“Reclaiming our Holy Identity—in MCC” May 26, 2013

God, in your presence we find energy and motivation for action.  Awaken our hearts completely, let us hear your word.  May the words that I speak and the meditations of all our hearts bring us closer to you.  Amen

          In MCC we declare that we have a purpose or, purposes.  We state, “As God’s liberated people, we boldly...Reclaim our Holy Identity  At MCC, we believe that even in our humanness, we are holy.  We are liberated from other people’s definitions of who we are.  We are made both body and spirit. We believe that our sexuality is a holy gift from God so we no longer distance our bodies from our experience with God... 

          You know, and I don’t think this will come as a surprise to any of you, MCC is very much like John the Baptist, a ‘voice crying in the wilderness’ both in the LGBT larger community and among progressive, forward-thinking people who mostly claim to be ‘spiritual, but not religious’.  Article after article, and book after book are being written about the incongruity between spirituality and the religious institution we call ‘Christianity’ in all her many expressions.  I don’t know about you, but this concerns me.  It concerns me most of all, not because of some traditional concept of salvation as linked only to eternal life, but because I believe that the basic tenets of Christianity—particularly those related to relationship—still have much to say and bring to the rather enormous task of healing humanity and protecting the earth. 

          We all know about the modern crisis related to identity theft.  We have developed all kinds of methods to protect our identity from being ‘stolen’ by unscrupulous people lurking in every corner of the internet, going through our unshredded trash, and watching over our shoulders in stores.  I am stating today that I believe that those of us who still claim Christianity among our expressions of spirituality have had our identity stolen and it is time to take it back—back from those who want all Christians to look just like them, back from those who want to use Christianity in the name of bigotry and shame, and, back from those who would seek to deny anyone based on any human-made ‘code of conduct’ from the ability to form, grow and fulfill a right relationship with the source of all being.  When faced with one of those bigots in my presence, I fight the urge to scream, “Who do you think you are—to define my relationship with God or, in your mind, lack thereof?”  And then I remember the futility of such a question—they believe that they possess some divinely given right to judge me, my behaviors, and the person I choose to love.  Given that, my rage-filled question becomes redundant.

          Here’s what else I believe:  I believe that God did not give those same people the right to determine what is Christian, or godly, or acceptable in God’s sight.  They have, in many ways, stolen God’s identity.  And, so, when we reclaim our ‘holy identity as children of God’, we help the world to see a different God—a God who continuously and truthfully calls us to right relationship.  What does all this have to do with the “Trinity”?  It reminds me of those phone commercials where the kids are asked if faster is better or if doing two things at once is better.  They always answer with the obvious ‘yes’ even if their childish explanations seem fanciful.  I particularly like the one little boy who thinks his grandmother would like to be able to run like a gazelle.  I always wonder if I’m the only one who identifies with that.  Explaining the Trinity is a little like that—or kinda like this—what is better a God who we can only experience in one way, or a God who we can experience in three ways?  You’ve got to know those kids would answer the latter. 

          So, what are the three ways we experience God and how do all those ways help us reclaim our holy identity, not just for ourselves, but for the world.  Now, let me acknowledge up front, that I don’t go for some of the more traditional understandings of the Trinity—nor would most of you expect me to.  And, I certainly do not go for any explanation of the Trinity that leaves out half of the world’s population.  I, and many others, see the first element in the Trinity as the Creator and Creation itself.  We cannot separate Creator from Creation—once we do, we give ourselves permission to violate the Creation and falsely believe that that violation has no impact on our relationship with the Creator.  Now we may all understand Creator in our own ways—for some a traditional understanding and for others, a more expansive and all-embracing understanding of Creator as the Source of all action, energy, and positive growth.  I invite you to move beyond specific definitions of Creator or Creative Being and focus on the relationship itself.  When I value the threefold relationship between myself as part of the Creation, the Creative Being and all that shares this Created Space with me, I begin to find myself on holy ground.  I stand on holy ground because the very creator of that ground has invited me into right relationship.  And I joyfully accept. 

          Secondly, we experience Divine Creation through the model of relationship, Jesus Christ.  I firmly believe that Jesus did not walk on this earth to simply make us feel good.  You often hear me give thanks for Jesus who showed us what it is like to be a Child of God.  At the time of Jesus’ baptism, God proclaimed:  “This is my beloved one in whom I am well pleased.”  As we grow spiritually and welcome all that we are called to be, we become “the beloved” along with Jesus and all the other Children of God.  What is it like to be beloved?  It is about pushing the boundaries of our relationship with all that is sacred further and further until we begin to understand the nature of right relationship with all that is.  Jesus’ teachings show us what children of God ‘do’.  They love unconditionally.  Then reach out to others.  They pray and meditate on all things holy and they maintain open communication and right relationship with the Source of all being.  Being beloved means that we are treasured by creation itself.  There are no words to explain the moment when, standing before the ocean, or high atop a mountain, when we look up and feel all of creation celebrating because we are there in the midst—both a part of all that is and one with all that is at the same time.   

          And then there is the third element—the Spirit.  This Spirit, which “blows as it will” is all around and within us.  The Spirit is above us and below, circling around us and pulsing through our very veins every moment of every day.  The presence of the Spirit invites us to know that all of life is sacred—that there is never a moment when we are not a part of all that is.  This presence invites us to move in right relationship with Creations itself, with all the other “beloveds”, and with ourselves as part of creative power and energy.  If we truly allow ourselves to break through the boundaries that we have erected and have been built for us, we cannot help but embrace our identity as beloved children of the universe, of the source of Creation, and creation itself.  We can look at nature for answers to our troubling questions.  Look at the birds—do we ever wonder whether or not the bluebirds and cardinals chose to be such?  Why then, do we wonder about people?  Did some choose to be white or brown or black?  Did some choose to be straight, or gay, or bi, or trans?  When we place those questions squarely where they belong—in the discussion of the right relationship between Creator and Created—the answer is so obvious as to render the question unnecessary.

          Every year more and more books are written in an attempt to “redefine God” or to make the Gospel more accessible to Gay folks, women, senior citizens or whatever group feels left out of contemporary understandings of spirituality.  Have you ever asked yourself why so many people today refuse to identify with religion, preferring to call themselves simply spiritual.  I think about it all the time and wonder where we, who have such a rich and wonderful heritage of sacred space and holy ground—I wonder where we have gone so terribly wrong.  Some of the ‘wrong-ness’ is obvious:  wars fought in the name of any religion, terrorism in the name of religion (and note that I am speaking as much about the bombings of abortion clinics by the Right to Lifers as I am about home-grown terrorists or foreign interlopers), hatred and bigotry, genocide, heterosexism, misogynism, discrimination and violation of the earth.  God does not condone those actions as they are not in tune with the right relationship between Creator and creation.  We may blame God for those actions, but I believe we are wrong when we do.  I also believe that whatever you call the source of all creation is in pain along beside us when these events occur or are ongoing. 

          In the midst of our three-fold experience of all there is, we are invited into the divine movement, divine dance, if you will, of this sacred time and place.  We are holy, created as we are—no explanation necessary—and become one with all there is. We grow, we change.  We expand our understanding; and, sometimes, modify our beliefs.  As we are led by the Spirit—the one in whom we “live and move and have our being” we allow ourselves to feel the belovedness of all creation.  And, as we do, we become vivid, brightly painted selves engaging in right relationships with others, with God, and with ourselves.  Our holy identity is then, and only then, evident to the world.  May we seek to open our hearts wider and wider and our minds deeper and deeper as we say to the world, “I am a beloved child of the universe, and both creator and creation rejoice that I am.  May we long to help others step into this beloved place and may we celebrate a God of creativity, love and action.  Amen and Amen

         

         

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.