What It Means to Be MCC—Speaking Our Languages—Inclusivity 5-19-13

What It Means to Be MCC—Speaking Our Languages—Inclusivity  5-19-13

God, Father and Mother of us all, creator of the fire that burns in our hearts, igniting our deep longing for justice and peace, rekindle our passion, recharge our energies and help us to listen to your Holy Spirit leading us ever closer to the people you created us to be.  With gratitude for all the gifts we are given throughout life, Amen.

               Today is Pentecost Sunday.  The scripture passages from Acts give you the story as it is recorded.  Lots of confusing things in that passage:  winds and fire coming from who knows where, a multitude of languages being heard at the same time, a crowd of pilgrims who came from all over the earth just about ready to burst into uncontrollable chaos, people talking and laughing, bullying and attacking.  As a person with more than a little Enochlophobia, that is fear of crowds, I’m not too sorry that I was not there.  It’s easy to get caught up in all the chaos and focus on the melodramatic scenes of fiery flames falling from the sky.  It’s easy to miss the point and missing the point is exactly what happens when many preacher-type people talk about Pentecost.  Although, some will speak today about Pentecost being about the gift of speaking in tongues, they will be very wrong.  Some will speak about Pentecost as the birth of the church and have birthday type celebrations—they are closer to the point, but still not quite there.  Only those preachers who talk about Pentecost in light of God’s radical acceptance and universal love for humankind will be headed in the right direction.  I say this without judgment:  it’s hard to focus on the one truth of Pentecost—all the other paths of conversation are very tempting indeed. 

               Pentecost calls us, the Church, to acknowledge one central point.  For God so loved the world and every living being in it, that the divine love which emanates from God is poured out upon the whole earth in languages, feelings, actions, and thoughts that everyone and everything can understand. Please allow me to repeat myself:  For God so loved the world and every living being in it, that the divine love which emanates from God is poured out upon the whole earth in languages, feelings, actions, and thoughts that everyone and everything can understand.  The languages that were heard at Pentecost were not for dramatic, mind-boggling effect, although elaborate cinematography applied to this story would result in a mesmerizing scene.  The various languages that were heard were for one reason only—so that all who were there could hear the message in their native tongues.  That this took place at the Birth of the Church indicates in as strong a manner as possible that God’s love and gospel of total and complete acceptance and grace is for everyone.  If this were not so, the scene at what we know as Pentecost would look very, very different.  It would have looked something like this:  A few people, maybe only two, would be speaking—one in Hebrew and one, possibly in Greek.  The rest of the people, unless they were fortunate to speak one of those two languages would be listening to interpreters, managing the best they could, to translate what was being said.  To that scene God said “no”—nothing was to separate the individual being from direct access to the source of Divine power and love.

               This, then, is where we are at Pentecost 2013.  Jan Richardson, an incredibly talented author and artist has given us a beautiful poem for Pentecost:

“This is the blessing we cannot speak by ourselves.  This is the blessing we cannot summon by our own devices, cannot shape to our purpose, cannot bend to our will.  This is the blessing that comes
when we leave behind our aloneness
when we gather together when we turn
toward one another.

This is the blessing that blazes among us
when we speak the words strange to our ears when we finally listen into the chaos when we breathe together at last.”

               Pentecost is a dangerous time, a time when we are called to be more than we thought we could be—as a church and as a people.  Pentecost is a time when we are confronted with God’s awe-inspiring power for the doing of good.  Pentecost is a time when we come face to face with the knowledge that we have not acted upon that which God calls us to be and waits for us to do.  Pentecost is a time that says, “you cannot celebrate this alone”.  And so we are here, “learning to breathe together”, “to turn toward one another”, as Jan Richardson reminds us.  If Pentecost is only a day of remembrance of a time once upon a time, when God’s power was evident among the people, then it is possible for us to stay in our solitary spaces and utter what amounts to a half-hearted “Yay, God!”  If, however, Pentecost is a day when we are reminded in dramatic and heart-stopping ways that God’s power stands ready to work through us, then we, my friends, are in this together. 

               Let’s assume, just for a moment, that Pentecost actually comes today—right here, right now.  You don’t have time to run for cover, running for anything being a non-starter for some of us; and, you don’t have enough warning to put the cover back over your hearts.  So here we are, spiritually open and ready to experience God’s Pentecost.  Brennan Manning, who died only last month, lived a life that exploded with God’s Holy Spirit.  Hear his words regarding the Gospel:  “The gospel is absurd and the life of Jesus is meaningless unless we believe that He lived, died, and rose again with but one purpose in mind: to make brand-new creation. Not to make people with better morals but to create a community of prophets and professional lovers, men and women who would surrender to the mystery of the fire of the Spirit that burns within, who would live in ever greater fidelity to the omnipresent Word of God, who would enter into the center of it all, the very heart and mystery of Christ, into the center of the flame that consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow with peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love. This, my friend, is what it really means to be a Christian”. 

               At the end of this passionate description, I ask myself and, in turn, ask you—what is this flame that “consumes, purifies, and sets everything aglow”?  How can I (how can we) be filled with more peace, joy, boldness, and extravagant, furious love”?  And, most of all, how can I and we live out the call to Pentecost Power—a spirit of solidarity with all of God’s creation, so that everything we do is done in such a way that all living beings know and understand more of God’s all-embracing love every time we interact with them.

               Let us look quickly at the main elements of this Pentecost Power Experience:  First, the followers of Jesus were gathered together exactly where Jesus told them to be.  There were many others but they were in the scene to be ministered to.  Secondly, the sound and wind came without warning; even so, everyone experienced it.  Third, the Gospel is pronounced—now, here comes the good part.  No matter where they were from, or what language they spoke, they heard the Good News of God’s radical love and acceptance in their mother tongue.  Through people who had never spoken a foreign language before, God’s Good News was delivered.  If you had wandered into that busy crowd completely by mistake, it wouldn’t have mattered, God would have known you were there and sent someone to minister to you in your own language.  This is the true and only meaning of inclusion. 

Regarding the core value of Inclusion, UFMCC says this, “Love is our greatest moral value and resisting exclusion is a primary focus of our ministry. We want to continue to be the conduits of a faith where everyone is included in the family of God...”  And, here, in Open Circle MCC, we make many attempts to live out that value—why even our name calls us to inclusion—a circle that is open to receive more and more and more.  Aha!  Here is the catch—if Pentecost is to serve as our model of inclusion, then we must open our ministries wider.  We are called to minister to those in our community who look, sound, and understand completely differently from us.  Those folks may be the physically challenged, those with mental health issues, straight folks, trans folks, and adolescents who don’t choose to be known by any of our usual categories.  We are called to be a Pentecost Church—a church where we allow ourselves to speak in languages that we have never heard—and while this is a metaphor, it may mean that we need to learn some new skills or find people who have them to minister to each and everyone who comes through our doors.  If we continue to do less than that to which we are called, we will continue to wonder why people visit us and do not return.  The future is up to all of us and it is up to us now.  If you are willing to be a partner in making Open Circle a Pentecost Church then I encourage you to say this prayer with me:

Lord…we are here… in the midst of your Pentecost…Burst into our hearts…awaken our spirits…remind us of who we are to love…and fill us with your passion…your joy…your peace…Amen and Amen…

What It Means to be MCC: Social Justice 5-12-13

What It Means to be MCC: Social Justice    5-12-13

God, today we focus on your work in the world beyond our comfort zone.  Convict and convince us to listen to your command to go into all the world and preach your Gospel of peace and reconciliation.  Grant us ears to hear, hearts to change, and words from you.  Amen

            For many years MCC has been known as the “gay church.”  But, even as our congregation reveals, we are so much more than that.  In the last two Sundays we have looked at two of the four core values which inform our ministries as an MCC church.  First we looked at what it meant to be a community of love and last week we took a look at spiritual transformation through the eyes of Lydia, one of the early church leaders.  Today, we come to Social Justice.  For those of you who have had the opportunity to see the wonderful film, “Call Me Troy”, you will remember the footage of our founder, Rev. Elder Troy Perry, walking in the early LGBT marches, calling for justice and placing MCC squarely in the middle of the work for human rights for LGBT folks and for all people.  This work and the work that has continued in MCC has earned us the title: “the Human Rights Church”.

            As the Human Rights Church, MCC has developed a philosophy of ministry.  We believe that as Christians we are called to : “stand in solidarity with those who are marginalized and oppressed, be partners in working for change, be witnesses who call attention to Human Rights abuses, be a voice in the international community for justice, lift up new generations of remarkable, far-reaching spiritual activists, build on hope and create our future.

            Our passion for justice is built on a solid scriptural basis.  We know through the history of the Hebrew people that God is a God of Justice and Righteousness.  In the sixth chapter of the writings of the prophet Amos, we hear:  “And what does the Lord require of you?—to act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”   We know that God, our Creator, is the defender of poor and oppressed people everywhere.  Jeremiah says, “’let the one who boasts boast about this:      that they have the understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight,’ declares the Lord”.  Our passage from the First Letter of John this morning reminds us of this, My children, our love must not be simply words or mere talk—it must be true love, which shows itself in action and truth. This, then, is how we’ll know we belong to the truth…”

            Our Human Rights Protocol contains some “baseline standards” from which we can learn much regarding international and local human rights work.  First, to only go where we are invited and to assume we have a lot to learn.  As we listen to our hosts, we begin to forge partnerships.  We always want to be able to respond when requested, and to be flexible to the realities and differences in establishing churches internationally. 

MCC is approached by people and organizations from around the world
asking for our assistance and support. Prioritizing our response is critical in managing our resources and responding to cries for justice around the world.  Thorough assessments are utilized to determine the potential for success.  This coincides with our efforts to learn all we can about the culture and the country.  As we walk humbly with our God in these efforts, we acknowledge that we are never more expert than the people in the communities themselves.  As we listen and learn, we forge partnerships in the region.  While we want to be able to respond when requested, we always want to be flexible to the realities and differences in establishing churches internationally.  It is difficult for us to understand sometimes the concern for safety.  Human Rights work helps us to understand the culture and the issues and to build trust.

Initially, our global justice work became organized under the Moderator’s Global Justice team of MCC.  The purpose of the Moderator’s Global Justice Team of Metropolitan Community Churches is “to be an agent of change by building bridges that liberate and unite voices of sacred defiance.  While transforming history, we seek to live the Good News of the Gospel”. 

            In the beginning, this team had a five-year vision.  Among the work they wanted to accomplish was the establishment of LGBT mosques, the formation of an MCC Social Justice Council with members from as many nations as possible, the development of a Global Justice Center with staff to provide training, the insistence that LGBT issues be on the table at every Human Rights gathering, and to work for anti-violence/hate crimes legislation on a global basis.  Additional work includes a multi-language “virtual church”, an increase of financial resources, and dialogues with Catholic and Orthodox communities.  

And then, something amazing happened.  Just one year ago, the Global Justice Institute was founded.  The Global Justice Institute is a joint project of MCC and The Fellowship.   Both denominations took an extra offering at Easter and ear-marked it for the development of the Institute.  Fellowship Bishop commented, “We’re partnering in the Easter Offering Campaign because justice work is Jesus’ work. Whenever we stand with the oppressed, the marginalized, the rejected, the persecuted, we stand with Jesus and we minister to Jesus.”

And, just like that the Global Justice Institute became a reality.  Just this past Easter, Open Circle contributed over $500 to the Global Justice Institute in a record-breaking year, as more MCC churches participated than ever before.  We are a church that is on fire for Human Rights and Justice whether it be at a local school board meeting or in Uganda, Pakistan, or the former Soviet Union.  Even before the establishment of this Institute, MCC’ers had done amazing things in equally amazing places.  Rev. Elder Dr. Nancy Wilson reminds us of all that we have already done.  “Together, we’ve supported our brothers and sisters across Eastern Europe as they made historic advances for religious freedom and human rights. We’ve joined hands with MCCers across Central and Latin America as they trained a new generation of spiritual leaders. You have helped plant indigenous ministries in Southeast Asia that are challenging injustice and intolerance, and your gifts continue to provide support for lesbian and transgender communities in Pakistan. You helped underwrite the first LGBT conference in Russia and publish the first book about LGBT spiritual rights in the Russian language. You helped create safe space for Ugandans, who face daily threats to freedom and life. And you made it possible for MCC to boldly march in the first-ever gay rights marches in such places as Jamaica and Romania.!”

            The purpose and charter of the Global Justice Institute is impressive.  As our voice in the world, the “Global Justice Institute will:

• Serve as an umbrella organization to efficiently and most effectively carry out the social justice ministries to which MCC has been committed since our earliest days.
• Create a safe space for spiritual activists who are fighting homophobia and transphobia.
• Effect societal change through a three-pronged strategy of theological reconciliation, economic development and positive press coverage for LGBT peoples.
• Serve as a joint ministry of MCC and The Fellowship, the Global Justice Institute will provide solidarity and support where people are still marginalized and persecuted.
• Speak truth to power and will add our voices and resources to those of people who seek justice, freedom and equality.
• Carry out its work while embodying the core values, mission and principles of MCC.
• Create partnerships with indigenous groups and human rights organizations to achieve its objectives.
• Build on what MCC has already accomplished in Pakistan, Uganda, Eastern Europe, Jamaica, Asia and so many other places.”

The Global Justice Institute knows that we are doing our work in a world which encompasses, among other things, “volatility, a gap between the haves and the have-nots, advances in human rights, and escalations in violence, loss of culture; violence as commonplace, the need to understand pluralistic concepts of religiosities, escalating fundamentalism, funding much of the violence, increasing need to attend to Global Warming, increase in anti-Semitism and racism, corporations dominating the economies, leading to poverty, HIV on the rise in many places, shifting perspectives on gender and poverty and identity, denial of cultural values, and terrorism. 

Let me tell you one final story.  Uganda remains one of the most challenging environments for LGBT people to live open and productive lives.  Male Samuel is a 26-year-old sugar cane grower whose, family abandoned him when he was just 11 years old.  He is gay.  To support himself, he began his own sugar cane business–growing the crop and selling it to retailers. He currently rents 3 acres of land and employs 13 people, some gay and some straight, who work together for the common good of their families and villages. The Global Justice Institute is partnering with Male to expand his business and his opportunity to hire more workers. Our investment of $1500 US will allow Male to rent 2 more acres of land, hire 6 new workers, 4 of whom will be members of the LGBT community of faith we help to support, and put a new roof over his storage barn. With the new land and new workers, Male will be able to increase his production by 66%.

We will continue to make a difference as MCC churches throughout the world.  May God honor our efforts and increase their effectiveness.  Amen and amen. 

What It Means to be MCC: Spiritual Transformation 5-5-13

God, we yearn for more of you in our lives.  Speak to us of your love and longing for us to turn more and more towards you.  May my words and our thoughts be only of you.  Amen

            My name is Lydia—at least that’s how you know me.  Really, they never recorded my name.  I was the “Lydian woman” from Lydia in Asia Minor.  I, just like some of you, am a “woman of purple”.  I ran a successful dyeing business and I specialized in all hues of purple.  Don’t you just love purple?  It’s a color of many variations, each one more beautiful than the next.  Only the richest of the rich canould afford my purple cloth and trim.  It was delicate and handmade.  Oh, forgive me.  I’m not here to sell you my fabrics; I’m here to tell you a story.

            I’m from Greece; although, at the time of this story, I was living in Philippi.  I had a nice house and a fine family; although my husband died when my youngest was just a tiny thing.  At first, I thought it would be too hard to survive; but, I made it work by building up my business.  At the time of this story, I was really quite successful and well thought of in my community.  I was lucky, I guess.  I found something I liked to do and did it as best as I could.  Anyway, I wasn’t looking for my life to change.  I was perfectly happy with the way things were going.  I had a good relationship with God, or so I thought and I wasn’t seeking anything special to light up my heart.  While I hadn’t actually converted to Judaism, I certainly thought they were on the right track and I often listed to their teachers teach.  All was well and I was fine.  I suppose now I know that I was satisfied with the status quo—that it had really never occurred to me to wonder if there was something more to life—I was rich, my children were growing up, and life was good. 

            Then, something amazing happened.  I had gone down by the river to the quiet place where the women gathered to pray and worship.  It was a lovely spot, so peaceful and tranquil—we just loved our times there—such a sisterhood we had together all worshipping God.  On one particularly lovely night, a man named Paul and his entourage including Silas and that nice young man, Timothy, came upon all of us who were present singing and praying.  Paul told us the most incredible story.  He told us about Jesus.

            He said that just a few years ago, there was a man named Jesus who was from Nazareth and who walked from place to place healing people and teaching them about a new way of living.  He explained that this new way of living was all about love—God’s love for us being shown to the world through this man, Jesus.  At first, I didn’t understand all that Paul was telling us—seemed too good to be true.  But as I listened, I felt my heart growing more and more open to the truth of what Paul was telling me.  Something strange happened to me and I found myself becoming quiet inside, listening to all that Paul was telling us.  How could it be that yielding to God’s complete love could so thoroughly change who we are and who we want to be? 

            Paul told us that God loved us so much that Jesus was sent to teach all the people all about a new covenant.  You see, even those of us who had been drawn to Judaism from another religion believed in Yahweh, a God who had a lot of rules that we had to follow or risk being punished.  Even so, everything about this God made sense to me.  I mean, how could you not believe in a God who created the color purple?  So, I thought I was very religious; but, I guess I had a lot to learn.  Paul kept talking about how changed your life would be if you followed the teachings of this Jesus.  I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to upset my spiritual “apple cart”, if you know what I mean.  But, as I listened a strange thing began to happen.  My heart seemed to grow lighter.  I felt something calling to me saying, “I love you, I really love you.  Let me show you how different your life could be if you really let me love you.”  It took me awhile to understand that this something was God—the same God who created the earth, the color purple, and me.  I wish I could really explain to you what this invitation really felt like; so, I’ll try.  It seemed to me as if the first message was that I was ok, truly ok, to be just the way that I am.  I didn’t feel like I had to change who I was though the message pulled so much at my heart, I found myself wanting to let it in and allow God to change me.

            This Jesus, according to Paul spoke about a new way of being religious—a way that meant that you loved your neighbor just the way that you loved yourself.  Everybody was welcome, even the sick, and the poor, men AND women, and children most of all.  It seemed as if the primary message of this man Jesus had to do with justice and equality inside the new reign of God.  We were so used to fighting battles and winning or, in some cases, losing wars, that this was amazing news to us.  Jesus was a shepherd of all the people who loved God and loved him.  How I wish I could have seen Jesus for myself.  Paul told us, though, that when we opened our hearts and allowed God to make changes in how we thought and felt that it would be as if we had seen Jesus with our own eyes.  All of this happened so fast as if I was transformed in a heartbeat.  Of course, now I know that once God starts to work in your heart, unless you stop the process, God continues to work in your heart throughout your whole life.   All kinds of things happened in the years between then and now.  God kept showing me how much I was loved AND how much I had to learn about truly living in the spirit.  But, let me finish my story before I go there.

            Anyway, after we women listened to Paul and Silas, I made a decision to be baptized.  I asked all of my household to be baptized with me and they were.  We were baptized by Paul into this new life.  Afterwards, I invited all of the people, men and women, who were with Paul or who knew Paul to meet and to stay at my house.  But, I left the choice up to them.  I said, “If you have judged me to be faithful to Yahweh, enter and stay at my house.  In fact, I guess I was a little pushy, I wanted them to enjoy my home and have a nice place to stay.  Later, when Paul was writing letters, he sent one to the church that had grown up around the people who first believed.  He said, “I thank my God always upon every remembrance of you in every supplication of mine for all of you, as I offer my supplication with joy, because of the contribution you have made to the good news from the first day until this moment.”

            You know, Rev. Carol asked me to talk to you about “spiritual transformation”.  I never really thought about how all the changes came about in my life.  I just know that once I allowed God to begin to work in my heart and I began to put some real time into developing my understanding of who I am and who God is, I began to feel differently about so many things in my life.  Spending time alone with God, meditating, singing, praying opened up my heart even wider.  I don’t think I really believed that God truly loved me until that day when Paul was telling us about Jesus and the change that He wanted to bring into the world.  And coming together with all the others who believed and loved was wonderful indeed.

            About the only thing I meditated on for the first couple of years was learning to truly love my neighbors which meant, of course, that I had to learn to love myself.  Now, that was a lot harder than I thought.  I wasn’t like a lot of the women in my time.  I couldn’t really afford to be.  I had to be smarter and think faster and, yes, be a little ruthless to build my business.  In that process, I had forgotten who I was, a simple woman, a lover of purple, who utilized the gifts that God gave me to build a pretty successful life.  But, suddenly that wasn’t enough.  I wanted more of the peace that Jesus promised and I wanted to spend more time in quiet, maybe even silent prayer and praise. 

            God offers you this opportunity to learn to trust God and grow in your knowledge and love of God as I was offered.  Spiritual transformation is no more than that—spending time in God’s presence, soaking up the love, offering yourself to God, and entering the process.  I have to go, now, but don’t forget to look for the color purple on your way home.  A God who created the color purple is a good God indeed.  Amen and amen.