Would Jesus Discriminate?
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| Joseph's Dreams |  |  |  |
| Christmas Sermon 2007 When I was 12, I was chosen to play Mary in the Christmas pageant at Hicksville United Methodist Church on Long Island, New York, where I grew up. That meant I sang two short solos and had a few speaking lines while seated by the manger, dressed in the blue and white of all church pageant Madonnas. (Sorry, no pictures or home movies survive!) In Matthew's gospel, Jesus is the new Moses, and Hebrew scripture references and allusions are everywhere. Like the Patriarch, this Joseph is a dreamer and his dreams have far reaching consequences and holy purposes. In one sense, Joseph is not the "decider," or the main actor, but the re-actor to events swirling around him. Eugene Peterson, author of The Message puts it this way, "While he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream..." Joseph is the ally of God who is the one really acting in this story. Anthony de Mello says, "The shortest distance between human being and the truth is a story." What do we know of Joseph's story? Not much, really. He is a man caught in the middle of something really huge. We have to imagine the internal struggle he waged -- between heart and mind, law and grace, obligations, unanswered questions, expectations and callings. And "while he was trying to figure a way out, he had a dream..." The little information we have about Joseph has to do with his lineage. We know he was a carpenter betrothed to Mary. The gospels allude to other children of Mary and Joseph besides Jesus; legends say that Joseph was an older man when he married Mary and that he had six children from a previous marriage. Some legends have him living to 111! There is no mention of him, as there is of Mary, in Jesus' adult life, so most have assumed he died before Jesus' public ministry. In Mark's gospel, the only mention of him is indirectly, that Jesus was the "son of a carpenter." There is nothing to make us believe that he had any prior history with great spiritual experiences or dreams, or that he was anything but an ordinary and decent man. We know that in a very patriarchal system that punished transgressive women severely, Joseph was discreet, humble and not into posturing. Tom Bohache, in the Queer Commentary essay on Matthew's gospel, says that Joseph "spoils the spoiled system of the sexual double-standard," and steps outside the patriarchal role to embrace a rather queer family. Joseph was "blameless" and "righteous", but did the "not" righteous thing, the merciful thing, by first offering to quietly divorce Mary without making a public example of her; and then by becoming her husband and Jesus' (foster? adoptive? step?) father. I think of all the Joseph's in Metropolitan Community Churches -- men who raise children they did not literally father, but whom they father with love and grace. Men who adopt children with special needs, (Jeff Lutes and his partner Gary), who offer home and parenting to a newborn girl (Rev. Joe Cobb and his partner). Men who are trustworthy and not ashamed to form lovely, queer families. Men who have so much to give, who will not be passive and sidelined, but who will live their dreams. I think of some women in MCC who are called "Dad" by children in their lives, who have offered love and parenting to children they did not birth. Of people whose gender identity has changed, but their love for their children has not. Joseph, the only one besides God that Jesus called "Abba," offers us several gifts this season, in which we "Dare to Dream." Joseph Trusted His Dreams: If God is, indeed the "still speaking God," then God is still dreaming dreams in us, speaking and encouraging us. I wonder what dreams Joseph had in his younger life. There are the dreams we dream for our life and future, what we imagine we might be or do. These are the dreams referred to by the gay, African American poet Langston Hughes, "What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?" What dreams of Joseph's might have been deferred? What had he thought his life might be, and how had it turned out? I wonder, when he held the baby Jesus in his arms, did he giggle like my Richard, my Joseph? Did he weep or laugh with wonder at the way our lives turn out? There are those dreams, and then there are the dreams of revelation -- whether we call that God, or an angel, or the deepest knowing planted in our souls, these are the dreams that pull us into the unexpected Moment of redemption and hope. The Voice that calls beyond our disappointments, failures, fears and doubts, to a new possibility. A journey to Bethlehem, or Egypt. To Eastern Europe, Latin America, Jamaica or Pakistan. To MCC. To ministry. We must be open to new dreams. And we must trust them! Joseph Lived Into Authenticity: This is a story of gender fluidity, of tearing down walls and building up hope. This is a story of people who dreamed and went for it! Who risked enormous disapproval for becoming family to each other. I wonder if Joseph sometimes said, "I am too old for this!" I wonder how he explained to other family members that, yes, he had decided to take the very pregnant Mary with him to Bethlehem. I am sure people had a lot to say and gossip about Joseph, including just what kind of "man" he really was! What was it about Mary and this strange calling that just compelled him to risk in ways he had never before dreamed? What about this coming child felt like being true to himself in a new, bold way, in a way he had never thought possible? How did this satisfy a life-long yearning for adventure and meaning? Did he know right away that this is what he was born to become, or did it dawn on him slowly, on that long trip to Egypt? MCC, what were we born to become? Tradition says Joseph was at least 40 when he made these choices. As we approach our 40th year in ministry, what new authenticity, what new vocation is God calling us to? How is this our story too, the story of gender fluidity, of challenging the strait-jackets of gender roles? What unfinished calling is ours today? Joseph Claimed His Competency: Joseph discovered a new level of competence as a leader, protector, and provider. He could find shelter when there was none. He could hide his vulnerable family and carry them to safety right under the noses of the oppressors. He had to scheme, and strategize, and constantly alter the plans. He had to partner with a very determined young woman who just had her first baby. He had to learn quickly who he could trust, and who he could not trust. He had to make decisions based on a bigger plan, a long term plan that he only knew in part. He had to get used to dreams and angels and a God who apparently likes surprises. He had to get good at listening to this God, and following through. Many years ago, when I was pastor of MCC Los Angeles, and AIDS was sweeping through our community, I went to see Lew Adams, who was about 70 and dying of AIDS, in his home. Lew was a survivor of the Battle of Bataan in World War II, and had been a survivor through so much in his life. He was not good at asking for help. Lew needed to go to a hospital and was in a third floor walk-up, and the eclectic, interesting, mostly older and disabled group of friends visiting him wanted to take him, in their car to this hospital. I thought this was a bad idea (I wanted to call the ambulance), but he was uninsured, they were convinced he would get a big bill, and they ignored me. Now, even though Lew was wasting from AIDS, he was about 6'2" and not small. To my horror, this frail group lifted him out of bed, and began to carry him down two flights of stairs. I rushed into help them, but they faltered on the stairway. Being in MCC, and fighting the fights of inclusive language, it had been a long time since I had heard God called "Father." But on that stairway, the Afro-Caribbean woman who was holding Lew's shoulders just gave the command, "Heavenly Father!" she shouted, "We NEED your help, now, to lift our brother Lew!" -- and to my amazement, we flew down the stairs and were into the car before I could even process it. God was a competent father in that moment, and carried us, in our foolishness and weakness, to where we needed to be. God can re-define the confining stereotypes of parenting and of gender! After all, God invented gender and gender fluidity and is competent and present for every need problem! We can aspire to the same. MCC is nearly 40 years old, and we have become competent in quite a few things. We need to claim it. We know how to worship with passion, creativity, variety and excellence! We have life a giving message that has been planted and watered in many hearts and communities! We were the first to preach a 21st Century-style radically-inclusive gospel of Jesus that now gets preached in increasing places. Hallelujah! We know how to apply all we have learned in the struggle to fight HIV/AIDS to the present world crisis. We know how to link human rights and spirituality and justice in our churches, and in places we never dreamed we would be. We have known for 40 years that Jesus would not discriminate -- and we know this still a message that is strange or new to much of the world. In this season, and into 2008, let us trust the dreams God has given to us. Let them not be deferred! Let us live authentically in all ways, in our diversity and beauty, and in our God-given uniqueness. Let us claim our competency in the work and mission that God had given us, still yet to be completed! And let us smile the smile of Joseph as we hold in our hearts the image of Christ coming again into a world that needs more dreamers. Amen!
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