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