“Advocates for
Peace”
Sermon for MCC
New Haven
May 5, 2013
Rev. Brian
Hutchison, M.Div.
Texts:
Acts
16:13-15
John
14:23-29
One of my
favorite things about worship from week to week here at MCC New Haven is the
affirmation that we say together: “I am God’s Beloved: Deeply Loved, Richly
Gifted, Highly Favored, and Abundantly Blessed!” If someone asked me what we
believe that is unique to our community, I would point out this positive affirmation.
I truly believe that when this affirmation is taken to heart, it can transform
your life.
We heard
Jesus say in today’s reading from the Gospel of John, “Those who love me will
keep (or be “true to”) my word. The
result of holding on to Jesus “word” is that God’s love will be revealed to you
and the Divine Presence will make a home with you. I love that image: a house
filled with love, a house that practices radical hospitality. Surely a home
filled with God’s love is something we all desire. But how exactly can we be
true to Jesus word so we can share in such happiness?
The ‘Sunday
school answer’ I have heard is, “You’ve got to follow the Bible. Do what it
says. After all, it is the word of
God!” Those three phrases each make my skin crawl; a flashing red “Danger!”
sign goes off in my mind. I know that many people have good intentions when giving broad teachings about scripture. They
mean well. But it’s often been said, “The road to hell is paved with good
intentions.” To challenge this broad answer, I ask a question, “Can we in good
conscience consider every part of the Bible the ‘word of God’ when much of it
seems to promote exclusion, violence, and hatred?” I think not. And that’s
okay! God is not going to throw a lightning bolt from the sky like the Greek
god Zeus. God has given us the gift of our intellect and the power of the words
that come out of our mouths. God smiles on us when we use them for good.
John even
opens his entire Gospel with the words, “In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Note that it does not say, “In the
beginning was the Bible, and the Bible was with God, and the Bible was God.” Of
course not; that would make the Bible an idol. Scripture can be a wonderful
tool for our faith, but we must give very careful study for personal use and
take even more care when expressing your faith to others. In short, just
because it’s in the Bible doesn’t make it a “good word.”
Toltec
spiritual teacher don Miguel Ruiz wrote a book that has probably saved my
faith: “The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom.”[1]
In this book, Ruiz explains that as each of us grows up, we make countless
agreements with ourselves and with the world. If your parents tell you, “You
are a girl,” you repeat in agreement, “I am a girl.” If your friends tell you,
“You are ugly,” perhaps you repeat in agreement, “I am ugly,” and from that
point believe that you are ugly. Many of us were told by bullies as children,
“You’re weird” or “You’re a pervert.” Unfortunately, many of us internalized
these words. Ruiz describes these agreements as casting bad spells.
It seems in
hearing the Gospel passage today that the disciples had made some poor
agreements. They knew Jesus would soon be executed, so they agreed, “We will be
alone.” They agreed to put on fear as a security blanket, so easily forgetting
Jesus’ teachings they had heard all along. This is where Jesus gives the
anecdote to the spell of fear cast on them. In essence, Jesus said, “You are
never alone! Though my body cannot stay here, my Spirit will be with you. The
Holy Spirit, the Paraclete*, the Advocate, the Helper, the Comforter will
remind you of my good word. *By the
way, the Greek word “Paraclete” is not in any way related to the English word
“parakeet,” as much as the Holy Spirit does appear as a dove in the Book of
Acts. (Just had to make that clear J ).
Jesus
combated fear with Divine Love and Peace. Not only does he promise the presence
of the Holy Spirit, but he also offers his peace, which is the fullness of his
entire ministry. This kind of peace isn’t just freedom from anxiety. (A pill
can take care of that). It also cannot be attainted by violent means. (Such as
wars that are said to bring times of peace.) No, Jesus’ peace is a shalom kind of peace, which can best be
described as “wholeness.” Jesus is telling them that wholeness of spirit, fullness
of life is theirs whenever they choose to embrace it. This kind of wholeness
the Gospels also call “The Reign (or Dominion) of God.” This place of peace is
within you; it is yours to find.
Remember
our original question for today: How can we be true to Jesus’ word? Ruiz
has a good idea that Jesus demonstrated for us in combating fear. Ruiz gives
four new good agreements to replace
the countless bad agreements we have made in life. The first one speaks to our
text today. It says this: “Be impeccable
with your word.” What he means by this is to stop speaking against
yourself. Stop beating yourself up. Stop punishing yourself. Even if you think
you deserve to be tortured with some medieval device, don’t let your mind go
there! Any time you punish yourself, you are acting without love. And remember
that lack of love is the definition of sin, so essentially when you punish
yourself, you are sinning in an attempt to atone for sin. And what sense does
that make?
The biggest
way we punish ourselves is to hold onto guilt and pain. We refuse to put the
Balm of Gilead on our wounded souls because we don’t feel worthy of it. The
logic goes, “If I’m wounded, I can get pity, and since misery loves company,
I’ll never be alone.” There’s a strange false sense of security that we can
fall into when we’re all sad together. But Jesus didn’t call his disciples to
stay in a living hell; Jesus called them to a living Heaven.
This
Heaven-on-Earth can be ours each and every day, but only if we practice being
impeccable with our word. In the movie, “The Help,” the nanny put the young
girl on her lap and taught her how to be impeccable with her word. She had her
repeat, “I is smart, I is kind, I is important.” No, she did not teach her
proper grammar, but she taught her the
most important lesson of her life.
Negative
self-talk is the opposite of the voice of the Holy Spirit. Including many of us,
same-gender-loving and gender-variant people were taught to dislike or even
hate themselves for their feelings. A Judge was placed in many of our heads
that continues to throw the book at us, that is until we tell him, “You’re
wrong!” I love that in some translations, the word “Paraclete” is translated as
“Advocate.” In the 1960s when the Gay Rights Movement was just beginning, The
Advocate magazine was one of the few publications that made our people feel
unified across the U.S. (In fact the ad for the very first MCC service in Los
Angeles was run by Rev. Troy Perry in 1968, which included his home address
where the service would be held. That was a very courageous move for the time.)
The magazine was called The Advocate because those who were out of the closet
together -despite danger- advocated
for those who were not yet out. The Holy Spirit does the same! When we have
shackled ourselves with fears, bad agreements, and self-judgments, the
Advocate, the Holy Spirit nudges us and with her soft voice whispers, “You are
God’s Beloved: Deeply Loved, Richly Gifted, Highly Favored, and Abundantly
Blessed.” and “You is smart, you is kind you is important.” If you listen for
them, countless affirmations of your beauty and sacred worth are being
whispered to you each and every day. These are the keys to your freedom, the
keys that will unlock your shackles.
One of the
most encouraging quotes I can think of comes from Marianne Williamson’s famous
book, “A Return to Love.” It was made famous when Nelson Mandela quoted it in a
speech after he had been freed from prison. Williamson writes, “Our deepest
fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful
beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We
ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a
child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing
enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around
you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest
the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in
everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically liberates others.”[2]
If you’re
playing small today, if you’re holding onto bad agreements today, or if you’re
just feeling discouraged today, Jesus has a prescription for you. Affirm who
you are in God’s eyes and affirm the wonderful Advocate who assures that you
are never alone. When it comes time at the end of the service to say our
affirmation together, take extra care to open your heart up wide to receive the
peace of Christ that passes all understanding and joy unspeakable. We claim
these things as our inheritance as children of God today. And so it is! Amen!
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