Sunday, October 11, 2009
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Sunday, October 4, 2009
All God’s Children
The Good News Written
The Light of Kahlil Gibran (from The Prophet)
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, and though they are with you yet they belong not to you. You may give them your love but not your thoughts, for they have their own thoughts. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”Mark 10.13-16 (NIV)
13People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. 14When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the [kin-dom] of God belongs to such as these. 15I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the [kin-dom] of God like a little child will never enter it.” 16And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at
the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, October 4, 2009.
Our gospel reading this morning is actually part of a larger conversation. The tenth chapter of Mark’s gospel opens with religious people who liked to antagonize Jesus questioning him about divorce. They were always trying to trip him up about something.
Jesus answers his critics by being for once stricter than the tradition called for. The tradition said that a man could leave his wife by formally divorcing her. Usually, when confronted with scripture texts and religious traditions, Jesus offered a progressive, liberal, inclusive view that challenged the legalistic applications of the tradition. But this time, Jesus’ opinion seems even less flexible than the conservative view.
But really, Jesus is being consistent with his progressive, positive, and practical approach to spirituality. You see, the tradition says that a man could leave his wife… it didn’t seem to work in reverse. In that patriarchal culture, women had very little status apart from a man. Women were known as someone’s daughter, someone’s wife, someone’s mother.
Women weren’t considered by men to have agency… and men had the power. So if a woman leaves the protection of her father’s house to become someone’s wife, and her husband leaves her… her options might be very limited in that time.
If her father is no longer alive, and if she doesn’t have an adult son or a brother willing to take her in, the woman could be left to face very hard times.
In his compassion and in his commitment to justice and fairness, Jesus is suggesting that divorce in his culture places women at an unfair disadvantage. Today… Jesus would probably tell women to get a career and men to pay child support. Jesus isn’t condemning people to unhealthy and miserable and sometimes even unsafe relationships, nor is he holding up heterosexual marriage as the norm as some might suggest… he’s trying to prevent people from being victimized by systems that favor men over women. He’s actually challenging misogyny in his culture. He’s pushing back against the tradition as he so often does, and he’s doing it for the same reason he always does… because people matter more than the tradition. He’s saying what he’s always said… Do unto others as you have them do unto you.
Later in chapter 10 of Mark’s gospel, a rich young man comes to Jesus and asks what he must do to inherit divine life. Jesus says, “you know the commandments — don’t murder or steal or defraud others” …in other words, treat others the way you’d want to be treated. And the rich young man says, “I know those commandments. And I keep them… I’m no murderer. I’m no thief. I’m not even dishonest.” And Jesus says, “You lack one thing: Generosity. Sell your possessions and give to the poor… then you will have heavenly treasure.” And Mark says the young man’s face fell… because he had a lot of stuff.
Jesus didn’t say, “worship me.” He didn’t even say, “Worship God the way I do” or “Call God the name I call God.” He didn’t say, “Be heterosexual” or “join one religion and avoid all the others.” He said remember the commandments that call you to recognize the sacred value of others, and then put your money where your mouth is. Give to something beyond your own comfort. Be generous, because if you needed a hand, you’d hope there would be one there for you. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.
You know, I never complain about social programs. I want them administered efficiently, of course, but I hope my tax dollars are going to educate children and to provide income for retirees and to provide medical care for veterans and disaster relief when our neighbors are in need. I think a wealthy and powerful country should make sure its citizens are safe and well fed and educated and insured.
And I pledge to the church. Because I honestly believe that people need to hear they have sacred value… not that they can earn it or that if they jump through some hoops God will bestow it… but that just as they are, they are already persons of sacred value. I believe with all my heart that people need to know that they are persons of power and they can use their power wisely for their good and for the good of the world. I believe in churches that promote that kind of progressive, positive, and practical spirituality and I especially believe in this one because I think we are as committed to that message as any church ever has been. And I believe it is the message of Jesus. So I’m not ashamed to preach stewardship and I take great pleasure in practicing it.
Jesus’ message to the rich young man was: Don’t steal, don’t hurt people, don’t defame people, don’t do anything that you wouldn’t want someone to do to you… and that not withholding your generosity. Make generosity part of your spirituality. Supporting what you say you believe in with your time, talent, AND treasure is what Jesus told that young man would bring eternal significance to his life.
Sandwiched between those two stories is the passage we heard today. The kin-dom of God is like the innocence, the wonder, the trust, the generosity of children. Children have to be taught to hate…because until they are taught to hate, they have no ill will toward anyone.
Children are forgiving. The little kid that was mean to them time and again can suddenly say, “let’s be friends” and the child is delighted at the prospect.
Children hope beyond reason. No matter how many times the parent has said, “No, you can’t stay up past 9”, or “No, you can’t watch that TV show”, children will ask one more time… this might be the time someone says yes!
Children believe in magic. Santa and the generosity and kindness he represents make sense to children. There may really be gold at the end of a rainbow in the mind of a child. I really could grow up to be a doctor or a rock star or president or a truck driver who thinks life on the road is exciting and fun. Children really make a wish when they blow out the candles on their birthday cakes… because wishes sometimes come true. To a child, possibilities are endless… sounds like faith, doesn’t it?
Children will play until you make them rest. Children will take risks that they have not yet learned to be afraid to take. Children really believe that a kiss will make their owie feel better, and they really believe that hugging you ought to make you feel better. Children are positive thinkers, and they are by nature progressive.
Children had less status in Jesus’ culture than women did. They had no power. No rights. Even the disciples want them to be invisible. But Jesus makes time for the children. Not just because he was a good guy who was sweet to children.
If you needed services, you’d want them… so he tells the rich young man who can share his resources to do so.
And if you were a woman you wouldn’t want to be left destitute just because your husband was tired of you. So men, don’t do that to women.
And if you were a child, you wouldn’t want people to act as if you weren’t there, as if you didn’t matter.
He’s saying the same thing over and over in as many ways as he can… He’s saying that all people have sacred value. All people deserve to be happy. All people have something to give to the world. All people matter.
In this chapter, he names three marginalized groups… women, the poor, and children… and one of those groups, the little children, can even teach us how to regain our personal power… the power of hope, the power of love, the power of joy, the power of expecting and allowing our Good to be made manifest in our experience.
And then Jesus makes a point of saying that those who society has forgotten or even that religion has said are secondary are not forgotten by God, are never secondary to God. There are no second class citizens in the kin-dom of God.
Jesus’ message for us today is two-fold: (1) We are ALL God’s Children, so let’s treat all people as if we believed that were true, and (2) We are ALL God’s Children, so let’s reclaim the joy and the wonder that children have and that our divine Parent delights to see us express. This is the good news. Amen.
The Good News Affirmed
I am a child of God!
I deserve to be happy.
I am a child of God!
I deserve a good life.
I am a child of God!
I deserve to be loved.
And I am.
Amen.
The Good News Repeated
“I am Thy child, and as such I demand, without limitations, a divine [child’s] share of Thine illimitable riches.” Paramahansa Yogananda
Audio readings and sermon (http://suncath.org/sermons/20091004_1.mp3) 
Video readings and sermon (http://suncath.org/sermons/20091004_1.wmv) 
Sunday, September 27, 2009
One for All and All for One: The Progressive, Positive, & Practical Message of Jesus
The Good News Written
Numbers 11.4-6, 11-14, 16-17 (NIV)
4The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the
Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5We
remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost — also the cucumbers, melons,
leeks, onions, and garlic. 6But now we have lost our appetite; we
never see anything but this manna!” Moses was troubled. 11He asked
the [Eternal], “Why have you brought this trouble on your servant? What have I
done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?
12Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you
tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant, to the land you
promised… 13Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep
wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14I cannot carry all these
people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.” 16The [Eternal]
said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known to you as
leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting,
that they may stand there with you. 17I will come down and speak with
you there, and I will take of the Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on
them. They will help you carry the burden of the people so that you will not
have to carry it alone.”
Mark 9.38-41 (The Inclusive Bible, PFE)
38John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone using your name to
expel demons, and we tried to stop it since this person was not part of our
group.” 39Jesus said in reply, “Don’t try to
stop it. No one who performs a miracle using my name can speak ill of me soon
thereafter! 40Anyone who is not against us is with us.
41The truth is, anyone who gives you a cup of water in my name
because you belong to the messiah will certainly not go without a reward.”
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the
Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September 27, 2009.
In today’s first reading from the book of Numbers, we see the Israelites
reminiscing about the good old days. But they have forgotten how not good the
good old days really were. They have escaped slavery and are wandering in the
wilderness looking for a homeland. The journey is uncertain. It is taking far
longer than anyone had anticipated. And there are difficulties along the way.
And while they are facing the challenges of freedom and the search for a new
life, some of them start to long for the past… when there was meat to eat, and
fruit, and herbs and vegetables.Really? You’d trade freedom for leeks, onions, garlic, and cucumbers? You’d give up your chance to find your own way for onion rings and pickles?
But that’s how it works sometimes. We find ourselves unwanted, unappreciated, unaccepted, ill-treated, vilified, over-looked, abused and so we get out. We leave that abusive relationship, that dead-end job, that church that would not affirm, marry, or ordain us… but then we are responsible for our own growth and that is more difficult than being told what to do, what to say, what to think, and how to act.
And then we think, “wow… maybe that old lover wasn’t SO bad.
Maybe that job was OK.
Why isn’t the church that welcomed me with open arms more like the one that said I was evil and worthless?”
And as I’ve said time and again to people who complain to me that this church isn’t more like some other church, Please don’t be angry with the church that wants you for not being the church that doesn’t.
Remember in Egypt when we had free fish? Yeah, and you do remember in Egypt that we were slaves?
Manna may not be as tasty as melons, but isn’t it better for us to be free than for us to be slaves eating free fish?
And so Moses was troubled. And he complains to God, “What have I done to deserve all this grumbling from the people I’m trying to help? Did I conceive them? Did I give birth to them? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms like a wet nurse carries an infant…?”
I love all that biblical, maternal imagery. Moses seems to be saying to God, “I’m not their mother, YOU ARE! You’re their Mother, but I’m raising your kids and I’m over it already.” And God says, “Get some help. You don’t have to do all this alone… if you get some help you’ll be less frustrated.” Good advice for anyone who is overwhelmed. Get some help. Complaining doesn’t make it better; get some help.
Well, in the Gospel reading we see Jesus telling people to accept help also. John says to Jesus, “We saw someone using your name to expel demons, and we tried to stop it since this person was not part of OUR group.”
To do something in Jesus’ name isn’t about using his name as a magical incantation, it’s about realizing the same authority that he discovered within himself. When someone heals the sick like Jesus would do, that’s using the same divine authority that Jesus used. When someone touches the untouchable, loves the unlovable, comforts the afflicted or afflicts the comfortable, that is doing what Jesus would do, or put another way, that is confronting evils in Jesus’ name.
Jesus knows there is plenty of work to be done, so rather than be prejudiced against someone for being part of another group, let’s be thankful that we share the same values… let’s be glad that others are also speaking truth to power, are also comforting the sick, visiting the lonely, embracing the outcast, reaching out to those who have been excluded. If they aren’t against what we are trying to do, they may actually be part of what we’re trying to do.
My family was a mixture of Roman Catholics and Southern Baptists with a sprinkling of Methodists. Pentecostals and Mormons would marry into the family, and I found my way to the Episcopal Church and then to MCC. But to this day, Baptists and Catholics make up the majority of the family. I remember one of the Baptist Uncles saying about one of the Catholic cousins, “I’d rather she be dead than Catholic.” Can you imagine anything so vicious, so ugly, so unlike the love of Jesus?
We try to spread the progressive, positive, and practical understanding of the Gospel in as many ways as possible… and yet you would be astounded at the emails, letters, and YouTube postings telling me that I am on the road to everlasting perdition for saying that God is love and all people have sacred value. Can you imagine anything so vicious, so ugly, so unlike the love of Jesus?
Someone once even spent money on a book and the postage it took to deliver the book to me. The book said that AIDS was divine punishment on gay people for being who they are? The woefully uniformed person was apparently unaware that HIV isn’t limited to gay people and that medical advances have made HIV a manageable condition for many people today. But even so, the intent to insult and intimidate was clear. Can you imagine anything so vicious, so ugly, so unlike the love of Jesus?
I heard some of the most distasteful things uttered during the 2008 US presidential campaign. Sometimes the comments were ageist against the Republican nominee, sometimes they were racist against the Democratic nominee. Rather than debating the ideas, people resorted to demonizing the courageous public servants who offered themselves as leaders at a crucial moment in American history. Can you imagine anything so vicious, so ugly, so unlike the love of Jesus?
I know that almost everyone listening to this will agree that love and tolerance and goodwill are the ways that people of faith should model. And still we ought to recall that the progressive, positive, and practical message of Jesus reminds us that we are all one. To follow Jesus means to forgive our enemy and to love our neighbor as ourselves. To follow Jesus is to rise above our hatreds, suspicions, and prejudices. To follow Jesus is to know that people who want love and peace and hope in their lives and in the world, no matter how they package those universal values, are our sister and brothers.
We are all children of God. When women are disrespected, men must cry out with them. When those who search for God with scriptures and rituals and names other than the ones we use, we must know that grace is as true for them as it is for us. When LBGT people are demonized, we must affirm their sacred value. And when LBGT people use the rhetoric of hatred and division, we must gently remind them that we have been victimized by that very sort of language and we don’t want to be guilty of treating others in ways we haven’t liked being treated ourselves.
I have encountered the divine Light in heterosexuals and homosexuals, in Democrats and Republicans, Socialists and Libertarians, in North Americans, South Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians, and Pacific Islanders. I have encountered holiness in Hindus and Buddhists and Muslims and Jews and Humanists and Wiccans. But I am Christian. I don’t always agree with people who have chosen a different path, I don’t even always agree with other Christians! But its OK to disagree, and we can disagree without demonizing the one with whom we disagree.
Jesus shared his last supper with the man who betrayed him, and used his last breath to forgive the people who were torturing him. That’s who Jesus was; and as a Christian, I have decided to try to follow that very high standard. I have fallen short of that goal more times than I need to admit to you, but it remains the goal.
And to be Christian, it has to remain the goal.
I don’t say that the Christian way is the only way. I can only say that it is the way I have chosen, and that means that I must try to follow the way of Jesus, which is the way of seeing all people as children of God, and of knowing that we are all one. It’s time to exorcise the demons of hatred and fear, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
The Good News Affirmed
I acknowledge the presence of God in me!
I trust that presence to bless me.
I trust that presence to guide me.
I trust that presence to fill me with joy.
And I now see the divine presence in every life.
Amen.
Audio readings and sermon (http://suncath.org/sermons/20090927_1.mp3)Sunday, September 20, 2009
Practice Hospitality: The Progressive, Positive, and Practical Message of Jesus
The Good News Written
The Light of John & Lyn St. Clair Thomas
“Your questions indicate the depth of your belief. Look at the depth of your questions.”The Light of the Psalter (Psalm 1, The Inclusive Bible, PFE)
Happiness comes to those who reject the path of violence… Happiness comes to those who delight in the [divine] Law… and meditate on it day and night. They’re like trees planted by flowing water — they bear fruit in every season, and their leaves never wither; everything they do will prosper… [The Eternal] watches over the steps of those who do justice; but those on a path of violence and injustice will find themselves irretrievably lost.Mark 9.33-37 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality)
33[Jesus and his disciples] returned home to Capernaum. Once they were inside the house, Jesus began to ask them, “What were you discussing on the way home?” 34At this they fell silent, for on the way they had been arguing about who among them was the most important. 35So Jesus sat down and called the Twelve over and said, “If any of you wants to be first, you must be the last one of all and at the service of all.” 36Then Jesus brought a little child into their midst and, putting his arm around the child, said to them, 37“Whoever welcomes a child such as this for my sake welcomes me. And whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the One who sent me.”The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Mona West at
the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September 20, 2009.
Well, it is September and this time of year always makes me think about the
holidays. What do you remember about holidays as a child? I remember the food.
I remember that for Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner there was always a
children’s table. I never could figure out if the children’s table was a good
or bad thing… Was it to exile us from the bigger celebration and the world of
the adults, or was it to make us special — our own table to be free to make as
big a mess as we wanted and to be as loud as we wanted.The passage we heard from Mark’s gospel today features a child. Actually there are two children that get mentioned in the larger chapter of Mark. Earlier Jesus and Peter and James and John come down off the mountain after Jesus has been “transfigured” by a dazzling brightness to find the other disciples arguing with a crowd of people. In the same manner that Jesus asked the disciples in our passage for today, he says to the disciples in the crowd, “What are you arguing about?”
It turns out they are arguing with the crowd because in Jesus’ absence they have not been able to cure a child with epilepsy. So Jesus has to do it and when asked about it later by his disciples he claims, “This kind of healing can only come about by prayer and fasting.”
In our passage for today we find Jesus away from the crowds in a house with the disciples and he notices they have been arguing again, and he asks, “What were you arguing about on the way?”
The question itself turns the disciples into children. They are silent; they don’t answer Jesus because they know they have been arguing about a naughty thing: who among them will be the greatest.
Jesus is aware of this and he tells them that whoever wants to be first must be last of all and servant of all. Then he places a child among them, and while embracing this little one Jesus says, “Whoever welcomes such a child in my name welcomes me…”
Jesus ends their argument by teaching them about hospitality. You see, in the ancient world children, like women, were held in low esteem, seen as nothing more than property. That is why we find passage after passage in the Bible requiring the care of orphans and widows. Like today, children are some of the most vulnerable in our society with regard to poverty, hunger, and disease.
Jesus sets this vulnerable one in the middle of the disciples with an embrace. His actions indicate that truly “welcoming” this child or anyone who is the “least of these” means that we create space in our own dwelling places to share who we are as well as what we have.
Throughout history, fear of the stranger — the one who is different because of their race or religion or appearance or sexual practices — has led to hostility instead of hospitality. This fear continues to fuel violence and genocide in our world today. Yet God commands us to love, not fear, the stranger. Why? Because we too have been strangers. John McNeil has said in his book Taking a Chance on God that hospitality should be a natural spiritual practice for GLBT people because we know the pain of being a stranger. (And we know how to throw a good party!) But more than our empathy, the reason we should practice hospitality is because of God’s hospitality and welcome of us. Our practice of hospitality flows out of the welcome we have received in God’s love. Ephesians 2:19 tells us, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.”
Scripture tells us that our offer of hospitality, our love of the stranger is to be concrete. Deuteronomy tells us we are to love the stranger in our midst by offering food and clothing. Psalm 23 tells us that we are also to offer shelter and protection — preparing a table in the presence of enemies. In the ancient world hospitality was necessary for survival because travel was so dangerous. Travelers, strangers, could be robbed or killed by bandits and thieves, so hospitality — offering food, shelter, and protection from hostile forces — was practiced by everyone because you never knew when you might be that traveler in need of care.
This notion of hospitality was brought home to me a few years ago when I made a trip to Denver. I fell in the Denver airport as I was running to catch a tram to baggage claim. I was on my hands and knees in this moving tram with blood dripping on me and the floor, dazed after I had hit my head. Several people helped me up and gave me tissue to wipe my cut, but one young woman offered hospitality. She took me by the arm and said, “I have some time before my next flight; let’s get off at the next stop and I will take you to airport security so you can receive medical attention. She physically held me up and kept asking if I was OK until we reached someone in airport security that could help me. Her practice of hospitality has inspired me to be more consistent in my practice of hospitality. Love the stranger because you too have been a stranger. Practice hospitality because you too have received hospitality.
Diana Butler Bass has written a book on the importance of spiritual practices such as hospitality for progressive Christian congregations. In her book, Christianity for the Rest of Us , she demonstrates that while fundamentalist groups may be stealing the language of Christianity, there are those congregations across denominational lines who are experiencing the positive, practical, progressive message of the gospel of Jesus Christ by engaging in spiritual practices such as healing, worship, justice, testimony, and hospitality.
What does it look like when a church practices hospitality? How do we love the stranger? Hospitality is not the same as “friendliness”. Our friendliness tends to wear off when people are not friendly back or are unfriendly to us. Hospitality is not the same as “fellowship” or socializing. We have wonderful gatherings around food all the time in MCC and that is a good thing. But that is not the same as feeding the hungry and homeless who are the strangers of our society. For many of us the church is our social outlet, but throwing a good party is not the same as hospitality.
Hospitality is the creation of space — in our hearts and in our church community — where strangers can become friends. We often say in our churches that all are welcome, but we need to be careful that our welcome doesn’t just mean “anyone can come to church here as long as they don’t make us too uncomfortable or they are not too disruptive.” That kind of welcome is about “tolerating the stranger” not the practice of hospitality. True hospitality creates a space in which we allow ourselves to be changed by the stranger. It recognizes the holiness of the stranger. The practice of hospitality creates a space of mutual exchange between guest and host. Did you know that the Greek word for hospitality in the New Testament can be translated as both “guest” and “host”? And that is often what happens in the spiritual practice of hospitality — the one offering it often becomes the one to receive something from the guest.
In her book, Butler Bass tells the story of an Episcopal church in Washington, DC, that decided to host a service for 200 homeless people every Sunday morning at 8 am that included breakfast, worship, and a small-group bible study. People who came were served food by the members of the church on real plates and had their coffee cups refilled by church members who served as “waiters”. At first the members called the people who attended “the homeless”. Gradually they began calling them “guests”. Now they call them “homeless members” or “our members who live on the streets” or by their names — Joe, Wanda, Ted.
At first this special service had no offering because church members didn’t feel right about taking up a collection from homeless people. But the homeless members insisted that their service should include a traditional offering — they wanted to give back to the church. One regular member who was serving as an usher one day at the homeless service became moved during the offering when he saw poor people turn their pockets inside out putting their loose change and crumpled dollars into the offering. He said that he learned more about giving that morning than in a thousand sermons. The spiritual practice of hospitality creates a space for host and guest to give and receive — to change places and to be changed.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Decide for Yourself: The Progressive, Positive, and Practical Message of Jesus
The Written Word
The Light of the Buddha
“With the relinquishing of all egotism, the enlightened one is liberated through not clinging.”Wisdom 7.28-30 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality)
God loves the one who finds a home in Wisdom. She is more beautiful than the sun and more magnificent than all the stars in the sky. When compared with daylight, She excels in every way, for the day always gives way to night, but Wisdom never gives way to evil.Mark 8.27-30, 34-36 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality)
27…Jesus asked the disciples this question, “Who do people say that I am?”28They replied, “Some say John the baptizer; others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.”29“And you,” he went on to ask, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the messiah!” 30But Jesus gave them strict orders not to tell anyone about him… 34Jesus summoned the crowd and the disciples and said, “If you wish to come after me, you must deny your [self-interests], take up your cross and follow in my footsteps. 35If you would save your life, you’ll lose it, but if you lose your life for my sake, you’ll save it. 36What would you gain if you were to win the whole world but lose yourself in the process?”
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September 13, 2009.
27…Jesus asked the disciples this question, “Who do people say that I am?”28They replied, “Some say John the baptizer; others, Elijah; still others, one of the prophets.” 29 “And you,” he went on to ask, “who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “You are the messiah!” (Mark 7)Before we talk about Mark, I want to remind you of another story.
In the 32nd chapter of the book of Genesis, Jacob wrestles with a stranger, do you remember? They wrestle all night. And Jacob refuses to let the stranger go until he gives Jacob a blessing. The blessing Jacob finally gets is to learn who he really is. The stranger says, “You are no longer Jacob. Your name is now Israel, for you have struggled with God.” And then Jacob, or now we should say Israel, asks the stranger, “And what is your name?” And the stranger simply says, “Why do you ask MY name?”
You see, Jacob had deceived his brother Esau, deceived his father, had been deceived by his father-in-law, had been on the run from his brother whom he feared had a vendetta against him, and after all this dishonesty and running and struggling to find his way, Jacob’s struggles are symbolized by an encounter with a stranger. Maybe it was a dream he had where the subconscious mind was dramatically helping him work out his issues, who knows? But after struggling for so long to know who he was and where he fit in, he learns who he really is. The struggle to know himself was a divine struggle, and so he is Israel… the one who engages in a divine struggle. And the blessing that results from that struggle is to know who he is. When he asks the stranger, “What’s your name?” The stranger basically says, “That’s not even the right question… what you needed to know is who you are… and now you do.
I love that story. And I see it being repeated in a way in today’s Gospel reading. Mark seems to have a similar message, but comes at it a bit more directly. Instead of having a stranger tell us who we are, Mark has us affirm our Truth for ourselves. We simply get to decide!
Mark’s Jesus asks, “Who do people say that I am?” And there’s a list of opinions that others have been all to glad to offer. There is always a politician, a religious institution, a family of origin, a lover, an ex-lover, a friend, a salesperson, a teacher, a stranger, an ad agency… there is always someone telling who we are. Who do people say that I am? Some say this, some say that. But who do you say that I am?
And Peter answers for himself, he decides what the answer is for him. Peter says, “you are anointed.” There’s no complicated Trinitarian formula, no long creed to be recited, no loyalty to a hierarchy, no literalist view of an ancient text… just the simple affirmation… you are messiah… that is, you are anointed. I see something divine in you, on your life. Something holy in me recognizes something holy in you. You are anointed.
But the question is do you say that I Am? If we can see the divine spark in Jesus… if we can the Logos, the divine Idea being expressed in, through, and as Jesus… then that must be our I-Am-ness recognizing his I-Am-ness. The I Am Consciousness, the understanding that I Am a child of God, that I Am one with all that is, is what is being reflected back to us from Jesus.
You know, our mothers used to tell us that when we point a finger at someone we have three more pointing at us! We tend to project onto others what we believe about ourselves. If we feel inferior, we look for the inferiority of others to help us feel better. If we feel incomplete or not good enough, we see the flaws and failures in others and lift those up to keep from acknowledging our fears of inadequacy.
But when we see our goodness, our potential, our light, our nobility, the Universal Wisdom expressing through us, divine Love manifesting as us… then we see those same wonderful gifts in others. To say to Jesus, “you are anointed” is to say that deep down, I recognize that I am anointed. Who do I say that I AM. That’s the point of today’s exchange. Just as with Jacob, the divine encounter is meant to leave us knowing our true nature. The blessing is to finally know who we are.
Modern day mystic and Dominican priest turned Anglican minister Matthew Fox reminds us that the very early church leaders and the medieval mystics a millennium later all understood and celebrated the omnipresence that God is. Divinity is found everywhere, in everyone, in everything. Fox quotes medieval thinker Meister Eckhart saying, “in this breakthrough I discover that God and I are one…” To know that God and I are one is the I Am that we see in Jesus, and that we see in Life, and that we see in the mirror when we look through the lens of enlightenment.
The 4th gospel has Jesus saying I Am living bread, I am the light of the world, I am the gate, I am the shepherd, I am truth and life, I am the vine. Matthew Fox tells us that when we read those statements they are meant to lead us to ask, “how am I also living bread to the people around me? How am I light to those who are looking for illumination? Jesus’ positive and affirming I Am statements are meant to inspire our own. What are we pulling into our I-am-ness? How are we using that divine name, I Am that I am, to express hope and healing and life and love and courage and compassion in our world?
Matthew’s gospel puts it this way, “When you did something for the least of these my sisters and brothers, you did it for me.” I AM one with all life. I AM one with the lonely, the hurting, the confused, those who haven’t yet learned to love themselves. When you help that human, you’ve helped humankind… you’ve injected something wonderful into the stream of life and you have acknowledged the source of life equally present in and to all creatures. God is omnipresent… when you find something of God, you have found all of God because God must be totally and equally present at all times and all places and in all people… that’s what Omnipresence is! You are anointed by God… hey, wait… that means that I am anointed by God. The anointing in non-local… it’s omnipresent. To affirm you is to affirm me.
Even at the Communion Table, we hear Jesus say, “I am bread, I am wine.” I am one with food and drink, wheat and wine, soil and sunlight, rain and reaping, work and play. I am one with all life. To celebrate the divinity we discover in bread and wine is to celebrate the divinity that dwells within us, and within our neighbor. Our communion is just that… comm-union… a symbolic representation our unity with all that is, and with the divine Presence that gives birth to all that is.
Jesus doesn’t ask Peter today, “What do I do?” He doesn’t ask Peter, “What can I prove?” He doesn’t ask Peter, “What is my job?” He doesn’t ask Peter, “What are my accomplishments?” He asks, “Who do you say that I am?” You are anointed. I must be seeing through the lens of anointing to realize that you are anointed. I Am anointed with the love and grace of universal life. The divine in me acknowledges the divine in you… isn’t that what Emmanuel — God with us — is?
Jacob struggled to know his true dignity, worthiness, and sacred value. Because we have been taught that we were no good, we must struggle too. The image of struggle in Mark’s gospel today is to take up a heavy cross bar and follow in Jesus’ footsteps. But those steps lead us to know who I AM. I am a child of God. I am light and truth and living bread. I am one with the magnificent heavens, and with the least of these my sisters and brothers. I am one with the work of producing bread and wine, and I am one with the delight of eating and sharing bread and eating and sharing wine. It’s worth the work to learn who we are.
Who do others say that I am? Fine. That’s just information. But who do I say that I am? Well, that’s the affirmation that makes a difference. I get to decide to embrace the divine truth of who and what I am. And learning the truth of who I AM is the good news. Amen.
The Good News Affirmed
I am one with all life!
I am one with divine love!
I am one with infinite goodness.
I am light and life, peace and power.
I am a child of God.
And so it is!
Amen.
The Good News Repeated
“People ought to think less about what they should do and more about what they are.” Meister EckhartSunday, September 6, 2009
Be Open: The Progressive, Positive, and Practical Message of Jesus
The Good News Written
Isaiah 35.4-7a (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality)
4Say to all those of faint heart, “Take courage! Do not be afraid! Look, [the Eternal] is coming, vindication is coming… God is coming to save to you!” 5Then the eyes of the blind will be opened, the ears of the deaf will be unsealed. 6Then those who cannot walk will leap like deer and the tongues of those who cannot speak will sing for joy. Waters will break forth in the wilderness, and there will be streams in the desert. 7The scorched earth will become a lake; the parched land, springs of water.Mark 7.32-35 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality)
32Some people brought [to Jesus] an individual who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and begged Jesus to lay hands on that person. 33Jesus took the afflicted one aside, away from the crowd, put his fingers into the deaf ears and, spitting, touched the mute tongue with his saliva. 34Then Jesus looked up to heaven and, with a deep sigh, said… “Be opened!” 35At once the deaf ears were opened and the impediment cured; the one who had been healed began to speak plainly.The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, September 6, 2009.
Mark chapter 7 is actually divided into three sections. In the first section, those who are concerned with protecting the fundamentals of their religion complain to Jesus that his disciples aren’t keeping all the rules. In fact, they are ignoring biblical mandates and Jesus isn’t all that worked up about it.Then, in the second section, a woman from Phoenicia approaches Jesus asking for help for her daughter who is either physically or mentally ill. In any case, the exact cause of the illness is not known, so it is attributed to malevolent forces. She says, “My daughter has a demon.” Now, Phoenicia is part of the Canaanite culture, and in the book of Deuteronomy, Canaanites are labeled as enemies who are to be utterly destroyed. So, with this bit of biblically justified ethnic prejudice in mind, Jesus basically calls the woman and her people dogs and suggests he doesn’t really have a lot of time for dogs. But the woman challenges him and says, “If I were a dog, you’d treat me better than this.” And Jesus repents, that is, he has a change of heart, and says, “The demon has left your daughter.”
When the religious zealots wanted to quote scripture at Jesus to condemn his friends, he wasn’t having it! But then, he realizes there are times when he had allowed that sort of biblical proof-texting to cause him to be less than kind to people he didn’t understand. Jesus is healed of his prejudice in his encounter with the Phoenician woman, and hopefully the hearers of the story were healed of some of their prejudices as well. You see, even when you quote the bible accurately to condemn, belittle, exclude, or vilify someone else, you have misusing it and you have missed the mark. Jesus shows us that in a dramatic way with the Phoenician woman.
Finally, the third part of Mark chapter 7 is the part we heard read today. Someone else is brought to Jesus for healing. This person can’t hear or speak well. And Jesus ministers to him in some rather nauseating ways. And then he said, “Be opened.” And the one person can suddenly heal perfectly and speak plainly.
The theme leading into this pericope has been opening our hearts. And because that is the set up for this story, I believe that theme is continued in this story. Today’s gospel reading isn’t about primitive healing magic where saliva is medicinal and sticking fingers in a stranger’s ears is therapeutic. In fact, about 15 years later when Matthew tells the story, he leaves out the disgusting details of fingers in ears and mouth-to-mouth spittle. The story, perhaps one Mark has heard or one he has created out of whole cloth, I think is meant to be as disruptive, as challenging, as uncomfortable as the two preceding stories would have been to Mark’s original audience.
Scripture is very clear about dietary and cleanliness rules. Jesus won’t be tyrannized by the rules. He can think for himself.
Scripture is very clear about the Canaanites — those people, those enemies of ours… people who worship differently, who speak a different language, who live in another place, who in the past have behaved in ways that we found offensive… and yet, when confronted by one face to face, Jesus doesn’t see scripturally justified prejudice, he sees a human being that deserves respect and compassion and goodwill.
Challenging long held interpretations of scripture is bound to make some people uncomfortable. Is like you’re sticking your finger in the sacred message and spitting on the holy traditions… or so some might conclude. But Jesus says, “Be open.”
Open your hearts.
Open your minds.
Broaden your perspective. That’s when miracles occur… when you can see what you could not see before; when you make room for what you had failed to make room for before. When you can see God in whoever you judged to be your enemy, or when you can see the dignity in someone you had dismissed as unworthy, unlovable, or unsavory, then you have experienced more of God than you had previously allowed yourself to, and that is always life changing… that is a miracle.
The story isn’t about a hearing impaired man… the story is about religious people who can see the sacred value of all people, who can’t hear God’s voice singing in every heart, who can’t speak words of affirmation for all of God’s children. Having our prejudices confronted might make us feel uncomfortable, but if we will be open to God’s radically inclusive love, then we will experience a healing of the soul we might not even have known we needed.
Progressive Christianity is an open approach to faithful living. It values honest questions more than pre-approved answers. It seeks truth not only from religion and philosophy but also from the social and hard sciences and from personal experience. It knows that truth can never be fully known, but the search for truth can be invigorating and wondrous. It seeks to liberate faith from the assumptions of the first century so that it can be relevant in the 21st century. It seeks to have an open door that invites people in as they are without telling them what they must believe in order to be acceptable to God. The progressive, or open view, is that God is love and divine love could never exclude any person for any reason. Learning to trust divine love and to love ourselves and others is the spiritual path. The rest is just the game we choose to play.
The Center for Progressive Christianity shares a story that represents the heart of Progressive, or Open Christianity. A Sunday school teacher was telling her class of 9-year-olds a bible story, and being clever and curious, and a little precocious, some of the children expressed skepticism that the story could have actually happened just the way it was being told. Rather than argue with the children, the wise teacher instead told the story of Charlotte’s Web … a story about a pig named Wilbur and his close friend, a spider named Charlotte. After telling the story, she said, “Now, we know that pigs and spiders don’t really talk, don’t we? One little girl shouted, “It’s a story hello?!” So the teacher asked, “Do you think the story is true?” And a little boy said, “well, it’s kind of true.” And the class agreed, that even though the characters were fictional and that animals don’t use human language, the story was all the same in some way true. And the teacher said, “Fine then. Let’s look at the bible in the same way.”
Isn’t that what Mark’s Jesus is telling us today? Yes, maybe the bible seems to say that you should ignore or hate or condemn that person, but maybe there is another way to understand the bible? Maybe it can be true without literalizing every detail of the story? Maybe that’s exactly what he means when he says, “Be open!” Be open to new understandings, new ideas, new thoughts, new experiences, new ways of embracing divine Love which embraces all people.
Ernest Holmes, who knew Norman Vincent Peale and apparently had some influence on him, was the founder of the philosophy called Science of Mind. Holmes called his positive philosophy “open at the top.” He meant that truth could not be limited to a single religion. New insights could be discovered, he insisted, by looking at several religions, and science, and personal exploration. Religion shouldn’t be closed… it should be open at the top… open to new insights, new ways of experiencing the abundance of divine grace.
There is a children’s rhyme that teaches this same lesson: Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, couldn’t put humpty together again . Well, I’m not surprised! Horse hooves are notoriously ill-equipped for repairing delicate objects! But really, isn’t the story telling us that once an egg is broken open, it can’t ever be put back. It can’t be closed up again! Once a mind is opened, it can’t go back to its previously restricted state. We can’t pretend to not be stretched open by new learning, new thoughts, new experiences, the constant renewal of life. Be opened! And you’ll never be the same again.
Be Open! That is the progressive, positive, and practical message of Jesus. And this is the good news. Amen.
The Good News Affirmed
I am open to the blessings of Life.
I am open to the power of Love.
I am open to the guidance of Wisdom.
I am open to my amazing potential.
I’m open to God and all is well.
Amen.
The Good News Repeated
“Keep your mind open and free to receive that lesson which fits your own disposition best.” Emma Curtis HopkinsSunday, August 30, 2009
What Really Matters to God?
Light of Dr. Frederick Bailes
“If we build an awareness of our own true worth, Power flowing through that thought about ourselves will manifest it in our experience.
“If we keep our past failures at the center of our attention, Power flowing through that thought will keep failure in our life.
“If we turn to past successes no matter how small, Power flowing through that thought will bring more success into our life. If we let hostility — with its grudges, resentments, and criticism — take the focus of our attention, we are thrown out of tune with the Creative Flow.
“If we cultivate a sincere well-wishing for the good of others, we bring ourselves in tune with the Creative Flow.
“Power flows to the Focus of Attention.”
Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23 (NRSV)
“‘This people honors me with their lips,8“You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”
but their hearts are far from me;
7in vain do they worship me,
teaching human precepts as doctrines.’
14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.21For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
The Good News Proclaimed
Preached by the Reverend Doctor Durrell Watkins at the Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, August 30, 2009.
OK. Today’s reading demonstrates why Mark’s gospel is so captivating for me. Mark is no slave to tradition. Mark will not bow to any idol, not even those that are presented as fundamentals of the faith. Mark trusts his intellect and his intuition and his experience. He doesn’t need outward trappings, rituals, and symbols to validate his spirituality. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for ritual and symbol, but that place, at least for Mark, is way below his own thinking and his own personal journey. You know, I enjoy pageantry, and I believe that ritual helps messages sink into our deeper minds. I don’t wear this robe because its magical, or even because I like long flowing garments (well, that’s not the only reason). I wear it as a symbol that this hour is special and we are gathering in this hour to create sacred space. It is sacred… not because of candles or furniture or robes or any other symbol… it’s sacred because we who are loved by God gather together to celebrate and share that love. The robe is one of the calling cards to bring us together… beyond that, it’s just fabric.
But by living the church calendar, by worshiping regularly, by listening to a cycle of readings each year that presents a great deal of the bible to us, we are learning to live our faith. The tradition carries us in those moments when we don’t seem to have the wherewithal to carry ourselves. I’m pretty low church, at times even iconoclastic, but I still enjoy and even depend on the rhythms and cycles of seasons and liturgy. I believe in the gathering together of the faithful so that we can discover that we are more together than we are apart, and so that we can share our strength when someone else is feeling a little low.
The rituals of worship however, are for us. They are tools that are meant to empower us, to lift us up, to give us hope and bring us together. Once we worship the symbol instead of the infinite Reality to which the symbol tries to point, once we worship the ritual instead of the ultimate Reality the ritual means to help us contact, then we have committed the mistake of idolatry and we have become prisoners of the tradition instead of contributors to the tradition.
Mark doesn’t want us to fall into that trap. In today’s Gospel reading Mark shows some religious leaders chastising Jesus because his disciples aren’t following the rules. The religious tradition is very clear about what can and can’t be eaten and how food is to be prepared and how the one eating is to prepare himself or herself. But Jesus thinks that people are more important than traditions, even traditions that wind up in scripture.
Jesus and his followers are always in trouble for healing on the Sabbath, which is considered work, which is a no-no according to the rules (and the keepers of the rules, who also wind up being the keepers of power strangely enough, are quick to quote chapter and verse to show that their interpretation of the rules is correct and must be followed without question). But Jesus heals on the Sabbath anyway.
When his disciples are hungry, they gather food on the Sabbath… now that is definitely work. But would God want them to go hungry because of what the calendar says? If today we are hungry and today there is food, guess what… today is the time to get some food regardless of what the calendar says. It just makes sense. So, Jesus’ people would gather food on the Sabbath rather than starving on the Sabbath. People mattered more to Jesus than the fundamentals that served to keep some in power and others in line.
Almost 20 years before Mark is writing, St. Paul makes the same point about circumcision. People who grew up in Jewish families had their male children circumcised. People who grew up in Gentile homes did not usually practice circumcision. But there are scriptures that insist on male circumcision as a sign of God’s covenant with the people. So, the self-appointed religious hall monitors wanted all Gentiles who were interested in joining the Jesus movement to first convert to Judaism which for men would have included getting circumcised. The Apostle Paul said, “really? They can’t support us, be part of us, unless they hurt themselves to satisfy a cultural norm?” Paul insisted that circumcision was not necessary to be a Christ-follower.
Several years after Mark is writing, Luke tells a story about St. Peter having a dream. In the dream God was telling him to eat food that the bible says is unclean. The Levitical texts forbid the eating of pork and shellfish, among other tasty treats. In Peter’s dream he sees every animal that he knows anything about. And he hears God saying, “slaughter these animals and eat.” But Peter is stunned. He says, “Never! Some of these animals are unclean. I wouldn’t think of eating them.”
Later, Peter is called to the house of a centurion, a Gentile who had become interested in the Hebrew understanding of God but who had not converted to the faith. And Peter goes to that centurion’s house because he finally understands what the dream was about. He tells the centurion, “It is unlawful in our tradition for a Jewish person to associate with a Gentile, but God has shown me that I should not consider any person unclean.”
What Paul, and Mark, and Luke are all doing is disagreeing with the scriptures they have inherited. They know the verses. They also know that those verses might not have been meant for all people and for all time. They know that more than tradition and institutional interpretations, they might need to consider their particular location and circumstances and use their power of reason when making decisions. Rather than valuing rules more than relationships, rather than valuing law more than love, they might have to actually argue with their tradition and even reinterpret it or contribute something brand new to it, or even just disagree with it entirely.
We love scripture, but we mustn’t worship it.
Now someone will say, “but isn’t the bible the word of God?” We might call it the word of God, but the word of God is not God. Nor is it the final word of God. Guess what? God is still speaking, and God is speaking to and through us. God speaks through art, and through poetry, and through friendships, and through nature, and through the words that other religions call scripture. The bible is the word of God but not the final word. And, the bible is not only the word of God, it is also the word to God. It is a human attempt to understand God, to share God, to access God’s grace and to praise God’s goodness.
It is the word of God because it is the word about God. It is the dialogue of a people discussing God in the various ways they understood God. It isn’t God dictating a message to us; it is people like us figuring out their relationship to God. They give us the legacy of their search to empower us to do our own search. We may even come to different conclusions than they did… and then our story becomes part of THE story that is the word of God.
Finally, let me say that the word of God is not a single word. There is the descriptive word and the prescriptive word. There is the word describing how things were, and the word prescribing how things out to be. When we read, “slaves obey your masters” or “wives submit to your husbands” we are reading how the world was; not how it ought to be. When we read, “Love your neighbor as yourself” and “do unto others as you would have others do unto you,” we are reading how things aren’t always, but definitely how they should be and can be. We must rightly divide the word, so that we discern between the descriptive word and the prescriptive word. People often use the descriptive word to promote the evils of the past, instead of embracing the prescriptive word that can heal those past mistakes and usher in God’s kin-dom of love, justice, and inclusion here and now.
That’s what Mark and Paul and Luke all have the nerve to demonstrate. They are showing us we need not be slaves to the opinions, prejudices or understandings of the past. We can honor the scriptures, but one way we honor them is to not reduce them to a rule book, a list of do’s and don’ts, or a justification for our every petty prejudice. Our job isn’t to worship the bible, but to know it so that we can use it wisely for personal empowerment and liberation. God forbid that we ever use it as a tool of oppression again and God forbid that we ever allow it to be used as a tool of oppression against us.
That’s why we hear Jesus saying today, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come…”
Yes you can quote a bible verse, and quote it accurately, saying we should wash a certain way, or not eat a certain kind of food, or do certain things on a certain day of the week… but why are you quoting those verses? To shame us? To control us? To limit us? That’s not God! God is loving and life-giving and wants us to experience unfettered joy. What we eat, who we date, where we worship… these things aren’t what matter to God. We are what matter to God. God isn’t the moralizing, perfectionist super-ego wanting us to feel guilty for not following the party line. God is Eternity, the Source of all Life, perfect and endless Love, the giver of every good gift, the Web of Existence, the Whole of which we are each a part, the All-in-all.
Not having a certain ritual or symbol isn’t what limits us… our thoughts and attitudes are what limit us. And God wants our thoughts and attitudes to be joyous, life-giving, positive. Because that’s what God is; and that’s what we are meant to be.
This is the Good News! Amen.
The Good News Affirmed
What is in my heart drives my life.
Let hope now fill my heart.
Let joy now fill my heart.
Let peace now fill my heart.
God is in my heart.
And God is what I express.
Amen.
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