June 22, 2025 – Second Sunday after Pentecost
Selected readings from the New Testament
“Love One Another”
Allies to Advocates
Second Sunday after Pentecost
Two weeks ago, one or more ne’er-do-wells (it isn’t often you get to use that word in a sermon) thought it would be a fun idea to go through town under cover of night, and steal Pride flags from a handful of Chester businesses. The Little House was targeted, as were a handful of other shops. Although our own church Pride flag was spared this time, it has been pilfered in the past. When something like this happens – I’ve had political magnets taken off my truck – I take a light-hearted view of things and figure whoever took it needs it more than I do. But still it is a mean-spirited gesture, and it becomes more serious when we learn that another Chester business with a transgender staff has recently received repugnant posts and comments on their social media, and we realize it is not just kids playing games anymore. Even if stealing a flag can be considered a minor crime, when it deliberately targets members of the LGBTQ community it becomes a hate crime. 9
Early in April the Deep River Library held an event sponsored by Tri-Town Youth Services, which featured transgender speaker Jillian Celentano. In the days leading up the event, anonymous flyers were distributed throughout the community that featured a picture of Celentano on the front and false claims about gays and lesbians on the reverse, with a malicious warning to parents to keep their children away from the library. Connecticut State Police are investigating the incident, and organizers wondered if they should call off the lecture, which would of course play right into the hands of the provocateurs. Together, the library, TTYS and Celentano decided to go ahead with the event, and when a larger-than-expected crowd showed up that night, Rob Bibbiano, Director of Tri-Town Youth Services, steeled himself for the worst. Until he saw that most of them were wearing and carrying rainbow colors – the crowd came out to show their support for the event, and to demonstrate that Deep River has no tolerance for hate. 12
The United States government recently established a policy that would forbid passport applicants and holders to choose a non-binary gender option for their passports. The only choice permitted was to select one’s gender at birth, regardless of how long ago that was or how germane it might be to the individual’s current orientation. This is the same government that earlier this week shut down the national LGBTQ youth suicide prevention hotline that has been operating since 2005. In just the past three years the hotline has served more than 1.3 million young people. This, in spite of the fact that LGBTQ youth are four times more likely to attempt suicide than hetero youth. Currently the passport order has been stayed by a federal court judge. I pray that the court will rule similarly against the dismantling the national youth suicide hotline. 2
Shall I keep going?
Two weeks ago at their annual national meeting the clergy and delegates of the Southern Baptist Convention overwhelmingly endorsed a ban on same-gender marriage. More than 10,000 church representatives were in attendance when the convention voted to overturn “laws and court rulings, including Obergfell v. Hodges (the Supreme Court ruling that permits same-gender marriages nation-wide) that defy God’s design for marriage and family.” The SBC is demanding a new set of laws that define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Friends, the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States, and to folks who don’t pay attention to the particularities of denominational affiliation, it delivers the message that most churches and most church-goers in general are compassionless Luddites with an inbred anti-gay, anti-LGBTQ, anti-equality attitude.
Oh, and by the way, it is the aim of the SBC to make such a fuss as to get their case before the current Supreme Court.
Which, not so very incidentally, ruled this week to permit states to enact laws that severely restrict health care for transgender and non-binary youth whose lives may depend on that hotline. 15
I had a conversation earlier this week with one of Chester’s leaders, who decried the theft of Pride flags and the anonymous targeting of certain members of the LGBTQ community. They told me there is a sense among neighbors and shop owners alike that common, respectful conversations about things we don’t always have to agree on have become more the exception than the rule. And if our leadership is feeling this, you know it is being felt among the rest of us as well. Even though Chester’s flag thieves and the Deep River pamphleteers worked under cover of darkness, still there is a certain boldness and brazenness to these hateful acts that have become more common in recent years. And given recent news, I cannot help but wonder if there hasn’t been a certain amount of permission-giving at the national level, permission to belittle and mock folks whose lifestyles may not mirror our own, permission to deny the dignity and humanity of others, and increasingly, permission to do so with violence. If the Supreme Court is any indication, if 10,000 Southern Baptists are any indication, if the state of Tennessee and the other 24 states like it that restrict access to health care for their transgender citizens are any indication, we can understand why our LGBTQ brothers and sisters are living in a state of worry and fear.
And rightly, they look to the rest of us for help, for comfort, for support, for love, and for action. 5
As members of an Open and Affirming Congregation of the United Church of Christ, you and I have long been allies in the resistance to gender-oriented discrimination and hatred, actively welcoming our lesbian and gay sisters and brothers into fellowship. We have been firm allies in standing up to homophobia and its related antipathies. But the time comes to move beyond allyship to advocacy. Across the board, whether we are talking about the rights of the LGBTQ community, the rights of people with disabilities, the rights of people of color, the rights of the alien and immigrant, as the Bible puts it, the rights of every minority, the rights of every child of God, it is important that our voice is heard so theirs may be also. But there is more to it. We need to be advocates as much as allies. Allies offer support and solidarity, and this is important. Advocates actively speak out and work to change systems and policies that negatively impact others. 7
There are two images of the advocate that may be helpful. The first is of an attorney, who represents a client in court. The best attorneys, by profession, represent the best genuine interests of those for whom and with whom they stand. They seek justice, they seek fairness and they seek for their client what is rightly their due. The other image of the advocate is the Spirit of God. In John’s gospel, Jesus tells his followers, “I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom God will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all I have said to you.” The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, stands with and speaks for Jesus, and at the same time equips you and me to be faithful advocates ourselves. And when we advocate for one another, we reveal the love and presence of God. 14
This idea of putting words into works is one of the reasons I appreciate our United Church Open and Affirming covenant, particularly the concluding sentence. In a few moments you and I will read these words together: “Therefore, as an Open and Affirming Church, let us strive to put our beliefs into action, setting aside our prejudices and working to become faithful followers of our Lord Jesus Christ who commanded us to love one another.” There are those three words again, love one another. The statement reminds us that putting our beliefs into action is how we become faithful followers of Jesus, and how we can best demonstrate the love to which God calls us. It is a method of transformation from being allies to being advocates. And in these days, as my cursory news review this morning indicates, the people who need us the most need more than our words, they need us to stand up with them and stand up for them. 13
Amen.