Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The Irony of Science and Faith
Isn't it ironic that in the modern age, Christianity has become anti-science, and in its legalism has become a science itself. Our faith should be more of an art than a science. Let's worry less about whether we have the facts right and care more about the authenticity of our truths. After all, living our truths is the key to happiness and satisfaction.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
When talking about Scripture...
Two of my pet peeves on public discussion of Scripture: 1) "The Bible says..." Put your ear up to a Bible in a quiet room and listen. It doesn't speak. If you audibly hear something, see a psychological professional. Many different authors wrote down oral traditions or their own thoughts and did not expect their writings to be in a Big Book someday. And what we read now in many translations are not those people's exact words. 2) "The Bible." There is not just one Bible. Some insist that the King James Bible (aka The Authorized Version) is the only authentic Bible. I don't have the space here to give a history of Bible translation, but let's just say every translation is an interpretation. And the King James not only got a lot of stuff wrong; it's in a dialect of English that no one speaks anymore. Also, not every church has the same books included in their Bible. Protestant, Catholic, Orthodox, and other churches include different books in their canons. There is no such thing as "The Bible."
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Taking a Chance on Love
“Taking a Chance on Love”
Sermon for Celebration MCC (Naples, FL)
November 13, 2011; 10:00am
Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.
Good morning Celebration MCC! I love that name, “Celebration Metropolitan Community Church.” Really, what is more at the heart of the Gospel than celebrating life, celebrating the abundant blessings that we’re so fortunate to have and share. Amen? Coincidentally, that is what today’s Gospel lesson from Matthew is about.
When you first hear this parable, if you’re like me, you may hear the voice of financial adviser Suze Orman rather than Jesus. I can hear her now: “Hello Dearies. On today’s show you will learn what to do with that extra cash you have lying around. I have three words for you: Diversify your investments! Don’t sit on that money. It takes money to make money and if you have it, you must use it to prepare for retirement!” This parable is traditionally called the “parable of the talents” and without knowing that a talent was a denomination of money in the ancient world, we may think it concerns our spiritual gifts and talents. In fact this parable is where the English word talents comes from as we use it today. But viewing the talents as talents is not the only spiritual truth that we can take home today. Let’s break down this scripture bite-by-bite.
First, we read that there is a ruler who will be going away for a time and trusts his servants to take care of his money while he is gone. We don’t hear any specific instructions on how the ruler expects the money to be used or multiplied. All we hear is that different amounts are given to three different servants: five coins, two coins, and one coin. Each coin is said to be worth 15 years’ wages for a day laborer. So this is no small deal. This means servant one holds 75 years worth of wages, servant two holds 30 years worth of wages, and servant three holds 15 years worth of wages. (Sounds kind of like Wall Street…) I don’t know that these numbers have any particular significance, but they put into perspective the importance Matthew’s Jesus puts on the kind of trust given to these servants.
The story continues by telling us that servants one and two who were given more money invested it and multiplied it. Upon returning, the ruler was very happy with these results. However, servant three, with much shame, brings only the amount back that had been given him. (He didn’t listen to Suze!) And because of that, he is cast out where he will weep and gnash his teeth. (Isn’t that lovely!) What a treatment to give someone who was just being cautious! If indeed we are supposed to read this parable with God as the ruler, then I’m not so sure I like the way Matthew portrays God. Especially since two parables before in chapter 24, the ruler returns and cuts the bad servant into pieces because he misused the property. (This sounds less like God and more like Sweeny Todd!) And in Luke’s version of the parable of the talents, the ruler calls for all the people who didn’t want him to be king to be brought to him to be killed in his presence. This certainly is not the God I know as Mercy, Grace, Justice, Peace, and Unconditional Love.
That is why today I choose to focus less on the fearful fate of being banished into darkness for being cautious, and more on what Matthew might be saying subversively behind the text. Let’s first remember the context the Gospels were written in. The Jewish people were living fearfully under the harsh rule of the Roman Empire. Jesus surfaces in the midst of this reality as a traveling prophet who speaks of a different reality, a better Way. He preaches repentance, which literally just means a “change of mind.” Jesus is telling people to change their mind about their mindless obedience to a dehumanizing and oppressive empire. In contrast to this empire, he proclaims a counter-empire, a counter-kingdom that he calls the Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven. We also call it the Reign or Dominion of God. Its message is simple: if God reigns, Caesar does not. God’s ways of justice and peace are greater than Empire’s ways of fear and economic disparity. Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke, “The Realm of God does not come in such a way as to be seen. No one will say, ‘Look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ because the Realm of God is within you.” Jesus was willing to risk dying to help people awaken to this truth and ultimately, we know he did.
So in light of our knowledge of what the Realm of God is all about, looking at today’s parable, who does the ruler seem more like, God or Caesar? The third servant describes the ruler as a harsh man who stole other’s crops. (That makes me wonder if that’s why he was wealthy enough to have 120 years worth of wages. But of course this doesn’t apply to us since nobody in today’s world makes millions by dishonest means… ) Also in the parable, the ruler leaves and then returns. Does God ever leave us? The Psalmist tells us that God will never leave us or forsake us and the apostle Paul tells us that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus. So the ruler’s character doesn’t seem to match God’s to me.
Some read the parable as Jesus calling himself the ruler, which many read as such because he is said to leave after the resurrection and will come again. But even if Matthew meant the text to be read this way, that doesn’t mean we need to take it literally. Within their context, we can understand the intense oppression that first century Christians endured. Under those circumstances where thousands of Christians were being martyred, the community could not afford to hoard resources but was rather urged to share whatever was available to build the counter-Kingdom Jesus talked about.
We know all too well what harm reading scripture literally can do to marginalized peoples. There is nothing loving about a leader or deity that intentionally instills fear in people. Fear of Hell or any other punishment never led anyone to love authentically. Paul tells us that perfect of casts out fear and A Course in Miracles says, “The opposite of love is fear, but what is all-encompassing can have no opposite.” (Meaning that since God is omnipresent and God is Love, fear cannot exist and is but an illusion in our minds). It goes on to say, “Fear arises from a lack of love,” and also, “No one who lives in fear is really alive.”
I have sympathy for the third servant in this parable. He was paralyzed by fear of his master’s punishment. His self-talk would sound something like this, “If I lose his money, surely he’ll punish me or even kill me. Who am I to be given such a responsibility anyway? I better hide the money before it gets lost.” Would the God of Love really scream at one of her children, calling him wicked and lazy just for being fearful? I think not. Fear is meant to be healed, not punished.
So now that I have sufficiently spoiled a traditional reading of the parable, let’s see how we might redeem it. Recently, I have been led to read the book of Job in the Hebrew Bible. To summarize, Job is said to have been a faithful man of God, living according to the Jewish Law. He was a good man and he was also wealthy. Job was living happily with his wife and children when most of what he had was taken away from him: his children, his live stalk, his land, and his health. A good portion of the book of Job is a discourse about injustice in the world and God’s role in it. Job laments, “Why let people go on living in misery? They wait for death, but it never comes; they prefer a grave to any treasure.”
Job’s lament points to the reality of our world. We do not live in a just world. The most moral people are not the wealthiest and the most unjust people are not poorest. Third world countries are not the poorest because the people are sinful. AIDS did not ravage the gay community because God disapproves of our lives. Some preachers say so, but our experience and the Spirit within tell us otherwise. A proverb from our scriptures affirms this in saying, “The rain falls and the just and the unjust alike.” The modern equivalent may be “Shit happens.” …
However, we do believe in a God of justice, a God who Jesus taught favored the poor and the oppressed. Our difficulties in life are NOT punishments for what we have done or have failed to do. We sometimes experience the consequences of being foolish, but that is not a punishment. Hear me again. I know someone needs to hear this today. Our difficulties in life are NOT punishments for what we have done or have failed to do. Like the third servant in the parable, we kind find ourselves weeping in the darkness of depression and despair because we made a mistake or simply because life has difficulties. We face illnesses, our loved ones pass away, our pets pass away. We face our world’s realities of war, hunger, and disease. It is not difficult to find cause for sadness.
But as I mentioned in the beginning of my message, celebration is at the heart of the Gospel. Even as every week we remember at the communion table the sadness of Jesus parting with his family of choice before his death, we still call it “celebrating” communion. We celebrate because our experience of God, our experience of community, and even our experience of hardship in the world have made us the people we are today. Rev. Dr Penny Nixon suggests that in today’s parable the talents- or the money given to each servant- are actually our wounds. Difficulties are responsibilities, and so is money. (Though I would personally take the money if given the choice J). We are each dealt a hand in life that we didn’t ask for and probably didn’t expect. And after the cancer, after the HIV diagnosis, after the home loss, after the family loss, we are left to ask, “What am I going to do with what I have left? What am I going to do with the life that I am still blessed with?”
In this interpretation of the text, we can praise the first and second servants. They took their lot in life and made the best of it. They were called “good” and “faithful” because of it. But the third servant chooses to take his painful lot in life and be defeated by it. He takes his pain and buries it, thinking it will do less harm than if its in plain view. Don’t we burry our pain sometimes? It’s too much to bear, so we dig a deep hole in our hearts and bury it where we think it will never be found again. But then we find ourselves in that total darkness again, weeping.
You may wonder why I’m talking so much about suffering when celebration is at the heart of the Gospel. I don’t want you going to brunch today saying, “That guest preacher was such a downer!” What I want you to take with you today is that the joy of celebration does not mean anything without remembering where you have been. Your experience, your journey is a thing of deep power and wisdom that gives you the ability to not only guide your own path for the rest of your days but to guide the world in building up the Realm of God.
I am going to leave you with a reading from Lebanese Christian poet Kahlil Gibran (that’s Lebanese, not Lesbian- though I love my Lesbian Christian poets too!). As I read this, I want you to remember what First John tells us about God, that God is Love. Gibran writes, “When love beckons you, follow her, though her ways are hard and steep. And when her wings enfold you yield to her, though the sword hidden among her pinions may wound you. And when she speaks to you, believe in her, though her voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. ... Even as she is for your growth so is she for your pruning. … All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life’s heart. But if in your fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure, then it is better that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor, into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears.”
Friends, we have a choice to make today. Do we dare take a chance on the God of Love and the Way of Christ that stand in stark opposition to greed, fear, and inequity, risking another wound in the process, or do we stay safe on the well-beaten, predictable path where life is not really… alive? There’s still time. I pray a blessing on your choice. Amen.
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Deep Peace
Deep Peace
Sermon for MCC Key West
Sunday October 9, 2011; 10am
Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.
Good morning MCC! It is a pleasure to worship with you today and to have the opportunity of sharing the good news with you. For those of you who I have not yet met, I am Rev. Brian Hutchison. I serve as a staff minister at Sunshine Cathedral MCC in Fort Lauderdale. When I visited Key West for the first time over Labor Day weekend, I really enjoyed worshiping with you and could not turn down the invitation to preach for you today. Of course, you don’t have to pull my leg to get me to come to such a beautiful place as Key West, but what really makes me glad to be here is the warm hospitality that you showed me on my last visit and since I arrived yesterday. This time, I brought along my partner, James.
Would you pray with me? “Divine Love, we recognize your presence in this room today: in each other’s eyes, in warm smiles, in laughter, in the touch of a hand, in the beauty of music, in the wisdom of written and spoken word. I pray that in this holy instant that your presence may be revealed by the words of my mouth and by the meditations of all of our hearts. We give you all the glory, our Source and our Strength. Amen.”
While James and I were celebrating our love in New York City, a political storm was brewing. Within hours of our departure from the city, thousands of protestors filled the streets of the financial district. Not all have a full understanding of the complexities of the United States economic system or how exactly the people who work in executive offices on Wall Street are connected to our country’s economic downturn. But they know that something isn’t right. They know that something has to change. And they have lost faith that their government has the humility to come to an agreement that will create jobs and revive our economy. If you have been watching or reading the news at all in the past week, you have seen picket signs such as “Wall Street is our street,” “Join Us: Save Our Republic,” and “We are the 99%.” It seems that a sleeping America is beginning to wake up to reality and take its future in its own hands.
We are used to living in a repressed culture. Expressing emotion is largely said to be a sign of weakness. When we experience pleasure, it often follows with a feeling of guilt that we aren’t supposed to feel pleasure or that we don’t deserve it. These feelings all too often especially plague intimacy with our partners. We also live with a sense that we are not accomplishing enough, making any action less that multitasking less than satisfying. And since we are not able to do two things at once at full brain-power, our work suffers as well.
On top of pressures to stay composed, be normal (whatever that means), be polite, keep up with the latest fashions and technology, and face the realities of living in bodies that don’t always function the way we want them to, we are bombarded with the realities of our world. This past Friday marks ten years since we entered the war in Afghanistan. Since October 4, 2001, 2,676 coalition troops have died in the war. In addition, let us not forget the tens of thousands of Afghan civilians who have been killed in the crossfire.
Poverty and disease continues in our country and around the world at alarming rates. People choose greed over compassion every day. And how our minds can get wound up in the tragedy of it all! Many of us choose to escape these realities with excessive drinking, drug use, and misuse of about any distraction you can think of. And I don’t say this to judge anyone. There are enough people out there saying we are sinners in the hands of an angry God. I bring up these realities because if our faith is a relevant faith for today, it must have something liberating to say of these things.
Retired Episcopal Bishop John Shelby Spong thinks that loss of what some call “old time religion” is at the center of our cumulative anxiety. Spong suggests that as the scientific age came along and the ways we have come to explain the world have changed, people of faith have strongly resisted allowing their understanding of God to change. Fundamentalists, for example, still attribute disease to demons and bad luck to the work of the devil. We also know all too well that they also tend to disregard scientific research that shows that different sexual orientations are simply variances on a wide spectrum of what can be considered “normal” and “natural.”
Increasing numbers of Americans have succeeded in shedding such an antiquated faith, but have not found the right entry point to a new, relevant, vibrant, empowering, Spirit-filled faith. This leaves us with a human existence that feels extremely lonely. After all, if Father Sky is not really up on that cloud handing out extremely selected curses and blessings, lightning bolts and rainbows, then what am I supposed to trust in? Not that that kind of God ever gave anyone but the most stereotypically pious any sense of security anyhow. But at least they had assurance, right?
Spong suggests that if the church of the 21st century is to survive, then we must embrace understandings of the Divine that reflect the real-life experiences of people. And not just some people, but people of all cultural backgrounds. He says, “Could not our growing self-consciousness also enable us to relate to that in which our being is grounded, that which is more than who we are and yet part of who we are? Could we not begin to envision a transcendence that enters our life but also calls us beyond the limits of our humanity, not toward an external being but toward the Ground of All Being including our own, a transcendence that calls us to a new humanity?”
Let’s see what light the words of Jesus might shine on our struggle with anxiety and on our relationship with God. Let’s remember that Jesus too lived in a very oppressive society. The Roman Empire kept the occupied Palestine, especially Jerusalem, under very strict rules. Any sort of public stand against Rome was met with imprisonment or execution. And we all know that execution was the eventual result of Jesus’ anti-empire stance. Jesus knew that this was possible. The walls of Jerusalem were surrounded by fellow Jews hanging on crosses 24 hours a day as a warning to all that the power of Rome is absolute. And yet Jesus still lived out his ministry of love day by day.
So in the Gospel reading we heard today from Matthew, it comes as no surprise that Jesus is seeking to heal his followers’ anxiety. When he says not to worry about what you will eat or drink or wear, he isn’t just warning against materialism. He isn’t scolding them for bad behavior. Instead, he is saying, “Turn your attention away from the illusion of the temporal and instead to God, the Eternal.” In the words of Marianne Williamson, “Return to Love.” It is our instinct to cover all of our basic needs: food, water, shelter. And it is an art to decorate our homes and to enjoy the beauty of the spaces we create. There is nothing wrong with that. Jesus is saying here, “I know it seems like all you have is at risk: your property (mamman in Aramaic), your livelihood, the pattern of life you are used to. Yes, it may all be taken away from you as happened to the prophet Job of old. But even as you lose all, you gain all.
And how do you gain all you ask? You gain all because in your time of need, you will seek the kingdom, the kinship of God; you will seek community. You will seek the God in others. The blinders of distractions are removed and the possibilities of sharing love in the world are revealed. Stripping away all of life’s “things” most always has the effect of making us aware of what we have. Even if all material things are gone, we still have our body. We still have family, some biological and some family of choice. We still have community (if we choose to embrace it). And one of the most powerful things we still have is our God-given mind.
Nearly 60 years ago, in 1952, in the middle of the tense period called the McCarthy Era, a Dutch Reform minister at New York City’s Marble Colligiate Church named Dr. Norman Vincent Peale wrote a book that has become iconic in the US and around the world: The Power of Positive Thinking. It sat on my family’s bookshelf as I grew up and I read excerpts over the years, but not until recently did I decide to read it in its entirety. And though some of it just seems like self-hypnotism, Peale does reveal spiritual truths that still work for us today. And even as Peale was praised in the hay day of his career by conservative evangelist Billy Graham, Peale’s work and the long positive spirituality tradition he drew from still apply to us MCC folk today.
Peale made the simple and yet profound suggestion in the midst of the troubled post-war world that the common person could find inner peace through the practice of positive affirmation, meditation, and prayer. On affirmation, he taught that feelings of insecurity and anxiety are not from God. Affirming that there is a Helper and Guide always available to us right here and right now, he said, would eliminate anxieties. He specifically quoted Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” and Romans 8:31, “If God is for me, who can be against me?”
On prayer, Peale taught that it is done in many ways, most not having anything to do with saying a formal prayer with hands folded. One form of prayer he suggested is mental visioning: using the mind’s power to focus on how a more abundant life might look. In such visions, we can eliminate obstacles to joy. And in that holy mental space we can also imagine the beauty of who we really are and not the person we sometimes fashion ourselves to be based on other people’s standards. In this space, we can also come to know ourselves.
On meditation, Peale suggests practicing silence. Not just reading a book or doing some activity in silence, but rather simply sitting in silence and allowing all thought- good or bad, however we judge it- to leave the mind. This, he says, is where the still small voice of God is found.
Of course Peale was not the first or last person to suggest these ideas for healing spirituality. Mystic Christians, followers of New Thought Christianity over the centuries, Buddhists, and followers of other so-called “Eastern” faiths have been doing such things for generations. We even see evidence of this kind of practice in our reading from Philippians today. The apostle Paul encourages the Christ-followers of Philippi in telling them to keep a positive attitude. He tells them to hand their troubles to God in prayer with gratitude and you will find a miraculous result: you will experience peace deeper and more profoundly than you ever have before, peace beyond human comprehension. He says, “Your mind will be safe as it is in union with the mind of Christ.” And his prescription for practice is much like that of Dr. Peale: focus on things that hold truth, that are noble, just, love-centered, and honorable. Paul says if you put this into practice, you will have no doubt that God is with you and is working through you.
Now let’s say that you have attained a peaceful state in your life and think you really have a good personal spiritual practice down. I hear the criticisms of this goal already, “My job requires that I am under a lot of stress so that I meet deadlines.” “I can’t be relaxed all the time or I will never get anything accomplished.” Or another criticism that most would not be willing to admit, “At least my anxiety give me a sense of control.”
In God’s reality, attaining inner peace does not require quitting your job to sit at home and meditate all day (after all, this can be just one more means of escapism). But it does require that as we move from places of spiritual practice into our daily lives and routines that we continue to allow the Divine within to work through us.
I know that when I hesitate going into a mental space of prayer or meditation, it is usually because out of a place of fear I am slipping back into assuming a God that I fear. This is actually a rational response. After all, who wants to spend their precious extra time with someone who’s judgmental, hot-tempered bigot, who also happens to be almighty?
If you have this trouble too, start with the simple premise that God is Love. It’s a biblical premise, if that matters to you. Don’t worry about what else God might be. Just know in the holy moment of your pausing that God is Love and the only task God has given you to do in life is love. And maybe, just maybe, if you have had trouble entering that place with God in the past, you can find a starting point.
There is obviously a lot of work to do out there in the world. It is overwhelming to think of the number of ways the world needs healing. I know you have recognized the need by the ministries you run here during the week. With pausing just in this holy moment, you will find yourself a much better springboard than anxiety to do the work. And not just to get the work done (as there will always be work to be done), but to be the hands, feet, and face of God in the doing. I have faith that you can and will… and I have an inkling that you do too. And this is the Good News. Amen.
The Path to Wholeness: Trusting Who You Are
The Path to Wholeness: Trusting Who You Are
Sermon for MCC of the Palm Beaches
Sunday October 2, 2011; 10:00am
Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.
Good morning MCC! I am honored and blessed to be with you this morning as you focus on the lives and leadership of youth and young adults. This message certainly is not about me, but I do want to point out a few fun facts before I jump into the message. First, I want to point out how wonderful it is to preach for a church where Rev. Dr. Lea Brown is pastor, since Lea was one of my supervising pastors during my clergy internship in San Francisco. I now serve as a Staff Minister at Sunshine Cathedral MCC in Fort Lauderdale. So it’s great to cross paths again.
Secondly, in light of today’s young adult theme, I want to point out that I am 27 years old, and Tuesday will be two years since my ordination in Metropolitan Community Churches. If you do the math, I finished seminary and was ordained at age 25. Last year, I celebrated ten years of lay and ordained ministry in MCC. If you do the math, I became involved at age 16. Needless to say, I have a deep love and passion for MCC and I have dedicated my life’s work to see it thrive.
Finally, I want to point out that at 2:30pm on this past Thursday September 29, I experienced the miracle of legally marrying my partner of 5 years James Joseph at MCC New York in New York City. As we were boarding the plane home from New York yesterday, someone started to shove his suitcase on top of our garment bag in the overhead compartment. James tells him, “Careful, my tux is in there.” The man replies, “I’m sorry... Are you getting married?” “Already did,” he replies. “Congratulations!... Where’s your wife?” James first ignores the question, continuing his knitting. Then the man asks again thinking maybe James didn’t hear him, “Where’s your wife?” James turns to me and says nonchalantly, “He’s right here!” Bashfully, the man and several others around join in an awkward chorus of “Congratulations!” It doesn’t end there… Then, the man asks, “So did you wear a tux too?” I replied, “No, I wore my clergy collar and my black suit.” The reply was another awkward chorus, this time, “Ooooooh,” as their eyes grew large and they all shuffled quickly to their seats. I then turn to the woman across the isle and said, “Life just keeps getting more interesting, doesn’t it?” She agreed.
Would you pray with me? “Divine Love, we recognize your presence in this room today: in each other’s eyes, in warm smiles, in laughter, in the touch of a hand, in the beauty of music and dance, in the wisdom of written and spoken word. I pray that in this holy instant that your presence may be revealed by the words of my mouth and by the meditations of all of our hearts. We give you all the glory, our Source and our Strength. Amen.”
Let’s start from the very beginning… it’s a very good place to start. According to the oral story-telling tradition of the Hebrew people written in the Torah centuries after the words were first spoken, “In the beginning, when God created the universe, the earth was formless and desolate. The raging ocean that covered everything was engulfed in total darkness, and the Spirit of God was moving over the water. Then God commanded, “Let there be light” – and the light appeared. God was pleased with what God saw” (GNB).
Now, let’s fast-forward to around the year 30 when Jewish anti-establishment peacemaker Jesus of Nazareth is said by the gospel according to Matthew to have told those around him who were seeking for en-light-enment, “You are the light of the world. Do not hide yourself. Do not deny that you are light… because the world needs you to shine so that it can see… so that it can truly see.” The gospel according to John reads a similar way. John 8:12 reads, “Jesus spoke… again. ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness.” Also, in a gospel we don’t find in our Bible’s cannon today (the Gospel of Thomas), it reads, “Jesus’ disciples said, ‘Show us the place where you are, for it is necessary for us to seek it.’ Jesus said to them, ‘…there is light within a person of light and it lights the whole world. When it does not shine, there is darkness.’ ”
Looking at our world today, we can see what Jesus is saying here. Where is the light, especially among those who call themselves Christian, assumed to be followers of the Christ Light? We do not literally see other people as sources of light. I don’t know about you, but I’m not glow-in-the-dark and I don’t shine light from my eyes like a super-hero. And when surgeons operate on people, light does not shine out from the wound. What Jesus was talking about here is a metaphor. It requires a bit of imagination to understand and a bit of memory from our ancient ancestors to receive it in our spirits, but this “light” thing holds deep truth, and is maybe even the answer to our hardest questions.
Light evokes a very primal response in humans. The very first humans relied on the sun to warm them and allowed them to venture out from home by day to hunt and gather. The light of fire at night kept away predators. Torchlight allowed travel by night as well as by day. Moonlight allowed many over the centuries to escape from their oppressors. Fire has allowed us over the millennia to cook our food. We now know that the sun’s light provides us with the essential Vitamin D, which allows us to absorb calcium for strong bones, among other things. Sunlight also makes us happy. Millions of people suffer from seasonal affective disorder (ironically called SAD), also known as seasonal depression, when the days become shorter in the winter or in locations where the sun does not shine as often. Our experience tells us that light is at the center of our existence.
On the other hand, we must be careful about how we use language around light and darkness. The metaphor of light as good and darkness as evil has been used too often through the centuries against people of color to deny their place in the household of God. Slave owners of European descent in the US often said that the so-called “curse of Ham” from the Hebrew Bible justified their supremacy over people of African descent, those with darker skin. In the Mormon community, a passage in the Book of Mormon about the correlation between skin color and moral value was used until the 1970s to prevent people of African descent from becoming members of the Latter Day Saints. But there is beauty and wonder in darkness. The psalmist even tells us, “To God the darkness is just as the light.”
But for today’s purposes, we will claim the goodness of light - just as the Creator in the book of Genesis calls it. Jesus used this metaphor because it would translate well to those he was speaking to. I think it works for us too. Jesus is telling the disciples a higher spiritual truth than the reality they had been living in. Jesus essentially tells them, “You may look in the mirror and just see Matthew or Mary or Judas; and you have given a value to yourself based on what people have told you you are. ‘You’re a cheat.’ ‘You’re a whore.’ ‘You’re a backstabber.’ The empire tells you that you are disposable. But I tell you, ‘You are divine light.’” These people that Jesus hung out with weren’t the cream of the crop according to society’s standards. They were common people, some of whom lived scandalous lives- my kind of people J. But Jesus affirmed them in the most profound way he could in saying, “YOU ARE LIGHT.” Jesus affirmed their sacred worth as no one ever had.
And this is where the so-called “Generation i” comes in. It wasn’t until recently when I heard the current youth and young adult generation called “I”. At first I didn’t like it. I thought, “It sounds like we’re all just selfish. Everything has to be about me.” There is some truth to that in our culture. The Apple Corporation is proud to sell the iPod, iPad, iPhone, iMac and various other “I” products to millions of customers every year. The trick to their success is the ability of the individual to personalize everything in the device. The music, photos, videos, text, and much more can be a reflection of the person’s life… like looking in a mirror and seeing what you want to see.
And there is the root meaning of generation i. We are seeking to find our place in a world that seems to be staring back in time as if the past just fell off a cliff before their eyes. We see generations before us in shock over the great losses of wars, diseases, famines, economic struggles, social changes, and personal grief. We see some seeking to bring back a golden age that never existed. Specifically in the LGBT community, we see unhealed wounds from great losses to HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, and hate crimes. We see the pain from these losses manifesting as addiction and abuse. We see others holding on to understandings of God that damage our spirits when proclaimed to us as gospel truth, some even within our own communities.
I know from sentiments expressed by MCC young adults at our recent MCC Young Adult Retreat that Generation i has a different kind of spirituality than generations past. For us, the theistic God who is separate from our being, far away, solely male in identity, usually angry and irritable, blessing a small few while damning most- this God is dead. For us, if that God existed, he should be put on trial for genocide. That is the God responsible for the atrocities that leave generations before us in shock.
But for those of us of the next generation who experience God as closer than we are to ourselves, we seek to open our minds to new discoveries of who the Divine is for each of us. We don’t throw away the beautiful wisdom passed down for us to inherit. We don’t claim to be the only ones who experience God in this extremely personal way. We are glad to know that those older than us do too. But we also know that God cannot be put in a box. Many churches have poured time, energy, and finances into preserving understandings of God that became dead idols long ago. Most of my unchurched peers think all churches are like that. To them, it’s as if Christians are just attempting to live out the social rules of 2000 to 4000 years ago. That is so separated from their reality in the 21st century that they are certain church will never be for them. And I know this understanding is not just among my friends. Surveys show that it is widespread.
Many segments of the church have failed my generation. In its attempt to save our souls, it has often taken our lives. It has idly stood by, failing to be the Good Samaritan on the road when queer youth are forced to sell their bodies in order to survive. For some, it seems Satan’s new name is Change and God’s new name is Doctrine. It has failed to be relevant in a world that has embraced scientific truths and lives through the lens of those truths. Such a church is destined to die. But in the meantime, it is killing our youth.
Many have said in the past year or so that teen suicides are on the rise. We are not sure if they are actually on the rise or if the public is becoming more aware of the reality. But we do know that young men and women are taking their own lives as a result of the current reality of living in an isolating and alienating world. When religious authorities deny their inner light, they are pushed into the darkness of the corners of their minds. Social scientists remind us that to have a place in the world- to have a sense of belonging- is as essential as food and shelter. When babies are not given love they fail to thrive and they die, even if they are fed and given basic needs. In the same way, young people fail to thrive if they are not loved and affirmed.
I have heard some people stereotype LGBT teens who take their own lives as overly hormonal and over-dramatic. This kind of thinking is dismissive and doesn’t fix the problem. And telling teens that life will get better is a good thing; it’s a hope-filled response. But it is only the first step. If we really care, we will show them a different reality. And it is starting to happen right before our eyes- in this little corner of the world called MCC, and that little corner of the world below where I was just married called MCC New York’s shelter for homeless queer youth, and in MCC’s HIV ministries reaching out to young gay men who are infected every day.
MCC is sometimes caught in those grave-cloths of the past, but I see MCC rising up with new vision and new leadership. I see change happening. I see people in our communities experiencing God as Joy, Unconditional Love, Deep Peace, and Radical Hospitality. MCC is a church that I have faith will enter the future as not only a refuge as it has been for 43 years, but a place where each person can live into the spiritual reality, “I am divine light. What I seek already lives in, through, and as me.” MCC is a church that will not allow dogma to come between seeking souls and innovative experiences of God not yet discovered.
Generation i is a generation of boundary-breakers. The categories of the modern world just can’t hold us. For example, if I sleep with a woman, it doesn’t make me any more a straight man than mooing makes me a cow. If I wear feminine clothes, it doesn’t necessarily make me female or even gender-queer (though for others, it may). I may call myself gay today, queer tomorrow, and bisexual on Tuesday- and it is none of anyone’s business because in the reality of God possibilities of “I AM” are endless.
God, in the form of a light source: fire- is said to have told Moses on Mount Sinai to tell the people that “I AM” sent him. The people already knew that they were supposedly created somewhat like this God. So to tell the people that this God simply is Being- not a being but the Ground of Being is to say that I simply am too. I AM good. I AM worthy. I AM light.
MCC of the Palm Beaches, you are the light of the world. In whatever ways you may have hidden under a basket in the past, we call you to come out. Come out of the bindings of uncertainty and proclaim the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ: not “regardless of” but because of who you are- regardful of who you are, you are light and you are home here. You are part of the divine spark that first lit the universe. You are enlightened. I leave the light on for those who wander in the night searching for a home where God dwells.
The young adults of MCC have decided a spiritual truth for us: we want to know you. We do want you to pass on the light of your wisdom from a life of experience. We do want to know how you experience the divine. And we want you to know us too. We want to build a bridge where there seems to be a void. As you grow into the truth of who God is calling you to be in the Light of God, you will change. Your ray of light will refract and appear as a rainbow of diversity. Church sometimes may not look like church as you have known it. You will stretch and bend, but you will not break. And miraculous healing will happen as we reveal our inner light to each other, from generation to generation.
And as we do so, in the words of Jesus, we will become salt to the world. We will be the spice of life, enhancing its flavor to demonstrate with our very lives in beloved community that life really is worth living. And this truly is Good News! Amen.
Wednesday, February 1, 2012
Statement of Faith
A few weeks ago, I was inspired to express what I believe now, as we know that our faith grows and changes over time. Since I grew up United Methodist and the UMC professes the Apostles' Creed (as I did when I was Confirmed at 12 years old), I used it as the basic structure for hanging my creed. This is the basis of what I believe now and that may change tomorrow, but I find it empowering as a progressive Christian to share my faith in a way that isn't proselytizing or asking anyone else to change what they believe. I rather simply share my truth.
Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.
Statement of Faith
I believe in God, the Source of all life, the Omnipresent, Creator of all that is good.
I experience the Divine as Unconditional Love, Peace Beyond Understanding, Joy Unspeakable, the Highest Good, Wisdom, Mother-Father and Grandmother-Grandfather. I actively celebrate the discovery of new understandings of the Divine.
I believe that Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in the canonical and non-canonical gospels, lived some two thousand years ago. He recognized and accepted the Christ-Presence within himself and dedicated his life to teaching others to do the same.
Remaining truly faithful to his Inner Light, Jesus upheld divine principles of justice and peace in the face of the ego-centered and power hungry Roman Empire, even to his brutal and public execution by crucifixion.
I believe that the Christ-Presence within him could not be defeated and was resurrected to be Guide on the path of discipleship for those who will follow the Way of Love.
I believe that the entity known as the Holy Spirit is in truth God herself in action in the world in colorful and creative dance with all of creation. I believe that through the power of God’s ever-present holy Spirit, all humans hold the potential to become enlightened beings of Love. And in truth, this is our life’s task. The holy Spirit is proof that we are not alone, that we have help and comfort from the Helper and Comforter on the journey.
I believe in Universal Truth, expressing itself in many good spiritual paths followed by human beings across the ages.
I practice the sacrament of Holy Communion, which is simultaneously a dramatization of the love Jesus shared with his family of choice, and also a dramatization of the all-inclusive love and peace that we look forward to in this present moment and in the future (which is ours to co-create with God).
I also practice the sacrament of Holy Baptism, which is a holy washing not unlike ancient practices of preparation for encountering God anew. Baptism is not an anecdote for the man-made concept called “original sin.” It is rather an affirmation of the Goodness that has lived within from before our birth into this world. I believe in Original Blessing.
I also believe in the sacrament of Coming Out, which is the process of sharing our Inner Light with the world, as it has been given to us to shine. Regardful of whom a person is, s/he has a unique hue to contribute to the rainbow family of humanity.
I believe that forgiveness is the only way to healing our world. Forgiveness leaves all lack of love in the past, where it can do no further harm. When we do not forgive, we project loveless illusions of the past onto our present minds, causing unnecessary suffering. We are bound to “miss the mark” in life, but by the grace of God, all is forgiven. The work is left to us to forgive ourselves and others.
I believe that the mind is a gift from God, a tool given to resurrect the body, mind, and spirit. Positive thought produces positive action. Positive action produces positive living. Positive living heals the world, one life at a time.
I believe in Life Eternal. No one can escape the Presence of God in life, in death, or after death. Energy cannot be destroyed; it lives on in the unending circle of Life.
© 2012
Sermon by Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div. for Sunshine Cathedral MCC 7/31/11
Inside Out Faith
Sermon for Sunshine Cathedral MCC
Sunday July 31st 2011; 10:30am Service
Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.
Whenever I hear the story of Jacob wrestling with the stranger, I always think to myself, “Haven’t most of us wrestled with a stranger till daybreak and walked away limping?” …But if the stranger ends up giving you a new name, I think you might have some boundary issues. :)
Our scripture reading from the Hebrew Bible book of Genesis- the first book of the Torah- gives us a vivid bodily image. Jacob doesn’t fall asleep and have a dream that he is wrestling with a stranger. That would make a lot of sense since he had betrayed his twin brother Esau and after a time of separation, he was seeking reconciliation. But no, Jacob experienced a full-bodied wrestling match with someone… under the cover of darkness. Pay attention to the detail that before this intense wrestling happens, Jacob first sends his two wives and female servants (which of course is the perfect image of biblical family if anyone asks for the definition by the way). Jacob sends his family with all of their belongings, over the river. The river is named “Jabbok,” which we see has a close resemblance to “Jacob.” This is no mistake. This river marks a point of divine opportunity in Jacob’s life. In order for Jacob to cross over this river, this dividing point, God is going to require a change.
Even from birth, Jacob had been seeking to be ahead of his twin brother Esau. The name Jacob means “heel grabber,” and he is named that because after his hairy redheaded twin is born, he grabs his heel on the way out of the womb. Then as the two brothers grow up together, Jacob tricks Esau out of his birthright as the first child. Esau actually sells it to Jacob for a bowl of soup while Esau was facing a moment of weakness in hunger. Also, it was known that Jacob was a “mama’s boy.” He was their mother Rebekah’s favorite, while Esau was their father Isaac’s favorite. But when the time came for Isaac to give his final blessing as he died, Jacob tricked their father into blessing him instead.
Jacob’s early life makes me wonder how we may be stuck in a rut like him. Have you tricked your way through a part of your life? Have you ever used lies to get ahead or used other people to step on in order to rise to the next level in the social hierarchy? Or let me ask a similar question: Have you sought treasures first and the comfort they bring over seeking first the kin-dom of God in comforting others in need? Or perhaps a more difficult question: Have you spent so much time seeking approval of others that you forgot about the treasure that lies within?
God knew Jacob’s record of living a life of deceit. Don Miguel Ruiz calls this the “dream of a living hell.” Ruiz teaches that we create our own Hell here on earth by the ways that we seek to get ahead dishonestly, by the ways we judge others and ourselves, and by the ways we tend to beat ourselves up for not living up to the standards of others or living up to the standards of our inner judge. Never having a sense of self-worth, genuine accomplishment, or gratitude certainly is a living Hell.
In order for God to use Jacob in the way that God had promised to his father Isaac (and his wives Leah and Rachel) and Isaac’s father Abraham (and his wife Sarah), God had to show Jacob a new way. They wrestled through the night, but respectfully. No “low-blows” or damaging moves. But as the time came for the sun to rise, God (who in the Yahwist tradition often appears in special times embodied like in the Garden of Eden or in this case), God could not overpower Jacob’s choice to stick in his old ways. God could only respect Jacob’s freedom of choice. So this God-in-flesh does something that we don’t like to think of being in God’s character. God hits Jacob in the hip and does considerable damage. And God begs Jacob: “Let me go before the sun comes up!” But Jacob stays stubbornly planted. He says, “I won’t let go until you bless me.”
In one of my favorite plays, Angels in America, the main character Prior Walter takes the angel by the ankle while he’s suffering with illness from AIDS. He is sick and tired of being sick and tired, and reaches out to the closest thing to God he can find and won’t let her go. And by the suggestion of his former lover’s new lover’s Mormon mother… He quotes this scripture from Genesis, “I won’t let go until you bless me.” And though his prayer was not a cure for the virus, his fever broke and he was given a new lease on life.
Many of us are still in the pews today and can still call ourselves “Christian” or “Spiritual” or “New Thought” because regardless of the struggle, we continued to hold on to God. Many have told us that because we refuse to let go of our authenticity, we are living apart from God and will be apart from God forever. But we have refused to believe that to be true. We have called out homophobia and transphobia as lies from Hell and instead embraced God’s truth- that we ALL have sacred value and worth and have God’s blessing if only we can recognize it and affirm it within ourselves.
Nearly 43 years ago, the founder of Metropolitan Community Churches Rev. Troy Perry had his own struggle with God. He was kicked out of his Pentecostal denomination when a guilty lover reported to the church authorities that Troy was gay. Troy tried hard to accept himself, but ended up attempting suicide by cutting his wrists in his bathtub. But he survived that attempt with the help of friends and had an epiphany as if God’s voice were audible without a human voice box. The voice said in his mind’s ear, “Troy you are my son, I don’t have stepsons and stepdaughters.”
Many of us have “missed the mark” over the years by obsessively repeating the message to ourselves that we are not part of God’s flock, that we are a damned and deserted people. God is calling us to admit these horrible acts against ourselves. God is calling us to truly forgive ourselves so that we can fully accept the blessing that is waiting for us.
God’s blessing to Jacob was a moment of transformation. Or perhaps it was more so a moment of re-direction. The spirit of the past had to be left in the past, along with its naming. So God renames Jacob (which remember meant heel-grabber). Jacob’s new name was to be Israel, which in this scripture is said to mean “struggled with God.” Later in the Hebrew Bible, Israel is said to mean “God Reigns.” Put together, we find a new meaning: when we struggle with God- with God’s place in our lives, with the many meanings of God, with what we consider to be the character of the Divine, we find that God’s loving guidance reigns. It is what is steadfast and eternal. The Spirit within takes us to new heights and new depths of abundant living.
By the time Jesus approaches the crowd of 5,000 men (plus women and children) in the Gospel reading we heard today, he had gone through his struggle with meaning in the desert and had come out victorious. Jesus knew… that he knew… that he knew that God was within him, equipping him to shine the Inner Light to the world. He had silenced his inner judge and inner victim. When Jesus approached the crowd, he was moved to compassion. He immediately began to bring healing to people’s lives. A Course in Miracles says that “Healing is an act of thought by which two minds perceive their oneness and become glad.” These people were once lost in fear, lost in the ancient hierarchy of power that told them they were worth nothing. Jesus had compassion- think “co-passion”, “passion with” them over the state of their lives.
But to get to the thousands there for all to receive their healing fill, Jesus had to network. Jesus taught the disciples that they too have the God-given power to heal lives, and they went among the people and spread the filling message of Jesus: the message of equality and reconciliation in loving and joyful community. The miracle that day is nothing to be in awe about. Because this sort of feeding of thousands of hurting minds, bodies, and souls with Good News is God’s natural order! It is no surprise that there was nourishment left over, because that is just how God is! When all are not full, when all are not healed, when all are not loved and cared for, something unnatural has occurred in the world.
This past week, the young adults of MCC joined here at Sunshine Cathedral for our very first MCC Young Adult Retreat. After a powerful youth and young adult- led worship service at our last general conference in Acapulco, Mexico last year, we were energized and ready this year to wrestle with the question of who we are now and who we seek to be as the MCC of the future. I was delighted to hear again and again that we all affirm the dignity of every human being around the world and that we seek to become a church with a wider and wider embrace. The next generation of MCC leaders has the vibrant energy of the starting years of MCC and really the starting year of the Church of Jesus Christ two millennia ago.
The young adults of MCC wrestled with God and with each other this week and we came out blessed. We came out on the other side of the river that has divided us from the larger body of MCC for too long. And we are ready to move into the territory that has been promised to us from the first day that each of us were told that ALL are welcome. We interpret MCC’s radical welcome, radical hospitality as a bold invitation for young adults like myself to be affirmed as clergy, and for young adults to be represented from the local church leadership to the denomination’s senior staff, boards, and affinity groups.
Those young people that the ancient ushers for the crowd of 5000+ forgot to count were affirmed by Jesus, even when no one else would affirm them. He did not distinguish between young and old. He did not distinguish between different nationalities. He just knew that he had a mission to heal the masses, getting them each to cross the river from despair to joy, from the nightmare of a living Hell to the awake reality of a living Heaven. This is the mission that young adults of MCC today are embodying.
I ask everyone here and everyone who watches this message around the world to consider waking up and wrestling with God again. You may have stayed away from the river for fear of what’s on the other side or for fear of drowning in the ugly currents of religion. But I assure you that in your wrestling with the God of today, you will, like Jacob-now-Israel, finally behold the face of God. And you will live.
I invite you to awaken with me today by repeating after me with the same melody:
“You are the face of God
And you are in my heart
You are a part of me
You are the face of God”
And THIS is the Good News! Amen.
I'm Back!
So after almost two years of giving up on this blog, I have decided to continue to use it as a place to post my writings, my rants, and my wrestlings. As I originally stated, I don't know how often I will use this, but if you subscribe, you will at least get what I do post :) Thanks for listening!
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