Subversive Protest

“Subversive Protest”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

March 29, 2015

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

Mark 11:1-11

Mark 14:1-15:47

         Who doesn’t love a parade? It’s a time when we can see all the local organizations and businesses that do good for our community marching down the street together. We have a huge St. Patrick’s Day parade here in New Haven every year. One could view the parade as a celebration of Irish pride, but it often just becomes an excuse to drink in the morning. Unfortunately, LGBT pride parades too often seem like the same. Don’t get me wrong- I love a good party. But we should never forget that our U.S. pride parades started with protest marches just a few decades ago. We can never forget the sacrifice that LGBT people made by showing their faces in Gay Liberation assemblies in a time when they could be put in jail and fired from their jobs for being gay or trans. And even today, LGBT people around the world face the fear of death for participating in LGBT pride events.

Today’s LGBT pride parades are often criticized for being overly sexual or perpetuating stereotypes. Even I have said at times that we should drop the colorful beads and streamers and pick up picket signs until we have full equality. But there must be a balance to life, a “Middle Way” as the Buddha would say. The middle way is a queer mix of celebration and protest. In the LGBT community, we have both separately. We protest for our rights and we celebrate the diversity of our community through parades. We walk down the center of our towns and cities with our queer siblings, not to “rub it in people’s faces” or to “recruit” as some accuse us of, but rather to remind the world that we are still here, that we matter, that we contribute greatly to the betterment of society, and we deserve equal rights. That’s it- no more, no less.

         Jesus’ brief ride into Jerusalem was a queer mix of protest and parade. He was parading in with a theatrical demonstration of humility. As theologian John Dominic Crossan describes it, in mockery of the Roman Pontius Pilate who was possibly entering Jerusalem on a warhorse on the West end of the city, Jesus rode in on a borrowed donkey. While Ego rode in with armed soldiers and gold emblems lifted high in praise of the Empire, Love Incarnate rode in with shouts of “save us!” from the poor and the outcast who threw their tattered and torn garments beneath him.

         There is a terrible misconception about this scene in scripture. The misconception is that the word “hosanna” means “praise God,” as the word “hallelujah” does. No, “hosanna” means “help, save!” These people were suffering terribly under the oppression of the Roman Empire. They were overtaxed, overworked, restricted in rights, and unfairly punished. The Romans kept the Jewish people in constant fear by leaving a row of crucified bodies just outside of the city walls. Jesus surely saw that carnage as he entered the city and could predict what was in store for him. But he proceeded anyway, because as Love Incarnate, his call was to nonviolent resistance of oppressive power.

         Jesus didn’t go easily. It took a lot of chutzpa to enter the city in protest as he did. How he avoided immediate arrest is unbelievable. But Mark tells us that Jesus turned over the moneychangers’ tables, and then taught within the city against the misdeeds of the religious leaders in their neglect of the marginalized.

         This kind of protest was relived in 1965 when Civil Rights leaders led a protest from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, seeking voting rights. “King had won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1964, and his higher profile would help draw international attention to Selma during the eventful months that followed. On February 18, white segregationists attacked a group of peaceful demonstrators in the nearby town of Marion. In the ensuing chaos, an Alabama state trooper fatally shot Jimmie Lee Jackson, a young African-American demonstrator. In response to Jackson’s death, King and the SCLC planned a massive protest march from Selma to the state capitol of Montgomery, 54 miles away. A group of 600 people set out on Sunday, March 7, but didn’t get far before Alabama state troopers wielding whips, nightsticks and tear gas rushed the group at the Edmund Pettis Bridge and beat them back to Selma. The brutal scene was captured on television, enraging many Americans and drawing civil rights and religious leaders of all faiths to Selma in protest.

King himself led another attempt on March 9, but turned the marchers around when state troopers again blocked the road. That night, a group of segregationists beat another protester, the young white minister James Reeb, to death. Alabama state officials (led by Wallace) tried to prevent the march from going forward, but a U.S. district court judge ordered them to permit it. President Lyndon Johnson also backed the marchers, going on national television to pledge his support and lobby for passage of new voting rights legislation he was introducing in Congress. Some 2,000 people set out from Selma on March 21, protected by U.S. Army troops and Alabama National Guard forces that Johnson had ordered under federal control. After walking some 12 hours a day and sleeping in fields along the way, they reached Montgomery on March 25.

Nearly 50,000 supporters–black and white–met the marchers in Montgomery, where they gathered in front of the state capitol to hear King and other speakers including Ralph Bunche (winner of the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize) address the crowd. “No tide of racism can stop us,” King proclaimed from the building’s steps, as viewers from around the world watched the historic moment on television” (History.com).

This month, for the 50^th anniversary of the march, many of the original Civil Rights leaders joined thousands of people to march once again across the Edmund Pettis Bridge. It was a reminder to the world that freedom and equality have not yet been fully realized here. Racial discrimination has been against the law since the 1960s, but the law did not end racism. We still have a long way to go.

         This past week, we witnessed the passing of a so-called “Religious Freedom” bill in Indiana. This bill was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but we did not fall for the trick. The proponents of this bill argued that businesses should have the right to discriminate against LGBT people, based on religious grounds. The bill passed and the governor signed it, but not without protest and consequences. LGBT leaders around the country are now calling for a boycott of Indiana. We will not hold conferences there, buy products made there, or visit there. Several large companies have already canceled events in Indiana. The “queer dollar” is powerful and we should not be ashamed to use it wisely. Bigots must be shown that they cannot discriminate against us without consequences. Some say that doing so is bullying. But I care to differ. Our spiritual ancestors demonstrated non-violent protest and we follow in their footsteps by doing the same. Today, we wave our proverbial palm branches in the streets of Indiana, shouting “Help us, God! Save us from oppression!”

Jesus’ counter-cultural actions of Holy Week did not stop at his protest march into Jerusalem. According to the Gospel of John, Jesus acted very scandalously when he got down on the ground as a slave or a woman in that time, and washed the disciples’ feet as a demonstration of what God’s love looks like in action. Jesus queered the hierarchy of power of his time in any way he could. In the words of the Apostle Paul, (Galatians 3:28), “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” In his final days, Jesus broke down societal boundaries by demonstrating with his male body what it meant to give up male privilege, what it meant to be humble by looking with pure love into the eyes of the sick, the poor, and those condemned as “sinful.” In contrast to society, Jesus affirmed their sacred worth as blessed children of God.

Many begged Jesus to save the Jewish people by overthrowing the government. But Jesus knew that’s not why he was there. He was there to transform lives, to establish a counter-reign, the Reign of God or Kin-dom of Heaven. We call Jesus “the Christ,” “the Anointed One,” and “Messiah.” These are not titles of a far-off deity sitting on a cloud, waiting to end the world. No, these titles tell us of a subversive carpenter who embodied the call of the Divine to give up Ego completely and instead show his world the greatest possibilities of humanity. I am a follower of Jesus Christ, not for afterlife fire insurance, but because I see in Yeshua of Nazareth the depth of the human experience lived out fully. In a short three years, Jesus gave Life his all, and while he lost his own life, he gave Life to countless others. His words and Spirit still give us life 2000 years later.

We know of modern prophets that followed very similarly in the footsteps of Jesus. After decades of serving the poor and demonstrating nonviolent resistance against the British Indian Empire, Mohandas Gandhi was assassinated by shooting in 1948. The icon of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S., Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. followed in the way of Jesus and of Gandhi in using nonviolent resistance against police who defended Jim Crow laws. After his own sort of march into Jerusalem (the March on Washington in 1963), King was also assassinated in 1968 in Memphis, TN. Also, openly gay City of San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk led protest after protest for gay rights in the 1970s. He too was assassinated in 1978. We also remember that in 1998, gay college student Matthew Shepherd was beaten and left to die on a wooden fence, a scene eerily similar to crucifixion. But Matthew is only one of thousands in the US and around the world who have been crucified by the bigots of our world. The truth is that Matthew’s murder became well known because he was the image of privilege in this country: a white male. So we in MCC choose to never forget the countless others who dared to be themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people of color whose lives were ended much too soon by hatred and violence.

At the end of the road to the Cross, at Calvary, we stand with the tearful women and men who loved Jesus as his family. And as if we were there, we look up and see the reflection of our own suffering there with him. We see the Christ covered in Kaposi’s Sarcoma sores, body wasted from battling AIDS. We see the Christa, bald from chemotherapy, breasts removed by mastectomy. We see the Christ Child, dying of starvation. We see the Christ full of bullet wounds, or wrists slit, or victim of so-called “legitimate rape.” Why do we see these things at the Cross? Because in the words of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew (25:45), “Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for the least of these my sisters and brothers, you did not do for me.”

What the life and death of Jesus, Gandhi, King, Milk, and others teach us is that freedom is costly. Each of those great prophets knew that their own lives were at stake. But for the holy purpose of peace and justice to which they were called, they faced the Empires of their day and gave up their lives that others may live. May it never be misunderstood: Divine Love never desired any of them to suffer or die as they did. But since God has no body but ours, it is our life’s meaning and purpose to fulfill the Reign of Love in our time and place.

I believe that the Cosmic Christ stands with us, working in whatever ways possible to manifest justice and peace. So whenever you see injustice at work, allow Christ to lead you into holy protest.

I pray each one of you have a blessed and prayerful Holy Week. Remember, it is not a time of intentional sadness, but it is a time to mourn what has been lost so that come Easter morning, we can fully embrace the power of resurrection. And so it is. Amen.

Ego Death

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Ego Death

Sermon for MCC New Haven

March 22, 2015

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Jeremiah 31:31-24

John 12:20-33

As the weeks of Lent pass by, we get closer and closer to Holy Week. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday when we remember Jesus entering triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey, mocking Roman authority. We will remember Holy Thursday when Jesus breaks bread with his disciples and washes their feet in an act of complete humility. We will remember Good Friday when officials of the Roman Empire executed Jesus publicly because they saw him as a threat to their rule. And then we will finally celebrate Easter Sunday when Jesus’ family of choice finds his tomb empty, that Jesus has transformed from body to Eternal Spirit, the Risen Christ.

In the Gospel reading from John that we hear today, Jesus seems to know his fate. He had just resurrected Lazarus from the dead- the one he loved so dearly. Word had spread widely about what he had done, so many flocked to him. John wrote that some Greeks wanted to see him. Remember how Jesus had told Philip and Andrew to “Come and see” when Jesus first recruited them. Perhaps these pagan Greeks wanted to become disciples of Jesus. But they did not know what they would have to give up in order to follow him.

Jesus tells them that like a seed planted in the ground, he must die. But then like a sprout of wheat, he will be transformed to bear abundant fruit. He also says that when he is “lifted up,” he will draw everyone to himself. We can look forward in the story and take Jesus’ words at face value as a prediction of events to come: the Resurrection and the Ascension. But there is a much deeper meaning here that has to do with the individual and communal lives of us all.

All of us go through life transformations. Some of us come out as LGBT or as allies of the Queer community like Lazarus from the stinky tomb. Some of us enter relationships and may get married. Others leave relationships and divorce. Some of us give birth to or adopt children. We gain and lose friends throughout our lives. People we love die. We face health challenges. We move to different places and may buy a house. We retire and face the challenges of old age. All of these things are the substance of life. They are all part of a birth, death, and rebirth process. After a loss, we grieve, and then we are reborn stronger on the other side of the valley. In Eastern religions such as Hinduism, the cycles of life continue through reincarnation. And in Christianity, we affirm that when our physical bodies die, our spirits are reborn into Eternal Life. Life is cyclical. It is a great and wondrous circle. In the life of God, you and I have always existed and we will always exist. Death is but an illusion.

ACIM says, “In time we exist for and with each other. In Timelessness we coexist with God.” We are afraid to die because our brains only remember back to our childhood. We don’t often remember existing before birth. As a small child, I remember sitting in my favorite spot under the record player in the dining room. There was a space where my four-year-old body could barely fit. But I would sit in there and do what I would now consider meditation. Nobody taught me to do this; it just came naturally. It was in those moments that I felt complete inner peace and joy. I felt that I could remember in my spirit being with God before entering my physical body. Even though I could no longer see God, I knew in those holy moments that God was still with me.

Remember that Jesus said, “Whoever serves me must follow me. Wherever I am, there my servant will also be.” This doesn’t just mean that if we believe in Jesus, we will go to heaven when we die. It also means that even in this very moment, the Spirit of Christ is with us. In our darkest moments of despair and rage, Spirit is with us. In our times of great celebration, Christ parties with us. In our times of waiting on life to move forward, God paces back and forth with us. Through all the cycles of life in this world and the next, we are never alone.

Sometimes we do feel alone though. Especially the socially marginalized feel loneliness. LGBT youth commit suicide at alarmingly higher rates than their peers. The mentally ill are cast out on the streets to lives of fending for their lives. Even though Jim Crow signs saying “Whites Only” have long been taken down from public spaces, people of color are still made to not feel welcome in many places. Loneliness is a pandemic- one that requires great healing.

This is where our work begins. Since 1968, Metropolitan Community Churches have provided a sense of community for LGBT folks who had nowhere to fit in. We should not take that for granted. Our churches have saved countless lives from physical death and spiritual harm. That is why we continue to meet here in New Haven, even though we are a relatively small group. What we do matters. Preaching the Gospel of the Unconditional Love of God is life-changing work that we will continue to do as long as we can.

The remedy for devastating loneliness is found in today’s scripture. Jesus says in all of the Gospels, “Those who love their lives will lose them, and those who hate their lives in this world will keep them forever.” Now don’t misunderstand- Jesus is not telling us to live miserable lives with no pleasure or joy. To find the deeper meaning, we look to the Greek word translated here as “life.” The word is “psyche.” We know this word as it is used today in psychology. But at the time the Gospels were written, it meant “spirit.” Your psyche is your life essence, what your personality is made of.

So with that understanding, what is Jesus demanding of us to follow him? I identify the psyche in two parts: the ego false self and the beloved true self. Plato originally defined it this way. This is also the way ACIM defines the self. According to these sources, God did not create the ego; rather we create the ego out of fear. We perceive a scary and dangerous world that can damage our spirits, so we build up the ego as a defense. I believe that as a child, I stopped sitting under the record player to commune with God when I chose to form an ego instead. I bet you did the same. The true self is what God created within us and it cannot be destroyed, though it can be hidden.

Jesus tells us that we cannot hold onto our egos if we want to follow him. We cannot live in fear, guilt, shame, hatred, or selfishness if we want to be God’s friend. God will delete the ego’s friend request! But a friend request from the true self is not even needed, because it has been a part of God for Eternity.

Toltec Spiritual Teacher Don Miguel Ruiz tells this story: A Native American grandfather was speaking to his grandson about violence and cruelty in the world and how it comes about. He said it was as if two wolves were fighting in his heart. One wolf was vengeful, resentful, and angry, and the other wolf was understanding and kind. The young man asked his father which wolf would win the fight in his heart. And his grandfather answered, “The one that will win will be the one I choose to feed.” The bad wolf is the ego and the good wolf is the true self. Could you imagine the kind of transformation the world would go through if we all chose to feed the good wolf?

But we all know the ego does not die easily. We have lived with our egos our whole lives and we have come to befriend them because we think they protect us. They’re like those friends we know we shouldn’t associate with because they are a bad influence but we keep them around anyway. So how can the ego die? Certainly not from attacking it because the ego will just play victim. Not through exorcism as some traditions attempt to do because of the false belief that a demon has entered a person. The answer is simple, but complex: Put complete trust in God.

Various spiritual traditions describe the moment of trusting God in different ways. Roman Catholics might call it mystical communion with God or transcendence through prayer. Evangelical Christians call it “getting saved” by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior and rejecting Satan. Jewish practitioners of Kabbalah call it relationship with Infinity (Ein Sof). Buddhists call it Enlightenment through meditation and letting go of attachment to the world. Sufis in Islam call it “repairing the heart” through doing a meditative whirling dance. New Thought practitioners like myself call it Metaphysics- contemplating reality versus non-reality. Whatever you call it, this different way of being in the world is rooted in the absolute trust in the God of your understanding.

I intentionally chose “I Surrender All” for us to sing today because the song demonstrates what is required for us to ascend to new heights in life. We must surrender all of our fears, regrets, and grudges in order to fully commune with God. We should keep driving our own lives, but must also trust Jesus to take the wheel. Giving our lives to God is not just an evangelical thing. Finding ourselves within the Life of God is what it means to follow Jesus.

One of the best ways to commune with God is to commune with the most marginalized in society. Remember that Matthew 25:40 says, “Whatever you did for the least of these my siblings, you did it unto me.” So share a meal with a homeless person. Tell a fearful LGBT youth how to join community where they will be fully accepted and celebrated. Affirm a transgender person in their transition process. Vote for immigration reform that will welcome the stranger. Humble yourself by making a donation to the church or to a charity. All of these actions cultivate Christ-Consciousness instead of ego-unconsciousness.

Philosophers and theologians have debated for millennia on how to kill the ego. Some in the 1960s tried to do so through use of LSD. They felt separated from the ego and on some plane at one with All Life, but when the high ended, the ego was still there. No drug or pill can reduce the ego. And nothing you can do can kill it in an instant. Salvation from the ego is a life-long process, from one moment to the next.

But thank God, we are never alone on the journey. As the voice of God said through the voice of the prophet Jeremiah, “I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.” We are indeed God’s beautiful Queer people- saving each other from loneliness and despair, and communing with God at greater heights each and every day. May the dead seed of your ego sprout into a magnificent plant that bears much fruit. And so it is. Amen.

Follow That Star

Follow That Star

Sermon for MCC New Haven

January 4, 2015

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Isaiah 60:1-6

Matthew 2:1-12

A talking cricket once sang for a puppet that had a terrible problem with telling the truth…

“When you wish upon a star
Makes no difference who you are
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you

If your heart is in your dream
No request is too extreme
When you wish upon a star
As dreamers do

Fate is kind
She brings to those who love
The sweet fulfillment of
Their secret longing

Like a bolt out of the blue
Fate steps in and sees you through
When you wish upon a star
Your dreams come true.”

         As the Gospel of Matthew tells the legend, a group of Persian astronomers, priests in the Zoroastrian religion, were studying the stars and noticed something peculiar: a particular star rising in the East and setting in the West. Certainly they knew all of the constellations by heart, so a difference in the star pattern had meaning to them. So, like you do, they set out with gifts to give to the new king of a culture completely foreign to them- the Jewish people. It would have been over 1000 miles to travel between Iran (then called Persia) and Bethlehem. Matthew doesn’t say they rode on camels; that’s just legend. The image of three kings on camels has been engrained in our minds from greeting cards. But they were not said to be kings or have camels, and just because there were three gifts does not mean there were three men; there could have been two or eight. They were rather said to be Zoroastrian priests who traveled a long way… and for what? Apparently just to give gifts to a baby and to worship him.

         I don’t know about you, but it sounds pretty far-fetched. Why would priests from one religion travel so far? It would not be completely out of the question for people to travel throughout the Near East for trading purposes. And throughout the ages, people have seen comets and other differences in the sky that they wanted to put meaning to. But that is not the point Matthew was trying to make and once again, truths do not necessarily come from facts.

         Christian scholars tend to agree that Matthew was attempting in telling this story to show that from the very beginning of Jesus’ life, the gospel message was not just for the Jews. It was rather for the whole world. Evangelicals often interpret Matthew’s message as saying that everyone in the world needs to be “saved” by confessing faith in Jesus as the one and only savior of the world. But Matthew never gives us a confession of faith from the Magi. The simply travel, avoid dealing with the malicious King Herod, give Jesus expensive gifts, venerate him, and go home. Matthew could have had them say something like the Roman Centurion did after Jesus’ crucifixion “Surely this was the Son of God” (Matthew 27:54). But no, the only voice the Magi are given is asking where they can find the newborn King of the Jews.

         The Magi did not know the God of the Jews. They worshipped a good god named Ahura Mazda and they feared a second evil god named Angra Mainyu. It sounds kind of like fundamentalist Christianity today doesn’t it? Worship Father God and fight Satan (in Hebrew ha-satan “The Accuser”). If Persians brought anything from to the East to Jesus, it was an idea: the idea that the Supreme God was ultimately good, unlike what people today sometimes call the “Wrathful Old Testament God.” God didn’t change, but ideas about God did. A wrathful God was not good enough for Jesus, and it’s not good enough for me either.

         Today is called “Epiphany Sunday” in the Christian tradition. Epiphany from ancient Greek means “manifestation” or “striking appearance.” In the Eastern Church, it is called “Theophany,” meaning “vision of God.” These titles teach Christians that Jesus’ appearance in the world was not ordinary, that it was truly seeing God in the flesh, Emmanuel. As the Gospel of John says, “And the Word (Logos/Wisdom/Sophia) was made flesh and dwelt among us…” (John 1:14). If people had not seen God through Jesus of Nazareth, he would have just been another Jewish peasant whom history would not remember. But people did indeed experience Jesus as the Anointed One who would somehow deliver them from despair and degradation.

         And isn’t that why we are all here today? Either you have heard about Jesus and how he allowed God to work through him and wonder how he might work in your life, or you can give testimony to the ways that the Living Christ has worked in your life.

         As a child, I used to watch The Wonderful World of Disney and on many occasions, I would sing along to Jiminy Cricket singing “When You Wish Upon A Star.” I remember asking my mom if wishing upon a star really worked. She said, “You won’t know unless you try.” So with the patience of Job, I wished upon stars night after night for a better life. With the innocence of a child, I believed that my dreams could come true.

         As an adult Christian, I don’t wish upon stars. Rather, I pray to God that the deepest desires of my heart will come to be. One of the most popular Christian prayers today is called the Prayer of Jabez from 1 Chronicles 4:10 (NIV): “Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.” I would like to believe that it’s that easy.

Even Jesus said in Matthew 7:7, “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” But Jesus was not saying that God is a genie in a lamp. Just because you’re a Christian doesn’t mean you can ask God for a new car and it will show up at your front door. Ellen Degeneres might do that, but God wants something greater for you. In the midst of whatever you are facing in life, God wants you to focus on the Good.

Allegorically, the Magi were seekers of Truth. They sought to expand the horizons of their spiritual understanding. And after a long journey, they found a child that radiated the presence of God. It sometimes takes us many days, months, or even years to find a spiritual epiphany, but they do happen! You could come to church every Sunday for years and not really “get” the Good News of God’s unconditional Love. Just because you hear it doesn’t mean you will receive it. But then one day, maybe your heart is broken open enough for you to finally realize, “Wow, I am a beautiful child of God, made in God’s image, blessed to be a blessing!” Maybe you’ll finally realize, “My God- I really am essentially good even though sometimes I do bad things!” Or maybe, just maybe you’ll have the “aha moment” that “I am not the ego I have created. I am really a perfect, whole, and complete being.”

Each of us desires things at the depth of our beings. But we too often want them on our own terms. We expect blessings to show up in ways that we dream up in our minds. But that’s not how God works. God promises that we will be blessed, as we are a blessing in the world. But we don’t understand the value of blessings. The Magi brought some pretty expensive gifts. They didn’t receive in return more of the same. Instead, they received the invaluable experience of an encounter with the holy. And isn’t a transformative spiritual experience worth so much more than gold?

We all want a lot of the same things: enough money to pay the bills and to have some fun with, health of body and mind, and good friends and family. But if you don’t make the journey, you won’t arrive at your place of blessing. It is through the journey that you come to many epiphanies about what needs to change for the better in your life. It is the journey that allows you to leave excess baggage in the desert. Maybe you’ll do some trading with other wanderers.

But you will arrive at your destination if you do the work. You have to be prepared before you find what you have been looking for. On the journey, follow that star! As Dr. King said with such profound encouragement: Keep your eyes on the prize. And when you least expect it, when you’ve almost given up, God will blow your mind. May it be so. Amen.

Be Prepared

“Be Prepared”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

November 9, 2014

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

A Reading from the Wisdom of Ernest Holmes:
We believe in God, the living Spirit Almighty; one, indestructible, absolute, and self-existent Cause. This One manifests Itself in and through all creation, but is not absorbed by Its creation. The manifest universe is the body of God; it is the logical and necessary outcome of the infinite self-knowingness of God.

We believe in the incarnation of the Spirit in us, and that all people are incarnations of the One Spirit. We believe in the eternality, the immortality, and the continuity of the individual soul, forever and ever expanding. We believe that Heaven is within us, and that we experience It to the degree that we become conscious of It.

Matthew 25:1-13

         If you’ve seen the movie Bridesmaids, you know how ridiculous wedding planning can be. The movie plays up the rivalry of bridesmaids. They try to outdo each other in impressing their friend- the bride to be. They plan a fancy vacation in Paris for the bachelorette party, following the direction of the richest and most arrogant bridesmaid. Also under her direction, they try on the most expensive dresses, though the other girls can’t nearly pay for one. I won’t ruin the movie for you if you haven’t seen it (which you will immediately go and do this afternoon), but the point is that events like weddings can cause rivalry.

         I’m glad that I am not seeing that kind of culture with same sex weddings. This past week, my clergy colleagues in St. Louis, Missouri were finally able to marry same-sex couples when it became legal. They went to the courthouse and married anyone who came to them. No multi-thousand dollar productions; just two people standing together promising to love and take care of each other (and of course bind together financially in the eyes of the law… Don’t take marriage lightly!). These simple ceremonies are to me in some ways more beautiful than a big production. I have been blessed with the opportunity to perform many myself.

         In Jesus’ parable that we heard today from the Gospel of Matthew, there is a little bit of rivalry going on among the bridesmaids. There are ten of them- five of which brought enough oil to put in their lamps to keep vigil for the groom’s arrival, and five that did not bring enough oil. Imagine, they are at the place where the groom is supposed to arrive. They’re all dolled up in their wedding attire. They’re doing their job, which in that time was to show the beauty of virginity.

         They all wait for the groom to arrive. Who knows where the bride is; she isn’t even mentioned in the story! They wait until late at night and all fall asleep. Of course, the groom finally shows up at midnight (rude). Now here comes the conflict. The five maids without enough oil beg the other five maids to give them some. You might think Jesus would say that they were kind and shared their oil, but NO, they said, “Go buy your own!” So they ran to go buy more oil. When they get back, the door is closed. They holler at the door, “Open up!” But… here it comes… the groom says, “I don’t know you!” The end… I don’t know about you, but I feel bad for those poor girls. I don’t know why they didn’t have enough oil, but maybe they couldn’t afford it. Maybe like in the movie Bridesmaids, the rich push the poor away from the bride. We’ll never know, but I can at least indulge my imagination.

         After the story is finished, Jesus gives the moral of the story: Keep alert because you don’t know the day or the hour. Our modern translations say, “Keep alert” or “Watch out,” but the best translation of this Greek word gregoreo is “Be prepared.” I was a Boy Scout, and our motto was “Be Prepared.” For us, it meant to bring the right stuff when we went camping. For some fundamentalist Christians, it means “Watch out for Jesus at all times because he could be coming in the sky at any moment, so don’t get caught doing something naughty.” Or in the words of the popular bumper sticker, “Jesus is coming. Look busy.” For so-called Doomsday Preppers, “Be Prepared” means spending lots of money making underground bomb shelters loaded with food, guns, ammo, and who knows what else. They want to make sure they are ready to defend themselves when the end of the world comes because… you know it’s coming!

         People have been talking about the end of the world for millennia. As soon as a natural disaster, a plague, or a war happens, it may seem like the end of the world. But in reality, it’s just another challenge to humanity. All of these end-times theories are just fear-based means of controlling people. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t like being unnecessarily afraid and I don’t like being controlled by oppressors.

         There are other ways for us to interpret the Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids. The message does not need to be: “Prepare for the end of the world or Jesus will shut the door in your face.” Rather, I think the message for us today is “Be prepared for those holy moments when God is ready to work good in your life. Don’t miss out!”

         The way I read this parable, there were only five bridesmaids. The maids who had plenty of oil ready represent our best, highest selves. This self lives out Jesus’ commandment to love God and others with our whole being day in and day out. This self uses mistakes to become wiser. This self associates with the outcasts of society- the queerest of the queer. This self takes gratitude for each moment of living. This self forgives self and others. This self gives generously. All of these things are the oil carried for the journey. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 says, “But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed…” See, we have this precious oil stored within us as if in clay jars. We did not make it or earn it. Rather, it is a free gift of God’s grace. And as the scripture tells us, it will get us through a living hell. This precious oil is given for the anointing of our weary souls. Isn’t that amazing?

         For me, the other five bridesmaids represent the ego. The ego is the self that we make up from childhood in order to defend ourselves from a harsh world. The ego is selfish. It likes to have pity parties. It tells us that the world is against us. It likes drama and competition. It likes to complicate everything. It confuses our priorities. It likes to judge everyone, including ourselves. It believes that punishment is justice. This is the self that Jesus shuts the door on. This is the self that cannot enter the Kin-dom of God, in this life or in the next. Its oil has run out.

         Being prepared means filling up with that precious oil so that we don’t miss out on the goodness of life. In the parable, the foolish maids ask the wise maids for some of their oil. It seems cruel, but they say, “No!” It now makes sense that we should say “No!” too. Don’t let the ego have any of your time or energy. God did not create the ego, so it does not deserve God’s precious gifts. We know what happens when the ego is given control of a person’s life; just look at last week’s election…

         You may feel powerless at times, like just one little person in this big world. But like a pebble thrown into a pond, you can create ripples of goodness in the world. It is not an easy decision, but it is the most important decision in life. Will you be prepared for the God-moments in life or will you miss out?

         Spiritual leader Iyanla Vanzant’s daughter Gemmia wrote a poem that describes what happens when you’re “prepared.”

“One day my soul just opened up and things started happenin'
things I can't quite explain
I mean
I cried and cried like never before
I cried tears of ten thousand mothers
I couldn't even feel anything because
I cried 'til I was numb.

One day my soul just opened up
I felt this overwhelming pride
what I was proud of
only God knows!
Like the pride of a hundred thousand fathers
basking in the glory of their newborn sons
I was grinnin' from ear to ear!

One day my soul just opened up
I started laughing and I laughed for what seemed like forever
wasn't nothin' particularly funny goin' on but I laughed anyhow
I laughed the joy of a million children playin' in the mud
I laughed 'til my sides ached
Oh God! It felt so good!

One day, my soul just opened up
There were revelations, annihilations, and resolutions
feelings of doubt and betrayal, vengeance and forgiveness
memories of things I'd seen and done before
of places I'd been, although I didn't know when
there were lives I'd lived
people I'd loved
battles I'd fought
victories I'd won
and wars I'd lost.

One day, my soul just opened up
and out poured all things
I'd been hiding and denying and living through
that had just happened moments before.

One day, my soul just opened up
and I decided I was good and ready!
I was good and ready to surrender my life to God.

So, with my soul wide open,
I sat down
wrote Her a note
and told her so.”

May we do so today as well. And so it is! Amen.

Queering Ethics

“Queering Ethics”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

October 5, 2014

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Exodus 20:1-17

Matthew 21:33-46

         Charlton Heston said unto the Israelites with a booming voice, “Woe unto thee O Israel. You have sinned a great sin in the sight of God. You are not worthy of these Ten Commandments. There is no freedom without the law. Who is on the Lord’s side, let him come to me. Blasphemers, idolaters: for this you shall drink bitter waters! God has set before you this day his laws of life, and good, and death, and evil. Those who will not live by the law shall die by the law!” Mr. Heston then threw the tablets of the Ten Commandments at the golden calf and they blew up, causing an earthquake, and the earth opened up, swallowing up the people. This 1956 movie called The Ten Commandments is how many of us think of the story.

         If you think this sounds dramatic, the 32^nd chapter of Exodus is actually more dramatic. As the story goes, Moses had been up on Mount Sinai for a long time and the people assumed that he would not return. So they decided to create a golden calf out of gold and worship it instead. God gets really mad and threatens to kill all the people. Moses convinces God that that’s not such a good idea. Then Moses goes back down the mountain, chastises the people, and throws the tablets to the foot of the mountain. He burns the golden calf, grounds it up, puts it in water, and makes the people drink it. Like Mr. Heston, Moses said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me!” The sons of Levi went to him. Moses instructed them to slay “brother, friend, and neighbor.” They killed about three thousand people. Moses then asks God’s forgiveness for the people. God promises to punish them and puts a plague on them. But, ya know, go ahead to the Promised Land.

         It’s not a glamorous or happy story. God is portrayed as moody, mean, fickle, jealous, and bloodthirsty. This is not the God that I was taught about in Sunday School. Perhaps that’s because the story would be rated “R,” not rated “G” or even “PG.” Instead of teaching the people a new way of being and relating in the world, Moses orders for many to be slaughtered. It seems kind of hypocritical when he had just brought down a set of commandments that includes, “Do not murder.”

         Even back then, thousands of years ago, the laws were not as cut and dry as ten simple sentences. The Book of Exodus lays out in great detail what each of the commandments meant for the people of Israel. There were many cultural specifics- things that applied only to the Hebrew people of that time and place. But as 21^st century Progressive Christians, we cannot apply the entirety of the Mosaic Law to our lives. It just doesn’t make sense, just as it doesn’t make sense for us to take scriptures like the Book of Leviticus literally. They were not written for us. The best we can do is take wisdom from them.

         I find it strange that some fundamentalist         Christians push for the Ten Commandments to be made into statues in front of courthouses and in public places. They claim that the Ten Commandments are the laws that all other laws should be based on. One problem with this claim is that our country is not a theocracy. There is no established religion of our country. We are free to practice whatever religion we choose. And if we choose to worship a golden calf, we will not be punished by the law of the land.

         So what should we think of the Ten Commandments? Do they matter to us today? I think they do matter for us, but only if we see them through the lens of our own experience. Today, we “queer” the text in order to uncover how it affects our faith.

The first commandment is to have no other gods before the God of Israel. As Christians, we follow the heritage of Jesus, who was a faithful Jew in his time. And so we claim to serve the same God Jesus served. We believe in one God, the Creator of the universe, who is the Greatest Good, Divine Love, and the Divine Mind. God is present in everyone and everything. Other faiths believe in many gods who have their own personalities and purposes, but our faith is monotheistic- that is, we believe in only one God who is the Ground of Being, the Source of Life. We do not demonize others for their beliefs, but we also stand firm in our own convictions.

The second commandment is to not make any idols. For us, this does not mean to stop making art. If you are taking a sculpting class, don’t worry; you don’t have to drop out. The sin of idolatry is about worshipping something other than God. Many things can be our idols: wealth, fame, celebrities, control, political principles, sexist or racist ideals, or even the Bible. Yes, many people worship the Bible, thinking that they are worshipping God. Egos want to be gods, but following the commandment means pointing instead to the One Great I AM. When we acknowledge that we did not create ourselves, the ego fades away.

The third commandment is to not take God’s name in vain. This is not about foul language. Though it is poor taste to do so, God will not punish you for saying “God damn” or “Jesus H. Christ.” For us, misusing God’s name means saying things about God or in God’s name that are unloving. For example, the Westboro Baptist Church misuses the name of God by saying that God hates particular groups. Televangelists misuse the name of God when they say that God sent natural disasters and diseases as punishment for sin. And since the name of God given to us in the Book of Exodus is “I AM,” we misuse the name of God whenever we say, “I am” followed by something unloving toward ourselves. Whenever we say, “I am worthless, I am bad, I am sinful, I am not worthy of love, I am shameful”, or any other negative thing, we are misusing the name of God.

The fourth commandment is to remember the Sabbath day and to treat it as holy. For us, this does not mean refraining from any work whatsoever on Sundays. The Sabbath is different for each person. We each need to take the time to commune with God. Having Christian faith is about listening to God more than we speak to God. It’s about letting go of the cares of the world to build trust in our loving God who takes care of us in all the ways we allow Her to. Sabbath time is essential to the Christian journey. Self-care is so important that it made it to the “top ten”!

The fifth commandment is to honor your parents. This does not mean that we have to agree with them all the time. We know that’s impossible even if we tried. In the LGBT community, our parents sometimes disown us, saying that our identities are evil. It would not be loving to ourselves to agree with them. We have many people we look up to as parental figures within our chosen families. We honor biological or chosen parents by loving them and taking care of them when they are sick.  We honor them by owning and sharing the wisdom they have to give us.

The sixth commandment is to not murder. Our society seems to be obsessed with murder. Many television shows glorify violence and killing. Children play video games in which they slaughter people. We teach that it is okay to kill in certain contexts, whether it is in war or through the death penalty. Should we never kill another human being? This is a very complex ethical question that we have been debating for millennia. The scripture that I think of in pondering this question is Matthew 26:52 where Jesus says, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who take the sword will die by the sword.”

The seventh commandment is to not commit adultery. In ancient times, this was a law against taking another man’s property. Since women were property in those times, having sex with another man’s wife was violating his property. In modern times, women are not property, though they are still often treated as such. Conservative Christians teach that sex is reserved for marriage between one man and for one woman. This ethic obviously does not work for us. So we must apply the question, “What does it mean to show love through sex?” If a person has agreed to not have sex outside of a two-person relationship, then that agreement should be honored. But if a married couple agrees to consensual sex with others, this is not adultery. Adultery is about using sex with others to hurt our partners. And that does not sound very loving.

The eighth commandment is to not steal. I have to question once again if this should be taken literally all of the time. If someone is starving in a society like ours where the rich have exponentially more than they need for survival, is it wrong for him or her to steal food for their family? Also, are corporations not stealing from people by hoarding money and getting tax cuts? We all work for what we have and should not have to worry about someone taking our belongings without consequences. But theft is much bigger than that. Continue to question who is being exploited and who is benefitting from exploitation in our world.

The ninth commandment is to not testify falsely against your neighbor. The extreme of this is to make someone face financial penalties or jail time by testifying in court that they are guilty when you know they are not. More commonly, we testify against neighbors when we spread gossip. Our tongues can be as sharp as swords. They can cut strangers, but they can also cut those who are closest to us. I’m okay with a commandment against misusing the word against others.

The tenth commandment is to not desire other people’s belongings. This seems strange to us in our culture because every commercial we see on television uses envy. We want that dress because so-and-so has it. We want that car because so-and-so drives it. We watch so-called “reality” TV shows about people with extravagant wealth. It’s not wrong to have nice things. But we must ask ourselves “Why do I want this thing?” If things foster relationship with others and with God, they are good. If the money would be better spent on helping others or on planning for a secure future, we should question our purchases. The writers of Exodus knew that humans tend to want more and better things. They knew that the desire for those things could get in the way of fostering relationships and community. So this one made it to the “top ten.” Be grateful for what you have and be mindful about where the fruits of your labor are going.

After analyzing all Ten Commandments, it seems that only three of them make sense for use in government: do not kill, do not steal, and do not bear false witness (perjury). The others are either personal matters or theological matters. So we have no business imposing these ancient laws onto our government. But we should hold onto their wisdom. And as Christians, we should view all of these things through what we call The Greatest Commandment. Jesus quoted the Hebrew Scriptures in saying “Love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength… and love your neighbor as yourself. All the law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments” (Matt. 22:37-40). This is the big picture of what it means to live out the Gospel of Jesus. It’s not about a legalistic religion of dos and don’ts. It’s rather about growing in faith by practicing the Greatest Commandment. We make many mistakes on the journey, but God’s grace is sufficient in our times of weakness. So don’t fear commandments; some preacher is not going to throw stone tablets at you. Keep calm and live in God’s love. Amen.

Miracles On The Margins

“Miracles On The Margins”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

August 17, 2014

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Matthew 15:21-28

A Reading from Where The Edge Gathers

by Bishop Yvette Flunder:

“In its effort to be inclusive the church often reaches out carefully to the margin. Radical inclusivity demands that we reach out to the farthest margin, intentionally, to give a clear message of welcome to everyone. Radical inclusivity recognizes, values, loves, and celebrates people on the margin. Jesus was himself from the edge of society with a ministry to those who were considered least. Jesus’ public ministry and associations were primarily with the poor, weak, outcast, foreigners, and prostitutes. Radical inclusivity practices and celebrates the Christian community outside of the dominant culture, believing that the realm of God includes the margins of society and is a perfect place for ministry. Marginalized people, now as in the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, respond to a community of openness and inclusivity, where other people from the edge gather. Such an atmosphere welcomes people to feel safer to be who they are.”

         The human family has always been diverse. Each continent, region, nation, city, and town has its own traditions and worldviews that have evolved over the millennia. But no matter where a person may live at any given time and place, the human spirit always seeks to belong. We find easy belonging with those who are most like ourselves. As the saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together.” In the United States today, we may have moved legally past slavery and so-called “separate but equal” Jim Crow Laws, but we are still a divided nation. We still follow our instinct to group with others like ourselves in order to feel normal. It takes an extra effort to break through those barriers of identity to create diverse community.

         We have seen this past week in Ferguson, Missouri how people are still struggling with issues of race and class. At face value, it appears to be a struggle between Black and White folks, something this nation knows all too well. Last Saturday around noon, 18-year-old Michael Brown was walking down the street with a friend and was confronted by a police officer. The details of the encounter are still being debated, but the fact we know is that the officer shot and killed Michael. Following news of the event, protests began in the streets, which led to riots and looting.

         This is not an isolated incident; police quarrel with people of color all the time. Poverty has led to crime (as it often does), which leads to conflict. Michael’s death was a watershed moment for the Ferguson community. The Black community’s frustration with police has overflowed. Those who are entrusted with protecting the people are now viewed as oppressors, as agents of injustice.

         Moderator of Metropolitan Community Churches, Rev. Elder Dr. Nancy Wilson responded to this tragic event with a call to continue fighting against racism. She urges us to not only examine our own consciences around our own prejudices, but also to take action in the form of nonviolent resistance and open dialogue. Rev. Nancy writes, “It is time for us to rise up -- not in violence but in creative non-violent action, which pulls back the curtain on the inherent violence of racism and race-based policing. We remember the words of Jesus and the words of almost every angel in the Bible who upset people's lives: "Fear not!" You can do this!

Be creative! Today, there are Freedom Schools springing up across this country. Be part of it! Today, there are foster homes in our churches that are opening up to the children crossing the border. Learn Spanish! Put yourself on the path of change. Speak out! Say "Hello" to someone who appears different from you. Start small, but think BIG! Organize! Start where you are. Work as a team. Just start!

Build a new heaven and a new earth. Use the power in your hands to build a better world that is full of creativity, love, learning, and fullness of life for all our children. Build this world with open hands so that the world belongs to everyone.”

         This kind of action is what it means to be church. We meet each Sunday to worship God with song and study and sacrament, but these are only symbols of how we are called to act in our broken world.

         Ironically in this week’s Gospel passage, we find an inter-racial dialogue. Jesus was a Jew and he encountered a syrophoenician woman on the road. She is not given a name in any of the Gospels, but we know that she is from a Gentile nation that did not worship the God of Israel. Jesus encounters her in the district of Tyre and Sidon. The name Tyre means “rock” and Sidon means “fishing.” So Jesus was not stuck between a rock and a hard place, but rather between a rock and a fish… As strange as this sounds, the choice between a rock and a fish has meaning for us.

         The syrophoenician woman’s daughter was ill and somehow she had heard that Jesus had the ability to heal. So she begs Jesus to help her daughter. The literal translation from Greek is that she “squawks” at him. She is making a ruckus, being annoying even. She is persistent in her protest. She will not leave until she receives her blessing.

First Jesus just ignores her, but then when the disciples ask Jesus to send her away, he responds to her. He does not ask her to go away. Instead, he says something blatantly disrespectful and derogatory. He says that God’s blessings are for God’s Jewish children, not for “dogs” like her. It was common in that time for Jewish authorities to call other races “dogs.” Jews did not keep dogs for pets in that time. Dogs were just scavengers on the streets that were accepted as an annoying part of life.

         Surprisingly, the woman does not slap Jesus across the face as many of us might do if we were called a slur. Instead, she challenges Jesus. She essentially says, “I may be a dog to you, but even the dogs get the leftovers from the table.” Her words stop Jesus in his tracks. Her bold act of faith changed Jesus’ mind. Not only did he heal the woman’s daughter; from that point forward Jesus would not withhold blessing from non-Jews.

         We don’t like seeing Jesus in this light because we are told that Jesus was perfect, sinless, and always did the right thing. But if there is ever an incidence of Jesus sinning, it is in the racism he showed in this passage. Jesus was a man who embodied the Divine Presence so much in his life that we call him The Anointed One of God, Christ, Messiah. But he was still a man. As we all do, Jesus grew up in a specific place and time. He grew up learning racism from his own people. His first reaction to the syrophoenician woman came from the way he had been socialized. But the miracle moment came when Jesus’ fear of the other (xenophobia) turned into love of the other. The two had a “Namaste” moment when she saw God in him and he saw God in her. It changed Jesus for the rest of his life. And it ultimately changed how the Christian church would embrace both Jews and Gentiles.

         Jesus had the choice between the rock- the seemingly solid knowledge of who should interact with whom, and the fish- casting out the net of the Gospel far and wide to include everyone. Jesus chose inclusivity over exclusivity; he chose love over racism.

         Bishop Yvette Flunder is the founder of the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries and is also an ordained minister in MCC. She wrote a wonderful book called Where the Edge Gathers and that is where our first reading today is from. Bishop Flunder helped to start a church in San Francisco called City of Refuge United Church of Christ. Coming from the Pentecostal tradition, she had a vision that queer folks of color needed a place for Christian worship, community, and service. City of Refuge has since bloomed into several vibrant communities.

The secret to their success is not making an exclusive group of LGBT people of color. Rather, their success is rooted in the value of what Bishop Flunder calls “radical inclusivity.” She saw the demographics of the queer people of the South of Market district of San Francisco: transgender women, sex workers, people struggling with addiction, and people living in poverty. Instead of creating an “us vs. them” community of the wealthy and more “normal” against the more marginalized, City of Refuge was created as a place where all marginalized people have access to all opportunities in the church.

Bishop Flunder did not shy away from the most marginalized. Instead, as Jesus did, she empowered them to have purpose in community. The result is a true reflection of what Jesus called the Kin-dom of God: diverse peoples working together to share the Unconditional Love of God.

We can learn a lot from Bishop Flunder’s vision of radical inclusivity. Instead of focusing on ministering with a wide range of people, we can be tempted to attract only those who can give a large tithe. We can be tempted to flock together and be content with having only one or two species of bird. But God’s call is so much larger than that. God calls us to boldly face the uncomfortable realities of racism and classism. We need to own the fact that in the words of the puppet musical Avenue Q, “Everyone’s a little bit racist sometimes!” We have all grown up in a racist society, so it is a part of us. But that does not mean that we cannot make progress on the road to healing. Jesus was transformed when he faced diversity, so in the Way of Christ, may we be ever transformed as well. We choose radical inclusivity! And so it is. Amen.