Knowing Where to Look
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Jan. 22, 2012 (Sunshine Cathedral)

The Deuteronomy reading this morning tells us that the divine word is in our hearts.

St. Paul says today that the divine wisdom we call Christ offers water, or flowing spirit to all people; and that Paul interprets the water filled rock of the wandering in the wilderness story to be divine reality also shows that the divine can be found in the common, the ordinary, in daily life…in the arts, on the radio, in nature, in the kindness and warmth of loving people…in fact, there’s not a spot where God is not.

The Gospel of Thomas tells us to seek and find; and when one reads the rest of Thomas, one discovers that the search and what the search leads to are within.

And then John’s gospel says in chapter 1, verse 3, “Through the Word all things were made…” Then, 40 some verses later the question is asked if anything good can come from Nazareth, from “those people.” But what are “those people”? After all, the writer begins by telling us that everything that exists is an expression of divine wisdom, a manifestation of the divine word. Those people are God’s people. Can anything good come from Nazareth, from Iran, from red states or blue states, from the Mormons, the Methodists, the Muslims, the Mennonites, or from MCC…can anything good come from “them”? Come and see, the writer says! Come and see the divine word made flesh in and as all people.

Some folks may doubt, some folks may scorn
All can desert & leave me alone
But as for me, I’ll take God’s part
For God is real and I can feel God in my heart
Yes, God is real, real in my soul
Yes, God is real for God has blessed and made me whole.
God’s love for me is like pure gold.
Yes God is real for I can feel God in my soul.

Now you:
Yes, God is real, real in my soul/Yes, God is real for God has blessed and made me whole.
God’s love for me is like pure gold./Yes God is real for I can feel God in my soul.

That’s what we are committed to sharing with people here at the Sunshine Cathedral. No message of sin, guilt, fear, or shame here. Of course, we are challenged to live into our true nobility, to express more fully our innate dignity and sacred value. And, along the way, we make mistakes, obviously; but who we are, what we really are, is good.

At our core, the light of God is always shining, but outwardly, we may sometimes temporarily draw the shades. But we learn and we improve and we find that as Jesus said, we are the light of the world! (Matt 5.14)

Someone will sometimes point out that in the name of religion people will post hateful things on our YouTube channel and send scathing emails. They call us names and warn that an angry God is plotting against us. How can those people who seem so hateful be good we might wonder?

Obviously, their attacks aren’t good, nor are the fear or ignorance that inspires those attacks. But if they believed they were good enough, they wouldn’t need to demonize others to feel better about themselves. The problem isn’t that they aren’t innately good; the problem is that they haven’t yet learned to believe in their true goodness so they resort to bullying, threatening, vilifying, whatever to make themselves feel better. They may feel inadequate, but if they can paint us to be super vile, then they can feel better by comparison. If they had been taught that they are as much a part of God as a wave is one with the ocean, they wouldn’t need enemies to feel good about themselves.

Bette Midler once said, “The worst part of success is trying to find someone who is happy for you.” Well guess what, you have been very successful in letting this community know there is a place where their sacred value will be affirmed.
You have been very successful in building a spiritual home that values thinking as well as feeling and that will not give up when times are hard and will not give in to the threats or insults or attacks of our detractors.

You have built up a place that is fun and joyous and optimistic. We aren’t building up a church, we are building up people and the people who have found hope and healing are building up a church. You are succeeding marvelously in sharing the power of hope and goodwill.

Maria Callas said, “When my enemies stop hissing, I shall know I am slipping.” Well, from the viciousness sometimes directed toward us, we aren’t slipping yet! If they aren’t trying to stone you, shackle you, or throw you to the lions, you’re probably not doing prophetic work. But we are a prophetic movement and we are changing lives. The hate mail and harsh criticisms are just proof that what we are doing is too important to be ignored; and we will not stop.

We will not stop! In the name of God and for the cause of Christ, that is, for the cause of hope and healing, justice and equality, we will not stop!

And you know what? Even some of those who think they hate us are really just puzzled because we don’t hate ourselves, because we embrace heterosexuals and homosexuals and bisexuals and transgender people and people who play with the fluidity of gender. They don’t understand how we can value human potential more than ancient dogmas or how love is more important to us than canon law. They haven’t yet imagined a spirituality that is joyous, that celebrates secular and sacred music, Christian and non-Christian texts, women and men, science and art. They didn’t realize that hope and healing, challenge and comfort, justice and jubilation, critical thinking and generous hearts can all blend together into a life-changing, world changing faith experience. They don’t really hate us; they are simply projecting their pain, their fear, and their self-doubt onto us, but we need not accept it. Because we dare to live out loud, to celebrate all of who we are without shame, to show the world that we are people of courage and compassion, we are troubling the waters; but it is the troubled waters at the pool of Bethesda that offered healing.

We are stirring up settled nests, but in Deuteronomy we read, “Like a Mother Eagle stirring up her nest and hovering over her young, God spread Her wings and carried the people on divine feathers” (32.11). When the waters are moved and the nest is stirred, those are the times when divine power is released and lives begin to change. The critics aren’t our enemies; they are confirmation that through and as us God is moving and making miracles in our midst! And some of those critics will decide they want in on the fun and they will be amazed and delighted to learn there is a place for them right here with us.

We won’t change the world today; but we can change ourselves. Not our true selves, which have always been good, but our attitudes or our fears or our regrets or our bitterness or whatever has kept us from connecting with and expressing that goodness which is our truth. We can make that change and let that divine light shine a bit brighter today.

And we can stay the course, using every tool at our disposal to share this good news with more and more people so that they might begin to love themselves, believe in themselves, and allow their inner divinity to shine more brightly than ever before.

The Deuteronomy passage reminding us that divine wisdom is already in our hearts and in our mouths just ready to be expressed brings to mind an ancient story from the Hindu tradition. The story goes: In the beginning, the gods were afraid that humans might discover the divine reality. They debated about where they might hide the spark of divinity. On a mountain top? No, they decided, clever humans would just climb and find it. In the ocean? No, they decided, clever humans would just dive and find it. Finally, they thought of the perfect hiding place. They decided to hide the divine presence within the human heart where humans would never think to look for it.

Well, at Sunshine Cathedral, we’ve thought to look and we are finding the divine presence powerfully within and among us. And we are going to keep teaching and celebrating the goodness of all creation and more and more and more people are going to find hope, empowerment, healing, joy, peace, and fulfillment. We’re on a mission. We have a purpose. It is divinely ordained and we will remain faithful to it!

There is a song from the Broadway musical version of The Color Purple where the character Shug says to Celie,
“God is inside you and everyone else that was or ever will be. We come into this world with God but only them that look inside find It…and when you feel the truth so real and when you love the way you feel, you’ve found It.”

Will you worship with us throughout 2012? Will you invite someone to join you? Will you volunteer your energies to help us do and be more than we’ve ever been? Will you make a generous pledge of support this month and honor that pledge all year long? Will you collectively be the voice telling the world, “God is inside you and everyone else…and when you feel the truth so real and when you love the way you feel, you’ve found It.” I hope you will make that commitment today, because I believe this message with my whole heart and I believe in you. And this is the good news! Amen.
© Durrell Watkins 2012

Affirmations:
God is in me.
I feel it.
I know it.
I’m thankful for it.
Alleluia!
Amen.

Final Word
“We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us…it’s in all of us. And when we let our own light shine, we…give other people permission to do the same.” Marianne Williamson