On June 11 at 9:30 am we will celebrate the third year of our “Living Up to the Rainbow” worship service. Each year in this special worship service we celebrate the diversity of God’s people and we affirm the sacred worth of all persons, not determined by their sexual orientation or gender identity, but by their identity in Christ. Through music and liturgy, we affirm the expansive love that God has for all persons and God’s call for us to do the same.
This service is marked with rainbows because the rainbow is a deeply significant symbol in the Bible. In Genesis, the rainbow represents the covenant of love God initiates with Noah after the flood:
12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (Genesis 9: 12-13).
In scripture, God uses the rainbow to mark the end of destruction and the beginning of new life. The promise of the rainbow says that we can all have confidence in who we truly are as God’s children. Living up to the rainbow, to followers of Christ, means to mark an end to destructive ways and the beginning of a new life of love and acceptance for all of God’s people. As St. Matthew’s celebrates the inclusion of all of God’s people, we remember the covenant of the rainbow and its leading us into new and abundant life.
It is no accident that we do this service during Pride month. Unfortunately, throughout much of its history, the larger Christian church has excluded LGBTQ persons and communicated to them that they are less than beloved children of God. However, the United Methodist Church “affirms that all people are of sacred worth and are equally valuable in the sight of God. It is committed to be in ministry with all people ... .The Church ‘implores families and churches not to reject or condemn lesbian and gay members and friends.’ The Church deplores acts of hate and violence against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity and believes human rights and civil liberties are due all people, regardless of sexual orientation.”
This principle of the inclusiveness of the church is enshrined in the Constitution of the United Methodist Church. Therefore, we believe that everyone is welcome to worship and actively participate in the life of our congregations without respect to sexual orientation or gender identity.
Our Living Up to the Rainbow service is an expression of our commitment to the principle of inclusiveness that is at the heart of United Methodism. We are not trying to be political or to give our blessing to a cultural or social movement. Our goal is to express a core truth that runs throughout the pages of the Bible: All persons are loved by God and we are called to do the same. It is important that we articulate the inclusive love of God to people who have been hurt and marginalized by communities of faith.
We may wonder what difference being a welcoming and inclusive community of faith makes for LGBTQ persons. For some, it can mean the difference between life and death. According to the Trevor Project (A non profit organization whose mission is to end suicide among LGBTQ young people) 45% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. Their research has determined that LGBTQ youth who felt high social support from family, friends, etc reported attempting suicide at less than half the rate of those who felt low or moderate social support. LGBTQ youth who live in a community that is accepting of them reported significantly lower rates of attempting suicide than those who do not. In the adult population, statistics tell us that 41% of American transgender people have attempted suicide, compared to 1.6% of the general U.S. population. A 2016 review of research found 17% of LGBQ adults had attempted suicide during their lifetime, compared with 2.4% of the general U.S. population. All of this underscores the crucial difference that being an inclusive church can make in the lives of LGBTQ brothers and sisters in Christ.
I remember one of our bishops saying in a sermon, “Unless the church is a home for all, it is a home for no one.” His words reminded me that as soon as we start excluding some people, we will find a way to exclude others. Friends, that is a place I never want to go as a pastor and it is a place our church should not go. It is not our role to be gatekeepers for God because God has opened the gate wide so that all may enter in.
It is my hope that you will join us for June 11th’s Living Up to the Rainbow service as we embrace United Methodism’s commitment to the inclusive love of God and seek to communicate that love to those who have so often been denied it.
In Christ,
Pastor John