Lent 1 - Construction Within - Feb 26

Feb 26             Construction Within                         (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Anchor: Signposts of Renewal

Frame: “Construction Within” (a sign akin to “construction ahead)

            How do we get ready for construction?

Thread: Signs added each week

When I am out driving, I dread seeing those orange signs: “Road Construction Ahead.” Sometimes they forecast: “Road Construction Next 13 Miles.” Sometimes the just let us guess how long it is likely to go on. Sometimes the construction is obvious with big trucks and rubble and workers in reflective vests. Sometimes you drive past a mile or more of orange cones set out to channel the traffic but see nary a sign of any work. We all appreciate the results of the construction. We like the wider, smoother roads. But most of us are at least annoyed by the inconvenience of slowed traffic, rough roads, of waiting for the flag-person to turn the sign from “Stop” to (finally!) “Slow.”

Internal construction is often greeted the same way. When we come upon a time of change and transition, it’s like seeing those orange signs. We know there may be rough road and slow going ahead, and often as not we have no idea how long the construction will continue. But without ongoing reconstruction our spiritual infrastructure will deteriorate, crumble, and fail to support us. We need the work to be done.

Jeremiah 31:31-34 says: "Behold, the days are coming, says Yhwh, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them up out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was their spouse, says Yhwh. But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yhwh: I will put my Law in their minds and on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will they need to teach one another or remind one another to listen to Yhwh. All of them, high and low alike, will listen to me, says Yhwh, for I will forgive their misdeeds and will remember their sins no more.”

Jeremiah’s time was one of painful, terrible destruction and reconstruction. The prophet saw that as long as the covenant of God remained an external addition it was for most people irrelevant and forgotten. It was time for a new kind of covenant: not one written on calf-skin and hauled around on a scroll. It was time for a covenant carried within one’s heart. There the covenant would shape and inspire and construct a life of justice, compassion, and peace. The people would not have to teach the covenant because they would live it. The people of Israel avoided this kind of construction within until they were finally conquered by Babylon. That conquest started one of the most painful but significant periods of construction for the Israelites, second only to the Exodus. Liberation and homecoming became their spiritual signposts, by which they were renewed, healed, and restored.

We live in a time when people are looking for “Christian” signs. Franklin Graham (son of Billy) says he can’t tell if Obama is a Christian because of the church he goes to (UCC!), because of his lack of moral stands (?), because of his soft gloves approach to Islam (!). He doesn’t see the signs he’s looking for. It seems like we get off track pretty badly when we look for signs of other people’s construction without observing those signs calling for our own.

So, how do we prepare ourselves for interior construction? While the 12 Steps are all about interior construction with the aim of exterior reform, I want to look at 3 Simple Rules. Back in the late 1700’s, as Europe was riding the crest of the Enlightenment, John Wesley proposed 3 Rules for changing one’s life and also thereby changing the world. In contemporary language those rules are: 1. Do No Harm, 2. Do Good, and 3. Stay in Love with God. Refraining from doing harm allows construction to be undertaken on our baser instincts: anger, hatred, greed, even apathy, etc.(example: not return the bird when flipped off on the road!) Doing good takes the construction into positive action: actually doing those things that make the world a better place (example: allowing the harried mom behind you check out ahead of you at the grocery store, [Oh! buying grocery cards to help SCUCC!]). Staying in love with God entails doing those things that open our lives up to God: prayer, worship, giving, sacraments, meditation, time with scripture and spiritual reading. As Lent begins, we can invite our people to take on 3 Simple Rules, as opposed to giving up stuff that we probably should give up in ordinary time anyway. This is one way of allow the covenant to be written in hearts and lives and not just on paper.

I have a simple labyrinth that I think will fit on the floor in front of the steps. The labyrinth is a great metaphor for the road within. It is not a long labyrinth, and if we have read parts, the reader could walk to the center of labyrinth to read. Or as we lift each of the 3 Rules, it could be done from the center.

I see the 3^rd Rule as the heart of the day: staying in love with God. We might invite the gathered community to experience centering prayer. My labyrinth isn’t big enough to invite everybody to walk it at the same time, but it could be available after worship.

For our threshold moment, I see a construction worker sauntering up front with one of those signs that has STOP on one side and SLOW on the other (like a flag person in a construction zone). After getting set, this person then turns the STOP sign toward us and waits for everything to stop. They could listen on a walkie talkie, look at their watch, choose an album on their ipod. Finally, after getting the OK on the radio, they turn the sign to the SLOW and gives us permission to continue! They could come back in occasionally during the rest of the morning and repeat the actions (more briefly!). Even someone walking the labyrinth could have to wait…

Here is a video featuring Diana Butler Bass, whose book we are studying in Lent. While it does not use the specific language of signposts, it does talk about Christianity under construction and may be useful for our beginning Sunday (or some other Sunday).  http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V00722

February 19 - We A-R-E Christians!

February 19 – We A-R-E Christians

John 2:1-10

Three days later, there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, was there. Jesus and his disciples had likewise been invited to the celebration. At a certain point, the wine ran out, and Jesus’ mother told him, “They have no wine.” Jesus replied, “Mother, what does that have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” She instructed those waiting on tables, “Do whatever he tells you.” As prescribed for Jewish ceremonial washings, there were six stone water jars on hand, each one holding between fifteen and twenty-five gallons. “Fill those jars with water,” Jesus said, and the servers filled them to the brim. “Now,” said Jesus, “draw some out and take it to the caterer.” They did as they were instructed. The caterer tasted the water—which had been turned into wine—without knowing where it had come from; the only ones who knew were those who were waiting on tables, since they had drawn the water. The caterer called the bride and groom over and remarked, “People usually serve the best wine first; then, when the guests have been drinking a while, a lesser vintage is served. What you’ve done is to keep the best wine until now!”

            Well, we’ve made to the culmination of our series on our SCUCC vision. SCUCC is a community of Artistic-Revolutionary-Evolutionary Christians. We A-R-E Christians. And this is the focal point of this whole process of naming and claiming who we are. SCUCC has for many years been an overt presence on the stage of Christendom, proclaiming that there is a rich diversity of Christian expression in the world. That is the heart of being unapologetically Christian. There are people around us who may not be aware that there is a Christianity that does not ask them to shut off their brains; does not condemn them because of doubt, lifestyle, gender, or orientation; that there is a Christianity that welcomes them and their questions.

            For those who have found close-minded Christianity to be a bland and lifeless dish, we have good news indeed: the best wine of all is just now coming to the table! The author of John’s gospel describes the episode at the wedding at Cana a Jesus’ first miracle. It was a public display at a public event. John is signaling us as gospel-readers that it is plain who Jesus is. Even though Jesus himself is shown as hesitant, the grace and gift of God cannot be hidden. The water changes to wine, really good wine, and in quantity enough to keep the party going a long, long time. I believe we continue to share that wine when we tell the world that we A-R-E Christians.

            And so it is show and tell time at SCUCC, time to show and tell who and what we are. Like Jesus at the Cana wedding, we need to be public. People need to see and hear and taste the kind of Christianity that welcomes, feeds, and rejoices. We have the best wine of all to share, not to keep it to ourselves.

            As we think about the Studio, one place to begin may be a wine tasting (rather, a skit about wine tasting, I suppose). The descriptions of various wines from utterly rancid to the really, really good stuff. The wines could be things like “Sermon” wine (dusty and flat, with a lingering aftertaste of moldy paper); “Judgment” wine (harsh, abrasive, with hints of iron and vinegar); “Easy Answers” wine (thin and fruity, with a pleasing nose but lacking in body and complexity). All these the tasters could readily spit into the dump bucket (as wine tasters do). But when the good wine arrives, nobody wants to spit!

            I know that as we use wine as a metaphor we have a number of members in recovery. Our point is not that wine is good in and of itself, but that like the gospel of John we use wine as a symbol for the presence and goodness of Christ. If I were still in my United Methodist digs we might even go so far as to make Welch’s grape juice the best wine of all (no kidding, some Methodists would go there!).

            I know the Sugar Thieves will be with us this Sunday, and they are well=capable of getting us in a party mood.

            What makes us feel like partying? Or more to the point, what about our experience of Christ makes us feel like a party? Our vision statement says that it is the passion of artistry, the heart-felt desire for a better world, and the freedom to question and grow. We A-R-E those kinds of Christians.

Anchor: SCUCC is a community of Aritist-Evolutionary-Revolutionary Christians

Frame: We A-R-E Christians!

Thread: Never place a Period, Deep in Our Hearts (Who Are You video)

February 12 - A Revolutionary Community

February 12, 2012               A Revolutionary Community

Anchor: We are a community of Artistic, Evolutionary, Revolutionary Christians

Frame: How are we a community helping change the world?

Thread: Deep in Our Hearts, Never Place a Period

Amos 5:21-24

 I hate, I despise your festivals,

   and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

 Even though you offer me your burnt-offerings and grain-offerings,

   I will not accept them;

and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals

   I will not look upon.

 Take away from me the noise of your songs;

   I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

 But let justice roll down like waters,

   and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

The current campaign season makes it evident that something is out of whack with the world. The politicians of any and/or every party have their own take on what is wrong and how to fix it. As followers of Christ, it is the biblical perspective and the teachings of Jesus that inform both our diagnosis of the world and our approach to changing the world for the better. As the quote from Stephen Colbert says above, Jesus commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition. Jesus’ way of changing the world was bottom up. He did not call Caesar or even Herod to be a follower. Jesus began his movement by calling laborers, foreigners, and outcasts. And as followers of Jesus even 2000 years later, we are still called to work to make the world a place that values the poor and the needy, and welcomes the outcast.

Some Christians want to change the world by making some brand of Christianity the ruling political authority in the world. We look at problems like world hunger, war, disease, and prejudice and it seems like it will take the force of an atomic bomb to change anything (and there are those who propose that methodology!). Yet the foundation of Jesus’ teaching is that no force can change the world. Rather, it is love that changes hearts, lives, and the world.

The image that speaks to me about this is one of those fountains made of a large stone sphere. The water of the fountain suspends the sphere, making it spin. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-wF6m_Tj_8) A four foot granite sphere can weigh up to 23,000 pounds, which would be impossible for a person to move in a dry socket. But in this fountain even a child can turn the sphere, stop it, and spin it in a new direction. One site selling these fountains says that the water lifts the sphere by only 1/4000^th of an inch, but that is all it takes. My image in this is that as followers of Christ, as Revolutionary Christians, we are the water that enables the world to change direction.

The prophet Amos speaks in God’s voice and lambasts the people for focusing on pietism instead of caring for the needs of people. We in Arizona live in an environment that brings Amos’ vision to life. Because of the people’s neglect of God’s covenant, Amos sees the situation as a desert dry and desolate. Justice and righteousness (the same word in Hebrew) come down like monsoon rains, filling the washes and wadis. But unlike the rains that roll over the washes and flow away, righteousness and justice become an ever-flowing stream. According the Amos, God expects justice and righteousness to always flow from us into the world.

A few thoughts about the Studio: 1. We could present a “Weekend News Update” where current events items highlight the ills of the world. The Stephen Colbert quote points out that most of the problems in the world are actually rooted in apathy, not inability. Maybe we could find the video clip where Colbert speaks the quote above. 2. Videos of Arizona flash floods as the waters comes rolling through the washes would be a dynamic visual of Amos’ call. 3. We could set up a fountain in the sanctuary, and at some point turn it on so the waters begin to flow, then invite the people to come forward and feel the flowing water as an act of commitment. 4. The video of the children spinning the stone sphere is good image of being literally “revolutionary.” I wish we could find one of those to bring in but they are both incredibly heavy and prohibitively expensive. 5. Finally, Ray shared with us a video of the latest images of our world from NASA (http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/201202034). Becoming a Revolutionary community means among other things to learn to see our world in a new and different way. We need to learn to see beyond our borders and concerns and see the world as God sees it. 6. One of the most overt ways that SCUCC is a Revolutionary community is through our Open and Affirming affirmation. We are working to change a world rife with prejudice, fear and hatred of sexual diversity into a place where every person is valued and treasured.

February 5 - An Evolutionary Community

February 5, 2012               An Evolutionary Community

Anchor: We are a community of Artistic, Evolutionary, Revolutionary Christians

Frame: How are we an evolving community? Are we ready for evolution?

Thread: Deep in Our Hearts, Never Place a Period

Matthew 13:31-33

Jesus presented another parable to the crowds: “The kin-dom of heaven is like the mustard seed which a farmer sowed in a field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is the biggest shrub of all—it becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come to perch in its branches.”

Jesus offered them still another parable: “The kin-dom of heaven is like the yeast a baker took and mixed in with three measures of flour until it was leavened all through.”

The images that Jesus chose to describe god’s activity in the world are not static. They are images of life and growth. The kin-dom of heaven is like a growing mustard seed, starting tiny but growing and growing until evolves past a shrub and becomes a tree. The kin-dom of heaven is like the living yeast that leavens the flour, making it rise and rise. Jesus grew up in a rural setting and turned to agrarian images that he and his audience knew thoroughly. And just as they knew that the needs of life grew like grain and fruit, Jesus showed that God’s activity involved growth, too.

If we believe that in some way we embody a corner of God’s kin-dom, then we too should expect that we are growing and evolving. We are that mustard plant, the yeast leavening the world around us. Do we really expect that we are evolving as a faith community? The question facing SCUCC is not if we are evolving but in what ways are we evolving?

It is my hope and belief that we have a perspective that others are looking for. There is no reason that our congregation cannot grow.  I believe we can double, maybe even triple in size. I am not saying that we need to rival the Crystal Cathedral. But in order to grow into saying that we A-R-E Christians (artistic, revolutionary, evolutionary), we need to grow. I can’t believe that the people already here at SCUCC are the only people in our area that are seeking spiritual freedom, nurture, and passion. That evolution is uncharted, because as people find us and join us on the journey, they will become a part of our character. We will continue to evolve.

Evolution is a funny thing. It doesn’t go as planned. It goes as life needs it to go. A fish crawls on land and develops lungs. And legs. A few millions years and it becomes T-Rex. A few million more years and T-Rex becomes Foghorn Leghorn. We have no idea how today’s chickens, still carrying the recombinant DNA of its T-Rex ancestors, may yet evolve. Our DNA comes from the Pilgrims, from Abolitionists, from Suffrage activists. But what we will yet be is still open to us. We will evolve as life needs us to grow. Taking some time to imagine ourselves as a congregation in ten or twenty or a hundred years might be a great exercise of creative prayer.

A video of how people become a part of a movement is one from a music festival where one guy starts a goofy dance, and in a few minutes a whole crowd joins him. You can see it at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GA8z7f7a2Pk&feature=related

It’s a good parable about welcoming others into your joy. For us, it’s all about inviting new people to join our dance.

            Another look at evolution would be to go back to original concept drawings of our campus. That vision of the future never developed, but other things have grown. We could look at a bunch of old “life in the future” pictures (you know, with flying cars and ray guns) and then flash on the concept drawing (it kind of looks like that old future vision!). We could do a skit about a message from the future, telling us now how to get ready.

            I’m also thinking of giving away some kind of invitations, so that our people can invite other to join us on this A-R-E adventure.

            A side thought, back on the dinosaur-evolution mode: Many today think denominations (including the UCC) are dinosaurs and on their way to extinction. But the dinosaurs never completely disappeared. They evolved. The huge, plodding, slow-to-react dinosaurs did die off, but the soaring, fast-to-change-direction smaller but more agile dinosaurs exist today. We call them eagles and sparrows and nightingales. At SCUCC, we are in the process of exchanging our scales for feathers.

Jan 29 an Artistic Community

January 29 – Hybrid service  10:00

Anchor: We are a community of Artistic, Evolutionary, Revolutionary christians

Frame: How are we an artistic community?

Thread: Deep in Our Hearts, Never Place a Period

Exodus 35:20-29

Then all the congregation of the Israelites withdrew from the presence of Moses. And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the Lord’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the sacred vestments. So they came, both men and women; all who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and pendants, all sorts of gold objects, everyone bringing an offering of gold to the Lord. And everyone who possessed blue or purple or crimson yarn or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or fine leather, brought them. Everyone who could make an offering of silver or bronze brought it as the Lord’s offering; and everyone who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work, brought it. All the skilful women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun in blue and purple and crimson yarns and fine linen; all the women whose hearts moved them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. And the leaders brought onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece, and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing-oil, and for the fragrant incense. All the Israelite men and women, whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the Lord had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill-offering to God.

                We have completed the first round of exploring the new vision statement. This first round looked at our individual aspects of being artistic, evolutionary and revolutionary. Now we begin a course of exploring how we as a gathered community live out those characteristics.

                And while we did not discuss a fourth term in our vision statement series, it was very intentional that the phrase says, “SCUCC is a community of Artistic, Evolutionary, Revolutionary christians.” It is the gathering together, the creating of a safe place to engage the Spirit, to live life fully that we can experience the dynamism of what Jesus called living abundantly.

                We begin by looking at how we are a community of artists. The scripture from Exodus is an example of how the people came together to create a beautiful place to worship God. Some were artisans, while others artfully brought what they could give. The Tabernacle was not the creation of any one person. It was a community work of art. In the film Billy Elliot, a boy from a coal-mining family in Britain discovers ballet.  His very blue-collar father finally comes around and supports him by bringing Billy to an audition at a prestigious dance academy. At the last moment of the audition, Billy is asked how he feels when he dances. He struggles for words but finally talks about flying, soaring, fire, and electricity. (The clip can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0tTT_87Hh8 ) His response is as good a description of a spiritual experience as I know. Our calling as an artistic community is provide a safe place (sanctuary?) for people to truly experience the spirit in all its energy and abundance. Artists need a place to create art, and the name of that place is a studio. It was a wise choice that at SCUCC we name one of our worship experiences “The Studio.” It is a place to practice the art of Spirit.

               

                Because of the Annual Meeting, we are hybridizing the 2 services, and I think it would be good to include a little flavor of each. The combined service is a good symbol of community. Though we have 2 different approaches to worship, we are still one community. I know that the choir will be prepared to sing. I also know that Shea will be out of town and that he was thinking of asking Leon to be with us.

                We could begin with a procession of cloth and candles, people from both services to create a beautiful space around the altar. I’d like to run the Billy Elliot clip, and maybe have a couple people from either service talk about worship times when they really experienced God showing up. I also think it would be a could time to have some kind of act of dedication to making our community the sort of place where it is safe to play and create and be artistic with the Spirit.

January 22 Evolutionary christians

January 22    Evolutionary christians

“Only when we have become nonviolent towards all life will we have learned to live well with others.” 
― César Chávez

“When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering, and caring for his own family, the whole community of man is sick.” 
― César Chávez

If God can work through me, he can work through anyone.
--Francis of Assisi

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
--Francis of Assisi

“To you who hear me, I say: love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you, Bless those who curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.  When they slap you on one cheek, turn and give them the other; when they take your coat, let them have your shirt as well. Give to all who beg from you. When someone takes what is yours, don’t demand it back. “Do to others what you would have them do to you. If you love those who love you, what credit does that do you? even ‘sinners’ love those who love them. If you do good only to those who do good to you, what credit does that do you? even ‘sinners’ do as much.  If you lend to those you expect to repay you, what credit does that do you? even ‘sinners’ lend to other ‘sinners,’ expecting to be repaid in full.  Love your enemies and do good to them. Lend without expecting repayment, and your reward will be great. You’ll rightly be called children of the most high, since God is good even to the ungrateful and the wicked. “Be compassionate, as your loving God is compassionate.
--Jesus of Nazareth  (Luke 6:27-36)

Anchor: We are Artistic, Evolutionary, Revolutionary christians

Frame: Christ invites us to transform and heal our world

Thread: Never place a period

Question: How am I changing the world for the better?

To be artistic means bringing passion to what we do; we reflect and engage the image of the Creator in which we are made. Being evolutionary means trusting that we are growing and developing and that our (scientific) understanding of the world is reliable and accurate as we know it today. To be revolutionary does not mean taking up arms, it means acting in our own life in ways that bring love, compassion and justice into the world. How we live, the choices we make, the energy we put into the world affects the world. Jesus’ teaching had an emphasis on this reality. the Kin-dom of god that Jesus proclaimed was about how this world would look if we really let God be in control. I, for one, follow Christ because I hope to help make the world a better place.

My thoughts for the studio experience are about Fair Trade products. We could start by making a pot of Fair Trade coffee up front. Later, after the coffee is brewed, we can talk about Fair Trade coffee and how the choices we make do make a difference in the world. Here is a link for a rather lengthy video about Fair Trade and how it affects the lives of real people. I’m sure the video can be edited down.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ7G66vStx4&feature=player_embedded#!

These days there are many fairly traded products, giving us a positive option for our consumer choices. There is chocolate, clothing, houseware items, tea, and more items every day. SCUCC has supported this in the past with the Christmas WHEAT store and using fairly traded coffee (I do not think our current coffee is FT).

The point of this discussion is that we have each have even small choices whereby we can help change the world for the better.

The quotes by Cesar Chavez, Francis of Assisi, and yes even Jesus point to how we each participate in the transformation of the world. As we evolve as christians, we pray that the changes we participate in are transformations of healing and grace.

Song idea – Revolution by the Beatles

You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
You tell me that it's evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world
But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right

You say you got a real solution
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the plan
You ask me for a contribution
Well, you know
We're doing what we can
But when you want money 
For people with minds that hate
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right
Ah

Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah...

You say you'll change the constitution
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be all right
All right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right

January 15 - Being Evolutionary christians

January 15 – We are Evolutionary christians

By naming ourselves as “Evolutionary” christians, we are hoisting the progressive flag. Not only do we believe that life is a process and that we grow our whole lives long, but to say that we are evolving puts us squarely in a non-literalist camp. It is a deliberate choice to use a word form of evolution. One layer of this conversation is specifically about how we read the bible.

                By and large, we do not read Genesis 1 literally. We do not see that poetic text as a literal description of how God made the world in six twenty-four days. We do not see a controversy between Genesis’ six days and the physicists’ estimate of 14 billion years. We are able to hold together spiritual truth and scientific evidence. I said something like this one in a sermon. Actually I intentionally said, “I do not believe that the world was created in six days.” After the service, this ninety year old man was heading my way with that “I want to talk to you” look on his face. I held my breath and steeled myself for a confrontation. He leaned his head toward me in a conspiratorial way and almost whispered to me, “I believe that, too!” I wonder how long he had waited to be able to say that in church.

                Three ideas speak to me about being evolutionary this Sunday: 1. Being bible based but not bible bound, 2. Having evolved past some of the bible’s limitations, and 3. Our evolving understanding of our relationship as part of the human family. Number three lives large this Sunday because of the Martin Luther King holiday.

                We are bible based because the testimony about the life of Jesus informs and forms how we live our lives. It speaks to us of God’s untamed, unconditional love. We understand that the bible is the written testimony of human beings speaking about their faith and relationship to God. As human testimony it is as flawed as any human endeavor. Nonetheless God uses this flawed human construct to continue speaking to us and transforming lives with love and hope. Recognizing its limitations, we are not bible-bound. The bible is not the only source of our understanding, knowledge or experience of God.

                Our evolving understanding has moved us past some of the constraints of those writers. We approach human sexuality differently. We see gender-roles in a vastly transformed way. We conceive of the community faith based on evolving assumptions. The UCC (and SCUCC) does not limit the role of women in leadership, does not prescribe a dress code for appropriate worship, or set limits on acceptability for membership in the faithful.

                MLK was an eminent example of humanity’s evolving edge specifically in terms of race relations, though he clearly saw it in the larger picture of peace, justice, and God’s emerging kin-dom. If Darwin is right that natural selection allows the stronger (more evolutionarily successful) animals to survive, then ideas like MLK’s (and Gandhi’s, and Jesus’) are truly evolutionary. They are the ideas and concepts that survive and beckon us to grow into a better humanity.

                And I think that is the crux of what being evolutionary christians is all about: evolving into a better humanity. It is growing into our divinity.

                I imagine one scenario of bringing the “bible-based but not bible-bound” idea to life is having a woman with braided hair and lots of jewelry and make-up stand up and start reading scripture. I would interrupt her and quote 1 Timothy 2:8 (“women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes”). Then someone with a tattoo, and I would quote Leviticus 49: 28 at them (You shall not make any gashes in your flesh for the dead or tattoo any marks upon you: I am the Lord.) Then another woman could begin to speak and I’d quote 1 Corinthians 14:34 (women should be silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says.) About then somebody else gets up and asks me if I’ve read 1 Corinthians 11:14 (Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair, it is degrading to him). The point being that none of us can measure up to all those human standards imposed by a literal reading of the bible, and we haven’t even broached issues of sexuality here.

                Another thought I have is that it was one year ago that the beat poet made his appearance (I remember because it was an MLK poem). Mr. Beat Poet could do a lot with “bible-based but not bible-bound.”

                And of course when I think about evolution I think about this clip from the Simpsons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faRlFsYmkeY I think we have used this before, but Homer always makes me laugh. Also, Mr Deity wades into this, too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9P09Sj4-Xs&feature=g-all-c&context=G2a3bd1dFAAAAAAAAAAA

                So, our question for this week is, “How are we evolving? (physically, intellectually, spiritually…)

                Anchor: We are a community of artistic, evolutionary, revolutionary christians.

                Frame: evolution

                Thread: Never place a period.

I am struggling for one solid scriptural base for this Sunday. Any thoughts?