Letting God outa' the Box

Thursday, August 21, 2003

 
Just back from visit to Mississippi. There is definitely some ruffled feathers around the ECUSA's "approval" of a openly gay Bishop. Yet, the majority of people still glow with one wonderful aspect of the Bible Belt, hospitality.

I talked to people who are hurt and embarassed. Part of this seems to be associated with what others are saying about the Church they love. Another reason seems to be that the Church has gone against what they read in scripture...seemingly throwing out part of the Bible. I heard fear in the possibility of "what will be thrown out next?" Foundational beliefs seem to be challenged by these recent events. Some see the Church as providing a "moral fabric" for the people and see this as a hugh flaw in that fabric.

I was reminded that "sure, we are all miserable sinners". I agree we are all sinners, but I was uneasy with the adjective 'miserable'. I was also reminded of the heirachial nature with which we view sin...one sin being worse than another. As Clifton commented, sin is present in all relationships. Yet, while reading Nevada Barr's recent work Seeking Enlightenment Hat by Hat: A Skeptic's Path to Religion, I wondered: does ranking sins allow us to feed our vanity? 'Well, at least I am not a bad a sinner as Bill?' Does ranking one failing as worse than another merely lead us to a slippery slope that placing a wedge between ourselves and others? Are we not all equally 'works in progress'? Is an essential part of our progress the ability to see and acknowledge the sins, the things that separate us from God as well as ourselves and other, and work to eliminate them? If we judge ourselves as 'miserable' are we pushing out hope of improvement? Can we condemn ourselves (and others) to a place where we cannot see the salvation of Christ?

Gotta run...more of this 'work in progress' later
Fr. Bill 10:27 AM

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Tuesday, August 12, 2003

 
So why is all this 'stuff' important to me?

When I percieved a call to the ministry, I felt God telling me to 'feed my sheep'. As a restarauntuer, my call seemed couched in language I could understand. God seemed to tell me to show His love to all. God did not specify which 'food' or which 'sheep'. I felt called on my experience as a sheep who left the fold to look for the other lost sheep and feed them. An essential element of feeding is finding a preparing food...this means uncovering and revealing God's presence and love within the world. This is to be food for all. Not just the well-behaved...not just the white sheep...not just the sheep in the fold; for the sheep who does not get food will die.

As one outside the fold, I met others outside the fold, some of whom are homosexuals. Yet, we were all still sheep, still Children of God. I found myself being to see the presence and love of God in the lives of us 'untouchables' outside the fold. I saw wonderful models of loving, supportive, and committed relationships outside the fold which was not always the case within the fold.

Barton suggest that scripture work with faith. What we bring to the reading of the Word helps enliven it in our hearts and minds. Within the point of view from my call, I have begun to see that my faith in God's love for His children has changed my view of scripture...the Law changes from rules to exclude into guides for a loving community. Sexuality can be a hinderance to living in community, if we choose to see it that way.
Fr. Bill 9:11 AM

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Monday, August 11, 2003

 
I realize my last posting was loose, yet I do wander, if persecution of others who do not conform is, in some way, reflective of the persecution of Jesus. All too often in my seminary journey, I, along with several other seminarians, have seemed to be searching to THE ANSWER. Often our questions seeking definite answer have been followed by a "it is more complicated than that" response.

There is a drive in us to know God...completely and wholely. A desire to have an 'orthodox' foundation of belief...a sure and steady foundation from which we can enter the world as Priest and proclaim the Gospel. Yet, any simple and sure foundation seems to limit God and exclude some of God's children.
By definition, 'Faith' seems to be believing is something that I cannot limit...belief in something beyond my complete understanding. The Hebrew scriptures seem to show me just such a God. Christ also appears to bring us the Word of God which cannot be contained...even by the finality that we see in death.

At the end of the Episcopal Eucharist, our blessing speaks of "a peace which passes all human understanding". It is that peace I seek in a relationship with a God who passes all human understanding. While many speak of the "absolute sin of homosexuality", I seek the grace in each individual which is beyond understanding. Often in scripture, what appears to us to be a curse, turns into a gift. I seek to keep my eyes open to the gifts that maybe hidden.
Fr. Bill 8:41 AM

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Friday, August 08, 2003

 
Following the title of this blog, Letting God outa the Box, I have allowed my imagination to explore. I assume that God is alive. As God lives, God continues to interact with humans, just as God interacted with humans in the scriptures. I wonder if some times we restrict God...sort of hold God's foot to the fire on 'exactly' what was said and scribed in scriptural interactions. The world seems to have changed somewhat since the writing of scripture (or the 'fixing' or canonization of scripture). The word of scripture must also be allowed to live and 'move outside the box'. The Word becomes animate as it interacts with us (and yes, Mr. Falwell, us includes Episcopalians as well as many others who may not read the Word exactly as you do). If scripture is fixed and absolute, does it live? Can we still interact, even debate, with scripture if we make it rigid and absolute?

Catherine Wallace states, "The silencing of debate blurs the crucial distinction between moral authority and simple authoritarianism" (For Fidelity, p. 8). Does scripture live as a moral authority or has scripture become simple authoritatianism? Is God's word in relationship with us...are we in discussion with the Word...are we living with the living Word? I am reminded of Mark 2:27-28: Then he said to them,"The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath." Is not The Law and the Word also made for humankind? Are they not gifts from God to humankind...guides to help us love each other as God loves us?

I ask your indulgence of my imagination...my thinking outside the box.

What if homosexuality were also a gift from God? Homosexuality could be a way that humans could live in loving relationships that are non-procreative. What if God's charge that we be fruitful and multiply has reached a critical state of fulfillment? In such a situation, continuing to do so would lead to our own destruction. How are we to prevent such a destruction from happening in a natural way? How can loving relationships still come about that would care for the children we now have who do not live in a loving family and do not know that God loves them? Could homosexuality be a loving way of dealing with our population explosion rather than famine, disease, or catastrophe (such as the Great Flood)?

Is God only limited to doing what has already been done? Is God living? Can God do something different?

"This God gives and takes beyond human reasoning or justification. Because his motives are not interpretable and his thoughts and actions are not foreseeable, anything -- and everything -- is possible" (Thomas Cahill's The Gift of the Jews, p. 93)

While my imagination may lead to comments labling me with blasphemy and heresy, I do believe in a Trinitarian God who will not fit into a box...God who can not even be limited to a human name.
Fr. Bill 8:41 AM

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Wednesday, August 06, 2003

 
A recent comment pointed to the apparent 'PCism' in seminary. Well, yep, there is PCism in seminary...there is inclusivity...there are opportunities to learn how to spread the Gospel to all. However, my own liberal leanings have grown out of my past...growing up in the Bible Belt...the fundamental and literal culture of Mississippi. An area where one person was inferior to another based solely on skin color, or financial condition. I heard rhetoric by Christians who appeared puffed up by their belief in their salvation...'being saved' became part of a cultural acceptance. However, 'being saved' did not seem to include 'loving one's neighbor as one's self'. The 'un-saved' or even 'un-savable' became the class of 'untouchables'. The Christian church appeared to be a populated by mostly Pharasees and Sadducees. In the Bible belt, culturally, Jesus was not associated with those 'heathen Jews', 'everyone knows Jesus is a Christian'!

Part of learning to be a minister, to me, means learning to minister to anyone. I am touched by Christ's message of love. My salvation was found in the message that Christ loves the 'untouchable'. Growing up a fat kid, I spent years being the untouchable. I watched as other kids were reduced to the level of untouchability..."her family is poor", "they are black", "he acts gay". I watched as my fellow humans conveyed the message of 'unlovability' on others. I felt my self-love move to self hatred...I watched as it happened to others. Where was Christ? Well, according to my Christian neighbors, He was with the well-behaved 'saved' folks who no longer sinned.

Yet, when I began to read the Gospels, I did not hear that message. I saw a Christ who brought the message of love to the untouchables! I heard that God is my Father, who loves and cares for me...and will even welcome me back if I run off. I began to assimilate the message that my life is a gift...given to me by God. Just as my life is a gift, so are the lives of others all around me...fat or skinny, rich or poor, black or white, gay or straight.

Ministry for me, is about sharing that message of God's love for us. I believe that it is accepting God's love, opening our hearts and allowing ourselves to be love, that will change us...save us. Love does what the Law could not...it changes our hearts...it changes who we are. God's love perfects us.

Does that mean we will act perfect? No. Sin is what keeps us from perfection. We have an ability to turn anything into sin. Our physical death is the freedom from sin. I know many believe that this perfection can be achieved while we are still 'of this earth', yet I wonder if such perfection is attainable...or does it lead to a 'puffing up' that blocks love?
We seem to have moved in a culture based on our human determinism...we assume people choose to be fat or poor or gay (or even see such as a curse from God). It also appears that we seem to think we can choose our salvation or not. Salvation, to me, appears to be a gift that we can choose to accept...and continue to accept day by day, moment by moment. I think ministry is about conveying the message that the choice is always present. God's love for us is always there, we just have to choose it, turn toward it, allow it to fill us. As a minister, I am not called to pick and choose who God's love is available to...it is available to all!

God is alive and continues to live in us through the Holy Spirit in our hearts...even the hearts of us 'untouchables'.


Fr. Bill 10:56 AM

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