Inclusion and Tolerance

Friday, February 6, 2009 -- Week of 4 Epiphany, Year One

Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 946)
Psalms 69:1-23(24-30)31-38 (morning) 73 (evening)
Isaiah 56:1-8
Galatians 5:16-24
Mark 9:2-13

Isaiah 56:1-8 reads like a contemporary letter to the editor. It is a clarion call for inclusion and tolerance.

We've just shifted voices and decades. Isaiah 40-55 comes from a prophet of the exile who anticipates the defeat of Babylon (which happened in 538 BCE) and the return of the people to Israel which followed. We've been reading from that section which is often called Second Isaiah, a message of comfort, hope and encouragement.

Chapters 56-66 belong to the period after the first stages of the return and restoration of Judah, around 520-500 BCE, or maybe later. Things haven't worked out as wonderfully as Second Isaiah had hoped.

Although Second Isaiah issued an open invitation to everyone to "come to the waters" and to "seek the Lord while he may be found" and "return to the Lord," old traditions about who is part of God's family have reappeared and been used to exclude some.

There are those who are excluding the eunuchs from the community and from its prayers, citing Deuteronomy 23. There are those who are excluding foreigners. (There always are, it seems.)

Isaiah 56 is a clarion call for inclusion and tolerance. "For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbath, ...I will give in my house and within my walls, ...an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, ...these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer..." (Some call this section, chapters 56-66, Third Isaiah.)

These words sound very similar to the calls for inclusion and tolerance for gay people in today's church and community. These words sound like contemporary appeals for hospitality and a road to citizenship for our undocumented aliens.

"For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples," the prophet speaks in the name of God. No exclusion, no prejudice, no intolerance.

"Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered." Open doors; open hearts. I remember when Ed Browning was elected Presiding Bishop (two PB's ago), he opened his term with the stirring motto, "There shall be no outcasts" in the Episcopal Church. He spoke in the spirit of Isaiah 56.

Paul's voice in his letter to the Galatians is also a voice of inclusion. The entire letter is a passionate appeal for the inclusion of uncircumcised Gentiles into the family of God. Paul insists that they be included, and that they not be expected to follow the Jewish Law and its many exclusive customs. In this section of Galatians 5 we read today one of his most eloquent statements. To those who would exclude those "others," Paul asserts that "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things." (my emphasis)

If eunuchs or foreigners, gay people or aliens manifest the fruits of the spirit, we dare not exclude them by our customs and laws. There is no law against such people.

The Biblical witness for inclusion and tolerance is a strong tradition, and the parts of the church who articulate that call in our time follow in the spirit of Isaiah and Paul, ...and Jesus.

Lowell

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About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.

Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117

An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html


The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.

Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org

Our Rule of Life

We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.

Lowell Grisham, Rector

St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas