Psalm 23 provides a picture of a shepherd unlike the image of the shepherd found in the book of Jeremiah. This psalmist’s shepherd, identified with God, has rarely been experienced by LGBT folk in the church.  Hearing the affirmation that God, like a shepherd, anoints my head with oil — chooses me — and meets my needs, can be a very powerful word for those who have been abused by other “shepherds.” When ordination is prohibited by the church, what a good word that God anoints us! Even while rejected, we eat at the table prepared by God in the presence of our enemies. The Eucharist, the communion table, is for us! And to say that we will dwell in God’s house forever is a challenge and encouragement not to walk away. This house is ours. Let no one tell us otherwise.

	Psalm 23 is traditionally used at funerals and memorial services.  How might LGBT people hear the psalm in new and radical ways?  What comfort and challenge does it bring to LGBT folk?

In Jeremiah 23:1-6, the prophet minces no words in the warning to those who are pushing the flock of God away, scattering and destroying many. Among our conversation group, we discussed how the pain of exile (of never being able to belong, no matter what you do) has been known by those LGBT folk who have been excluded from the church and church leadership.  This pain is not unlike the pain experienced by those who have immigrated to the United States and who now are no longer fully accepted in their home country nor fully accepted in the US.

Yet following the warning to those shepherds who have scattered God’s flock, the prophet Jeremiah preaches a word of restoration to those who have been driven away, to the remnant who will be brought back to the fold (verse 3).

The restoration of a remnant is cause for celebration, but be cautious. Who is the “faithful remnant?” We recognize that “faithful remnant” is language used by some who want to prevent LGBT Christians from being acknowledged in the Church. The text, then, is a double-edged sword: in it we can hear a word of liberation while others are using the same text as a word of condemnation. This calls for discernment and an ear for the liberating word.

We note that the Hebrew word tsedek is translated as “righteous” in Jeremiah 23:5-6 by the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, yet is more accurately understood as “justice” (“justicia” in Spanish) or “solidarity.”

	Who gets to define who is the faithful remnant? Do you see LGBT people of faith as part of that remnant or outsiders?

 In reflecting on Ephesians 2:11-22, we recalled that in the first century, some thought that in order for a Gentile to become a Christian, they had to first become a Jew, to be circumcised. Some persons today think that before a lesbian, gay or bisexual person can become a Christian they must first become heterosexual, they must circumcise their sexual orientation. The good news is that no one has to be circumcised; no one has to give up who they are. No one has to adopt a different culture or orientation or gender identity in order to be Christian.

	In Christ, because of Christ, we are an integral part of the community of faith, along with those who have positioned themselves as our enemies.  How do we approach and challenge those who are against us and are also a part of the Christian community?

In Mark 6:30-34, 53-56, Jesus recognized the tragedy of a community that had no good shepherd. For too long, many in the LGBT community have been like sheep without a shepherd. Places of spiritual rest and safety are few and far between for many. In the midst of intense political unrest and economic crises, today's disciples can hear Jesus' urging to come away to a supportive community and rest awhile. Creating those places of respite and claiming the gifts of the spiritual disciplines of retreat and prayer can be restoring acts that empower us for the work of healing.

To suggest that we can turn Jesus into a totem or good-luck charm that we can just touch and all our problems will just go away is a dangerous interpretation of the Scripture that can keep us from engaging the needs for social justice in our midst.   At the same time, for those of us who are workaholics, who think that the world will crumble into anarchy if we take a break from the struggle, it is good to know that there is someone we can touch, in whom we can rest and find healing.  We need to pay attention to how we are reading this verse. 

What is a theology of abundance?  Three of the Bible readings for this Sunday shed some light on this question.  In 2 Kings 4:42-44, the story prefigures several accounts in the New Testament of Jesus’ miraculously feedings crowds with extraordinarily meager resources. A common theme is of a crowd “eating their fill” and still “having some left over”—the theological insight being that God is a God of abundant plenty.  Even when there is apparently not enough, the truer reality is that there is more than enough. 

	What gifts do you or your community seem to withhold – fearful that there is not enough?

Psalm 145:1-18 proclaims that God’s openness satisfies our desires (verse 6). Here the insight is not the typical “Christian” insight that desire is bad or wrong and that God will transform our desires into something else (ostensibly better or more pure).  In this psalm, God satisfies human desires.  And, in satisfying our desires, God affirms them as legitimate, and even good.  Surely this kind of affirmation of desires is part of the fullness of God that Paul prays will fill the Ephesian Christians (Ephesians 3:19).

	What are your desires? What would it look like for God to satisfy your desires?   As lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people of faith, when might “desire” be seen as a gift of God? When is it problematic?

In Ephesians 3:14-21, Paul’s ministry began with a mystical vision of the risen Christ and in this passage we encounter a continuation of this deep spirituality whether or not Paul was the author of the letter.  First, the writer rearticulates a vision of a new humanity made possible in Christ.  Christ proclaims peace: “Peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near” (Ephesians 2:16-17).  The prayer which follows is a testimony to the power of Christ’s love not only to reconcile communities and cultures, but to reconcile the conflict even in our inner life.  The prayer assures us that “Christ dwells in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love” (verse17). 

Connecting with the other readings from today, we understand that our yearning and desire begin and end in our inner most being.  God’s abundance is not only actualized externally, but internally as well.  Our inner life with God is infinite, and our desire and yearnings are “filled with all the fullness of God” (verse 19).

This Sunday’s gospel lesson, John 6: 1-21, is a story about spiritual hunger.  The great church father, Augustine spoke this often quoted prayer, “Thou hast created us for thyself, O God, so that our hearts are restless until they find rest in thee.” It is this restless hunger that propelled thousands of people into the desert in search of a man named Jesus known to offer healing to those in need.  It is this restless hunger that perpetuates the powerful forces within contemporary culture that work to seduce our human longing towards things that provide empty satisfaction.  Consumerism is one of the ways that we manifest our spiritual hunger.  It is the restlessness of our hearts that convinces us to “Supersize It” at McDonald’s and to buy homes that are 3500 square feet.  It is this restless longing that calls us to search social, romantic or sexual websites in an attempt to feel loved and connected.  Our restless longing often comes in the form of addictions and it gets expressed in the misled belief that we need to be funnier, more attractive, smarter, wealthier, and more successful.

John’s gospel story functions as a reminder to us that the restlessness in the human heart will never be finally stilled by any object or project or person or place. The longing is eternal.  It is God-given.  It is the place where humanity and God are most intimately connected. And it is actually, good. Without the yearning that resides at our core, we would loose our vitality; our creativity; our search for meaning. Our search for the holy would ebb away and all of our greatest potential and divine possibility would eventually evaporate.  Our longing is but an eternal echo of the Divine Longing, which has created us and will sustain us; just as the thousands of people in the Gospel story were sustained and fed by a compassionate Jesus. Our task is to trust that God can and does satiate our hunger with spiritual food that will nourish us into wholeness. 

	Are there things you do that are attempts to satiate a spiritual longing that only God can fulfill?  In what ways have you experienced God’s response to spiritual hunger?