Texts: Luke 4:1-14; John 13: 30 – 36; and the song, Ecclesiastes: Free My Heart by Meshell Ndegeocello
Our celebration of Black History Month continues with a song by Meshell Ndegeocello.
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We are entering a ritual season. The 40 day or 40 year wilderness experience is understood to be a time of testing, trial, and discernment which leads to a call to action which then leads to a promise fulfilled.
In Genesis 8, the rain fell for forty days and forty nights ... a time of testing for Noah's family followed by a call to follow God which is followed by the promise of God to never curse the ground because of humankind's propensity to be evil.
Exodus 16, "The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan."
Moses twice went into the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights to meet with God. Exodus 24 tells of the first time. Exodus 34, the second. In Exodus 34 it states explicitly that Moses "neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments." The first time was easier - God wrote on the tablets and Moses might have had food.
Moses sent spies into the land of Canaan, according to Numbers 13, and "At the end of forty days they returned from spying out the land." What did the spies discern? The spies reported that the land was amazing but so were the people ... the conclusion being by all but 2 of the spies that Israel didn't have a chance against the Canaanites. The people cried out against Moses and then in Numbers 14 God cries out to the people ... another 40 years for this. And it's not going to be you, it's going to be your kids that get to enter the promised land.
Deuteronomy 8:2 "Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments."
If you go to a concordance – whether and actual book or online – you will see forty days and years everywhere, such as 1 Kings 2:11, "The time that David reigned over Israel was forty years; he reigned seven years in Hebron, and thirty-three years in Jerusalem."
I bring this up not just to give a Bible lesson, but to say that this is a long-standing tradition that is used in various ways. There's trial. There's testing. There's discernment. It's poetic rather than literal. It's a concept of – a long time – as well showing it is a contained time.
Story after story, even when one like Jesus or Moses goes off into the mountain, what I've noticed is that a person is rarely sent off alone. They might be the only person there, but The Presence accompanies. For, it is to The Presence that we are sent. Even in the midst of trial or discernment ... it is not to the hard thing that we're sent to ... it is to The Presence. The hard thing happens, but hard things always happen. I wonder if it's in contrast to the presence of our Divine Beloved that the hard things feel and even become even harder.
As I've been contemplating Lent ... this season of a long yet contained time of reflection, discernment, and trial ... I have strongly felt that as alone as I am often in person; as alone as I am when I sit on the train filled with other people; as alone as I am because I am the one who inhabits this particular body; I am never actually alone.
In our reading tonight in John 13 Simon Peter doesn't want Jesus to leave him alone. He wants to know where Jesus is going. Jesus answers, "Where I am going, you cannot follow me now; but you will follow afterward."
This is afterward. We are living in afterward. Jesus calls to us - Come and take my hand.
When life becomes as Meshell Ndegeocello sings from the adapted words of Ecclesiastes, that it is time to move to the next step ... that this place and this season is winding down. As she sings, "I'm so ready. Free my heart so my soul may fly," she also sings, "Come and take my hand."
I see here so many pictures from these words. I see Jesus at the Table with his friends. I also see him in the Garden praying. In addition I see Jesus at the resurrection turning to us and saying, "Come, take my hand." It is as if our taking the hand of Jesus helps to free not only our souls, but also his soul.
In the wilderness story where Jesus was tempted he was not alone. It wasn't just the tempter with him either. It was the Spirit that drove him there to begin with. It is not my impression that Spirit just pushed Jesus into the mountains and then said, "See you later. Good luck.Hope it turns out well." I believe Spirit was with him. I believe Spirit sustained him during his time of decision-making. Who was he going to be? What was he going to choose? How was he going to live? Both paths were difficult ones laden with burden and with treasure.
No matter what decisions you are making, no matter how you are shaping this season of Lent to be meaningful to you, please do me this one favour. Don't live through it alone. Even if you need to be the only person on the mountain, don't go through this alone. Let Spirit sweep you up and love you. Let Spirit hold you and comfort you. There are so many people who feel alone and lonely. Sometimes we all feel alone and lonely. It is hard to reach out to The Presence, to feel being accompanied. But mark my words – you are never alone, when you are the only one there or when you are in a crowded room.
This Lenten journey that we are on is toward Easter. It is toward the promise of resurrection. It is toward our own spirit's rebirth. Whatever you do and however you do it, please know that Spirit is with you.
Sometimes Spirit, though, is not enough. Being accompanied by a person can bring great strength and comfort. But it is also a very vulnerable place to be. To give up our walls and our defensive tactics is scary and difficult. Like Peter, we want assurance that with whomever we have shared that kind of intimacy that they won't just go away. Unfortunately, sometimes we are whisked or driven into a seemingly solitary experience. And the truth is that we are the ones who inhabit our bodies, even when we share them with others. It is the you in your you-ness that stays constant.
At every turn, I believe Jesus is singing to us, "Now is afterwards. Come and take my hand. You can go through this forty days. You and I together because I've already done it and I know it's possible. Come ... take my hand."
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Don’t Stop While You’re Ahead
I'm a little late with my posting. This one if from January 31, 2009.
Text: Luke 4:21 – 30
Jesus had a habit of getting into trouble. Through out the gospels he sidesteps one disaster after another. You might say he's socially awkward. Or maybe he's reckless. He always seems to take things a little too far.
In this story in Luke, Jesus comes out of the gate strong. People are responding to him favourably. It says, "They were amazed at his gracious words." He was in the limelight ... and then ... he kept talking. He eloquently told the crowd that was falling in love with him that they couldn't follow through and he equated them to widows and lepers that weren't worth the time a prophet had to spend. The honeymoon was over quickly. The crowd turned on him and not only ran him out of town but they wanted to hurl him off the cliff.
Can you imagine if Jesus had a handler ... a PR person? What kind of trouble Jesus would have gotten into with what happened here? The PR person would have said, "Jesus, what were you thinking? You had them in the palm of your hand. They were yours. Why did you turn on them? Why did you say that stuff to them? You had to know it would tick them off? You can't do stuff like that. You are going to ruin your career before it even starts."
Jesus might reply by saying, "I was just telling them the truth. You know that's what is going to happen."
"Timing, Jesus," the handler replies, "It's in the timing. We would cross that bridge when we come to it. But while you have them, keep them. You need all the support you can get while you can get it. You can't say stuff like that anymore. Stick to healing and encouraging people. We gotta get this thing off the ground."
At this point in my imaginary conversation between Jesus and his PR person I hear Jesus saying, "You have no clue what I'm about. Get out of here!"
The PR person leaves shaking their head mumbling something about Jesus having so much potential.
As I see it, one of the lessons here is that we are to not stop while we are ahead. Being popular ... being the next best thing ... being agreed with ... are not bad on their own but as a follower of Christ, they are not the goal.
Sometimes we get caught up in timing. We want to say the right things but at the right time. So we wait ... and we're silent at times when we could speak up. That's not the way of the Christ.
I know that what I am advocating is risky. Speaking up in a group of people, a group of friends, to your boss, to your employee - they all have risks. I'm not talking about evangelizing. I'm talking about living your life of faith.
Is it wrong to laugh at a handicap person who has fallen? Yes. Is it equally wrong to be silent when others laugh and to not say, "That's not funny." Yes. Is it wrong to laugh at jokes against bisexuals, or to be complicit in a conversation when poor people are being blamed for their poverty because "they just don't work hard enough." Yes.
There are many many times that we could say a simple sentence to stand up for Love and Mercy. But those sentences can be lethal to a conversation. They can be lethal to a relationship. Solidarity with the marginalized is not for the faint-hearted. And I will confess that at times I still find myself silent, the words stuck in my throat, my gut twisted at the thought of speaking, my spirit twisted at the thought of not speaking.
I want to tell you a story. Not long ago I participated in a youth event where kids came from many different churches. The church where I was an associate pastor was quite liberal, but many of the other kids were from conservative churches. On the second day of our week together one of the teens in my class declared something that he thought was stupid as being gay. I confronted him by asking him if he was talking to me. Was he comparing what he was talking about to me? He didn't understand so I told him that as a lesbian I was confused by what he was saying. He and his friends became very upset that I was minister at all. We ended up off topic entirely while they quoted chapter and verse to me about why I was not fit for ministry. I in turn quoted chapter and verse back. It wasn't very productive.
Eventually we got back on topic a little and the young man rephrased his sentence saying, "okay then, it is lame." I had a problem with that too, and I told him so. I said, "Now you are comparing something you don't like to someone who is handicapped. That's not right either." He looked at me like he had had just about enough of me. He said, "So what are we supposed to do, change our whole language." And I said, "Yes. Everything needs to be revamped. That's what Jesus came to tell us." He and his friends were disgusted with me and by me. The rest of the week was terrible. We all had a hard time listening to each other.
Even though that was the outward result of my confronting his choice of words, I do not regret speaking up. It had to be said. And I stand by my conviction that our language and our actions have to be revamped and that that is one of the things that Jesus came to tell us. That is one of the things that Jesus lived.
The PR person in our head wants to monitor and correct our words and actions so that we don't get into too much trouble. That's understandable, but it isn't living our faith to the fullest. Sure there are times to make choices toward safety. I don't walk into just any room and introduce myself as a lesbian. I'm not advocating utter foolishness, but I am advocating risk-taking and faith-living. I do believe that stopping while we're ahead can be a way to avoid sticky conversations that have real meaning and depth.
There were many times that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was told that he was pushing his agenda too fast. That he wanted too much. That his timing was off. But Dr. King did not stop while he was ahead. Had he curbed his language a little, not pushed against the status quo so hard, maybe he wouldn't have come up against so resistance. Maybe he ... would have lived his life to his natural end.
Duanna Johnson was a black transwoman who was murdered in Memphis. Perhaps if she just wore men's clothes and was quiet about her gender identity she would be alive today. But Duanna wanted to live a life of freedom and liberty. She wanted to live as she was created. She did not stop while she was ahead.
I'm not painting a very optimistic picture, am I? I seem to be saying that if you push the envelope you are going to get killed. In fact, many people who push the envelope do get killed. Our brother and saviour, Jesus, is one of them. But I have it in mind that if we all push together ... if we all don't stop ... that progress will be made. Others who are in more precarious life situations than us will benefit and then they will be able to join us. Duanna shouldn't have had to die to live in her gender identity, but she couldn't not live her authentic self.
What if all of us who believe God's creation is beautiful, regardless of how similar or different that creation is from us, spoke up in solidarity with those who were different and deemed unbeautiful? What if together we didn't stop while we were ahead? What if we backed each other up and encouraged each other to say the right thing even when it was unpopular or not good politics?
As a Christian, I am a person who follows the teachings of a man who risked it all. A defiant man who spoke out against hate. A man who came to the aid of the woman caught in the act of adultery. This woman was about to be killed by the throwing of stones. Her male lover was not being accused of any guilt, only she was. And as a test the religious authorities physically dragged her to Jesus to see if he would say something for which they could bring a charge against him. You see, they knew that he didn't stop while he was ahead. They were hoping that he would step over the line. However, Jesus could also be quite brilliant in the way he pushed the envelope and after writing in the dirt with his finger awhile he invited anyone without sin to go ahead and fling the first stone at her. One by one all the men left, leaving Jesus and the woman alone. Jesus did not condemn her.
I believe, just like Jesus, we must not stop while we are ahead. There are people that are on the verge of being stoned. If we don't stand in solidarity with them, who will? The risk might be being hurled off a proverbial or a real cliff. We still have to speak up. Some of us are living on the margins, taking risks to live authentic lives as much as possible. Those of us for whom it is a lesser risk to speak up should do so. If we do this together; if we all push together; if we back each other up, there will be no stopping love and mercy and justice.
Text: Luke 4:21 – 30
Jesus had a habit of getting into trouble. Through out the gospels he sidesteps one disaster after another. You might say he's socially awkward. Or maybe he's reckless. He always seems to take things a little too far.
In this story in Luke, Jesus comes out of the gate strong. People are responding to him favourably. It says, "They were amazed at his gracious words." He was in the limelight ... and then ... he kept talking. He eloquently told the crowd that was falling in love with him that they couldn't follow through and he equated them to widows and lepers that weren't worth the time a prophet had to spend. The honeymoon was over quickly. The crowd turned on him and not only ran him out of town but they wanted to hurl him off the cliff.
Can you imagine if Jesus had a handler ... a PR person? What kind of trouble Jesus would have gotten into with what happened here? The PR person would have said, "Jesus, what were you thinking? You had them in the palm of your hand. They were yours. Why did you turn on them? Why did you say that stuff to them? You had to know it would tick them off? You can't do stuff like that. You are going to ruin your career before it even starts."
Jesus might reply by saying, "I was just telling them the truth. You know that's what is going to happen."
"Timing, Jesus," the handler replies, "It's in the timing. We would cross that bridge when we come to it. But while you have them, keep them. You need all the support you can get while you can get it. You can't say stuff like that anymore. Stick to healing and encouraging people. We gotta get this thing off the ground."
At this point in my imaginary conversation between Jesus and his PR person I hear Jesus saying, "You have no clue what I'm about. Get out of here!"
The PR person leaves shaking their head mumbling something about Jesus having so much potential.
As I see it, one of the lessons here is that we are to not stop while we are ahead. Being popular ... being the next best thing ... being agreed with ... are not bad on their own but as a follower of Christ, they are not the goal.
Sometimes we get caught up in timing. We want to say the right things but at the right time. So we wait ... and we're silent at times when we could speak up. That's not the way of the Christ.
I know that what I am advocating is risky. Speaking up in a group of people, a group of friends, to your boss, to your employee - they all have risks. I'm not talking about evangelizing. I'm talking about living your life of faith.
Is it wrong to laugh at a handicap person who has fallen? Yes. Is it equally wrong to be silent when others laugh and to not say, "That's not funny." Yes. Is it wrong to laugh at jokes against bisexuals, or to be complicit in a conversation when poor people are being blamed for their poverty because "they just don't work hard enough." Yes.
There are many many times that we could say a simple sentence to stand up for Love and Mercy. But those sentences can be lethal to a conversation. They can be lethal to a relationship. Solidarity with the marginalized is not for the faint-hearted. And I will confess that at times I still find myself silent, the words stuck in my throat, my gut twisted at the thought of speaking, my spirit twisted at the thought of not speaking.
I want to tell you a story. Not long ago I participated in a youth event where kids came from many different churches. The church where I was an associate pastor was quite liberal, but many of the other kids were from conservative churches. On the second day of our week together one of the teens in my class declared something that he thought was stupid as being gay. I confronted him by asking him if he was talking to me. Was he comparing what he was talking about to me? He didn't understand so I told him that as a lesbian I was confused by what he was saying. He and his friends became very upset that I was minister at all. We ended up off topic entirely while they quoted chapter and verse to me about why I was not fit for ministry. I in turn quoted chapter and verse back. It wasn't very productive.
Eventually we got back on topic a little and the young man rephrased his sentence saying, "okay then, it is lame." I had a problem with that too, and I told him so. I said, "Now you are comparing something you don't like to someone who is handicapped. That's not right either." He looked at me like he had had just about enough of me. He said, "So what are we supposed to do, change our whole language." And I said, "Yes. Everything needs to be revamped. That's what Jesus came to tell us." He and his friends were disgusted with me and by me. The rest of the week was terrible. We all had a hard time listening to each other.
Even though that was the outward result of my confronting his choice of words, I do not regret speaking up. It had to be said. And I stand by my conviction that our language and our actions have to be revamped and that that is one of the things that Jesus came to tell us. That is one of the things that Jesus lived.
The PR person in our head wants to monitor and correct our words and actions so that we don't get into too much trouble. That's understandable, but it isn't living our faith to the fullest. Sure there are times to make choices toward safety. I don't walk into just any room and introduce myself as a lesbian. I'm not advocating utter foolishness, but I am advocating risk-taking and faith-living. I do believe that stopping while we're ahead can be a way to avoid sticky conversations that have real meaning and depth.
There were many times that the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King was told that he was pushing his agenda too fast. That he wanted too much. That his timing was off. But Dr. King did not stop while he was ahead. Had he curbed his language a little, not pushed against the status quo so hard, maybe he wouldn't have come up against so resistance. Maybe he ... would have lived his life to his natural end.
Duanna Johnson was a black transwoman who was murdered in Memphis. Perhaps if she just wore men's clothes and was quiet about her gender identity she would be alive today. But Duanna wanted to live a life of freedom and liberty. She wanted to live as she was created. She did not stop while she was ahead.
I'm not painting a very optimistic picture, am I? I seem to be saying that if you push the envelope you are going to get killed. In fact, many people who push the envelope do get killed. Our brother and saviour, Jesus, is one of them. But I have it in mind that if we all push together ... if we all don't stop ... that progress will be made. Others who are in more precarious life situations than us will benefit and then they will be able to join us. Duanna shouldn't have had to die to live in her gender identity, but she couldn't not live her authentic self.
What if all of us who believe God's creation is beautiful, regardless of how similar or different that creation is from us, spoke up in solidarity with those who were different and deemed unbeautiful? What if together we didn't stop while we were ahead? What if we backed each other up and encouraged each other to say the right thing even when it was unpopular or not good politics?
As a Christian, I am a person who follows the teachings of a man who risked it all. A defiant man who spoke out against hate. A man who came to the aid of the woman caught in the act of adultery. This woman was about to be killed by the throwing of stones. Her male lover was not being accused of any guilt, only she was. And as a test the religious authorities physically dragged her to Jesus to see if he would say something for which they could bring a charge against him. You see, they knew that he didn't stop while he was ahead. They were hoping that he would step over the line. However, Jesus could also be quite brilliant in the way he pushed the envelope and after writing in the dirt with his finger awhile he invited anyone without sin to go ahead and fling the first stone at her. One by one all the men left, leaving Jesus and the woman alone. Jesus did not condemn her.
I believe, just like Jesus, we must not stop while we are ahead. There are people that are on the verge of being stoned. If we don't stand in solidarity with them, who will? The risk might be being hurled off a proverbial or a real cliff. We still have to speak up. Some of us are living on the margins, taking risks to live authentic lives as much as possible. Those of us for whom it is a lesser risk to speak up should do so. If we do this together; if we all push together; if we back each other up, there will be no stopping love and mercy and justice.
Saturday, January 02, 2010
Don Belton
http://justicefordonbelton.com/
Don Belton was killed in his own home. Michael Griffin admits to killing him, but is pleading not guilty to murder. Griffin says that Belton sexually assaulted him a couple of days prior to his killing Belton. The people who know Belton say that it unlikely he would or could have assaulted anyone.
Griffen waited two days after the alleged assault to kill Belton.
Don Belton was an African American gay man who was murdered in his own home. Murdered. This was not self defense. I am angry and extremely sad that there is a chance his murder will be excused because of what is often referred to as gay panic.
Don Belton was killed in his own home. Michael Griffin admits to killing him, but is pleading not guilty to murder. Griffin says that Belton sexually assaulted him a couple of days prior to his killing Belton. The people who know Belton say that it unlikely he would or could have assaulted anyone.
Griffen waited two days after the alleged assault to kill Belton.
Don Belton was an African American gay man who was murdered in his own home. Murdered. This was not self defense. I am angry and extremely sad that there is a chance his murder will be excused because of what is often referred to as gay panic.
Friday, January 01, 2010
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
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?
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?
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, November 20, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
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
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
Saturday, October 03, 2009
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.
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.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, July 10, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, July 03, 2009
Thursday, July 02, 2009
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
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
Monday, June 29, 2009
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.
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.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, June 26, 2009
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 ...
Now, back to that church bulletin ...
Thursday, June 25, 2009
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
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
Thursday, June 18, 2009
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
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
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