This sermon was preached on the Eighteenth Sunday after Trinity at St. Margaret of Antioch, Toxteth

Gospel: Mark 10:2-16
Old Testament: Genesis 2:18-24
New Testament: Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

It seems that the golden thread linking today’s readings is God’s grace in creation. From the Hebrew Bible, we hear of Adam and Eve’s creation as a gift for the human, from the Epistle, we hear of humanity’s creation as little lower than angels, from the gospel we hear again of the creation in Genesis and of the grace of Kingdom that is received only through our created nature as children.

This homily is somewhat biographical in nature as I seek to introduce myself to you. I hope that what I say about myself will help you to know me, and that what I say about the texts will help us to better know and love each other.

My name is Bethany, people say ‘she’ and ‘her’ to refer to me, I am 25 years old, and I am from Widnes. I live in Wavertree. I have a degree in Mathematics, one in Theology, and I’m working on the thesis for my third degree in Hebrew Bible. I work in the Cathedral as a retail and attractions assistant, and I am called to be a priest in the Church of God.

I’m here as part of an informal placement with St. Margaret’s and the Cathedral, as the Diocese of Liverpool and I seek to resume my training, 2/3 into which I was suspended after coming out as trans. The last year has been long and painful as I have fought hard against individual and institutional transphobia for my own inclusion and treatment with basic decency.

The mystery of our inclusion in Christ’s family has gained a new facet for me in this last year. That we are brought to glory with Christ and created a little lower than the angels has a fundamental impact on the way we treat each other. By presenting as a straight, white, educated man and existing in our culture with its façade of meritocracy, I was able to convince myself that I had earned and deserved all the privilege I had. Those of you who were at the Pride service here a few weeks ago will remember me speaking at length on this, but the gist was this: we have earned none of our privilege. It is granted at best randomly and at worst corruptly, and the good treatment that we do deserve is never earned by our own efforts but given by our creator and our redeemer. This is part of Christ’s message in the gospel. The kingdom is given to us as helpless children. As those stuck in sin and brokenness with no chance of saving themselves.

How then, does a child receive a gift?

A child doesn’t pull their weight; and is rarely under the illusion that they do. Rewards and earnings are concepts that must be taught, and we give to children simply because they exist, because of who they are, because of how they are created. Children receive purely and treasure gifts, and that is the only way we are able to receive the kingdom. To think that we have earned Christ’s love and sacrifice is to begin on a fool’s errand, to think that we can lose it is to give ourselves far too much power and influence in the grand, cosmic scheme of things.

A child doesn’t naturally perform their reaction to a gift either. It is always entertaining to watch a little one open a gift; the excitement or disappointment is only hidden when they are around 3 and learned some social norms and how to lie. Little children are concerned only about the gift and not the perception of their receipt. In giving gifts to children, we lack the dance of adult gift-giving where we give a gift to a performed identity and must perform our receipt in accordance with that. Children simply are who they are and like what they like without shame or prejudice. We who receive the kingdom must be like this. We must be unashamedly joyful when it makes us so, unashamedly open about the difficulties and the sufferings that it may bring, and unashamedly ourselves: those very same selves whom God considers worthy of the gift.

To summarize, the Kingdom is given to us by virtue of how we were created, and how Christ became. To introduce myself and to give any information about my character and nature is to speak about the gift that we have been given: the gift which we receive simply because our creator loves us, the gift which we receive openly in all its joy and pain.

So, I hope that as I join in with your worship this year, you will welcome me as your sister and that I will come to know you all as my siblings. That we won’t trick each other into exalting or demeaning each other with good or bad treatment that we don’t deserve, that we won’t hide our joy and our pain from each other but will rather be marked by and know each other by love.

Lord Jesus Christ,
who calls us to receive the Kingdom as little children:
give us the grace and acceptance to receive that kingdom freely and openly,
that we may call each other sibling and call you brother;
for you are alive and reign with the Father
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and forever.
Amen