GO Sermon for June 15, 2008

Scripture: Matthew 9:35-10:8

In the Gospel of Matthew for the last few Sundays we have been hearing about the many miracles of healing that Jesus performed. Today we make a slight transition as Jesus goes out and about in all the cities and villages, teaching in the synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom. He also kept on curing every disease and sickness. What he encountered were all kinds of people in great need; Matthew’s words describing these people are “harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” He quickly realized he was going to need some help.

Let me tell you a story. One day I was walking in the neighborhood of my old city, a rather poor area, when I came upon a lemonade stand with several children sitting behind the box that held the lemonade with a homemade sign, “Lemonade 10 cents”. I decided to stop and refresh myself. The kids were excited that they had a customer. One boy came over and asked if I wanted to buy a cup of lemonade. As I assured him that was just what I wanted, he went back and brought me a cup of lemonade that his partner had poured. I gave him a quarter and started drinking while he went back to get change. By the time he brought back my change, I was almost finished drinking. He gave me the change and then asked if I were finished drinking. “Almost”, I said. “Why?” He then said, "That's the only cup we have, and we need it to stay in business."

Now I’m sure that you would agree that it's difficult to operate a lemonade stand if you only have one cup . (Adapted from an illustration in e-Sermons.) We sometimes make that same mistake in the church. By that I mean expecting the pastor to be the only one that goes out to share the Good News. In our gospel reading, Jesus looked at all the harassed and helpless people and said, the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. He then calls his 12 disciples and gives them the authority to do all that he has been doing. He calls them to GO. He doesn’t preface his instructions with professional sounding words such as, “Your mission, should you choose to accept it…” Oh, No! He just calls to them and gives it to them straight: “Go, proclaim the good news, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons.” Wow! What a job description! I can imagine that they must have felt some anxiety. This was to be their first solo mission without their leader. Yet if Jesus authorizes his apostles to do these things, it means he will be working through them, giving them the necessary power.

As I started to reflect on these instructions, it made me think about what is church all about today. Our faith talks about the priesthood of all believers; we have some set aside, ordained, to be leaders and teachers, yet all are being called to help out. We are all called to teach, to share the good news, and to bring healing to our broken world. In our modern day we don’t talk about cleansing lepers or casting out demons or raising the dead; however, I believe those tasks are still being asked of us with a slightly different vocabulary. We are certainly called to minister to the outcast—last Sunday’s sermon was all about Jesus being sent to those that were on the margins or were excluded” by the “proper folks”: the lepers was sort of a code word for all those seen as unclean or sinners such as the hemorrhaging woman, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the Samaritans. Moving right along, are we called to cast out demons? What about rewording this concept to speaking truth to evil—going out with the armor of God, to stand up for those who are being treated unfairly, where injustice reigns? The church is certainly called to do something about systemic evil, the powers and principalities who are institutionalized in ways that cause suffering and injustice; for example, those not having enough money to pay for doctors or healthcare and therefore, suffer with illness and die in much greater numbers than those of us who can obtain medical services. And that leads us to death. Raise up the dead? Although we know some people who are pronounced medically dead do survive, most of us no matter how hard we try, probably can’t bring people back from physical death but what about emotional and social death? How many people do you know or have you known over the years that seem so depressed, so isolated, so lifeless that we may have described them as appearing half-dead? That group of people certainly needs some attention, some care. So it seems to me, in one form or another, all of Jesus’ instructions to his disciples still hold, still apply to us.

One of the most important characteristic of the church that comes to me as I observe Jesus’ words and actions is that the church has to be about movement. The church is not following Jesus if we just stay static, “preserve-our-level-of-comfort-and-let-them-come-to-us spirituality. (From S.A.M.U.E.L.—UCC online preaching help for 6-15) Here it comes again: we must go out and share what we have, our gifts from God, with those that have not known about the “good news” nor been touched by God’s love. The helpless and harassed evoked Jesus’ compassion. He knew that he could not do it all himself, that he needed help. It’s very much the same for me as the pastor of this church. I can’t do it all by myself; I need you, God needs you to go out into the world. I know how uncomfortable most of you are with the word evangelist. This church is much more like St. Francis, who said: “Go out and preach the gospel and when necessary use words”. I had heard that expression; however, I only learned the background of this statement this past week. Let me share it with you: According to legend, one day St. Francis “informed his brethren that he planned to go into the nearby village on a preaching mission. He invited a novice to go along. On their way, they passed an injured man and Francis promptly stopped, saw to the poor fellow's needs and arranged medical care for him. They went on and soon passed a homeless man who was near starvation. Again, Francis stopped his journey and ministered to the hungry, homeless man. So it went, all through the day: people in need, Francis lovingly caring for them as best he could until the sun was low in the sky. He told his novice friend it was time for them to return, now, to the monastery for evening prayers. But the young man said, "Father, you said we were coming to town to preach to the people." Francis smiled. Then he said, "My friend, that's what we've been doing all day." E. Carver McGriff, Relationship Evangelism,Times of Refreshing, CSS Publishing Company.)

This is wonderful, faithful evangelism, ministering to people in their need, not worrying about numerical growth, just sharing God’s love in a concrete fashion. Yet there are times when we need to use words. Even St. Francis would admit to that, “when necessary use words.” I want to share how joyous I am to have Jesus as my guide and comforter when I reach out to others, especially those that seem to have something lacking in their life, those that are lonely, those that are dealing with one or more serious problems. In our Gospel reading, Jesus saw all these folks that seemed like sheep without a shepherd and knew he had to enlist his disciples to minister to them. Apostle means those sent. God is calling the people in our church to be apostles, to go out with compassion and tender care. The particular way and the particular people we are being called to vary. There’s one thing that I’m sure of and that is we are not called to just sit still, but to be on the move as Jesus and his apostles were, to be open to those that we meet along the way. I’m very aware that today’s sermon sounds a lot like last weeks sermon. Most preachers will admit that they probably have only 3 or 4 sermons, different words certainly, different illustrations, but only a few important messages. This is certainly my “Go” sermon, Go out into the world and share the good news with others. Go! Follow Jesus’ words and actions. Amen!

HOPE AGAINST HOPE June 8, 2008

Scripture: Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26

What an amazing number of possibilities to preach on from today’s lectionary! After much reflection I feel called to focus on the readings as being filled with people faced with great challenges, in situations where many people would be overwhelmed and probably very discouraged. In spite of this, they continued to hope against hope that things could change.

In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he reviews the Genesis story about Abraham: this man is called by God to leave his home, his country and go to an unknown land that God was to show him. As most of you remember, Abraham did not have any children by his wife Sarah, and yet God promised him that he would have many descendants, and this was when they were already in their old age. Yet God told Abraham to look toward heaven and count the stars—if he could—and that would be how many descendants he would have. Abraham had faith in God and kept journeying on with hope against hope.
In the Gospel of Matthew we are first introduced to a low level tax collector. Tax collectors were scorned because they worked for the Roman government and cheated their own people by taking more taxes then required in order to line their own pockets. So we find this tax collector, also named Matthew, sitting at the tax booth. He was financially better off than most but because of his job he was a social outcast. Jesus approaches him and said “Follow me”. With a sudden spark of “hope against hope” in his heart, Matthew drops everything and got up and followed Jesus.

Continuing on in our scripture, we are introduced to a leader of the synagogue whose beloved daughter has just died. This man would have been part of the group that criticized Jesus for eating and drinking with the outcasts—the tax collectors, the prostitutes and other sinners. Yet he loved his daughter soo much that he risked his reputation to ask for help from Jesus. He was hoping against hope that Jesus could help him and Jesus responded and started to follow him.

Suddenly there was an interruption. In the other gospels we are told that Jesus felt a power going out of him and asks who touched him; however in Matthew we are simply told that there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She said to herself, “If I only touch his cloak, I will be made well.” Jesus responds by saying “Take heart, daughter, your faith has made you well.” And instantly the woman was made well. (9:21-22) She hoped against hope that Jesus would pay attention to her, but why would he—she was an outcast, a woman seen as ‘unclean’ for all those years. Can you imagine how she must have felt when Jesus spoke to her and the bleeding immediately stopped
Jesus then continues following the synagogue leader; he is laughed at by the mourners when he tells them that the daughter is not dead but sleeping. He takes the girl by the hand and the girl gets up. Amazing things happen when we follow our hope against hope.

Let’s look at some examples from the recent primary campaigns. John McCain, several months ago was at a very low ebb in terms of supporters, especially low in the money needed to wage a successful campaign. He had to dismiss most of his primary workers and take regular airplanes as opposed to chartered jets. Now McCain had experienced hope against hope before as a prisoner of war so it was nothing new to him, to hope against hope and be determined to go on fighting for the nomination of the Republican Party. Although others thought it was hopeless, he persevered and became the presumptive nominee. On the Democratic side we have Barack Obama, who by the very fact of his African blood had two and a half strikes against him. Even many of my black friends didn’t dare support him at first as they didn’t want to waste their vote. Obama and those who believed in his candidacy from the beginning had to hope against hope that he could be the nominee. Obama, like McCain, had earlier times in his life that he had to hope against hope, even writing a book called the Audacity of Hope. Whatever happens next November, we will have a president that knows what hope against hope is all about, and I believe that will be positive for his leadership.

What about the gays and lesbians that have been discriminated against in so many ways? Here’s a group of people, like African Americans, who can relate to Abraham’s journey of leaving his home and family to go on an unknown journey. Even though they may not travel a long way physically, the alienation and hostility, the differences of life style, make them feel as removed from their families as those who have traveled a long way. Many of them give up and succumb to depression and addictions; however, many more hope against hope and continue to journey to better times, some even to reconciliation with their families.

Another example of hope against hope are the illegal immigrants that cross the border at great risk to their lives in order to have opportunity to earn a living, to be able to take care of their families. Now some of you may think, why be concerned about them, they are breaking the law. I only ask you to remember that Jesus says very clearly in our gospel that he desires mercy not sacrifice, that he has come to call not the righteous but sinners. We, also, only have to look into our own lives to see the many things we have done or left undone to know we also are in need of God’s steadfast, unconditional love.

In my own life as your pastor, I sometimes get discouraged, sometimes my faith is challenged. For over 50 years I have been praying, “Lord, I believe, help thou my unbelief.” I wonder why the membership and attendance of this congregation remains so low. What am I suppose to be doing? I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit praying for me when my own words seem inadequate. I will continue to hope against hope that I can lead this church to be faithful to Jesus’ teachings whether we have 20 or 80 participating in worship.

What can each of us do this week to follow Jesus and bring some healing to our hurting world? Those of you that are in the work world see many people each week, people that need to be touched, to be listened to. Those who do not go to a job, go other places—the grocery store, the doctor’s office, the drug store, the gas station. We see others that are in need of a smile, in need of some attention. There may be someone, like the hemorrhaging woman, that is searching for someone to relate to, to share her pain with. A few days ago I had a phone call from my, and she was really down; I asked a few of you to pray about the situation. When I called her the next day, she was feeling so much better. Not one, but two, friends had visited her. I believe those friends were God’s angels. I believe each of you is also God’s angel, meaning you have the Holy Spirit inside of you, and you are being called to do God’s work in this lonely, stressful world. Jesus has asked us to follow him, to provide for others that gentle healing presence. There are so many people who are in need of acceptance, recognition, forgiveness and love. Will you go from this holy place this Sunday and compassionately reach out and touch the lives, the hearts, the souls of others? You can do it even if you feel that you are inadequate, even if you feel too shy, even if you feel unworthy. You can go forward with hope against hope, and Jesus will be with you. Thanks be to God! Amen and amen!

LISTENING, SHARING, DOING AND HEALING

Beginning a Sacred Conversation about Race
Sermon for May 18, 2008
Gen 1:1-2; 4a; 26-27; 31a; 2 Cor. 13:11-13; Matt 28:16-20

My dear brothers and sisters, today is a special day in the United Church of Christ; it is the day that many churches in our denomination are beginning a SACRED CONVERSATION ON RACE. It is also Trinity Sunday; however, I have chosen to focus on race and will use the scriptures chosen for this Sunday to elucidate some of the thoughts I will be sharing with you. Today’s sermon will indeed be a very personal one. As many of you know my first husband, Roland Luckett, whom I married in 1964 was an African American from Jackson Mississippi. Some of you have met our biracial children, Jason and Josslyn. I will share with you some of the experiences I have had being part of a biracial family.

I see two important points in the Genesis reading that pertain to our focus: 1) God made humankind (literal translation, earthlings) in God’s image; and 2)God saw everything that he had made and pronounced it very good.

While there is nothing in the Genesis creation story mentioning race or ethnicity, the claim that all humans were created in God’s image does point to equality. However, in the history of race relations in our country, this equality has not been present. People of African descent have often been considered less than human; our early constitution specified that those people not free, in other words African slaves, who were then called Negroes, would be counted as 3/5’s of a person.

Now to go to our Gospel lesson in Matthew, we hear Jesus telling his followers to make disciples of all nations. What was Jesus’ conception of all nations? From the names cited in Matthew, there would be Palestine, Transjordan, Syrophoenicia and possibly Egypt, certainly Jews and Gentiles, Greeks and Romans.(Norman Gottwald and Laura Lagerquist-Gottwald, “Lectionary Readings for Trinity Sunday with Resources for a Sacred Conversation on Race, May 18, 2008”) As far as we know there was not a lot of racial animosity and prejudice in the ancient worlds; however, there was animosity between various political and religious groups, much of it based on class and gender; there were slaves but instead of these people being slaves because of their race, they were usually slaves because of economic problems or because of being captured in battles. There was also a prejudice of the able bodied against the disabled and those with diseases such as leprosy. We hear again and again in the gospels how much separation and division existed, and we also hear how Jesus, again and again, would break through the stigma that separated people. The stories of the tax collectors, the Good Samaritan, the Woman at the well, the lepers are few of the more familiar ones. The early Christian church followed Jesus’ examples of inclusion, not exclusion.

Sadly, in modern times there is a history of colonialism, slavery, and militarism that has fueled more and more discrimination, perpetuating and sadly reinforcing oppression of people based on skin color, national origin, ethnicity—Native Americans, African Americans, Latinos, Asians and most recently Middle Easterners. In the days of slavery in this country, the notion that African Americans were less than human made it okay to deny them freedoms: their right to maintain families, earn a livelihood, or even a right to life. So much of racism in this country is rooted in a 400 year-old system of economic exploitation that continues even today. At this point I want to make a differentiation between prejudice and racism. All racial groups have prejudice, stereotypes associated with different racial groups; however, racism, as with all isms such as capitalism, socialism, etc. is a system that has power. Our power brokers--political, economic, and religious--have for a long time been white males and are just recently in this country becoming more diverse. Blacks in this country have not had the power to do such things as racially profile whites, deny housing or jobs to whites, in the way that whites can do these things to blacks. This is what I’m talking about when I speak of racism, This racism has definitely been part of our Christian faith—for a radical example think Ku Klux Klan. It’s always amazing to me to see how much prejudice and hatred is justified by one’s religion. Jesus’ compassion for the poor and the marginalized, his command that we love even our enemies, is in my mind so contrary to what Christians have done over the centuries. We all have our blind spots, our irrationalities and if we are to have a sacred conversation about race it’s important that we listen to others, share our own stories, and then figure out a plan of action that we can take that will contribute to abolishing racism in both those places close to us and in the larger world.

When I think about the stories that have defined my attitudes about race, I have to go back to my family of origin and the place where I lived as do most people. As most of you know, I grew up in a small town in Maine, not too different from Deering. My family was middle class, early settlers in the town, owned a lot of property, ran a small seasonal hotel and were very prejudiced. Early on I heard derogatory comments about Jews, Negroes and even Roman Catholics. Anyone that was not like us, was inferior and someone with whom I should not to be in close relationship. I remember at about age 12 having a crush on a boy staying at our hotel whose name was Peter Brady. My mother quickly discouraged the crush saying that I could never marry anyone like that—he was Irish and Catholic, beneath us. To me these prejudices didn’t make any sense, especially as I got more involved with reading the Bible, where it seemed to me that God created all equally, and Jesus said to love our neighbor as our self, not specifying religion, race, class, etc.

Growing up I did not have contact with black people except when I went into Portland, the closest big city and would occasionally see a black woman running the elevator in one of the fancy department stores. As a teenager, probably 13 or 14, I went to a summer camp on Lake Winnepesaukee and met two blacks, one a minister and leader of the camp and the other, a boy of my age named Jesse Owens Perry. Jesse and I became special friends and continued writing to each other for a few years. When I was 15, I heard about Emmet Till, a northern black youth visiting in Mississippi who was killed for making a wolf whistle and saying, “bye Baby” to a female white store employee. That incident I believe was a beginning of my heightened interest and resolve to work for civil rights. Then the summer I was 19, back home from college, I had a job at a nearby institution for the mentally retarded. That same summer there were a group of young people from around the country working there from the American Friends Service program. That was when I met Roland. He was a very charismatic young man, and we quickly realized that we were attracted to each other. My parents didn’t forbid me to date him, yet were very critical, saying it wasn’t right because of the difference in our races. On our dates that summer we ran into a lot of stares and some negative comments, all of which made Roland very anxious. His history of discrimination in Mississippi caused him to know the terrible things that happened when races mixed, especially in a romantic way. Until 1967 when the Supreme Court overturned the Loving case of the marriage of a black woman and white man, most Southern states had what were called antimiscegenation laws, forbidding interracial marriages. The judge that tried the original case of the Lovings gave them a choice of a year in jail or move to another state. He said, Almighty God created the races, white, black, yellow, malay and red, and he placed them on separate continents. And but for the interference with his arrangement there would be no cause for such marriages. The fact that he separated the races shows that he did not intend for the races to mix . (Loving v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 388 US. 1 (1967).)

Well, Roland and I continued our courtship for two years with letters and phone calls and a couple of visits. After graduating from the U. of Maine, I went to graduate school in Hawaii where Roland was stationed at Tripler Army Hospital. After two years of courtship in a multi-racial atmosphere, we were married and a year later, Jason our son was born. We moved to California when Jason was a year old and were blessed with a daughter, Josslyn. Those of you that have met my children know how lucky I am to have such loving adults in my life. Both have suffered from being black and sometimes from being white. Let me just share a few examples: The children grew up in a very white suburb of Orange County, CA, and Jason had many experiences of not being allowed to date his white friends once their parents realized he was biracial. He was stopped by police while walking in our neighborhood as they didn’t think he lived there; because he was black, he must be up to some mischief. When the children went off to college and were around more African Americans, they were sometimes discriminated for their whiteness, not sounding like or looking like the black students. Just in the last year, Jason told me the story of being followed by security when he was shopping in a drug store in a primarily white neighborhood with no evidence other than he was black. By the way it’s really hard to call a biracial person white, but no problem calling him black which goes back to the old “one drop” rule , which came out of the American South, meaning that a single drop of "black blood" makes a person a black.

Well, there are many more stories I could tell you about my own experiences, but I want plenty of time for us all to share after the service. In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, he urges followers to put thing in order, agree with each other, and to live in peace. Here in this country that means taking on the racial realities of our life together, acting together to change the way our lives are structured, eliminating discrimination which comes both from structural racism and individual prejudice. We have to be aware and understand our different realities shape how we see ourselves and each other. I believe that by confronting the pain and committing ourselves to the common good of all, we can be healed and will flourish as a church and as a nation. May God guide and bless us. Amen

OUT OF MANY, ONE Pentecost 2008

Scripture: Acts 2:1-13, 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13

This is a day of celebration. This year on Pentecost we are celebrating the birthday of the church and also Pluralism Sunday. Seven weeks after Easter, Pentecost is celebrated as commemorating the time that Jesus’ words were fulfilled by having the Holy Spirit descend on his followers. It is the third most important festival in Christianity, after Easter and Christmas. Pentecost was and is a Jewish Festival coming 50 days after Passover, it celebrated the completion of both harvest and Moses being given the Law on Mt. Sinai. This story goes back to the Tower of Babel experience in Genesis 11. In the beginning, so the story goes, all people were one tribe and spoke the same language. At the beginning the whole tribe was behind the building of a single tower that would be bigger than anyone had ever seen. Unfortunately the building took much longer than anyone imagined—several generations. The grandchildren of the original builders didn’t have the same devotion to building this tower—it was more a chore than a sacred duty. Now of course we have no way of knowing exactly what happened way back then. One story has it that a worker carrying a brick to the very top, a task that took many months, fell and the people mourned the brick over the worker. As a punishment for their prideful attempt to build a tower with its top in the heavens and for their lack of compassion for each other, God caused these men to be scattered into different language groups. They were fragmented and separated and could no longer speak to or understand each other. (Our English word babble comes from this story.) This story can be a lesson for us that whenever we value the material world over the person, we lose our ability to understand each other, even if we speak the same language.

After Jesus was killed, we all know how sad his followers were. When Jesus made his after resurrection appearances to them, they were comforted and inspired. Peter decided to gather Jesus followers together in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. Now these Jews that followed Jesus came from many different countries and language groups. Peter, however, was not distracted by this problem as he was so on fire with the good news of Jesus the Christ and his promise to give them the Holy Spirit as an Advocate. As he spoke humbly yet forcefully from his heart, everyone understood him and each other in their own language. As the scripture says, they all marveled saying,”Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language?"

Is it possible when we dare speak humbly and directly from our heart, we understand each other? Could it be that when we speak from that divine center that is part of all of us, when we speak the truth with compassion, we are able to communicate with others, even without words, that people become one again. It’s such a temptation in our modern world with its busyness and emphasis on profits and deadlines to value the brick over the person. I wonder how many here today spend much of their time fulfilling someone else’s dream and not working on their own. Each of us has the possibility each day to choose what we value: the brick or the person. An example of this compassion that comes to me is the story from the Special Olympics where those with mental retardation and development disabilities compete. In a race for the gold, one of the participants fell down and those behind him took the time to help him rather than taking the opportunity to run ahead and get the prize. Mark Nepo to whom I am indebted for much of the spin on the Tower of Babel story says it this way, “…when I am drawn to speak or listen with compassion, holding what is living above that the living make, things become one. Suddenly I belong again to the one tribe that holds each other at days end. So when we find ourselves speaking a language no one seems to understand, or, more important, when we can’t seem to understand or feel anyone else, we need to ask, ‘What brick am I carrying, and has it become too important?’”

These points carry over so well to the concept of Pluralism. The Center for Progressive Christianity, the Network of Spiritual Progressives and others have designated this year’s Pentecost Sunday as “Pluralism Sunday,” in which we are invited to celebrate the many paths to God. Jim Burklo, the director of Pluralism Sunday, talks about America having a long tradition of toleration for different religions; we tolerate having different faiths in our neighborhoods. What he hopes is that Pluralism Sunday will take a step beyond and actually embrace other religions and honor them at a deeper level. Another goal is to let the world know that there is a way to be Christian without the exclusivity and superiority that is so familiar to us in this country. If we are able to look beneath the outside differences with the compassion of the divine heart as opposed to valuing our own economic or belief system, pluralism will have a great chance of succeeding as we accept and embrace others on a deep level.

I have chosen as my sermon title, of Out of Many, One. Did you know this was the original motto of our country before “In God we trust”? When I was a child I remember the slogan about America being the melting pot, referring to the acceptance of the many different immigrant groups. A little later, maybe when I was a teenager, I heard people talking about America as a Salad Bowl rather than a melting pot, and I remember how much better I liked that term. It seemed more realistic and preserved all the beauty and variety that immigrants bring to this country, the diversity I talked about last week. Dr. Bob Cornwell has a wonderful description of this Salad Bowl: “We may be Americans, but we're also something else - African, Italian, Asian, English, Arab, Latin American. ... We're Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Orthodox Christian, Catholic, Protestant, or perhaps none of the above. A good garden salad has lots of great ingredients that retain their identity even as they're tossed into the salad - tomato, green onion, spinach, baby arugula, radicchio, romaine, radish, carrot, croutons, maybe some blue cheese, and the dressing of one's choice. Each ingredient adds flavor and texture to the salad. It's true that over time assimilation does happen, but even with intermarriage and a standardized education, we remain products of our heritage and common experiences, just like a salad.” Out of Many, One. I really like that!

In this salad bowl we can share and learn from each other. Pluralism is recognizing that my way is not the only way; or as I have preached before, Jesus is my gate to God; however there are other gates for other people that are just as valid for them as Jesus is for me. We don’t have to agree; neither do we have to accept that anything goes. It is important to share our own beliefs respectfully. There are times when we may have to speak out strongly against certain religious or cultural practices such as girls’ genital mutilations. It would be a mistake to say that everything anyone does in the name of God is okay. A pluralistic view believes we get closer to God and each other when we let compassion lead us to understand the traditions of others with whom we share our planet.

Both Pentecost and Pluralism point to a God who enables us to speak and hear in ways that bring unity rather than divisiveness. Our other Bible reading in first Corinthians also celebrates pluralism as Paul talks about how there are many gifts yet the same Spirit or One body with many members—Out of Many, One. Although this reference is pertaining to the early Christians, I see it applying to us all being part of the mystical body of Christ. In researching this sermon, I came across this quote, “Whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world, or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the body of Christ because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts they need something that they don't have and they turn to the only light they have…” It might surprise you to know that this was said by Billy Graham.

Paul says we are all made to drink of the same Spirit which for me is like the Holy Spirit coming into all the gathered there in Jerusalem, all the Diaspora of Jews with many different languages. It reminds me of a hymn by Al Carmines that we will be singing after the sermon; according to our hymn book it was the first modern text to claim diversity as a gift from God. “Many gifts, one Spirit, one love known in many ways. In our difference is blessing, from diversity we praise one Giver, one Lord, one Spirit, one God known in many ways.” For me pluralism is a gift of God’s amazing creativity: diversity but more than that—God’s affirming that all of this is good, precious in God’s sight. And that we as citizens of the world as well as followers of a particular belief system are to reach out to the others in humility, affirming diversity and celebrating pluralism in the light of God’s vision of reconciliation, forgiveness and healing of the planet and all God’s children. God is calling us to celebrate our gifts and share them with the world. So I urge all of you to not just celebrate diversity on this Sunday, but to pay attention to how God is revealed in each and every life and nation and to fill our hearts with a compassion that will bring us together rather than separate us. Praise to our awesome Creator. Amen.

SO WE MAY ALL BE ONE May 4, 2008

Scripture: Acts 1:6-14, John 17:1-11

Today I will preach the first of two sermons on my belief that we are all one, a beautiful unity in diversity. Our gospel reading from John 17 is the beginning of what is known as Jesus high priestly prayer. In the portion assigned to today’s lectionary Jesus is praying for a small group of followers, the ones that God gave to Jesus as his disciples. He prays about how all mine are yours and yours are mine and further asks that the Holy Father will protect them in his name, “so that they may be one, as we are one.” (11 b) Later in this same chapter in verses 20-23 Jesus says he also asks on behalf of others, not part of these known followers that they may all be one.
I want to share with you the image of oneness as a spoked wheel, a image that has been used at least as far back as Lao Tzu in Chapter 11 of the Tao when he writes, “We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.” The Christian desert fathers, the early Christian mystics of the third century also used this image. Let me share with you the way Mark Nepo,a Jewish Buddhist describes this wheel:
“Imagine that each of us is a spoke in an Infinite Wheel, and though each spoke is essential in keeping the Wheel whole, no two spokes are the same. Clearly, in a spoked wheel, the spokes separate as they each move out to support a different part of the rim. And clearly, they are all connected in a central hub that gives them the strength to form a wheel.
We could say that the rim of that Wheel is our sense of community, family and relationship, and the common hub where all the spokes join is the one center where all souls meet. So, as I move out into the world, I live out my uniqueness, but when I dare to look into my core, I come upon the one common Center where all lives begin. In that center we are one and the same.” (The Exquisite Risk, p. 144),
What Nepo describes is an image for how we are all linked together and at the center is the source of all being, God—by whatever name we call that Source. It is the shared sacred unity of all life, the soul, the heart. The Hindus say Atman, Buddhists call it Dharma, the Spanish have the word El Meollo—that which is deeper that connects the one to many, for Christians it’s the Holy Spirit, that same Holy Spirit that Jesus promised us as he left us in the first chapter of Acts, the same Holy Spirit that came on Pentecost with the sound of a violent wind. This center, this hub of the Wheel signifies that deep realm of being where all souls meet. This happens when we pursue the truth of who we are. As we mysteriously look deeply into each other, we find ourselves. My belief is that no matter the outward diversity that identifies us, deep inside we have common desires and fears. The Beloved Community happens when we allow ourselves to reach out humbly in love and openness. No one, no religion, no one way in my opinion, holds all the answers. To quote Mark Nepo again, “All ways inform each other. Inevitably, all parts are necessary. Without the rim, there is no wheel. Without the center, the spokes cannot support a rim. Without the spokes, the center and rim are useless to the living…Without Spirit and a common ground of being, there is not enough strength in who we are to support any kind of community. And without our beautifully unique selves, Spirit and community will never inform each other.” (p. 142)

Unity does not mean sameness. Jesus was not specific in describing how we would all be one but his prayer clearly was for oneness not sameness. I never heard Jesus pray that we would all be the same in our beliefs. It is clear in both Acts and Paul’s Epistles that the early Christian communities had many disagreements. Just because we do not agree doesn’t mean that we have to build fences and not relate to each other. I’d like to think of that ‘Promised land” as a place where we will all be safe in sharing our disagreements, our differences. If we acknowledge the Hub as the center of our diverse lives, if we honor and respect each other in spite of our differences, I believe that process and that diversity will be a source of strength and joy. If we can listen to and show agape love to others, if we can be authentically whole hearted, all embracing, I believe we can create that Beloved Community that Dr. ML King talked so much about. For him the Beloved Community was a global vision in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth. In the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated because international standards of decency will not allow it. Racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry, and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood. As King became more exposed to oppressed peoples of many races and in many nations, he became more and more focused on the unity of humanity. He liked to talk about a “worldhouse”, a metaphor which captured for him the ideal of a world based on love, justice, and equal opportunity where loyalties to race, class, sex, tribe, religion, political differences, ethnicity and nationality would be transcended.

This notion that we are all expressions of the same Original Being, this Divine Presence that keeps expressing itself uniquely through all beings as we search for a shared truth is at the heart of the Hindu concept Thou Art That which teaches that we need to die to our smaller selves in order to rise to a vision that we share the same human nature with all others. In truth as hard as it is to accept, we are indeed each other—as beautiful and as brutal as the other. About 20 years ago I heard a poem by Thich Nhat Hanh titled “Call Me by My True Names”. It made such an impact on me and may have even been influential in my beliefs about oneness today. In the poem, which he wrote after a long mediation, there are three characters: a pirate, a girl, and himself. It’s a long poem but I would like to share it now:

Do not say that I'll depart tomorrow
because even today I still arrive.

Look deeply: I arrive in every second
to be a bud on a spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with wings still fragile,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
in order to fear and to hope.
The rhythm of my heart is the birth and
death of all that are alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing on the surface of the river,
and I am the bird which, when spring comes, arrives in time
to eat the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily in the clear pond,
and I am also the grass-snake who, approaching in silence,
feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks,
and I am the arms merchant, selling deadly weapons to
Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean after being raped by a sea pirate,
and I am the pirate, my heart not yet capable of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands,
and I am the man who has to pay his "debt of blood"
to, my people,
dying slowly in a forced labor camp.

My joy is like spring, so warm it makes flowers bloom in all
walks of life.
My pain if like a river of tears, so full it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and laughs at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart can be left open,
the door of compassion.

Although this poem may be disconcerting, it certainly was to me the first time I heard it, it says to me that as I work on myself to be more loving, more compassionate, more peaceful, more respectful I influence the core of all that is. I believe in a God that loves us all, forgives us and strengthens us. In our reading from Acts, Jesus asks us to be his witnesses in the world, much like that great commissioning that comes at the end of the gospel of Matthew. After Jesus left the disciples, they returned to Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. They went to the room where they were staying and they devoted themselves to prayer along with certain women, including Mary the mother of Jesus. I urge you not to forget the importance of prayer as you strive to recognize truth for you. Remember that one of the ways that prayer works is that it changes the person that prays. As I pray to see the Christ in all I meet, I believe that God opens my eyes in a new way and I am able to get closer to helping bring about the Beloved Community. I pray that as we participate in Holy Communion as the body of Christ that we will open not just our eyes but our hearts to the Oneness of Creation. Let us ask for the courage to pray with Jesus that we may all be One. Amen.