A struggle for us in today’s passages revolves around the relation of human agency to divine initiative.  In other words do we sit passively by and wait for God to set everything right (as traditional readings of Isaiah 40, especially v. 31 and Psalm 147 suggest) or do we have a part to play?  Although the psalm speaks to building a new community of those who have been rejected, it speaks primarily of what God will do.  It isn’t about what the brokenhearted, the wounded (verse 3) and the downtrodden (verse 6) are to do to improve their lives and change their communities.

Part of the problem with the traditional reading of these passages is that it can lead to our passivity – a kick-back, do-nothing apathy. One way of not getting trapped in such passivity is to look to the Hebrew verb, qwh, in Isaiah 40:31. The standard English translation, “wait on the Lord,” does not capture the sense of the pronouncement of Isaiah.  This Hebrew verb speaks to an active time where one prepares oneself – so that when God is ready to move, one can fly.  Later on one can slow to a run, and later still walk.  But one must be ready to fly and the period of waiting is a period of getting oneself prepared to act.  In this way the psalm needs to be recast to look at how those in the new community begin to relate to each other in ways that are empowering, as they recognize their interconnections and interdependency and not take that for granted.

Those who are LGBT or from other oppressed groups should not wait until the society changes to be non-oppressive.  Rather we must be working to improve ourselves and our conditions, so that when God gets on the move, we are prepared to make the best of the situation.  While the psalmist talks about God giving the rain and dew and helping nature work, it appears the psalmist is not aware that society can be oppressive and deny resources to those who are oppressed.  For example, consider last November’s elections when rights of LGBT people were diminished in several states.  Giving rain is not going to help those who were in the middle of adoption proceedings in Arkansas and now are going to lose their children.  Waiting on God, when hate mongers are on the run will not work for oppressed people.  We must “wait with our feet” and do the work and walk the walk.

	When and how have you dealt with the tension of “preparing yourself to be ready for God to act” and wishing God would act more quickly in addressing community problems?

The epistle and gospel Bible readings give us another contrast of polarities.  In the 1 Corinthians 9 passages we hear Paul saying he will dissemble and be what other people want him to be, because he is a “slave to all.”  This is a contest of “winning” as he presents it (verse 19).  It is interesting that he shows solidarity with the “safe ones” – the Jews, law followers, and weak – but not with the male prostitutes he rails against in 1 Corinthians 6 or the “unnatural ones” of Romans 1. While Paul presents himself in solidarity within a particular context, his language also shows that he is still keeping his privilege of social status.  If he gets into trouble he can retreat back to some sense of safety.

On the other hand, in Mark 1:29-39, Jesus is struggling over whether he should “come out” as the Christ.  He brings healing to Simon’s house.  Yet, when people are gathering outside to get in, Jesus slips away to figure out what he should do.  Is this the beginning process of coming out where one finds safe spaces to speak and to act?  How does the process become complicated when it moves from the private realm to the public?  What are the stakes for Jesus in coming out?  What are the costs of remaining closeted?  What are the stakes and benefits for LGBT people and allies coming out?

 Although many see in such healing narratives a comparison between LGBT and other oppressed groups as “the ones with the demons,” this passage could be read as casting out the demons of racism, heterosexism, classism, sexism and xenophobia that infects all our hearts.  Instead, we can read this passage as showing Jesus confronted with the oppressive ideologies as they are internalized by the people coming to him.  Perhaps he sees his initial task as confronting these destructive paradigms.  Jesus knows that the people have to be prepared to do the work of this casting out.  They have to be willing to come together as a new community as our reading from Psalm 147 suggests.  If we do not do this, we end up recapitulating Paul’s game of playing with people, without confronting the demons that have them oppressed and thus not liberating them.

	When have you found yourself in situations when it seemed dangerous to address problems?  Have you experienced situations when being “out” is viewed as not a safe or smart response to critical problems of injustice?  How have you handled these tensions?  Have you been in Jesus’ position of having to retreat to think through what would be the best steps to take in the future?

People are searching for truth tellers and that in a sense is our calling. We help bring things to the light of day.  When we come out of the closet, we bring many other “things" out of the closet with us   The demons know us as they knew Jesus.  Also, as with Jesus, when we try to stifle such demons as opposed to confront them, we run into difficulties.  Jesus changes in his response to the demons.  At the end of his reflection in Mark 1:39, he sees preaching as bringing the needed change to cast out the demons.   Yet when we follow him through the entire gospel of Mark, we see that he comes to a different more holistic realization that preaching alone won’t do the work.  We all have to challenge the systems of oppression in ways that change the lives of oppressed people, especially LGBT people, who are at our door looking for healing from societal and internalized oppression.