Statement at
Decision Day Rally
By The Rev. Torey Lightcap
June 26, 2013
Every once in a while, you get
to preach to the choir! Today is one of those days. It’s a good day.
Nevertheless: alas, as always,
there remains so much to do. As my
priestly colleague Susan Russell has commented, tonight we can celebrate these
rulings of the Supreme Court as “incremental victories” toward the larger
mission of achieving full equality for all LGBT Americans. Susan said today
that “We did not get the whole enchilada – but there is enough guacamole.”
We live in an absolutely
remarkable age. As a member of the clergy and as a person whose positions on
moral issues are sometimes noted, I know that I can stand before each of you
with the full backing of my bishop, The Right Reverend Alan Scarfe, and
proclaim to you that today’s decisions are specific instances of justice as
drawn out by the Gospel According to Matthew. In that Gospel, Jesus says that
when you reach out from the center into the margins and show love and respect
and care for those who dwell there, you love not only those people, but in
point of fact you love Jesus himself. For a Christian, there can be no higher
calling.
You’ll realize, of course, from
just having lived your life, that just because the Court has spoken doesn’t
mean we’re through with fallout or recalcitrance or backbiting or bitterness,
or the organizing of further opposition which the law also is obliged to allow
respect and voice in the process. That legal ramifications are only one aspect
of a much bigger assembly of concerns. That many good people will continue to
feel, even if they can’t quite explain it, that they’ve been kicked in the
teeth once more. That somehow they continue to lose a war they never started.
To them, and to you, I say that those of us who call ourselves Christians are forever
obliged to love and include everyone. Ours is not judgement.
Ours is to show dignity and to
promote the respect and freedom of every human person because we are all indissolubly
bonded to one another as the creation of the one God who rules all things and
who is in all things. The Christ who is in friend and stranger at the margins.
Disagreement is expected; love is required.
This is the victory we
celebrate today. With kindness and forbearance, we will continue to celebrate
it, and to make strides for full inclusion and equality.
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