Readings

FIRST LESSON

The first lesson is from Meditations on a Theme by Anthony of Sourozh

…[Y]ou choose your life, that is to say, you choose all the conditions of your life, when you choose the thoughts upon which you allow your mind to dwell. Thought is the real causative force in life, and there is no other kind. You cannot have one kind of mind and another kind of environment. This means that you cannot change your environment while leaving your mind unchanged, nor … can you change your mind without your environment changing too.

This then is the real key to life: if you change your mind your conditions must change, too—your body must change, your daily work or other activities must change; your home must change; the color-tone of your whole life must change—for whether you be habitually happy and cheerful, or low-spirited and fearful, depends entirely on the quality of the mental food upon which you diet yourself.

Please be very clear about this. If you change your mind your conditions must change too. We are transformed by the renewing of our minds. So now you will see that your mental diet is really the most important thing in your whole life.

SECOND LESSON

The second lesson is from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 13 verses 10 through 17

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, “Woman, you are set free from your ailment.” When Jesus laid hands on her, immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the Sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, “There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the Sabbath day.” But Jesus answered and said, “You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger, and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham who has been bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the Sabbath day?” When Jesus said this, his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things Jesus was doing.

This Week's Sermon

Date: August 22, 2010

Title: Are You Talking to Me?

Message Delivered By: Rev. Dr. Joe McMurray

A worker was trying to get a large, heavy pulpit through the door of the church. A churchgoer, passing by and humorously witnessing the struggle for several moments, offered to help the worker. He thought he’d have a better vantage point if he went to the inside of the church. So the two maneuvered and turned and twisted, but with no success. The pulpit was just too bulky and cumbersome.

Shortly thereafter, a car-load of people arrived at the church for a meeting and saw what was going on. Some got on one side of the doorway to help the worker, while others went to the aid of the churchgoer on the outside. They pushed and pulled, they tugged and twisted, they analyzed and configured until they were so exhausted, they could hardly continue. But still the pulpit would not budge.

Finally, the worker on the outside said to those who were helping him, and those helping the churchgoer on the inside, "Well, my friends, we'd better give up on this. At this rate, we'll never get this pulpit into the church."

The churchgoer on the inside immediately did a double-take, and looked at his helpers and said, "What do you mean, get it into the church? I thought you were trying to get it out!"

Too frequently, it seems, we struggle needlessly in opposition to one other, expending valuable energy, wasting precious time, all in the name of what we believe is a mutual cause. We think we’re moving forward together without clearly stating our common desires and goals. We assume we’re always moving in the same direction. Only later do we discover that those unnamed desires and goals may never have been clear.

We think we understand our common mission, yet we find we have misinterpreted one another, and that we’ve actually been working against one another. Sometimes, when we don’t communicate first, we’re lucky when we find ourselves on the same page. Yet other times, after much frustration and expended energy, not only are we not on the same page, we’re not even in the same book. It’d be much easier to believe that we all have each others’ best interest at heart, but all too often, we really don’t.
Too often, we have our own best interest at heart and assume that everyone else’s best interest should mirror our own, without even asking the question.

As the pulpit story proves, we might think we’re helping a situation when in reality, we’re not only stuck in place, but we’re keeping others from moving at all, and in fact, often we’re making things worse.

At times like these, we must stop what we’re doing – take time to listen to one another – verify the information at hand – continue listening – and then decide, together, how we should proceed. It all comes down to honoring, being clear, speaking respectfully and above all, listening carefully to one another without personalizing the common goal at hand.
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Please pray with me: God, our goals and our mission are indeed revealed listening with care to the ways you have called us and by preparing with intention the work you have called us to do. May we always take the time to listen to one another, to appreciate the depth of each others’ passions, and to clarify the scope of what our work together should be. When we are in harmony, may we work side by side with our eyes focused on the common goal; when we disagree, help us to keep our hearts are focused on each other’s needs throughout the journey. And may my words and all of our thoughts be filled with honor and praise to you. Amen.
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Our scripture this morning is a very important one, because it conveys so clearly the difference between the spirit and the letter of the law. It is a story based on ethical behavior and a lesson in how to distinguish between right and wrong in an ambiguous situation.

It is an account of putting faith into action despite the clear opposition by voices of authority. It is a story about injustice—that a law meant to represent good should be rejected because it caused harm; and how and why that law must be remedied.

We look this morning at the woman who came upon Jesus as he taught in the synagogue. In this particular account, the woman was not directly seeking to be healed, though after 18 years of illness, she must have been fairly desperate to find physical health and balance to her life.
But it was ultimately Jesus who singled her out, improperly addressing her in public according to the culture and the religious law. And Jesus was being told to “… wait until tomorrow. Yes, it’s too bad she has to suffer, but we have to let her suffer at least one more day.” Talk about your misplaced priorities.

There was a real disconnect here: a disconnect between thoughts and feelings, a disconnect between what was right or wrong in the law, and a disconnect between choices that lead to good results and choices that lead to bad outcomes.

There are a lot of similar things happening in our world right now.

Look at the environment and the way we expend energy. We know it’s wrong how we live. We know it’s wasteful. We know that the earth’s resources are limited and that it would be best for us, for the future of our children, and for the protection of the earth and the environment (if only we could remember that these are gifts from God to us)—if we would invest in renewable energy sources like solar, wind and water.

Now let’s get a little more personal.

Look way back to the early 80s. The beginning of the AIDS years when the medical profession and the CDC did not seem interested in stopping AIDS. After all, it was only gay men, Haitians and hemophiliacs who got it. Some of the early research in the study of AIDS was to make sure the “right” people didn’t catch it. Only after people from ACT-UP in New York and San Francisco took to the streets and blocked a few bridges and inconvenienced a few of the regular folk did the research on treatment begin.

Now, let’s fast forward to today. We know that for 16 years, some memers of Congress have tried to pass the Employment Non-Discrimination Act which would guarantee that people of all persuasions, including LGB and Transgender people, could not be discriminated against for any reason. We are still told we have to wait for justice to be done.

And then there’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, which was initially created to stop the indiscriminate purging of gays and lesbians from the military, despite the fact that they served with honor and distinction. Instead, it has been used to discharge more gays and lesbians serving than before it went into effect. And we are still being told that the timing isn’t right for justice to be done. We have to wait.

Same sex marriage? We have to wait. Wait for another day, until it becomes more “okay” for the nervous to feel less threatened about us. Gay adoption? Same thing. Justice deferred one more time.

And now in Key West—we just have to wait a little longer for justice to be served. Gay bashings in the heart of Old Town? Sorry, but we just have to wait. We can’t be everywhere at once. Nothing can be done. We have to wait.

Well.

At this time, for the first time in a long time, I think more people in Key West are finally ready to stand up and say, “We’ve waited long enough.”

When Chris Tanner, a bartender from Aqua, was savagely beaten last week by a group of young thugs because of his sexual orientation, and the previous and subsequent beatings continue to go unpunished because the perpetrators cannot be found, and cannot be stopped, then it’s time to stand up and say, “We’ve waited long enough.”

Now, lest they be misconstrued, my comments which follow are not intended to inflame the situation any more than it already is. I am not saying to those in authority, “You don’t care.”

But what I am saying is, “You don’t care enough. You don’t care enough to stop it. You don’t care enough to change it. You don’t care enough to prioritize this so that it will stop happening and to promise that it won’t happen again.”

And no, it isn’t just about “gay people,” but to some degree it is primarily about “gay people.” After all, “gay people” prove to be easy targets. Yes, we’re easy to spot.

By the way we dress? No, not necessarily. Thank God we tend to dress differently. By the way we walk? No—we’re all different, distinct and unique. By our mannerisms or the ways we speak?
No—we have as many variations in the ways we gesture, in the ways we speak and sound, as any other subset of humanity.

But we are still easy targets. Because we live in a culture that likes easy targets. You see, in our society, if you can paint a target on someone else, nobody would even think of painting one on you. And when you can always point your finger somewhere else and yell out, “That’s the enemy!” then nobody is interested in pointing a finger and making an enemy of you.

Black people have long been used as targets, especially African Americans. Did you hear about poor Dr. Laura Schlessinger last week? She went on the airwaves and used racial epithets several times in demeaning a black woman who called Dr. Laura because she felt insulted when her white husband’s relatives would use racist comments and he would not rebut them.

As a result of that published interview, which Dr. Laura deleted from her website, but not before another group captured and re-recorded it, Dr. Laura said, on Larry King Live, that she would now be giving up her radio show.
Why? Because, she said, "I want to be able to say what's on my mind and in my heart and what I think is helpful and useful without somebody getting angry, some special interest group deciding this is the time to silence a voice of dissent and attack affiliates, attack sponsors. I'm sort of done with that."

And all I can say is, “Thank you, Jesus!”

You may have heard that a few months ago, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same rights as individuals, which opened the door for big business to contribute, unchecked, huge sums of money to political campaigns. Target Stores recently contributed $150,000 to support a candidate for Governor of Minnesota who is vehemently anti-gay. Target has also promoted itself as opening doors to the LGBT community, including wanting to put two new stores in San Francisco. Target has now become a target, as a nationwide call for a boycott of all Target Stores and products is going into effect. Bet they’d like to take that one back.

Why are these incidents important? They are important because the more we allow this type of intentional division, the more we allow ourselves to be targeted and treated as second-class citizens.

And the more we let Fox News and Glenn Beck, or Ann Coulter, or Tony Perkins from the Family Research Council, or Fred Phelps from the Westboro Baptist Hate Church define us and separate us from the mainstream and force us to observe an entirely different set of laws and regulations, then the more we allow our friends and neighbors and citizens to buy into this nonsense.

This gives people license to take potshots at us without having to pay for the consequences of their actions. It gives a green light to hatred; it condones beatings and bashings; and it gives common street thugs permission to attack whomever they perceive to be “weak” – whether it’s a young gay man, or an elderly couple, or tourists who just got off the cruise ship.

You know, way back last year when Fred Phelps came to town, we held a forum right in this space. And as a community, we decided not to respond to Phelps’ hatred, with a primary reason that this was exactly what Phelps wanted to do—create publicity by causing a stir. And perhaps, let people turn violent so he could reap the benefits of another lawsuit. So we said we would, in effect, “turn the other cheek.”

And, as we all know, we have our own Phelps protégé right here in Key West. Tony, the “God Hates Fags” sign carrier whom you can see frequently on Duval Street. In fact, he stood right in front of this church not four weeks ago, carrying his signs of hate. We were all polite to Tony, Vicki Gordon went out and asked him how he was and told him that God loved him. And we turned the other cheek.

Now, please don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say; because I’m the first person who will stand up and support the First Amendment; I’m the first in line to promote the rights of anyone to free speech.

But I think I’m sort of through with supporting people’s rights to use hate speech to denigrate other people. I’m over being patient with the Fred Phelps’s and the Dr. Laura’s and the Glenn Becks.

Excuse me as I’m feeling a little wave of “Jesus-mania” coming over me. I’m feeling that fighting back spirit begin to creep up in my bones. I’m tired of feeling helpless and hopeless. I’m tired of feeling that nothing I say about injustice will ever matter, and that nothing I do will ever change anything.
It gets me to thinking: when Fred Phelps came to town, I wonder if we did the right thing. There are arguments on every side for doing what we thought was right. But why should we have been silent? Jesus wasn’t! Jesus didn’t let them shut him up! I’m tired of turning the other cheek!

Although, you know what? Our old Christian values did call for us to turn the other cheek. But when you did that, you did it wisely. It was never meant to convey the message of “I choose to continue to let you make me suffer.” Turning the other cheek meant that if you hit me once and I defy you to hit me again, then we both know who you are and who I am. We both know that you can rely only on childish ways of response.

When I turn the other cheek, we both know that it means you cannot engage intellectually. You have complete power over me, yet you are so afraid of me that you have to use it. Turning the other cheek is an affront, it’s an insult to the bully. By turning the other cheek, I’m telling you that I may be defenseless—but you are the coward. And we must remember that turning the other cheek is only one response.

I’m feeling feisty today. I’m beginning to feel like Howard Beale, from the 1976 movie, Network, who said:

“I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's worth; banks are going bust; shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter; punks are running wild in the street, and there's nobody anywhere who seems to know what to do, and there's no end to it.

We know the air is unfit to breathe and our food is unfit to eat. And we sit watching our TVs while some local newscaster tells us that today we had fifteen homicides and sixty-three violent crimes, as if that's the way it's supposed to be! We all know things are bad -- worse than bad -- they're crazy.

It's like everything everywhere is going crazy, so we don't go out any more. We sit in the house, and slowly the world we're living in is getting smaller, and all we say is, "Please, at least leave us alone in our living rooms. Let me have my toaster and my TV and my steel-belted radials, and I won't say anything. Just leave us alone."

“Well, I'm not going to leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot. I don't want you to write to your Congressman, because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about the depression and the inflation and the Russians and the crime in the street. All I know is that first, you've got to get mad.

You've gotta say, "I'm a human being, dammit! My life has value!"

So, I want you to get up now. I want all of you to get up out of your chairs. I want you to get up right now and go to the window, open it, and stick your head out and yell, "I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!!"

This week, MCC will host a Community Anti-Violence Forum. The GLCC and the KW Police Department will join in addressing the issues of violence in paradise. Please plan to join us Wednesday, August 25 at 6pm in the Sanctuary. Voice your opinion. Get mad. Get righteous! Get out your soapbox and get ready to take a stand on it.

Because if we don’t—and if we don’t do this together—things will never change. And the next gay bashing is going to become a fatality. And then we’re never going to be able to look ourselves in the mirror again because when we had the chance, we did nothing.

I’ll be there. I hope you will be, too. And may we continue to follow where God is leading. Amen.