Talitha Kum, Little One Get Up!
Mark 5: 21-43
Good morning and Happy Pride. Several years ago I heard a story, a story that shook my understanding about the importance of having pride in who we are. The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian resource center had just opened a state of the art health clinic exclusively for women. They had done significant research telling them that there was a need for such a clinic. Much to their surprise it was crazy hard to get women to actually use the clinic. At the time I was doing a marketing research study about lesbian health care. The situation at the LA women’s clinic verified my data. LGBT people are known to put off getting medical care until our symptoms are undeniable and sometimes past the point of help. They told me about a Native American woman who arrived at the brand new clinic. She walked in the door, up to the counter and she collapsed. Like the one woman in our scripture, she had been bleeding for many weeks. She ignored it until she could ignore it no longer. By the time she came for help she was also like the Rabbi who waited until his daughter was “at the point of death.” Sadly she died less than a week later after coming to the clinic. It was too late. I wonder did she know she was at the point of death; physically, spiritually, emotionally? Which death came first? There are a lot of ways to die. Every one of us has a story we could tell when some aspect of our physical, spiritual or relational life was once barely breathing and near death. The fact that you’re here tells me that something inside you isn’t ready to die; you were ready for a transformation. In a way your spirit heard the words, Talitha Kum, little one get up! “Talitha kum” is way of calling out a person’s truest self, our wholeness, the person God created us to be. This weekend we’ll be surrounded by 300,000 LGBT people and our allies. Look around and you will see two types of people. One: People, like you who are living into the fullness of who God created you to be. People like you who have responded to an invitation to wholeness. “Talitha Kum.” You got up and you walked and now on this beautiful Pride Sunday, you are visible and you are viable. Congratulations. By showing up you are modeling what being whole looks like. Your presence is nothing short of a holy act. Talitha Kum, little one get up! Turn to the person next to you and say: Talitha Kum, little one get up! The second group of people you will see this weekend are those who are just waking up, taking their first steps as LGBT people. Some will be scared nearly “to the point of death.” Others will arrive in the park with an exhilarating sense of hope and community support. They will look around and see 300,000 people just like them. They will look at you because your pride, your confidence, you’re your visibility will continue to call out their truest self. Say it again. “Talitha Kum,” Little one Get Up! This is why community is so important. Look at our scripture story again. Did you notice? Before he heals the young girl, Jesus sent the crowds away and hand picked the community that would help her. He says “Talitha Kum” and she awakens, she’s fully alive and she begins to walk whole. Jesus tells them to get her something to eat, keep her situation private so she could have some space and time to get her bearings. She was on the verge of transformation to full adulthood, surrounded by a community choice. Talitha Kum, little one get up! We too are always on the verge of transformation surrounded by our community of choice. Never before has our visibility held such a capacity for reaching far beyond our lives locally. The news has never been more encouraging and more threatening. Locally we have been encouraged by legislation introduced to bring about marriage equality and yet we have also been crushed by Governor Pahlenty’s recent veto of the anti bullying bill. Our voices have never been more critical. Again: Talitha Kum, little one get up! Pride events are happening in cities all over the world. Our visibility is more than local, it’s global! Our capacity to extend the spirit of “Talitha Kum, little one get up!” is real and it is urgent. Recently two bishops in North Carolina opposed state action there to legislate against bullying and bashing because they said, it will lead to gay marriage. Pat Bumgardner of MCC New York said recently “I don't know if the only choice is between beating each other up or marrying each other, but I am sure of this: If the parents of 11 year old Jaheem Herrera and almost 12 year old Carl Joseph Walker Hoover had had a choice, I'm betting they would rather have danced at their sons' weddings, whoever they might have loved, than wept at their too-soon funerals.” Those kids hung themselves because of the taunting and harassment, the bullying and beatings they were constantly subjected to at school, all because somebody thought they were gay.” Talitha Kum? - Too late there. The news reminds us daily that we can’t afford to wait until others are at the point of death. Talitha Kum, little one get up! Yes! “Talitha Kum” has reached all the way to Queer people marching through the streets of Beirut –-- they march carrying rainbow flags to demand the repeal of Article 534, the law criminalizing sexual relationships that quote, "contradict the laws of nature....” Talitha Kum, little one get up! (Repeat) LGBT pride has spread all the way to Russia. They call themselves “Rainbow Flashmobs" in 40 cities across Russia. May 17th they marched while releasing a rainbow of balloons. They have this courage because of you, you who are visible and because you show them it can be done. Pride is contagious. Again: Talitha Kum, little one get up! This year in Singapore, 2500 people turned out for the 1st ever public rally for equality in love. Singapore ! Talitha Kum, little one get up! Everyday in the streets of Lahore, Pakistan, 150 women are found dead, murdered because somebody thought who they were and how they loved was somehow dishonoring/wrong/an abomination before God. So our MCC human rights activists are working with them on a plan to keep them safe. You’re part of our saying “Talitha Kum” in creative and embodied ways. A group of women in Pakistan are hiding for their lives right now in a shared apartment. They came up with the idea of sending one woman to cosmetology school so that she can earn the money to send the next woman to school and the next. MCC is sending these women money for education and safe space. Talitha Kum is contagious and I say we should start a pandemic of Pride! Talitha Kum, little one get up! In Jamaica our people, MCCers there will begin a public education campaign to end the violence and the hatred because the truth is that's not what God wants --- people chasing, bashing, killing each other because of difference. Like you and me, they’re taking it public, Talitha Kum, little one get up! Enough is enough!” In Kuala Lumpur this summer, a young man named Pang Wei Yap, will become the first MCCer ordained on Malaysian soil. We already have an active, thriving congregation there, and they've paved the way for MCC in Beijing and Hong Kong and Singapore --- and laid the foundation for our worship space in Kuala Lumpur to become a community center so that activists of all persuasions can have safe space to meet, to plan, to coalesce and come together as one body and to call each other to wholeness. Talitha Kum, little one get up! One by one, city by city, state by state, country by country, we are calling people to wholeness and calling the world to accountability. This is way more than a party. Pride enables us to remember or to discover who we are. Talitha Kum. When we help nurture the strength in others, we are saying, “Talitha kum. When we provide resources to empower others to accomplish something on their own, we are saying “Talitha kum.” So, did you wonder what ever happened to the LA Gay and Lesbian Health Clinic? I called them this week and I found someone who remembered the woman who died before receiving treatment. They are thriving and they are offering care today to lesbians and gay men in unprecedented numbers. They are now agents of Talitha Kum. Pride has taught us all that we’re worthy of health care, worthy of equal rights and worthy of living vibrant and whole lives. May we never forget it! And all God’s Children said (you know where I’m going with this): Talitha Kum, little one get up!