"Joy that celebrates the beauty and gifts of LGBTQIA+ lives" Pastor Katie’s sermon

Pastor Katie’s sermon from June 14, 2026

Texts: Exodus 35:4-5a; 20-29; Psalm 100; 1 Corinthians 12:12-26;

Luke 19:29-40

Theme: Joy that celebrates the beauty and gifts of LGBTQIA+ lives

Back in May, I officiated a wedding for one of my old church camp

friends. He grew up in church, and his family is still very religious, and

their Christian faith is the reason that only one member of his (very

large!) family showed up for the wedding.

You see, my friend (who is a man) is now married to his partner of

seven years – who is also a man. Their wedding was a beautiful, joyful

celebration of love, and yet, there was an undertone of grief that day

as we acknowledged the absence of my friend’s family.

Lament is the first theme of our Reconciling in Christ worship series

this summer. And as a Pastor whose call is to “praise God by

extending love and belonging to all those whom God places in my

path,”¹ I lament the fact that our Christian faith tradition is still more

known for hate and exclusion rather than love and belonging. I lament

the fact that my friend’s family has been taught that the most faithful

thing they could do was boycott their own son’s wedding. And I lament

the fact that my friend’s story is. Not. unique.

“God has so arranged the body... that if one member suffers, all suffer

together with it,” writes Paul in first Corinthians.

No matter the size or the power or the visibility of the body part – if

one member suffers, all suffer together with it.

If even our pinky gets cut by a knife, our WHOLE body feels it. Our

ENTIRE immune system mobilizes to work on healing that wound.²

Isn’t that how our bodies work? Isn’t that, or shouldn’t that be how the

body of Christ works?

Yet the church, THE body of Christ, still teaches prejudice against

God’s beloved LGBTQIA+ children. Our church, the BODY of Christ,

still defaults to a marriage ceremony that is filled with heteronormative

language!³ The church, the body of CHRIST, still demonizes at worst

and tolerates at best the leadership of queer Christians.

People of God, these are self-inflicted wounds! We are cutting our

own pinkies over and over again, but instead of mobilizing to heal, we

stand by and watch. As finger after finger is cut off and Christ’s body

bleeds.

It is right to lament when our lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender,

queer, intersex, asexual, plus brothers, sisters, siblings in Christ are

made to feel like God’s love is not for them.

And it is right to lament when our church does not recognize how

cutting off God’s LGTBQ+ children wounds the body of Christ, too.

If one member suffers, all suffer with it.

Think about the story Bill read for us from Exodus this morning. It

describes ALL the congregation of Israelites bringing their offerings for

the building of the tabernacle. And the only prerequisites?

- Whoever is of a generous heart

- Whoever’s heart is stirred and whose spirit is willing

- Whoever’s heart made them willing to bring anything for the work

that the LORD had commanded

Generous and willing hearts. Spirits stirred to do God’s work. THESE

are the prerequisites the Lord has for contributing to the worshipping

community in the book of Exodus.

Think about what would have happened if Moses decided that all

didn’t really mean all. And that in fact, God must have made a mistake

when God invited every single person to bring their gifts to the

tabernacle... God must have meant only the men. Or only the people

with blue yarn. Or only the old people or only the young people! Or

only people who fit neatly into one gender. Or only the people who

could bring gold.

If Moses had put those requirements on his congregation... One, he

wouldn’t be being faithful to God’s commandment to receive offerings

from “all whose hearts prompt them to give.”⁴ And two, he would’ve

ended up with a pretty low-quality tabernacle.

Similarly, when the church today decides not to accept AND celebrate

the gifts of God’s LGBTQIA+ children... One, we are not being faithful

to God’s commandment of love. And two, we end up with a pretty

low-quality worshipping community!

The second theme of our Reconciling in Christ worship series is

foundation. And last week, Deacon Holly reminded us that the

foundation of our Lutheran Christian faith is the enduring truth of

God’s expansive love. The way we read the Bible, the way we interact

with our neighbors, the way we treat our own bodies is guided, first

and foremost, by the foundational truth that God’s love is bigger than

we can even imagine.

And when we make the mistake of thinking that we can set limits on

God’s expansive love, our worshiping communities end up missing

pieces of God’s own divine image.

- When ELCA congregations refuse to allow LGTBQ Christians

into church leadership, we are missing a piece of who God is.

- When the Southern Baptist Convention votes to expel

congregations that ordain women, they are missing a piece of

who God is.

- When evangelical Christians celebrate racist leaders and

policies, they are missing a piece of who God is.

Our faith communities are incomplete whenever ANYONE does not

feel welcome to experience God’s expansive love within our ministry.

Our third Reconciling in Christ worship theme – the one we are

focusing on today – is “joy that celebrates the beauty and gifts of

LGBTQIA+ lives.”

The fact that we have had three different women preachers over the

last three weeks shows that our congregation is light years ahead of

many in terms of celebrating the gifts of female leaders.

AND

The fact that all three of us have been STRAIGHT, WHITE women

shows that we still have voices missing from our pulpit.

So as I reflect on the beauty and gifts that LGBTQIA+ lives have

brought into my life and into our faith community, I am doing so from

the perspective of an ally. And I am doing so with the hope that we,

here at HTLC+LCM, might more often hear voices from this pulpit like

my classmate Justis – Who stood in the pulpit at Duke Divinity School

last year to proclaim the beauty and sacredness of queer joy. In their

sermon, Justis said queer joy is like a colorful, celebratory pool party

where all are invited to come as they are.

Powerful preaching. Expansive biblical interpretation. Musical

leadership and passionate prayer and courageous JOY are just some

of the gifts that LGBTQIA+ Christians bring to the church.

“If one member of the body of Christ suffers, all suffer together with it,”

Paul writes. And he continues: “if one member is honored, all rejoice

together with that member.” ALL rejoice together, including our divine

creator! When LGBTQIA+ lives are celebrated, God rejoices. When

their gifts are accepted for the building-up of Christ’s body, the Holy

Spirit sings. When they are not afraid to be their beautiful selves in the

church and in the world, Jesus shouts with joy.

The powers trying to demonize LGBTQIA+ lives feel SO strong right

now, and the body of Christ is suffering. But here’s the thing –

Trying to exclude LGBTQIA+ folks from the church is not only

unfaithful, it is also futile. Today’s gospel tells us that Christ always

hears the voices of his disciples. And that even when the power of

hate seems to be winning, the expansive, foundational power of God’s

love will keep shouting out from the stones; shouting out from the very

creation beneath our feet!

So as a community of faith – knowing that God is our maker to whom

we ALL belong – we can join our voices with the glad songs of the

psalmist and make a joyful noise to the Lord whose steadfast love is

for all. Whose expansive love is everlasting.

Our God sees and rejoices in the beauty and gifts of LGBTQIA+ lives.

May the same be true in our hearts, in our churches, and in our world.

Amen.

¹ My Rostered Ministers’ Profile.

² Got the pinky metaphor from Pastor Ali Tranvik.

³ Evangelical Lutheran Worship, p. 286.

⁴ Exodus 25:2