Prophetic Preaching: The Same Light

Written at 6am when I couldn't return to sleep...

This morning I awoke from a dream where I was in church and a preacher was (once again) declaring homosexuality as a sin. The unique part was that he opened up the space for a time of questions/comments after the sermon. (I have often wondered what would happen if preachers did this after any sermon.)

The air was very thick. I could feel the blood pumping through my veins, my muscles straining yet frozen where I was. A few people were crying. A thousand and one reasons came to my mind why I disagreed with him, but my final answer did not arrive until I awoke.

You see, I believe that 3,300 some years ago, a group of people cried out to their god and were delivered. They had seen a great light, and they had believed.

Later, when their ancestors were straining under the oppression of the Romans, they cried out once more, except this time the light shed to the whole world. Yet over time, humans tried to put this light out, and its message grew dimmer and dimmer.

Until once again, this very light led the African slaves out of slavery, gave the women freedom to vote, through off the yoke of colonialism in India, and continues to reveal itself in miraculous ways. Today, that same light still shines, and will lead us beyond ourselves and our debate about homosexuality.

So getting back to my answer... we are to embrace one another, to gently and firmly seize hold of the other, to physically bridge the divide as our emotions and thoughts catch up. As our chapel preacher and Marin Interfaith Director invoked Friday, we need to have more face-to-face encounters with 'the other'.

My answer is a hug. And not just one, but many, many hugs... symbolizing the gracious nature of our Loving God, shining through in the person(a) of Jesus Christ.

Power Outage

It’s amazing how much we rely on certain things in life. Call them your “baselines.” Perhaps your baseline is that you will keep your job, have a car that runs or have a loved one always there for you… yet all these things (or persons) will pass you by, sooner or later.

For me, my baseline was electricity. Another big storm has hit the U.S., and this time it’s once again in my neck of the woods, the Bay Area. Powerful gusts over the night eventually knocked out the power this morning.

At first, nothing changed. I still reached for the light switch, looked at the clock and put my food in the microwave. After my experctations weren’t met, I remembered the reality of the situation: there is no power. And I have struggled to feel powerless.

All today, I’ve had to re-think the answers to many of my questions: Don’t know something? Look it up online… oh, wait. Need to email someone? Just… nope. Get some reading done? Snuggle up in a chair and… better be by a window.

Gradually I’ve transitioned into a different state, were power is not just in electrons and time does not feel like eons. I can still read for my classes, write thank you notes (long overdue), reflect on life, play guitar, meditate… and just be, with out the need for excessive energy.

For after all, electricity is a luxury: one-third (over 2 billion) of the world’s population do without it everyday. Taking one more step in solidarity – not by choice, but lived into.

Oh, and how was I able to write this? With the wonderful invention of battery power… only to post it later when all’s back to ‘normal.’