Foundry UMC DC: Sunday Sermons

Wisdom At the Intersection - August 15th, 2021

Wisdom At the Intersection

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli for Foundry UMC August 15, 2021, the twelfth Sunday after Pentecost.

Text:  1 Kings 2:10-12, 3:3-14

The story we read in 1 Kings this morning always conjures for me a Genie in a Bottle:  “Ask what I should give you,” God says to Solomon. Sounds pretty awesome…or tempting. We all know stories where the punchline is: “be careful what you wish for.”

If God came to you today with this offer, what would you ask for?  No doubt there would be a variety of answers. A quick internet search to see what people would ask of a Genie who offered three wishes turned up everything from curing illnesses, feeding people, the ability to fly(?), well-being of loved ones, and of course riches, material possessions, good looks, and a perfect romance.  Even a very cursory search on this topic is pretty fascinating.  What would you ask for?

Solomon asks for wisdom.  God is pleased with this request.  But why? What is wisdom? And why does it matter to God?  Should it matter to us?

Let’s begin with what wisdom is NOT.  

Wisdom is not piles of facts and data. In this information age, a steady stream of input is bombarding us (and, increasingly that input is peppered with all sorts of made up stuff). Like water from a firehose, information overwhelms us and numbs us. But with all this information at our fingertips are we any wiser? Are we any closer to God or to God’s design or intentions for life? We may understand how things work; we may be able to describe the pieces, the causes and effects of measurable data. But this is not wisdom. My sense is that there are some people in the world who know a lot of things, who are brilliant with observing and manipulating data and ideas, but who do not possess what anyone would call wisdom. 

Also, wisdom is NOT something that you just “get” if you live long enough, something we automatically receive while passively meandering along the paths of life.  It’s not like a good wine that simply becomes better as it ages. Wisdom must be cultivated—more like the work of the vineyard—in order for it to grow. In other words, wisdom is not guaranteed for adults and it is not beyond the reach of the young. As sister Joan Chittister puts it, “Wisdom is not a passive virtue—wisdom is not just something we soak up if we live long enough not to be able to avoid it. We have to work at getting wisdom or we will live a very shallow life.” Chittister says that wisdom is available for everyone who pays attention to their lives and to God. This paying attention is, it seems, at the heart of how we “work at getting wisdom.” The story is told that soon after the death of the greatest rabbi in the region, a traveler said to one of his disciples, “Your rabbi was renowned for his wisdom.  What did he give greatest attention to in life?”  The disciple thought a minute and said, “To whatever he happened to be doing at the moment.”  

So wisdom is NOT information and data or something we can expect to mature without any effort on our part. But what is it? 

The concept of “wisdom” is translated a number of different ways in different versions of the Bible:  an understanding mind (NRSV), a discerning mind  (CEB), an understanding heart (KJV), a heart with skill to listen (NEB), a hearing heart (ASV), a God-listening heart (MSG).  Translators seem to labor to find a way to capture a union of head (mind), heart (soul/spirit/emotion), and will (discerning, understanding, listening, etc.). So at least one aspect of wisdom is being an integrated person (head, heart, and will) who, as a result, can be fully present in each moment. Maybe that is why some children seem so very wise—for they tend to live in the moment, to see and look around at the world with awe and wonder. And many children haven’t been “dis-integrated” yet… 

This aspect of wisdom is cultivated through doing our own personal work, it requires doing whatever it takes to know enough about yourself, through loving and careful observation, to be conscious of yourself—to perceive and understand what you are feeling and thinking (and why!)—so that you can observe the present moment with clarity…and then to act or respond based on your observation. This is the wisdom required to not get “triggered” or “hooked” by things that can take you out of your center, out of your mind, out of your heart—things that can carry you off into irrational and reptilian and damaging behaviors or feelings or thoughts. 

And, to be frank, this is increasingly difficult and important. We are currently in a crisis of civilization in which every single thing seems more fragile than ever—our planet earth, any semblance of peace, right relationships of care and justice and trust and solidarity—everything is teetering on the edge of or already well down the slippery slope. In the midst of the complicated mess we humans have made through foolishness, shortsightedness, greed, and fear, a mess that has and will continue to have painful consequences for all life, I believe that God is yet at work. All day long. But can we perceive it?

So many of the great spiritual traditions of the world agree that the practice of a healthy self-awareness (not neurotic self-obsession!) and attention to the present moment is at the heart of growing in peace, love, and wisdom. The integrated, conscious person is able to look at self, others, and the world with love and compassion, with patience, with a capacity to perceive God’s presence and power and grace—even in the midst of conflict or danger or discomfort or pain—or the complete mess we’ve made of things. This doesn’t mean that a wise person doesn’t feel fear or pain. It means that the wise person can modulate their response toward self and other that does not add harm.

Sr. Chittister says this: “Wisdom is life peeled and cored, it is attention and consciousness lived to the hilt…Wisdom calls us, the Scripture says, to know ourselves, to squeeze out of every moment of life whatever lesson it holds for us, whatever responses it demands at that time.” This is what we are being asked to do all the time. But in moments of struggle and confusion—like right now—a focus on this kind of consciousness is particularly important in order to keep any kind of solid ground under our feet or to hold on to any semblance of healthy perspective. Wisdom understood as Chittister describes it pulls us out of the shallows and into deeper places where simple categories don’t always work and decisions aren’t necessarily checking this box or that one. Wisdom allows us to perceive the complicated, intricate, confusing, beautiful intersections of the people and world all around us and to learn what they have to teach us.

So to be wise is to be integrated and conscious—of self, others, and what’s happening in the present moment. But there is another piece to wisdom. Discernment and action. The wise person doesn’t simply do no harm, but also seeks to do good. Solomon asked for a shomea lev, an understanding/hearing heart so that he might discern between good and evil and provide wise leadership for the people in his care. And, Lord knows, that is what we need more of at every level right now. A wise leader will be self-aware, digest all the relevant facts and data, will listen to a variety perspectives, will weigh the potential outcomes for the common good, and will make the best decision she can. None of us are inheriting a throne at a young age like Solomon, but every one of us is confronted on a regular basis with tasks, decisions, and responsibilities that will impact others’ lives and our own. 

I found it interesting that the Hebrew words for “good” and “evil” are not defined as philosophical concepts but rather point to concrete outcomes of welfare or harm. What is “good” is that which benefits others and “evil” is that which causes injury or calamity. Wisdom is not value neutral. Wisdom—in our spiritual tradition—is ordered to what is good. Wisdom seeks to discern and act with the intention of doing less harm, of serving the common good. 

Solomon starts off with a beautiful humility and a beautiful request of God. The way the story is told is that God responds with extraordinary generosity and fringe benefits. 

If God came to you today, in the midst of all that you are experiencing in your life and all we are experiencing in the world, and said to you, “Ask what I should give you,” what would you ask for?  Perhaps we can all learn from Solomon and ask for wisdom—not because we think we’ll get fringe benefits or because things will immediately get easy, but because wisdom is what we need to know what else we need! Wisdom is what we need to navigate this fraught, roiling, dangerous stretch of history without losing heart, mind, or soul. Wisdom is what we need to stay connected with God. Without true wisdom, our desires can carry us off into all sorts of confusion and worry and heartache. Without wisdom, we will struggle to discern between good and evil or to choose in ways that benefit ourselves, others, or the common good. Without wisdom, we cannot see what is right in front of us, we cannot discern what is most real and true, we do not know ourselves and therefore cannot truly share ourselves with others, and we miss the beauty and wonder of God’s presence and grace that is always dancing in and through the present moment. 

Wisdom and the grace to actively cultivate wisdom in our lives—may this be our humble desire.  May this be our prayer. For God’s sake and the sake of all that is…

https://foundryumc.org/

Guest Preacher Stacey Abrams - August 8th, 2021

To Share In Its Blessings

Stacey Abrams

Aug.08.2021

https://foundryumc.org/archive/living-faith-at-the-intersection

Guest Preacher Rev. Dr. Lydia Muñoz - Aug 1st, 2021

Sermon: Little Voice

Rev. Dr. Lydia E. Muñoz

August 1, 2021

Foundry United Methodist Church, Washington DC

Esther 1: 12

 But Queen Vashti refused to come as the king had ordered through the eunuchs.

Proverbs 1: 20 - 22

Wisdom shouts in the street;
    in the public square she raises her voice.
21 Above the noisy crowd, she calls out.
    At the entrances of the city gates, she has her say:

You should respond when I correct you.
    Look, I’ll pour out my spirit on you.
    I’ll reveal my words to you.

I wanted to be like men wanted me to be: 

an attempt at life; a game of hide and seek with my being. 

But I was made of nows, 

and my feet level on the promissory earth 

would not accept walking backwards 

and went forward, forward, 

mocking the ashes 

to reach the kiss of new paths.

These are the words of Julia de Burgos García (February 17, 1914 – July 6, 1953)  a Puerto Rican poet and advocate of Puerto Rican independence. She was a civil rights activist for women and Afro-Caribbean.  For many of us Puerto Ricans, her poetry is the feeling that runs through our veins. 

During a time when women were called to conform to the norms of marriage and child bearing, Julia de Burgos seemed to follow her own heart and inner voice making her own pathways that sometimes led her down some unpopular paths and even some mistakes; 3 of them specifically that ended in divorce-men who could not deal with her independent spirit.  But her heart also led her to down a path of creativity born out of a deep desire to see her beloved Island free and her people self-actualized, and she wanted that especially for its poor women. 

I think the hardest thing to do in life is to learn to pay attention to when our bodies speak to us. When that thing, that special sense, when the inklings of our heart speak to us.  Its hard because so many of us do not trust ourselves, because so many of us do not think we are enough. 

Brene Brown says,

“I believe that finding (and speaking with) your authentic voice is essential to being fully alive, connected, and creative. Revealing whom we truly are, what we believe and value, what and whom we love, as well as what keeps us up at night and what gets us up early can be very scary business. Allowing ourselves to be fully seen risks rejection, ridicule, and shame.”

Stepping fully into our voice, therefore, requires complete vulnerability.

I wonder if Vashti knew this?

I wonder if she understood the consequences of following her own inner voice that somehow had enough courage to recognize a bully when she saw one. 

Let me tell you about the bully I’m talking about here…

The opening line of the Book of Esther kind of gives us a clue.  It tells us that these events took place when Ahasuerus, (an easier pronunciation is his other name Xerxes) who conquest was as vast from India to Cush – 127 provinces in all. 

Xerxes was hosting a party to show off all his conquered territories.  This is the same king who insisted on conquering Greece – who wanted to complete the work that his father, Darius the Great could never complete and so plunged his entire energy and kingdom into a series of wars and conquests. 

War means people are killed 

war means that people are taxed, 

war means that usually the most disadvantaged have to give up everything to make it happen

 – and in the scripture reading there is also a hint of this because this particular party that Xerxes throws is about showing off his riches and beautiful treasurers and how great he was. 

This party lasted six months to be exact! Can you imagine? One particular part of the party lasted seven days and was basically a non-stop drinking binge.  Xerxes had ordered his servants for everyone to drink as much as they could. 

At the same time that this drinking competition was happening, Queen Vashti was holding a feast for the women in the palace.  I think there is something between the lines here – maybe Vashti knew what happens when men hungry of war begin to drink like this.  Maybe Vashti herself knew who are the true victims of war in the first place. 

15 years ago, the United Nations launched a global study on a security council resolution 1325 which recognized the critical importance of women’s participation in peacemaking and peacebuilding.  They did this because they recognized the unique impact that conflict, increased militarization and violent extremism has on their communities, their families and most importantly, their own bodies. 

This hunger for war coupled with alcohol can be even more devastating.  I’m sure even in this moment now that we are together there are siblings among us who have been impacted directly by the effects of alcohol abuse.  Was Vashti included in that number? Was she protecting the women in the palace by hosting her own feast?  

Well, we don’t have to wait too long for that answer, on the seventh day, when the king was in high spirits or rather when he was thoroughly trashed, he calls for Vashti to come to him in her complete royal attire and crown. 

Here it is, here is the moment when we discover who Vashti is listening to.  “But Queen Vashti refused to come as the king ordered…” (verse 12)

How did this happen? Where did this courage come from? How did she summon the strength to let the voice inside her be her guide?  

Look, I know the rest of the Book of Esther is remarkable.  The story of Esther’s own courage and the saving of her people is one that I celebrate with my Jewish siblings come Purim.  I mean really, who doesn’t love another day when you get to dress up like a queen, am I right? 

But Esther’s courage doesn’t start in chapter 4 of the Book of Esther, it starts right here with the courage of Vashti. 

Vashti’s refusal to be treated as an object to be displayed like the spoils of war, given that she might have been Babylonia herself, one of the conquered provinces, might have much to do with her refusal to come to the King when he ordered. 

But I think there might be more.  

Something for you and I to consider about the role of our inner voice and wisdom.  Wisdom that cries out in the streets, Proverbs says.  She beckons us to listen intently and to pay attention to the things inside of our bodies that communicate to us in so many ways.  

We carry trauma in our bodies.  

We carry memories in our bodies.  

We carry racism, sexism and oppression in our bodies and maybe you’ve tried to ignore it lately but I guarantee you that this past year of pandemic and social unrest, our bodies have been screaming out to us like wisdom on the street corners. 

One of the best things I learned how to do as I entered into ministry was learning how to seek out help and to solicit the services of a good therapist and spiritual director. 

I’m not afraid to say that I’ve had many therapists and spiritual directors over the years because friends, that is part of listening to that little voice. 

My current therapist is a petite, soft spoken Irish nun who is part of the Franciscan Spirituality Center near Philadelphia.  Her accent is delightful, but her intense eyes tell me that she has experienced the world of the living with all its joys and sorrows.  Her specialty is focused prayer and meditation. She asks me all the time “Lydia, show me where it hurts”. 

The first time I heard her ask me this I wasn’t quite sure what she was talking about. She said to me in her beautiful Irish lilt, “I’m not asking you to tell me what you think is happening, I’m asking you to hear your body tell you where it hurts and let that pain inform you.”  A felt sense is not a mental experience but a physical one.  Eugene Gendlin one of the founders of Focusing as a therapeutic tool.  He continues to say, “There is an internal aura that encompasses everything you feel and know about a given subject at a given time—encompasses it and communicates to you...”

Basically, its that voice, not the negative one that tells you that you are not worthy or that you can’t do this or that.  That’s not a voice friends, that’s fear and perfect love cast out all fear.  

In the center of that perfect love, what Wesley might have called “the spark of the divine” in that center, that’s where this voice lives. It reminds you that you are worthy of respect, dignity and love.  It’s the one that comes out every once in a while, when we let her, to tell us “you deserve more than the way you are being treated” or “you know this is a lie.” We’ve all experienced it, and we all know the consequences of ignoring it. 

Vashti doesn’t ignore it – rather she listened to it even at the cost of her own crown, position, safety and even her life. Her choice was so powerful that the king’s men feared how it would impact other women and even their own wives. 

What is that little voice saying to you today, friend? What have you been ignoring for a while? 

Maybe that little voice is doing everything to grab your attention these days, helping you understand that you can take that first move, or you can do that job, or this relationship is not what you think it is, or the hardest one yet for us to hear that little voice tell us, “You are not being your truest self!”

The good thing is that listening to that little voice inside is a muscle like courage is a muscle that continually needs to be exercised. Wesley called it “moving on to perfection” but that always sound ominous to me.  

Rather, I want to encourage you to everyday find a place or a time to check in with your body.  To ask yourself the question where does it hurt? And/or to let someone ask you “how is it with your soul?” To let your body show you where that little voice is found and let her come to life and speak.  Let her voice wash over your fears and open up the courage to be vulnerable and real.

May Vashti’s choice cast a long shadow over our lives as we consider all our days. 

I wanted to be like men wanted me to be: 

an attempt at life; a game of hide and seek with my being. 

But I was made of nows, 

and my feet level on the promissory earth 

would not accept walking backwards 

and went forward, forward, 

mocking the ashes 

to reach the kiss of new paths.

Julia de Burgos – Yo Misma Fui Mi Ruta/I Was My Own Path

Thank God for little voices…

Amen.

https://foundryumc.org/

Guest Preacher Bishop Charlene Kammerer - July 25th, 2021

SERMON - “ FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS”

Scripture: Esther 4: 9-17 July 25, 2021

(Celebrating the 65th Anniversary of Full Clergy Rights for UM Clergywomen)
Foundry UMC, Washington, DC

There are times when the words in a letter are burned into our memories. Such a letter to me got lost between the move of my first and second pastoral appointments. I had recently been ordained an Elder in Full Connection in the Florida Conference. I suppose I reasoned at the time that it didn’t matter anymore if I kept the letter. But it did matter because I can still quote it today - 47 yrs ago! - from the Chair of the Board of Ordained Ministry in 1974 - “Dear Charlene, You seem to be qualified for ministry, but because you are a woman, there might be issues in the future........ if you think you have a call to ministry, you could try to exercise it in another annual conference.” At the time I received the letter, it still didn’t sink in that I had been turned down royally, and the kind suggestion by the Registrar was to tell me to look elsewhere if I insisted on pursuing my calling. I began to hear all the negative voices in my head. Was I really called? Did I have the capacity to be a pastor? Can I finish seminary? I’m a

failure. The endless loop continued in my head. But more importantly, what was God saying to me? After crying all the way home on my flight from central Fla to the Chicago airport, and then getting to Evanston where I was a student at GETS, I was pretty much paralyzed, and not able to discern God’s voice or presence.

My soul was wounded and my spirit was crushed. But right away, I began to hear other voices speaking to me: from seminary students and faculty, from church friends, from my pastor, from my husband, and especially other women on the path to ordination.

“Don’t give up. Try again even if they said NO to you. Come to my Ann. Conf - we will take you. And most poignant from a professor - don’t let the church rob you of your calling. DON’T LET THE CHURCH ROB YOU OF YOUR CALLING! It’s a long story with several chapters, but suffice it to say that in another year, I applied again to my home conference and was accepted for Deacon’s orders and my first appointment as an Associate pastor. All because a Path was opened up to me by prayer, advocacy, a visit on our seminary campus by a Fla. Leader, a plea from me for another chance, a DS and a Sr. Pastor willing to give me a try and support me, offering me a place to serve. As it turned out, I would be the first female pastor in the Fla. Conference to be appointed to a local church, the first female Elder, the first female DS, and later, much later, the first female bishop in the SEJ.

When a discernment and support team accompanied me for a year as I was being called to the episcopacy, our theme for my candidacy was FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS. The SEJ had yet to elect a female bishop after 4 quadrenniums of effort to elect gifted women candidates. In a book titled “Women Bishops of The United Methodist Church” Bishop Sharon Rader and Professor Margaret Ann Crain interviewed all the living women bishops of our denomination in 2019. In some way or many ways, all the women bishops have carried the unique and heavy burden of being the first woman - to serve in an appointment, to serve on a Cabinet, to birth a baby in an appointment, to lead on a Conference staff, to lead a delegation to Gen. Conference, and to be elected as bishops. Bishop Judy Craig, who is now in the Communion of Saints, said “When our dust is dust, they’ll remember us as those who did the first thing.” Bishop Susan Morrison stated, “To be claimed for a time such as this in the role I was in and the ability to touch lives is unbelievable. I’m awestruck.” Being firsts also meant being under constant scrutiny of what they said, how they looked, how they led, whether they could preach, how they presided and on and on. The reality is we were all under the stress of charting a new course as clergywomen while experiencing the tyranny of an anti-woman mindset and gender bias, ( pg. 174 in “Women Bishops”......) Even today, some women bishops continue to receive threats on their lives, and need to be accompanied by armed security in major public events. Even today

65 years after Clergywomen received full ordination rights, the resistance to women’s leadership in the church continues to take many forms.

Was it any surprise that my discernment team looked to the story of Esther as empowerment for the journey ahead? Something about this book makes us examine ourselves and wonder what God is up to. Something about this book makes us laugh and cry and reach out to God all at the same time. (Interpretation, “Esther”, Carol M. Bechtel, pg. 1) Oh, Esther, how often have we clergywomen recalled your story, and the memory of your being Called by God FOR SUCH A TIME AS THIS. We can see God’s hand so clearly at work in your life, your actions, your wisdom, your servant leadership, your desire to bring good to your people.

The Book of Esther is intended to be read in its entirety in the temple or the sanctuary. It is such a powerful unveiling of God’s plans unfolding in the unlikeliest of people and circumstances. It is a drama, a burlesque, a comedy, a short story. It so powerfully captures God’s Power and our roles in God’s plans that each time it is heard it renews the community of faith. Historian Deborah Lipstadt actually won a court victory over a Holocaust denier during her career. Soon after that court verdict, she went to temple and the scroll of Esther was read at her local synagogue’s celebration of Purim. She reports in the Jerusalem Post Magazine in June of 2000, “ I heard that! All of it, and it made me think: Who knows if not for this very

reason I got the education I got, I got the upbringing I got, my job — maybe we’re all meant to do one something really significant. And some of us do it on the public stage, and some do it by helping a child. Nobody knows of it, nobody sees it, but we’re all meant to do something. And maybe this is the something I was meant to do.”

We remember you, Esther. From becoming an orphan with no discernible future, your uncle Mordecai brought you into his family and treated you like his daughter. They were Jewish, descended from the tribe of Benjamin, living in the time of King Ahasueras who ruled from 486 to 465 b.c.e. Mordecai is a respected man, a civil servant in the Royal Court. Because he hears all the gossip from the comings and goings of people making their way to the King’s Court, he knew about a royal party in which the King indulged himself and his subjects in endless drinking and dining and carousing. All to display the King’s massive wealth. When the King calls upon his wife, Vashti, to come and be displayed as a trophy wife to all the guests at the height of the party, she refuses.. He who commanded such great wealth and a vast territory, was not obeyed by his wife. Embarrassed, drunk and raging, he orders the death of Vashti. Then he decreed that all the virgins of his empire were to be brought to the court, become his harem, so that the King can choose one of them as his new Queen. Here enters Esther, a young, beautiful and brilliant young woman, who is carried into court. She, like the other women, were treated like

royalty for a year - with long perfumed baths and soap bubbles, with facials and makeup and massages, with manners and posture training, with fancy meals, with brand new clothes, with skills and duties related to hostessing , and of course to be ready to go into the King’s bedchamber at his beck and call. What does Esther take with her when she is called to the King’s chambers? She always began “ If it please the King...”. She also takes great beauty, knowledge, humility, cleverness and wisdom.She is able to tell the King about an assassination attempt on his life and gives her Uncle credit for how she got the information. She exposes Haman, the arrogant and brutal supervisor over Mordecai at court. Haman has tricked the King into issuing a decree to kill all the Jews, destroy, and annihilate them. Why? All because one Jew, Mordecai, refused to bow down to him when commanded.

Uncle Mordecai had instructed Esther to keep her Jewish identity a secret when she was taken into the court and the harem. Then he coached Esther how to get the Kings’ favor and to have the killing decree removed and a new decree proclaimed. The extraordinary turn of events reveals that Esther is indeed able to save her people. She becomes their Queen and rules with equity , dignity, and compassion. The whole book of Esther is still read at Temple services in the festival of Purim, a celebration where God’s Power of freeing the Jews was made possible through Esther.

I dare to say that every clergywoman has perceived a call like Esther’s - surely not as dramatic, but a clarity that God has called her and equipped her to serve God’s people in the church and in the world. It has only been through hard work and preparation, the mentoring and coaching of others who went before, the discernment of leaders in the church, and the abundant grace of God that each of us has stepped into such a calling, tried it on, and found our own courage and voices along the way. Whether we are representative of the First Wave of Clergywomen, or daughters of clergywomen, representatives of racial ethnic groups, or brought in by long and circuitous routes, we have been emboldened. It is not about us, it is never about us as individuals, or any distinctions or honors that may come to us along the way. It is about how we will live for God and serve others. That will be regardless of who calls us what - in my case, pastorette, priestess, preacherette, lady preacher, or baby bishop.( these are only the names I can say in church).............. or where we are sent to serve, or who rejects us and denies us or threatens us with bodily harm, we are still called by God. And like Esther, we will be given opportunities to lead, to use our power for good, to help save and serve God’s people.

As a retired clergywoman who is still serving as a bishop, I am reminded of the vision and hope of Elizabeth Cady Stanton, a leader of the Suffrage movement. I still have a vision of God’s Justice and Joy, bringing Heaven to earth. In my small part of God’s healing work, I can say with Elizabeth

that “I never forget that we are sowing winter wheat which the coming spring will see sprout and other hands than ours will reap and enjoy”. Thank you, Esther. Thank you to all clergywomen, those who were “firsts”, those who came before, those who will follow us. “I never forget that we are sowing winter wheat which the coming spring will see sprout and other hands than ours will reap and enjoy.” May it be so. AMEN.

https://foundryumc.org/

Guest Preacher Rev. Shalom Agtarap - July 18th, 2021

A Sermon for Foundry United Methodist Church by Rev. Shalom Agtarap

July 18th, 2021

Genesis 21:14

Focus Statement: When systems are not made for us, god gives us blessing, shows us  compassion, revives us with life-giving water — to go our own way! 

Opening Prayer —  

I am the daughter of Filipino immigrants, hard-working, intelligent, spirit-filled people  who migrated to California. While I am a cradle United Methodist, my sisters and I were  often the only kids of color in a sea of white churches that my father was appointed to.  In ministry, I am a brown woman, ordained in an institution that never sought to ordain  women, much more Southeast Asian women. And my job is to reflect on scripture  compiled without a Hagar in mind. It’s as though I am a plant, whose roots are watered  in another garden. They had to be! If I were to be of any help to the Filipino immigrant  local church that sent me to seminary, I would have to divest from white ways of  knowing, storytelling and preaching. If I were to honor the elders who stuffed $20 bills in  my pocket as they pulled me in for a hug, blessing me in prayer and pocket money, I  would have to learn to bring the gospel to life in ways that honored indigenous ways of  being. The quickest way to dishonor them, would be to hide the parts of myself they  knew and loved and celebrated, in the pursuit of bringing the gospel fully alive. 

A garden opened up in my time at Wesley Seminary, just up the road from Foundry, I  soaked up the water that flowed from womanist, mujerista and other liberation  theologies. But I didn’t know how to hold the tension of being a second-gen Filipino  woman learning theology in a predominantly black and white context.  God-talk facilitated and imagined by people who have lived experience of  marginalization and resilience makes all the difference to our collective liberation but I  still needed to fill in the gaps. I found myself at crossroads many times. Socialized as an  Asian American, I’m taught to not rock the boat and fit in wherever I can. To always  excel, but to do so with great humility. What are you? Where are you from? Where are  you really from? Are questions I’ve been asked all my life and it has only accelerated  since I began serving as a pastor in predominantly white denomination. Instead of  seeing my identities as a curse, however, the gifts of womanist theologies remind me I  come from a place that I can be curious about. That I come from a people. That I come  from a culture. None of these can be erased and all of them are integral to how I  experience the world, to how I understand God at work. 

Womanist theology, I have learned, is a gift of intersections. And a central character who  helps inform this theology is the witness of Hagar in Genesis. 

As Delores Williams wrote in Sisters in the Wilderness, a seminal work in womanist  theology, “there are striking similarities between Hagar’s story and the story of African  American women. Hagar’s heritage was African, from Egypt, scripture says. Hagar was 

enslaved. Black American women had emerged from a slaved heritage and still lived in  its long shadow. Hagar was brutalized by her slave owner the woman named Sarah.  The narratives of enslaved women in the United States and even narratives of modern  day workers tell of brutal or cruel treatment from the wives of slave owners and from  contemporary white female employers.”1 

Hagar continues to speak to us today. Dr. Wil Gafney comments Hagar’s story has a  little something for everyone from enslavement on this continent and elsewhere — to all  the resistance and revolutionary spirit that has ever risen up against oppressive forces.  “Hagar is the mother of Harriet Tubman and the women who freed themselves..I see  God’s return of Hagar to her servitude as the tendency of some religious communities to  side with the abuser at the expense of abused women and their children. Ultimately  Hagar escapes her slaveholders and abusers and receives her inheritance from God,  and God fulfills all of God’s promises to her.” 

To the white folks at church today, who is Hagar for you? Who is Hagar for me? Though  I’ve been invited into Black church communities, though I am deeply accompanied by  African American friends, I cannot appropriate these historical and cultural stories as my  own. It is my responsibility, and all those who love and celebrate black women, to  extend Hagar’s story beyond the black and white paradigm that is so often the  framework for race and class in the United States. 

For me, to invoke the name of Hagar is to invoke the woman who exists at  intersections. And beyond those who identify as women; Hagar to me, is the patron  saint of those who dwell in multiple layers of identity. She receives the prayers of those  who are enslaved and yet hold great power. People who are frontline workers that in  this pandemic have quickly become disposable. Sex workers who are celebrated during  Pride events and yet are killed at high rates because of the color of their skin, and for  how they break gender norms, all in one body. 

What I know, as a clergywoman of color in a mainline denomination is what those who  have come before me have long experienced: that we are set within what bell hooks  calls interlocking systems of domination: white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy.  Our church is set within these interlocking systems, our schools, our homes, and even  our relationships.  

While historical record clearly states the 1956 General Conference voted to grant  women full rights just as any pastor in good standing, it was only in the last few years  

1 Delores Williams, Sisters in the Wilderness, pg 3

we’ve celebrated more black clergywomen’s election as bishops and our first openly  queer bishop in the west.  

We must read history clearly: that as we celebrated 65 years of full ordination rights to  women, that many women — immigrant women, women of color, and transgender  women — still lack access to all levels of leadership in our church. Beloveds, we have  so much further to go! 

Which brings us back to Sister Hagar. She’s got a ways to go before she gets free...she  is Othered because of her ethnic background. She is treated like property when Sarah  seizes her for her productivity to produce an heir. She is a problem to be solved, not a  human being with dignity. Yes, we’re talking about Hagar but can we just talk about  Sarah for a minute? She’s got some issues! What prevents a sisterhood from forming,  what blocks solidarity from building is that Sarah is consumed by the patriarchy and  believes she is entitled to more access and privilege than any other woman in that  camp. 

The event that ultimately expels Hagar from the community, leaving her and her child  vulnerable, is that Sarah heard something. She heard kids at play. In Chapter 21:9 The  Common English says she heard laughter. 

This woman who holds power, heard joy, mirth, lightheartedness and it triggered in her  frustration, resentment, anger.  

We need not stretch our imaginations very far to come up with modern day examples of  when women in power were threatened by others enjoying life. Whether it’s Amy  Cooper calling out a birdwatcher in Central Park, or BBQ Becky at the local picnic or  countless white women who called the police on black people over trivial or nonexistent  offenses. We have a problem that predates our current struggle with white supremacy—  I submit to you that when Sarah heard laughter, she heard life! And the life of Ishmael,  was a perceived threat to the life of her son, Isaac — another vestige of patriarchy and  who is the rightful heir. Sarah is reminded, with each breath that Ishmael draws, that her  own security is at risk and she must protect it at all costs. Why else do so many feel the  need to police joy? 

To white women, and those who experience the benefits of whiteness, who feel threatened, who  feel like their security, or reputation, or way of life is at risk because of the full-throated, belly filling laughter of others — may I offer a word. The God who sees Hagar also sees you. God sees  your effort. God sees the ways you’ve been shut down and left behind. God has heard your silent  cries. And God will not leave you barren — without joy, without hope. 

To beloved ones who exist at intersections, the helpless and harassed who are, in audre  Lorde’s words “triple oppression” , the hear the good news: just as Sarah and Abraham  were promised provision, so too are Hagar and Ishmael. “Don’t be afraid. God has  heard the boy’s cries over there. Get up, pick up the boy, and take him by the hand  because I will make of him a great nation.”  

Would Hagar have lived in the 20th century, I’m certain she would have picked up some  audre lorde.  

"A Litany for Survival": audre lorde 

when we speak we are afraid  

our words will not be heard  

or welcomed  

but when we are silent  

we are still afraid.  

So it is better to speak  

remembering  

we were never meant to survive. 

I invoke the life and witness of audre lorde in sharing her poem, a litany for survival, as  we think about the witness of Hagar. Audre lorde was speaking to other black lesbians  like herself but the message resonates through the lens of Hagar. There were forces in  

life that never meant for Hagar and Ishmael’s survival and yet, Hagar has a relationship  with the divine. She is the only one to name God in all of scripture. In Chapter 16, Hagar  says to the Holy One “You are El Ro’i, the God who sees.” This relationship allows  Hagar to be seen and heard in return. In the midst of exhaustion and desperation,  having been kicked out, sent away, expelled, deported, Hagar cries out to God and  weeps. The water spent in salty tears returns to sustain her. 

After an encounter with the Divine, water is given to Hagar and Ishmael. I do not believe  the messenger of God intended for them to build up the energy to make it back to  Abraham and Sarah’s camp! Life giving water is given so they continue moving in  parched places. There is someone listening today who’s been saved from, given  distance, broken out of, walked away from a place where love no longer lives. The best  way to honor that gift of water is to not return to the place of death. To break free of the  status quo and the ways that white supremacy and capitalism tell us to make do with  the scraps we’re given. The good news is that when we follow a different path, away  from hierarchies that demean, toward round tables where more varieties of God’s  creation can gather — God will go with us and sustain our very breath.

The beauty of reading this story in modern times is that we know the rest of the story!  We know God fulfills ALL of God’s promises to Hagar, Ishmael and all of his  descendants.  

If I may offer a word of encouragement to you today, in the off chance, you are  discerning next steps, whether it’s a job, ending a relationship, the grueling task of  healing from trauma, or beginning or even harder, continuing the work of anti-racism, —  the God who sees, is present to us now in the form of Christ who offers life-sustaining  water. And this liberating presence will accompany you in parched places — Christ will  not do the work for you, but with the help of the Holy Spirit, will give you compassion  and confidence as you make your own way.  

Pray: You are the God who sees…

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