Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
I begin today's sermon with the words of Rev. Ron Phares: "We are here today to remember people we never knew.
We'll soon know their names and where they were, but we don't know the sound of their laughter, their senses of humor,
the things about them that really get on their friend's nerves or how much regret or love they had in their hearts." Although we will name their names,
and look at snapshots of their beautiful faces, we run the risk of allowing the essence of their being to dissolve into the overwhelmingly oppressive statistics of our day –
statistics such as those from the 2011 report that was produced by the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and the National Center for Transgender Equality.
The report revealed that 41% of the transgender respondents had attempted suicide, compared to the 1.6% of the general population.
Seventy-eight percent of those who expressed a transgender identity or gender non-conformity while in grades K-12 reported harassment,
35% reported physical assault, and 12% reported *** violence. Survey respondents experienced unemployment at twice the rate of the general population
and one-fifth of them reported experiencing homelessness at some point in their lives because they were transgender or gender nonconforming.
One out of five people reported being refused medical care due to their transgender or gender non-conforming status.
And according to a report this week, 265 trans persons have been murdered worldwide over the last year. That's a lot of numbers, isn't it?
And that's the problem. It's so many numbers – so many alarmingly large numbers – that, eventually, we become numb to it all.
We have managed to reduce the whole ugly mess of discrimination and violence against members of God's family to a bunch of statistics and numbers
that can be entered into spreadsheets and converted to graphs. And in this way, we distance ourselves from their humanity. We don't have to consider their pain and struggles.
But they are human. And they do struggle. And they, like you and me, feel pain. Oh, how they feel pain! Imagine what it must be like for your identity as male or female –
your *** identity – to be out of sync with your body. Try to imagine the painful reality of it. Imagine struggling with it on a daily basis.
Every day of your life! And then imagine that no one must ever know your secret. If you tell anyone, you run the risk of ridicule, rejection, and yes, death.
A violent death. Our brothers and sisters know what pain is. And so the least we can do, the very least, is to remember them.
To acknowledge the short time they walked among us. And to grieve our loss. They were taken from us by people who are imprisoned by a static way of thinking –
a black-and-white way of thinking in which they are right and anyone who thinks or behaves differently is wrong.
They are people whose lives are ruled by fear and anger. And they worship an angry and frightening god, not the same God of love and grace that you and I worship.
The God we worship breaks down barriers that separate people. Paul put it this way: "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free,
there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." In other words, religion, social status,
and gender have no bearing in God's world. But unfortunately, not everyone lives in God's world. Some people wreak havoc upon God's world.
They destroy lives, ironically, in the name of the god they worship. And so the very least we can do here today
is to remember some of the lives which have been destroyed. And to commit ourselves to doing what we can to repair God's world.
Each of you have inside your worship bulletin a card – a unique card – of someone whose life was taken over the past year simply because they dared
to present themselves in a way that wasn't acceptable to someone. In a moment I'm going to invite you to come forward and read the information on the card.
Don't get hung up on how to pronounce words that may be too difficult to pronounce. That's not the point. The point is to call out the name of someone
who has been taken from us. If you just can't bear the idea of speaking in front of this group of people, please don't stress out about it.
No one is going to make you do anything you don't want to do. You may want to pass your card to a neighbor who is willing to read it for you.
Or simply bring it to the front for one of the readers to read afterwards on your behalf. Or me. After the card is read,
then we'll place it at the base of this memorial candle that's burning. And if you have a concern about being videoed, you don't have to worry.
The video camera will only focus on the memorial candle. And after all the cards have been read, I'll close with a prayer...
Kendall Hampton; Location: Cincinnati,Ohio; Cause of Death: Shot; Date of Death: August 29, 2012; Kendall was 26 years old.
Agnes Torres Sulca; Location: Atlixco, Puebla, Mexico; Cause of Death: Neck wounds, burned, thrown in a ditch.; Date of Death: March 10, 2012
Unidentified person; Location: Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil; Cause of Death: Strangulation; Date of Death: January 17, 2012
Brenting Dolliole; Location: New Orleans, Louisiana; Cause of Death: severe head trauma; Date of Death: November 26, 2011; Brenting was 22 years old.
Popinha (*aka Charlemagne Rosa); Location: Campos dos Goytacazes, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil; Cause of Death: Gunshots to the back (2); Date of Death: January 1, 2012
Tracey Johnson; Location: Baltimore, Maryland; Cause of Death: Multiple gunshot wounds.; Date of Death: July 5, 2012
Tyrell Jackson; Location: Riviera Beach, Florida; Cause of Death: shot; Date of Death: April 4, 2012; Tyrell was 23 years old
Paige Clay; Location: Chicago, Illinois; Cause of Death: Gunshot to the face.; Date of Death: April 16, 2012; Paige was 23 years old.
Menakshiammal; Location: Krishnagiri, India; Cause of Death: Burned and throat slit.; Date of Death: April 12, 2012