What It Means to be MCC: Social Justice 5-12-13

What It Means to be MCC: Social Justice    5-12-13

God, today we focus on your work in the world beyond our comfort zone.  Convict and convince us to listen to your command to go into all the world and preach your Gospel of peace and reconciliation.  Grant us ears to hear, hearts to change, and words from you.  Amen

            For many years MCC has been known as the “gay church.”  But, even as our congregation reveals, we are so much more than that.  In the last two Sundays we have looked at two of the four core values which inform our ministries as an MCC church.  First we looked at what it meant to be a community of love and last week we took a look at spiritual transformation through the eyes of Lydia, one of the early church leaders.  Today, we come to Social Justice.  For those of you who have had the opportunity to see the wonderful film, “Call Me Troy”, you will remember the footage of our founder, Rev. Elder Troy Perry, walking in the early LGBT marches, calling for justice and placing MCC squarely in the middle of the work for human rights for LGBT folks and for all people.  This work and the work that has continued in MCC has earned us the title: “the Human Rights Church”.

            As the Human Rights Church, MCC has developed a philosophy of ministry.  We believe that as Christians we are called to : “stand in solidarity with those who are marginalized and oppressed, be partners in working for change, be witnesses who call attention to Human Rights abuses, be a voice in the international community for justice, lift up new generations of remarkable, far-reaching spiritual activists, build on hope and create our future.

            Our passion for justice is built on a solid scriptural basis.  We know through the history of the Hebrew people that God is a God of Justice and Righteousness.  In the sixth chapter of the writings of the prophet Amos, we hear:  “And what does the Lord require of you?—to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”   We know that God, our Creator, is the defender of poor and oppressed people everywhere.  Jeremiah says, “’let the one who boasts boast about this:      that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord”.  Our passage from the First Letter of John this morning reminds us of this, My children, our love must not be simply words or mere talk—it must be true love, which shows itself in action and truth. This, then, is how we’ll know we belong to the truth…”

            Our Human Rights Protocol contains some “baseline standards” from which we can learn much regarding international and local human rights work.  First, to only go where we are invited and to assume we have a lot to learn.  As we listen to our hosts, we begin to forge partnerships.  We always want to be able to respond when requested, and to be flexible to the realities and differences in establishing churches internationally. 

MCC is approached by people and organizations from around the world
asking for our assistance and support. Prioritizing our response is critical in managing our resources and responding to cries for justice around the world.  Thorough assessments are utilized to determine the potential for success.  This coincides with our efforts to learn all we can about the culture and the country.  As we walk humbly with our God in these efforts, we acknowledge that we are never more expert than the people in the communities themselves.  As we listen and learn, we forge partnerships in the region.  While we want to be able to respond when requested, we always want to be flexible to the realities and differences in establishing churches internationally.  It is difficult for us to understand sometimes the concern for safety.  Human Rights work helps us to understand the culture and the issues and to build trust.

Initially, our global justice work became organized under the Moderator’s Global Justice team of MCC.  The purpose of the Moderator’s Global Justice Team of Metropolitan Community Churches is “to be an agent of change by building bridges that liberate and unite voices of sacred defiance.  While transforming history, we seek to live the Good News of the Gospel”. 

            In the beginning, this team had a five-year vision.  Among the work they wanted to accomplish was the establishment of LGBT mosques, the formation of an MCC Social Justice Council with members from as many nations as possible, the development of a Global Justice Center with staff to provide training, the insistence that LGBT issues be on the table at every Human Rights gathering, and to work for anti-violence/hate crimes legislation on a global basis.  Additional work includes a multi-language “virtual church”, an increase of financial resources, and dialogues with Catholic and Orthodox communities.  

And then, something amazing happened.  Just one year ago, the Global Justice Institute was founded.  The Global Justice Institute is a joint project of MCC and The Fellowship.   Both denominations took an extra offering at Easter and ear-marked it for the development of the Institute.  Fellowship Bishop commented, “We’re partnering in the Easter Offering Campaign because justice work is Jesus’ work. Whenever we stand with the oppressed, the marginalized, the rejected, the persecuted, we stand with Jesus and we minister to Jesus.”

And, just like that the Global Justice Institute became a reality.  Just this past Easter, Open Circle contributed over $500 to the Global Justice Institute in a record-breaking year, as more MCC churches participated than ever before.  We are a church that is on fire for Human Rights and Justice whether it be at a local school board meeting or in Uganda, Pakistan, or the former Soviet Union.  Even before the establishment of this Institute, MCC’ers had done amazing things in equally amazing places.  Rev. Elder Dr. Nancy Wilson reminds us of all that we have already done.  “Together, we’ve supported our brothers and sisters across Eastern Europe as they made historic advances for religious freedom and human rights. We’ve joined hands with MCCers across Central and Latin America as they trained a new generation of spiritual leaders. You have helped plant indigenous ministries in Southeast Asia that are challenging injustice and intolerance, and your gifts continue to provide support for lesbian and transgender communities in Pakistan. You helped underwrite the first LGBT conference in Russia and publish the first book about LGBT spiritual rights in the Russian language. You helped create safe space for Ugandans, who face daily threats to freedom and life. And you made it possible for MCC to boldly march in the first-ever gay rights marches in such places as Jamaica and Romania.!”

            The purpose and charter of the Global Justice Institute is impressive.  As our voice in the world, the “Global Justice Institute will:

• Serve as an umbrella organization to efficiently and most effectively carry out the social justice ministries to which MCC has been committed since our earliest days.
• Create a safe space for spiritual activists who are fighting homophobia and transphobia.
• Effect societal change through a three-pronged strategy of theological reconciliation, economic development and positive press coverage for LGBT peoples.
• Serve as a joint ministry of MCC and The Fellowship, the Global Justice Institute will provide solidarity and support where people are still marginalized and persecuted.
• Speak truth to power and will add our voices and resources to those of people who seek justice, freedom and equality.
• Carry out its work while embodying the core values, mission and principles of MCC.
• Create partnerships with indigenous groups and human rights organizations to achieve its objectives.
• Build on what MCC has already accomplished in Pakistan, Uganda, Eastern Europe, Jamaica, Asia and so many other places.”

The Global Justice Institute knows that we are doing our work in a world which encompasses, among other things, “volatility, a gap between the haves and the have-nots, advances in human rights, and escalations in violence, loss of culture; violence as commonplace, the need to understand pluralistic concepts of religiosities, escalating fundamentalism, funding much of the violence, increasing need to attend to Global Warming, increase in anti-Semitism and racism, corporations dominating the economies, leading to poverty, HIV on the rise in many places, shifting perspectives on gender and poverty and identity, denial of cultural values, and terrorism. 

Let me tell you one final story.  Uganda remains one of the most challenging environments for LGBT people to live open and productive lives.  Male Samuel is a 26-year-old sugar cane grower whose, family abandoned him when he was just 11 years old.  He is gay.  To support himself, he began his own sugar cane business–growing the crop and selling it to retailers. He currently rents 3 acres of land and employs 13 people, some gay and some straight, who work together for the common good of their families and villages. The Global Justice Institute is partnering with Male to expand his business and his opportunity to hire more workers. Our investment of $1500 US will allow Male to rent 2 more acres of land, hire 6 new workers, 4 of whom will be members of the LGBT community of faith we help to support, and put a new roof over his storage barn. With the new land and new workers, Male will be able to increase his production by 66%.

We will continue to make a difference as MCC churches throughout the world.  May God honor our efforts and increase their effectiveness.  Amen and amen.