Being Raised By Many

Church for LGBT - Open Table MCC - Philippines

Jesus was about thirty years old when he began his work. He was the son (as was thought) of Joseph son of Heli, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Melchi, son of Jannai, son of Joseph, son of Mattathias, son of Amos, son of Nahum, son of Esli, son of Naggai, son of Maath, son of Mattathias, son of Semein, son of Josech, son of Joda, son of Joanan, son of Rhesa, son of Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, son of Neri, son of Melchi, son of Addi, son of Cosam, son of Elmadam, son of Er, son of Joshua, son of Eliezer, son of Jorim, son of Matthat, son of Levi, son of Simeon, son of Judah, son of Joseph, son of Jonam, son of Eliakim, son of Melea, son of Menna, son of Mattatha, son of Nathan, son of David, son of Jesse, son of Obed, son of Boaz, son of Sala, son of Nahshon, son of Amminadab, son of Admin, son of Arni, son of Hezron, son of Perez, son of Judah, son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham, son of Terah, son of Nahor, son of Serug, son of Reu, son of Peleg, son of Eber, son of Shelah, son of Cainan, son of Arphaxad, son of Shem, son of Noah, son of Lamech, son of Methuselah, son of Enoch, son of Jared, son of Mahalaleel, son of Cainan, son of Enos, son of Seth, son of Adam, son of God.

Scripture Reading
Luke 3:23-38 (NRSV)

A Coming of age doesn’t only happen when you turn 18 o 21. A coming of age happens every so often in each of our lives and in the life of a group or organization. A coming of age is not only about looking forward into the future. It is also looking back into the past with reflection -pagmumuni-muni.

Winston Churchill once said, “The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.”

We cannot run away from our past nor can we let it go without acknowledging its truths, even the painful ones or those that bring shame. And often the most profound lessons and/or truths are found in our most painful or terrible experiences and histories. We also know this, that those who run away from their past and do not deal with what happened before are bound to mess up not only their present but also their future.

Christianity is a religion of remembering. It is rooted in our history and spiritual memory. Ang ating pananampalataya ay naka-ugat sa alaala ng nakaraan – (song) Maalaala mo kaya ang sumpa mo sa akin na ang pag-ibig mo ay hindi magmamaliw.

For the first 1500 years the focal point of all Christians was the Eucharist or communion. This is my body I give to you – remember me. This is my blood I give to you. Remember me. Remembering Jesus and doing so we recognize his living presence among us because the eucharist is also a living reality in the present – our spiritual memory is based on God’s tragic story whose symbol is the broken bread symbolizing the broken body of Jesus on the cross and the wine and water poured empty symbolizing the blood and water that came out from his pierced heart.

We are a religion and a spirituality of remembering. Afterall one of the things that make us truly human, an animal with higher thinking, is the capacity for long term and complex memory, and from reflective remembering, create and innovate. Do things better. Be better.

And talking about remembering and scripture, our reading for today is the Genealogy of Jesus, a series of names of the ancestors of Jesus. Some preachers have difficulty in preaching the genealogy text either in Matthew or in Luke kasi it says nothing other than a list of names. Wala syang inspirtational phrase or a commandment like, “love one another.” Anong lesson ang meron dito? The difficulty goes even further because the genealogy of Luke is almost entirely different with Matthew and there’s no explanation why. Modern preachers find difficulty preaching about a list of names because, we, the modern people, think that we are better than our ancestors, and that history and historical names have no significance for us today.

One explanation na nabasa ko – Trivia – scholars have argued that the Genealogy of Jesus sa Matthew is the Davidic line from the lineage of Joseph and then the genealogy in Luke is the Davidic line through Mary, his mother from the father-in-law of Joseph. This means, as per the speculation of some scholars, that both Joseph and Mary were from the same ancestry of David. In short napakalayong magpinsan ni Mary at ni Joseph. The scholars who proposed this have some biblical and rabbinic reasons that we will not go into. Pwede nyo naman hanapin sa google.

Diana Butler Bass in her book, Grounded, says, “We have more information about the past, but less actual connection to it thant those in previous ages. Lack of historical knowledge is a perennial news story. The idea that what is new is better. Now is superior to then. And energy of the young trumps the wisdom of the age.”

When you were younger in elementary, highschool, and college, did you ever think, “Saan ko naman gagamitin itong history?” When I was in college, we had 3 basic subjects, World History, Asian History, and then Philippine History. And many students were asking themselves if the time and effort studying history will ever be relevant to their lives and eventual careers.

No person is an island and no person we know was born out of rocks. Lahat tayo ay may magulang at may pinanggalingan. We all have our ancestry whether we like our parents and ancestry or not or if we really don’t care. But perhaps there is wisdom in knowing who we are based on who our parents and grandparents were. Perhaps there is wisdom in knowing who our uncles and aunties whether we like them or not. Perhaps there is wisdom in remembering and understanding some people of our past that may have had a positive or negative impact on us – a teacher or mentor who believed in us or helped us when no else did; A childhood friend or group of friends; A supportive uncle or auntie when our parents were not. Who were they? What can we remember that we can learn from? Even the bad ones.

What is the story and the genealogy of where you came from? What can you learn from those who have hurt you in the past? What can you learn from family members or ancestors who had a terrible past? Baka meron kang ancestor na infamous for something? Baka meron ka ngang ancestor na serial killer or baka naman malayong kamag-anak ka pal ani Andres Bonifacio, Gabriela Silang or Rizal. Baka naman meron kang ninuno or malayong relative na pari or madre o di kaya naman isang folk healer kaya ka pala religious or spiritual. I was told that my grandfather, Hermito San Jose (First name palang monghe na) entered seminary and almost became a priest. Hindi natuloy dahil nakilala nya lola ko but later yung daughter nya naging contemplative Carmelite and then a grandson nya na sya ang nagpangalan na Cristopher Joseph ay naging pastor ng mga accla. Yung Dad ko may auntie na butch lesbian at may dalwang pinsan na flamboyant gay. Yung isa, according to my lolo, was a pianist scholar of Imelda Marcos and during the late 70s, madalas tumutugtug sa Malacanang.

Sa mom’s side ko, my lolo was a Philippine born Chinese in the mid early 40s nung nagmigrate dito yung parents nya from Fujian province before World War II.

Knowing the roots from where we came from and also the experiences of our past may give us some understanding of who we are, why we are gifted with certain talents and skills, and why we have certain tendencies. Knowing where we came from even if some of them are not so good, may still offer grace and healing. Equally, there is also a lot of wisdom in knowing the history of the Philippines, of Southeast Asia, and the world – the things that happened and the intertwined stories of many people that shaped our communities, churches, and societies today.

In the genealogy of Jesus especially in the version of Matthew, not everyone in the list are good people. Despite, David, being considered as the greatest king of ancient Israel, historians and biblical scholars, upon closer scrutiny, finds David as a terrible conniving, and manipulative person who might have really usurped the throne of Saul. Later when he became king, he raped the wife of his loyal officer and devised a plan to hide his crime by calling his officer home and have him bed his wife and then afterwards order his general to put this officer in front of the battle and sure enough was killed.

Solomon his son and heir was no better when he became king. Despite being described as the wisest king is someone who enforced forced labor and slavery upon the 10 other tribes of Israel and then taxed his people heavily to build his palace and the temple, and to financially support all his wives and concubines.

Medyo hard to swallow ito – Have you heard the saying, “There are no friends nor enemies. Only teachers.” Ang chumika raw nyan ay si Charlotte Maloney. Those we perceived as enemies and detractors, and even the vilest personalities in history like Hitler, Marcos Senior, Pontius Pilate, Caligula, Nero, Herod, etc., these people we consider as evil can be considered as great teachers also because their life and the terrible things they did tells us what we as individuals and as a people should never become. Your parents who have hurt you or abandoned you, if you carefully analyze, should teach you what you do not want to become and should be the ones that motivate you to be a totally different and better person than they were.

Then in the genealogy of Jesus, we also see his Queer ancestors and their stories, despite the bad things about David, he is a queer ancestor of Jesus with his relationship with Jonathan. And then Ruth, their great grandmother was with Naomi and Boaz, a queer family also. There were other good people in the ancestry as much as there were bad. He also had good ancestors. Complicated ancestors. Ancestors who are a mixture of good and bad.

Whether you like it or not, you are who you are today because of your ancestors and the people of your childhood. They are in your DNA. A part of them lives within you and lives through you the same way the ancestors of Jesus is part of who he is as a human being so much so that Luke and Matthew took the time to list down his ancestry. Kailangan pa ba yun ancestry nya? Eh ang importante lang naman ay kung ano yung naging buhay nya at kanyang mga sinabi at ginawa and yet, the gospel writers, inspired by the Holy Spirit, saw the importance of tracing who Jesus is through his ancestors.

Because according to Diana Butler Bass in the same book, Grounded, “Genealogies reveal the quest of ancient people to find a place in the universe and claim divine favor.” Genealogies tells people who they are and where they came from. Genealogies and family trees, even when some are bad fruits or withered branches, tells a story of belonging, struggle, conflict, and healing. And though it is one form of storytelling of the past, it is also gives a direction for the future and a blessing for what is to come. Our ancestors and the stories of the past also gives us comfort and strength in times of troubles and challenges. In the Netflix series, Ghost Detectives, Crystal, a young woman with the gift of visions, was trying to deal with a demon who took her memories and who was hunting her to reposes her body. In one episode when she was really struggling, she had a dream with all her women ancestors who told her that she had the power, the gift, and the strength to defeat the demon and that this strength is connected to all of them, her powerful women ancestors. All she needed to do is to find a way to reconnect to them and tap to the power that goes all the way back to her ancestry.

Let us now neglect, reject, or run away from our past even if there are some rotten apples and some terrible experiences we had. Not everything old or ancient is irrelevant. Not everything that is young are necessarily good or beautiful. Good or bad, draw out strength and wisdom from the deep well of your past and your ancestry.

A fair warning of course. Remembering our past and the people in it does not mean to say that we are held prisoners by the past and that it holds some power over us. While our ancestors and other people of our past have had some part in the shaping of who we are, we are our own person and we have our own capacity to determine our own lives, relationships, and who we are. Perhaps only in knowing our past and the people who were part of our past may help us to break away from those bad things and family traits while also nourishing what is good, holy, and beautiful that our ancestors and other people have gifted us.

Going from individual into the collective, the same can be said for our church Open Table MCC. Kaya I’ve always believed that the history of this church is important to be told as accurately as possible – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Mahalaga na every now and then, in appropriate situations and for the correct reasons, we keep on telling the story of this church not as chismis na pagtatawanan natin or dahil bored lang tayo. Remember, chismis, while entertaining sya, it is a form of spiritual cancer. Within 5 appropriate situations and reasons, we tell the history of this church and some of the people who have been part of it so that current and future generations can learn from the mistakes, lessons, and successes of the past. The founding pastor of his church and the terrible experience we had with him reminds us and teaches us what we do not want to become. Kaya kahit some of the legacy members ay UMAY NA UMAY na sa kakakwento nung nakaraan, it is important that our written and oral tradition, with whatever evidence and testimonies we have, are told and retold as a source of organizational wisdom. Our statement of faith says, “we are part on the story of the universal church, the body of Christ.” MCC is part of the Universal Christian family and the story of Christianity has not always been good with slavery, colonialism, genocide, and religious wars but we also equally recognize the roots of democracy and freedom of religion as well as medicine, astronomy, schools, and development of morality had some of their origins in Christianity. In all our genealogies and stories – the beautiful and good as well as the ugly and corrupted we try to make sense of God. We recognize God’s presence in the lives of our ancestors and the movement of the Holy Spirit in the midst of human imperfection and tragedy.

To forge a new and better future, we cannot forget and run away from our past and the people who were part of it. Nor should we be stuck and held as prisoners of the past. I saw a video of a 78-year-old woman who said, “I have good memories of the past and I remember them well but I am not held by them.” Our ancestors, the people of our childhood, painful and joyful experiences, our own stupid mistakes as well as our achievements and everything and everyone, are all teachers and sources of wisdom. And let us not forget as we attend worship every Sunday that spiritually, we are rooted to all our spiritual ancestors, kay Troy Perry and Fr. Richard Mickley, to all the queer saints and prophets like St. Aelred, Joan of Arc, St. Sergious and Bacchus, Sts. Felicity and Perpetua, to the Babaylans of this Islands, and all the way to Jesus of Nazareth, the one we remember and who is with us even today as we gather in this table. I personally always find some comfort and peace with the idea that we have ancestors watching over us and cheering us on. I find comfort and peace with the idea that Pastor Egay, Choi, Mike Mia, and father Richard are watching over open table mcc from beyond and somehow by some way or manner, are also guiding us. I find comfort and peace knowing that we are all part of the great cloud of witnesses and the communion of saints weaved together by Holy Spirit and ultimately rooted to Jesus, God’s word and the source of power and wisdom.

Listen to what the Holy Spirit is telling us through the gospel of Luke as interpreted and delivered today.

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