Foundry UMC DC: Sunday Sermons

Unwashed, Unmasked, Unbothered? - August 29th, 2021

“Unwashed, Unmasked, Unbothered?”

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli with Foundry UMC, August 29, 2021, the fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

    Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

“Is it bad to be really ticked off at people who won’t mask or get vaccinated?” I received this text several weeks ago from a member of the Foundry family. And, since then, I’ve received versions of the same question again and again. Headlines proliferate about the appalling behavior of citizens in school board and city council meetings and clashes between parents, teachers, and governors about the use of masks. And of course there are countless personal stories of church and family strife caused by the divides around vaccination, masking, and other public health protocols related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The accounts I’m reading, and receiving about what some folks are saying and doing really make it seem like we’re experiencing some kind of collective mental break—because either I’m losing my faculties of reason and proportion or a whole bunch of my siblings are.

Other common headlines these days highlight the stories of outspoken anti-vax, anti-mask advocates suffering and dying from the virus. And data points like: “About 99% of deaths today are people who did not get vaccinated. Patients dying in hospitals are telling loved ones they regret not getting the vaccine.” 

But of course any of these last points can and have been brushed off as inaccurate or hyperbole. One article I read chronicled the author’s effort to understand the reasoning of her brother who refuses to get vaccinated. What she receives seems reflective of much of what I’ve heard elsewhere. At the heart of it all, is lack of trust. Many people:

• Don’t trust the actual vaccine (side effects and breakthrough cases)
• Don’t trust the messengers (politicized–FDA a government organization could have been pressured to approve)
• Don’t trust the data (unvaccinated passing to children? Children COVID data vs. other risks… the continued mutations…CDC wrong on a lot?)

The lack of trust is understandable since blatant misinformation has been allowed to spread unchecked all over social media from the start. Also, at the beginning of the pandemic, the former president downplayed the severity of the virus, decided to make masks a symbol of “liberal” oppression instead of a time-tested deterrent against dangerous infectious disease, and treated public health scientists who have decades of faithful service under their belt as if they are the enemy. The reaction—perhaps “overreaction”—from the other side of the aisle to shut and keep most everything shut down, whether it was well-intentioned or not, did its own damage to lives and livelihoods. A headline from the Brookings Institution last September summed up a key point, namely that “Politics is wrecking America’s pandemic response.”

Alongside these concerns is the reality that, as one scholar puts it, “If you aren’t white, you know a history that may make you weary about what the medical sector may be telling you to do.” For those who may not know that history, “The medical establishment has a long history of mistreating Black Americans — from gruesome experiments on enslaved people to the forced sterilizations of Black women and the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study that withheld treatment from hundreds of Black men for decades to let doctors track the course of the disease…” More recent “studies have found Black Americans are consistently undertreated for pain relative to white patients; one revealed half of medical students and residents held one or more false beliefs about supposed biological differences between Black and white patients.” 

Vaccine hesitancy among people of color is understandable due to these factors, though both Dr. Anthony Fauci and Rev. Jesse Jackson have used their platforms to make sure the public knows a leading researcher and developer for the vaccine at the National Institutes of Health is immunologist and professor, Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, an African American woman. 

My intention today is not to name all the dynamics of the debacle that is the American public’s response to COVID—as if that would be possible. But I do want to at least acknowledge some of the issues in the mix. And, as is most often the case, there’s much more than one narrative at play. 

What does our narrative from the Gospel according to Mark have to add to all this?

These days, when there is an encounter between Jesus and the Pharisees in the text, I often turn to my Rabbi—friend and colleague Steve Weisman of Temple Solel in Bowie, MD—to receive insight. What he confirmed for me is that much of the purity ritual referred to in the Torah has to do with the “order” of things in creation and with boundaries that allow for clarity of identity and relationship. Rabbi Steve says that the purity stuff in the Bible is about “teaching the ability to self-limit, so as not to risk getting ‘out of our lane’ in our relationship to and with God, and respecting the sanctity of Creation and Creator. Your offerings had to be pure, you yourself had to be ritually pure to bring them; in caring for the rest of creation, if we killed something to eat, we had a responsibility not to waste any of it…” This was a good reminder for me. The original idea for washing things was to acknowledge our need to present our best to God and to honor and care for one another and all creation. Embedded in the “law” was a call for self-discipline and reverence. You might even say that purification rituals began as a way to practice loving God and neighbor as ourselves. 

In our story today, Jesus is asked by some Pharisees and scribes why some of his disciples were eating without observing the religious tradition of washing their hands. Jesus takes the opportunity to teach, drawing on a common prophetic refrain and specifically using words from Isaiah 29:13—“This people honors me with their lips (“you’re talking the talk”), but their hearts are far from me (but not “walking the walk”).” The NRSV translation of the passage in Isaiah continues, “and their worship of me is a human commandment learned by rote.” The issue seems to be that a spiritual practice of washing (not a bad thing in itself), a practice meant to draw people closer to God—can easily become a repetitive “going through the motions” that doesn’t touch the heart. 

Jesus highlights the way that you can be “clean” on the outside but filled with things in your heart that are “defiling.” Oh, and check this out: the word for “defiling” is κοινόω, koinoó, which literally means “to make common,” and more nuanced, “to treat what is sacred as common or ordinary.” So the “stock list” of “defiling things” in verses 21-22 are simply things that don’t honor the sacred worth of God, self, others, and the creation. What defiles is that which does harm.

So what does any of this have to say to our current moment? 

Well, our text speaks to how a good thing can get twisted and used in a harmful way. Just as a spiritual discipline meant to inspire reverence and care can become a tool of judgment and exclusion, so can a cherished civic value like “liberty” become used as cover for the worst kind of exclusion and dishonoring the sacred worth of others. Liberty—or freedom—is a beautiful God-given gift. It’s also a God-given responsibility. We have choices about how we use our freedom. Scripture says “for freedom Christ has set us free.” (Gal 5:1a) But Christ doesn’t set us free to do anything we want. You’re not set free so you can be a jerk. And that goes for whoever you are, whatever your politics, whatever your position on anything. 

Of course, right now people are using their freedom to be jerks in all kinds of ways. Jerkiness is equal-opportunity and non-partisan! AND there are those who claim their freedom is being assaulted by things like mask mandates for their children or vaccine requirements at their workplaces or physical distancing in public spaces. And I suppose that, technically, these folks’ freedom to do whatever they want, including putting others in harm’s way, is challenged by such mandates and requirements. These same (mostly white) people want to control all sorts of other things that curtail the freedom of others. So what does that tell us about their intentions? 

What is the freedom we are given in Jesus Christ? Freedom from sin—from that which defiles, from that which does harm to others and to creation. We are set free to live fully in God’s grace and to participate in God’s way of love and justice. Notice in verse 8 of our text today, Jesus says, “You abandon the commandment of God…” That’s the danger. We know the great commandment: to love God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. 

The freedom we receive in Jesus Christ does not mean that “anything goes.” There are concrete practices that help form us in ways of self-discipline and reverence of God. There are boundaries that help us “stay in our lane” of right relationship with God and others. These are called “Christian ethics”—the way that love gets worked out in community. Love in community looks like justice, it looks like solidarity, it looks like communal support, sacrifice for the common good, compromise, collaboration, compassion, humility, mutuality, care, and personal and communal responsibility.

The late pastor and prophet William Sloane Coffin said, “let others say, ‘Anything goes.’ The Christian asks, ‘What does love require?’ In short, we have come up with love as an answer to legalism on the one hand and lawlessness on the other. Love hallows individuality. Love consecrates and never desecrates personality. Love demands that all our actions reflect a movement toward and not away from nor against each other. And love insists that all people assume their responsibility for all their relations.” 

If any would claim to be followers of Jesus, then do what love requires.

Right now there are people dying of treatable ailments because they couldn’t get admitted to the hospitals overrun with mostly unvaccinated COVID patients. Our own Pastor Will’s vaccinated, 84 year old confirmation mentor died recently in Arkansas in just such a scenario. The closest available hospital bed was evidently in Plano, TX. 

There are pastors being treated like public enemy #1 and run out of their churches because they have been consistent and insistent about safety protocols. There are increasing numbers of children contracting the virus. There are expired vaccines being thrown out because not enough people are receiving them. There is a threat of continued transmission or mutations of the virus that become increasingly contagious and difficult to treat. And consistently, public health experts affirm that vaccination, masking, distancing, and getting tested at the first sign of any symptoms are the best ways to contain the virus and get the pandemic under control. These practices allow us to be out and about without doing harm. 

From the beginning, we at Foundry have said that we will prioritize health and safety, honor the science, and be guided by public health experts. We’ve also consistently stated that wearing masks, distancing, quarantining when necessary, and getting vaccinated as able are all concrete ways that we love our neighbor as ourselves. I understand there are some for whom family dynamics or deep fear continue to present obstacles. Please know that your pastors are here to listen, think things through and pray with you. I’m also aware that there are those whose reactions to our stance will be dismissive at best, violently angry at worst. Which brings to mind the punchline of a favorite story I was told many years ago:

When a “grandmotherly” type pastor was serving a small congregation and a gay couple wanted to join, some longtime members crashed the next Church Council meeting to protest. After the spokesperson had said his piece about blocking the couple from participation, the pastor who looked and acted like she could be everyone’s smart, sassy, not-having-any-of-your-foolishness grandmother simply responded, “Oh Roger, that’s not nice. Sit down and act like a Christian.”

It’s not a line I generally imagine I’ll ever get away with. But it does occur to me from time to time. It occurs to me a lot these days. And today, I’m saying it outloud for whomever may need to hear it: For the love of God, neighbor, self, and all that is holy: wash your hands, get the vaccine (if and when you can), mask up, and—no matter where you find yourself in the mix—act like a Christian. 

https://foundryumc.org/archive

Canceled - August 22nd, 2021

Canceled

A sermon preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli with Foundry UMC, August 22, 2021, the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

  Text: John 6:56-69

Our Gospel passage is the conclusion of a story that began with Jesus feeding his congregation of more than 5000 people with one child’s lunch. (Jn 6:1-13) It’s a wonderful, crowd-pleasing story. But the next morning, Jesus preaches a sermon and things take a turn. Today we hear the last of many complaints that follow. The complaint making its way through the grapevine of Jesus’ grumbling congregation is, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” Jesus picks up on the grapevine grumbling and asks quite directly, “Does this offend you?” Evidently, the answer for most of the crowd was a resounding “yes.” Most of those in the crowd decided that they could NOT accept what Jesus was saying, that they could NOT accept what Jesus was offering, that they could NOT accept who Jesus WAS and they “turned back and no longer went about with him.”  // Y’all. Jesus got “canceled.” 

For some years now, there’s a thing called “cancel culture” that has been prevalent in public dynamics and has been a focus of concern and debate in the public square and in academia. “Cancel culture” at its most basic refers to the act of withdrawing support for someone or something in response to words or actions that are found to be offensive or inappropriate. There are certainly times when boycotting a business or critiquing an influential public figure’s words or actions are important ways to exert pressure for positive social change. And free speech is a critically important part of a democratic society. But the toxic environment of polarized, easily triggered, dehumanized and dehumanizing, either-or thinking and reactivity has been a perfect breeding ground for a version of “cancel culture” that is quite simply an exercise in public shaming and ostracism. It brands people with a proverbial scarlet letter such that they are no longer seen as worthy of any care, respect, or engagement whatsoever. “Cancel culture” is not unique to one “side” or perspective in our society. There are persons across the spectrum of so-called left to right of the political, religious, or academic spheres who “cancel” people due to perceived disloyalty to their brand of dogmatic purity, prejudice, or discomfort.

To be clear, the focus recently has often been on celebrities or powerful public figures who are not going to have their lives or livelihoods radically altered by the social outcry against them. Their egos and sometimes their jobs may get altered, but not their capacity to live or ultimately thrive. It’s important to recognize that there are some for whom getting publicly shamed—whether they did something egregious or not—really does threaten their lives. My point is simply that the public shaming at the heart of today’s “cancel culture” often leads to no good or more just outcome for anyone or for the larger society.

Today we are reminded that “cancel culture” is not really anything new. Most of those in the crowd—the followers or “disciples of Jesus”—“turned back and no longer went about with him.”  

What was so offensive that people would leave? What got Jesus “canceled” by so many?

Maybe it was the way Jesus talked or that his words were confusing. What does it mean to “abide in” Jesus? And what’s up with this idea that eating and drinking his flesh and blood has something to do with life “in” God? And is Jesus bread? And is it flesh or words that give life? 

And—oh, by the way—gross! Eating human flesh and drinking human blood? Perhaps they couldn’t stomach such talk. It is, by the way, a documented historical fact that there were those who persecuted early Christians due to the accusation that the Lord’s Supper was a cannibalistic rite. 

Maybe offense was taken at the fact that Jesus didn’t seem to be trying to “make nice,” but rather used provocative, earthy, unsentimental words to describe what he was talking about. Jesus isn’t talking about eating in polite company. The word he uses (tidily translated “eat” in verse 56) is the Greek word trogo which means “to chew on” or “to gnaw.” Jesus is saying that true life is found by hunkering down and gnawing on his flesh. Not the height of refinement or delicacy.

Confusing words, words that are easily misinterpreted, failing to use the “correct” words, ways of speaking that don’t placate but rather agitate…all of these things could have been what got Jesus canceled. They are certainly things get people canceled today.

Or maybe what got Jesus canceled was his challenge of cherished beliefs. He said that this “bread” they were supposed to chew on was more life-giving and sustaining than that connected with Moses (the manna in the wilderness). Challenging a comfortable, familiar faith and way of thinking? Yep, that’s always fertile ground for cancellation. 

Or, perhaps some in the congregation began to perceive what Jesus was saying. Perhaps they understood Jesus as calling them into the messiness of human life and relationship and community:  to have REAL flesh and blood encounters with people that might be really painful or challenging and that might require some self-sacrifice. Perhaps they began to realize that Jesus called them to follow in the way of life that Jesus modeled—and they just couldn’t go there because it made them uncomfortable or they didn’t want to be so challenged or bothered. Maybe they left because what Jesus was offering asked too much of them.

Regardless of which offense causes people to turn away from Jesus, the bottom line is that they do. Thousands in the story (then and now) just walk away, unable to perceive, unwilling to receive all that is offered. 

There is certainly much to lose if we walk away. But, let’s be honest, let’s not sugarcoat it: there is a lot to lose if we follow Jesus. We have to lose our self-righteousness and self-centeredness. We have to lose our demand for control of everything. We have to lose our polarized, either-or thinking. We have to lose our capitulation to a culture that values bland niceness more than justice, upward mobility more than solidarity, being “right” more than being kind, and money more than mercy. We have to lose our taste for shaming, bullying, or belittling others. 

To follow the Holy One of God, Jesus, means giving up “canceling” people. Dr. Cornel West puts it plainly, “Christians don’t believe in cancelling people, everybody can bounce back…everybody has the capacity to be changed and transformed.” That is at the heart of our United Methodist tradition, the belief that people can grow in holiness and love, that we are going on to perfection. And that’s an important piece here. What Jesus models is being present in the flesh and blood messiness of conflict and need and pain with clarity, patience, strength, and love. Jesus most certainly speaks words of critique, but always for the purpose of growth and transformation, not public shame. Not long after the story we heard today in John, a woman allegedly caught in adultery was publicly shamed and made to stand in front of Jesus and all who were gathered in the temple. When Jesus was asked whether he agreed with the law requiring the woman to be stoned, he said, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” When everyone left and the woman was there with Jesus, he did not condemn her but gave her—and her accusers—another chance. 

Much of current “cancel culture” offers no second chance, makes no room for grace, for change, for transformation. It ends conversation. It ends relationships. It ends possibilities. It makes a sibling into an object of scorn. And this happens not just on Twitter or Instagram, it happens in our personal lives and relationships at every level. Of course there are times when we need to separate ourselves from a harmful relationship or dynamic. There are times when it is appropriate to clearly denounce the injustice of a person or institution’s actions or policies. But what we’re talking about today are the ways we cut people off in our lives and refuse to engage in a difficult conversation for the sake of reconciliation. What we’re talking about today is how we write people off as nothing more than…whatever the thing might be: a cheat, a liar, a liberal, a Trumper, a coward, a racist, a homophobe… “Nothing more than” is not something Jesus would ever say about anyone. “Nothing more than” erases experience and context and humanity and potential. To follow Jesus we have to lose “nothing more than” and the juicy emotional satisfaction that comes with feeling morally superior or like we know everything about a person or situation (when we likely really don’t). To follow Jesus, there is most certainly a lot we have to lose. Some might find it too difficult a way to go.

But what do we lose if we turn back and no longer go about with Jesus? What do we lose if Jesus gets “canceled?”

Based on the text, the answer is “spirit and life.” If we cancel Jesus, we lose the life we are truly made for, a life enfolded in God’s life, life that is formed by and conformed to God’s wisdom and way of compassion and justice, life that shares in God’s work in the world, life that is filled and fueled by God’s steadfast love. That love is our sustenance, that love is our freedom, that love is shown to us and offered to us in the flesh-and-blood gift of Jesus.  Jesus’ “flesh and blood” is, literally, Jesus’ life. The embodied, incarnate Jesus—and all that Jesus said and did—this is what we are invited to feast upon, to receive, to be filled with. The wisdom of God revealed in Jesus. The justice of God revealed in Jesus. The humility and generosity of God revealed in Jesus. The perfect love of God revealed in Jesus. 

We are offered chance after chance, grace upon grace, life-giving bread from heaven, and a savior who never cancels us. 

So the question is, to whom will YOU go? To a life-diminishing culture or a life-giving Christ? The good news is that you and I get to choose…every minute, every day, graced by a God of second chances. And for that I say thanks be to God.https://foundryumc.org/archive

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/