Prepare The Way of Love

Prepare The Way of Love

Sermon for MCC New Haven

December 9, 2012; 10:00am

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

You may remember from last week’s gospel reading the cryptic language about the so-called “end of the world,” which we identified as more so “the end of the world as we know it.” Since we know that various religious leaders over the millennia have proclaimed impending doom and nothing ended up happening, we can rest assured that in about a week from now, the Mayan prophecy will not come true… at least literally.

Do I wish for the end of the world as we know it? In many ways, yes. I wish for the end of poverty. I wish for the end of discrimination and inequality. I wish for the end of suffering, war, pain, and disease. Last week we lit the first Advent Candle- the candle of Hope. I mentioned special intentions for those living with HIV/AIDS in light of World AIDS Day. This week, we lit the second Advent candle- the candle of Love. And it is this principle that the gospel leads us to today.

Today’s gospel readings are both about John the Baptist, but they are a bit spread out in the text. The first reading is a poetic reading that is attributed to John’s father Zechariah. The story goes that the angel Gabriel told Zechariah that his wife Elizabeth would have a child, though they were both very old. Since Zechariah did not believe Gabriel, Gabriel kept him from speaking until his son John was born. (Don’t you wish you had that ability sometimes? ;) ) Sure enough, John was born and two chapters later in the gospel of Luke, John the Baptist/Baptizer makes his debut as a prophet. (No, he was not an American Baptist, A Southern Baptist, or a Missionary Baptist. He was indeed a Jew that probably lived in the dessert with a Jewish sect called the Essenes who practiced purification rituals by water. So baptism as we know it today is deeply rooted in Judaism).

But before we go to the second gospel passage today, let’s look closer at the selection from the first chapter. It is important for us to know that Zechariah was a priest and that the angel came to him within the temple. Zechariah represents the power of the priests within the temple system. He has followed all the laws and has lived a pious life. But as part of the predictable power structure, Zechariah was caught off guard when he was presented with something very unpredictable: not only would he have a son but his son would be a prophet.

By shutting Zechariah’s mouth, the author of this gospel (Luke) expresses his desire to stop the voices of those in power that would seek to inhibit the radically inclusive Gospel. Luke tells us that Zechariah’s mouth was shut until John the Baptist was born. And at that point, he lets out the most beautiful proclamation of what his son’s life will mean to his people. He expresses the desire to be “saved from enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.” How many times do we pray this prayer in the LGBT community? Salvation for us means deliverance from those in our world who would see us harmed or dead. Zechariah declares this desire to come true soon. Can we claim this desire for ourselves too, or in fear will we continue to say, “We will never be equal; we will never be free.”?

In his outpouring of prophecy, Zechariah also tells us about the nature of God. He names God as Divine Grace, as God looks upon us with favor (and unmerited favor is a definition of grace). He also names God as Divine Mercy, as much harm could come to the people but God’s tenderness will lead the way away from harm and toward peace.

The apex of our Gospel readings today is in this final phrase in the first reading. It says that the tender mercy of God will “guide our feet into the way of peace”. This passage is a sort of mirror image of the passage I love so much from the prophet Micah 6:8, “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

These things that the prophet Micah proclaimed long before John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth were born would still ring true as the center of their ministries. In the face of a violent, angry, and fearful culture, John and Jesus would boldly walk in peace and unconditional love.

We first see this message being preached in the second passage from Luke we heard today. John tells everyone he encounters in the region around the Jordan River that they must be baptized, repenting of their sins.

Now, before we go any further, let’s break down these two scary terms: repent and sin. Repent simply means, “turn away.” It does not mean, “hurt yourself or make yourself feel bad for God.” Lord knows there are enough depressed and self-destructive people in the world already! Amen? In the words of poet Mary Oliver in her poem Wild Geese, “You do not have to be good. 
You do not have to walk on your knees 
for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. 
You only have to let the soft animal of your body 
love what it loves.” I think Mary Oliver’s idea of “turning away” from self-inflicted struggle is much closer to John’s message than that of some preachers today who insist that Christians repent of things that are not sin.

A Course in Miracles teaches that “The word “sin” should be changed to “lack of love” because “sin” is a man-made word with threat connotations which he made up himself. No real threat is involved anywhere. Nothing is gained by frightening yourselves, and it is very destructive to do so.” Repeat after me: “sin” … “is lack of love.” We have been conditioned in our society to associate anything that involves pleasure with sin. Being in New England, we should know how that worked out for the Puritans of Salem. Pleasure per se is not sin. Pleasure is a gift from God. It is only when we take pleasure in lack of love that it becomes sin. Sin is acting as the Ego instead of acting as the Child of God.

So John the Baptizer’s message was to turn away from lack of love. And he invited people to be baptized so that they had a ritualized turning point in their lives. From that point forward, they would never be the same again. The past was left behind and the future was open for the Way of Christ.

See, a prophet is not a fortune-teller.  Miss Cleo was not a prophet. Prophets do not have 900 numbers. And as much as I enjoy TLC’s Long Island Medium, she is not a prophet either. Prophets don’t have special abilities to look into crystal balls and see the future or talk to the dead to predict what will happen. Rather, prophets are gifted with a fire within them to preach what is true in the face of falsehood. That is why in MCC we have called our founder Rev. Elder Troy Perry our prophet. Both John the Baptist and Troy would qualify as members of the Bear community, but that’s not their only commonality J… Troy didn’t look into the future and see what MCC would become. But he did use his God-given imagination, desire, and faith to start a church for LGBT people in a time when to do such a thing was very dangerous. In the early years of MCC (late 1960s through the 1970s), many of our churches were burned to the ground by those who hated or were afraid of same-gender-loving people. The KKK was a regular visitor at MCCs, but a very unwanted one. (Remember the line from the gospel of Luke: “…that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.”)

It is not popular to be a prophet. Often, your own friends and family will turn on you for speaking the truth. And I don’t mean turning on you because you try to convert them, because I turn away when anyone tries to make me something I’m not or tries to make me believe something I know isn’t good for my spiritual health. What I do mean is speaking the truth in love and speaking truth to power.

Many LGBT people over the years have told activists like Troy Perry to “stop making a ruckus! You’re just instigating violence by being so outspoken.” I recognize those as words of someone who has been abused. “Don’t speak out against your husband, he’ll beat you!” LGBT prophets recognized fearful attitudes and tactics when they saw them and claimed courage instead. Harvey Milk of San Francisco spoke out for LGBT rights, right up until his assassination. Ellen DeGeneres came out of the closet when it wasn’t popular to do so and paved the way for many others in Hollywood to come out. And outside of our American context, LGBT prophets fight every day for basic human rights around the world. They know the danger of speaking out, but they do speak out because Spirit leads them to lives of integrity.

Folks, we will be walking this journey of Interim Ministry together over the next year. I ask that all of us can live as prophets in the process. Together, let’s watch as the mountains of oppression are made low for us and the crooked paths of fear are made right for us. Let us allow ourselves to be led by Spirit out of what at times has seemed like a wilderness into the fullness of what God is preparing for us. Today, we step forward on the right foot with the peace of God that passes all understanding and the wasteful love of God that has no bounds. Amen.

Inclusive Language Article

A Progressive, Inclusive, and Relevant Approach to

the Use of Language in the Multicultural Church

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

            One of the defining elements of liturgy, literature, and speech in Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) is what we commonly call “inclusive language.” Inclusive language is the practice of celebrating the experience of all peoples of all ethnicities, cultures, abilities, gender identities and expressions, classes, and sexual orientations. It is also the practice of affirming that if all people are made in the image and likeness of God, that the images of God we speak of and display must reflect the wide diversity of the human experience. God is therefore for us not just Father, but also Mother. God is not only the Light, but the deep Darkness of the mysterious night sky. And we also know that these are just labels that we use to try to understand the Mystery Beyond Our Naming. Those who come to MCC from another Christian tradition that does not practice inclusive language may find this practice to be odd. After all, who are we to change the Bible, tradition, and the language of hymns? Most churches are not sensitive about language that has been traditionally been used, so why should we be?

            These questions are first answered with another question: “Who and what do we give authority over our practice of spirituality?” Some traditions have claimed solo scriptura, that only the Holy Scriptures (whichever version of the Bible a given denomination chooses to call the canon) have authority over people’s lives. This movement was born out of resistance to unethical traditional teachings of the Roman Catholic Church concerning purchasing salvation (by a method called “indulgences”) during the 16^th century, spurring the movement we now call the Protestant Reformation. German Catholic priest Martin Luther (1483-1546) affirmed that humans are saved by grace through faith, not through works (Ephesians 2:8). His stance gave scripture authority over tradition. Such thought undermined the authority of the Western church hierarchy, allowing individual movements to determine from scripture how the Christian faith is to be practiced. With this historic movement came both freedom and responsibility.

            Another reformer, John Wesley (1703-1791), a priest in the Church of England, developed a model of four ways of experiencing the “revelation” of God in the walk of discipleship. We now call it the Wesleyan Quadrilateral. The four (quad) ways are 1) Scripture, 2) Tradition, 3) Reason, 4) Experience. In the 21^st century, liberal theologians are finding that this model still holds true in seeking to find who we are today as God’s people and in seeking how we are to build the Realm of God.

            The first element is scripture. Accredited seminaries in the United States teach about the Bible within its cultural context. Seminarians learn about the values, mores, taboos, and various other sociological elements of the setting of each book of the Bible. Students are taught “biblical exegesis,” commonly known as “Bible interpretation.” Scholarly seminaries affirm that we cannot completely understand the message of the Bible by reading it literally outside of context because we immediately project our contemporary context onto the text. We find that detailed knowledge of the Ancient Near East and its cultures is essential to a clear understanding of scripture. It can in fact be a dangerous practice to read the Bible on one’s own, giving authority to a certain passage without knowing the author’s social location and probable intent. We instead must read the Bible with respect to our own social location, as it meets that of the author. For example, I can choose to disagree with the unanalyzed text of the two Deutero-Pauline letters that literally appear to say that slaves should obey their masters (Colossians 3:22 and Ephesians 6:5-9).

            When we give the unanalyzed literal text the authority to scare us, oppress us, or mute our existence as human beings made in the image of the Divine, we make the Bible an idol. Some call this “bibliolotry.” We worship God in Spirit and in truth by listening to the Spirit within and searching for the truth of the message we receive through reading. The message inspires us, not lords over us.

            The second element is tradition. In MCC, we come from many different backgrounds: Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Protestant, Evangelical, and non-Christian. We are an interdenominational movement that respects the gems of each tradition, rejecting the unloving, essentially non-Christ like dogma that has formed through the privilege of individuals in these traditions. When we claim that we are an “inclusive” church, we mean that we celebrate the gems of many traditions. It does not mean that we embrace the oppressive dogma[1] of any tradition.

            African American same-gender-loving theologian Rev. Dr. Yvette Flunder (MCC and United Church of Christ minister) writes, “Radical inclusivity’s primary goal is not to imitate the mainline church. The true church belongs to God and is the body of Jesus Christ; it cannot be owned exclusively by any denomination, person, or group. Further, adherence to religious dogma is not freedom. There are wrongs in organized religion due to oppressive theology, bibliolotry, and some traditional beliefs, which prevent freedom for all people and which we can never fully right. Radical inclusivity, however, is ministry rooted in restoration- believing that God has given the church the work and ministry of reconciliation and using the power of love to model and demonstrate the radically inclusive love of Jesus Christ.”

            Reverend Flunder affirms for us that God transcends the boundaries that various churches and denominations have attempted to put on God and God’s blessings. Simply for who we are- God’s children, we access God right where we are in the ways that we show loving hospitality.

            The third element is reason. In the modern age, science and religion have been set by many as polar opposites, two opposite ways of understanding our existence here on Earth. However, people of faith are (obviously) humans and have been given the gift of reason too. We cannot in good conscience take life-saving medications, put faith in the cars and busses and airplanes that transport us, and plug anything into an electrical outlet and then deny the truths of science. Darwin’s theory of evolution does not have to be understood as the opposite of the creation myths found in the Book of Genesis. We can safely claim as our truth that the Life Force that we call God has been eternally omnipresent throughout time, in each single-celled organism and in the human heart today. The two creation myths in the Book of Genesis were not meant to be understood as literal history. Rather, they simply demonstrate how a group of Semitic nomads understood its origins. As all texts, we celebrate the gems of these myths without worshipping the dogma that has been applied to them in tradition.

            Reason saves us when we are tempted to deny our thinking abilities by handing all our power over to ancient worldviews. We worship God by using our God-given intellect to discern the ethics of any given teaching. Faith and rational thinking are not mutually exclusive.

            The fourth element is experience. We know through reading documents from over the ages that our experience of life is drastically different than the experience of those in the Near East between 4000 BCE (before the Common Era) and 200CE (in the Common Era). We also know that even in our own time, our experiences differ based on where we geographically live in the world and what cultures we affiliate with. A middle class 40-year-old Caucasian male American, a 60-year-old working class Chinese woman, a homeless male-to-female transgender African woman, a Polish 95-year old male holocaust survivor,  and a 10-year-old upper class South American boy all have very different life stories. Their life stories or “social locations” are the lenses through which they view the world, including the Bible tradition.

             African Americans have traditionally read scripture from a “liberation” perspective. That is, they have found themselves within the stories of scripture, especially those where the people of Israel are delivered from their oppressors. African slaves in the United States were forced to give up the indigenous faith they professed in their land of origin. They were indoctrinated with Christian tradition as a way to mentally control them. They were told that slaves should obey their masters (see above passages) and that dark skin was a curse from God to show who should be slaves (Genesis 9:18-27). Over time, African slaves made the Christian religion their own and in whatever ways they could, incorporated what they could remember of their indigenous traditions. Out of the struggle for emancipation and equal treatment under the law came soulful Negro Spirituals, African American hymnody, and Gospel music. A recurring theme of these songs is the same message of liberation from oppressors. The experience of African Americans has informed their understandings of scripture and tradition.

            Beginning in the mid-20^th century, feminist and womanist movements affirmed the equality of women in all aspects of life, including employment and family life. Liberated women found themselves in scripture, regardless of the patriarchal language the Bible was written in. They looked beyond the often primary male characters to find the often absent female characters. They also pointed out the many strong female characters found in Scripture. Feminist and womanist theologies affirm that ALL are made in the image and likeness of God, not just men. Only one of the two creation myths found in the Bible says that woman was made from one of man’s ribs (Genesis 2:21-23). The other myth says that they were made at the same time, both in God’s image (Genesis 1:26-27).  But even if this were not so, women’s experience tells them that the God who pours out Spirit on ALL flesh (Joel 2:28-29) affirms their prophetic voice in the face of sexist and misogynist messages.

            And since gender expression and expectations are the subject of both feminist and the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) movements, LGBT theologies have adopted the feminist notion that we too can find ourselves in scripture. Not only can we find same-gender love in scripture (such as between Jonathan and David, Ruth and Naomi, and others), we also find gender-queer characters in scripture (such as eunuchs). We can also, as feminists have done, imagine that just as about 10% of people today are primarily same-gender-loving, the same applies to ancient times and cultures. Such people certainly had to express their genders and sexualities in accordance with their cultural norms, however. Also, through intense study of the scriptures, we know that the six Bible passages that reference any condemnation of same-sex sexual behavior refer to cultural norms that do not translate to our current context. Our experience tells us that in our same-gender love, we find God.

            Inclusive language is not about being politically correct. Being politically correct is about making sure people don’t say things that will offend certain groups and could be taken as derogatory or discriminatory. This could be used out of positive intent, but is often used simply to avoid conflict, not because of a genuine concern for another group. Political correctness can be sometimes taken too far to where we cannot properly communicate with each other without fearing saying something wrong. This process requires grace with those who are ignorant of other cultures and groups.

            Inclusive language on the other hand has to do with just that- inclusion. The vision of the Realm of God that Jesus preached, as written in the Gospels, is a vision of many peoples sharing in the Great Commandment: loving God and loving our neighbor as our self (Matthew 22:34-40, Mark 12:28-34, Luke 10:25-28, John 13:34). Our “neighbor” is anyone and everyone. And that is our great challenge! Loving all kinds of people in a multicultural church setting means that we take the gems found in all of these people’s experiences and we string them together into a beautiful necklace. Every gem is a truth that comes from one group’s experience, but applies universally to the lives of all present. Not only African Americans understand the truths expressed by Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And not only lesbians will be fed by the truths of Audre Lorde or Adrienne Rich. We all share the human experience.

            Difficulties begin to arise when in such a mixed community the dogma of tradition is dragged in with the gems of tradition. For example, many Christians are accustomed to calling God or Jesus “Lord.” They may not have given any thought to the fact that it is a gendered title. The English word “lord” is the male match to the English word “lady.” In the Hebrew Bible, the word Lord (usually in all caps: LORD) is a translation of the unspeakable masculine Hebrew name for God: YHWH (which has been pronounced Yahweh or Jehovah). In the Christian Testament, the word Lord is translated from the Greek word kyrios, meaning “owner”, “master”, or referring to someone higher on the social hierarchy. Jesus’ disciples called him kyrios in respect of his wise teaching and guidance, and in order to subvert Caesar’s power, not because they equated him with God. In Hebrew, the name for God is masculine in that language (like the word table in French (la table) is feminine). That doesn’t make God male. It just shows that the men who wrote and kept the scriptures in the Jewish patriarchal culture imagined God as masculine.

            Likewise, Jesus did not have to be male in order for him to be called “Christ.” The historical Jesus was probably born with a penis, as the scriptures say that he was circumcised on the 8^th day according to tradition. But his gender expression does not match the gender usually matched with male genitalia. Jesus crossed the lines of gender norms and regulations about who to not associate with or touch. He often denied his privilege as a man to instead put himself on the equal power plane of a woman. This does not necessarily make Jesus “transgender,” but he certainly did not fit gender norms. Also, if he was indeed the result of a rare occurrence in which a female becomes pregnant on her own without the sperm of a man (only observed thus far in non-human species that typically copulate), science tells us that the offspring of such an anomaly would probably be born intersex, with ambiguous genitalia. But for all intensive purposes, let’s leave poor Jesus’ genitals alone.

            Inclusive language is ultimately a matter of ethics. If we truly believe that it is wrong to allow one people’s culture to dominate all others within a multicultural worship context, we must labor to ensure that all gems are celebrated and all oppressive dogma is filed away as “history”. Unfortunately, one historically oppressed group’s dogma can be the oppression of another group. For example, though the Bible has been used against African Americans in order to justify slavery and inequality, some African Americans have used the Bible to discriminate against LGBT people. And though fundamentalists have used the Bible to condemn LGBT people, some LGBT people have used the Bible to oppress women. This is what is called “oppression sickness.” In this sick cycle, the struggle to be right and powerful trumps the struggle to be good and loving. One minority oppresses another, who oppresses another, who oppresses another… while dominant groups enjoy their privilege. The oppressed are busy trying to find someone else to dominate, forgetting that the only way to free ourselves is to free others.

            No matter what tradition we come from, oppressive dogma is never a gem. Exclusive language has been romanticized, so it may at first seem sweet to our ears. But if we put ourselves in another’s shoes, the same words sound like nails on a chalk board. Exclusive use of “Father” or “Lord” for God (never including “Mother” or other feminine images) implicitly sends out the message that God is solely male in character. Extensive use of the metaphor “light” for good and “dark” for evil implicitly sends out the message that light-skinned people are good and dark-skinned people are evil. Also, to call a person a “leper” is to say that their illness defines their life. We would not call someone a “cancerer” or an “AIDSer.” Rather, these are people living with leprosy (now called Hansen’s Disease), cancer, and AIDS.

            Language is a powerful tool that we can use for good or for wrong. It at times seems meticulous to make sure we include everyone’s gems in the great strand of Truth. It is often a terribly painful process to let go of dogmas that we once thought were gems. But if we are to respectfully, successfully and lovingly travel the path of faith together, this practice is imperative.

For more information on inclusive language, visit MCC’s denominational webpage: www.mccchurch.org/resources/mcc-theologies

**All opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the UFMCC or any given affiliated congregation.

©  2011

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[1] Though “dogma” primarily means “a system of principles or tenets,” I use this word to emphasize its negative connotation as used in the US. My working definition of dogma is “Teachings or rules that restrict the use of free thought and prevent the natural evolution of thought over time and according to context.”

Unshakable Wholeness

“Unshakable Wholeness”

Sermon for MCC New Haven (CT)

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

October 28, 2012

 

Texts:

Mark 10:46-52

Psalm 34:1-8

         Good morning MCC! Before I jump into the sermon, I want to first introduce myself for all those I have not yet gotten to speak with this weekend. I am Rev. Brian Hutchison and I am an ordained minister in MCC. I currently live with my husband of six years James in Fort Lauderdale, Florida where I am a staff minister at Sunshine Cathedral MCC. Before moving to Florida, James and I lived in Maryland where I was pastor of New Covenant MCC in Laurel, MD. Before that, I was a clergy intern at MCC San Francisco (CA) and a hospital chaplain intern for CPMC in San Francisco while I completed my Master of Divinity degree at Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, CA. Before professional ministry, I was involved with MCC Washington DC where I was a devoted member of the Gospel Choir (I love gospel music!) while I worked on my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. So needless to say, I have had time to grow within MCC and I am proud to call myself MCC clergy.

         As a minister, I bring my own unique gifts and talents that I am happy to share wherever I go. As I mentioned, I am a singer and love the power of music. I also believe in the power of ritual and its deep meaning in the human experience. And so I enjoy creating meaningful rituals that help individuals and congregations move from sorrow to joy, heartache to fullness of heart, and from woundedness to wholeness.

         And this is where I see the Gospel meet our experience today. Are you ready for some Good News church? (Yes!) Mark brings us some good news today. In the gospel text we heard today, Jesus and the disciples are walking either from or to Jericho (the translation is a bit ambiguous). Within the first five words of this text, a biblical image comes to mind. Remember in the 6^th chapter of Joshua when Joshua leads the Israelites in a march around the city of Jericho until the walls fall down. Then they kill all the men, women, and children in the city because they were different… which of course was the most loving thing to do…  But the thing in this text that comes most to my attention as an advocate for the oppressed and those on the margins of society is that God commanded that the prostitute Rahab and her family were to be spared because they had given refuge to the Israelites.

         We cannot overlook that in the genealogy of Jesus found in the first chapter of Matthew, Rahab the prostitute is listed there. The gospel writers followed in the Way of Jesus by themselves advocating for the marginalized. And this great gem is found in the first few words of this text.

         But it gets better folks! Our storyteller Mark tells us that this blind beggar named Bartimaeus (son of Timaeus) was sitting by the road. Now let’s pause here again for a minute. The name Timaeus means “honor” or “honorable.” And since the prefix “bar” means “son of,” we come to an idea of what Mark is trying to tell us. Bartimaeus was the son of honor, but what was he himself? All we are told is that he is a blind beggar, and in the Ancient Near East, those with such a disability and misfortune were viewed as sinful. In their understanding of justice, this man must have done something wrong in order to become blind. Bartimaeus’ father was called Honor, so his name might as well have been Shame.

         And so here comes the Rabbi Jesus and his followers down the road. And in their arrogance, they hush Bartimaeus for calling on Jesus to have mercy on him. In the tradition of the Spirituals, I can almost hear him sing, “O Lord have mercy on me!” They attempt to silence him. How many times has the popular crowd or the majority tried to silence us as a community? Fundamentalist Christians even ask God to keep us quiet because we must be terrible sinners. But we see from Jesus’ answer that we will not and cannot be silenced.

         Jesus then calls Bartimaeus to come to him. So he throws his clothes off (amen?), jumps up, and went straight to his great opportunity for healing. He says, “Rabbi, I want to see again.” But let’s stop here again and for a minute, let’s assess our assumptions. We readily assume that Bartimaeus wants to physically see. In hearing the miracle stories, they make us wonder whether there was an “age of miracles” (as some say) that we are just living too late to get in on. We know that many of us face illness, but we cannot pray it away. Begging God to take away disease has been proven ineffective. This isn’t because God is merciless, but rather because finitude is simply part of our existence.

         But what I do know is that miracles do happen. According to A Course in Miracles, “Miracles are natural. When they do not occur, something has gone wrong.” In the teachings of The Course, a miracle does not have to do with a supernatural occurrence, but it rather has to do with a change in perception, a change in our vision so to speak. The miracle is a choice of love over fear.

         I think that in this story, Mark is trying to teach us about the way we see the world. Bartimaeus wanted desperately to escape a worldview that told him that he was “less-than”- less than human, less than lovable, less than a child of God. And Jesus brought this beloved child Good News: Your faith has made you well. At once, a shift in perception allowed Bartimaeus to shed the identity that had been given him, one of shame. In its place, he took on an identity of faith, especially faith in himself.

         How many of us sit by the side of the road waiting for Good News to come our way, hoping for the right thing to be said to us so that we can finally move on with our lives? Waiting for that person to apologize or for someone else to make it right. Friends, if any of you sit in that place of shame, know that you do not have to wait any longer. Jesus has already spoken the words, not just to Bartimaeus, but to you: Go, your faith has made you well!

         I know all the excuses for staying in that place of shame. I’ve been there myself.  “I don’t deserve wholeness,” or “At least in my shame I am in control,” or “I don’t know any other existence.”  Between the lines of Scripture, Bartimaeus may have said these things. But I can see Jesus just smile with unconditional love, and speaking those simple words that helped Bartimaeus to awaken from the terrible nightmare he was living in.

         19^th Century New Thought teachers Malinda Cramer and Fannie Brooks James wrote this, “Being whole must be our realization. We unfold health eternal. The individual, as an expression of the universal Life, can be only what that Life is. The Infinite created us out of its own health; healing is the awareness of that health as our nature.”  In other words, since God is Wholeness and we are made in the image and likeness of God in Original Blessing, then we are by definition whole as well. All around us may tell us otherwise, but the Divine Light within will always repeat the truth with each beat of our hearts: You are whole, you are whole, you are whole.

         Can you believe that, MCC? After all that you have gone through, after the stress and the pain, you are not broken. You are in fact perfect, whole, and complete just as you are. There is no need to compare ourselves to each other or to say that we are better than other groups of people because in the deepest parts of our humanity, we are ALL perfectly whole.

         If in this moment, this is difficult to accept or to understand, look to the Psalm that we heard today. The psalmist gives testimony to how s/he was saved. The psalmist writes, “God freed me from all my fears” and “God saves the helpless from their troubles.” And finally, “Happy are those who take refuge in God.”  In the same way, MCC Doctrine tells us that we are saved from loneliness, degradation, and despair. All it takes is a mind-shift from fear to love, from fear to the God that we know as Divine Love, from un-consciousness to Christ-consciousness. We have the power to not only set ourselves free, but through our loving word and touch set others free as well.

         Saints, the Good News today is that there is another Way. Oppressive and fearful systems and ideologies in our world do not have to have the last word. We have the choice. And with that choice, we can truly choose exactly what we are looking for: the peace of God that passes all understanding and joy that leads to dancing. Amen.

Unlikely Children of God

“Unlikely Children of God”

Sermon for Celebration MCC (Naples, FL)

October 7, 2012

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

Mark 10:13-16

Hebrews 2:10-12

Today is a very special Sunday in the life of MCC. Yesterday marks 44 years since the first worship service of Metropolitan Community Churches. We tell the story every year on this Fellowship Sunday of our founder Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry and his journey of dreaming of a church for LGBT people in a time when such an idea was extremely radical. After being excommunicated from his Pentecostal denomination for being gay, Rev. Perry left his wife and children, moved to Los Angeles California after serving in the US Army, and lived as much as he could as an openly gay man in LA. Though he had friends, his despair over being gay in a homophobic society led him to attempt suicide. Thank God he survived because he soon thereafter had an epiphany that he was still called to ministry, but a different kind of ministry- to the gay community.

         Troy’s friend Willy Smith asked him, “How’re you going to organize a bunch of queens, and get them to follow any religion, or any person, or do anything together? You know how bitchy they are. They always act individually. Nobody has ever organized the gay community into anything and accomplished anything. It’s as ridiculous as trying to get a bunch of crazies in the funny farm to act as a team” (The Lord is my Shepherd and He Knows I’m Gay, 105).  Regardless of many people telling him he was crazy for the idea, Troy advertized in The Advocate magazine, even giving the address to his own home where the service would be held.

         So on October 6, 1968, twelve people showed up for worship at Troy and Willy’s home in Huntington Park, CA. Troy borrowed a preacher’s robe from a Congregational minister friend, a coffee table was used for the communion table, and a record of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir was played for music in addition to hymns sung acapella. Troy’s sermon was titled, “Be True to You,” ensuring those gathered that being themselves was God’s loving will for their lives.

         When it came time for Communion, Troy made sure to give an open invitation, giving no restrictions on who could receive the Sacrament. To this day, all MCCs celebrate a fully open Communion. Though only a portion of those gathered received Communion that day, everyone was in tears. There was a very real sense in that service that it was the beginning of great things to come.

         MCC has come a long way in 44 years. We faced the arson of many of our churches, the fight for LGBT rights, the AIDS crisis, and so much more. But God has stayed faithful and we have churches all over the world. Though we hear of some individual churches closing, we are one of very few Christian denominations to be actually growing (if not holding steady). But this doesn’t mean we can sit back and watch ourselves grow. We must make our all-inclusive welcome known in every community we inhabit.

         I know that Celebration MCC has great potential. I am thrilled that Rev. Dr. Stephanie Brown will be soon here as your settled pastor. You have stayed strong through the desert of this past year and I know your strength will continue as you grow in wisdom and in numbers with your new leader.

         Now what does the gospel reading have to do with all this queer church stuff? We heard in this short reading from the Gospel of Mark a very powerful message. Some of us may miss the deeper meaning because we have heard this scripture so many times before and because it is so often illustrated in Christian children’s books. You know the scene: A very model-esque Jesus sits on a rock with his Herbal Essences hair flowing in the breeze as little pasty white children come and sit on his lap. (More recently, the children are shown in many nationalities, but I just need to point out the reality of American religious history here.) In my Methodist Sunday school growing up, we sang, “Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world. Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight. Jesus loves the little children of the world.” Of course that’s not really considered politically correct anymore, but the point got across to me as a child: Jesus loves everyone. If you grew up with the King James Bible, you may remember it as, “Suffer the little children come unto me.” One of my seminary professors Rev. Dr. Jay Johnson remembers being afraid of this passage as a child because he thought it meant he had to literally “suffer.” That’s one of many reasons why we more so use contemporary versions in MCC.

         What your Sunday school teacher or preacher probably didn’t tell you is the history behind this biblical scene. In the ancient Near East, children were viewed as having little value. With so many diseases without cures, many children did not see adulthood. And in the social hierarchy, children held no power. When children were orphaned, there was no orphanage to send them to. They just wandered the streets picking up scraps for food and finding shelter wherever they could. These children were considered “untouchable.”

         Since Jesus was known to be a friend to the friendless and an advocate for those on the margins of society, people brought the street kids to Jesus. The disciples were not happy with this. They scolded the people, thinking that their Rabbi was too holy to associate with such people. Jesus was irate with them for keeping anyone away from him. So he called them to himself anyway. He embraced them with arms wide open and gave them a blessing. And remember: a blessing is not making someone or something sacred but rather affirming the sacred value of someone or something. Jesus affirmed the sacred value of these street kids.

         And remember too that Jesus was an unmarried Jewish man. By his age, he was expected to have his own wife and children. So bringing children to him for him to touch was a scandalous act.

         Unfortunately today, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender people face the same kind of stigma. We are labeled as “child molesters” and “unfit parents.” Many states prevent us from adopting children though American foster homes are filled to the brim and children around the world are homeless. Statistics show that the vast majority of child molesters are heterosexual and that such abuse does not have to do with sexuality but rather with a psychological disorder having to do with power. Unfortunately the Roman Catholic child sex abuse pandemic has deeply damaged trust of the clergy and of the church as a whole. Church: we have a lot of work to do to show the world that our community has the capacity to appropriately love the children of our world.

         We remember also that there is a child sex trafficking pandemic going on around the world. According to UNICEF, the world child trafficking market is over twelve billion dollars a year, with over 1.2 million child victims (sctnow.org). Such statistics are enough to make a person lose faith in humanity. I’m sure seeing countless children on the streets was enough for Jesus to ask, “Why?” but then proceed to call them family.

         Our reading from the New Testament book called Hebrews reminds us of this very fact. It says that Jesus is not ashamed to call ANYONE family, because we all have the same Parent, the Source and Ground of our being. Jesus did not have what people today call “traditional family values.” He probably didn’t marry or have children. And remember in chapter three of Mark where the scripture says, “Then Jesus’ mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around Jesus; and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you." And he replied, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" And looking at those who sat around him, Jesus said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother."

         Jesus meant no disrespect to his blood family. He was simply demonstrating that loving family is more than blood. Jesus created his family of choice from those who had no family. He could have conformed to norms, but he was called by the Spirit of God to transcend those norms to instead create what he called the “Kingdom” or Kinship of God.

         We here are all siblings in Christ. That doesn’t mean that we get to call each other brother and sister because we all believe the same doctrines and creeds. Church is not meant to be a clique. It does mean however that we claim each other as siblings because we, like Jesus, see the God-spark in each other and we call it Good. We take care of each other in love and respect in the example of Jesus.

         MCC doctrine states that we are “saved” in that we are saved from loneliness, degradation, and despair. But we can only be saved if we like those street kids two thousand years ago, in our vulnerability and humility, allow ourselves to be embraced by the open arms of Jesus. And today, those arms are yours and mine. St. Teresa of Avila, a queer Christian mystic who lived in the Middle Ages gave us this illustration: you are the hands, the feet, the face, the very body of God. And it is through you that God’s will is done.

         Saints, I urge you in your ministry going forward to open your hearts and minds to the possibility of meeting the living Christ in the most unlikely children of God. Remember that you are not yourselves helpless children needing to rely on anyone to spoon-feed you, but that you are adult children of the Living God who will always guide you to abundant life. Be authentic MCCers; that is, be true to you. God bless you all on your amazing journeys of faith. Amen.

Purity of Heart, Not Puritanism

Philippians 2:14-16 (GNB) "14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, 15 so that you may be innocent and pure as God's perfect children, who live in a world of corrupt and [unloving] people. You must shine among them like stars lighting up the sky, 16 as you offer them the message of life."

A point I often struggle with in my writing and preaching concerns "purity of heart" vs "puritanism." The word "pure" may evoke strong images of up-tight ultra-religious people who refuse to have any fun. I rather view purity as releasing unloving thought and action from ourselves. This release has nothing to do with judging ourselves harshly or punishing ourselves for past unloving action. This release rather has to do with growing up spiritually by choosing Love over ego.  It's one of the hardest things to do, as ego gives us a false sense of control; and in a fearful world, security becomes our primary concern. True courage is shown in our ability to choose loving action over "being right." In practicing release of ego, ask yourself often, "Would you rather be right or be happy?"

Sexism is the Root of Homophobia

Historically in the Western world, male bodies have been revered as dominant, stable, and honorable. Female bodies have been treated as objects, property, unpredictable, and messy. Though the rigid ancient social hierarchy is long gone, its remnants remain. Women are still viewed as objects in popular culture. Men are still the "untouchable" unless seduced into being touched. Women are permitted to dress "sexier," not just because of the benefits of the sexual revolution, but because we still hold to the notion that women are to be objects of male gaze. As these norms are slowly changing to a more egalitarian sexual freedom, those who still hold to the hierarchy feel threatened and pull the "morality" or "values" card. Sexism/misogyny is at the heart of current culture wars. Same-gender-loving relationships threaten social conservatives precisely because we dismiss any notion of inequality between the sexes.

For Integrity's Sake

“For Integrity’s Sake”

Sermon for Celebration MCC; Naples, FL

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Rev. Brian Hutchison, M.Div.

Texts:

James 1:17-27

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21a

Ten years ago, I was given the “bless-ed” opportunity to meet Fred Phelps, the pastor of the notoriously anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church. He and his church were protesting the play The Laramie Project at the University of Maryland where I was a student. The Laramie Project is a play about the murder of gay college student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming in 1998. I joined the school’s LGBT Pride Alliance in an organized counter-protest outside of the theatre. I decided at the protest that I had to face my fears and approach Mr. Phelps, peacefully of course.

I crossed the line that had been drawn by police in order to approach the crowd of people holdings signs that said things such as “God Hates Fags,” “God Hates America,” and “Leviticus 18:22 Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” I have always said to this proof-texted verse that I don’t lie with man as with a woman; I lie with man as with a man. We know that in the ancient Near East, the receiving partner of any gender was thought of as being on a lower level in the social hierarchy and any male receiving partner was shamed for being feminine, as it was dishonoring the power that men held. We do not have the same kind of honor-shame society, but religious fundamentalists would have us believe that we still do.

In MCC, we have always dismissed the use of this verse against us, knowing full well that its use is always hypocritical. After all, no Christian can or should follow the Levite Holiness Code in modern times. So there is no need to continue to argue over it. I consider the argument over long ago.

Back to the story… I had taken time before the protest to “get myself prayed-up” so that I would not be consumed with fear upon facing Phelps. So when I approached him, I introduced myself. “My name is Brian and I am gay and I am a Christian. And God loves me for who I am.” I looked into his eyes, somewhat hidden by the shadow of a cowboy hat. And what I saw surprised me. Unlike most people I meet from day to day, there was no light behind his eyes. He appeared to me as an empty shell, void of life, void of joy. Instead of having the anger response I had anticipated, I rather had pity. I wondered to myself, “What happened to this man to make him into what stands before me?”

Considering today’s scripture passage from the book of James, I now wonder, “What does he see when he looks in the mirror each day? Can he see a child of God with sacred worth or does he see something that he hates?” I don’t know him personally, so I don’t know the answer to that question. But I can bet that it is the latter.

James writes, “If you listen to the word, but do not put it into practice you are like people who look in a mirror and see themselves as they are. They take a good look at themselves and then go away and at once forget what they look like.” Surely people like Phelps who preach a message of hate have read the loving words of Jesus that cover the gospels. They must know that the Greatest Commandment is to love God, neighbor, and self with our whole being. They have listened to it, but at least publicly they certainly do not put it into practice. It seems like we are reading two different bibles, and I don’t just mean two different translations.

In MCC, we preach the Unconditional Love of God, which has no bounds. It is not just for one class or type of people. We know that it is for all because this Divine Love is within all and around us all. We need to hear this message because as James points out, many in the world have a very different message. It is that ego message that he says to keep yourself “unstained” or from being “corrupted” by.

When you look into the mirror, what do you see? Do you see beauty? Do you see a miracle? Do you see sacred value? Do you see God’s beloved? Do you see a persona of the self you show to the world or do you see beyond that façade to the Inner Light? Can you see the infant that came into this world with Original Blessing?

We too often fail to see God’s beautiful creation when we look at ourselves. Too often we see our failures, our regrets, our worries, and our insecurities. We focus on these things because we want so badly for them to change. We stare at them as if our eyes could shine a laser beam to blast them into oblivion. But instead, we are mesmerized by them and sometimes obsess over them, cycling into a downward spiral of despair.

A colleague of mine, Rev. Terri Echelbarger reminds her congregation of the words of Saint Michael; Michael Jackson that is. I’m sure many of you know the song. I won’t sing it, but here are some of the lyrics: “I'm starting with the man in the mirror, I'm asking him to change his ways, And no message could have been any clearer, If you wanna make the world a better place, Take a look at yourself and then make a change.”

It’s easy to look at other people and say, “How terrible is that person!” or “What a mess!” We justify talking about other people in saying that we don’t want to be like them. But in doing so, we forget Jesus’ words in the 25^th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew: Whatever you do to the least of these, you do it to me.” Those we judge aren’t always the poor or other marginalized people we tend to think of “the least of these.” But every person we judge has still experienced the human experience of suffering in some way. Often it is this kind of suffering that leads people to have unattractive attitudes or personalities. Can we have compassion for their pain?

It’s been all too easy over the two millennia since Jesus walked the earth for Christians to scapegoat certain groups of people. When reading the gospels, we can easily scapegoat the Pharisees. We have been taught that they were these nasty religious leaders who just didn’t get what Jesus was talking about. Actually, they were a minority group of lay Jews who worked for reform in the practice of Judaism. They wanted to make a change for their people, just as Jesus did. Just like Jesus, the Pharisees knew all too well the harsh oppression of the Roman Empire. The difference is Jesus took his message a step further. Jesus’ message of looking within to see what is in the human heart without guilt or beating yourself up was radical for his time. Jesus’ radical compassion pushed the edge of his tradition.

Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen tells us this: “A great deal of energy goes into the process of fixing and editing ourselves. We may have even come to admire in ourselves what is admired, expect what is expected, and value what is valued by others. We have changed ourselves into someone that the people who matter to us can love. Sometimes we no longer know what is true for us, in which direction our own integrity lies.

We surrender our wholeness for a variety of reasons. Among the most compelling are our ideas of what being a good person is all about.... Few of us are able to love ourselves as we are. We may have even become ashamed of our wholeness. Parts of ourselves which we may have hidden all of our lives out of shame are often the source of our healing....

Reclaiming ourselves usually means coming to recognize and accept that we have in us both sides of everything. We are capable of fear and courage, generosity and selfishness, vulnerability and strength. These things do not cancel each other out but offer us a full range of power and response to life.

Life is as complex as we are. Sometimes our vulnerability is our strength, our fear develops our courage, and our woundedness is the road to our integrity.”

An old African proverb says what Dr. Remen is talking about. It says, “The blessing is next to the wound.” We all have wounds, whether we want to admit it or not. But that does not mean that we are not whole. Our natural state is wholeness. Nothing in this world can touch the perfect unity of spirit that lies within you! We are not our wounds. But we still need to recognize that they are there because they hold next to them the blessing, the healing balm that will lead to realizing our wholeness.

One of my very favorite songs that I play when I’m feeling down is by Saint Michael’s sister, Saint Janet. She sings, “Afraid of my reflection
Tell me that's not me I see
That's who I wanna be
Stuck somewhere in the middle
On half full or half empty
Waiting for somebody to come and rescue me

Can't let that petty attitude
Start to jade my point of view
Only thing that does is bring me down
So I'm

I'm about to change my vibe
Today the sun's gonna shine
'Cause I made up my mind
That today will be the start of better days”

Friends, make this day the start of better days. As the Psalmist tells us, though weeping may endure for the night, joy comes with the morning!”

I offer you this final blessing from songwriter Libby Roderick:

HOW COULD ANYONE EVER TELL YOU
YOU WERE ANYTHING LESS THAN BEAUTIFUL?

HOW COULD ANYONE EVER TELL YOU
YOU WERE LESS THAN WHOLE?

HOW COULD ANYONE FAIL TO NOTICE
THAT YOUR LOVING IS A MIRACLE?

HOW DEEPLY YOU’RE CONNECTED TO MY SOUL.