Christ the King and the Club Q Shootings

This weekend -- the last weekend before Advent begins -- is the Feast of Christ the King. It's a reminder of WHO we are awaiting as we enter Advent as well as a reminder that all the Christmas Joy is not about shepherds and wise men and little lambs and mangers. Instead, it is about the Incarnation of the King of the Universe: God became man, lived, died, and rose to His Throne on high. 

And so the Church asks us, before we pull out the advent wreaths and before we hang tinsel, put up trees, and turn on carols, to reflect on what the Kingship of Christ is. What does it mean?

I've written before and shared before about many of the things I've felt about the humility of Christ's coming as a little baby, the fact he bears his wounds while he is King, the reality that if we are part of the Body of Christ, we have a share in his Kingship. But that's not what I want to talk about today. 

Father Nick gave a homily last night about how Monarchs in the Old World -- of which Queen Elizabeth was the last -- were paragons of the culture. They gave the people their focus, their values, and existed as example of what the best of them could be. There were several that were bad, yes, but there were at least as many that were Great. And it is those Great ones what live in legend and have influenced the turning of society. If you doubt this, think of King Richard the Lionhearted, Queen Isabella, Czar Nicholas Romanov, Queen Elizabeth of Hungary, Constantine the Great, Alexander the Great, Hammurabi, King Darius and Queen Esther. Or, alternatively, Ivan the Terrible, Henry VIII, Nero, Caligula, Genghis Kahn. For those of us in nations where we can vote for our leaders, this is why we vote for the people we want in office -- they are a symbol to the world about who we are and what we represent, and they get to make policies that will transform our land. 

So, if this is true, what does our King model for us? I will let you spend some time meditating on that. Look at the life of Christ, the ways his Kingship is so different from traditional kingships, at the things that He said and ways that He preached, and then reflect on that in comparison to your life. I want to speak about just one thing right now. 

Which brings me to the second part of this long rambling post. Last night, around midnight local time, a young man entered a building with a gun. He injured 25 people and killed at least 5. 

Half of my Facebook has exploded with the outcry -- almost exclusively the half that are represented by the demographic at the club: Those that identify as Queer. Because, wouldn't you know, the building shot up was a LBGTQ+ Friendly Club -- on the day that celebrates those who identify as Transgender. 

Now, I understand that many people keep their Facebook clear of all things political, and some even keep it clear of things that are religious. But I have a suspicion that there are also those who also just do not know how to feel. They feel entirely and utterly gutted at the loss of life, but they may also feel that support of those who died would be perceived as support of the lifestyle that they don't support. Or maybe you are intentionally ignoring it all because it's just one more tragedy in the world of tragedies and at least it didn't happen in your neighborhood. 

I will admit that when I heard the news, my first reaction was a combination of sorrow for the loss of life but also a bit of frustration that we live in a world where this seems so common place. I very nearly did just sweep it under the rug -- not because I don't care, but because it seems like nothing anyone does or says actually makes any change and I didn't really want to spend my energy there. I didn't feel that I had the energy to offer to those hurting or to those who were going to be ignorant and say hurtful things. But, as I spent the day cleaning, reflecting on what Father Nick had said at Mass, and seeing the support and hurt of (some of) my friends come across my feed and messages, I realized that I needed to sit down and put my thoughts to paper. 

Not for those who are suffering. To you, I can offer no real words of comfort. I can only offer my heartfelt sorrow, my sincere prayers for healing and protection from further hatred, and offer to sit with you in your pain if you need a friend to simply be with you. I can only offer to commit, each day, to help bring more love and peace into this world and to work fiercely to remind people that ALL life is sacred and do what I can to make tomorrow a little safer and a little more wholesome. 

These words are for my other friends. To my Christian friends who probably don't support the LBGTQ+  lifestyle and may struggle with being supportive towards people living a lifestyle you don't approve of. And to the people who may have even had the thought, "Well, if they weren't at a gay club, it wouldn't have happened." 

To you, I ask you to return with me to the Image of Christ the King. Our King sits on His throne in Glory. But he lived and modeled life for us here on earth. He showed us -- and shows us -- the way that He wants us to respond to people -- even those living lives that aren't in line with His teaching. 

The Prodigal Son: 

A young man, representing each of us, asks for his inheritance, then goes and squanders it on luxury, laziness, and prostitutes. When hunger -- not repentance -- drives him back to his Father, he finds that his Father has been actively waiting for his return, races out to greet him, and welcomes him back with open arms. 

The Samaritan Woman: 

When travelling through Samaria, Jesus sits and waits for his disciples to go run their errands. While waiting by the well, a woman whom even her own people scorn for her lifestyle (that's why she was getting water in the heat of the day, not when anyone else was there), came to get water. Jesus asks her for water, and she knows she's unworthy. He offers her the everlasting water despite the fact she is living an adulterous lifestyle. 

Zacchaeus: 

Zacchaeus was a tax collector -- a Jewish sellout who took money from his enslaved people and passed it on to their persecutors. And often skimmed extra off the top to fund lavish lifestyles. When he went to see Jesus, Jesus saw him and informed him that he was coming to his house. This was before he had a change of heart, before he had mended his ways. 

The Harlot Who Washed His Feet: 

While at dinner, a woman came and washed his feet with her tears and hair. The Pharisees had only scorn for both her and Christ because she was a fallen woman. And Jesus chastises them for seeing only her sin and not the service and honor she offered. 

The Adulterous Woman:

And, perhaps most famously, the woman caught in adultery. The Law said to stone her. Jesus said that the person without sin of his own should cast the first stone. And then, he told her to go, and sin no more. 

Which brings me to Luke 13:1-4. 

"At that time, some people were present there told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. 

He said to them in reply, 'Do you think that because the Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? 

'By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did. 

'Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them -- do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? 

'By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.'"

Yes, Jesus calls us to repent. But he calls us to first and foremost look at ourselves. If we were standing before him today, I believe that he would be looking at each of us asking "Do you think that those who died in the Queer Club are greater sinners than you? By no means." He would turn this around and ask us to evaluate ourselves. Every time a tragedy like this happens, we are asked to look at ourselves and ask what we are doing in response. 

The Early Church saw injustices, and they acted. They saw children abandoned because they were not perfect, so they took them in. They took care of the poor and hungry. After the early persecutions, they built schools and hospitals, funded refugee programs, and helped right the wrongs. We cannot take away the consequences of the fall, but we can do what we can to be the Stewards of the Earth, to be Little Christs - Christians - in this world. And that means that we must put aside judgement in favor of Love. 

Matthew 25 is clear as to what the criteria will be for getting into heaven: Did you feed the hungry, clothes the naked, sit with the imprisoned, care for the sick. It says nothing about judging the sinner or standing by while he is hurt. We do not perfect the world by being judgmental, hypocritical, or demanding instant perfection. We perfect -- sanctify -- the world by pouring so much love into the world that the world is overwhelmed by the true love and cannot help but see the face and hand of God.

It is very easy for us to try to distance ourselves from their suffering. But we forget that when one person suffers, we all suffer. When hatred and violence are allowed to have free reign, we all are impacted. Each and every one of us is as impacted by the deaths of those in the club as by the deaths of those innocents who died in Africa at the church shootings, who died when the bombs dropped in the Ukraine, or who are killed because they have a genetic imperfection. 

We live in a world where Christians no longer preach Love and Peace but instead stand on the sidelines when horrors happen and call it justifiable because they were sinners anyway. Or, worse, in a world where it is people who call themselves Christians who are adding to the division, the vitriol, and to the violence. When I look at the cross, I don't see that as remotely Christian behavior. "For while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8). It is easy to love the ones who believe as we do. But that isn't what we are called to do.

But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Heavenly Father, for he makes His sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what recompense will you have? Do not the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what is unusual about that? Do not the pagans do the same? So be perfect, just as your Heavenly Father is perfect." Matthew 5:44-48

Being perfect requires that we love and greet, and I will extrapolate, care for those are not like us and who may even hate us. This isn't negotiable. It's a requirement of our faith. If we want to follow Christ, then we must love, greet, and care for our neighbor that may not look like us, live like us, or even like us. 

The people who died at Club Q didn't "Get what they deserved." They weren't struck down by God for being gay (if they even all were). They were victims of a fallen world that has descended into violence. If you feel that either of those statements are true, I would ask that you take some serious time to pray and reflect on the Mercy of God, the Love He showed to the sinner, and spend some time staring at a crucifix while you tell Jesus that you won't help or pray for them because they deserved what they got. 

Christ is the Prince of Peace. He is God, who is Love. We call Him 'King,' we call Him 'Lord,' and we label ourselves 'Christian.' So, we must therefore be his hands, his feet, his heart, and his arms in this broken world. We must be the vessels of Peace and Love in a world full of hate. We must be the MOST vocal to speak out against senseless violence like this. No voice should be louder and no hand should be helping more than those consecrated to Christ. So, on this Feast of Christ the King, as we head into the Advent season where we await His Coming -- both as a babe and as the victorious King, I ask you this: How can you be Christ to this broken, hurting world?