And God Became Flesh

Today's musical reflection, sung by soprano Kathleen Battle, comes from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Great Mass. It's one of the most beautiful settings ever written of the section of the Nicene Creed (one of several normative statements of Christian belief) in which those of us who are Christian proclaim our belief in the Incarnation - that God became flesh and dwelt among us.

For me this music has always meant a great deal, reminding me of God's love and the wonders of thinking that God could love us so much as to want to live in solidarity with us. However, there was always a certain part of this belief that I don't think I could ever quite fully accept - namely, that God might actually love and proclaim the goodness of my own human flesh, of my embodiedness, of my own experience of feeling attracted to people of the same sex.

For so long I thought Christ himself and many others could celebrate their bodies but that since I was somehow "disordered" I couldn't. However, thanks be to God, it is my firm belief and conviction that Christ broke through that self-hatred in me and finally enabled me to realize that there's nothing wrong with me. Indeed, because my attractions are part of who I am as someone made in the image and likeness of a God who cannot be bound by any of the categories or constructs we try to impose on reality, those attractions are therefore a manifestation of God's love and are good.

For that reason, I am deeply proud to profess again today the words of the Creed - that God became flesh and dwelt among us; that we have seen God's grace and truth living among us in Christ; that in our bodies, our souls, our minds, hearts, and spirits, the glory of God is indeed the human being fully alive.

As I also remember the fifth anniversary of my ordination this weekend, I do so with gratitude for this truth in which I believe - that God came among us as a human being and that we are each free to live the life we are called to by God. In my own life, I give thanks to God for my call to serve others and also love another person in marriage. At the same time I also wish peace, good will, freedom, blessings, and joy to all, whatever our individual callings may be.

With gratitude,
Padre Chuck