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Audacious Goals and Incremental Victories
As an American and as an Episcopalian I was raised to pledge to and to pray for two audacious goals: “liberty and justice for all” was one and “thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven” was the other.
Yesterday’s historic step by The Presbyterian Church (USA) brought us a little closer to both.
The powerful witness of a mainline denomination ending marriage discrimination is not only in alignment with the core American value of equality — it is a manifestation of the Gospel value of God’s inclusive love. It not only adds to the groundswell of movement toward civil marriage equality in this nation, it debunks the false narrative that we must choose between religious liberty and equal protection for LGBT Americans.
We have been on this journey for many years. What happened yesterday in the Presbyterian Church was the result of decades of the tireless work and witness of those committed to bending the arc of the moral universe toward justice for LGBT people – not just in their church, but in this country. And while the work is far from done, a wise mentor in the work of Gospel justice taught me years ago that our charge was to “set audacious goals and celebrate incremental victories.”
So today we celebrate the incremental victory of marriage equality in the Presbyterian Church. And then tomorrow we get back to work on the audacious goals of liberty and justice for all and a kingdom of God’s love, justice and compassion come on earth as it is in heaven.
We get back to work on being a nation where the equal protection guaranteed all Americans actually equally protects all Americans. We call on the Supreme Court to end the discrimination against some marriages as we commit to a Protect Marriage Movement that protects all marriages. We stand up against “religious discrimination” legislation that is nothing more than a smokescreen for homophobia.
And we look beyond the marriage wars to ending employment discrimination, to just immigration reform, to passing the student non-discrimination act, to eradicating transphobia in all its manifestations … to the long list of incremental victories we need to achieve before we can declare victory on those audacious goals I was raised to both pledge to and to pray for.
But today we celebrate. Because yesterday’s historic step by The Presbyterian Church (USA) brought us a little closer to both – and the sound you hear is the arc of the moral universe moving just a little closer to justice.
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