Prince of Peace and Division

Micah 5:2 – 5a

For the past few years I have identified most, if not all, of the ministry work I do as peace work. This peace work takes many forms.

• Being an interim pastor
• Being an activist for LGBT rights within Christian denominations
• Co-facilitating workshops on sustaining your spirit
• Blogging
• Leading discussions on the intersectionality of oppressions

All of these things I do for the sake of peacemaking.

I struggle, though, with the notion of peace. What is it? I use the word to sign off emails, in workshops, in prayer, in sermons … but what is it. Is peace an it ... a thing. Is it an event? A state of mind and spirit? A community experience?

Webster has a few definitions.
1 : a state of tranquility or quiet: as a : freedom from civil disturbance b : a state of security or order within a community provided for by law or custom
2 : freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions
3 : harmony in personal relations
4 a : a state or period of mutual concord between governments b : a pact or agreement to end hostilities between those who have been at war or in a state of enmity
5 used interjectionally to ask for silence or calm or as a greeting or farewell

If these are the definitions of peace, then they are the definitions of what I hope my work, and our work, will accomplish. I think about the lion eating grass like the ox and laying down with the lamb to cuddle. That is the Christian picture of peace that I carry around with me. That is the promise that I heard over and over as a child and a young adult.

I think about the lion and the lamb; what they represent. The lion is a predator. The lamb is the prey. Jesus is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. Jesus is also the Lamb of God.

In the book of Micah, little Bethlehem of Judah is promised to be the birthplace of the one of peace. According to the text, this peace comes in the form of Israel as a flock being fed and protected; the people of Israel living securely and being able to rest. Sweet rest. Isn't it nice to be able to rest securely?

Resting is different than being idle. One might be idle ... having nothing to do ... bored ... jobless … but that one probably isn't resting. Most likely that one is agitated and anxious. Just as rest isn't simply not doing work, peace is more than not fighting. Peace is more than being quiet. Peace is more than a pact between governments. Peace is more than the dictionary definition. The dictionary definition is a starting place. But peace includes all the spheres of being. It is a resting, I think, in one's thoughts, emotions, spirit, and body. Peace also includes communities and the planet. Chaos, unrest, and violence are inflicted across the board of creation. Peace, I think, is resting securely in wholeness.

Passing laws does not require someone's position to change on matters of racism, heterosexism, classism, violence, privilege and the like. But they are a starting point. A peace pact isn't peace, but it's a starting point. Learning how to sit or walk in mindful quietness is not peace, but it's a way to start.

Jesus as the Prince of Peace, says that he did not come to bring peace, but a sword. He himself is not going to enact peace in the land. His actions and his teaching will more likely cause unrest and division as people sort out how they think and feel about how this Messiah is going about being Messiah. This baby whose birth ... whose embodiment we celebrate because of the promise of who he is and what he will accomplish ... this baby whose mother was unwed yet the angels heralded his birth to her, to her fiance, to shepherds ... this baby as a man says – no, that's not what I'm doing. I'm here to heal people on the Sabbath in front of religious authorities; to feed way too many people with way too little food; and to give power to many so they too can heal and feed and stand up to those who are greedy in the name of God.

Being a peacemaker doesn't tend to involve much that looks or feels like peace.

Peace itself may look like a tranquil winter scene with a horse pulling a wagon, the snow on either side remaining undisturbed. But peacemaking looks more like standing in the way of non-peace for the sake of future rest, probably for someone else. Peacemaking means stepping in the way of violence; domestic violence, military violence, legalized violence, religious violence, environmental violence ...

Jesus as the Prince of Peace walked in the middle of harm's way and he provoked his followers to do the same.

We are not unlike little Bethlehem ... a small community in the midst of a larger one, insignificant by many standards. But from us the Prince of Peace is born ... is embodied. Peace still has not arrived. We are still in the midst of much struggle and little secure resting.

Jesus provided healing, food, and spiritual shelter for so many, as well as causing much distress as families were divided over whether or not to follow him. We are to carry on his legacy of peacemaking, which means that we are sometimes to be the source of division. We are to stand in harm's way. We are to offer the secure resting place of acceptance.

We are not here to simply be nice and smooth the wrinkles. I think we are here to ruffle feathers. We are here to make a statement that there are choices available. We are not to swim along in the stream of convention, being complicit with our own oppression or the oppression of others. We are to build dams to stop that stream.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace, so threatening as a baby that one of the narratives says he had to be whisked away to Egypt because Herod was on the hunt for him. Herod was so determined to kill him that he mimics the story of Pharaoh in Egypt on the hunt for Moses. In both accounts, there is a massacre of babies 2 years old and under. In the Gospel story, it is Egypt which is the refuge.

For those in power, peace is very threatening. Peacemaking is dangerous. But it's our call, as the followers of Jesus the Christ.

As we approach the day where we celebrate the birth of our Christ on this earth and the subsequent birth of our own selves as christs as we are filled with the essence of Jesus through the Holy Spirit, I ask you to consider this: how shall we stand in harm's way for the future securing of rest? How do we continue the work of the Prince of Peace? Individually, what decisions do we make to faithfully participate in this action? Communally, what decisions do we make to faithfully participate in this action?

This radical reaching out of acceptance where all who come may be healed and fed causes division. Do we have the strength to be that radical? Do we have the vision to endure the criticism that comes with that kind of peacemaking?

As you adore the baby Jesus, and adore him I hope you do, I beseech you to say yes to his calling of peacemaking toward a future secure rest in wholeness.

Mulling my sermon

This is the 4th Sunday of Advent. I will be talking about peace and angels. Peace. What is peace? Is peace not-war? Is it not-chaos? Reducing peace to a thing, event, single experience, or theory does not seem right to me.

As most Christians interpret Isaiah 9:6, Jesus is the Prince of Peace and yet according to Matthew 10:34, Jesus did not come to bring peace to earth, but a sword. The text continues with Jesus promoting his set of family values.

Matthew 10: 35 - 39
35 For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; 36 and one's foes will be members of one's own household. 37 Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

And yet, here is another statement of family values from Jesus, Matthew 15:4-6
4 For God said, "Honor your father and your mother,' and, "Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must surely die.' 5 But you say that whoever tells father or mother, "Whatever support you might have had from me is given to God,' then that person need not honor the father. 6 So, for the sake of your tradition, you make void the word of God.

Prince of Peace
Lion of the Tribe of Judah
Healer
Thrasher of the Temple

Is peace standing in front of a tank, using your body to say "Stop this war!"
Is peace protecting a woman being beaten by a man by taking her into your home or standing between them?
Is peace healing on a Sabbath day on purpose to provoke religious authorities to hate you?
Is peace a man being nailed to a cross because he was not cowed by the religious and political manipulators of his day?
Is peace a tranquil winter scene with horse pulling a wagon, the snow on either side remaining undisturbed?

Do we live peace?
Do we enact peace?
Do we experience peace in a passive way?
Is peace deep?
Is peace on the surface?
Is peace freedom from illness?
Is peace watching yourself die from your illness?

Can peace include Violence? Blood? Passion? Sleep? Breathing? Chaos? Order?

Peace ... is there such a thing as peace? Can we find it in a food? In a relationship? In music?

Holding Joy in our Hearts

Texts: Zephaniah 3:14 - 20 and Luke 2:8 – 20

This is the third week of Advent, which is the week of Joy and of the Shepherds. We light a pink candle instead of a purple candle. As we anticipate the celebration of Jesus' birth ... of Jesus bursting into the lives of humans in an eye to eye / spirit to spirit / soul to soul kind of way, this week we focus on Joy and we focus on the Shepherds.

This joy and these shepherds are not superficial concepts. They are complicated and we must wrestle with their complexities. We are also given the Zephaniah text with which to wrestle.

The Zephaniah text is kind of a cheerleading text. "Sing aloud. Rejoice and exult with all your heart. Do not fear. Do not let your hands grow weak. I will remove disaster from you. I will change your shame into praise."

Jerusalem is going through a tough time. They are despondent, weary, and not praising God. Zephaniah is trying to energize them, telling them all the good things that they may have temporarily forgotten about the God with whom they are in relationship.

The shepherds are doing their job in the fields. It is night when suddenly an angel and the glory of God come out of nowhere, terrifying them. The angel calms them down by sending them on a kind of treasure hunt with a promise that this treasure is from God. Then the text says a multitude of heavenly host appears and praises God. After this praising, all that suddenly appeared leaves, returning to heaven. The shepherds are once again alone in the field.

They want this good news to be true. They believe in what they have just seen. So they go in search of the baby in Bethlehem. Upon finding this treasure just as they were promised they would, they return to their fields glorifying and praising God.

There's a notion that if it takes you seeing the promise to rejoice then your faith is little. We get that idea from passages like Thomas doubting, wanting to see Jesus' wounds and touch the hole in his side. But there are many other passages that talk about seeing the promise as the means for bringing joy and praise.

There are many of us here that would like to see a promise fulfilled. Some of us would just like to hear a promise made on our behalf. There are so many hard things happening – the war, the economy, health insurance, personal tragedy, community tragedy, the list can go on and on.

Christmas is touted as being "The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year," but studies show that it is also a time of severe depression and hardship for oh so many. The expectation of what Christmas should be in comparison to how Christmas actually plays out in our lives can alone be depressing.

Yes, this is a time where like the shepherds we are working in the fields. It is a time like in Zephaniah where some of us do not feel the hope and the presence of our Divine Beloved in our lives. It is easy to go through the motions of Advent and Christmas, saying the right words and singing the right songs all the while covering up our sorrow and our disappointment.

This week we are to focus on Joy. For those of us whose circumstances are dire, we may find it difficult to believe in joy. For those of us who are just working in the fields, joy might also be difficult to latch on to.

I don't know how long it took the shepherds to get to the manger. The text makes it sound like they were there in a half hour, but I doubt that. They were walking and they couldn't just leave their flocks behind. They had to lead those flocks to wherever they wanted to go. As they were journeying ... as they were leading their flocks to see this promise they had been given, I suspect periodically they might have questioned their belief and maybe became frustrated with the journey taking so long.

Christian Advent is a tradition that has been passed down generation after generation since about the Middle Ages. The weeks that we celebrate have their meanings from long ago. It's interesting to know and understand why we do what we do. But, why do we continue the tradition and how does it give us meaning today?

Can we relate to the shepherds being given a promise and then sent on a treasure hunt to find that promise, bringing with them all the sheep that were in their charge? They were still responsible for everything they had been responsible for, but now they had this promise and a journey for the promise to be fulfilled.

Can we relate to the pain and suffering of Jerusalem as Zephaniah reminded them that their God was a good and loving God who really was on their side?

Has the promise of the embodiment of Jesus the Christ been fulfilled within you ... you as the embodiment of Christ? Can you get in touch with that? Does getting in touch with that fulfilled promise which is mostly intangible help you find joy? Not circumstantial happiness? Joy. Deep true joy. This joy which abides in the isness of our soul – based not on how this world works or how our life plays out, but rather on the trueness of our being in relationship with our Divine Love.

We can not base our Advent tradition or the call to Joy solely on the traditions of the past. We must know why today we bother to wait in hopeful anticipation of the celebration of the birth of the Christ. If we don't attach meaning to this for today, then the tradition is hollow instead of hallowed.

Finding the deep joy in our souls when things around us point to despair, is I think what Zephaniah was cheerleading Jerusalem to do. Last week we read Baruch 5 which was also a cheerleading kind of text. "Take off your garment of sorrow and affliction. Put on forever the beauty of the glory of God."

That has to come from somewhere. I believe we are created with a deep well of hope and peace and joy in our soul. Sometimes it flows better than others. Sometimes it does not seem to be flowing at all. The call that I hear from these texts is to reach out with whatever we can and believe the promise of good for our souls, our life circumstances notwithstanding. Reaching out with whatever we can may be called faith. It may be called determination. It may be called foolishness. Seeing the promise sure does help give us the ability to rejoice. The challenge is to see the promises we have already been given – the promises we have already seen and experienced – and then, to hold that joy in our hearts as Mary treasured and pondered the words of the shepherds in her heart. This deep well of joy that we hold in our hearts can then be accessed when we need it most.

This Advent, as we wait for the celebration of the breakthrough of the Christ to the people of earth, we also struggle with so many adverse situations. I am here to cheerlead you toward joy. Find the deep joy that sustains you. Call upon the true love of your God for the fulfillment of the promises for your soul. Remember that you are the Divine's beloved! Hold the joy in your heart as you journey field after field toward the next divine promise yet to be fulfilled.

Transgender Day of Remembrance

Today is Transgender Day of Remembrance. For all those who have
suffered, were tortured, were murdered for their gender identity, I
grieve. For the fact that they lived their lives honestly and with
integrity, I am humbled and grateful. Will an equal force of love to hate be enough to stop the violence? It is my prayer that it will.

The End of the Beginning: How the Passage of the Matthew Shepard Act Transforms Us by Stephen V. Sprinkle, Ph.D.

The End of the Beginning: How the Passage of the Matthew Shepard Act Transforms Us
Stephen V. Sprinkle, Ph.D.
Brite Divinity School
Fort Worth, Texas

Researching LGBT hate crimes for four years has changed my life. Now that the passage of the Matthew Shepard Act is imminent, I feel another sort of change coming: to my work, to the LGBTQ community, and to my country. For decades, families, loved ones, law enforcement officers, and social justice advocates have prayed for, labored for, and agitated for a federal law extending protection to queer folk victimized by anti-LGBT violence. Tens of thousands of Americans, straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender , have labored tirelessly for this result. Our well-practiced shoulders are again set to the task, and with one more great heave, the first major expansion of legal protection against physical harm for vulnerable Americans in the 21 st century will make it across the finish line. The end of the beginning has come at last. No more than that, and no less.

The dead are beyond further physical harm. So many hundreds have died at the hands of the ignorant, the malicious, and the sincerely bigoted. Gay Charlie Howard drowned in Bangor, Maine. Lesbian Talana Kreeger, manually disemboweled in Wilmington, North Carolina. Navajo Two-Spirit youth, F.C. Martinez, Jr., brained with a 25-pound rock in a blind canyon in Cortez, Colorado. African American transwoman, Duanna Johnson, shot down in a Memphis, Tennessee alley. Pfc. Barry Winchell, murdered by a fellow soldier with a baseball bat at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on the suspicion that he was gay. And the archetype of them all, young Matthew Shepard, pistol-whipped into a coma and left to die, tied to the foot of a buck fence in Laramie, Wyoming. For every victim whose name is remembered, scores of anonymous others have died, their agonies unreported, their names forgotten.

What will change for all these victims of hate, once the Shepard Act becomes law? And, what about their families, lovers and spouses—what will change for them?

For the dead, the change will come subtly, like a gift of dignity. The Shepard Act is not only for the living. Those who have died at the hands of hatred will finally receive a measure of vindication. No longer will they be merely the debris of social history. Their stories will be told with renewed passion, and more and more people will want to know who they were. Their lives will take on a greater sense of meaning to the LGBTQ community, who will find encouragement to embrace these dead as their own—just as blacks, Jews, and other besieged peoples have embraced their fallen friends and family members. These LGBTQ victims have become my teachers in my quest to recover their stories and the meaning of their lives. I ask, today, that they also become your teachers. Remembering them will help all of us find new strength for justice.

For the families and loved ones of these victims, perhaps a measure of peace will come at last. Their loss, of course, is incalculable. Their pain is beyond reckoning. I have seen the furrows in their brows, the lingering sadness in their eyes. As Ryan Skipper’s mother Pat said to me, there is no closure for her and those like her. The change will come, I suspect, with a sense of honor, and a quiet assurance that their beloved will have not died in vain. When the Shepard Act finally passes, I will think first of all about the valiant witness of the mothers—women who never sought the spotlight, but who fought back tears to learn how to speak out for their children and for everyone else’s children. Signing day in President Obama’s office will be most of all for Judy Shepard, Pat Mulder, Elke Kennedy, Pauline Martinez, Denise King, Kathy Jo Gaither and everyone else whose flesh and blood have consecrated the moment of passage.

Those who believe in justice will feel the change, too. The LGBTQ community will be challenged to mature and take their place among communities of survivors, witnesses who understand that it takes hard work to make hope become real for everyone. At the stroke of a pen, the entire LGBTQ community will experience the greatest lift since the Stonewall Rebellion forty years ago. But that will not be all. The America I know and love will encounter change on the day the Shepard Act becomes law, too. Summoned by the angel of justice, the American people will face the challenge to make the promise of the Constitution come true for their transgender, gay, bi, and lesbian neighbors and friends.

Passage and signing the Matthew Shepard Act into law will not magically stop the killing. Record numbers of LGBTQ Americans, especially young transgender people of color, are dying violently all across the land. But the high water mark of hatred has been scotched with the stroke of a pen with President Obama’s signature on this historic bill. The end of the beginning of full equality for my people has come. And we who believe in the fullness of justice will not rest until it comes continue to preach, to pray, and to advocate until all of us our free to love without the threat of violence.

October Devotion - Coming Out to New Life by Rev Vernice Thorn

October Devotion - Coming Out to New Life

39Jesus said, 'Take away the stone.' Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, 'Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead for four days.' 40Jesus said to her, 'Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?' 41So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upwards and said, 'Sovereign God, I thank you for having heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.' 43When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, 'Lazarus, come out!' 44The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, 'Unbind him, and let him go.'

In our Gospel lesson, Lazarus has died. His sisters are sure that if only Jesus had arrived earlier he could have saved Lazarus. But death has come. Death has won. Or has it? Jesus weeps and tells the sisters to believe and roll the stone away. He prays and says to the dead man, "Come out." Lazarus appears bound but alive.

What a meaningful story on the heels of a powerful justice event weekend hosted in Chicago by Church Within A Church (CWAC). This event had been plagued all year with uncertainty. Our finances were low, our support tentative, at best. Yet God continually calls us to life. God calls us to come out of our fear and to declare who we are. Even with that awareness, "coming out" is complex and never ending. I recall the Extraordinary Ordination. There was plenty of resistance from "church" leaders, who renounced and rebuked us. Nevertheless we choose life, listening to God's call to "come out". When we decided as a board to embrace anti-racism work we lost support. Yet, bound by the status quo, we did not give up, we could hear Jesus saying, "unbind them... let them go."

October 11th is National Coming Out Day. All of us have coming out stories, but I am so grateful to my gay sisters and brothers for providing the context. "Coming out" is a spiritual act. It embraces the truth of scripture that all are created equal and that God names us, each of us, and loves us. The ritual of "coming out" is a public declaration that says I am a child of God not in spite of who I am, but because of the gift of identity that God has blessed me with. It is an embracing of one's deepest and truest self, without shame and without apology. "Coming out" calls us to new life.

Coming out celebrates and empowers us to witness to our truth and to God's inclusive love. In the book Preaching Justice; A Lesbian Perspective, Christine Marie Smith speaks about claiming her truth. She says, "I knew from the time I was quite young that I was different. The early years were absolute silence, isolation and terror. Given the reality of closets for lesbian and gay people, I have been trying to find my voice, my truth, and my community much of my life. I have spent most of those years afraid: afraid of hurting my family, afraid of losing friends and colleagues, afraid of being attacked, afraid of being fired and afraid of losing my ordination. It isn't just the fear that keeps me from my voice, my truth, my life; it is the constant heavy sense that I am alien, strange, marginal. In the past few years, I no longer have feared losing my job and ordination, but even as I move my life into more public arenas as an out lesbian, anxiety, fear and strangeness persist."

On October 11th, I celebrate, "coming out", with my gay sisters and brothers and say thank you. Thank you for throwing open your closet doors and giving me the opportunity, a straight, black woman, to envision that possibility for my own life. As you have claimed your truth, so have I. As you have found your voice, so have I. As you have claimed your true, authentic self, so have I. The power of "coming out" is personal, spiritual, as well as communal. As one person or group finds the courage to "come out", it models a life-giving behavior, thus giving others' permission to do the same.

Come out! Jesus shouts to Lazarus and to us all. The power of life, the power of love is stronger than the grave, is stronger than the closet. Come out!

In Truth and Justice,

Rev. Vernice Thorn
www.allinclusiveministries.com

Co-Convener
The Church Within A Church Movement

I think I will be busy ...

This afternoon I attended Pride in the Park, in South Bend. It was a chilly and slightly rainy afternoon. The band was playing, bingo was being called under the pavilion, there were hotdogs for sale, and about 30 booths. The booths included

Michiana Monologues
Zion United Church of Christ
Teacher's Credit Union
Trumans (a gay bar)
AIDS Ministries/AIDS Assist
Pet Refuge
Organizing For America
Chris Tetirick (massage therapist)
St. Joseph Visiting Nurse’s Association
Jill Morris
Peace of Rainbow Jewelry
Indiana Youth Group

Take a guess which booth I went to first ... well, second actually. I had some friends at the Michiana Monologues booth, but then, I went past the Zion UCC booth and thanked them for being there. It didn't take long before I was being introduced to folks from different booths and just from the community and next thing I know I am saying, "Sure, I'll be involved in organizing the Pride Parade." As of yet, Michiana has not had a pride parade. I was telling them about CCWC's involvement in Chicago's parade. (We don't organize it, we simply march in it.) I was also telling them that CCWC is interested in starting a Midwest Coalition of Welcoming Churches. They seemed to like that idea. I went to the car at one point, got my business cards and began to pass them out.

This is very exciting.

Urgent! Help! Monks & Nuns, Physically Forced Onto Trucks

http://helpbatnha.org/2009/09/urgent-help-monks-nuns-physically-forced-onto-trucks/

Dear Friends,
Please pray for the monastic brothers and sisters at Bat Nha Monastery right now Sept.27,2009. They are being physically forced to vacate the monastery.
Please inform the public, the news agencies, human rights group, or anyone who can influence this tragedy, especially if they are there right now in Vietnam.
Please intervene in anyway that you can!

LIVE REPORT:
WWW.PHUSAONLINE is giving updated information on the situation at BatNha.

12:20 p.m. (VN time, September 27, 09):
*they are breaking all the doors and trying to get all the sisters to outside of the building. It continues to rain here.
*Sisters lock themselves inside.
*The mob, led by the police, are moving towards the sisters’ hamlet “May Dau Nui” (Clouds on the Mountain).
*4 taxi are going towards the main gate; can’t tell who’s inside.
12:02 pm (VN time, september 27, 09):
*The monks are still being forced to sit outside in the rain, nothing to cover them. It’s still raining and very cold.
*Traffic police (in uniform) are controlling all the roads leading to Bat Nha Monastery. Police in civilian clothes are also on the scene to observe.
11:23 a.m. ((VN time, September 27, 09):
*A large construction truck is heading towards the monks’ building named, “the Beginner’s Mind.”
*The monks are sitting together in circles under the cold rain.
*The attacking mob continues to curse and yell without stopping.
*Bells, Sutra books, clothings, personal belongings… are in disordered piles under the rain.
11:06 a.m. ((VN time, September 27, 09):
*It’s raining in Bat Nha. The monks have to sit under the cold rain.
*The police is calling for large trucks to come and transport the monks away.
*All roads to the monastery are monitored. Lay friends try to come to help, but they are turned around from afar.
*The number of policemen present has increased. They have occupied all the monastic rooms; gathered all the monks to the field outside.
*The police has forced the monks to carry their backpacks outside and wait for trucks to come transport them away. Don’t know where they will be going.
*It’s still calm in the nuns’ hamlets.
10:50 a.m. (VN time, September 27, 09):
*The police have dragged Brothers Phap Hoi and Phap Tu outside (2 elder monks of the monastic community); they are dragging the monks by force like they would to animals.
*One Buddhist lay woman is being chased by the police; she is running and crying, calling out “We are in danger, dear teacher!”
10:30 a.m. (VN time, September 27, 09):
Our communication is having difficulties, but we know that right now:
*The attacking mob has told the Monastic community that they have to leave the monastery within 2 days.
*The monks have been forced to go outside of their dormitories; they stand outside, chanting in the corridor.
*Two monks are in their ceremonial robes doing sitting meditation in front of their room.
*All community and personal belongings of the monks have been thrown outside.
9:45 a.m. (VN time, September 27, 09):
*We are on the telephone with Bat Nha Monastery. The situation at the monastery is quite urgent and life threatening to the monastics.
*At the start of this current crisis, attackers gathered at 9:30am then began to destroy properties to this moment.
*Police in civilian clothes have been present the whole time, but they do nothing to intervene. It seems that they are there to direct the attack, and the attackers have been hired to do so?
*The monks are doing sitting meditation on the 3rd floor of their building, sending energy to the people who are blinded by ignorance, praying to the Bodhisatva of Deep Listening to cool the fire of ignorance in their hearts with the nectar of her compassion.
*We are hearing very loud banging sounds over the phone line.
*They are throwing meditation cushions outside the building.
*There are about 150 people attacking and destroying properties up to the second floor of the monks’ residence.

Stop. Eat and Drink

Text: John 6:22 –63

Spirit and Life. Flesh and Blood. Bread and Wine.

Wine isn't actually mentioned in this story, but we can infer wine as the drink Jesus mentioned.

First, one of the last things mentioned in this story is Jesus saying, "It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless." This kind of verse sometimes gets used to teach that our bodies are not holy, but instead that they are intrinsically sinful. I take issue with that teaching. Even though we read 41 verses in John 6, we still did not get enough context. The context I am referring to is Jesus' ministry of healing the sick, raising the dead, and feeding earthly food to hungry people. If the flesh was useless in the way that this often gets read, why would Jesus waste his time attending to the needs of the body? But he does spend his time doing so. He spends a lot of time taking care of people's physical needs.

In that context, it seems to me that this story is not teaching us to deny ourselves nourishment or to only seek ethereal pleasures and to eschew delights of our bodies and this lovely created world.

Here I think he is talking about our need to nourish our souls. The crowd is seeking tangible signs and a tactile experience. They like seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching the Kingdom of Heaven. But when Jesus tells them that he transcends the natural creative world and that they as well can and need to, the people get agitated against him.

While eat my flesh and drink my blood is a foreshadowing of the coming crucifixion, it is also a lesson for the moment. I hear Jesus saying; don't stop when your physical needs are satisfied. Your life is not provided through your flesh – your flesh lives because life is provided.

Now that the crowd has been nourished physically, satisfied within their bodies, the hope is that they can take their minds off their earthly needs and look deeper into the true food and drink that God has to offer. When you are physically hungry and thirsty it's really hard to think about anything else. So Jesus satiates their physical needs and when they pursue him for more he tells them yes, I will give you more. My purpose has been to give you life.

Eat my flesh and drink my blood. Then, when his disciples become offended and some of them leave, he says, flesh is useless I'm talking about spirit.

Just like you stopped to eat the bread and fish because you were hungry, stop and eat spiritually. Drink and become refreshed in your soul. Take time to attend to all of who you are, not just the part of you that you can see. Jesus says, "I am the Living Bread" and "Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven."

I think this is all to say: Eat Life. Drink Life. Be Life.

The Gospel of Thomas
#3 If those who lead you say, "Look, the kingdom is in heaven," then the birds of heaven will precede you. If they say, "It is in the sea," then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is within you and outside you. When you know yourselves, you will be known, and you will know you are children of the living father. But if you do not know yourselves, you live in poverty and you yourselves are the poverty.

#7 Blessed is the lion that the man shall eat, so that the lion will become human. Cursed is the man whom the lion shall eat, and the lion will become human.

#108 Whoever drinks from my mouth will be as I am, and I shall be that person, and the hidden things will be revealed to that person.

What you eat and drink becomes you and you become what you eat and drink. If you eat and drink life you become life and life becomes you. "The kingdom is within you and outside you." So often we can't detect the land of spirit because we are so stimulated by the land we have created. We must take time turn away from the stimulation that would keep us hungry spiritually. We need to eat the flesh and drink the blood of life. We must stop and become connected to the kingdom within and without – becoming the kingdom and living true life.

I believe that our gathering together is good. Seeing each other in the flesh ... looking each other in the eyes and sharing hugs and smiles. We need this experience and we need it often. However, the connection that we have with one another transcends this gathering. We pray for each other sometimes and we think of each other during the week. We worry with each other when hard things happen and are glad for each when we hear good news. But do we stop when we are apart and eat and drink the life of each other? Do we set time aside to breathe in the truth of each other's existence and the holy connection that we have? If we do, do we know that that is what we are doing?

We are connected by spirit. Our bodies define us and they are good bodies. We are separate human beings and we are one gathered body in spirit. When one of us gets a job or another of us loses one, all of us are affected when we eat and drink the truth of the life of each one of us.

Jesus refers to the Living Father, both in the Gospel of John and in the Gospel of Thomas. I would refer to the Living Presence. Our Divine Beloved who lives within us and outside of us. The Living Presence who is within you and outside you.

In Exodus 25, God is telling Moses how to make the sanctuary where God will dwell with the people. Verse 29 and 30, "You shall make its plates and dishes for incense, and its flagons and bowls with which to pour drink offerings; you shall make them of pure gold. And you shall set the bread of the Presence on the table before me always."

The bread of the Presence ... that is what Jesus is offering us. It isn't bread that we can eat with our mouths or drink that moistens our lips. It is the Living Presence that we share with our Divine Beloved and with one another. This Living Presence connects us and creates community within and between us.

It isn't eaten or drunk easily. It takes time and effort. We need to take time away from the distractions of our daily world. We need to breathe deeply and stop analyzing and planning for period of time every week if not every day. Our awareness of our own spirit will rise. The Presence will become more apparent to our conscious self. Then we can gather to ourselves the essence of those in this community. We can reach out to one another with our spirits. Cry together. Laugh together. Intercede for one another. Hold each other. Our community will only be strengthened the more we do this.

From this place of deep connection, we can also reach out spiritually to those who are not yet a part of our community. Some people have checked our website, but not ventured out for a visit. Some have visited. Others don't even know where to start looking. I think we need to gather them in too. It isn't important if we can't see their face in our minds or hear what their voice sounds like. We don't need to know how tall they are or anything else about them to reach out in our spirits and feel their pain and comfort them.

We can start a new program, change how we do our service, and market the church, but I think what will build this community is the Spirit drawing people here and drawing people into your life so that you can share the good news that you have to offer.

We are a deeply spiritual people. I feel the intensity of our connection to The Presence and to each other. We have thought a lot about what we believe and why we believe it. We have had to. We are not in a position to take our faith for granted. I want us to take that depth and intensity to the next level.

Stop. Eat and Drink the truth of each other. Then stop some more and eat and drink the truth of those who we have not yet met. When you eat and drink the flesh and blood of the Presence, you eat and drink Life. And that's what Jesus came to give – Life, and that more abundantly.

Why I do energy massage

July 5th - Windy City Black Pride Festival

WCBP Park Festival

Sunday July 5, 2009

11:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m.

Sherman Park

1301 West 52nd Street

(Between 52nd and 55th Streets on Racine)

Chicago, Illinois

In The Zone

TEXTS: Proverbs 14:1 – 10 and Tao #2 (Stephen Mitchell, translator)

Please look at your hands, front and back. Look at each finger and the web where your fingers meet the palm and back of your hand. Hands are amazing. They are intricate … complicated. Now make a fist. What does it feel like to make a fist? Did you make a gentle loose fist or a tight fist? Now open your hands again. Put them together. Now pull them apart.

Such an easy exercise for most of us. We can do it without thinking about it. We don't have to tell our eyes to look at our hands or tell our fingers to move. It's actually odd to stop and take time to feel your hands as they move. For most of us, we don't have to concentrate on moving our muscles in a particular direction.

Last Wednesday I went bowling with the teens from Good News Community Church. We had a good time, bowling for 2 hours. That's a long time for a non-bowler to bowl. Because this is not something I do, I found myself having to think about my movements. I had to be conscious of where my arm was swinging and of holding on to the ball ... letting the ball go and following through. It was hard. There were some guys in the lane next to ours. They were bowlers. I could tell they were concentrating, but not in the same way that I was. They didn't have to think about their bodies moving, they were just focusing. Strike after spare after strike, they focused and moved their bodies.

They knocked the pins down and then the machine in back would reset them so they could do it again. My pins didn't always have to be reset, but often enough at least some of them did.

My hand and arm are still sore from using them the way that I did. The weight of the ball and the motion of my arm were all unfamiliar for me.

There have been times when I have had to really concentrate on what would normally be simple movements. Things like walking and not falling down due to pain in my leg, or grasping a doorknob to open a door because of pain in my hand. There are times when performing a relatively simple function requires attention.

In the second chapter of the Tao Te Ching we hear about acting without doing. It's like what we did with our hands. We were able to look at our hands, move them around, close and open them, without doing it. Wednesday, when I was bowling, I was doing bowling. The guys in the lane next to ours were acting without doing.

It's a beautiful thing to watch, acting without doing. Singers, dancers, actresses ... the really good ones, act without doing. The 2nd Tao say, "Things arise and she lets them come; things disappear and she lets them go." It's magical and intimate.

I remember being a line cook. There was one guy that I always liked to work with on the line. We flowed. We didn't like anyone to interrupt us ... to try to help us. We had a rhythm and a way to communicate that was not something we even thought about. We just let it happen. We were like athletes in the zone.

I want us to live in the zone. I want us to move effortlessly through life. Not passively and not without intention, but effortlessly because we are acting without doing. We have and don't possess.

Verse 10 of Proverb 14 says, "The heart knows its own bitterness, and no stranger shares its joy. I came across this verse earlier this week and thought, isn't that the truth. We can walk with someone ... we can hear someone's story ... we can learn and listen ... but there's a point where what's in our heart is ours alone.

That is so true for me of my journey from ex-gay to ex-ex-gay. The bitterness and joy of it all is mine. I can share my story, but it is mine to carry and to know and love. When I am aware of my own story, without having to think about it – the bitterness and joy – I'm in the zone.

Your heart has its own story. The heart of this community has its own story. When we know it and own it, when we live it and love it, we are in the zone.

There is another verse in Proverb 14 ... it has been a favourite of mine for years. Verse 4 says, according to The New Revised Standard Version, "Where there are no oxen, there is no grain; abundant crops come by the strength of the ox."

This translation of the verse is good, and maybe it's more accurate than the other translations, but when I fell in love with this scripture in my early twenties it was when I was reading The King James Version and the New International Version

The King James Version says this, "Where no oxen are, the crib is clean: but much increase is by the strength of the ox."

The New International Version puts it this way, "Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox comes an abundant harvest."

I have cleaned out my fair share of mangers ... or stalls as we called them. It's nasty work. But we did it because it was worth having the cow. We had tractors to plow our land, so the cows were mainly used for milk and to sell for meat. Still, it was worth it to us. I was well aware that there was a time in my father's living memory when farm animals were used like we used tractors. The strength of an ox really meant something when you needed to plow a field or move heavy rocks or timber.

But this is a proverb. It isn't trying to convince us that cleaning up after an ox is worth it. The writer is assuming that we already know that and is using this as an illustration of a bigger learning. The learning that I hear is that getting important work done creates messes we have to clean up.

So often we think of messes being the result of a mistake made or something gone awry, but often messes are simply the result of life. There is both bitterness and joy in our hearts. There is an abundant harvest and a soiled pen to clean up. The cleaning up part can be nasty smelly work. The bitterness in our hearts is no fun to claim as our own, but it is keeping company with the joy in our hearts.

The Pride Parade is a lot of work to put together and I can't imagine the clean up afterward. But they do it year after year. It must be worth the mess and work.

We can keep things neat and clean ... but no oxen means no harvest. There would be no prep work and no clean up afterward if there wasn't a Pride Parade. But, then there would be no Pride Parade.

For me, it goes back to being in the zone. It takes a lot of effort to make something effortless. Can the mess of the accomplishment help to define the accomplishment? Can the accomplishment support us when it's time to pick up the shovel and clean up? Can we get in the zone of acting without doing when we are plowing or harvesting or shoveling?

We have choices. We can do what we want. We can keep things tidy by keeping them empty, which may result in our eventual hunger or starvation as we won't have a harvest, or we can organize to work for a harvest knowing that we are creating not only our intentional work but also some messes to clean up along the way; messes that may seem totally unrelated.

If through prayer and intentionally loving one another we can find our zone where we have but don't possess; when we do our work and then forget it so that it lasts forever; then we will have both messes to clean up and a harvest to gather. Both are hard work, but not work that we have to do if we are in the zone of acting without doing ... of letting things arise and come, and then disappear and go.

We work so hard doing this life and putting in our time and being in relationships. But the more that we can we need to trust, like we did with our hands moving – we just moved our hands and used our eyes to see our hands. We didn't analyze what it might be like to look at our hands or to move them. Most of us didn't have to make a great effort to command our bodies to pick up our hands and to direct our eyes to look. A long time ago we did have to make such efforts. When we were babies our hands moved around, but at some point we realized we wanted to pick something up. We had to learn to direct our hands and that took concentration. When we are ill or disabled, we have to make concentrated efforts.

Can we, as a community, act without doing? Can we find that zone? Can we allow our movements to be fluid and then when we notice our movements, not stop and wonder ... but instead just keep moving. When the messes need to be cleaned up, can we pick up the shovel and just clean. Not think about the cleaning. Not look at the mess too hard, but just enough to know it's there and to know what to clean ... to let ourselves be in the work rather than doing the work.

This requires trust – trust of the God who is Presence, trust in ourselves as individuals and trust in ourselves as a community. It also requires time – time for the work toward harvest, time to clean up the inevitable and seemingly unrelated messes that will occur, and time in prayer to prepare us and support us to act without doing. I think it also requires love – love for ourselves, love for each other, and love for the work.

When we get in the zone, the work becomes less exhausting; the messes become less annoying; and the harvest is less a goal to strive for and more a delight to be savored. Burn out happens outside the zone.

We know the joy and the bitterness in our hearts. We want to add to the joy and not to the bitterness. There is less bitterness in the zone of acting without doing; and much much more joy. My prayer for us is an increase of joy in our hearts.

A Gay Pride Call to Worship

Leader: We are made in the image of God.
All: We praise our God and celebrate the diversity of all creation.
Leader: It is written that God declared all of creation to be good.
All: All our goodness comes from our Divine Creator.
Leader: Eye has not seen nor ear heard the goodness and eccentricities of our God.
All: We delight ourselves in being created with such imagination.
Leader: You are called beautiful and fabulous by the Holy Lover.
All: In this love we bask and rejoice, declaring our love in return and giving ourselves wholly to you.

A little levity

Because the last few days have been so intense, I've retreated to fun things. "Tuesday at the Cabaret" at Hydrate in Chicago on Tuesday evening. Tonight, Pirates of Penzance on YouTube. Pirates was easily my most enjoyable directing experience. I worked with an amazing choreographer and a young cast that took tons of risks with me.

Now, back to that church bulletin ...

The Work Is Not Finished

Fear
Ignorance
Arrogance

These are the words that come to mind when I listen to this woman speak.

Lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, and transgender people are beginning to benefit by laws of equality being passed.

Equality in the workplace
Equality for insurance and retirement
Equality for marriage/civil unions
Equality in communities of faith

Legislating equality is important, but it isn't enough. You can't legislate equality in someone's heart. Some people actually believe that LGBT/Queer people have a disease that will spread. They actually believe that we don't possess the ability to love with real love. They believe that we are decaying the moral fabric of society.

In turn, these people who arrogantly believe that the only way to love is their way, who are afraid that they or their children can catch being queer, and who are ignorant of the facts about who we are, how we love, and what the divine thinks of us ... these people are wanting legislation too. They want laws that take away our liberty and justice.

Please, don't get lulled into a false sense of security. Not all people know the truth about same gender loving people or people whose gender falls outside the binary. Just because your faith community celebrates diversity of sexual orientations and gender identities doesn't mean that all, or even most, do. Just because your city/county/state has legislated for some kind of equality for all sexual orientations and gender identities doesn't mean that all the people in your city/county/state understand that this legislation is for equal rights and not for special rights.

How will they know the truth if we don't tell them? Some believe they know the truth. The woman in the video below, I have no doubt, believes what she is saying. We know she is wrong and is spreading hate and untruths, but many of those listening to her think she is an authority on the subject of our lives.

We must tell our own stories!!
We must follow through after the legislation is passed for equality by visibly participating in our equality!!
We must not take our few rights for granted!!

Even if the work is over on your behalf - you have full and equal rights in your faith community, your city/county/state, your family - your work is not over. Many many people are still struggling to be seen as valuable rather than as a disease. Many people will still lose their jobs or families if they become visible as being LGBT/Queer. Many people are still beaten, raped, and murdered - sometimes because equality has not been legislated, sometimes in spite of equality being legislated, and sometimes because extremists are furious that equality has been legislated.

The rhetoric of people such as this woman, who defame LGBT/Queer people and spread toxic and needless hate, fear and arrogance, incite others to act in violent ways. Emotional violence. Physical violence. Legal violence.

The work is not yet over. Listen for yourself.




h/t Alexandra Billings

Drum Circle at Good News Community Church in Chicago!

Come to the DRUM CIRCLE
Thursday, June 25 at 7pm


We will create and share Sacred Rhythms, emerging with our own
Collective Sacred Voice


Bring your own drum / percussion instrument or use one of ours
Clap your hands
Stomp your feet


Everyone Welcome

GOOD NEWS COMMUNITY CHURCH
7649 Paulina St

To get to the church’s meeting room, please walk through the dining hall of Good News Community Kitchen

773-262-2277

Suggested donation is $5

NYC Event - Love and Justice in a Time of HIV/AIDS

CHAMP’s 'The Politics of HIV Prevention' monthly forum series presents:

Love and Justice in a Time of HIV/AIDS:

The Current State of Affirming Faith Allies

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

6:30 - 8:30 PM

LGBT Community Center

208 West 13th Street (Between 7th & 8th Avenues) NYC

Free ~ Open to the public ~Light Supper and Refreshments provided


You can Download event flyer at:

www.haevents.org

Quad Cities Pride event

Colors Across the River for Equality (CARE)
1000 PRIDE flags across the Mississippi River
Host: QC PRIDE '09
Type: Causes - Rally
Network: Global
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009
Time: 4:00pm - 6:00pm
Location: LeClaire Park, Davenport Riverfront - across Centennial Bridge
Street: 400 W. Beiderbecke Drive
City/Town: Davenport, IA

Phone: 5633248281
Email: richdhendricks@msn.com

Description
Plan to come to LeClaire Park for the kickoff of QC PRIDE '09. There will be a picnic from 2 - 4 sponsored by QC Area Affirming Churches. The gathering for CARE itself begins at 4 pm.

For the 1000 flags it will take, we need at least 500 people, so please forward this invitation widely! We are asking for a donation of $5 from participants to cover cost of flags -- and you get to keep your own pride flag!

Everyone is asked to give $5 and will be able to take home the flag they held. We need ALL our allies because it will take at least 500 people to do this!
-Chicago group transportation may be arranged.

***********************
Reply to me here if you'd like to be involved in the group transportation.

A Promise Fulfilled

TEXT: Exodus 3: 1 - 12 and Acts 2:1:1 – 15

A burning bush
Tongues of fire

A promise made
A promise fulfilled

This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Moses could not believe his ears. What was this promise being made to him by The Holy One? How could this be so?

The crowd could not believe their ears. How could these people ... these followers of Jesus ... suddenly be speaking in foreign languages. These were not educated people. They were fishermen and vagabonds. While many were amazed at what was happening, others dismissed it. They must be drunk.

I love Peter's response. Drunk? We're not drunk. It's only 9 in the morning. Way too early for us to be drunk.

The promise of power, the promise that Jesus gave his followers before he disappeared behind a cloud ... this promise was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, the Jewish harvest festival celebrated fifty days after the celebration of freedom ... the celebration of the exodus from Egypt.

Was this power what the believers expected? Probably not. Maybe at this point they knew to not expect anything specific. But that the power of the Holy Spirit would manifest itself through glorifying God in languages of other countries, who would have imagined that? How strange.

Flames of fire flickered over each one as they spoke. Just like the flames in the bush that spoke to Moses did not consume the bush, so the flames that flickered on the day of Pentecost did not consume the believers.

The Holy Spirit has a different kind of power, and we share in it. We are not consumed by it.

Could it be that these flames do not consume us because they are tempered in their essence. Jesus speaks of the Holy Spirit this way in the Gospel of John:

John 7:37 – 39 On the last day of the festival, the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, "Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" Now he said this about the Spirit, which believers in him were to receive; for as yet there was no Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified.

The Holy Spirit, in her essence, is both fire and water. We are filled with rivers of living water and flickering flames of fire rest upon us. But wait, there's more!

John 20:19-22
When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you." After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you." When Jesus had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit."

So the Holy Spirit is breath/air, water and fire. What element is left?

According to the story in Genesis 2:7 we are made from the earth itself. The Holy One, the Creator, formed the human "from the dust of the ground" We are the missing element. We, the earth, are filled with Holy Air, Holy Water, and Holy Fire.

We area not the simple creatures that we appear to be.

Too often we forget the gifts that we have been given – we forget the power that fills us. It is not a power that consumes. It is not a power that uses force to take. It is a power that creates. It is a power that gives life. It is a power that reaches out to people beyond our own ability to reach out. It is a power that confuses people because it does not consume. We have to explain it sometimes. It is also a power to explain itself.

This power is a gift to you and a gift you share. This power is a promise fulfilled.

We must remember that this is a balanced gift of fire, water, and air. We are the earth container of our Divine Beloved. If we just think of ourselves as filled with power, we go off in all kinds of crazy directions. This creation – this created world that we live in – gives us constant reminders of the wholeness of our gift. The Creator is pretty smart. Everywhere and with all of our senses, we can perceive the gift we have been given.

Refreshing water – we drink it, we wash with it, we swim in it
Fire – it heats us when we are cold, cooks our food, provides with light
Air – we breathe it to survive, a breeze feels good on our skin

And we know when there is imbalance in creation how damaging it can be.

Too much water, too much fire, too much wind ... all can prove damaging or even deadly.

This need for balance must not cause us to not allow ourselves to walk in our power. I believe we must walk in our power for there to be balance. Let the gift live and thrive in you ... in whatever specific way it has been given to you. When you release yourself to be the earthen container of the Holy Gifts, you will live like you have never lived before.

The promise has been offered. The promise has been fulfilled. It will not consume you, because in her essence the Holy Spirit is balanced.

Peace! Peace I leave with you. Not as the world gives peace. But peace in your soul to release the flow of the Holy Gifts.

Father Guido Sarducci

A Pentecost Call to Worship ... slightly queer

Leader: Come, sing a new song of worship.

All: Come, sing a new song of praise.

Leader: Today is a day of a promise fulfilled.

All: With joy we celebrate Pentecost.

Leader: Pentecost – a day when power and comfort flowed.

All: Pentecost – a day of hope and inspiration.

Leader: A day when the Holy Spirit was revealed in flaming glory.

All: And the glory was given to the people.

Leader: The fire of the Holy Spirit lives on in us. Sing praises!

All: We sing praises, indeed!

Rolling Up Our Sleeves

TEXTS: Acts 1:15 – 26 and Voices, by Ursula Le Guin, pgs 359 – 361.


Last week I chose the readings for this week and next week. I did not know that casting lots and choosing a successor would be so closely related to what we did on retreat yesterday.

For those of you who were not able to make it to the retreat, yesterday we used a 4 sided die to decide which question of our 4 questions we would attempt to answer first. Also, I announced that I feel like I have been called to be interim pastor here at Grace, and that I have had a single vision for healing for this community, but that I feel called to not become the permanent pastor. It was not a decision fully formed until yesterday afternoon, but one that I have been discerning through reading and prayer for the last couple of months. It wasn't until the power was flowing in our gathering that I clearly heard what I was to do and be.

The believers, as they are called here in Acts, are waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit. We celebrate this fulfilled promise next week, but the believers did not have a time-table for when they would receive their power. At this point they are devoting themselves to prayer and taking care of business as they need to.

I think it's interesting that they decided the parameters of who would become the successor of Judas, but they let a divine roll of the dice decide which of the two who met the criteria would be selected. Those are interesting side notes ... details to the story. What really catches my eye is that they listened to the messengers that we read about last week. They stopped looking up and waiting for Jesus' return and they rolled up their sleeves and got to work. Some of that work was devoting themselves to prayer. Some of that work was doing the next thing that felt important.

In our other story, Memer finds out that she is the successor in her faith tradition. Her mentor, though not really her predecessor, offers her an explanation for a miracle that was not a miracle – the running of the fountain which hadn't run in decades. Memer is not troubled by this act of drama, but is more curious about the real miracle, that a lame man stood straight and tall, running and moving with grace and agility. Her mentor had been lame since she first knew him and remains lame, but in that moment of that day Memer describes the Waylord as "a tall, straight, beautiful man, smiling, with fire in his eyes. ... He was not lame, he was lithe and quick."

The Waylord was only acting upon what he felt prompted to do. He had no recognition of the miracle he had become in that moment. Both he and Memer, in a time of crisis when war broke out, listened to Holy promptings that guided them and did not let doubt stop them from moving in the power they were given.

These are before and after stories of receiving power. The believers are yet waiting for theirs. Memer and the Waylord received theirs. In both stories people roll up their sleeves and get to work trusting that what needs to happen will happen. Some miracles may be more or less miracle. What appears to be a miracle might actually be produced from skill or sweat. But within the apparent miracle, I think, is where the miracle often occurs.

As power surged through the Waylord, and he did the task that he knew he was supposed to do, he became lithe and agile, tall and beautiful. When Memer trusted that she was doing what she needed to be doing and let herself be guided by her god, she became filled with power from the gift that had been dormant within her. These people became the miracles.

As the believers wait for the promise of power from the Holy Spirit they do what they need to do. They replace Judas using both skill and spirit. Their skill is the reasoning that they do. They decide that it should be a person who has been with them from the beginning. Then they call on their god to guide the dice. God honors their reasoning skills and they accept the roll of the dice as divine.

We need to devote ourselves to prayer, take practical steps toward our goal, and trust that our God will divinely guide us. We need to appreciate the apparent miracles that we see but also remember that when it comes down to it, any one of us may become the real miracle for the moment. Listen for guidance, do what you know how to do, trust that the power that needs to be released will be released, and don't be afraid that it may be released through you. The Waylord thought he was the Reader, but he wasn't. He had a different role. Memer didn't expect to be the Reader, but she was. Justus and Matthias may have never entertained the thought to become one of the twelve.

Don't make up your mind what role you have. Make up your mind that you will hear and be able to respond. Make up your mind to do what is in your power and to let Power do what is in you. It's time to roll up our sleeves, trust our skill and trust our God.

Give Me Patience Now

Texts: Acts 1: 1 - 14 and an excerpt from The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

"You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you."

And when might that be, Jesus? There was no time to ask that question. Jesus seems to have been immediately lifted up and hidden from their sight by a cloud. As they were taking this all in, two messengers in white robes suddenly appear, chastise them for staring into space, and tell them that Jesus will return just like they saw him go.

And when might that be, two messengers in white robes? When will Jesus return? Nope, they didn't get a chance to ask that question either, apparently. So now they are waiting for two things: power and Jesus.

Waiting ... it seems to be a hallmark of our Christian faith. We wait during Advent. We prepare while we wait during Lent. We wait for Pentecost. And we have been waiting an awfully long time for what is commonly called The Second Coming of Christ.

Waiting seems passive. And there's this sense that something is out of our control. But waiting can also be seen as a gift. We can actively wait. Thich Nhat Hahn says that a red light while driving is a gift. All day long we have to be doing something, but at a red light, all we have to do is breathe. He may not know about the turn right on red rule, but still, the point is ... red means stop. Actively stop. Sometimes being required to stop is a gift. Other times, it's incredibly annoying.

I have been sick for the past two weeks. As I was getting over my cold, I ate something that my system didn't like. I haven't had a food reaction like that in a couple years. I'm still not sure of the cause. All I could do was lay down. I had no choice. Being required to stop did not feel like a gift. Mid afternoon I started to feel better, but I still had to move slowly.

I remember years ago being frustrated with the timing of life and praying, "Give me patience now." It didn't feel like the most holy prayer I had ever prayed, but it certainly was honest. I knew I had to wait ... there was no rushing whatever it was that had to come to pass, but I was not having an easy time being patient. I still struggle with that kind of patience. Waiting for life to unfold is hard for me.

When Jesus tells the disciples that they will receive power when the Holy Spirit is upon them, I think to myself, what's the hold up? What is the Holy Spirit doing that is getting in the way of receiving the power now? What do we do in the meantime? I sound like I'm about 5 years old, don't I? How come I can't have the Holy Spirit now? Why did Jesus have to leave if he's going to come back anyway? This is stupid. I don't like this game.

Really ... I don't. But I've learned something about waiting. As passive as it seems, there is something active always happening. Even if I can't see it, touch it, smell it, taste it, hear it, or feel it ... something active is happening.

When a mother is waiting to give birth, there is more going on than the baby just hanging around. Something is happening ... change is happening. When I am waiting at the red light, something is happening. Other people are going through their green light. It would be dangerous for me to ignore that red light. It's best that I wait. In the past, when I have rushed something in life to happen, I find that it does not work for anyone's benefit. Something was happening ... something under the surface or outside of my vision. Usually it was something important. When I side-step or try to rush things, it only makes things worse or take longer. I try to keep in mind these experiences when I become impatient with time.

The truth is, that I may be waiting, but someone or something else is working. It may be the Holy Spirit that is working. It may be my need for inner growth. Sometimes it's less spiritual than that. Any number of things might need to be played out, in my life or in someone else's life, before whatever it is that I am waiting for to happen can happen.

Are there promises that you have heard in your spirit? Is there something that you just know is supposed to happen? Have you been waiting a short time ... or a long time? Do you know that you aren't supposed to rush whatever it is? Do you need patience right now? Are you impatiently waiting for patience?

If everything is going well, I encourage you to not pray for patience because, as a previous pastor of mine told me, praying for patience generally results in receiving trials and tribulations which require the development of patience. However, if you already have the trials and tribulations, if life is frustrating or confusing, if time seems to be dragging, if life is chaotic and difficult, I encourage you to pray for an immediate gift of patience.

In two weeks we celebrate the receipt of the Holy Spirit coming upon the disciples with the result of them receiving power. We call this celebration Pentecost. This is good news. The gift that Jesus promised was given. The promise of the two messengers in white robes has yet to be fulfilled. Maybe some folks are taking that too literally.

It does seem, though, that we are waiting for something. Is it the Realm of Heaven being fulfilled on Earth? Is it a physical return of Jesus? Is it that we all learn to love each other unconditionally in our diversity? It feels like there is this big thing we are waiting for - this really important huge thing.

We are not to just stop and stare while we wait. There is a need for a balance of waiting and activity. That's a hard balance to achieve.

Along with this huge important thing that we are waiting for, there are smaller things that we wait for. Some we share with each other. Some we hold close, maybe not even speaking the words out loud to ourselves. For some it may seem as if we have been holding our breath for years. Discerning what kind of waiting to do is hard. At what point are we at the red light, with our only requirement being to breathe? At what point should we be devoting ourselves to prayer or be active by doing research or take some other action?

Think about how you wait. Do you wait mindfully, knowing that you are in fact waiting? Do you try to rush things into being? Do you pray or meditate? No matter how you wait, I think waiting is active, not passive. When we wait knowing that we are waiting, I think it's a form of prayer.

Something is always happening - change is always happening. It isn't always evident. Change can't always be discerned through out senses, but it is always happening.

As we look forward to celebrating the Holy Spirit's gift of power, lets remember to wait mindfully and prayerfully for whatever it is that is on our hearts and in our spirits. We wait together, even if we don't share everything with each other, we wait together ... in hope.

"FERRON: girl on a road" Film Festival listings

Ferron is an amazing woman. She has an intense spirituality and love of life. When I was in her poetry writing workshop last year at BMC's, The Gathering in Angoloa, MI, I felt like I was in the presence of sacred wisdom.


This from Announcements from FerronOnline.com

*********************************************
Hey Folks,

We are so excited to announce the early list of Film Festivals that will be
screening Gerry Roger's captivating and beautifully shot documentary.....

"Ferron: girl on a road"

After 10 years, Ferron and her band reunite for a 3 island, 3 concert tour.
The film follows them from the rehearsal in Ferron's little house on Saturna
island
to the road..........

Part performance film, part biopic, “Ferron: girl on a road” traces, the
life, the songs,
the loves, the heartbreaks, and the pioneering path carved by a true folk
legend.
Intimate, and sweeping all at once, this film moves beyond “chronicle”
and captures
in word and deed, the essence of a visionary artist, and the soul of an
icon.

Please pass this on to anyone you think would like to see it.

The film will be screening at the following festivals - with plenty more to
follow - we'll update www.ferrononline.com regularly:

1. Inside Out/Toronto LGBT Film & Video Festival - May 14-24
Screening Sunday May 17 5pm at the ROM
www.insideout.on.ca

2. New Zealand Outtakes Reel Queer Film Festival - May 21 - June 10
Screenings: - Auckland, Monday May 25, 6:10pm
- Wellington, Sat. June 4th, 4:30 The Paramount
- Christchurch, Sat. June 7, 2:45 Regent on Worcester Cinemas
www.outtakes.org.nz

3. Honolulu Rainbow Film Fest - May 21-24
Screenings: - Honolulu, Sat. May 23 6pm Doris Duke Theatre
- Big Island (Kona), Fri. May 29, 5pm Aloha Theatre
- Big Island (Hilo), Sat. May 30, 4pm Palace Theatre
www.hglcf.org

4. Connecticut Gay & Lesbian Film Festival May 22 - 30
Screening: Sunday, May 24th, 7:30 Cinestudio, Trinity College, hartford
www.ctglff.org


5. Frameline: San Francisco LGBT Film Festival June 19 - 29
Screening: Friday, June 19, 6pm at the Roxy
www.frameline.org


6. The Nickel Indepedent Film Festival, St. John's, Newfoundland June 23-28
Screening date: TBD
www.nickelfestival.com


7. Philadelphia QFest- July 9-20th
Screening date: TBD
www.phillycinema.org

8. Vancouver Queer Film Festival August 13-23
Screening date:TBD
www.queerfilmfestival.ca

Look at me, Mom!

THE TEXT
Wisdom of Solomon 7:1 - 14
1 I also am mortal, like everyone else, a descendant of the first-formed child of earth; and in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh, 2 within the period of ten months, compacted with blood, from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage. 3 And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth; my first sound was a cry, as is true of all. 4 I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths. 5 For no king has had a different beginning of existence; 6 there is for all one entrance into life, and one way out. 7 Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me; I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. 8 I preferred her to scepters and thrones, and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her. 9 Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem, because all gold is but a little sand in her sight, and silver will be accounted as clay before her. 10 I loved her more than health and beauty, and I chose to have her rather than light, because her radiance never ceases. 11 All good things came to me along with her, and in her hands uncounted wealth. 12 I rejoiced in them all, because wisdom leads them; but I did not know that she was their mother. 13 I learned without guile and I impart without grudging; I do not hide her wealth, 14 for it is an unfailing treasure for mortals; those who get it obtain friendship with God, commended for the gifts that come from instruction.


THE REFLECTION
Look at me, Mom!

First I want to point out that this story of birth is an ideal story. It is not always from "the pleasure of marriage" that a child is born. We are not all "nursed with care in swaddling clothes." But what is universal is that "there is for all one entrance into life, and one way out." At least at this point in time, the noble and the nobody are molded into flesh in a womb and have to exit that first home through a passage that includes blood, fear, pain, and hopefully great joy.

Typically, we name the person who gives birth to a child, mother. There are exceptions. For instance, women who have not given birth, but instead adopt children are called mother. Sometimes transmen give birth and prefer to be called, father. And certainly there are men who are gifted in the art and skill of mothering. Today is a day to honor and celebrate all those who identify as mother.

We have many images for mother. Earth first comes to mind. She is our mother according to the creation story because we are made from the earth - scooped up and molded by the hand of Spirit who then becomes our Father as we are animated by the breath of the Divine.

Another image for mother is Sophia, or Wisdom. In the passage we read, the author likens wisdom to be the mother of all good things. She is who you seek and honor. Nothing is more important than wisdom, and everything proceeds from wisdom.

Proverbs 3:13 – 20 says:
"Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy. The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding established the heavens; by knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew."

Earth is our mother. Wisdom is our mother. I'm not sure what happened to God the Father. It looks like we are born from a lesbian couple.

It's interesting to me that truth is not what is touted as what we should seek. Truth is not the mother that the author of the book of Wisdom proclaims. There is not Book of Truth that I know of, canonical or deuterocanonical. Wisdom is what is honored. Wisdom is what is valued. Wisdom is what gives birth to all creation and to all good things. She is the tree of life. We are to follow her, learn from her, and love her more than anyone or anything.

I remember as a little kid watching my mom and trying to duplicate her every move. I wanted her to be proud of me. I wanted her to notice how well I learned from her. When she sat, I would cross my legs like her and position my hands just so. When we were at church I would listen closely to the way she sang and try to match her. I wanted her to see me and to approve of me. I would call out to her, "Look at me, Mom" when I was playing and I hoped she watched me as I mimicked her every move and breath. It was a lot of work to pay such close attention to her. It was a lot of work for her too. Sometimes I didn't get all the rewards I thought I would get and sometimes I didn't get it right. We were, after all, a human child and a human mom – animated with The Divine, but not always acting like it.

There were times I would shout out, "Look at me, Mom" and I would begin a trick or skill and check to see if she was looking. If her head seemed the least bit turned I would scold her, "You're not looking!" and she would usually say, "Yes I am. Go ahead. I'm watching." Yeah, I was one of those kids. But you see, she was more precious to me than toys. She was more desirable to me than Vernor's Ginger Ale. Nothing compared with her.

As I grew, and I realized that my mother's walk felt funny to me and her hand gestures were no longer how I wanted to gesture, I still knew that she was someone to watch and to mimic.

Eventually I took the turn that most kids take and tried to do the exact opposite of her ... but how did I know what the opposite was? It was from all those years of watching and mimicking.

Kids want to bond with their Moms. It's a hard thing on Dads, I'm told. And sometimes it's a hard thing on Moms too. There's so much pressure.

As the children of Wisdom, I believe it is in our nature to want to bond with our mother. When we are young we soak up every little thing that she has to offer. Kids learn fast and much more easily than adults. Often though, during adolescence we go the way of most kids and try to become anything like our mother. Sometimes we get distracted by the pursuit of truth or power. But it is wisdom that is calling us. It is wisdom who is the most precious and beautiful. It is to wisdom that we should shout out, "Look at me! Look at me!" as we proudly display our skills of kindness and love.

Today, along with wishing all of the human mothers here a happy mother's day, I want to wish a happy mother's day to our Divine Mother, Wisdom. I want to remind us to pursue her with all our strength. She is more valuable than 401k's and jewelry. She is more costly than Platinum and stronger than Kevlar. She is more beautiful than whatever or whoever you see as beautiful. She is the one to watch and to mimic. From her flows the bounties of all good things. Don't be shy and don't be ashamed to call out to her, "Look at me. Watch me. I love you."

Today's Meditation

"Only dead fish go with the flow"
Unknown

Making Changes

Texts: Psalm 4 & The Gospel of John 20:30 – 21:14

It's been two weeks since the resurrection. The shock of Jesus being alive is still rippling through the various groups of his followers. Jesus is still making appearances. This is a time of transition for the disciples. They are shifting from being with him in person to being with him in spirit. Jesus helps them out by showing up periodically.

This has to be an incredibly stressful time for them. I bet it's easy for them to think that maybe they are making this up. And then there he is again, making them breakfast, eating with them or showing up as they walk down the road.

Remember that the torture and execution of Jesus was traumatic for his followers. They had put all their hope in this man to overturn their political and religious systems. All their hopes were dashed by when he was murdered. They were confused about how this could happen to him and scared for their own lives.

The resurrection was a trauma in its own way, too. Sure it was a relief, but it was also a shock. Jesus was resurrected; that on its own is pretty weird. Along with being resurrected, he wasn't exactly as he was before. Over and over as he appeared to them, they had a hard time recognizing him.

There were so many changes all at once.

Jesus encouraged them and admonished them. He reminded them of what they were supposed to do and he gave them the skills to do it. It seems to me that Jesus kept appearing in order to help his followers become stronger and more sure of what they knew to be true. Jesus didn't want his followers to be quivering before him.

We are not to quiver before God. We are not to quiver in fear in the presence of Jesus. Quivering in excitement is a different thing altogether. Quivering in joy ... I'm in favor of, but not quivering in fear. When we come before the One Who Loves Us, we are to be confident of that love. We see this confidence in Psalm 4. The psalmist is not only confident, he is bold.

"Answer me when I call." There's nothing quivering about that as an opening line to a prayer. "Answer me when I call." The psalmist follows this opening with why they can be confident and bold. "You gave room to me when I was in distress." According to one commentator this can be understood to mean, "You widened the path for me when things got narrow."

After Jesus' execution, the disciples were in a narrow place. Jesus gave them room. There are times that we are in a narrow place. Jesus gives us room. Jesus broadens our understanding of what's possible. Jesus broadens our strength. Jesus gives us room to hope. We don't have to beg. When the psalmist says, "Be gracious to me and hear my prayer," this is not begging. This psalmist does not mumble. They know what their relationship is with God. They are confident to come before God. In that confidence, they state what they need, thank God for what has been given, and encourage those listening to be put their trust in God as well.

The psalm ends with praise and a declaration of the psalmist being able to relax. "I will lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety."

My experience is that this is easier said than done ... to say your prayer in confidence and then let it go and relax. Am I alone in this being hard? Can everyone else just do that?

Being confident in our relationship with our Divine Beloved, I think, is incredibly important, especially when we are going through changes. The psalmist instructs us that when we are disturbed we are to not sin, but we should ponder what disturbs us on our beds and be silent. The instruction to "not sin" is countered with the instruction to ponder and be silent. This makes it sound like in this instance of being disturbed, that being busy and doing a lot of talking is sin. Instead we are to ponder and be silent; to offer right sacrifices and trust God. So we aren't to be entirely idle, but we also should not be in a flurry of activity.

This reminds me of Psalm 46:10 which says, "Be still and know that I am God."

It also reminds me of the story of Elijah in 2 Kings, chapter 19:9 – 13:

Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, saying, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" He answered, "I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away." The voice said, "Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by." Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, "What are you doing here, Elijah?"

The "sound of sheer silence." Some translations say, "after the fire there was a still small voice." It takes trust and confidence to be still and to listen for the sound of sheer silence, especially when we are in the midst of changes.

In the middle of being still and listening for the silence that is the voice of our Divine Beloved, often other voices break through - voices from our past or our own voice - which tell us to get busy figuring things out or that God is not going to answer. They tell us that we are not good enough, smart enough, discerning enough. They remind us of our past mistakes. But, we need to remind ourselves that God widens the path when things get narrow.

I am not saying that we should let everything be done by miracles and that we have no responsibility. Jesus commissioned his disciples to do things - to heal and to preach hope and love; to feed the hungry; to clothe the naked; and so on. We are to work to see the Realm of Heaven realized on earth. But for those times of change when nothing makes sense and everything is chaotic, sometimes the best thing to do is call out to God with confidence saying, "Answer me when I call" and then to listen for that answer.

Cultivate a confidence in your relationship with God. It's hard to be still, state your request, be silent and to hear God in the silence if you aren't sure that God will show up. But, it's difficult to experience God showing up if you don't stop. Sometimes I find it helps to read Psalm 4 verse 1 aloud. Read it over and over if you want to. Read it aloud and then shut up and listen. Build up your confidence that you have the kind of relationship with God where you can say what you need and then rest.

I believe when we do this we will need our rest because often the answer we get is to do something. Rest when you can.

The psalmist, the disciples and Elijah all had to believe in their God and in their relationship to their God. They had to trust that they were loved and that they knew how to love. They had to take risks ... some of those risks involved doing something and some of those risks involved believing deeply and listening. We are no different. When we are in the midst of change, as they were, we must dig deep into our souls and remember what we know to be true. We must stop and believe deeply. We must listen. Then the silence will carry the voice of the One Who Loves Us. Jesus said something similar. He said, "Let you who have ears, hear what the spirit of God is saying."

The disciples had to make the change from following Jesus in person to following him in spirit. That was a hard change to make. It had to feel chaotic and unnerving. But they did it. They learned how to hear the resurrected voice of Jesus.

When the chaos is twirling around you and change is inevitable, be still ... ponder these things on your bed ... fear not. Remember that you can come boldly before God and say, "Answer me when I call." And then listen and rest.

Weathering the Storm (Response to NOM Gathering Storm)

Maybe if we promote positive role models, of which there are many, children will stop killing themselves if they are bullied about supposedly being gay. Maybe ... even the bullying will stop.



h/t to Alexandra Billings

Earth Day meditation

"Then the Lord God formed the human from the dust of the ground, and breathed into the human's nostrils the breath of life; and the human became a living being." Gen 2:7



Earth my body, water my blood.
Air my breath, and fire my spirit.
Descants: Christian Williamson

I am born of the elements.
I am born of the elements.
I am born of the elements.
I am born of the elements.

Earth my body soil and sand,
Make me strong heart and hand.
Water my blood flowing strong,
Lead me with your healing song.
Air my breath blowing true,
Let my life take flight in you.
Fire my spirit burning bright,

Lead from darkness into light.
I am born of the elements.
I am born of the elements.
I am born of the elements.
I am born of the elements.

Connected

Texts: Romans 8:24 - 39
and
this poem by Mechtild of Magdeburg

Effortlessly,
Love flows from God into man,
Like a bird
Who rivers the air
Without moving her wings.
Thus we move in His world,
One in body and soul,
Though outwardly separate in form.
As the Source strikes the note,
Humanity sings -
The Holy Spirit is our harpist,
And all strings
Which are touched by Love
Must sound.

According to Paul, nothing can separate us from the love of our Divine Beloved! According to Mechtild of Magdeburg, "we are one in body and soul, though outwardly separate in form."

We are connected. No matter what happens, when it happens, or how it happens, we remain connected. It is love that is the connecting force.

No matter if our bodies are in the same room, the same state, or the same country – if we have love for one another, we are always connected.

Paul tells us that Death cannot sever the connection between us and our Divine Beloved. He also tells us that Life cannot sever that connection. Furthermore, nothing that may happen between life and death can create a disconnect between us and our Sacred Creator. A lot of things may happen. There may be times when it looks like something or someone has the power to cut us off from the One Who is our Love, but I am convinced with Paul that neither height nor depth ... nor anything else in creation ... can separate us from the Love of God. I am absolutely and utterly convinced.

I am not convinced because Paul said so. I am also not convinced because Mechtild believes that God's love is like a bird who rivers through the air, although that image gives me shivers. I am convinced because like Paul and like Mechtild, I have experiences of the Holy intersecting with my life. I have experiences that sometimes don't make sense unless I attribute them to that which is transcendent. I believe with all of my being that I am joined with the Sacred – not joined like an addition was built onto my soul and God lives there, but joined in the way that you join eggs and flour and milk ... and you end up something delicious to eat. We are joined completely.

Not only are we joined with our Divine Beloved and joined with each other, but we are also joined with creation. With creation, we groan. A little before the selection read earlier, Paul writes that although we are suffering now, glory will be revealed eventually. He writes, "We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies."

All creation groans for redemption. We groan even though we have hope. We groan even in our patience. We groan because we do not yet see our redemption. And Spirit groans with us and through us.

At the time of this writing there was an expectation that Jesus would be right back to wrap this thing up. Now, all this time later, we look for the essence of truth in these writings. What does it mean to be redeemed? The kind of redemption that Paul and his community were waiting for has not happened yet. Is Jesus coming back literally and physically? Will the physical bodies of those who have already died take shape again? Will we go to a place called heaven and worship in a jeweled city with angels flying around? Will the lion and lamb both eat grass side by side? We just don't know. And if Jesus were here to ask, I think he would probably say something like he did to his followers then ... "What is it to you?" or "Only the Father knows." Then we would be instructed to "stay awake," to "be the servant of all," or simply to "love one another as I have loved you."

This question of redemption seems really important to me though, what with the creation, us, and Spirit all groaning for it. Redeem has many meanings, such as: to buy back. This is a common definition for Christian redemption ... Jesus having bought our salvation with his sacrifice. But there are other meanings to the word redeem; meanings that encompass more than going to heaven someday. I think that if all creation is groaning – the earth, the animals, the plants – that maybe redemption is more complicated. Paul talks about all of creation being set free from bondage. So maybe some of the other definitions of redeem apply, like: to change for the better, or to repair and restore.

It is Earth Day this Wednesday, so it seems fitting to take a moment to think about all creation groaning for redemption in terms of repairing and restoring. We humans have trashed this place. Tracy Chapman and others call it the rape of the world. There's so much that needs to be repaired and restored. The earth, plants, and animals are in terrible bondage because of how we live. I took a ride on my scooter recently. I was going to ride in the country somewhere but ended up taking the Lake Michigan tour and ended up riding next to the BP tanks and oil rigs near Gary, IN. It was so sad. Most of my senses were affected – sight, sound, taste and smell. It makes sense to me that creation, other than us humans, is groaning to be repaired and restored.

What about us though? What is it about our bodies that need to be repaired and restored?

There is sickness. Those of us with a chronic illness, pain or disability know the groaning of living with something that is constantly debilitating. All bodies are of equal sacred worth and this equality needs to be restored.

There is racism. People whose bodies are various shades of brown and whose features are non-European are systemically considered less than paler bodies with thin sharp features. Black and Brown people know the groaning of living in oppression. This system needs to be repaired. All bodies are of equal sacred worth and this equality needs to be restored.

There is heterosexism. People who do not fit neatly into gender norms or whose sexual orientation is not heterosexual know the groaning of living with sideway glances and being considered by others to be immoral. All bodies are of equal sacred worth and this equality needs to be restored.

There is patriarchy. Women have been subjected to 2nd class citizenry throughout history. The bodies of women have been objects and property. Women have been and continue to be commodified by men. All bodies are of equal sacred worth and this equality needs to be restored.

There is groaning for redemption, to be sure. What of the trans-woman of colour with a chronic illness? Is she not groaning? Are we not groaning with her? We need to be because we are all connected. All creation needs to be redeemed.

I agree with Paul that "the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed." And I agree with him that nothing, not persecution or famine, not nakedness or sword, can keep us from the love of God in Christ. I disagree with Paul, however, when he says that if we hope for what we do not see, that we wait for it with patience. I am not simply waiting for the redemption. If Paul was waiting patiently for Jesus to come back so that all creation would be redeemed, he'd still be waiting. Jesus was not one to wait and we are not only called to follow his pattern but we are connected to him through love and through the power of the Holy Spirit.

I agree with Paul on something else, though. There will be peril. There will be dangers. There will be famine. There will be heights and depths and rulers and powers. None of these things, people, or places can separate us from the love of God in Christ or from each other.

We persevere in working for redemption. We repair and restore as much as we can however it is given us to do it. We remember that we are one with each other and with Christ. No matter where our individual paths take us … no matter how the church is structured ... no matter what ... we are connected.

Mechtild tells us that when we are touched in Love, we must sound because Humanity sings and the Holy Spirit is our harpist. The strength of Love reaches beyond our bodies and our senses. I have experienced being oppressed. I have experienced the stories of others who are oppressed. You have experienced oppression and have heard the stories of others who are oppressed. And somehow through all the perils and hunger, in spite of the rulers and powers, we are together today loving each other in the name of all that is Holy and Sacred.

Nothing ... nothing can separate us from Love.