C3/CCC Sermon Transcript for October 14, 2007 “The day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk to blossom.” I sat down during the week to prepare some thoughts for this morning, and a stray bird flew through an open window, and began to fly frantically around the house. It set off to the upstairs area with me in hot pursuit. It finally landed on a windowsill. I managed to open the window a little, to give the bird enough space to fly out. No matter how I tried to maneuver it towards the window, it couldn’t seem to find the open space. The forlorn, trapped, bird tried periodically to escape into freedom, its beak tapping against the window, flapping frantically, but it was unable to escape. The look on the birds face was heart breaking. It looked at me as though to say, “I’m a bird! All I want to do is be a bird and fly free into the open space. I can’t understand why I can’t fly free!” Every time it gathered the energy to try again, it would flap frantically and fall back to the windowsill. Finally at a point of near exhaustion, the bird seemed to understand that the risk to remain trapped behind the window was more painful than the risk to try to fly free. So with one last mighty flutter of its wings, it flew to the open space of the window, and with a chirp of joy, flew off into the day. For several moments I shared space with this bird. And for those several moments I felt connected to its entrapment. And for those few moments I felt that all I could do was to stay with the bird and create some open space in the window and wait for the bird to fly free. I can still hear that small chirp of joy as the bird flew away. I feel somehow connected to its liberation and it is a great joy for me. Trapped in a closet of Fear Don’t you, at certain points in your life, feel like the bird? Don’t you, at certain points in your life, feel trapped in a closet of fear and self loathing? All you want to do is express your true nature, be yourself, express your humanity and sexuality, and something keeps you trapped in the closet, whether it’s your own fears, or the apprehension of the response of others, or the intimidation of institutions such as the church, which would hold you trapped in a place of fear. You know that it is only at those moments when the risk to remain tight in a bud is more painful than the risk to blossom, you take off, assured that there are people around you who will provide the open space, the acceptance, the welcome. These are the ones that give you the courage to fly free. This community has a long tradition of creating that open space for people. Ten years ago, long before my time, an embrace, a welcome was offered to an LGBT community to gather in this space, in this community. At a time when this church was still connected to the Reformed Church of America, at a time when it was radical and controversial, this community offered an open space for people to come and gather, and to express themselves freely and fully. That is the community that we inherit. And it is a commitment that I take very seriously, and I know that you do as well. Ours is a community of open hospitality and embrace. And we are learning all the time about what it means to be hospitable. We are learning what the new edges of hospitality look like. This is an ongoing journey. No one else can ultimately control your blossoming. No one else can make it happen, nor can they stop it from happening. However, what we can do for each other is create open windows, even just a small opening. If we create an open space for each other and advocate on behalf of those who are being held tight in a bud by institutionalized bigotry and hatred, then that’s enough to provide the space, the courage, so that those around us can fly free. The Gift of Hospitality There is no greater gift than offering others that space. It’s the gift of hospitality in the broadest sense of the word, hospitality that is welcoming and embracing of all people, all situations, each and every moment, as if you are in the presence of an angel. Hospitality is healthy portions of both generosity and celebration combined. Let me spend a few moments looking at hospitality from a Christian perspective. This reading from Genesis is one of the “texts of terror” that we speak of.
4Before Lot’s guests lay down, the men of Sodom, both young and old, all the people to the last man, surrounded the house; 5and they called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.”
A particular reading of texts such as this have been responsible for so much violence and hatred toward the LGBT community. The standard interpretation of this story, and it is just a story, is that it has been a story about homosexuality, and the lesson that we’re meant to learn is to be afraid of God, who can curse us, and to be afraid of sexuality. It is such a shame that this has been the predominant interpretation, because really this is a story about hospitality, and for many years it was a story, in the Jewish tradition, about hospitality. In fact it was fifty years after the time of Jesus that a connection was first made between this story and sexuality. Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned according to the early tradition for a lack of hospitality towards travelers, immigrants and the poor. According to legend, these were cities of great abundance of resources, and were notorious for hoarding and not sharing. The obsession with hoarding led to some famous incidents of inhospitality, such as some very high fences built around the cities so that not even birds could come and eat the fruit off the trees. Another famous story out of Sodom mirrors the Greek myth of Procrustes. According to the legend, there was a bed for weary travelers. When a visitor arrived, they would lie down, and the bed would never be the right size. If they were short, they would be put on a rack and stretched to fit the bed. If they were too tall, they would literally be “cut down to size” to fit on the bed. And this bed became symbolic for everything that was corrupt about Sodom. They zoned out poverty and they outlawed charity. They refused to tolerate any difference. The bed that never fit was the symbol of a city that punished difference with violence. The bed symbolized where this city had gone wrong – a lack of hospitality in the broadest sense of the word. This story had nothing to do with homosexuality. There are two details that make that clear. The first verse of the text says that a group of “men” gathered. The word for men is not just men, but rather it is a generic word for people, a group of men and women, young and old gathered around the house of Lot. So this is not a tale about men on a homosexual rampage. The second detail is around the word “know.” In Hebrew, the word is Yada, made famous by Jerry Seinfeld who created a whole episode out of the phrase “Yada, yada, yada”, which is a way to shorten a story. Yada has some sexual connotation in some contexts but not in every case. Actually the word is used over 900 times in the Old Testament and only nine times does it have any likely sexual reference. In fact, it is used to describe God’s relationship with Moses in Exodus 33;12. When it is used in relation to sexuality it is generally a positive word indicating closeness. It is a word that indicates becoming familiar with someone. It is not a word that is used to describe abusive sexuality. In the case of the Sodom story, it seems to indicate some form of mind control, or emotional terrorism. It may include an interrogation of visitors about why they had come to town. There is no reason to think that this is speaking about sexuality per se. It may well be that the “know” referred to speaks to an interrogation of visitors, a humiliation of immigrants, a general torture of anyone who didn’t fit the norm of what the expected in that city. This story has nothing to do with homosexuality; it has everything to do with hospitality. “The modern rediscovery that Sodom was destroyed for inhospitality, not The irony pointed out in this reading is that these types of stories and particular interpretations have been used to justify discrimination and violence against the LGBT community. What a tragic misuse of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The essence of the tradition is love and acceptance. The central concern of Christianity has been a celebration of difference, acceptance of all expressions of humanity as God-given. The visitors in this story are prevented from coming out of the house for fear of violence. The curse on the city folk was described as blindness, an inability to see that these visitors were indeed angels come to teach them valuable life lessons. This was a self-inflicted curse. Let us not make the same mistake. May we practice the type of hospitality that celebrates difference, that sees each and every moment as a teacher, each person as if they are an angel come to us to teach us something about life, to about ourselves and about the beauty of diversity. May you be free to come out of your closet of fear, and know that when you come out you will be met only with radical hospitality. May you greet those around you with radical and generous acceptance. May you create the type of open spaces, open windows that allow people to fly free. I leave you with the words of Rumi, and can’t help wondering if he wrote these words in response to Sodom and Gomorrah. Guest House by Rumi
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