Heal My Heart 7-28-13

God, we are all ears today.  Send your Holy Spirit to enlighten and encourage us to dare to reach and receive your divine healing.  Your sacred spirit calls us to come close and listen.   We are fully here in this place—alive and aware of your presence.  Amen

I am a person who has sought after healing from adolescence.  I knew, before I knew much else about God, that it was in God that I would finally find my yearning for wholeness realized.  As I have told you before, I tried it all—healing services, every book on healing known to humankind, it seems, tapes, CD’s, holistic doctors, everything I could find that promised healing.  And, all the time I knew it came from God—I just didn’t know how.  In my sixth decade of life, I have come to understand much about healing and the relationship between my body, the Body of Christ, and God, the creator.         

I have, most importantly, come to understand three things:

·        I have come to understand that the God who created me did so exactly to plan.  I do not have to change who I am to be whole.  And that is about far more than just sexuality.  It seems that I have spent my life apologizing to someone or another about something or another.  I am a well-practiced apologizer.  In fact, I have the art of apology down so well, that I hardly notice when I am apologizing again.  And, what do I know now?  I know that the fine art of apologizing is not one of the “Gifts” of the Spirit.  Are you an apologizer, too—perhaps for your past, your sexuality, or spirituality?  Perhaps you apologize for needing feedback and connection in this life.  Or perhaps you find yourself apologizing simply for being.  Now hear this—this is the good news through the grace of God—there is no need for you to apologize to the world for who are and what you need.  I believe that God wants us to save our “I’m sorries” for the occasional step on the toe, or angry word, or the bump in the grocery check-out line; or for the, hopefully rare, disagreements or misunderstandings.        

             Think about it.  Do you apologize or say “I’m sorry” a lot, you may be ready to stop and see if your apologies come from a tender heart determined to mend the everyday hurts of life or from a broken and fearful heart yearning for acceptance and relationship with others.  The first step to heart-healing comes in the complete embrace of ourselves exactly as we are in this moment.   God calls us to pause and think together, “God, you created me and love me.  I am beloved and loveable just as I am.” 

·                         Is there someone you need to forgive in order to heal your heart?  God understands how hard it is to forgive.  It must pain the Spirit of God and the Order of the Universe to forgive us over and over again, but Sacred Wholeness through Divine Love allows no room for resentment or offense.  This then is the message that we receive—being in the state of divine wholeness, where our hearts are healed, leaves no room for unforgiving thoughts, bitterness, or anger.  Do you have room in your heart for Sacred Wholeness or is your heart full of the record of all of life’s offenses which, stewing together like a giant boiling pot of toxins, crowd out the possibility of God’ healing work in your heart?   Forgiveness comes hard unless we allow God to soften our hearts and help us say, “I forgive and forgive and forgive—God, teach me to forgive as soon as I feel the anger or hurt start to build so that there is always room for your Sacred Wholeness in my heart.

·                                             The third thing that I’ve learned along the way is that I can’t heal my own heart.  Only God can pour Sacred Wholeness into the darkest parts of my heart—the deep recesses where hidden pain still lies waiting to steal my peace away.  And so, I have begun to allow God to show me those places—and that isn’t always pleasant.  But this I know, when I allow God to shine the Holy Light of compassion into those bruised and scarred places, I am clearing the way for more and more of the gift of Sacred Wholeness.  I used to begrudge this work—whether I did it alone or with another—but now I rejoice when I can clear the next room and allow God’s light to be permanently on.  Sherrie and I have been moving—ugh—and we both long for the day when everything is in place and the house is whole.  It is with this same longing that I approach the healing of my heart—bit by bit—even box by box—it all becomes whole.

               There is a poem by Esther Yff-Prins that is a beautiful telling of this process.  It is brief and I would like to read it to you—I invite you to close your eyes:

Open

Slowly, the descent begins,

Moving down,

Down into the

Corridors of my heart.

Tenderly, gently,

Consent unbars the door

Of a hidden chamber.

Now I touch the

Breath of my soul;

Taste the depth of

My longing;

Hear the echoing

Silence within.

Now I encounter

The welcome

Of the Divine,

Pulsating, poignant,

Irresistible.

Awed by the

Language of God

At the center of my being

I linger, embraced

In wordless benediction,

Sheltered in the Sacred.

               Hmmm, “Sheltered in the Sacred.”  What does that truly mean?  I believe that one pitfall we may fall into in this process of allowing God to heal our hearts is to imagine that a healed heart is a completely new and shiny heart.  While God makes all things new, God does not take away the learning and growing that our formerly broken and shattered hearts have given to us.  There is an interesting story; I don’t recall the source, about a village where a young person stated with great pride that they had the most beautiful, flawless, sparkling clean heart.  An older, wiser person challenged the younger.  Through the magic of ancient story-telling, the crowd looked at the older one’s heart.  It beat strong and smooth, but the group saw that it was full of scars, one scar after another.  There were holes in places and some places where pieces had been put back in the holes but didn’t quite fit right.  The older one looked at the younger one and said, “I would never trade my heart for yours. Every scar represents a person I’ve given my love -- I tear out a piece and give it to them. Sometimes they give me a piece of their broken heart, which I fit along jagged edges. When the person doesn’t return my love, a painful gouge is left. Those gouges stay open, reminding me that I love these people too. Perhaps someday they will return and fill that space.”  God heals our hearts and transforms our regrets into gratitude and our brokenness into joy. 

              

               This acknowledgement that we must allow God to heal our hearts is integral to becoming a church of radical inclusion.  We enter into Sacred Wholeness not just for our own pleasure, but also so that we can lead others through the same process.  As more and more people seek and find this church as an oasis of true welcome, healing, comfort, and community, we must be ready—ready to offer welcome and healing, comfort and community.  Jesus tells us, in the scripture we heard today, that what comes out of our mouths is the most important as it comes from the heart.  We do not want to be like the Pharisees who, having no authentic experience of God’s Sacred Wholeness, would, instead focus on rules and conditions—pushing the less acceptable to outside the circle of believers.  We seek to have what it takes to lead others to God’s reign of justice—justice for the world and justice for ourselves, but we cannot expect people who still yearn for Sacred Wholeness—that gift from God—to stand for justice and peace.  And in this standing for justice and peace, we make a difference in the world.  We stand as healed and whole people ready to invite others to that same circle of healing and wholeness so that they can stand for justice and peace as well.  And, as we draw the circle wider and wider, we must all begin to take an active role in the welcoming and telling.

               Our Native American Healing Prayer this morning keeps our focus right—the one who prays does so to be able to serve—and ends the prayer like this:  “Mother, heal my heart so that I can see the gifts of yours that can live through me”.  And, so, together we pray in that same spirit, Mother, Father, Creator God, Great Spirit of Healing and Health, make us whole in this moment, teach us to value our own wholeness always over anger and pain, and show us the way to welcome others to this great circle of Sacred Unity and Love.  And all God’s people said, amen and amen.

You Are Accepted 7-21-13

Holy and most gracious God:  You call us to open our hearts so that you may work in and through us.  Lead us to celebrate all that you call us to be.  May my words be inspired by you and our thoughts permeated by your spirit of peace.  Empower us to find our sacred path to you.  Amen

         I will admit it:  I borrowed the title of this sermon from the most famous sermon by Paul Tillich, great theologian, now deceased.  Paul Tillich wrote one of the most comprehensive of comprehensive Systematic Theologies and I recall having to read all three volumes when in seminary.  I remember that it pushed me to think in new ways.  I no longer recall what those ways were, but Paul Tillich was among the first religious writers to challenge my fairly simplistic understanding of faith and grace.  While I do not remember the words, I do remember the feeling of my heart bursting through some well-worn walls of resistance and fear.  I want to share with you the words of Tillich that come immediately after the passage which was our Middle Reading today.  Tillich says, “You are accepted. You are accepted, accepted by that which is greater than you, and the name of which you do not know. Do not ask for the name now; perhaps you will find it later. Do not try to do anything now; perhaps later you will do much. Do not seek for anything; do not perform anything; do not intend anything. Simply accept the fact that you are accepted!”

         My sermon today is about that acceptance—that acceptance by that which is greater than we are—which some of us call God or one of the many names for God.  I looked hard for the exact meaning  of the word ‘acceptance’ and really couldn’t find it.  So, I began to look for what others had to say about acceptance.  My favorite thought came from Margery Williams in the children’s classic, The Velveteen Rabbit.  “Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand”.  Aha, I thought—to be accepted is to be ‘real’.  But, it may also mean that not everyone with whom we come in contact will understand.  Healer, Maggie Erotokritou, expands on this thought, “Those who dance”, she says, “are thought to be quite insane by those who cannot hear the music”.  As a seeker and lover of God, I long to be thought insane by those who cannot hear the music.

         So, how to find and greet this acceptance?   Persian Poet, Rumi, gives us an idea that is worth our attention, “Your task:, he writes,  “is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all of the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.”  This, then, is a start.  When we welcome God’s presence or when we acknowledge the sacred spirit of love that is all around us, we usually miss most of the depth altogether.  Sometimes, we miss it because we are pre-occupied with thoughts of our daily lives which distract us from those small, almost silent, calls to enter a state of ‘love’.  But, more often than not, we miss it because we are not open to it.  Can we seek and find all of the barriers that we have built against love; understand them and then set them aside long enough to catch a glimpse of the divine love that longs to inhabit our very bodies, minds, and spirits so that we may receive all the gifts that God, source of all gifts, has for us? 

         Paul tells the Christians in Rome to “offer [their] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.”  “This”, he says, “is [our] Spiritual Act of worship.”  He tells us to not be a prisoner to the expectations of this age; instead, he calls us to “be transformed by the renewal of [our] minds” so that we can understand God and all that is good and pleasing.  I don’t know about you, but it is a constant struggle for me to ignore what the world and many of the people in it are telling me I ought to be.  It takes strength and ongoing commitment to the truth that has been given to you by God.  And, while, we live, serve, and worship in community, we must find a way to engage with God personally and individually while, at the same time, participating in the spiritual growth of the community.  We live as communal beings who must simultaneously develop and live out our own sacred selves.

         Returning to Maggie Erotokritou’s thought—how do we find others who also hear the music and long to dance with us.  It is here, where acceptance is celebrated—where people’s spiritual journey is valued whether it looks like ours, or not—it is here that we can experience, live in to, and speak about our own exploration and celebration of the welcoming of God’s sacred acceptance of us.  If one yearns to walk a spiritual journey, then, realizing and soaking in this sacred acceptance is not optional.  Think of what Jesus said in our Gospel this morning.  He calls us to lay down our heavy burdens—the labor of trying to work it all out for ourselves—and find sacred rest.  This sacred rest comes with the acceptance that God not only desires to know us and to love us; God wants us to accept the sacred, divine love that is unconditional and universal—all we have to do is open our hearts to feel the holy peace and rest that comes when acceptance of all that is offered occurs.  Jesus says that in this laying down of burdens and setting down all that keeps us from God, we will find “rest for [our] souls”.  It’s not hard, once you surrender to the rest—but that is an adventure into the unknown for most of us. 

         Famed author, M. Scott Peck, tells us about the nature of an adventure.  He says, “An adventure is going into the unknown. If you know exactly where you are going, exactly how you will get there, and exactly what you will see along the way, it is not an adventure… Because they involve the unknown, adventures are inherently dangerous to a greater or lesser degree. Yet it is also only from adventures and their newness that we learn. If we know exactly where we’re going, exactly how to get there, and exactly what we’ll see along the way, we won’t learn anything”.  And, so, we—and I—walk this unknown journey together.  This is spiritual growth, spiritual understanding, and if, true and real, will lead to a community that is so full of the knowledge of divine acceptance that it will spill out and over these walls, over and under the fence at the campus; and, our lives will be so full that our living in the acceptance of God will become infectious—lovingly, warmly infectious.

         I want to talk for a moment about “radical hospitality”—the idea that we push our notions of hospitality far beyond our comfort zone and reach out to all those who need to hear of this sacred unconditional acceptance of who we are by the Source of all that is.  I think we are beginning to understand that notion.  This is what I think we do not understand and practice.  We must, if we are to be such a congregation, offer this radical hospitality to ourselves.  We, you and I, must welcome all of ourselves into this place, this conversation, this journey.  And that is where it gets more than a little hard for me.  We may want to welcome all but certain things into this divine acceptance.  We may hold on to little parts of ourselves that, secretly, we think are unworthy of God’s acceptance; and, by doing so, we fail to fully enter into the adventurous journey with God, with ourselves, and with each other.  And, this morning, I am standing in front of you saying, with absolute confidence, we cannot become a ‘radically inclusive faith community’ if we do not radically include all of ourselves into this sacred place.  I want to ask us today—are we ready to seek and find all the barriers against love that we have built?  This question is not a rhetorical question and applies just as much to me as it may apply to some of you.  How do we do this?  This is not a short journey for most of us—it is a healing journey—no matter how long or short.  We’re going to be talking about healing for the next few weeks.  Whether or not you consider yourself a ‘wounded person’—there are more than likely a few wounds left in most of us.  And when we try our best to hide our wounds from God, the entering into divine rest and acceptance is delayed.  Jeanne Achtenberg, who has written numerous books about healing tells us this, "Healing is embracing what is most feared; healing is opening what has been closed; softening what has been hardened into obstruction…" 

         Can and will you join me in an exploration of God’s unconditional acceptance and peace?  Some call it ‘grace’, some ‘enlightenment’, some ‘heaven on earth’.  Whatever you call it matters not, what matters is that you are on your way.  Come, soften your heart.  Come, break down the walls.  Come, heal and be healed.  Amen and amen.

        

Draw the Circle Wider July 14, 2013

God, you know that I have struggled with these words.  I’m trusting you in this moment.  Help me to say what you want said and help us all to listen with open hearts and lives.  We turn these moments over to you.  Amen

            This was, as you might have guessed from my prayer, a hard sermon to write.  My mind has been exploding with thoughts about the wonders of the General Conference that I and some of you attended; and, yet, little streams of negativity and discord greeted me upon my return as well.  But, God would not let me go; and, just like every Sunday, I am preaching what has been laid upon my heart. 

            When you have the opportunity to speak with those who went to General Conference, I believe that you will hear one word, over and over again.  And that word is “Diversity.”  The entire week, we lived, ate, and breathed diversity.  On the first night, we heard our Moderator call us to seek and explore diversity.  MCC, once a church which ministered primarily to LBGT folks is seeking to become the truly welcoming congregation for all.  You have heard me speak of this before.  Why, two years ago, I preached a sermon series around a word which did not quite catch on then.  I’m believing that although that was not the time for that word; now is the time.  That word was “Diversynergy”.  It is one of my own words, but it describes so much the environment we must seek to grow here, in Open Circle, if we are to continue doing God’s will and way. 

            Diversynergy is the practice of finding and celebrating the energy that that synergizes in the celebrating of diversity.  And now is the time for us to begin to know the meaning of this.  That being said, let’s take a look at what MCC is now saying about diversity in our denominations and churches.  A new vision and mission statement were adopted in the business meeting on Tuesday of the General Conference.  Here is the revised Vision Statement:  “Metropolitan Community Church is compelled by an unfinished calling and a prophetic destiny. We are a global movement of spiritually diverse people fully awake to God’s enduring love. Following the example of Jesus and empowered by the Spirit, we demand, proclaim and do justice in the world.”  And, the Mission Statement reads like this: “Metropolitan Community Church is an increasingly global and diverse people who proclaim and practice a spirituality that is liberating and sufficiently profound to address the issues of our volatile, uncertain and complex world.  We are called to develop and equip leaders, congregations and ministries to do the work of justice, compassion and the integration of sexuality and spirituality.  We will do this through high value training, cutting edge theological exploration, expanding partnerships and engaging with similarly minded justice movements.”

            Let’s look at what this means for us as a church and individuals.  Allow me to unpack the Vision Statement.  As MCC’ers, we believe that we have a calling and prophetic destiny that is not yet finished.  Rev. Elder Troy Perry may have begun by starting a church for LGBT people who had been banned or shunned by their own churches, but we have grown far beyond that.  And, most of all, we know that our work is not done.  No longer just a North American phenomenon, we are more global than ever before.  And, if you could have seen the MCC’ers from other lands that we did, you would know how far we have to go to reach the level of joy those folks embodied.  Knowing that God loved them fully made them fully awake—let me tell you, they challenged us to recover some of our earlier joy that we felt when we came to know God’s enduring love extended to us and beyond.  We boldly follow the example of Jesus who taught us with every word and action what it meant to work for love and justice in the world.  We are empowered and made courageous through the Holy Spirit who lives in and works through us. 

            And, this is what the Mission Statement means for us and for all MCC’ers:  As a denomination, we are growing in numbers globally and among diverse peoples much more rapidly than in the original target group for MCC.  We live in an unpredictable world and MCC people believe and proclaim a spirituality that frees all from oppression; and, yet encompasses all that we need to address the issues of this uncertain and ever-changing world.  MCC has always been a church that answered God’s call wherever it might be and with whomever needed us.  As a result, we have been known as the “gay church”, the “church with AIDS”, the “human rights church”, and now, the “all inclusive church”.  Our congregations and ministries have begun the work of justice and compassion and must now expand that same work as injustices in our world demands.  As a denomination known for the integration of sexuality and spirituality, we were among the first to assert the sacred relationship between sexuality and spirituality and continue to do the same.  The denomination intends to complete this mission through excellent training, theological exploration that pushes us beyond our comfort zone; and, partnerships with other justice movements who “fit” with MCC’s commitment to God’s justice and peace.

            What does a celebration of diversity look like?  I will leave behind for the time being my questions about the necessity of arguing over theological differences anyway and move on to how we address these so-called differences in a congregation.  Borrowing from my friends at the Unitarian Universalist Movement, I will suggest that there are three ways to look at theological diversity.

            First, is tolerance.  And, we can grow amazingly proud of our ability and willingness to “tolerate” theological differences.  Tolerance is merely the willingness to allow someone of another theological tradition to worship or fellowship with us.  What is strange about tolerance is that it still leaves us with the erroneous  belief that we have the right to determine whose theology is right and whose is wrong.  In reality, there is no one who is placed in the position of judge and all we are really doing in tolerance is putting aside an un-earned arrogance of saying who is right and who is wrong. 

            Secondly, there is affirmation.  When we reach the affirmation stage, we are affirming two things.  First, we are affirming the value of the person even if they hold a differing position; and, secondly, we are affirming that spiritual growth is more likely to happen in an environment where people can speak openly and honestly about their differences.  Differences, then, do not become a reason to exclude someone from the community.  Honesty is valued above compliance.

            Finally, there is a position that goes much further.  This position actually says that theological differences are good—something to celebrate, cherish and seek.  Spiritual honesty is honored as the necessary pre-requisite for spiritual formation and growth.  These communities are the communities where people continue to grow, where new people from all kinds of spiritual positions feel truly loved and welcomed.  They feel encouraged to stay and to become a part of this growing, churning, churching place.  Theological diversity is, in this case, far more than just rituals and rites.  It is about opening our doors to people who describe God differently, experience God differently, and speak of God differently.  In this loving embrace—free from fear and judgment—we all experience God’s grace together more fully than we ever could as isolated, traditional, stiff-necked Christians.

            Do you know that one of the fastest growing religious expressions is called the “nones”—N-O-N-E-S—not, women religious.  These are the folks who may check “spiritual but not religious” or “none” when asked for their theological heritage.  We need those Nones and they need us.  We can be the first church in this five-county area who says “welcome” to all the Nones or the SPNR’s, spiritual but not religious folks.  We can be that church that says, “All are welcome here, not because we want to change you, but because we want you to help us change and broaden our understanding of the world and all that is in the world.  And we want to help you do the same.  We want to work together for justice—our backgrounds and traditions do not impact our willingness to see the world change to a place where children are safe, wars are eliminated, hunger is ended, AIDS is cured, domestic violence is eradicated, and people of all faiths and no faith at all gather to celebrate the energy—the diversynergy—that explodes and calls the world to be all it can be. 

            This is what I learned in Chicago—and, although I think I already knew it—it struck me so hard that I had to pick myself up and challenge myself to tell you what I believe God is calling us to do.  More than anything, MCC churches are different, or we should be—we must become the kinds of communities where people flock because they know that judgment of one another is not tolerated, where open and loving arms are celebrated, where the hurts of the world are made bearable by the fellowship of all gathered together, and where God (however you call him, her, Great Spirit, the Source, or Union) is praised and our spirits are bonded together in the knowledge that we are all loved and cherished.  My friends, the time is now—we must, gay and straight, trans and gender-non-conforming, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American or First Nation—we must all come together to heal the world.  Open Circle was placed here for a reason.  I do not believe that the reason was to give us a place to go and feel good on Sunday and other days.  I believe that God placed Open Circle here to lead the way—to welcome and care, treasure and preserve, the lives of all who hear the call to find this very special place.  I hope that you want to work together with me and others to build this community—this radically inclusive community with me.  If you don’t, please pray about it—Open Circle may not be the church for you.  But, I believe that God is calling all of us to be the radically inclusive community of faith, shaped by the example of Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit.  And all of God’s people, with one loud voice, said, “amen and amen”.