There is an amendment on the North Carolina ballot that would define marriage as one man with one woman, as Prop 8 had legislated. The wife of Senator Peter Brunstetter, the architect of the ballot measure said:

My husband was the architect of Amendment 1, and one of the reasons he wrote it was to protect the Caucasian race. Caucasians or whites created this country. We wrote the Constitution. This is about protecting the Constitution. There already is a law on the books against same-sex marriage, but this protects the Constitution from activist judges.

While Marriage Equality presents a threat to some of the population of North Carolina, there is a blatant racism surrounding the amendment -”protect the Caucasian race.” This past week, a North Carolina clergy, Pastor Sean Harris, spoke at a rally for the proposed amendment against Marriage Equality. He said that if parents suspect their kids might be gay, they should “give him a good punch.” Harris advocates child abuse to fight against “ungodliness.” It is not surprising that prejudices emerge in the defense of marriage. Something important is missing in the spirituality of these folks who are attempting to religiously bully LGBT folks. Bullying for God is never about God or Christ; it is about human sinfulness, missing spiritual connection.

The Gospel this week is John 15:1-8, “I am the vine, and you are the branches.” If we are connected to Christ, Christ-centered, how can Christians behave so poorly? Religious abuse and racism were never part of Jesus’ ministry of forgiveness, compassion, and unconditional love; nor are they ever about deep connection with Christ as the vine, the provider of nutrients and water for our spiritual lives. This week’s Gospel is about our need to prune the internalized fears and prejudices that hold us back from deeper connection to Christ and one another. I will explore this in my sermon, “Which Branch Are You on the Vine?”

This coming Thursday at 7 PM, May 10th, I will give a talk: “The Practice of Safe Texts: Homosexuality and the Bible.” The Bible has too often been read from perspectives of prejudice and ignorance, and these readings have been directed against same-sex sexuality. I will explore how all the biblical texts applied to us are misread and misused. It will be an opportunity to shed any internalized homophobia and religious abuse that you have grown up with. Invite your friends and ask those questions that you need to ask. Let us remove those barriers created by churches between you and God.

Come and join us for worship. After worship service, we will share a picnic event with MCCLA at North Hollywood Park. Bring a folding chair and a side dish to share. Hot dogs and refreshments will be provided. It will be an opportunity to further develop friendships with our sister MCC church in Hollywood.

Peace,

Rev. Bob

Anthony A. Leiserowitz of Yale University is one of the researchers who commissioned a new poll which showed that 69 percent of Americans believe that extreme weather was probably made worse by global warming. He says, “Most people in the country are looking at everything that’s happened; it just seems to be one disaster after another after another. People are starting to connect the dots.” This appears to be the case week after week when we see the news of extreme weather events impacting people in our own country and elsewhere. Global warming is occurring despite the doubters.

We celebrate Earth Day this Sunday. It was first celebrated in 1970, but the celebration had its origins in the long history of American conservation of wilderness tracts and a response to Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, which argued that pesticides cause greater harm to the environment than their targeted pests. Environmental consciousness took shape in the Earth Day movement. It is now the largest worldwide movement for the Earth.

This Sunday we have asked Rev. James Stuart, a clergy of the Circle of the Sacred Flame and close friend to many of us at MCCV, to share his wisdom about Nature and Spirituality. I have personally learned so much from James in my journey to recover an Earth-centered Christian spirituality.

We as a Christian faith community need to build up relationships with other faith communities to work to repair human damage to the Earth and life on this planet.

Here are ten tips where we can do some simple things to reduce our energy expenditures and reduce our energy bills:
1. Reduce, reuse, recycle: It’s not just for cans and bottles anymore – be sure to recycle paper and food scrapings for compost. Re-use items when possible rather than reaching for something new.
2. Switch to non-disposable items: This goes for dishes, cups, cutlery, napkins and other items. If you’re having an informal party, invite folks to bring their own mugs. At the very least, stop your use of Styrofoam.
3. Use less (hot) water: 20% of the energy used in California goes just into moving water around, so saving water saves energy. Install a low-flow showerhead, efficient faucet aerators, and waterless urinals or low-flow toilets. It’s easy and effective.
4. Change Your Bulbs: Fluorescent and LED lighting are huge energy savers compared to incandescent. Start with replacing at least four bulbs with compact fluorescent. You’ll save energy and money, too.
5. Unplug electrical devices when not in use: Your devices are using energy if plugged into the wall even they’re not in use. Plug several devices into a power strip and turn it off when you don’t need them.
6. Get an energy audit: This will show you where you can save energy and money in terms of lighting, heating and cooling, weather-stripping, etc. Start small and make more energy-efficient changes with the money you save.
7. Elect for Green Power from your utility: Most utilities give you the opportunity to buy renewable energy, such as Marin Clean Energy and LADWP’s Green Power.
8. Clean with the Earth in mind: Most cleaning supplies contain poisonous chemicals that travel into our water stream and oceans. Use Earth-friendly cleaning products, such as Seventh Generation. Baking soda, white vinegar and lemon juice are easy and “green” as well.
9. Eat local: As much as possible, buy products from local producers. Produce travels an average of 1,500 miles, with its accompanying carbon emissions, to get to your table. Patronize your local Farmers’ Market and/or support a local Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA.)
10. Use the Power of Your Vote: Support legislation that decreases our use of fossil fuels and increases our use of renewable energy. Set your sights on advocating for national and international treaties that reduce harmful carbon emissions, create new jobs and strengthen the economy.

If you implements just a couple of these tips, it will help reduce our carbon footprint and show care for the Earth and life.

A blessed Earth Day,

Rev. Bob

 
This Sunday we take the reading from Luke 24:15-36, the story of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. I want to point out that this text has been used by Christian teachers for centuries to speak about how Christ continues to be present to us millennia after the resurrection. The stranger explains how the Christ had to suffer and that it had been foretold in the scriptures, from Moses to the prophets. Christians of all sorts have long held that Jesus the Christ is present through the word of scripture, whether in the Hebrew or the Christian testaments. Christ is present as we come together to listen to the scripture read, as we process and remember the word in light of the events of salvation. Christ is called “the Word” in John’s Gospel because he is present through and in the word of God. Christ is God’s communication and gift of unconditional love to us.
 
As the stranger helped the two disciples to understand through their emotional pain, grief, and broken hearts the event of Christ’s death and resurrection, the disciples responded to each other: “Were not our hearts burning while he was talking to us, while he was opening the scriptures to us?” Christ is present in the scripture and through the sermon as we remember Christ’s story and message about God’s love for us and apply the word to our lives.
 
The second practice of the presence of Christ is through the table celebration of the bread and the cup. The two disciples recognized Jesus in the breaking and distribution of the bread. The bread would be blessed in Jewish households by the head of the house, but it was the woman or slave’s responsibility to distribute or serve the bread. Jesus broke with this Jewish custom, and we see that he broke and distributed the bread at the Supper and at the miracles of the multiplication of the loaves. The two disciples recognized Christ in the breaking and distribution of the bread.
 
Each Sunday we practice the presence of the risen Christ in word and at the altar. The presence of Christ strengthens our practice as we live in a world that is broken. We find healing at church and encouragement to mend the brokenness that we find in the world. So this Sunday we continue our deeper exploration of the story of the two disciples on the way to Emmaus.
 
May the Spirit of the risen Christ be with you.
 
Rev. Bob

For those who are not familiar with the Hanky Code, one of the first codes was first published in 1969. Gay males invented a color-coded system to communicate with other gay men. A handkerchief of a given color, placed in either the right or left back pocket of his pants, was all that a gay man needed to tell other gay men what he was looking for that night. This code, expanded in subsequent years, into a complex ritual code that few gay men now fully comprehend. There are now “bear codes” with little bears and “twink codes,” as I discovered in the online Gay Encyclopedia while researching this article.

Clothes codes have existed across time and cultures for people attracted to the same gender and wanting to communicate to like-minded peoples. The late Yale historian John Boswell, in his book,Christianity, Homosexuality, and Social Tolerance, noted that there was a color and clothing code two thousand years ago for Romans attracted to the same-gender. He writes, “Colors and styles of clothing appear to have been used as symbols for availability as prostitutes and the role preferred.” [Boswell, 1980, 78]

I want to speak about Jesus’ handkerchief code. It is a bit different from the above codes, but it plays a central role in the resurrection account in John’s Gospel.

On Good Friday, we remember that Jesus hung from his cross for at least six hours, hanging between two thieves. Darkness fell on the land at noon, which lasted until Jesus’ death. Jesus’ disciples abandoned him. The only ones that stood at the cross were his women disciples-Mary his mother, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene-as well as the Beloved Disciple. They stayed at his side, trying to offer what little comfort they could as he suffocated in excruciating pain. Jesus looks to the beloved disciple to take his place with his mother. He entrusts her care to him and her care of him.

Upon Jesus’ death, Joseph of Arimathea, one of his closeted followers, requested Jesus’ body. He and Nicodemus, another closeted disciple, prepared Jesus’ body for burial. They had been afraid to declare themselves openly for Jesus because of the social consequences. They laid Jesus out and wrapped his body with seventy-five pounds of a mixture of myrrh and aloes. And they placed the handkerchief around Jesus’ head. They wrapped him with a handkerchief, under his chin and over his head. This was to prevent the dead man’s mouth from falling open. Soudarion (Latin: sundarion, a loan word used in Greek) is a cloth to wipe off perspiration-an artisan’s handkerchief. It is the same word used in John’s Gospel for wrapping around Jesus’ chin and head. Joseph of Arimathea placed Jesus’ body in his own private burial plot in a garden. Jesus was laid to rest – no longer the charismatic prophet and wonder worker, now just a corpse.

Let’s go back years into Jesus’ past. During Jesus’ time, there was one way a carpenter let an employer know that the job was finished. It was a sort of artisan’s signature. I heard this once in a sermon from an older Jesuit priest while in college. I have never been able to confirm this fact through research, but I choose to believe it.

Jesus was a carpenter, belonging to the artisan class in Galilee. He worked with his hands to fashion wood – perhaps, farming instruments, tables, and chairs. Let’s imagine that in his earlier years as a carpenter, Jesus was commissioned to work on a piece of furniture for a client. He works on the furniture for a couple of days in the hot Galilean summer. Upon finishing the piece of furniture, he folds a piece of cloth the size of a handkerchief (soudarian) in half and then folds it in half again. It is a signal code that he has finished the work, and the client could walk into his courtyard shop to examine the artisan’s work and recognize by the cultural handkerchief code that the work is complete.

On early Easter morning, Peter and the Beloved Disciple ran to the tomb after the report of Mary Magdalene that the stone was removed. The Beloved Disciple arrives at the tomb but waits for Peter. When Peter arrived at the tomb that Easter morning, full of sorrow and depression at his denial of Jesus, he entered the tomb and saw the burial linens. The burial clothes were flattened while the handkerchief was folded up in a place by itself. I am sure that Peter may have understood that the corpse was taken. Perhaps like Magdalene, he wondered if grave robbers stole the dead body. Or did the Romans choose to desecrate Jesus’ corpse?

But when the Beloved Disciple enters in the tomb, he sees and believes.  What caused his faith and his believing? He would have dismissed the idea that grave robbers would have left the burial clothes on the floor and carried off a stiff, naked body. That would not make sense. Maybe momentarily, he gave consideration to the idea that Jesus’ spiritual body passed through the burial wrappings. That would be plausible, except the handkerchief was folded up in another place in the artisan code.

The Beloved Disciple knew Jesus well. He had heard stories of his earlier carpenter years. He read the handkerchief code left behind. The handkerchief was folded in half and folded in half once more. The Beloved Disciple realized that Jesus had left a coded message. His work was finished. Did he have a flashback to Jesus’ last words on the cross? “It is finished.” Those words did not register with him while he watched Jesus perish. He now realized that those words were a victory cry, for Jesus had finished God’s work. He was lifted up from the earth on the cross – drawing all people to himself.

The Beloved Disciple alone left the tomb encouraged with faith. He understood Jesus’ hanky code message. Neither Magdalene nor the disciples understood until Jesus appeared to them.

For centuries, Christians identified with the Beloved Disciple. They recognized that he symbolized the Christian community. This Easter can we step into the sandals of the Beloved Disciple, be with Jesus on the cross, let Jesus entrust you to care for his family and community? Can we run to the tomb and gaze on Jesus’ hanky message and proclaim that Jesus is alive and a living presence in your life and in our community?

This Easter on our altar will be a hanky folded in half and then folded again. Remember that you are the Beloved Disciple entering the tomb; see the handkerchief and have faith in the risen Christ.

Happy Easter and the Blessings of the risen Christ.

Rev. Dr. Bob Goss

This Sunday is Palm Sunday, and it marks the beginning of Holy Week, the most solemn and celebratory week of Christianity. It is the foundation of the church. Starting this Sunday we become conscious of Jesus’ final journey to Jerusalem. In Orthodox Churches, the day before Palm Sunday is the Feast of Lazarus, who was raised from the dead. It is seen as a prefigurement of God’s raising Jesus from the dead and installing him as the divine Christ. I want to share a prayer from the Orthodox Tradition used in their Palm Sunday service:

O Christ our God,
When You did raise Lazarus from the dead before Your Passion,
You did confirm the resurrection of the universe.
Wherefore, we like children,
carry the banner of triumph and victory,
and we cry to You, O Conqueror of Death,
Hosanna in the highest!
Blessed is He that comes
in the Name of the Lord.

Since the earliest times, Christians have re-enacted the passion of Christ and the events of Holy Week, starting with the distribution of Palms. The palm branch was understood in the ancient world as a symbol of victory, given to military successes and champions of the Romans games. Jesus turns the palm branch symbol on its head by riding in on a donkey and people fanning palm branches to signify his victory. His success was coming as the Christ of peace and nonviolent love. His victory was short-lived with his arrest and execution by the Romans. But God had last the word, and God’s word was resurrected life, compassionate love, and non-violent grace in the dark hours of Easter morning.

This Palm Sunday we will admit two new members, and we will add several more on Easter Sunday. We will also bless an old ministry yet imaginatively renewed by the cast of Corpus Christi as they bring that play and the documentary film “Playing with Redemption” about Gay Love, Faith, and Jesus on the road with their “I am Love” campaign. They are spreading our core message of God’s radical inclusive love. We will bless and commission them as they incarnate the mischief maker, the Holy Spirit, and also God’s love which conquers homophobia and hatred. Rev. Joe will launch our Holy Week journey with his message, “A Walk into Palm Sunday.”

This Thursday (Apr. 5), our Earth-centered labyrinth will be available all day outside for mediation walks, and in the evening we will celebrate our Maundy Thursday Seder meal at 7 PM. We will provide lamb and chicken, and we ask you to bring a side dish for our potluck celebration. On Good Friday (Apr. 6) at 7 PM, we begin our Earth-centered remembrance of the death of Jesus. It is a combination of the Christian practice of the Stations of the Cross and a Tenebrae service. This will be a walking prayer service of remembrance and hope.

Come and join us for these spiritual practices and memorials of Christ’s last week in Jerusalem.

Peace,

Rev. Bob

This Saturday Megan More, approved for ordination, will be ordained by several MCC clergy and the congregation at MCC in the Valley. MCC as a denomination believes in an ordained clergy and the priesthood of the faithful. You might ask why then recognize someone as ordained clergy if MCC holds that all baptized Christians form the priesthood of Christ.

In some churches, such as the Roman Catholic, Orthodox Christian, and the Episcopal Churches, there is a doctrine that the priest represents Christ. Thus, the prayer over the bread and wine must be uttered by an ordained priest. These churches trace the apostolic succession of authority to the Last Supper and which they envision attended by Jesus and the 12 apostles. Therefore, non-priests cannot pray over the bread and wine or juice and thus transform them into the body and blood of Christ.

However MCC believes that it is not clergy who transform the elements into body and blood of Christ (however many ways of belief that are held) but the presiders at table express the prayer of the community over the elements. The presiders represent the community of faith, and it is the prayer of the community that, through following Jesus’ command – “Do this in memory of Me!” – and through the power of faith and the Holy Spirit, the bread and grape juice are transformed into Christ. MCC, like many Protestant churches, trace not apostolic succession ofauthority but apostolic succession of faith given to the followers of Christ.

While many churches only ordain men to the priesthood because there were twelve male apostles at the Last Supper, MCC holds a different view. Rev. Joe has often pointed out that there were not only male disciples but also female disciples and therefore probably several kids at the final meal. It was a communal meal, and all four accounts in the scripture mention the disciples, inclusive of male and female disciples, not merely male apostles. Thus, MCC ordains male and female candidates that have the necessary theological education, pastoral experience, and denominational requirements for clergy.

But why does MCC ordain clergy when it holds that lay folks can preside at table. That is because a professional clergy, educated and knowledgeable about the scriptures and the history of Christianity, represents the living memory of the denomination and the history of Christianity for the last two millennia. Clergy represent the local church as well as the greater denominational church. They are servant (“slave” is the word used in the Gospels and Paul’s Letters) leaders.

Megan, as transgendered woman, has spent nearly six years in her journey towards ordination through education and receiving a Master of Divinity degree from Claremont School of Theology, an internship shared at MCC in the Valley and MCC LA for a year, taken special denominational required courses (Queer Sexual Theology, Queer History, and Polity), and additional requirements to prepare herself for this day.

We as a congregation are proud of Megan More, and this Saturday, March 17th at 4 PM, we recognize her call to follow Christ as an ordained disciple. Let us rejoice over her accomplishments and how we have been enriched with her and Leslie’s journey toward this day of celebration. On Sunday, Megan will preach her first sermon as an ordained clergy.

Come and join us for the ordination on Saturday at 4 PM and Sunday at 10:30 AM.

Peace,

Rev. Bob

This week our Lenten wreath we snuff out the candle representing marriage inequality. This past week I watched the play on YouTube 8 – the Play, http://t.co/y33W7Pl9 @AFER #8la #lgbt #noh8. It is a play about the Prop 8 Trial, written by Dustin Lance Black, Academy Award winning screenwriter for the movie Milk, and directed by Rob Reiner. It is a powerful account of the case filed by the American Federation for Equal Rights (AFER) in the U.S. District Court in 2010 to overturn Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that eliminated the rights of same-sex couples to marry in the state of California. Framed around the trial’s historic closing arguments in June 2010, 8provides an intimate look at what unfolded when the issue of same-sex marriage was on trial. It features an all star celebrity cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jane Lynch, Kevin Bacon, and others.

The day that Prop 8 was declared unconstitutional by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Rev. Joe and I attended the victory rally at City Hall with Mayor Villaraigosa, Not many city governments, mayors and city council members in the U.S. would lead a celebration gathering. There Rob Reiner introduced Dustin Lance Black, and both Reiner and Black spoke about marriage equality for us. It was a deeply emotional night. Since then both Washington State and Maryland have passed marriage equality bills. We are seeing the making of history that many of us never dreamt would happen for decades. There will, naturally, be setbacks, but the majority of Americans support the right of same-sex couples to marry.

In addition to our normal Sunday worship service, we will celebrate the life of Steve Robitaille with his family and friends at 1:30 PM. Steve’s life celebration will bring various communities to remember his life. Steve was a member at MCC in the Valley for nearly four years. His humor and good morning cheer at the Call to Worship are deeply missed.

Come and join us this third Sunday of Lent as we look at Jesus’ demonstration in the Temple.

Peace,

Rev. Bob

During Lent, we snuff candles of our Lenten wreath each week over injustices in the world. It is opposite of the Advent wreath in which we light candles for four virtues that prepare for the arrival of Christ once more at Christmas time. This week we snuff the candle over hunger. We remember Christ’s words: “I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of the members of my family, you did to me.” (Matthew 25:35)

Social justice is part of the Christian practice of discipleship. On our website, we enter the following words on social justice as one of our church values:

We take serious the prayer of Teresa of Avila, “Christ has no body now on earth but yours, no hands but yours, no feet but yours; Yours are the eyes through which to look out, Christ’s compassion to the world; Yours are the feet with which Christ is to go about doing good; Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses humanity (all life and the Earth).”

I was proud of MCC in the Valley and MCC LA as we participated in the first Interfaith Protest against Global Warming in Los Angeles. The majority of clergy in attendance were from our two congregations, though there were UCC, Disciples of Christ, and Mennonite clergy also participating. I want to call your attention to an article in the North Hollywood Patch and the short YouTube video of the demonstration and civil disobedience and arrest of seven demonstrators.

As one of the persons participating in the civil disobedience at the downtown Federal Building, I can speak of the street theater of Global Warming, represented by Grim Reaper who struck seven of us down. I died from the droughts caused by climate changes. As the last to fall dead, I remained in silent prayer for the Earth and all life. All of seven of us remained stationary, when the remainder of the protesters broke into a spontaneous hymn, “For the Beauty of the Earth.” Tears welled up in my eyes. It was unexpected, and the reality of Earth, all life – including humanity – being impacted on a cataclysmic scale, was emotionally overwhelming.

I was arrested by an officer, and I asked him if he had children. He said, “Yes.” I told him I was doing this for his children and his children’s children. As he wrote a citation for a court appearance, I thanked him and blessed him.

Social justice for the hungry, the poor, and the Earth, requires us to be Christ’s compassion in the world, for we are the hands and feet of Christ, we are the body Christ expressing Christ’s compassion for the least.

Come and join me this Sunday; my sermon title is “Oh, Peter, Not Again!”

Blessings of the Compassionate Christ,

Rev. Bob