We are Resurrection!

“We Are Resurrection!”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

March 31, 2013

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

Odes of Solomon 17:1-4, 7-9

Gospel of John: 20:1-18

Happy Easter MCC!! Alleluia, Christ is risen! (Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!) I hope that all of you have had a good Holy Week. Mine was busier than usual because of the US Supreme Court hearings over California Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act were this past week. On Monday, my husband James and I joined with Rev. Aaron Miller and MCC Hartford in marching from the MCC church to the federal building where a rally was held. We shouted chants such as “We’re here, we’re queer, we’re married, get used to it!” and my least favorite, “Bigotry, go away! No more mister nice gay!” Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal spoke briefly at the rally before running home to observe Passover with his family. Though it was cold out there, there was a lot of warmth in the love that was demonstrated.

Then on Tuesday, the Channel 8 news came here to the church and interviewed me about same-gender marriage and my thoughts on the hearings. I made sure to note that Metropolitan Community Churches have been performing same-gender weddings since 1968 when MCC was founded, and MCC New Haven has been performing same-gender marriages since its founding in 1977. So we have been waiting for decades for the law to catch up to what we have been affirming in faith a long time. I also made sure to note that this is not the last issue of the LGBT civil rights movement. We will continue to fight for equality in employment, housing, and all other areas of life. We will also continue to fight for the transgender community and for women’s rights. In the words of the great anthem, “We have come this far by faith”, but we still have a lot of work to do.

And it is our faith that calls us to this important work. Today is all about “resurrection.” We hear from the Gospel according to John that Jesus had died, was rubbed with all kinds of perfumes and spices, and was laid in a brand new tomb. The way John tells it, the one who was mocked as “King of the Jews” was given the burial of a king. We don’t know if this was factual, but we hold it to be true.

We are told that before the sun even came up, Mary Magdalene finds the stone rolled away from the tomb and she thinks Jesus’ corpse has been stolen. She then runs to tell the disciples. We don’t know if this was factual, but we hold it to be true.

We then hear that Peter and the Beloved Disciple (sometimes called John the Beloved) run to the tomb. The Beloved Disciple gets there first but then can’t go in. He doesn’t want to see the mangled corpse of the man he loved so dearly. When Peter catches up, he goes into the tomb and finds the grave clothes where they had laid Jesus, but no body. Perplexed, they went home. We don’t know if this was factual, but we hold it to be true.

Then the disciple Mary Magdalene stood outside the tomb and wept. She peeked inside, still in disbelief that Jesus was gone. Then she had a vision of two angels, in dazzling white clothes sitting there. This scene reminds me of a poem from Gay Black Poet Essex Hemphill. It always makes me smile. This poem is called “The Tomb of Sorrow”: “When I die, my angels, immaculate Black diva drag queens, all of them sequined and seductive, some of them will come back to haunt you, I promise, honey chil’.” Hemphill recalls from his Baptist upbringing, “The funerals that I remember from my childhood were wonderful, spectacular events. We would give to our dead relatives and friends, and indeed to all the lost members of our community, the pageantry, the glory, the wrenching evocation of love and loss that were most often missing from their lives. My great aunt with her leg severed at the knee, my uncle the stone alcoholic, my grandmother [who had breast] cancer that took her life became at the moment of their deaths serene and peaceful, full of joy and hope, the intensely mourned members of a loving family left in this great, if difficult, world. We would lay them out, in caskets of ebony and bronze, wail over their bodies, and then remark with satisfaction that they never looked better. We produced their deaths the way that Samuel Goldwyn produced Hollywood musicals. Unsightly blemishes were cleansed from our memories while our loved ones were consigned to God’s bosom, where they would rest throughout eternity. Our loss was heaven’s gain.”

I think Hemphill told it well. That’s the way we oftentimes treat death in America. Our idea of resurrection is most often too close to resuscitation. God didn’t just give Jesus CPR. Jesus was resurrected, given a new existence among those whose lives he touched. If resurrection is merely resuscitation, let’s all worship the defibrillator!

Unfortunately Hemphill didn’t get the funeral he wanted. No drag queens to speak of, just a Baptist preacher using his life as a gay man who died of AIDS as an example to prove his point that the wages of sin equal death. Hemphill’s family of origin did not give him resurrection. But through telling and retelling his story and using his words, we do. Essex Hemphill is alive in this room because we affirm what his life was all about.

In Jewish tradition, that’s exactly what life after death is. The essence of a person sleeps in She’ol after a hard life of work. But people are brought to life in the ways we evoke their names and demonstrate the wisdom they brought to the world. So at this time, after a month of gathering the names of influential women, I invite you to say their names aloud in a great litany of female saints.  … And for these great women, we give God thanks!

Mary Magdalene is one of these influential women. She is truly the disciple of the resurrection. She is the first to encounter the risen Christ, though she doesn’t recognize him at first. She thinks he is the gardener who has perhaps taken away Jesus’ body. But the moment he says her name, “Mary!” she yells “Teacher!” I’m sure she wanted to embrace him and not let go. Contrary to popular belief, Jesus doesn’t tell her not to touch him as if there is some superstition about touching a resurrected body. He rather tells her, “Do not hold on to me.”

At the most difficult but necessary moment, Jesus teaches an important lesson about attachment. Jesus tells Mary that she cannot hold onto his body because he cannot stay in body. No one can prove what factually happened to Jesus’ flesh. Some biblical scholars claim that visions of the risen Christ were just mirages that came from grief and that his body was probably treated like other criminals: thrown to the animals. Some Indian Christians guard a tomb in India where the body of Jesus is said to have been buried. Their legend says that Jesus spent a long and happy life teaching there in India after escaping Jerusalem. The Koran says that Jesus did not die but somehow got off of the cross and lived, but stayed in hiding. The crazy history channel has even gone as far to say that aliens could have come and beamed Jesus up to a flying saucer (I really want to know who owns that channel now).

But regardless of all these theories of what is factual, what we know to be true is that Christ is risen. I know that Christ is risen when I hear someone tell me that she is cancer-free. I believe in resurrection when a young man tells me that his HIV is finally undetectable after years of trying different treatments. I feel the essence of resurrection when I hear the witness of a person who has recovered from addiction. I cry with resurrection joy when I hear that a bullied teen has chosen life over death because of someone who reached out with a word of hope.

MCC, we are a resurrection people! If we stop at the grave like the Gospel of Mark did (Mark really did not write about the resurrection. What is in your Bible was added later.), where does that leave us? Remember what people told Jesus before they opened Lazarus’ tomb: in the Old English, “But Lord, he stinketh!” Do you want to stinketh or do you want to have new life? As rational of a decision as it sounds, we too often choose to go back in the tomb. We too often go back to the exes who treated us poorly. We too often let family members tell us we are sinful and we put up with it. We too often let discrimination slide. We too often beat ourselves up thinking that we are somehow paying for sin when all we are really doing is bringing pain to God’s heart.

Saints, get out of the tomb! You and I have no place there. The tomb is the place of self-loathing. The tomb is the place where voices of doubt and fear and shame rule. The tomb is the closet. Come out! Jesus told Lazarus to come out and he did. God told Jesus to come out… and he did! So if you’re in the tomb, get out and take a bath in the living waters of life!

Life is short and it is waiting for us. Jesus taught that we are to have life and have it more abundantly. A Course in Miracles teaches us this: “This week we celebrate life, not death… Offer each other the gift of lilies, not the crown of thorns; the gift of love and not the “gift” of fear. You stand beside each other, thorns in one hand and lilies in the other, uncertain which to give. Join now with me and throw away the thorns, offering the lilies to replace them. This Easter, I would have the gift of your forgiveness offered by you to me and returned by me to you” (ACIM 20:2).

Friends, Jesus taught in the Gospels and the risen Christ teaches us today that in order to embrace the fullness of life, we must let go. We can’t fool ourselves into thinking we can live in these bodies forever with treatments and Botox and facelifts. Even Joan Rivers and Cher know they can’t live forever. We must let go of resentment over anything that has occurred in the past. We must also let go of attachment to what this community has been over its 35 years. As the musical RENT says, “Forget regret or life is yours to miss.”

We have so much to live into with our community. But in order to do so, we must model ourselves after the disciples. While practically everyone in Jerusalem was talking about Jesus as a failed messiah, the Christ-followers changed the discourse. They denied the talk that went around. Instead of agreeing with what was being said, they responded with “But Christ is risen!” … “Jesus gave up.” “But Christ is risen!” … “Jesus abandoned us.” “But Christ is risen!” … “You Jesus people are delusional.” “But Christ is risen!”

The Christ-followers, empowered by the holy Spirit, denied negative, pessimistic talk and affirmed the truth of what they knew in faith. So when you hear anything negative about MCC, say in return, “MCC is risen!” I don’t care what you have observed in the past or what your predictions of the future are. If we believe together that God is giving new life to this community, then we will rise like a phoenix from the ashes.

Poet Kahlil Gibran wrote, “You shall be free indeed when your days are NOT without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief, But rather when these things girdle your life and let you rise above them naked and unbound.”[1] In other words, the road is not going to be easy, but that doesn’t mean resurrection is not possible. To the contrary, resurrection happens in the midst of difficulty, in the midst of trouble. For there to be a resurrection, there must first be a death. Here at MCC we have mourned the death of many things. We have had time to mourn. But in the words of the author of Ecclesiastes, “There is a time to mourn and a time to dance.” Saints, this is our time to dance! As I have heard it said, “Hard times require furious dancing.”

This day, we do not dwell on the crucifixion. If you ever saw The Passion of the Christ… I’m sorry. There is enough gore and death and suffering in this world that we can view with the click of a TV remote. Instead, my friends, let’s choose life. I leave you with a quote from Father Henri Nouwen in his book Our Greatest Gift. He says, “The resurrection does not solve our problems about dying and death. It is not the happy ending to our life's struggle, nor is it the big surprise that God has kept in store for us. No, the resurrection is the expression of God's faithfulness to Jesus and to all God's children. Through the resurrection, God has said to Jesus, "You are indeed my beloved Son, and my love is everlasting," and to us God has said, "You indeed are my beloved children, and my love is everlasting." The resurrection is God's way of revealing to us that nothing that belongs to God will ever go to waste. What belongs to God will never get lost.”

Beloved, you are never really lost. Your life is never wasted. Know that you are each precious in God’s sight and that with each death in your life, God weeps. But more importantly, know that with each resurrection in your life, God dances. Amen.

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[1] Gibran, Kahlil. The Prophet (48).

Palm Sunday Sermon: Marching Forward

“Marching Forward”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

March 24, 2013

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29

Luke 19:28-40

         Two weeks ago, I stood on Chapel Street here in New Haven and watched the St. Patrick’s Day Parade go by. It is the only non-gay parade I have ever been to. Let’s just say, if we were to play “word association” and you said “parade,” I would say “gay!” I turned to one of my friends and said, “It’s not a parade without dykes on bikes!” Not a minute later, a bunch of butch policewomen rode by on motorcycles. My wish came true after all. And let’s not forget the men wearing skirts… well they call them “kilts” but by today’s binary gender standards, they are very out of place anywhere but the parade.

         The event we heard about today from the Gospel of Luke was just that: a parade. 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. 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,” 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 the oppressive power.

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

Jesus even had a night with his family of choice to share one last Passover meal together, in which he queers the meal. To the common person, when Jesus said “This is my body; eat it” and “This is by blood, drink it,” they would have been disgusted by the thought. Cannibalism was not only against Jewish dietary restrictions, but Jesus was the one known to touch all kinds of “unclean” people, so they would be eating “unclean flesh.” Of course, when most Christians celebrate Holy Communion, we don’t think we are actually ingesting Jesus. It may sound that way, but I assure you that the Sacrament is simply an outer sign of inner grace, a ritual that shows our continual inner transformation in faith. Rest assured, Communion is a vegan meal.

But at that table, what we know as “The Last Supper,” Jesus acted scandalously in several ways. First, he spoke symbolically of ingesting him so that they might be like him and spread the Good News. Then he further broke tradition by taking the cup of Elijah from the table, which by tradition was left alone for Elijah’s return. But Jesus knew something new had to be done, so he proclaimed a New Covenant that is radically inclusive, inviting all who seek unity with God, not just those who had followed all the religious rules.

Finally, 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 people 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 chemo, breasts removed. 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.

Tomorrow at 6pm, if you can join me, we will meet in Hartford at the State Capitol to keep vigil. We await the Supreme Court of the United States’ decision on California Proposition 8 and on the Defense of Marriage Act. These two laws stand in the way of same-gender marriage on a federal level. We stand in solidarity with people across the country to show our own nonviolent resistance to an unjust system that treats same-gender-loving people as second-class citizens. I believe that the Cosmic Christ stands with us, working in whatever ways possible to manifest justice and peace. If you can’t join tomorrow, say a prayer wherever you are that the will of Divine Love be done.

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.

Be a Mary

“Be a Mary”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

March 17, 2013

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div. 

Texts:

Isaiah 43:18-21

John 12:1-8

         If you were in the presence of Jesus and his disciples during most of his ministry and called out the name, “Mary,” a few heads would probably turn. We all know about Mary the mother of Jesus, who many call the Virgin Mary. On Maginficat Sunday during the season of Advent, we looked at Mary’s life as it’s told in the Gospels of our Bible as well as the various “Marian” traditions that have been kept since the time of Jesus. This Mary’s identity is pretty historically secure. She is easily distinguished from the other Mary’s.

         The Gospels also mention Salome, who is also known as Mary Salome: wife of Zebedee and mother of James and John. She is not to be confused with Queen Salome in the Apocrypha or Herod’s daughter Salome who asked for John the Baptist’s head. No, this is Mary Salome, follower of Jesus.

         Then there is Mary wife of Cleopas. She is said in the Gospel of John to have been present for the crucifixion. She is referred to as Jesus’ mother’s sister or sister in law (Joseph’s sister). So Jesus’ aunt is said to have followed him.

         Then there are two other Mary’s: Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany. This is where it gets a bit confusing because Catholic tradition says they were the same person while Eastern Orthodox and Protestant traditions say that they were different people. For the purpose of understanding the truth of their lives, I don’t think it matters whether they were one person or two. But for the purpose of at least understanding how they are differentiated, I will tell you about them separately.

         Mary of Bethany is presented in the Gospels as the sister of Martha and Lazarus (whom Jesus rose from the dead). She is said to have been present after the resurrection of Jesus. She is also identified as the one who in today’s text from the Gospel of John anoints Jesus’ feet and wipes them with her hair. In the other Gospels, she anoints his head. Bethany is a city on the North side of the Dead Sea on the South end of ancient Israel.

         Mary of Magdala or Mary Magdalene is said in the Gospels to have been present at the crucifixion and was the first to arrive at the tomb after the resurrection. She was also the first to encounter the risen Christ. Tradition has labeled her as a prostitute and as the nameless sinner who Jesus saved from being stoned, but there is no evidence within Scripture to uphold this theory. If she was a prostitute or the woman caught having sex outside of her marriage, Jesus would have loved her all the same. But what is unjust is the way tradition has disqualified her discipleship through labeling her a “sinner.” Mary may have been from the city of Magdala which was on the North side of the Sea of Galilee, which was on the North end of ancient Israel.  Or she could have been called Mary Magdalene because in Aramaic, Magdalene means “tower” or “elevated.” To Jesus, Mary Magdalene was elevated among women.

         In the century after Jesus’ death, many Gospels were written, not just the four that we find in our Bible. Early church fathers decided which books would go in the Bible and which would not. One of them that didn’t make the final cut is called the Gospel of Mary. This text is attributed to Mary Magdalene and shows a different side to the story. (Remember that when you read history that has been written by men, there is always another side to the story!) The Gospel of Mary has never been found in its entirety, only in pieces. But what we do get from this gospel is that Mary was very close to Jesus and she was a leader among the disciples.

         After the risen Christ speaks to the disciples and then leaves them, Chapter five tells us what happened next, “1) But they were grieved. They wept greatly, saying, How shall we go to the Gentiles and preach the gospel of the Kingdom of the Son of Man? If they did not spare Him, how will they spare us?

2) Then Mary stood up, greeted them all, and said to her brethren, Do not weep and do not grieve nor be irresolute, for His grace will be entirely with you and will protect you.

3) But rather, let us praise His greatness, for He has prepared us and made us into Men.

4) When Mary said this, she turned their hearts to the Good, and they began to discuss the words of the Savior.

5) Peter said to Mary, Sister we know that the Savior loved you more than the rest of woman.

6) Tell us the words of the Savior which you remember which you know, but we do not, nor have we heard them.

7) Mary answered and said, What is hidden from you I will proclaim to you.”

         Notice how in the midst of grief and sadness, Mary stands up in leadership and consoles the men. Mary is the one who restores their faith in reminding them that they are never alone, that Christ is with them always. In the middle of this gospel, Mary teaches them what Jesus had taught her privately. Then the final chapter (9) ends the gospel with an argument. It says “1) When Mary had said this, she fell silent, since it was to this point that the Savior had spoken with her.

2) But Andrew answered and said to the brethren, Say what you wish to say about what she has said. I at least do not believe that the Savior said this. For certainly these teachings are strange ideas.

3) Peter answered and spoke concerning these same things.

4) He questioned them about the Savior: Did He really speak privately with a woman and not openly to us? Are we to turn about and all listen to her? Did He prefer her to us?

5) Then Mary wept and said to Peter, My brother Peter, what do you think? Do you think that I have thought this up myself in my heart, or that I am lying about the Savior?

6) Levi answered and said to Peter, Peter you have always been hot tempered.

7) Now I see you contending against the woman like the adversaries.

8) But if the Savior made her worthy, who are you indeed to reject her? Surely the Savior knows her very well.

9) That is why He loved her more than us. Rather let us be ashamed and put on the perfect Man, and separate as He commanded us and preach the gospel, not laying down any other rule or other law beyond what the Savior said.

10) And when they heard this they began to go forth to proclaim and to preach.”

         If it were not for Mary’s display of authenticity and her encouragement, it seems the male disciples would have been too afraid to go out and preach the gospel. Andrew and Peter were doubtful and seemed jealous that a woman had been given such wisdom. But Levi rises up as a feminist, a defender of women, and affirms her equal status as a disciple.

         And that is precisely what we are doing today. Today, we affirm the full discipleship of all the Mary’s and in fact all the women who are not named in the Gospels who were disciples of Jesus. Tradition tells us that there were twelve disciples who were all men. But looking in and beyond the text, we see that women had equal authority in Jesus’ family of choice. When reading the Bible, we must always ask, “Whose voice is not being heard here?”

         The tone that Peter displayed in the Gospel of Mary is the same tone that Judas displays in our reading from the Gospel of John today. When Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with very expensive perfume, Judas accuses her of wasting it, saying that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. But the text tells the reader that he was not really concerned about the poor; he just wanted the money for himself. We don’t know whether this is really true about Judas (I think Judas serves as a kind of scapegoat in the Gospels. Only he could tell his own story.) We also have to note that Jesus is not saying here to not care for the poor when he says, “The poor you will always have with you.” Jesus’ entire ministry was to the poor. What this text does teach us is that once again a woman is being told that she has overstepped her bounds. She has done something scandalous. And Jesus approves!

         In biblical times, both the feet and the hair were symbols of sexuality. In the Hebrew Bible Book of Ruth, Ruth is said to “uncover the feet of Boaz,” which meant she had sex with him. A similar euphemism was given to hair. The length of a woman’s hair was said to show her fertility; the longer the hair, the more fertile. (I’m surprised fundamentalist Christians haven’t suggested female baldness as a birth control method J ). We cannot conclude that this passage is a sexual encounter between Jesus and Mary, but we can conclude that it was a very erotic act between a woman who loved Jesus very much and a man who would soon be publicly executed. The erotophobia of tradition has all but castrated Jesus, but MCC celebrates Jesus’ FULL humanity.

         So while the stench of death from the tomb of Lazarus was still fresh in their noses, Mary pours out sweet perfume to have something more beautiful to remember Jesus by. After a life of poverty, Jesus is finally treated lavishly by a loved one. And he accepts it fully. Remember what Jesus emphasized at the Last Supper: “Remember me.” This is the sweet smell they would remember him by.

         For a moment, close your eyes. Now think about one of the most wonderful memories of your life. Perhaps it is a memory of a loved one who has passed away. Perhaps it is a memory of a place you visited long ago. Perhaps it is of a person still living or a place you have been recently. Now think: What is the scent you associate with this memory? Is it the smell of a home cooked meal? Is it the smell of someone’s perfume? Is it the smell of autumn leaves or the forest pines? Or is it something less romantic like the smell of wet dog? Whatever the scent, for this holy moment, hold on to this memory as a treasure. People, places, and things come and go in life. But what we treasure in our hearts is always with us. And just as Jesus told the disciples, “I am with you always.” The same applies to these precious memories and for them we give thanks. You may open your eyes.

         Friends, know that in those times in your life, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, God was doing a new thing. That thing was new at the time and its beauty lasts forever. But the great thing about God is that She is always doing a new thing! Through Isaiah, God says, “I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” God is doing a new thing today through each of your lives and through us together as an MCC community. We have a God-given ability to recall the good things of the past and leave the rest behind. It’s a choice. And that is the work we have to do together as a community. We are called to choose the Good.

         Remember that Jesus was doing a new thing through the Mary’s. The patriarchal tradition Jesus was raised in did not regard women as equals. In the ancient hierarchy of power, women were property of men. They could not be priests in the temple or be learn-ed scribes. Like 1950s America, they were expected to take care of the children and stay in the kitchen. But Jesus had a revolutionary idea for his time: the equality of women.

         We know that many religious traditions around the world still don’t recognize the equality of women. After two thousand years of church history, women still cannot be ordained as priests. And I doubt that even a more compassionate pope such as Francis will change that. When it comes to church teachings, Francis is still heterosexist, misogynist, sexist, and homophobic. We can be grateful for the positive things that Francis brings to the Catholic Church, but I still mourn for all Catholic women who cannot fulfill their call to ordination and for the LGBT Catholics who remain in the closet in fear of being ostracized, shunned, or excommunicated. We can easily say, “Go where you’re welcomed, not where you’re deemed second-class.” But we cannot judge another’s call. I believe in a mischievous God and I believe that it is through such people that God will transform the institutional church from the inside out.

         But for those who are called outside of such restrictive establishments, there are churches like MCC that proclaim full equality for women. Our own global Moderator Rev. Dr. Nancy Wilson has shown her Spirit-led leadership since the early days of MCC, as do our many female clergy and female lay leaders. God chooses human vessels to be prophetic leaders; chromosomes do not.

         Beloved, each one of you is anointed with the expensive sweet perfume of the Holy Spirit. Just as Mary anointed Jesus in an extravagant act of love, so God also anoints you lovingly and wastefully. The name Mary in Aramaic means “rebellious.” Each of these Mary’s we heard about today had a streak of rebellion in them. You are called to be a Mary today. Rebel against any ideology or system that prevents God’s extravagant grace from reaching ALL people. You are Mary, card-carrying disciple of Jesus the Christ, agent of Abundant Love, and witness to the power of resurrection. If you believe it, say “Amen!”  Amen.

Come Home!

“Come Home!”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

March 10^th, 2013

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

2Corinthians 5:17-20

Luke 15:11-32

We continue this week celebrating women as part of Women’s History Month. In fact, this past Friday was International Women’s Day, a day to recognize the accomplishments of women and to recognize what inequalities still exist around the world. This special day has been recognized since the early 1900s when the Women’s Suffrage Movement was active. This year’s theme is “The Gender Agenda: Gaining Momentum.” On InternationalWomensDay.com, you can learn about efforts around the world to protect women against violence, ensure equality in the workplace, and much more.

In light of this theme, I am going to read today’s Gospel reading to you in a different form. This time, I will use a narrative version of the Bible called The Message and all characters have been made female. Listen to see how your perspective changes.

“11 Then Jesus said, "There was once a woman who had two daughters. 12 The younger said to her mother, 'Mother, I want right now what's coming to me.' 13 It wasn't long before the younger daughter packed her bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, she wasted everything she had. 14 After she had gone through all her money, there was a bad famine all through that country and she began to hurt. 15 She signed on with a citizen there who assigned her to her fields to slop the pigs. 16 She was so hungry she would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give her any. 17 "That brought her to her senses. She said, 'All those farmhands working for my mother sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. 18 I'm going back to my mother. I'll say to her, Mother, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; 19 I don't deserve to be called your daughter. Take me on as a hired hand.' 20 She got right up and went home to her mother. When she was still a long way off, her mother saw her. Her heart pounding, she ran out, embraced her, and kissed her. 21 The daughter started her speech: 'Mother, I've sinned against God, I've sinned before you; I don't deserve to be called your daughter ever again.' 22 "But the mother wasn't listening. She was calling to the servants, 'Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress her. Put the family ring on her finger and sandals on her feet. 23 Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We're going to feast! We're going to have a wonderful time! 24 My daughter is here - given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!' And they began to have a wonderful time. 25 "All this time her older daughter was out in the field. When the day's work was done she came in. As she approached the house, she heard the music and dancing. 26 Calling over one of the servants, she asked what was going on. 27 She told her, 'Your sister came home. Your mother has ordered a feast - barbecued beef! - because she has her home safe and sound.' 28 "The older sister stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. Her mother came out and tried to talk to her, but she wouldn't listen. 29 The daughter said, 'Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? 30 Then this daughter of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!' 31 "Her mother said, 'Daughter, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours - 32 but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This sister of yours was dead, and she's alive! She was lost, and she's found!'"

         It changes your perspective a bit doesn’t it? Feminist and Womanist biblical scholars have made it known for decades now that women’s voices and perspectives matter. After millennia of patriarchy, sexism, and misogyny, women have finally given themselves (and all people) permission to see that the truth of our holy scriptures is for ALL people, not just for those with a Y chromosome. It is from Feminist/Womanist theAlogians that LGBT people have also learned to find our truth within the text.

         We can imagine ourselves as that child who decided for whatever reason that leaving home was necessary. Many of us leave home or are kicked out of our homes because of our affectual or gender identities. Forty + percent of homeless youth are LGBT, which is grossly disproportionate. If you see a homeless youth on the street, s/he is likely to be LGBT. I thank God that there are programs like the one at MCC New York. “Open 365 days a year, MCCNY Homeless Youth Services has helped thousands of LGBTQI runaway and homeless youth aged 18-24 to continue their work towards stability by providing them with crisis shelter, case management, social work, psychiatric, health care and job training services. The MCCNY Homeless Youth Services Mental Health Services Program is a critical resource for LGBTQI runaway and homeless youth who have experienced trauma or mental illness.”[1] These are the kind of programs that are needed nation-wide. We can’t just hope that the next generation of queer youth will take care of themselves. The mental anguish of losing one’s family too often leads to poor decisions including suicide.

         That’s why we are here, MCC! No matter how much dirt you have on your face, you can come to this Beloved Community and be welcomed with open arms. The story doesn’t always go as Jesus’ parable goes with the child going home to the open arms of a parent. Too many LGBT youth have told me that their parents said to them, “You are dead to me,” “No son of mine is going to be a sissy,” or “Repent or go to Hell.” I’m sure some parents have even used this parable against their children to say that they need to stop their sinful living and come home to be good Christian boys and girls. This is not the Love of God that is demonstrated in this parable.

         No, the Divine Mother that we read about in this parable is Divine Love, Unconditional Love. Even if you have done every evil under the sun, God will always welcome you back with open arms. But if instead we choose to embrace fear, our hearts are not open to the loving embrace that is always available. It is our task as those who claim to follow the path of Christ to spread the Good News of God’s Unconditional Love so that more and more hearts will open to the infinite blessings the Divine has to give. This does not mean proselytizing salvation with tracts that tell us to fear Hell, damnation, or the end of the world. Fear-based theology has never truly saved a single life. Fear has a purpose. If a rabid animal is chasing you, run! If anyone is abusing you, run! But God is neither rabid nor abusive. God is not to be feared. The old phrase, “Fear of God” does not mean what it seems to mean at face value at all. The meaning of those words in scripture is to revere God, to recognize that Universal Mind, Universal Love, Universal Life guides the ways of the Universe and conspires to eliminate all suffering. The workings of our God inspire awe, not fear. And what is faith but to stand in awe of all that God has done and is doing.

         We also recognize in this parable that there is a jealous sibling. That sibling stayed home while the so-called “prodigal” ran away. (Prodigal means “wastefully extravagant.”) I think this parable has something specific to say to MCC New Haven today. As we grow as a community, new people will come through our doors and will stay. People who were formerly part of our community may come back and want to be active again. If we truly want to grow, when this happens, we must not act like the jealous sibling who says, “I’ve been here all along; why celebrate those who ran away?” Instead, we must take the example of the Parent who accepted the seeker with open arms, saying, “Welcome home!” (Older translations say the parent “fell on the child’s neck”. I do not advise that! :) ) Not one of us can judge another’s spiritual journey. And for goodness sake, especially don’t accuse anyone of spending time in the brothel instead of coming to church (Remember, the jealous sibling accused her sister of wasting money on hustlers :) ). Remember, the Spirit of God is everywhere. For a time in the 1970s, MCC San Francisco even held services in a bathhouse!

         There is no room for judgment, ego, exclusion, or fear tactics in MCC. As the parent of this household, the shepherd of this flock, I will not allow it- period. I take to heart the words of the Apostle Paul as we heard them today: If anyone is in Christ (that is if anyone chooses to journey in the footsteps of Christ), she is a new creation! Everything old (that is: all regret, all pain, all fear, all self-loathing, all hatred, all malice), everything old has passed away. See, everything has become new! Church, we must follow these words with all our hearts. And the miracle that allows us to truly follow on the path of Christ is forgiveness. That’s really what Jesus’ parable is about. Paul writes in his first letter to the Corinthians that Love does not keep a record of wrongs. This is what Paul is also saying in our text today, “…in Christ God is reconciling the world… not counting their mistakes against them.”

         This does not mean letting ourselves be doormats. If we are wise with our boundaries, we don’t let others trample all over us. But it does mean trusting another seeker on the journey at her word when she says and demonstrates that her intention is unconditional love. As I have stated before and will continue to state, “All are welcome. None are welcome to misbehave.”

         My final thought is what lies at the heart of the Gospel. The word “prodigal” is not a scarlet letter on the seeker child’s chest for all to see that she did wrong. The text teaches us instead that the label of “prodigal” can be worn with pride because God too is a prodigal. If prodigal means “wastefully extravagant,” we recognize that this is part of the character of God. God is wastefully and extravagantly loving! She continually pours her love out on us without reservation because guess what? There’s more where that came from! A feast is set before us! Come to MCC; eat, drink, dance, and celebrate the wastefully extravagant Love that is ours today. Amen.

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[1] MCCNY.org

Fowl Love

“Fowl Love”

Sermon for MCC New Haven

March 3, 2013

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

  

         Have you ever seen a cartoon or a movie where two kids decide that one get on the other’s shoulders, and then put on a costume (maybe a sheet with two holes) to appear as a ghost or as a disguise?  Sometimes they do it to scare their friends.  Other times, they do it to scare away the “bad guy.”  Other times they are posing as an adult to get away with doing something they’re not supposed to. Regardless, the strategy usually works and the kids rejoice at their success. Strangely, I’m reminded of this by today’s Gospel reading.  I’ll tell you why in a few minutes; just remember that image.

In the Gospel reading, King Herod is not present in body, but is certainly present in power from afar.  He had beheaded John the Baptist, so Jesus knew what evil he was capable of. Jesus names Herod as a fox (because foxes are known to by sly and cunning in hunting their prey, not because Jesus thought he was foxy).  Whether in actual concern for Jesus or as a scare tactic, the Pharisees tell Jesus to go away because Herod wants to kill him.  But this kind of fearful language did not stop Jesus from doing the ministry he was called to do.

         Rather, Jesus’ mood changes.  He becomes both sad and angry at once.  He is saddened and frustrated by the fact that as hard as he tried to help people throughout Israel, the religious leaders were suspect of him.  Jesus was too loud, too effective, and proclaimed too much truth for the Pharisees’ taste.  And though Jesus was not pleased- to say the least- by the Pharisees’ attempt at disheartening him in his efforts, Jesus does not snarl back.  Jesus does not threaten death, harm, or hell.

         Instead, Jesus did as he taught; he stood in resistance.  He paints a picture of himself as a mother hen- … a somewhat unexpected, yet powerful Feminine Divine image (one that is actually used several times throughout the Hebrew Bible, except the bird is usually an eagle, not a chicken; we all know what it means to call someone “chicken”!).  Jesus says, “How many times I wanted to put my arms around all your people, just as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me!”  Jesus is recognizing here the limitations of his bodily presence on earth.  He could only visit so many people.  He could only preach the Good News in so many places.

         But what Jesus says next shows the power of God beyond Jesus’ bodily presence.  He says, “And so your Temple will be abandoned.”  This was a strong statement considering that the Temple was the center of life for the religious leaders.  (Could you imagine going up to the Pope and telling him that the Vatican would be abandoned?) Jesus is telling the Pharisees that there are dire consequences to being complacent or predatory instead of being resistant to oppression by defending the most vulnerable of society.  He is essentially saying, “If you do not defend ALL of your people, your structure of power will fall.”  And guess what happened: by the time the Gospel of Luke was written, the Romans had destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple in the year 70 (about 40 years after Jesus’ death).  So Luke knew how history played out for the religious leaders of Jesus’ time.

         And Luke also knew how history played out for the Christ-followers as well.  The author of the Gospel of Luke also wrote the Book of Acts, which explains the life of the early church.  Luke knew how the Holy Spirit was recognized by those in the Upper Room on the day of Pentecost.  He knew that this Jesus, who called himself “Mother Hen” in bodily form, would return soon as the dove of the Holy Spirit to surround them with spiritual wings of shelter.

         I had the opportunity in 2010 to attend Equality Maryland’s Lobby Day in Annapolis.  Hundreds of activists for LGBT equality came together to present the truth of our lives and the lives of those we love and care for to our legislators.  I joined with folks from my district to plan what we would say to our delegates.  Fortunately, our delegates not only supported LGBT equality, they sponsored bills on our behalf.  So we simply reaffirmed our stance and thanked our delegates for taking a stand for our community.

         However, there was a transgender woman who had come from a rural part of Maryland who didn’t have anyone else with her from her district.  She explained that she could not dress as a female in public where she lived because she does not “pass” well.  She was fearful about facing her conservative, anti-LGBT delegates, so several of the people from my district volunteered to go with her to face her delegates.  Sadly, after mustering up enough courage to face them, and making an appointment with them, they did not show up.  They didn’t even have the decency to make the appointment.

         So our delegates had a plan: stand outside of their door and wait for them to come out.  When they come out, the transwoman would simply express to them her disappointment at their not showing.  Also, she would express to them how she was afraid to meet them- because it speaks volumes to say that a delegate’s constituents are afraid of them.  I didn’t hear what ended up happening, but this reminds me very much of the Gospel story.

         When threatened by the oppressive stance of the anti-LGBT delegates, the baby chicks were frightened at first.  Their Mother Hen with her wide embrace cannot be seen- She is Spirit.  So they decided to take her form, to become members of one Body.  They recognized strength in numbers.  So they got on each other’s shoulders- so to speak- and threw on a big hen costume to face the fox.  Yes, they trembled under that costume, but they had the assurance that they had each other.

         To many of us, the fox has been the institutional church.  The church has proclaimed so many hurtful things that have done spiritual damage to many of us.  In resistance to such “Bible abuse”, MCC formed in order to become a large hen of many chicks.  Fortunately, this resistance has scared away the fox many times (though unfortunately, not every time).  We value MCC because as the Body of God, the Body of Christ, it has been our hiding place.  Psalm 27 says, “One thing I ask of God, that will I seek after: to live in the house of God all the days of my life… For God will hide me in God’s shelter in the day of trouble; God will conceal me under the cover of God’s tent…”  We have asked for this, and we have received it.  We must also remember, however, that there are thousands of LGBT people around the world who live in fear, who do not yet have shelter.  Thank God, MCC and other global efforts are on the way.

         Though we have the assurance that the wings of Christ will forever surround us, we must never forget that they are there.  As they become a part of our regular existence, it is too easy to take them for granted. Essex Hemphill was a bold African American gay poet who lived with HIV and unfortunately died of AIDS in 1995. Essex wrote this in his poem “Better Days:” “A false safety compels me to think I will never need kindness, so I don’t recognize that need in someone else.”

         I know that our safety in God’s embrace is not false.  But I also know that feeling too safe and being too comfortable can cause people to close up and become non-receptive to those who reach out in love.  I’m sure you’ve heard many a person say, “I’m fine just the way I am, thank you!”  With this mentality, it is difficult to then see others’ need for a loving word or an act of kindness.

         After describing God as Divine Shelter, the Psalmist writes, “Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in God’s tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to God… ‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘ seek God’s face!’ Your face, O God, do I seek.”  The Psalmist is giving us the next step on the spiritual path.  After resisting, after taking shelter and allowing our wounds to heal, we let our heads rise above the voices of intolerance and oppression.  And in allowing our little baby chic heads to rise, we see the many faces around the world.  The faces that when put together form the face of God.  This is the face that we seek.  This is the face that calls us, scars and all, to be healers of our world.  Today and each week, we hold sacred safe space as the Great Chicken Wings for all who seek refuge. Join me in gathering the chicks to Mother Christ! Amen.