Voices of Faith Speak Out: it starts with us

Excerpts from a sermon by the Rev Michael Hopkins, Episcopal Priest.

So who in their right mind let the Samaritan lepers into the Church? Jesus did. And too many of his followers have been trying to keep them out ever since. And this exclusion is death dealing to our young people. .....

You know the world doesn’t have to be like that. God doesn’t want it to be like that. The Church should not want it to be like that either, or it should just close up shop because it isn’t good for a whole helluva lot, making straight white “normal” people feel better about themselves while at best ignoring the rest of us and at worst seeking to do us harm in the name of an angry God.

The antidote starts here, as always, with our own thanks, which has the power to heal and to save. Let us receive this power of acceptance and go forth into the world as Samaritan lepers, all of us, full of good news.

And let us be clear to our brothers and sisters, “You must stop your words that take away people’s worth. They are death dealing. Young people listen to them and kill themselves. Stop, just stop it, in the name of Jesus Christ, stop it.”