Wicker Park Lutheran Church
Rev. Jason S. Glombicki
June 28, 2026
Whenever Romans comes up on Pride weekend, I cringe. Not because Romans is bad — it’s quite the opposite. I cringe because to many LGBTQIA+ people, Romans, especially because of the first chapter, doesn’t sound like grace. It sounds like condemnation. It sounds like, “Christianity hates me.” Or maybe even more painfully, “Christianity hates someone I love.” And I grieve that understanding, because Romans wasn’t written to close the door on people. Instead, Romans was written to proclaim the radical grace of God.
Over the past year, some of us gathered with Vicar Sarah for a class on reframing historically harmful biblical passages. One of those passages was Romans chapter 1. Since not everyone was able to join us, let me briefly revisit one of the more important insights from that class.
We often read Romans as if it were a collection of disconnected verses. But Paul didn’t write a collection of verses to quote, add to email signatures, or embroider on pillows. Paul wrote a letter; a letter that makes an argument. If you look at the insert in your bulletin, you’ll notice a graphic overview of Romans from the good people at the Bible Project. There, you’ll see how Paul’s argument unfolds.
Paul begins in chapter 1 by describing humanity’s brokenness. He names sin honestly by describing humanity’s tendency to make ourselves and other things besides God the center of our lives, which we call idolatry. Then, just when his readers were tempted to nod along and think, “Yes…those people are the problem,” Paul turns the mirror around and says, “Not so fast. It’s you, too!” For, all have sinned, and all stand in need of grace. Paul continues that argument, and as you can see in the graphic, it isn’t until the second major movement of Romans that we arrive at today’s reading.
So, remember: chapter 6 is not Paul’s starting point. It follows chapter after chapter where he has already announced what God has done in Christ. It comes after Paul began describing how God is creating a new humanity. And recognizing where today’s passage is located within this letter is important, because Christians have too often read Romans backward. We’ve thought that Paul’s goal was to tell us who doesn’t belong. And that’s how Romans 1 has so often been weaponized against queer people and incorrectly been interpreted.
But Paul’s goal in writing this letter was exactly the opposite. His goal was to announce that none of us belong because of our own righteousness. We belong because of God’s grace. And because of that grace, God is creating one people in Christ. And that changes everything.
You see, once we understand where today’s reading sits in Paul’s larger argument, the whole passage sounds different. For, in today’s reading, Paul uses language that makes many of us uncomfortable. He talks about slavery and asks, in essence, “To whom do you belong?”
Now we need to be careful here. Paul is not talking about the horrific history of race-based chattel slavery that still scars our nation, even 250 years later. Rather, he was reaching for the strongest image he could find in his time to describe ultimate allegiance. His point is simple: something is always trying to deceive us by telling us who we are and asking for us to commit our lives to it. Whether it’s…shame. Fear. Success. Perfectionism. Political identity. Consumerism. Religion. Even Scripture, when it is twisted into a weapon instead of received as good news. All these things promise us life. But none of them can give it.
And that’s exactly what so many LGBTQIA+ people have experienced. Not simply disagreement. But shame masquerading as faith. Rejection masquerading as righteousness. Paul’s letter that proclaims God’s grace has too often been used to deny people grace. Paul’s letter that calls for unity has driven division. And, that isn’t just a tragedy for LGBTQIA+ people. It’s a tragedy for the Church. Because whenever we divide the world into the worthy and the unworthy, we’ve haven’t just stopped listening to Paul’s true argument, but we’ve stopped listening to God’s message all together.
And, much like Paul’s audience, this congregation has wrestled with what that grace looks like over the years too. When we first put out a pride flag, there were comments from within the church. A council member told me that we should only put it out during Pride Month. Some wondered if people would think we were only a “gay church.” Others feared that straight people might not feel welcomed. These were real conversations that I had, but they always came back to what it means to live out God’s welcome that we proclaim. And over the years that followed, our flags were torn down more than once by people who wanted to silence that welcome. And, every time, we put them back. Not because this flag is sacred. But because the grace it points to is. And then something happened that I don’t think many of us expected. People in the community started telling me their stories. They’d say that as they walked by the flag put a smile on their face. One person said, “I didn’t think Christianity could ever be a place for someone like me.” Another person said, “I’m not Christian, but if I were, I’d be going to your church.” Friends, that’s not because a rainbow flag is the gospel. But sometimes a non-religious symbol, like a flag, can tell the essence of the gospel in unexpected ways.
Today, each of you received a small Pride flag with your bulletin. And, later today, several members of this congregation will march in Chicago’s Pride Parade. They’ll wave that flag, they’ll carry a sign for our church, and they’ll bear witness to God’s love. Because there are still far too many people who believe Christianity could never welcome them—or the people they love. You see, it’s the young teen who has been told they’re going to hell or the closeted Christian that needs to experience the good news that they are loved and that God’s grace is a gift given for all.
Friends, today we have come to know the truth. We know that whoever believes that Romans is about division and exclusion, then somewhere along the way they’ve stopped listening to Paul’s actual argument. Because Romans isn’t a letter about who gets excluded from God’s love. It’s the story of a God whose grace is always bigger than the lines we draw. That’s the good news that Paul wants the church in Rome to hear. That’s the good news our flags point toward every day. And the good news of God is that grace and love will always have the final word. Amen.