The Reign of Christ
Durrell Watkins
Sunshine Cathedral
Reign of Christ Sunday 2011

I remember in Hot Springs, AR in the 80s there was a fabulous entertainer known as the Grand Empress of Arkansas. But there was no Grand Empress of Arkansas pageant. The holder of this title didn’t win it, he just sort of came by it and it stuck. {By the way, the Grand Empress was NOT me…I was just a princess in those days!}

Well, just like no one ever crowned the Grand Empress of Arkansas, no king or emperor crowned Jesus as a prince, no General elevated him to a high ranking military position, no prophet anointed him as the leader of a nation.

Mary of Bethany is said to have anointed Jesus’ feet with perfumed oil, but who was she? Of course, that shows Jesus the Anointed one literally receiving his anointing at the hands of a woman, but that’s another sermon.

But some people, either toward the end of his ministry or shortly after his crucifixion started giving Jesus exalted titles. They weren’t official titles; they were tributes from the margins of society.

People started to think of Jesus as God’s anointed, as a messianic figure, as their Lord over against the dominus of the empire, Lord Caesar. The Lordship of Jesus was empowerment shared with people, not privilege lorded over people. People felt more whole in Jesus’ presence, more alive, more hopeful, more connected to divinity, and so they called him messiah, teacher, healer, and Lord.

Jesus wasn’t a prince or a Lord in any political sense; he had no throne or scepter; in fact, he even once said that he didn’t even have a place to lay his head sometimes! Even though an imaginative genealogy at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel tries to suggest that Jesus is descended from royalty of the distant past, the truth remains that the Jesus people encountered in the first century was a peasant living in the backwater of an occupied territory. 95% of his community would have been illiterate.

Jesus himself would eventually be tortured and executed as a dangerous subversive. And yet, that is the sort of person who helped marginalized people feel more alive, more truly themselves. And in defiance of the empire, some of those people, at least eventually, called him Lord. How shocking, how creative, how seditious to call one Lord whom Lord Caesar’s government had killed. That’s how the reign of Jesus was established, but his reign wasn’t about power, privilege, or wealth…his reign happened in people’s hearts, and it was given to him freely, not demanded of them at the point of a spear.

We see the tribute to Jesus’ counter-cultural lordship in our scripture readings today. The Deutero-Pauline writer of Ephesians suggests that power is available to us. The “us” to whom he was writing would have been subjects and in some cases even slaves of the empire.

Empowerment in spite of oppression, hope in the face of hopelessness, human dignity affirmed for oneself when others have denied it, freedom in exile, wholeness in spite of all attempts to leave one broken…oh how tremendous is the power available to us…ALL of us!

While some may try to lord power over others and keep “the other” in the margins of society, we are always free to believe the best about ourselves, to see the divine potential in all people, to respond positively even to the most negative circumstances, and to summon hope even when situations seem hopeless. That is what we find in the beginnings of what would evolve into Christianity. Before it was institutionalized, domesticated, and used to reinforce the status quo, before it abandoned the Judaic faith and culture that gave rise to it, The Way, as the Jesus Movement was called, was a counter-cultural movement that challenged the systems of the world and offered Good News to those who needed it most. That’s the reign of Christ.

In the Gospel reading, Matthew imagines Jesus separating sheep from goats. The sheep and the goats can represent the best and worst elements of our lives, our society, our world. The sheep are the better angels of our nature while the goats are our fears, greed, violence, etc. The goats…those attitudes and habits that are unworthy of our divine nature, they are to be separated out and cast out, over come, replaced with lambs.

In Revelation 7 the writer imagines a Lamb on a throne…not a General, not an Emperor, but a Lamb. The Reign of Christ is what bible scholar Barbara Rossing calls Lamb Power: the power of love, the power of hope, the power of seeking the best not just for oneself or one’s community but for all people…that’s lamb power; that’s the reign of Christ.

That drug companies have accumulated vast fortunes while entire countries have been decimated by diseases that could have been managed with existing drugs is the way of the world, the way of empire, the way of Caesar, but Lamb Power, the reign of Christ would say “what does it profit someone to gain a fortune but lose compassion for others?” That people have died of AIDS when they might have lived if not for our greed is the way of cotemporary economics but it is not the way of the Reign of Christ.

Matthew suggests that followers of Jesus aren’t measured by their affirmations about Jesus but by demonstrating the compassion and commitment to justice that characterized his life and ministry. Venerating Jesus is easy (and cheap); caring for the dispossessed and marginalized, forming caring communities, demanding liberty and justice for all, caring for the so-called least of these…the sex worker, the migrant worker, the undocumented worker, the blue collar worker, the single mother, the elderly person, the Queer person, the transgender person, the abused child, the bullied teen…affirming the dignity of those society has too frequently cast aside is more difficult and more costly, in fact, it is the sort of activity that cost Jesus his life, and yet it is also what made people see following him as actually being life-giving.

For the reign of Christ to be experienced it must happen where it first happened, in human hearts so that our hands become the hands of Christ and we become truly the body and presence of Christ in the world today. We lift bread every Sunday and say, “This is my body.” But it’s not about the bread! Those who share the bread are to be the body – THIS (everyone in the room) – IS MY BODY. The reign of Christ happens when we care and when we care enough to share. The Reign of Christ is deeds not creeds!

For the Christ Nature to reign in our consciousness and to express in our lives isn’t to imagine Jesus on a throne as one more dictator or potentate. The Reign of Christ doesn’t look like Jesus wearing robes and a crown; it looks like us doing what Sojourner Truth did…working for not only our own liberation but also for the liberation of others.

Notice we are speaking of the reign of Christ, not the rule of Christ. Ruling is the oppressive, imperial way of Caesar (and of all empires and colonizing powers).

Rulers will try to block marriage equality.
Rulers will call pizza a vegetable.
Rulers try to protect the most powerful few who will in turn protect them.
Kings create barons and knights; barons and knights protect kings, even in republics though the verbiage is different. Kings create and protect the elite; the elite then protect the king. The circle of privilege is small and fiercely guarded. That is what ruling looks like.

But to reign is to be a unifying symbol and presence, not a conquering ruler. To be ruled over is to be enslaved, controlled, robbed of choice or agency, and that is not good news. The reign of Christ is the indefatigable, fearless, relentless sharing of life-giving, life-enhancing, life-saving good news! Rulers are seldom just; but the reign of Christ demands justice for all!

Jesus lived so fully into his humanity that he actually expressed divinity. The divine humanity that Jesus modeled touched lepers, empowered women and children, affirmed the sacred value of his people’s traditional enemies, and broke social taboos when he shared table fellowship with tax collectors, prostitutes, the mentally ill, and others whom society shunned.

To follow Jesus then isn’t to merely recite 3rd and 4th century creeds as if they were completely relevant for today. To follow Jesus is to minister to the sick, to demand equal protection and equal opportunity for all people, to value peace more than war, and to insist that in an abundant universe every human has every basic need met!

We must use religion, government, social capital, and personal resources to see that no one is needlessly hungry or homeless, unmedicated or uneducated, oppressed or dispossessed.

To see the light of Christ in the so-called “least of these” among us and to offer them the hope, peace, and empowerment that we have found is the true Reign of Christ.

We still have work to do. And we are called to do it. Together, as we continue to share our time, talent, and treasure for the cause of Christ, we will succeed! This is the good news. Amen.

© Durrell Watkins 2011

Affirmations:
God in me is lifting me up.
God through me is lifting up others.
May the reign of Christ bless us all today.
Amen.

The Future Has Infinite Possibilities!
Rev. Durrell Watkins
Sunshine Cathedral, Nov. 13, 2011
1 Thess. 5.1-9, 11; Matt. 25.14-30

The Fabulous Carol Burnett! When I was a child, that sort of performance thrilled me! I’m five years old dancing around the house singing, “I saw her at the Seashore with a great big pan, there was Hannah pouring water on a drowning man, she’ hard hearted Hannah, the vamp of Savannah, GA!” And yet, 14 years later my mother had the nerve to act surprise when I came out her!

The reason that clip appealed to me for today, other than, hello?! It’s a great song, and its Carol Burnett…who needs any other reasons?! But the real reason that seemed appropriate for today is because Carol starts singing some old fashioned religious song and then jumps into a more festive, fun secular song that actually fills her with life and joy and vitality. And that reminds me so much of our ministry in MCC, and especially at Sunshine Cathedral.

We say now every week, “Sunshine Cathedral is a different kind of church where the past is past and the future has infinite possibilities!” The mistakes of the past don’t limit what we can do in the future, and the successes of the past aren’t as good as it can ever be. As a church, as a community, as individuals, we are empowered as we embrace the notion that the past is past and the future has infinite possibilities.

When people point out how different we are from Presbyterians or Roman Catholics or Mormons or Wesleyans, they sometimes seem to be suggesting that we should be like those places, but we could never out Presbyterian the Presbyterians or out Catholic the Catholics or out Baptist the Baptists, nor should we waste our time trying. We’ve been called to be US. Those ministries are well established; ours is the new thing that has been raised up to enliven and renew the world at this time.

We read in Isaiah (43.19), “See, I am doing a NEW thing!” and in Revelation (21.5), “Behold I make all things new.” MCC is something new in the Christian experience, and Sunshine Cathedral is something new in MCC, and each of us is something new within Sunshine Cathedral! The past is past, and the future has infinite possibilities.

For some of us, its new to consider that God is bigger than tradition, scripture, sacraments, nationality, or gender…and yet as our experience of God becomes more, we grow and become more ourselves. The future has infinite possibilities!).

For some of us, its new to see women in leadership, and yet as we embrace the sacred value of all people and respect the gifts that all kinds of people have to offer, we all grow and thrive and become better. The future has infinite possibilities!

When we come to MCC, it’s new for most of us to learn that we have a denomination that is lead by a woman…one of the few denominations in the world that is led by a woman, and yet, how special that makes us that in spite of millennia of patriarchy, sexism, and misogyny, there is within Christianity a movement that is leading the way in showing what the Apostle Paul said so long ago, “In Christ there is neither male nor female for we are all one in Christ!” (Gal. 3.28).

It is very new for some people to realize that we can hear the voice of God in film, television, secular music, art, nature, science, and the wisdom of the world’s various religions as well as from our own Christian traditions. And yet, as we allow God to be more than the symbols we’ve created to point us toward God, our experience of spirituality and life begins to expand dramatically.

Of course, coming to MCC and learning that there are Christians who affirm the sacredness of the human body, who affirm the blessing that love is regardless of the genders of the people who share it, who affirm the miracle of human sexuality, and who affirm the divine gift that diversity is represents a very new experience for many of us. And yet, a spirituality based on celebration rather than condemnation, on affirmation rather than on degradation, and on possibilities more than on prohibitions has brought those of us who have dared to try it more peace, joy, and empowerment than we ever knew before. And if our lives have improved this much in this amount of time, then we can easily believe that the future has infinite possibilities!

When other churches condemned same-gender love, MCC affirmed with the writer of 1 John that God is Love and WHOEVER lives in love lives in God and God lives in them! When other churches ignored the AIDS crisis or accused people with AIDS of deserving their plight, MCC affirmed with Jesus that with God all things are possible. And when other churches said that only those on their roles who shared their opinions had a place in God’s heart, MCC affirmed with the Apostle Peter that God shows NO partiality! Oh it seemed so new, so radically new, and thank God for the new voices of hope and healing, love and liberation, inclusion and revolution. The very existence of MCC proves that the future has infinite possibilities!

Process philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, “Our minds are finite, and yet even in these circumstances of finitude we are surrounded by possibilities that are infinite, and the purpose of life is to grasp as much as we can out of that infinitude.”

We are always being encouraged to embrace new thoughts that will allow new and better realities. And we can, because the future has infinite possibilities!

If Carol Burnett singing an old vaudeville song on Lucille Ball’s comedy television show can touch the heart of a 5 year old baby Queer who 40 years later would use that song to proclaim the good news that the future has infinite possibilities, then there are NO limitations on how lives can be enriched, empowered, uplifted, and filled with joy. The future has infinite possibilities!

That’s what the gospel is saying today. You each have something worth sharing. Talent, wisdom, kindness, money, love, time…you have something that you can use in service and as you share it you are participating in bringing to light the miracles that exist within the Field of All Possibilities. When we give time, talent, and treasure to what we believe in and to what has affirmed our sacred value, we are expressing trust that our gifts can make a difference and we are also expressing trust that as we share our blessings we are blessed all the more. Our sharing encourages one another and future generations to believe that God believes in them…and that belief changes lives for the better.

That’s what Paul is saying in his first letter to the Thessalonians, the oldest book in the New Testament. Paul uses an old term, “Day of the Lord” which is found throughout the ancient scriptures (Obadiah, Joel, Isaiah, Zephaniah, Ezekiel). It was usually used by prophets to suggest the possibility of divine wrath and judgment; it was meant to threaten people, to frighten them into being faithful.

Paul, however, uses the term a bit more constructively. Paul reminds his Thessalonian friends that the divine presence is a healing presence, not the cause of harm. Children of Light (enlightened souls) trust the goodness of God and believe it will sustain them regardless of what is happening around or even to them. He tells them, “God did not appoint us to suffer” (probably with Jeremiah 29.11 in mind, “I know the plans I have for you…plans to prosper you and not to harm you…”). Messages of doom and gloom are not good news, and so we must redeem those old messages so that they are encouraging rather than demoralizing. That’s what Paul is doing today…he’s encouraging his friends and he asks them to continue encourage one another. The day of the Lord isn’t a punishment around the corner…THIS is the divine day and it is a day of blessings and possibilities. This is the day our God has made, let us rejoice and be GLAD in it!

The scriptures tell us today that we don’t have to be Hard Hearted Hannahs…We are meant to be Warm Hearted Homos…and Heteros…and all the variations of blessed humanity that exist between those two expressions. We are meant to be warm hearted humans, people who are aware of and grateful for our gifts, who then share them to bless the world, and who by our witness are letting the world know that for all of us, the future has infinite possibilities.

Thank God, the Sunshine Cathedral is a different kind of church where the past is past and the future has infinite possibilities. And this is the good news! Amen.
© Durrell Watkins 2011

Affirmations
My future has infinite possibilities.
My future begins right now.
I am blessed and my blessings multiply.
I share my blessings to bless others.
And I am blessed even more.
Alleluia!
Amen.

Final Word
“Become a possibilitarian. No matter how bad things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see possibilities – always see them, for they’re always there.” Norman Vincent Peale

We Remember
Revelation 7.9-17
Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin
Sunshine Cathedral MCC ~ Sunday, November 06, 2011

On this Sunday of the church’s cycle we recognize All Saints and All Souls Day.
All Saints Day is a consolation and a reminder that we have not nor will we make this earthly journey alone. When we take a moment to remember and honor those who have gone before us we pay respect to a long line of saints who took it upon themselves to work for justice while showing compassion.

All Saints is a reminder of our friends and loved ones who have gone before us and though gone from this plane of existence, their spirit remains very much alive and present. They are present as we remember how their words and deeds touch the very core of our existence and their legacy lives on because part of who they were is forever instilled into the very core of our memory, never to be forgotten.

Today is a reminder that our fore-parents worked to improve our world; they made some mistakes along the way, and they certainly left more work to be done by us, but the heroes and sheroes of the past did what they could to make life better for more people, and we honor them when we try to do the same.

When we place the Saints into proper context, the lives of the Saints, men and women alike, become our sacred text. The lives that the Saints lived, the good acts on behalf of humanity that they committed, to make the world that they knew better and is what in some cases led to their very deaths and this does not go without notice.

Their lives have become for us a living text. Saints of all times, saints of our religion, other religions, and no religion, people who simply expressed hope and wholeness by the way they lived their lives, left us with an inheritance of integrity and courage and hope. From religious leaders to philosophers, from movement starters to peace activists, the saintly souls who have gone before us have helped shaped what we are by showing us what we can and must do. As long as we continue to improve ourselves, we honor their witness, we keep their work alive, and they are never truly forgotten.

Recently, MCC bible scholar Dr. Mona West said, “Saints are not models of perfection but people who opened themselves to the ways God, sought to work in and through their particular lives and gifts.”

Now I believe people like Rev. Jonathan Daniels, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Rosa Parks, Bayard Rustin, Harvey Milk, Mother Teresa, Princess Diana, former United States President Jimmy Carter, and former South Africa President Nelson Mandela are examples and models of what Dr. West spoke of when she said, “Saints are not models of perfection but people who opened themselves to the ways God.”

We are not these Saints, but the text of their lives can be inspiration for our journey. Saints living and dead aren’t models of perfect; they are models of commitment, people who work with God so that God’s will may be done on earth as it is in heaven. There are saints in our hearts today, and even saints in this room. In fact, at some moment or other, I bet almost all of us have shown signs of saintliness, even if we didn’t notice.

Then, there are those who I believe become Saints of no particular doing of their own, like Matthew Shepherd. He just was living his young life, and he was martyred for embracing his truth. He didn’t mean to be a hero or a symbol, he just wanted to live out loud, and he paid for embracing his wholeness with his life.

Everywhere that finds people who are bullied and victimize and marginalize same-gender loving people are places where saints are made. Not because the hatefulness is holy, but because the cruelty shows that life is precious, every life is precious and genuine love is always better than self-righteous hate.

Saints are those who are dying of hunger, because their needless deaths show that life is good and worth living and that we who have much should share more plentifully so that all may have enough.

Those who suffer from lack of medication, from unclean air or impure water, who die alone or forgotten are all saints, because even when the world ignored them, the presence of God enfolded them and cared for them and affirmed their undying dignity.

Today I am mindful of our MCC history and Saints. One particular set of Saints that comes to mind were those who were killed in a MCC church fire in New Orleans some 30 years ago. As the congregation gathered in an upstairs room, someone decided to set fire to the downstairs area, thus trapping the congregation upstairs, within moments the majority of that congregation was killed, all due to homophobia.

I am further reminded of our MCC saints, that great cloud of witnesses that were taken due to AIDS. An epidemic that took the lives of over 50% of our male clergy and many lay people in MCC could not defeat the purpose of MCC, and we’re still here…Sunshine Cathedral MCC and MCCs all over the world are still here.

We are here for those who are still on the margins of society, here for those who have yet to find a spiritual home, here for the seekers who are uncertain if they can every try religion again or trust church again. We are here and are committed to remaining here as a beacon of hope.

I often hear the words of Rev. Elder Troy Perry, founder of MCC saying, “for such a time as this MCC has been called forth”. We have not been called forth to rest on the works of the saints who have gone before us; Our Saints have lived and often given their lives so that we can be more than just open and affirming. Acceptance or tolerance isn’t enough for MCC. I would never worship in a church, no matter how friendly they seemed to be to my face, that would not marry me, ordain me, or say out loud that I am as God made me. The saints of MCC gave too much for me to ever consider putting even a toe back in the closet…MCC celebrates all of me and we are here for all who are longing for that amazing gift.

I believe that the great cloud of witnesses has kept us moving forward because we still have work to do. I believe that great cloud of witnesses has been with us as we faced the Anita Bryants of the world, as we faced employment discrimination, as we fought for a woman’s right to choose, as we faced amendments to prevent marriage equality, as we faced the threat of funding decreases in the battles against AIDS and poverty, as we dared to name racism and classism and sexism where they existed, even in our own community. The saints have called us to action, and they continue to inspire us throughout eternity.

Our Saints are not super humans, but a reminder of our calling to make this world a better place. With this in mind, we can be reminded that regardless of the current state of affairs, personally or globally, we are still blessed and have that great cloud of witnesses watching over us as we do our part to make this world and our community more heavenly here and now.
That is the challenge of MCC today and yet I am also aware of the words of Rev. Elder Dr. Nancy Wilson, current Moderator of MCC who has said, “MCC is not for everybody.”

For me it was a reminder that if we are not committed to making the world a better place, MCC may not be for us. If we are not committed to addressing classism, racism, sexism, homophobia or any ism that would hold any of the children of God back from experiencing the best of life, then MCC may not be the place for us. If we are not committed to tearing down walls and being agents of change where hope can be built up, MCC may not be the place for us. MCC is a prophetic movement that calls for action, commitment, service, generosity, hope, and courage. Not everyone is interested in such a whole-life commitment, but that kind of commitment is the Christian life…Christianity isn’t a life of privilege for the lucky, it’s a life of service to improve the lot of all who haven’t yet experienced God’s best in their lives. If one isn’t ready to live a life of service and activism, a life of Christian transformation and action, then MCC may not appeal to them.

If you are not a part of blessing those who mourn, then MCC may not be the place for you.
If you are not a part of blessing those who are poor in spirit, then MCC may not be the place for you.
If you are not a part of blessing those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, then MCC may not be the place for you.
If you are not a part of blessing the merciful, then MCC may not be the place for you.
If you are not a part of blessing the peacemakers, then MCC may not be the place for you.
If you are not a part of blessing those who are persecuted, insulted and unfairly vilified, then MCC may not be the place for you.

But I believe you and I are in this room because MCC IS the blessed place for us. I believe we have answered the divine call to hope more, love more, give more, serve more, to stand up and speak up and change lives. We won’t settle for the back of the bus, not for ourselves nor will we sit idly by while others are kept in the back. We want more, we deserve more, we demand more, and in the name of God we are working for more, just as the saints who went before did.

Because as we do this work of living the Beatitudes, here and now we can see how lives are changed forever because of our presence in this community. As we do this work of living the Beatitudes, the hungry are fed both physically and spiritually. As we answer the call to live fully into the Beatitudes our own individual attitude is forever changed because we want the best not only for ourselves but also for those who are less resourced than we are. As we do this work, we can rejoice and be glad because we know that we are making a difference.

And this is the Good News.

Affirmations:
I am being blessed right!
I receive my blessing!
I am blessed beyond measure!
I am blessed to be a blessing!
I willing share my blessings with others.
And so it is.
Amen.

Final Word
“If you smile when no one else is around, you really mean it.” Andy Rooney

Hallowing Halloween
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Oct. 30, 2011

Full moons and witches’ hats, spider webs and flying bats, goblins, ghouls, and fairy wings, now’s the time we see these things.

Did you know Halloween is one of the world’s oldest holidays?

We think it began as an ancient Celtic celebration called Samhain (sow-in).

The ancient Celts began their new year on November 1, so the night before November 1, Samhain, was their New Year’s Eve (a party day in every culture!). The Celtic New Year marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the cold, dark winter.

Now, Nature in the days before advanced technologies could seem volatile and even cruel. In a pre-scientific age harsh winters along with food shortages and primitive medicine could result in high mortality rates. And so people began to associate the dark, cold winter with fear and with the possibility of death. The beginning of a season that seemed to invite death could be cause for alarm, or at least concern. And so myths and legends developed saying that on the night before the New Year, the night before November first, the night of Samhain, the barrier between the world of the dead and the world of the living was particularly thin. And if the barrier between the worlds of the living and the dead was thin, then maybe the dead could return to the world of the living, and try to take some of the living back to their world.

What could we do to prevent death from invading life at this transitional time of the year? We could build bonfires to dispel the darkness (and to invite warmth and light and good luck for the winter months) and we could wear disguises, costumes so that if a dead ancestor or enemy came looking for us, they wouldn’t recognize us and we might be left alone. Seems naïve to our 21st century minds, but when one is desperate, one will try anything. How many pills and potions have we all taken to look younger, or be thinner? I’ve known people who took supplements believing they might make them taller! Oh yes…when we feel helpless and afraid, a dose of snake oil suddenly seems quite reasonable.

By the middle of the first century, the Romans had conquered the Celts and Roman myths and traditions started mingling with those of the natives. The Romans also had a late October observance whereby they honored their loved ones who had died. Also in late October, the Romans would honor the goddess Pomona, the goddess of fruit, whose symbol was an apple. And so, the practice of bobbing for apples developed. Samhain and Roman pagan practices were blended together.

By the 8th century, Pope Gregory III made November 1 a day to honor spiritual heroes and Christian martyrs of the past. The day came to be called All Saints Day and actually incorporated some of the traditions of Samhain. As November 1st then was a time to observed hallowed, or holy souls, the night before the Day of All Hallows became known as All Hallows Eve, the very day that Samhain was always observed. All Hallows Eve would eventually be shortened to Halloween.

By the year 1000, the Church made November 2 All Souls Day to honor, well, all souls that had passed from this experience of life to the next. And this feast was probably meant specifically to replace the Roman and Celtic practices of remembering the dead, and in fact, All Souls Day was practiced much as Samhain had been, with bonfires and people dressing up…but instead of dressing up to fool ghosts, Christians would dress up like the exalted or fallen spirit of their mythology…they would dress as saints, angels, and demons.

So, the traditions of Halloween, All Saints Day, and All Souls Day become sort of blended. They all meant about the same thing and they all happened about the same time. Some people continued to observe Halloween. By the time Europeans had settled (or conquered depending on your point of view) North America, the Puritans decided that Halloween should be avoided because of its pagan beginnings. But over time, as more and more Europeans came to North America, they continued to bring their European traditions with them, and Halloween survived. In fact, it was Irish immigrants who brought tradition of carving pumpkins into jack-o-lanterns.

By the 20th century, Halloween had evolved into a secular (and commercially successful) holiday for children to dress up and collect candy. Here and there fundamentalists have tried to derail the holiday by claiming it was somehow diabolical, but in reality, it started as a defense against the potentially nefarious forces of death, evolved into religious celebrations honoring the beloved dead, and finally became a time for children to have fun and for adults to give gifts of candy to whomever might come asking for a treat. Whatever else the history of Halloween may include, a devotion to evil of any kind is not part of the tradition.

Tomorrow is Halloween. Have candy ready in case little goblins and fairies come ringing your bell; and if you go to parties, be safe. Now, this little history lesson is appropriate to the calendar, but you might wonder what any of this has to do with our scripture readings today! I’m glad you asked.

Halloween, I believe, shares some important points with today’s readings.

1. Those ancient Samhain practices from Celtic Europe showed frightened people facing their fears with ritual and imagination. They couldn’t guarantee the outcome of events, but they didn’t allow that from keeping them from believing that they could do something that might tip the scales toward their survival. Isn’t that what the writer of the book of Joshua is suggesting: “As God was with Moses, so God will be with us.” Moses had hard times. Moses made mistakes. Moses faced overwhelming challenges, but God was with him no matter what. We have that same comfort. And if God is with us, then we are never without hope, we are never beyond the possibility of peace, our joy is never subject to our circumstances. With or without costumes and bonfires, we have the power of hope at our disposal.

2. The ancient Samhain traditions and the Roman celebrations in honor of Pomona and their beloved dead show that honor and humility, as our second reading suggests, are life-long companions. We don’t honor ourselves by seeking privilege; as we embrace humility, we honor the Source of life and our lives are honored as well. As we give, share, serve, we are becoming our best selves and as we become all that we are meant to be, God, in whose image we are created is honored.

3. Whether we are taking about Samhain, Halloween, All Saints or All Souls Day, we are obviously acknowledging the experience of death; and we are acknowledging the significance of life beyond death. When Jesus says the greatest among you must serve, as he says elsewhere the last shall be first and the first shall be last, just as St. Paul said that in the blessed community we call the body of Christ all parts of the body are of equal importance, we are reminded that no matter how important we think we are, no matter how fortunate or troubled our lives seem to be, in actuality we all are born, we all must die, between birth and death there are opportunities and challenges, and beyond death, the energy of life somehow continues…beyond our titles and resumes, we are part of the never-ending process of life. We are all equally part of that process and within that process, there is no great and small, no first and last, there is just life manifesting as each one of us…all equally a part of the ultimate reality we call God.

4. Finally, as we examine Halloween, we see that it is silly to demonize the day…a day on a calendar can’t be evil, and children dressing up and enjoying candy is only fun, and people wanting to make children happy by giving them treats is generous and loving and kind. It’s silly to lay superstitions and unreasonable fears onto Halloween. Halloween is and always has been a time to confront our fears, to honor the entire life cycle which includes the experience of death and life beyond death, to remember with love those who have passed onto the next experience of life, and to celebrate this life with hope and joy and generosity. And just as it is silly to demonize Halloween, it is silly to demonize same-gender loving people, or anyone for that matter. We are all children of God, God is always with us, the least among us has great potential and the greatest among us have weaknesses…but ultimately, we are all one. There are no monsters, just children of God, some who have and some who haven’t yet recognized and celebrated their sacred value. And that’s why we’re here…to remind all people that they are in God and of God and are eternally loved by God. Halloween is as good a time as any to share and celebrate that message. And this is the good news. Amen.

© Durrell Watkins 2011

Affirmation
I give thanks for life.
I honor all lives that have blessed my life.
I acknowledge that my life has sacred value.
I affirm blessings for my life.
And I know that just as I Am, God is with me.
And so it is!

Every Time We Touch
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Dt. 34.5, 7; Ps. 90.1-2, 17; Mt. 22.34-40

That doesn’t seem like any library I’ve ever been to; but it does remind me an awful lot of church…well, our church anyway! Isn’t it amazing how good romance and good worship share so much in common!

The gathering of people in that video were isolated, fixed on their own tasks, needs, desires, concerns. But when someone started talking about the power of love, things began to change.

At first, they are annoyed by her enthusiasm and joy about love, but as she remains committed to her witness, one by one they all catch the fire and unfettered joy takes over their lives…at least for as long as they will allow it. That is exactly what spirituality is…we come together, we share, we get uplifted, and we let our lives express joy. And then, the miracles start to occur.

“Every time we touch I get this feeling and every time we kiss I swear I could fly. Can’t you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last. I need you by my side.”

In moments of intimate communion, I feel empowered. I want this sense of oneness to last; I need to be aware of you always with me. What profoundly good theology, and from a dance song! Of course, songs and poems and dramas and fictional tales are all through our scriptures. Maybe the wise ones have always known that love and joy and sharing are the true sources of powerful living.

And then, a line that almost perfectly sums up the message Christians call good news:

“You are my castle, your heart is my sky, they wipe away tears that I cry; the good and the bad times, we’ve been through them all, you make me rise when I fall.”

The power of love is the power of Resurrection. There may be difficult times, but if I know I am loved, I can navigate them. Even if life seems to knock me down, love can lift me back up. This could be my Easter sermon!

Now, when we talk about love, that seems sort of airy-fairy and not very tangible. I mean, who is loving all the time? And how can we really love our enemies? And how can we express love for those who are trying to hurt us and at the same time show ourselves the love we need and deserve? This love business has too many practical applications to work out…let’s just focus instead on sin and judgment and divine wrath…hate and fear are easy! This love business requires some work…and maybe that’s the point.

The first reading today tells us that Moses was a servant of God, and he had a full, meaningful life until the end. Moses touched people with his courage, and his generosity, and his commitment to justice. He touched people by offering service, and that gave Moses strength and purpose. Moses shows us that the richest life isn’t necessarily the life with the most possessions, but the life that has evolved beyond selfishness. The life that touches others lives with generosity and goodwill is a life that will be filled with joy.

Then the psalmist prays this morning, “God, you have always been our dwelling place.”

God isn’t limited to traditions, institutions, texts, or even any particular time. The universal power and presence that we call God is the Substance of all that is…our truest Reality is divine. God, as the Psalmist says, is our dwelling place. We don’t need to find God or be rescued by God from our sinfulness…

You may have noticed I don’t refer to us as sinners. Oh, God knows we make our share of mistakes. And, we all carry some old baggage that weighs us down and gets in our way from time to time. Most of us have developed habits that don’t add much joy to our lives. And in our insecurity, we may lash out at others because we are afraid that we are so insignificant our only hope of mattering is to tear down someone else so that we can at least be better than THEM.

We sometimes experience brokenness and in our brokenness we can even do things that could be called evil…but that is human evil, the result of brokenness, woundedness. It is an illusion, without any real substance. And we can overcome the illusion of evil and begin to contact the better angles of our nature. We may not live into or even be aware of our divinity, but that doesn’t mean that we aren’t in and of God. God has always been our dwelling place. It is in God that we live and move and have our being. Nothing can separate us from the love of God.

You may sin, that is, you may miss the mark…we all do and will. Mistakes will be made, others will be blamed. But a person who makes a mistake, even someone who is in the habit of making the same terrible mistake over and over is not herself or himself a mistake. We are part of the creation that God calls very good. We aren’t sinners, even though we miss the mark. There’s an old saying where I come from: “You can put your boots in the oven but that don’t make’em biscuits.” Just because we aren’t done growing, healing, and learning doesn’t mean that we are innately evil. I reject as vehemently as a fundamentalist rejects science any notion of original sin. I don’t know if God ever makes mistakes, but if God does, I refuse to believe that humanity is one of them! We didn’t fall from perfection; we are still evolving toward it! Or better stated, we are learning, however slowly, to recognize and express the perfection that is our true state. We are the children of God. God is our dwelling place.

The Deuteronomy reading shows us that a life lived in service is a full life. The Psalm reminds us that Perfect Love, Eternal Love, God is our true home. Then the gospel ties together trusting the God in us and serving the God in others.

Jesus says the greatest commandments are simply to love God and love others. What a non-dogmatic view. If you love God then you will love yourself and others because we are in God and God is in us. We can’t love God but not God’s dwelling place. It’s easier to bash the Mormons or the Mennonites, the Buddhists or the Baptists, the Sikhs or the Seventh Day Adventists, the Agnostics or the Anglicans, the Jews or the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Wiccans or the Wesleyans…it’s easier to fear queers than to delight in diversity…it’s easier to worship a book than to wrestle with it, to worship the sacraments than to allow them to reveal the holiness within us…it’s easier to complain than to sustain, to resist change instead of resisting injustice…it’s easier to be dogmatic, doctrinal, religious, even zealous than it is to embrace the simple words of Jesus…love God and your neighbor. Jesus will go on in the parable of the good Samaritan to say, PS – EVERYONE is our neighbor. Self-righteousness is so much easier than self-realization. And so religion has too often taken the easy path rather than doing the work of spirituality which is simply the work of learning to love ourselves and then loving others as we love ourselves.

God is love, so the more we love, the more of God we express. As we love and give and share with wasteful abandon, we are becoming more and more like God, which is, more and more like the truth of our infinite potential. To know God isn’t to call her this name or to call him that name…to know God isn’t to beg for divine favors or forgiveness…to know God is simply to allow God to become manifest in our experience which happens every time we offer love without condition or expectation of anything in return…every time we touch our world with love.

This kind of love take practice, especially if we were not shown it by our parents or caregivers in our formative years. But we can practice, and the more we practice the better we’ll get at it.

With our coming together to encourage one another to express the better angels of our nature, to challenge one another when we become too gossipy, too complaining, or too fearful, to comfort the despondent, and to practice acts of compassion, justice, generosity, and kindness…by coming together, learning together, and working together we will evolve and more and more of God will express through us and more and more love will flow out of us to help and heal the world around us.

Right relationship with the divine Reality isn’t about belief, tradition, or ritual…some very self-righteous, so-called orthodox people deny love or even human kindness to gays and lesbians, to people of other religions, and they often care little for the environment, for equal opportunity, and they sometimes seem much more supportive of war than peace.

They claim to believe in God, but they don’t seem to value much of what God most truly represents…peace, hope, love, compassion, generosity, justice, healing. If they had fewer beliefs and more love, what a different world we’d have. If we all had few beliefs and more love, what a different world we would have. There is a saying which I hope every person of faith will embrace as they grow and mature, and it is: “the older i get the more i believe, AND the fewer beliefs I have.”

God has always been our home. Our job isn’t to find God, please God, flatter God, cower before God, or even to believe much about God. Our job is to come home…to be more at home in God and to let the Love that God is express more fully through us. We are to touch the divine Reality of our lives, and touch the divinity of others, and thereby bring healing and wholeness to more and more people. And every time we touch the divinity within and among us, we express a bit more of the goodness that is our natural and true state. It isn’t always easy, and we won’t always get it right, and yet we can begin the process that leads to healing and fulfillment. We can begin the process in this God-filled moment. We start by loving…we learn to love ourselves and then to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves. Just begin. If you’re not good at it right off, who cares? Just try and try again. It takes a life time but it starts in just an instant; why not this instant? As we touch the world with more love, we will be loving God, in fact we will be living the love that God is; and this is the good news.

© Durrell Watkins 2011

Affirmations
My true essence is loving.
My true nature is love.
I will love myself today.
I will begin to love my neighbor as myself.
I will be God’s love in action.
And so it is.

Final Word
“God is love and whoever lives in love lives in God and God lives in them.” 1 John 4.16

Always More
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins, Sunshine Cathedral
October 16, 2011

The gospel lesson this morning is very familiar and really doesn’t need a lot of commentary. In the simplest reading of the text, Jesus seems to be saying that paying both tithes and taxes is good. Of course his opponents are trying to trap him. If they can get them to say people shouldn’t worship with their generous giving, then they can accuse of him not being a true prophet. Consistent and joyful generosity is absolutely sacramental in scripture; so, if Jesus doesn’t seem to know that, they’ve got him!

But, if Jesus says that people shouldn’t pay their taxes, then they can accuse of him of trying to get people to cheat the government. That makes him an enemy of the state, and for that he could get in a lot of trouble. But Jesus is smart enough to see through his opponents’ trap. And he says, “Be a good citizen…pay your taxes, AND, be a good worshipper…pay your tithes.” It’s not either/or, it’s both/and. God’s people aren’t looking for loopholes; the people of God want to do more, not less. The people of God volunteer, they share, they support the government and demand the government to then support its people. The people of God support their house of worship and other good causes and they lend aid to their friends. The people of God simply do all they can whenever they can. That’s the proper way to show the world what it means to be the people of God.

As John Wesley said, “Do all the good you can by all the means you can in all the ways you can to all the people you can for as long as you ever can.” God, Infinite Good, the Spirit of Life, the Mystery of the Universe, the Web of All Existence, the Source and Substance of all that is, must be so much more than we could ever imagine. We can know more and more of God, and yet, no matter how much we know there must still be more to discover. So, since God is always more, how we worship is by doing and being and becoming always more ourselves. As we do and become more, we experience more of God, which is always more than we could imagine. There’s always more to do, more to learn, more to share, more to experience, more to discover, always more.

The point that God is more than we have imagined, and even more than we sometimes want to imagine, is demonstrated in the lesson from Exodus today. In that reading we see Moses struggling with the temptation that we all have known. He wants to see God. He wants to see infinity from his finite vantage point. It can’t be done. The writer imagines God saying, “you can’t see me and live.” And that makes sense…to see the infinite, one would have to be beyond the constraints of mortal physicality.

And yet, time and again, we find ourselves wanting to trap God inside a box, a container, an image, a name, a religious tradition, a political ideology…we want to say, “Here is where God is and this is what God is…See, we have God; we know God; we own the rights to divinity!” But when we believe that we have locked God in the box of our own understanding, we simply have fooled ourselves. Trying to trap God in the boxes of our own comfort will fail as surely as Jesus’ opponents failed to trap him with the false dichotomy they presented to him.

The Ten Commandments contain a strict and clear prohibition against idolatry: “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in the sky, or on the earth, or in the water” (Deuteronomy 5.8). The problem with an image is that it can too easily become a crutch. We see the image and we forget that image is not essence. We forget that images are symbols that point beyond themselves, never to themselves. And all too soon we allow the image to become magical, sacred, a substitute for a real relationship with the power and presence we call God. Whenever we whittle the mystery of life down to an image, no matter how familiar or comfortable that image maybe, we have made God too small and have thereby stunted our own spiritual growth.

We can never be bigger or better than our understanding of God. And so, if our God can be carved, painted, baked, photographed, molded, contained in a book or otherwise limited by any finite condition such as nationality, gender, or religious tradition, then we have made God too small, and we who are made in God’s image then will also remain much too small.

In Exodus 32, we see a story about the hazards of idolatry.

Moses has gone up a mountain to commune with God. Mountain tops often represent the divine presence in ancient mythology and in our own scriptures. While Moses is away, the people get impatient and fear that without Moses to speak for God, they will have no experience of God. So they persuade Aaron to let them build a golden calf (probably representing Apis, the bull-god of Egypt).

When Moses comes down he sees this tribute to the past, this longing for the system that had oppressed them, and he goes berserk. Aaron tries to tell him that it all just mysteriously happened…people just randomly started throwing their gold jewelry into a camp fire and eventually out rolled this golden calf! Moses doesn’t buy it and he unleashes sheer terror on his own people. He’s angry that they want to “see” God, that they want God to be so small that God can be seen, known, understood, owned. And he’s especially angry that what they are worshiping is the past, and at that, a past that dehumanized them and from which they have escaped. Why would they ever want to go back to that?

However, Moses now, just one chapter later, is caught in the same temptation. He too wants to “see” God…not as a tribute to Egyptian oppression, not as a monument to the past, not as a golden calf, but still…he wants God to be manageable. He wants God to fit nicely into an image. He wants to see God’s face…he wants God to be small enough to fit into a single experience. And God says, “Never gonna happen!”

God reminds Moses that God’s Name is Un-Namable! For our own convenience we call God this and that—Elohim (Masc./Fem./plural)…El Shaddai (Almighty Breasted One)…Adonai (My Lord, or sovereign, or protector)…Spirit…Father…Mother…even “God” and all of these names and many more are found in our scriptures, which shows that no one name is good enough, big enough, sufficient enough. And there is another name for God that says just that…Yahweh. It’s a word we have to guess how to pronounce because it doesn’t contain vowels. It’s more a verb than a noun, and a to be verb at that. It means I Am what I am, or I will be what I will be, or I Am the One Who Is, or the Ground of Being. It’s similar in some ways to the Chinese Tao, the principle of life, un-namable, itself no-thing and yet the underlying reality of everything.

God in this story reminds Moses, “My goodness will be all around you, and I will announce my name…The One Who Is…but you can’t see me…I’m beyond images, things, finite perceptions…I am no-thing, the source and substance of all things…I don’t exist, I am existence…I’m not powerful, I am power…I’m not present, I am presence; omnipresence…I am all that is and the whole is even then more than the sum of its parts! I am eternity. I am infinity. Finite life can’t possibly see infinity. You can experience me, trust me, depend on me, but you will never see me, own me, limit me, fully know me.”

It calls to mind that old story about the blindfolded people who are led to an elephant and asked to describe it. The one touching the trunk describes the elephant as long, bending, strong but still flexible, wider at the top and narrower near the end. The one touching a tusk describes the elephant as hard, inflexible, strong, with a dangerous feeling point at the end. The one touching a leg describes the elephant as hard, round, unmovable until it moves itself, and heavy enough to crush you if you got in its way. Another person touching the tail describes the elephant at thin, frail, and smelly. What each person describes is their own experience of a much larger reality. With their blindfolds on they can’t experience the whole elephant, and even if they were to remove the blindfolds, they still would only see one side or maybe two…not the front, back, top, bottom, outside, and inside all at once. There’s just too much elephant to see from any one vantage point.

God must be infinitely more complex than an elephant.

When people say that only Christians can know God, or that God favors our country, or our allies, or that God wants men to be dominant over women, or that only opposite gender attraction can be holy and life-giving…when people say that God shares their prejudices, they are saying they have seen the face of God; but that isn’t possible. So what they’ve done is make their prejudices into an idol; they’ve made their god too small, and have kept themselves too small as a result.

The writer of the New Testament Letter to Timothy says that God is immortal and invisible (1 Tim. 1.17). Beyond sight. Or as we pray so often here, “God of many names, mystery beyond our naming”…which is to say, mystery beyond any single understanding or experience, beyond any name or image. Our God has no face, or, perhaps God has as many faces as are in the room, and billions more as well.

And the Apostle Paul said, “We live by faith, not by sight…” (2 Corinthians 5.7). People of faith don’t need to limit God to a text, a tradition, or ritual, a symbol, a name, or any other idol or graven image. We don’t have to see God as completely as one might see a snow globe or a lucky charm.

We can trust God, but not figure God out.

We can experience God, but never fully know God.

We can see something of God in nature, in art, in our loved ones, in ourselves, in our community, in our aspirations, in our dreams, even in our enemies, but whatever of God we think we see or know, God is still much more.

And if God is more, then we can still be more. We can grow more and more into the Truth of our being. We are of God and in God; we may can only see God from one side or one angle, like Moses, but also like Moses, we can experience God’s light and presence and develop an intimate trust in the one that cannot be named, seen, or defined. If we can let God be more, then we will discover that life can be more…filled with infinite possibilities, even miracles. God is more than we have believed, and so are we. This is the good news! Amen.

© Durrell Watkins 2011

AffirmationsI am more than I have believed.
I am more than I have expressed so far.
There are more blessings for me.
There are more miracles for my life.
There is more of God for me to discover.
There is also more of me.
Alleluia!
Amen.

Final Word
“Here is the test to find whether your mission on earth is finished: if you are alive, it isn’t.” Richard Bach

So Many Guests, So Many Meanings
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins, Sunshine Cathedral
Philippians 4.4-9; Matthew 22.1-14 (Oct. 9, 2011)

Oscar Wilde once said, “Some people cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.” And while it may not be obvious at first, I think happiness, or at least joy, is what our readings this morning are encouraging within us. The Apostle Paul encourages us to find reasons to rejoice even when situations are difficult, and Matthew gives an image of a life celebration. Both writers shared these missives during difficult times in their own lives.

Patricia is a woman in Kenya. She’s a church goer, and she always assumed that AIDS was a divine punishment on people who somehow deserved it. She thought God would protect good people and allow or even cause the unrighteous to contract it. That’s how she thought until she tested HIV positive. Then, she became one of the people she had always judged to be somehow beyond the reach of God’s love.

As a result of her diagnosis, she lost her job. She was depressed to learn that many people felt toward her the way she had always felt toward people living with HIV. But, she turned to God in prayer asking for comfort and strength and wisdom, and she says that her heart was changed as a result. Instead of judging others who have HIV, and instead of feeling like a helpless victim, she realized that she could actually be part of a solution to the AIDS crisis.

She learned about HIV and started talking about it in her church. She shared from her personal experience that judging people with HIV wasn’t helping the people living with the virus and it wasn’t helping the mission of the church. She got treatment, and she’s done very well. She is a living example of how medicine and hope combined can be a powerful and healing force in response to HIV/AIDS. Not only did she come out about her diagnosis and advocate for others, she also gave what she could of her personal resources to make a difference. In addition to raising her own five children, she took in five more children who had lost their parents to AIDS. She went from judging others to feeling like a victim to becoming a survivor, a teacher, an advocate, and a care giver for 10 children. She became a person of power who used her personal power to help and heal others. She now loves life and works for an AIDS education organization. She hasn’t single handedly changed everyone’s attitudes about HIV, nor has she discovered a cure for AIDS, but she has experienced healing even with HIV and she has found purpose and peace, hope and healing in her life and she has learned the joy of sharing those gifts with others.

Patricia discovered that nothing can separate us from the love of God, and as we embrace the power of that truth, we find happiness that we never had before.

The Gospel reading this morning may have a similar message for us.

In Matthew’s story, some Aristocrats throw a big party. Some aren’t interested in it, others are. And at least one person who shows up for it doesn’t stay. Matthew suggests the guest is thrown out for not being dressed properly. How did we go to begging anyone who would to show up to throwing someone out for not following a dress code?

Perhaps lost in translation, distanced from its historical and cultural context, there is a message of hope and grace. I will offer today 5 possible interpretations of the parable Matthew attributes to Jesus. You will need to choose which one appeals most to you.

#1 – The Non-Engaged Guest: Perhaps the royal party givers represent God and the ongoing invitations and the mixture of all kinds of people is meant to show that God is always calling all people to come into community, to share resources, and to experience life as a celebration. Just because we may not be ready at a certain moment to respond to the call to come into mutual community doesn’t mean that God ever stops offering it. Someone will hear the call, and respond with a whole life commitment. And so the call is repeated over and over and over. It never ends.

Maybe the person who is tossed out for not wearing wedding clothes symbolizes people who don’t allow themselves to experience joy; they don’t enjoy the blessings of the community because they’ve never fully engaged it.

They show up but don’t participate, or they participate with the expectation of getting a place of honor or privilege…they don’t “get” what the party is about so they don’t stay, or if they stay, they don’t have the same experience as those who are there to learn, share, and experience life in a more abundant way. People can be in the room, but not really be present. They are holding onto their grudges rather than the possibilities of healing and growth. They are holding onto their fears rather than embracing hope. They are trying to control others rather than trying to improve themselves. They are at the party, but not enjoying it, not participating in it, not sharing in the celebration. They aren’t tossed out by the host; they simply remain on the outside of things by their own choosing.

Is the story telling us that happiness within a faith community comes from being fully engaged? Participating with time, talent, treasure, prayer, worship, positive speech, goodwill, and faithfulness beyond personal issues, disappointments, and grievances?

#2 – The Marginalized God: Maybe it’s a misreading to see the Royals as God and the person tossed out as some kind of malcontent. Maybe the Royals are the privileged elite and it is their sense of self-importance and entitlement that excludes the marginalized, different person (the sort of person for whom God would have a preferential option, according to Liberation theologians). God may be the victim of cruelty in the story, not the perpetrator of it.

Is the story telling us that the person most unlike us, the one who seems most out of place, is the very person in whom we might have the most life-changing experience of God if we were only open to it?

#3 – Let the Host Be the Host: Maybe the story is simply telling us to not judge others. God will decide who is worthy and who isn’t. We just need to show up and realize that others are showing up too, and some of them may be very different from us. But we are guests, as are they, and it isn’t our job to decide which guests are “good” guests. We’re all beneficiaries of a feast we didn’t ask for, work for, or purchase. Maybe we should be fully present, and let others reap the harvest of their own planting. We don’t need to pass a lot of judgment; it isn’t our party. We just need to enjoy the hospitality and show our own gratitude.

Is the story telling us that we waste too much time with our judgments, finger pointing, accusations, and complaining; and while we are misusing our time and energy, we’re actually missing the party?!

#4 – Not Tossed Out but Coming Out?: We could view the story through the lens of our spiritual heroes this week. Thinking of National Coming Out Day (Oct. 11) and the remembrance of Matthew Shepard (Oct. 12), we might see the story as an allegory for our own lives. The party is the celebration of who we are and the affirmation of our sacred value. The marriage feast is a celebration of our union with the divine, all-loving Presence. The person dressed commonly is the one who doesn’t need to pretend to be anything other than she is, and because she is self-aware and Self-Realized, she is then sent out into the world of fear and hatred and loneliness to share the gifts she has received at the party. She knows who she is and she is now sent out to help others learn of their sacred value, and perhaps to bring them into the on-going feast as well. She isn’t tossed out, she has embraced the power of coming out and now she must live a life of fearless honesty as a model for others to follow.

Is the story telling us coming out as progressives, as friends of justice, as a community that recognizes the presence of God in heterosexuals and bisexuals and homosexuals and transgender people, indeed, in all people…that coming out strong with our empowering message of hope and healing is the path to happiness and wholeness?

#5 – The Castle & the Banquet Are Within: We could view the story through the lens of St. Teresa of Avila, another spiritual hero this week. St. Teresa compared the soul to an interior castle. Perhaps the Royal Party takes place within our own interior castle. The Spark of divinity within us calls out to every part of our being: our body-selves, our emotions, our sexuality, our intellect, our aspirations, our talents, our whole Selves to show up and to live integrated lives where we honor and celebrate all of who we are without needing to hide any part of us or deny the truth of our sacred value. The castle and the banquet are within us, and not until we find them there will we find them at all; we will forever feel excluded from the feast, unaware that it was for us and within us the whole time.

Is the story telling us that the presence of God and the Sacramental Feast of unconditional Love are always within us, and nothing outside of such an inward experience will bring us peace and joy?

Maybe each of these interpretations are appropriate for different ones of us at different times, depending on where we might be on our life journey? In any case, I am convinced that the story does not suggest that God rejects anyone for any reason.

Matthew imagines Jesus telling this story to make the point that the banquet of divine Love is open to all people. The Apostle Paul states it a bit more directly in his letter to the Philippians. Paul says, “rejoice always” and “keep your mind on [good things]” while he himself is sitting in a Roman prison cell! This shows that having a positive attitude doesn’t always control the situation, but it can keep the situation from controlling us.

I’m sure Paul would rather not be in prison; and I’m sure he actually hopes to get out of the jam he’s in. But right where he is, even if it isn’t the situation he would choose for himself, he chooses to believe that God is present to comfort, strengthen, and uplift. Paul trusts that a divine peace (“beyond understanding” – beyond what circumstances seem to justify) is available to him even in prison. The authorities can incarcerate his body, but nothing can hold his thoughts and attitudes prisoner without his consent. He doesn’t let circumstances dictate what he believes about himself or his relationship with God. And so, even in prison, a peace that passes understanding is available to him.

Paul isn’t rejoicing that he is in prison. He isn’t even rejoicing because he knows for certain when and how he’ll be released. He rejoices because even in the worst of circumstances, God is with him; and if God is with him, peace and even moments of joy are possible.

Life isn’t always easy; but for people of faith, it doesn’t have to be in order for us to experience peace, joy, and a sense of being at home in the universe. The world is always changing; sometimes to our liking and sometimes not. But when we know that nothing can separate us from divine love, then we can celebrate the good times and navigate the difficult times, and enjoy communion with God all the while. And this is the good news. Amen. © Durrell Watkins 2011

Affirmations:
I choose joy today. I embrace peace today. I focus on what is good. And I trust God to sustain me. Thanks be to God! Amen.

Final Word
“Joy is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to recognize how good things really are.” Marianne Williamson

Now What?
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Sunshine Cathedral, Oct. 2, 2011

Gypsy Rose Lee famously said, “God is love; but get it in writing!”

Spirituality that a faith community is meant to foster, is the guarantee written on our lives that God is love, and that loving presence has a home and that heavenly dwelling place is none other than the human heart.

That message would ring clear as never before beginning in 1968.

Once again a new moment was called forth to enliven the Christian community, to loosen the imagined restraints on divine Love. 43 years ago, on October 6th, 1968, a gay defrocked Pentecostal minister had a worship service with 12 people in his living room. That minister was Troy Perry and the church he started on that divinely appointed day was Metropolitan Community Church, known affectionately as MCC, and Metropolitan Community Churches can now be found all over the world.

In the beginning, the mission and message of MCC was very simple…God loves gay people too. Such a simple message scandalized the larger Church. Whenever the prophetic voice calls out that God loves what society said was unlovable, it is a scandal, a divine, sacred, miraculous, world changing scandal. And that simple, positive, inclusive message was so uplifting and literally life saving for so many people, that MCCs started popping all over.

The message grew, expanded; you see, if we were marginalized, then integrity would demand that we seek not only our own liberation, but the liberation of all who had been marginalized. And so MCC started advocating for women’s issues, for a better understanding of transgender issues, and when AIDS broke out MCC was among the first to offer hope and compassion to people living with the virus, as well as comfort to those who were mourning losses from the viral onslaught.

By 1972 MCC had a woman pastor in Sacramento, and in 1973 Freda Smith was elected to the governing Board of Elders. Freda, an unapologetic feminist, challenged MCC to include women in every area of leadership and in the language used in worship and governance. Once again the world was shocked to learn that God is not a boy’s name. In addition to being an activist and a minister, Freda Smith is also a therapist and she would use sermons to offer emotional healing. For a problem in life, she would say, “Find it, face it, fix it, finish it, and forget about it.” When there is a challenge, a disappointment, and we’re tempted to say Now What? Remember Freda’s wisdom: Find it, face it, fix it, finish it, and forget it. In other words, move on, move forward. Release the past to the past and begin to embrace the infinite possibilities of the future. MCC had powerful leaders in the beginning, to be sure. And we still do…I think of the former Vice Moderator of MCC, Rev. Elder Don Eastman who is a member of this church and is a mentor to pastors all over the denomination. I think of public theologian Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, our Presiding Elder and Moderator. And I think of the Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin who is not only one of our pastors he is also the Vice-Chair of MCC’s Governing Board…he is constantly encouraging us as a congregation and as a denomination to look forward, to move ahead, and to believe that we can be more than we’ve ever been before.

And MCC has touched countless lives for decades now with a simple gesture every week…the open invitation to share Communion. No matter what you believe about communion, no matter if you are a member of any church at all, MCC has stated without apology that if you dare to bring all of who you are to the Communion table God is big enough to make the ritual feast be whatever you need it to be! Months before the Stonewall Riots and half a decade before the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of disorders, MCC was saying God doesn’t have step-children…We are ALL made in the image and likeness of God.

Years before there were medications to help manage HIV, MCC was saying, God is bigger than AIDS.

And even still, while churches argue over who can and can’t get married and who can and can’t receive Communion, and how much water it takes to make Baptism work, or how many times one can be baptized, MCC simply says as Jesus did, “Whosoever will, may come!”

MCC has forever changed the conversation of the global Christian family. In, through, and as MCC, God has done it again. Once again, a mighty wind has rushed through the upper room of human hearts, and new tongues are being spoken declaring in new ways that God’s love is all-inclusive and unconditional, never excluding anyone for any reason.

Four years after the birth of MCC, one of the first few MCC churches helped to start a new one in Broward County. The MCC in Miami helped pioneer a new church in Fort Lauderdale. The new parish would be called first, Church of the Holy Spirit, and then, Sunshine Cathedral. And 39 years later, we’re still here…reaching more people than ever before, still changing lives and offering hope and healing.

I’m so proud of MCC. I’m proud of what we’ve done. And I’m proud that Sunshine Cathedral is part of that great and noble story. But my question is, “Now What?”

We cannot rest on the achievements of the past. We cannot get stuck in the regrets of the past. We cannot fool ourselves into believing everything was accomplished in the past. We aren’t building a museum of history; we are building a highway to the future! There is always more to do. No matter how great yesterday was, today is calling us to new action and what we do today will create tomorrow’s world. So, now what?

The Apostle Paul had success as a Pharisee, a lay scholar. He then became part of the Christian movement, and then a leader of the movement. But he could not rest on his previous accomplishments; his resume would not take him into the future. He had been busy and successful in the past, and yet he says, “I consider myself to have taken hold of this…Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.” In other words, “Now What?!”

Jesus tells us in the gospel today that the kin-dom of God will be given to those who produce the proper fruits. Well guess what, WE are the proper fruits! We are the ones to move forward not into the familiar, but into the divine unknown. We are the ones to include new people and new kinds of people. We are the ones to do what has not yet been done; and to do what has been done even better and in new ways for new generations.

Guess what…our message is good for gay men.
Our message is good for lesbians.
Our message is good for people who don’t even know what they are yet because they never knew it was OK to ask the questions.
Our message is good for transgender men and women.
Our message is good for heterosexual people who are looking for a spirituality of unfettered joy and self-empowerment.
Our message is good for people struggling with meth addiction, and alcoholism.
Our message is good for people ready to heal from the abuse of the past.
Our message is good for people who want to come out of their closets of shame and into the light of self-acceptance.
Our message is good for people who are grieving significant losses.
Our message is good for people who need to know that they are the apple of God’s eye and not God’s mistake.
Our message is good for people who are tired from carrying around hate and fear and are ready to be set free.
Our message is good for single parents.
Our message is good for people who have been struggling with a call to ministry.
Our message is good for a world that needs to be reminded that God looks at everything that has been created and calls it all very good!

Thank God for MCC.
Thank God for Sunshine Cathedral.
Thank God for those who first dared to dream the dream of what could be.
Thank God for those who have added new dreams, knowing there is always more to be done.
Thank God for every person who loves this church, and who loves herself or himself a little more after finding this church.
And thank God for every person who prays for this ministry.
Thank God for every volunteer.
Thank God for every person who gives generously and consistently because they love this church and they believe in its mission and they want to reach more and more people with the good news that God doesn’t have one person to waste!
Men and women, queer and straight, there’s not a soul that God will hate!
Thank God for the time, talent, and treasure you give to make sure that more people will know that truth for themselves.

We have the history. We have the calling. We have the people. We have the talent. Now What?!

Now we pray for justice, for peace, for healing, we even pray for our enemies; because even if we can’t love them yet, we know God does.
Now we give with more joy and enthusiasm than ever before.
Now we recommit to reaching more people with truly good news.
Now we invite more people to share this miraculous experience that has added so much to our lives.
Now we say, “the past was pretty amazing, but you ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Now we strain toward what is ahead, determined to produce good fruit, affirming that the future has infinite possibilities and we allow ourselves to be the hands of God working miracles in our world.
Now we say – I’m ready to be all that God created me to be…my body is good, my sexuality is perfect, my gender identity is right for me, I value my mind, and I trust that God’s love leaves no one out.
And now we commit to sharing that good news with more people. Somebody still needs that message; will you help them hear it?

God is love, but get it in writing. Guess what? We are the writing! WE are the good news. And so it is!
© Durrell Watkins 2011

AffirmationsGod’s love can heal every heartache.
God’s love can renew every soul.
God’s love can mend what is broken.
God’s love is making me whole.
And so it is!

Final Word“You cannot uneducated the person who has learned to read. You cannot humiliate the person who feels pride. You cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore. We have seen the future, and the future is ours.” Caesar Chavez

The Divine Mind Meld
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins, Sunshine Cathedral (9/25/11)
Philippians 2.1-2, 5; Matthew 21.23-27, 31b-32

I grew up watching Star Trek, the television series. Then there was the Saturday morning animated Star Trek series. Then there were the Star Trek films. Then there were new Star Trek series: Star Trek – the Next Generation (LOVED IT), Star Trek – Deep Space Nine (kind of liked it for a minute but got over it quickly), Star Trek – Voyager (LOVED IT), and Enterprise (Snore).

Of course in the Trekkiverse, Klingons are mighty warriors, Ferengi are super-capitalists, Betazoids are telepathic, the Q are omnipotent, and Vulcans can perform what they call a mind-meld. A mind-meld is when a native of the planet Vulcan mentally connects with another sentient being, sharing memories, thoughts, and knowledge. The Vulcan and the one with whom she or he mind-melds essentially achieve a psychic unity, a mental inter-connected oneness.

That is exactly what I think of when I read St. Paul’s words to the Philippians, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

There is a prayer often used in the Unity church. The prayer states, “I am centered and poised in the Christ Mind and nothing can disturb the calm peace of my soul.” To have the mind of Christ, to fill our minds with the mentality or attitude that was demonstrated by Jesus, we might say, to mind meld with Jesus is to find ourselves centered and poised, not allowing anything to rob our peace and joy.

We’ll get back to Paul’s exhortation to have the same kind of mind, or psyche, attitudes and habitual thinking as Jesus had. But first, let’s notice three important things about Jesus’ mindset from the gospel reading today:
1. Jesus trusted his own relationship to and with God.
2. He didn’t let his critics define him.
3. And he didn’t let the critics define others for him (Jesus affirmed those the religious establishment would call “sinners”).

In other words, Jesus chose what he would believe about himself, about God, and about his fellow human-beings. Jesus demonstrates that belief is a choice! Religious tradition said that certain people were sinners; Jesus said that many of those so-called sinners were closer to God than the religious institutions that condemned them! Jesus chose to not accept the prejudices that others claimed were the will of God! Jesus chose to believe that God was better than that and that God’s grace was more accessible than many had been preaching.

What we believe can’t be dictated to us in a creed; we must, as Paul said, “work out our own salvation with fear and trembling,” that is, we must take responsibility for our own thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. Our hearts are not controlled by Salt Lake City or by Vatican City or by any centralized location of supposed religious authority. WE are responsible for what we believe, and we can choose to believe the best about ourselves, about our world, and about the God in whose image we are all made!

Our first reading this morning reminds us that our beliefs are like magnets. What we believe attracts circumstances, relationships, and situations that will validate those beliefs. If you believe you are an unworthy sinner, you will find ways to make terrible mistakes so you can then tell yourself, “See?!”

If you believe you are unattractive or loveable, you will repel people from you and you will find yourself being lonely or overlooked…not because you aren’t perfectly wonderful, but because you believe you aren’t perfectly wonderful, and so the people who show up in your life are those who will share the negative view you have of yourself.

If you believe you are unlucky, bad luck will seem to stalk you like a bad date who just couldn’t take the hint!

If you believe you can’t do something, then you will surely fail at that thing if you even pretend to attempt it in the first place.

If you believe God is punishing, you’ll never feel safe with your spirituality.

If you believe that illness is more powerful or more natural than the state of health, then your health may suffer as a result.

If you believe the world is out to get you, you fill find betrayal around every corner. No amount of praise will ever make you feel safe or appreciated or good enough until you choose, even without the praise of others, to feel good about yourself.

If you believe the world is intrinsically unsafe, you’ll find accidents and mishaps and danger all around.

It’s like this: when you are bowling, you want to keep your eyes on the pins you want to knock down; the ball tends to follow your focus. When you are driving, you want to keep your eyes on the road because the car will tend to follow your focus…if your attention drifts, the car may drift into a telephone poll! What we focus on we drift toward, create or attract. A belief is an opinion we have rehearsed until it has taken up residence in our consciousness; it is a thought we have focused so much energy on it seems obviously true to us. And having focused so much thought and energy into that belief, we will drift toward or attract that very thing. The writer of the book of Job said, “The thing I feared has come upon me.” Of course it did; fear is focus, and what we focus on we tend to drift toward, create, or attract.

But the good news is that focus works regardless of what we place our focus on. So, once we learn that our focus is on what is destructive or sabotaging or unhelpful, then we can change our focus and thereby change our experience! The situation itself will often change, but even when it doesn’t, how we interpret the situation and respond to it will change, and that in itself can seem like a miracle sometimes.

I have found myself in toxic situations…where people mostly want to gossip, complain, criticize, scheme, or hurl insults. When I get trapped in that, sometimes even participating in it, that never really feels good and nothing good much comes of it. But if I will inject positive speech, or choose to ignore the negative speech, or remove myself entirely from the situation, then my focus returns to what is positive, life-giving, and joyous. It may not change how others think or behave, but it totally changes my experience. I can’t change you; you can’t change me. We must each take responsibility for our own thoughts and beliefs.

In the gospel lesson today, Jesus chastises his opponents for not being willing to change their beliefs. He doesn’t tell them what opinions they have to hold or what non-provable thing they must blindly accept; he just challenges them to trust that God may be bigger and better than they have so-far imagined, and to believe themselves and others to be a little better than they’ve supposed as well.

When we change our thoughts, our attitudes, our habits, our focus, we change the direction of our lives. As Ernest Holmes and Norman Vincent Peale would say, “Change your thinking and change your life.” When I believe in scarcity, I experience it. When I believe that I am somehow separated from the Source of life, I experience lack or loneliness or fear or sorrow. But when I change my belief, and thank God we can, then my life gets back on track and things start to work out better again.

Napoleon Hill was a writer and teacher of success principles; he was also an advisor to President Franklin Roosevelt. Hill taught that beliefs determine much of our experience of life and if we are unhappy with our experience, we can change our beliefs and thereby change our experience.

Napoleon Hill is the one who famously said, “what your mind conceives and believes it can achieve…no matter how many times you’ve failed or how loft your goals might be.” He also said, “What your mind feeds upon it will attract” and, Hill also said, “We have the power to take possession of our minds.” In other words, we can change our beliefs. We can believe in ourselves. We can believe ours is a world full of potential. We can believe we deserve the best. We can believe we are capable of forgiving, worthy to be loved, and capable of success. Remember Jesus often said, “Let it be done to you according to your belief.”

Now, sometimes we’ll not be very honest with ourselves. We’ll say, “I’m very optimistic; I’m one of the most positive people I know…arrrgggghhhh!” Okie dokie. And we want that to be true. But our beliefs are really our habitual thoughts, and our habitual thoughts create feelings. So, once we notice how we feel, we know what we really believe. If we feel anxious, afraid, bitter, resentful, jealous…these aren’t happy or peaceful or constructive feelings. We didn’t get those feelings by holding onto hopeful, happy thoughts! If our feeling isn’t joyful, our thoughts aren’t positive, and once we realize that our thoughts aren’t what we’d like them to be, we can change them.

Now, some will argue that negative thoughts are sometimes appropriate. We do vehemently argue for our perceived limitations sometimes. And, true enough, no one is ever going to say, “Hallelujah I broke my toe” or “Zippity Do Dah the house is on fire” or “Oh happy day the dog just bit me.” There may be times that a moment of fear or caution is understandable, even appropriate. When the hurricane or tornado is coming your way, take cover! But if we are often angry, often resentful, often scared, often bitter, often complaining, then we aren’t just responding to a rare difficult occurrence; we are continuing a habit that is sabotaging our success, our happiness, and our fulfillment. And once we realize that, we can make a course correction. What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.

In the final analysis, we are each our own greatest asset, and/or our greatest obstacle. If we want to change our lives, we start by choosing beliefs that will serve us better. We start by choosing our thoughts more carefully. We start by letting the same mind be in us that was in Christ Jesus; that is, we open ourselves up to a divine mind meld. And we can, and as we do miracles will flow into our lives. And this is the good news! Amen. © Durrell Watkins 2011

Affirmations
I am centered & poised in the Christ Mind…
And NOTHING can disturb the calm peace of my soul.
Amen.

We’ll Never Outrun God’s Love
Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins, Sunshine Cathedral
Jonah 3.10, 4.1-11; Matthew 20.1-16

I love that song of Louie Armstrong’s.

The song takes some liberties with the details of the story of Jonah, but even so, it shows something very important…that Jonah tried to run from his purpose in life but even trying to run from God he actually finds his true purpose. He doesn’t like it, but he can’t escape from it.

We know this story from childhood, but there may be more to it than we realized as children.
There are three points that I want to share from this ancient myth:
1. God’s love is all-inclusive; it leaves no one out.
2. God really does answer prayer.
3. We have a purpose and nothing short of embracing it will make us happy.
We’ll return to those points in a few minutes.

As the story goes, a man named Jonah is suddenly (in the first verse of the story) called by God to go to Nineveh. This seems strange and even distasteful to Jonah because Nineveh is the capital of the Assyrian Empire. Assyria had conquered the kingdom of Israel and so Israelites tended to think of Assyria as their enemy.

Immediately, Jonah decides to book passage to what we now call Spain. Instead of dealing directly and generously with his perceived enemies, Jonah tries to go in the opposite direction. While on the ship sailing for Spain, a storm starts to brew. The superstitious crew members on the ship are afraid the storm is the result of the weather gods being displeased with someone on their ship. Superstitious people still tend to blame difficult situations or unpleasant experiences on the wrath of a deity rather than trusting the divine presence within them to help them successfully navigate the difficulty.

The crew members draw straws to see who on the ship has offended the spirits of the sea, and poor Jonah draws the short straw. As they believe he is guilty of causing the stormy weather, the crew sacrifices Jonah to the sea.

Then, as so often happens, a HUGE fish comes along and swallows Jonah whole. Jonah lives for about half a week in the belly of a fish. And having nothing else to do, Jonah reflects on what has happened. He tried to do exactly the opposite of what he believed God wanted him to do; he did the very opposite of what he knew was good. Along the way he gets in trouble and almost drowns; but is rescued by a fish of all things. So he gives thanks that he survived drowning and he reluctantly tells God as he understands God that he will go to Nineveh after all.

Just then (could the timing be more perfect?), the fish gets a tummy ache and projectile vomits Jonah right onto the shore of guess where…Assyria! Jonah brushes himself off and starts walking to the capital city, Nineveh.

Parenthetically – Nineveh is named for the fish god, Ninos, which is one of the Assyrian deities. Jonah is called by God to go to Fish City, and when he refuses, he winds up being carried to Fish City by a FISH. Whatever else you think about the story, that’s darn good writing!

In Nineveh, Jonah keeps his promise by interacting with the Ninevites. But he does as little as he can. In fact, he preaches a sermon and his sermon is one of the shortest sermons in human history, just one sentence long. He says to his audience, “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed.” And he walks away.

“See God? I went to Nineveh. I interacted with the Ninevites. I even preached for them. Mission accomplished.”

Really Jonah? That’s your sermon? God hates you and is going to drop kick you into oblivion?

Well, the people of Nineveh don’t like to think that there is some angry deity laying a trap for them, so they start doing the spiritual work of discovering God for themselves and trying to serve God authentically. And apparently, that has a pretty good pay off, since 40 days came and went and Nineveh was not destroyed.

Jonah is devastated to learn that God does not in fact hate the people he hates. God is not going to destroy the people Jonah wanted destroyed. Apparently, God listens to their prayers and loves them too! Who knew? How could God be so gracious to the Hindus, I mean the agnostics, I mean the Leather community, I mean people living with HIV, I mean people in recovery, I mean people who have made difficult procreative choices, I mean Gay and Lesbian people, I mean transgender people, I mean the Ninevites…”those people”?

Jonah can’t stand that God is so gracious, well, so gracious to his enemies. He was happy enough to believe that God would rescue him from drowning even when he was trying to run from God; but being gracious to him is one thing. Being gracious to THOSE people is just something else!

And then Jonah starts to pray again, and this time, he gets pretty real. He’s desperate enough to tell God the truth! You know you’ve hit rock bottom when you start being brutally honest with God. Jonah prays, “I knew all along that you weren’t going to destroy Nineveh!” Jonah suspected all the time that God was better than he was portraying God to be. And so he stomps off to hide and sulk and pout. While he’s having his ongoing temper tantrum, a big weed pops up. And Jonah becomes very attached to the weed. This weed is suddenly his best buddy. Jonah, seriously, it’s a weed.

Then, overnight, as suddenly as the weed popped up, the weed dies. And Jonah is bereft! And in agonizing grief, drama queen Jonah cries out, “I wish I were dead!” And God finally says, “For real? Jonah, do you really need to feel so out of sorts?” And Jonah answers, “Sure do!”

And God shames him by saying, “Really? You care so much about a weed that that came into your life and left in just a couple of days? You didn’t plant it. You didn’t care for it. It was a weed already! But you can care so much for a weed and yet you can’t understand why I would care for all the people in Ninevah?” And that’s how the story ends.

The story reads like a dream or a fantasy or a fable. It is clearly more literary than literal. This is a fictional tale, but powerful and while it isn’t factual, it is very true. And what is true about it are the three points I mentioned in the beginning.

1. God’s love is all-inclusive; it leaves no one out.
Have you ever felt like a Ninevite? Someone that others seemed to want annihilated? Well, that was their prejudice, their hatred, their issue; not God’s. God’s love has never, will never, could never exclude you for any reason.

On the flip side, have you ever felt like Jonah? Glad and reasonably certain that God loved you, regardless of your mistakes, but you just didn’t understand how God could care for “them”? Maybe your worst fear was that God loved “them” too? Well, you may as well face your fear; because as St. Paul told the Romans, God shows no partiality. And as the writer of 1 John told his audience, God is love. How could Love ever be less than loving to anyone at any time for any reason?

Jonah didn’t want to believe that God could love the people he couldn’t yet love. That put him in a pickle, or between a rock and a hard place, or using the idiom of the story itself, in the belly of a fish. Whenever we are drowning in our own fears, hatreds, prejudices, and ill-will toward others, we find ourselves in the belly of fish. But healing comes from knowing that God’s love is all-inclusive; it leaves no one out.

2. God really does answer prayer.
Jonah prayed to God in the belly of a fish, in the quandary he found himself in when he knew that he should share the good news of God’s all-inclusive and unconditional love; but instead he simply wanted to run from the people he didn’t like, or if he had to deal with them, tell them that both he and God didn’t care much for them. Such hatred never feels good, never leads to wholeness or joy. And so Jonah turned to God in prayer and God responded by nudging him toward Nineveh to do what was right and good.
Then the Ninevites turned to God in prayer so that they could know God for themselves and live in the joy of an awareness of the divinity within them; and that prayer changed their lives.

And then when Jonah was miserable because he had to face that God really does love everyone, even those people we don’t, once again Jonah turned to God in prayer. And God spoke to his heart saying, “If you can care so deeply about the things in your life, how much more must I care for all life?” A life of real prayer will be a life of generosity, change, growth, renewal, and insight. God really does answer prayer.

3. We have a purpose and nothing short of embracing it will make us happy.
What is your purpose? To grow, to learn, to give, to share, to love, to discover the presence of God within you and then to see that same divine presence in All Life. We aren’t living our purpose when we are stuck in selfishness, or revenge, or self-pity, worry, or hatred. We’ve all been in the belly of that fish, and the healing comes when we stop running from God and embrace the light of love that is always with and within us. We’ll never outrun God’s love for us! The love that God is will never let us go. To accept our oneness with God and to share the light of that truth is our true purpose.

The story of Jonah, like our gospel today, is a story of grace. Grace isn’t earned and it can’t be lost. It’s freely given and no one is excluded from it. Grace is the nature of divine love. Maybe it’s time to stop running from the empowering truth that God’s love embraces us, and our friends, and our enemies. To remember this is to experience peace and hope and joy and even our share of miracles. God is Love and we are eternally in and of God. The Love that God is will never let us go; it will never let ANY of us go. And this is the good news. Amen.
© Durrell Watkins 2011

Affirmations
God is Love.
Divine Love includes me.
Divine Love includes us all.
And God’s love is working miracles now.
Amen.

Final Word
“Love one another and help others to rise to the higher levels, simply by pouring out love. Love is infectious and the greatest healing energy.” –Sai Baba