Live Free or Die, a new film by Macky Alston and Sandra Itkoff about Bishop Gene Robinson, won the Special Jury Prize for US documentary films at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah today. Here is a moving clip from the film where Robinson speaks at First Presbyterian Church in New York on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Before handing out cups of water in the pride parade, Bishop Robinson says, "This cup of water is about justice...To a lot of people across this great nation, what is happening out there this afternoon is a total nightmare. I'm here to tell you that it is no nightmare. It is God's dream coming true before your very eyes."

Gene's Sermon on Gay Pride Day ALL (5m20s) from Auburn Seminary on Vimeo.

Here is a partial transcript from the clip at First Presbyterian Church in New York:

"...it is a very holy thing that you do when you offer that cup of water. You are representing the community of Christians, and Jews, and Muslims who are 95% the source of all the oppression we LGBT people have experienced in our lives. And so when you offer a cup of water bearing the name of Christ as it says in our gospel today, you are the oppressor offering a cup of water to the oppressed. They get it. They get the act of compassion. My question is, do you get it? Do you realize the important thing that you do by giving a cup of water to those people out there who have been hurt by us, and continue to be hurt by us?...

This cup of water is about justice. We are not yet at a place in this country where we believe the full and equal rights of gay and lesbian people are a matter of justice. We're not there yet. It is not enough to pull the people out of a raging stream who are drowning. We have to walk back up stream and find out who is throwing them in the first place. It is not right what our churches and synagogues and mosques have done to us. As had been done to others before us. And it will take an act of commitment on your part to undo it. And be willing to pay a price. We have never made progress either in our religious institutions or in the culture unless someone has been willing to pay a price. It is that tough systemic work, both within our religious communities and in the culture that we must be committed to changing. And those of you who are heterosexual, we need you desperately. I think God is calling you to understand this as an issue of justice. To a lot of people across this great nation, what is happening out there this afternoon is a total nightmare. I'm here to tell you that it is no nightmare. It is God's dream coming true before your very eyes."

In another clip, Bishop Robinson is heckled because he is gay at a service during the Anglican Lambeth conference.

A list of screenings is available at the Love Free or Die website.

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Ref: http://www.mlp.org/article.php/OfferingaCupofWater