A sermon offered in honor and appreciation of the Rev. Matthew and Frances Nevels, advocates of acceptance and compassion for homosexual people and their families.

Fred Phelps died this past week. Most of you know who he was. For those who don’t, he was the virulently anti-homosexual preacher who drew wide and scornful attention for staging demonstrations at the funerals of gay men as well as military men to proclaim his belief that God was punishing America for its tolerance of homosexuality. He was joined in these demonstrations by members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, a small congregation made up almost entirely of members of his family. Phelps was convinced the United States was beyond saving, and he devoted his life to traveling with a small band of protestors to highlight what he saw as America’s sinfulness and damnation. During his life, Phelps was probably the most loathed clergyman in America, denounced across the theological and political spectrum for his beliefs, his language, and his tactics. Now he is gone and what shall we say?

Many of us are relieved that he will no longer be spewing his hatred. I share that relief but I have two other beliefs:

First, I do not believe Fred Phelps is now in the hell he would have consigned me as well as you. Whatever poisoned his life to such hatred, I believe he is now experiencing the overwhelming love that God has for all people without exception. Phelps now knows with terrible clarity how wrong he was and that is punishment enough for anyone. Rest in peace, Fred Phelps, a peace and love far greater than any you knew in life.

I hope you can join me in wishing him that peace. We are challenged by our Christian faith to forgive those whose lives are full of hatred and anger. If we cannot do that we have given Fred Phelps a final victory that he does not deserve. We have to be better than that if we want the world to change.

Second, and I believe this is the greater tragedy, virulent homophobia is being taught and preached in thousands of Christian churches across America. Though the language may not be as hideous as that of Fred Phelps, the message is the same: homosexuality is a God-cursed perversion. It is a degrading and disgusting lifestyle for those who choose to practice it. Attempts to grant homosexual people the same legal rights and opportunities granted to heterosexual people must be opposed in every way possible. Legalizing marriage between homosexual people will ultimately destroy marriage and family life in America. And on and on it goes. Yes, Fred Phelps is gone but the beliefs that corrupted and corroded his life still live on in millions of Christian people.

The moment I say this some homophobic pastor will accuse me of ignoring the fact that in both the Old and New Testaments the Bible clearly condemns homosexuality. My friend, you couldn’t be more mistaken. The only homosexuality the Old Testament knows is homosexuality practiced in pagan fertility rites or the gang rape described in today’s scripture lesson. The only homosexuality the New Testament knows is either the Greek practice of older men mentoring boys which might include homosexual behavior or the polymorphous perverse sexuality of a corrupt Roman society. None of what the Bible knows as homosexuality bears any relationship to the responsible, loving homosexual love experienced in a committed relationship. As I have said before, properly expressed homosexual love is just as normal for homosexual people as properly expressed heterosexual love is for heterosexual people.

Let me clarify the improper use of the Bible to condemn homosexuality as in our scripture lesson this morning. The story of Abraham, Lot, and Sodom and Gomorrah contains both legendary and mythic elements. Recall that a legendary story is based on some historical reality though not all the facts are historically true. A myth story has no basis in history but is a powerful way to tell truth. Think for a moment of Jesus’ stories of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son. Both are myths but they contain timeless truths.

Today’s story begins in a lovely pastoral setting. Abraham, the great patriarch, sees three men coming to his tent pitched in the shade of the oaks of Mamre. He runs out to greet them and offers them his hospitality. He washes their feet and then, with typical middle-eastern understatement, offers to get them a “morsel” of bread and a small drink of water. Then he and Sarah rush off and prepare a feast!

I still recall when my son David and I were in Israel, we went shopping first thing one morning in the Old City of Jerusalem. We bought something in one of the shops and since Palestinians and Arab s regard the first customer of the day as a lucky sign, the shop owner insisted that we have some light refreshments with him. One of his employees rushed off and brought back soda for David as well as different candies and for me there was Turkish coffee and a variety of cakes and pastries. This “light refreshments” lasted for more than an hour(!) but that is Middle Eastern hospitality.

After Abraham had feasted his guests one of them turns out to be God who tells Abraham and Sarah that they will have a son. Then the story says that God wonders whether or not he should tell Abraham that he and the others are on their way to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Since God knows Abraham to be a just and righteous man, he tells him what he is going to do. Because Abraham is a just and righteous man he is horrified by the thought that good people will be destroyed with the wicked ones. If the stakes were not so serious it would be almost amusing how Abraham bargains with God to save the city. He first gets God to agree that if there are 50 righteous people in Sodom God will not destroy the city.  But because Abraham knows what kind of city Sodom is, he bargains with God until finally God agrees the city will not be destroyed if there are only ten righteous people to be found in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Now we come to the part of the story that was read this morning. God is no longer with the two angelic figures as they go to Sodom. Lot, Abraham’s nephew, sees them coming through the city gate and urges them not to spend the night in the public square but as guests in his home. Lot knows very well the abuse that strangers would meet in Sodom so he offers them the protection of his hospitality. Like Abraham, Lot prepares a feast for his visitors but as the dinner is ending, a mob of men and boys from Sodom pound on Lot’s door and insist that he bring out the two visitors so that they may – as the text says – “know” them. Hebrew is a simple language and the verb “to know” can mean both to become acquainted with someone and also to have sexual intercourse with someone. Here it is clear that the men of Sodom want to sexually abuse the strangers. Now we come to a very important point: Sodomy and Sodomites have come to mean male homosexuality. But what we have in the story is not loving, consensual sex between two men in a committed relationship. It is homosexual rape. Homosexual rape is no less reprehensible than heterosexual rape then or now. To equate what the men of Sodom wanted with what decent, caring responsible homosexual men want today is a lie. No one who wants to be faithful to the Bible should ever use this story to bolster an attack on homosexuality.

Lot, in offering hospitality to his two guests, has assumed full responsibility for their safety. He pleads with the mob not to act so wickedly. Then Lot does something that shocks us today. He offers to bring out his two young daughters so that the mob can have sex with them and leave the strangers alone. Of course, that is a ghastly reminder of the low status of women in biblical times but give Lot some credit for doing whatever he could to save the strangers from harm.

Fortunately, it doesn’t come to that. The angelic strangers strike the men of Sodom blind and then hustle Lot, his wife, and his two daughters out of the city. The angels warn them that they should not look back and see what will happen. Then fire and brimstone rain down and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah are utterly destroyed. But Lot’s wife could not resist looking back on her old home and the story says she was turned into a pillar of salt.

My friends, please do not try to find historical facts in this story. Whether there ever were two cities at the southern end of the Dead Sea that were destroyed in some natural calamity, who knows! And though when you visit Israel, your guide will show you a pillar of salt and say it is Lot’s wife, don’t believe him. As I said last week, God is not a God of murderous, destructive violence; God is a God of never-failing redeeming love.

If, as I believe, Fred Phelps is now knowing the grace of God, I am sure that those mythic citizens of Sodom and Gomorrah are also in the grace of God. Who am I? Who are you to say they are not? For myself I take comfort in the words of the old hymn:

“For the love of God is broader than the measure of our mind,

And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.”

That is my faith and that is my sermon. Amen.