God-fearers. However, this eunuch was excluded from full participation in the life of the Jewish faith for two reasons: first, he was a Gentile foreigner, not of any tribe of Israel; and second, he was a eunuch, so he had to remain with Gentiles and other “unclean” individuals in the outer courts of the temple. This resonates with me because for hundreds of years, LGBTQIA+ individuals have been excluded from full participation in the life of the church. Even today, Christian denominations split up because some congregants simply cannot accept anyone who is not heterosexual or cisgender into their community. Sad. They are missing an immense blessing from the talents and gifts of LGBTQIA+ people.

Back to the story of the eunuch: while travelling back to his homeland from Jerusalem, the unnamed eunuch is reading a scroll upon which is written the book of Isaiah, which contains prophesies about the Messiah. Philip, one of the disciples of Jesus (not the apostle Philip who personally knew Jesus) is called by the Holy Spirit to catch up with the eunuch. When he does, the eunuch invites him into his chariot to explain the writings of Isaiah to him. When they come upon a body of water, the eunuch exclaims, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” So Philip takes him down to the water, baptizes him into the church, or the body of Christ, and the eunuch goes on his way, carrying the good news to his people in Kush and thereby further spreading the gospel to Gentile lands.

It's important to note that Isaiah 56 prophecies that faithful eunuchs would receive “a monument and a name better than sons and daughters.” No doubt the Ethiopian eunuch had read this prophecy and viewed it with great hope for the future of others like him. Little did he know that he would be one of the first individuals baptized into the full fellowship of the body of Christ, thus fulfilling the prophecy he had been reading about! This is very significant on several levels. The Ethiopian eunuch not only represents a sexual or gender minority, but also foreigners, Gentiles, and dark-skinned peoples. The eunuch was also embedded in a socially stratified system in which he gained some privileges and power but would have never been accepted as a fully equal member of his society. You see, the gospel or good news to the Ethiopian eunuch was full inclusion and acceptance, not after some ridiculously time-consuming study or a majority vote by the members of a governing council or congregation, but already by God’s love and grace through Christ. He didn’t need a council’s seal of approval; he only needed God’s, which had already been given to him.

The story of the Ethiopian eunuch is an illustration of God’s radically inclusive love and acceptance of every kind of human being. Whether the eunuch was made a eunuch or born a eunuch is irrelevant. No one needed to see his birth certificate. No one asked him to lift up his robes and prove anything. No one expected him to stop being a eunuch or looking like a eunuch or acting like a eunuch. He had already been accepted by God, and his baptism by Philip was symbolic of his acceptance into the church, the body of Christ.

How many other people have been marginalized by the church through the centuries? Differently abled people. Racial and ethnic minorities. Women. The poor. People struggling with mental illness. Single parents. Divorcees. The list could go on. I guess the church of the first few centuries after Jesus’ time grew so fast because it was so welcoming and inclusive. Women held leadership roles. Gentiles and Samaritans were welcomed. The sick and the poor received help. The hungry were fed. The unhoused were sheltered. The church was a movement, not an institution. And move it did, all across the ancient world, with its emphasis on love and community…until the pagan Roman emperor Constantine fucked it up by making it the official religion of the empire, and we’re still putting it back together today. But that’s a topic for another essay.

To the sick, the good news is healing. To the poor, the good news is abundance. To the hungry, the good news is food. To the marginalized, the good news is community. To the doubter, the good news is validation. To the unemployed, the good news is work. And overarching all of these is the good news of God’s love, grace, and acceptance of us. All God asks in return is our love for God and for each other.

We each receive the good news of Jesus Christ through the lens of our own life experience, just like the Ethiopian eunuch did. For me, it was the good news that I was accepted and loved by God for who I am. For all of us, it’s the knowledge that Jesus abolished whatever barriers kept us from full kinship with God, whether those barriers were of our own creation or were imposed on us by ungodly systems like imperialism, patriarchy, racism, sexism, classism, homophobia, and transphobia.

My life in Christ is the Gospel According to Me. You have the Gospel According to You. If others won’t hear your good news, then do as Jesus instructed his apostles: shake the dust from your feet and move on. Jesus also instructed his followers not to cast their pearls before swine, lest the pearls be tramped down in the mud and muck of the pigsty. Not everyone is ready to hear your good news. Many are still enslaved to ways of thinking that are rooted in the lies and manipulations of those who hold power and wealth. So don’t waste your time trying to convince people whose minds are already made up about you and your testimony. God will deal with them in God’s own way and in God’s own time. Forget them and go share your good news with those who are ready to hear it.

The Christ Way of Love

           I am a follower of the Christ Way as it was modeled by the words and actions of Jesus as we understand them from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Most people call us Christians (although that moniker has been and is diluted and corrupted by many very un-Christlike people). Some modern-day followers of the Christ Way call themselves red-letter Christians because they look primarily to the words of Jesus for their doctrine, words which are traditionally printed in red ink in the aforementioned Gospels. I also look to the writings of Paul, Peter, and other early followers of the Christ Way as inspiration and insight for my own faith development. My sole authority, however, remains those red-letter words and actions of Jesus.

           While I may often stumble in adhering to those words, pretty much every attitude of my life is influenced by my faith. My understanding of the Christ Way influences which church I attend; what kind of people I associate with; my career choices; how I interact with my partner, my family, my friends, my colleagues, my students, and strangers; how I spend my money; how I treat animals and the environment; what I read and what I watch on TV; how I care for my body; and more.

           And it influences my politics to a great degree. I vote for candidates who advocate for the poor because Jesus was greatly concerned about the poor (Luke 3:11, 4:18, 14:13; and many more). I support politicians who uphold the rights of women and children because Jesus cared for women and children (John 4:1-26; Luke 8:43-48; Luke 7:36-50; Mark 10:13-16). I am against war and violence because Jesus was against war and violence (Matthew 26:52). I am critical of the rich and powerful because Jesus criticized the rich and powerful (Matthew 6:19-21, 24; Luke 18:25; Luke 16:19-31; and many more). I welcome foreigners because Jesus welcomed foreigners (John 4:1-26; Matthew 8:5-13; Matthew 25:35). I support programs of learning and education because Jesus was a learned person who practiced critical thinking (Luke 2:46-47; Luke 4:17; John 3:1-21). Jesus healed the sick without asking for anything in return (Luke 17:11-19; Matthew 9:1-8; Luke 8:43-48; and too many more to list here); that’s why I support universal healthcare. Jesus fed the hungry with the bounty shared by those who had food (Matthew 14:13-21), thus I support programs that offer public assistance to those in need.

           We can help the poor by providing financial assistance to those who cannot work, and opportunities to those who can. We can feed the hungry without anyone else starving because we discard shameful amounts of food every day. We can offer affordable, quality healthcare to all because we are one of the wealthiest, most technologically advanced nations on the planet. We need to remember that all good things come from God, and much is expected from those to whom much is given (Luke 12:48).

We can uphold the rights of women when we acknowledge that God is neither male nor female (John 4:24), and that all people—male, female, transgendered, all nationalities, all socio-economic levels, all physical abilities, gay, straight, everyone—is created in God’s image (Galatians 3:28). This acknowledgement helps us affirm civil rights for oppressed populations. It motivates us to welcome refugees and to be kind to the stranger (foreigner) among us.

           Some scholars even believe that Jesus may have blessed a same-sex relationship (Luke 7:1-10). Philip, a leader in the early church, ministered to a eunuch (and a black one, at that), a man who formerly would have had no place in the Jewish community but who was welcomed into the community of Christ (Acts 8:26-40). Some scholars assert that the term eunuch was applied not only to men who had had their genitals removed, but also to men who displayed no sexual interest in females. If this is true, then shouldn’t followers of the Christ Way support the rights of LGBT individuals to be who they are without persecution and to marry the individual of their own choice?

           In a secular nation where (presumably) a separation of church and state is upheld, I cannot expect all Americans to believe and do as I believe and do. However, I can challenge those who call themselves Christian to hold up Jesus as their example of the best way to think and act in the world. Jesus never judged a person of another religion; He did, however, often criticize the establishment of his own religion (Matthew 23:13-26; plus other references). He never turned away foreigners; in fact, He urged His followers to show hospitality to all (Luke 14:13-14). He associated with tax collectors, prostitutes, and other “unclean” people of His day (Matthew 9:10). And who are the “unclean” people of our day but the poor and homeless, the refugees, the physically and mentally disabled, the un- and under-employed, the un- and under-educated, those who talk and move and think and learn and love differently from the mainstream?

           Jesus urged the rich to share what they had been given with those who had nothing (Mark 10:17-27). How many pastors of Christian mega-churches live in mansions and drive expensive cars and fly in private jets to exotic locales while people in their own communities go sick and hungry and in need? These false teachers promote the blasphemous doctrine of prosperity and deflect attention from their own sins by pointing out the “sins” of the “unclean”? And how many wealthy Christians hoard their wealth while non-Christians—atheists, even—share their wealth and donate generously to help those in need because their hearts are full of compassion and not greed? Tell me, whose heart is more like the heart of God? Romans 2:14-16 explains that people will be judged according to what they have done, not by what they have believed.

           The first-century church didn’t have the Scriptures we now call the New Testament to use as a reference for their lifestyle. Hell, many of those early believers had never even read the Hebrew Scriptures and couldn’t speak Hebrew at all—or read and write in any language, for that matter. All they knew was either their own experience with Jesus, or their experiences with those who had known Jesus, or the experiences of those who knew someone who had known Jesus. Their “religion” was simple: show love for God through worship, praise, and caring for others…especially to “…the least of these” (Matthew 25:40). They were known as followers of the Christ Way by their love, not by their doctrine or their material blessings or their moral superiority. They had received the Gospel, the Good News: God loved them and wanted to be in relationship with them, and God wanted them to love each other in healthy relationships marked by equality, compassion, and respect (just read virtually the whole book of Acts). That’s it. No complicated doctrine. No scriptures to memorize. No magical incantations to say or miraculous works to perform. Just people living together in love and trying to understand God through love. In the first century C.E., their movement was revolutionary because it was radically inclusive and egalitarian, something that few, if any, cultures of the ancient world had achieved. It was what many so-called Christians today would condemn as socialist or even communist.

           If God is love, then all true love comes from God. The love of a parent for a child is often used in the Bible as a metaphor for God’s love for us. The sacrificial love of one friend for another is upheld as the greatest form of love. The love shared by two spouses or partners; the love one feels for one’s pet; the love one feels for the environment; the compassion a person feels for those who are suffering; in my opinion, the love one feels for any and all living things is of God, and those who love are of God (1 John 4:7-8).

           But love doesn’t mean ignoring or overlooking the shortcomings of another. We are told to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). When a parent corrects a child; when a teacher corrects a student; when a friend has a heart-to-heart talk with another friend about a hurtful thing that friend has said or done; and when people point out the greed and corruption of their leaders, they are speaking the truth in love. When another’s attitudes and behaviors are hurtful, we are expected to speak the truth in love and tell the perpetrator to stop. Standing up to bullies who are using their wealth and power to inflict harm is not being rebellious or disrespectful or judgmental or self-righteous; it is speaking the truth in love so that the people causing the harm can see the error of their ways and turn their hearts toward love, and thus, toward God.

           As we enter the year 2017, my prayer for myself is to love God and others more perfectly and boldly, to replace fear with love, and to bravely speak the truth in love when I see how another’s words or actions are hurtful. And I pray that when someone else speaks the truth in love to me, I can accept their words, ponder them in my mind and heart, and ultimately trust God to enlighten any and all truth—as well as any untruths—their words contained and incorporate that truth into my own practice of love in this world.

Top Ten Favorite Bible Verses, and Then Some

Recently I was tagged by a Facebook friend to post my top ten favorite verses from the Bible, one verse a day for ten consecutive days. Knowing how I am about such things, I decided to post my top ten verses here with some commentary, then share it to my Facebook page and tag my friend. So here they are, in no particular order:

1. “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well.” (Psalm 139:14) This verse reminds me of one of my favorite nonbiblical axioms: Who you are is God’s gift to you; whom you become is your gift to God. We are all made just as God intends us to be.

2. “So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them.” (1 John 4:16) Ironically, some who claim to know God aren’t very loving, and some who doubt the existence of God are very kind and loving individuals. All I know is this: If I were God, and I were faced with welcoming a kind, loving atheist into my presence or a hateful, so-called “Christian,” I think I’d be inclined to welcome the atheist and spend a jolly time convincing him or her that I’m real.

3. “Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received.” (1 Peter 4:10) I firmly believe that every individual has something good to offer the world while they’re in it. I hope in my lifetime I can be the kind of advisor/counselor/teacher who helps others find their gifts to share and make the world a better place for everyone.

4. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17) One of the first verses a new Christian of any age learns is John 3:16. But we should be including verse 17, too. Not only is it joined to verse 16 by the conjunctive adverb “indeed,” but also it is essential for the full meaning of verse 16. The saving of the world has been accomplished. Jesus’s own last words on the cross were “It is finished.” We’re all saved. We’re all included in God’s realm. That’s the Gospel, the Good News.

5. “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” (1 John 4:8) See my comments in number 2.

6. “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 22:21) This world is not ours; it’s God’s. This country is not ours; it’s God’s. In fact, I don’t think God really intended for people to even divide themselves into countries (I get this impression from the story of the tower of Babel, and the story of how God seemed reluctant to give the Israelites a king). Borders are drawn by people, not God. We are called to be kind to the strangers among us, because we, too, were once strangers somewhere in time. And we may be strangers in a strange land someday. Thus you can probably guess my opinion about building walls and rejecting refugees.

7. “There is 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.” (Galatians 3:28) God doesn’t seem to care about our race or nationality, our socio-economic status, or our gender. All are equal in God’s eyes. All should be equal in our eyes, too. (See my bonus verses at the end of this post for more on God’s inclusive love).

8. “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope.” (Jeremiah 29:11) My security is in God and God’s plan for my life. It is not in a government or the things that represent that government, like flags and patriotic songs; it’s not in a savings or retirement account; it’s not in a wall or fence along a border; and it’s not in firearms or bombs. It’s in God’s love and concern for me as well as every other person on this planet, all of whom God knows and loves intimately.

9. “…but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” (Isaiah 40:31) This is a good verse for someone like me who has a mild anxiety disorder, which can sometimes make me feel quite tired and overwhelmed. The feelings always pass, and these words give me hope.

10. “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) Want to make God happy? Do these three things consistently throughout your life: Be just, be kind, and be humble. Easy to say, yet hard to do, right?

I’m throwing in these last few verses from Acts as a bonus:

“As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, ‘Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?’ He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing.” (Acts 8:36-39) This story is significant because, for many generations, people like this eunuch were excluded from the Jews’ holy places because of who they were. But after Jesus came with a new way of relating to God, people like this eunuch were welcomed into fellowship with God. This tells me that all are welcomed into the universal church of Christ regardless of who they are. Now that, my friends, is Good News!

To Live in the Light is to Live Without Fear

          In the wee hours of the morning, when insomnia has won our wrestling match and the thoughts in my brain spin round and round like a whirlpool, epiphanies can occur. Well, either they’re epiphanies or the musings of a madman. Either way, these revelations inspire me to write as a way to process my thoughts, and the theme that emerged this morning is fear.

           For decades, fear kept me from being who I truly am. It kept me in a closet, hiding my heart from everyone for fear of being rejected, or worse, beaten up or even killed. The church taught that people like me were an abomination, worthy of a horrible death. Gay people were not and still aren’t well tolerated in small towns in Texas.

           Fear kept me from running after my vocational dreams. From a very young age, I wanted to be an actor on television. I loved playing fantasy games, where I acted the role of the hero or his or her sidekick. I took steps to an extent by being involved in the drama club in high school and by taking theater classes in college. But the fear of not being able to make a living held me back. I went the practical route instead and got a job in an office. Yuck.

           When it came to speaking my mind, the fear of offending someone or causing conflict kept me silent. I often have strong opinions, and I feel that many of those opinions are valid, but I’m so afraid of rocking the boat that I usually keep my thoughts to myself. The unfortunate consequence is that I have not learned to advocate for myself well, which often makes me passive-aggressive. Lots of fun to be around.

           As a person of faith in God and a follower of the Christ way, I strive to keep my thoughts and actions in alignment with the values I feel are of God. That’s what made me think of fear and how it has impeded my development as a fully realized child of God.

           We associate God with light. In the book of Genesis, God says, “Let there be light.” All of creation emanated from God, and light was the first of God’s creations. Light is good. Plants need it to grow, we need it to be healthy, it keeps us warm. Without light, there is utter and complete darkness, which we associate with fear. That’s why I believe the opposite of love is not hate, but fear. God is love, therefore light comes from love. As light always conquers darkness, so love always conquers fear. The Christian Bible says that in 1 John 4:18. Hate is the result of fear, as is greed and lust and all other destructive attitudes we call sin.

           Fear is what makes Americans put their faith in guns instead of God despite the fact that we have an enormously high mass murder rate among our counterparts in the developed world. Fear keeps our cities and states from showing hospitality to the strangers at our gates, and even makes our leaders penalize those who do try to show hospitality. Read the story of Sodom in the Old Testament, then read Ezekiel 16:49 and feel truly afraid. God did not destroy Sodom because there were supposedly homosexuals there, as some Christians, Jews, and Muslims would have you believe, but rather because they failed to show hospitality to strangers in need. Americans refusing asylum to refugees and building walls on our borders are modern-day Sodomites.

           The fear of people whose skin is darker than our own has caused a centuries-long oppression of black people in America, an oppression that is often tragically acted out on young, black men, sometimes with deadly results.

           Fearing people whose gender identities don’t match their assigned sex has resulted in tragic, senseless acts of violence, too. According to the Human Rights Campaign, at least twenty-one transgendered men and women—nineteen of them people of color—have been killed so far in 2015 in the U.S.

           Sadly, I could go on and on about how fear has caused death and sorrow for so many. One cannot deny that racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, classism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, religious bigotry, and all other attitudes that result in division, hate, anger, and other destructive actions are rooted in fear.

           Those who fear live in darkness. While the light of God’s love might leak through the brokenness of their hearts from time to time, the darkness in there prevails, and fear rules. Greedy corporations and their lobbyists, and the politicians, lawmakers, and law enforcers who are their puppets, use fear to manipulate the masses for their own gains. Another mass shooting? Quick, go buy a gun to keep yourself safe from the terrorists and madmen. Immigrants and refugees taking your jobs away and living off welfare? Here, let me build a wall for you. And don’t worry, I’ll outsource the labor overseas so I can save myself some money. Same-sex marriage destroying the sanctity of your marriage(s)? Well, let’s put a stop to that…but I’ll need a donation from you to run my campaign.

           People who live in that twilight zone between full light and full darkness are especially vulnerable to the temptation to give in to fear. I know, because I’ve been there, and I still find myself there from time to time. Like a moth drawn to a flame, though, I want to always head toward the light. Unlike the poor moth, however, I will be purified by the light of God’s love. I will be able to see more clearly and come to a better understanding of what it really, truly means to be a follower of Christ.

           And the operative word in that previous sentence is “be.” God does not call us to do, but rather to be. To be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled. I cannot be these things, though, if I live in fear. And being these things does not mean that I do not speak my mind, or pursue my dreams, or express who I am, or stand up for my views. On the contrary, living in the light and casting out fear means that we have courage from God to both be and do all that God knows we can. For me, it is the courage to stand up for justice, peace, tolerance, inclusion, compassion, and generosity. If our being is in the light, then the doing that results will draw others to the light. The darkness will flee, and so will the hate and bigotry and all other fear-based attitudes along with it.