HUU Sermon Archives

EPIPHANY: A Very Queer Journey

by Rev. Emma Chattin
January 7, 2007

First Reading:
Matthew 2:1-12 (NRSV)

Second Reading:
from Fr. Richard Rhor, O.F.M., in
"Epiphany: You Can't Go Home Again"

An epiphany is not an idea. As D. H. Lawrence said, people can do anything they want with an idea, but a truly new experience changes everything. Before you can do anything with it, it does something with you!

Most of us prefer ideas and words; we are afraid of any authentically new experience. Unlike the Magi, we do not tend to allow stars to divert us to a new and unknown place. Most of us stay inside our private castles and avoid such questionable adventures. Yes, we avoid death supposedly, but we also avoid birth. We miss out on the great epiphany.

An epiphany is not an experience that we can create from within, but one that we can only be open to and receive from another. Epiphanies leave us totally out of control, and they always demand that we change. We would rather have objectified religion, which leaves us potentially in control and never having to change at all.

St. Anthony Messenger, January 2001

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Good Morning.  

It’s a joy to be with you here this morning in beloved community.   My name is Emma, and I am currently working with a handful of folks to begin building a Metropolitan Community Church [MCC]  in the Shenandoah Valley.   We have been renting your beautiful facility Sunday evenings at 6 PM.  Everyone I have encountered in your community has been so friendly to me and to every one in our community.  Your genuine human warmth (in addition to your furnace warmth) has been touching and appreciated. 

In fact, the face of welcome and hospitality that you have shown to us is the very model of that espoused by the faith tradition to which we belong- Christianity – yet sadly, it is one we all too seldom encounter there.  It can even be very difficult for us to find a space to meet.  Why?  The Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Church is the first free-standing gay-specific denomination.  We were founded in 1968, a year before Stonewall (a watershed moment in Gay Liberation history), by Rev Troy Perry, a Pentecostal minister who had been defrocked for being homosexual. 

MCC has come a long way since then.  From 12 people in his living room that first Sunday in 1968, we currently have over 40,000 members in hundreds of churches all over the world.  We welcome ALL people… Gay, Lesbian, Bissexual, Transgendered, Intersexed, Questioning…
… their Significant Others, Friends, Family, Supporters, and Allies. 

We are here, we are queer, let’s redecorate.   

Queer.  That words remains a painful word for many in our community.  I respect that.  Yet at the same time, I am also an advocate of pulling the destructive energy from a word by reclaiming its creative power.  After all, a hammer is just a hammer.  It can be used to shatter a windowpane, and it can be used to build a home.  What matters is the hand that wields it.  Such is the nature of words.  The word ‘Christian’ itself was just such a word.  It was used with hate and disgust to deride the followers of Christ years after the crucifixion. And the early followers eventually claimed that word as their identity.

Queer is an interesting word.  Its origin is obscure, but the most likely source is from the Latin word toquere.  It’s the same word torque comes from, and it means to turn, twist, spin.   As if to turn something on its head, as if to turn things upside down.  Kind of like the last shall be first and the first shall be last.  Queer is the unusual.  The out of place.  The different.  The strange.  The unexpected.

Queer is also a very useful and versatile word.  It can be used as an adjective, noun, and verb.  It can be used inclusively, to cover all the many varieties of sexual minorities represented in the letters GLBTQI.. ETC [gay lesbian bisexual, transgendered, intersexual, questioning, etc].  Queer can also be used to describe our allies as well.  Face it, if you are willing to stand with us, you are indeed queer.  You are different.  Outside of the bell curve.  Turned around.  One of our pastors, Rev Tom Bohache at MCC Rehoboth Beach in Delaware, is fond saying his father is the biggest queer he knows- an older straight man who joyfully spends much of his time among homosexuals.  If you are willing to stand with us as one, be willing and be prepared to wear that word- a word that has been used as a weapon against our people -and wear it proudly. 

As I mentioned earlier, it can be difficult for an MCC to find a place to meet in many communities.  Some Christian congregations who thought they were accepting and gay-friendly have actually asked MCC renters to leave after they perform their first same-sex Holy Union [a Holy Union is our community’s outward and public recognition of a relationship between people; it is like a wedding, but without any legal recognition or rights].  Some churches who believe they are tolerant discover just how tolerant they really are by renting to an MCC congregation.  Note to self: sometimes “gay friendly” just means that they won’t kill you.

The genuine hospitality of the UU are well known among our Pastors.  Of the 5 Metropolitan Community Churches in the state of Virginia, MCC NoVA, in Fairfax, began meeting at the Oakton UU over 25 years ago.  They now have their own facility and over 90 members.  MCC of Fredericksburg currently meets at the UU in Fredericksburg; they are about 3 years old with about 30 members.  And our sponsor church, MCC of the Blue Ridge in Roanoke, Virginia, began meeting at the UU in Roanoke 20 years ago.  They now have their own huge beautiful church, and about 150 members.

All over the world, MCC’s have come to life under the large inclusive roof of UU spaces.  When we enter a town, and there is no church with room for us, we look for a UU. 

Verily I say unto you, if there had been a UU in Bethlehem 2000 years ago…. Mary and Joseph would not have needed to seek shelter in a manger.

We may not be renting your space forever, but we will always remember you as the first place. 

So, the MCC Shenandoah Valley Extension is currently following in the footsteps of MCC’s all over the world, just as you are upholding and reinforcing a tradition of hospitality and social justice that humbles almost all of the Christian churches with a mission that I have ever encountered.  And I want to thank you.  And that gratitude comes not only from me to you, but from my faith tradition to yours.  Be proud of your people.

MCC and UU have much in common.  We both tend to make mainstream Christians uncomfortable, and in both cases, it is largely the discomfort of fear and ignorance, which forms a hard shell that is difficult to break through.  It very nearly requires an epiphany to crack that shell.  Epiphany.  Another beautiful word.  Put a pin in it.  I’ll get back to that in a moment.

MCC and UU have both been called heretical.  In fact UU communities have had to bear that word from both U’s of its UU history.  What is a heresy?  Well, it’s somewhere left of unorthodox.  And unorthodox means “a belief or thinking that is not straight”.  Well…. That’s certainly for me! 

A heresy… well… that’s the practice of unorthodox beliefs… once punishable by death… these days, it leads to a schism, or a split in a church body, at the very least.

Heresy.  Such a wicked weapon of a word.  We have all had words used against us.  Yet again, I try to seek out the redemptive qualities of those weapon words.  Hubert Humphrey once said  “The difference between heresy and prophecy is often one of sequence.  Heresy often turns out to have been prophecy -- when properly aged.”  And that little bit of wisdom has been proven true time and time again.  Many faith communities follow a leader who was branded a heretic in another faith community.    

I must tell you, no one can persecute someone like a Christian, and no one can persecute a Christian like another Christian.  I think this is why we have over 20 major Christian denominations in this country, over 300 distinct segments of those major groups, and thousands of minor separations and completely independent groups and sects. 

That’s such a mind boggling number.  And I can pretty much guarantee you that you won’t find any of them gathering in celebration or sitting down to worship together.  All because of schisms, splits, disagreements, heresy’s, and unorthodox practices.  Face it, one person’s doctrine is another person’s heresy. 

Traditionally, Christian denominations are fond of saying that churches are the body of Christ, and though separate and distinct, each contributes its uniqueness as they all come together to form the body of Christ.  Each church is an essential and different part of the body.  And what part of the body of Christ is MCC?  It is the part that no one wants to talk about.  Because we are more likely than not to wade into the traditionally forbidden mix of sexuality and spirituality.

One person’s doctrine is another person’s heresy. And there is no compromise.  Church, in the Christian context- the very thing to help bring people together, to reconnect them to the Divine and to each other in spiritual community, all too often serves as the very instrument of division.  What is professed to foster love, unfortunately, all too often breeds hate. 

The Turo Episcopal church in Fairfax VA, less than two miles from my home, has begun the process of leaving the Episcopal Church in the united States, and is seeking to place themselves under an African Bishop- one who has publicly stated that homosexuals should be jailed.  Now, this particular schism isn’t solely the result of the US Episcopal church’s 2003 appointment of Rev. Gene Robinson, a homosexual, as bishop.  The denomination has strained for quite a while, ever since women were first ordained as Priests in the Episcopal church 30 years ago.

And now, with the recent elevation of Katherine Jefferts Schori, the first woman presiding bishop of the denomination in the entire history of that church…. Well, those small cracks are beginning to develop into large fault lines on so many levels.  What we are witnessing is the complexity of gender politics being played out in a conservative religious arena.  This just happens to be the large public arena of the US Episcopal church, but it is also being played out in much smaller ways in churches all across this country. 

The religious community is driving headlong into an intersection with gender politics and sexuality-- with its eyes wide shut.  And it is so dangerously ill prepared to deal with the issues that it encounters there!  And like any collision at such an unexpected crossing, I fear the results of this ongoing impact will continue to be traumatic and painful, and the eventual outcome will reverberate through all of us. 

Nothing short of an epiphany will prevent it.    

Now wait… there’s that word again.  Epiphany.

According to Webster’s on-line dictionary, an epiphany is a typically sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something (2) : an intuitive grasp of reality through something (as an event) usually simple and striking  (3) : an illuminating discovery, realization, or disclosure b : a revealing scene or moment. 1 

In other words, the light bulb comes on.  Something suddenly dawns on you.  It’s no coincidence that those phrases have something to do with illumination.  Light enables us to visualize something clearly.  That’s what an epiphany does, and there are many epiphanies, or points of illumination, on the path to enlightenment.  In fact, I believe that epiphanies often have a way of coming to us at the end of a long and wandering journey- in fact, the epiphany is generally what marks the end of that journey for us.  And just as an epiphany has a way of being at the end of one journey, it also has a way of heralding beginning of another journey.

This type of epiphany often takes place in the life of a GLBT person, at some point, when they begin to realize and come face to face with the true nature of themselves.  A star that they have been following on a long and wandering journey generally leads them to a simple place… a glance… a kiss.. a realization… and suddenly, there is a dawning upon them… “WOW… this is how it’s supposed to be, this is how it should feel!  This is what people write about and talk about!  This is it!” 

And everything changes.  Everything.  That realization, that epiphany, usually sparked by a simple event, generally marks the end of one journey, and the beginning of a new journey, and a whole new way of life. 

An epiphany is a life changing moment.  It changes everything.  It can change you, it can change the world, it can change your perspective of the world.  Or all of the above. 

A good example of this is found in the simple lyric of a song by Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally:

Lindbergh left Long Island in 1927.
He thumbed his nose at gravity
And climbed into the heavens.
When he returned to earth that night
Everything had changed,
For the pilot and the planet
Everything was rearranged 2

A long journey, a lonely flight across the Atlantic… following a point on the compass, a star, and a simple ending… those big old tires touching down and rolling over French soil.  And in that instant, everything changed… everything was rearranged.  For everyone.

Epiphany is the Christian feast day, January 6, which concludes the 12 days of Christmas, caps the celebrations, and also recalls the fabled journey of the Magi to recognize and independently herald the birth of Jesus as the birth of someone unique.   

Who were the Magi?  We really don’t know.  The story of the magi only appears in one of the Gospels, Matthew, and even then, we are only given a quick sketch.  There is much we don’t know.  But, as is often the case with we humans, we tend to want to fill-in the unknown, dumping what is often our own garbage into a space that I believe should otherwise be left open for the presence of the divine to fill for each individual. 

We don’t know that they were kings- they were likely astrologers, probably priests, and certainly very knowledgeable and powerful.  They received an audience with King Herod, and from that we can gather that they moved in similar orbits if different universes.  If they were indeed priests, they would have been priests in a religious tradition that was very different from Judaism.  Probably Zoroastrian priests.  From Persia (modern day Iran) or India. 

We don’t know how many there were.  We don’t even know for certain they were men.  They may have been women, or a mixed group, or they may have even been eunuchs, as many foreign priests were-- males devoid of their sexuality, who, in some cases, bore a resemblance to the opposite sex. 

There is much we don’t know.  But fable has filled in the blanks for us… telling us they were kings, they were men, there were three of them, and they have even been given names.  None of this we know.  All we truly have of this story is all we were given in the reading of Matthew this morning. 

Who were the Magi?  In my thoughts, they were the queer ones of their day, the outsiders, following a star, traveling far, crossing the boundaries of country and religion, bearing gifts toward an eventual encounter that would change them all.  That’s a pretty strange journey.  Downright Queer.  

  We live in a world broken in so many ways, in ways whose number defy our emotional capacity to grasp in total at one given time.  It is so easy to be overwhelmed, unable to understand or to find a way out.  Sometimes I think only an epiphany can save us.

There is much to learn from the story in Matthew that speaks to us today.  Many of us are on a journey.  A long journey like the magi.  The journey of our lives.  It is a spiritual journey for many of us.  To paraphrase Paula D’arcy, Divinity comes to you disguised as your life. 

Most of us have a star we follow, something to keep us moving in a consistent direction, and to help keep us from going in circles.  Many of us cross boarders and boundaries and places where other people might tell us not to go.  We may stop from time to time, to seek directions, to open ourselves to the experiences and teachings of other religious traditions in order to help us find what we seek.  And we come bearing gifts.  Oh, they may seem like strange things to other people, but they are indeed our gifts.

I want to leave you this morning with these four lessons from the scripture, no matter your faith, whether Zoroastrian or Christian, or anything in between, or none of the above:

Know what you seek,
know the star you follow,
be open to asking for directions
and learning from the faith traditions of others,
and know the gifts you bring.

I will repeat: Know what you seek, know the star you follow, be open to asking for directions and learning from the faith and traditions of others, and know the gifts you bring. 

My denomination, MCC, brings many gifts…  the many gifts of Queer peoples…  Our Tribe…. I would like to read a brief passage from “Our Tribe: Queer Folks, God, Jesus, and The Bible” by Rev. Nancy Wilson (Moderator, Metropolitan Community Churches) as she talks of these gifts……

Gift Number 3:  The Humorous Messenger

The healing properties of the physical activity of laughing have been well documented.  Also well documented is the place of humor in the gay and lesbian culture.

I can think of no other protest or civil rights movement that has been accompanied by so much self-reflective humor.  Mark Thompson writes about this as if it were almost an ethnic or genetic gay and lesbian characteristic in his essay “Children of Paradise: A Brief History of Queens:”

The role of the fool, the trickster, the contrary one capable of turning a situation inside out, is one f\of the most enduring of all archetypes.  Often cross-dressed, or adorned with both masculine and feminine symbols, these merry pranksters chase through history, holding up a looking glass to human folly.

“Holding up a looking glass to human folly”: sometimes humor is a response to the deadly power of tragedy, and its attempts to rob us of whatever joy we possess.

… at AIDS demonstrations ... when stone faced police officers [arrived] with their prophylactic yellow rubber gloves, allegedly to keep themselves from catching AIDS while dragging us away to jail… I can never forget the chant that would inevitably start…

Your gloves don’t match your shoes
Your gloves don’t match your shoes
Your gloves don’t match your shoes

Nothing about AIDS is funny.  Or about the ignorance of the state and those who police it.  But these chanters saw something funny in the fanciful ignorant project ions of their persecutors and made fun of them.  That humorous way of turning the tables, of laughing in the face of insults, is simultaneously disarming and empowering.  3

We also bring a gift of unity.  Gay men are not like lesbians, who are not like bisexuals, who are not like trans people, who are not like intersexed people… and so on.  And yet we find our common ground, our very queerness, and we become united. Unity is not uniformity.  We are not the same, but we are together. 

And so we in MCC are all different…  so many Christian traditions under one roof.  How a person is baptized, what they believe receiving communion… whether baptism is even necessary… we openly engage these questions with folks who are at various stages of their religious journey… issues that have splintered larger denominations apart… we accept and move among these differences.  We can meet people in the places of their faith, so many people, so many places.  We call it elastic theology.  And it is something we stretch a bit more with each and every encounter.

Know the precious gifts you bring as an individual, and as a denomination, know the precious gifts that UU has to give to the world- Among them, the gift of hospitality.  And the gift of so many different people under one roof, finding their common ground to stand upon while living their lives authentically in the very real tensions of their differences.  As you travel long and far, know that the gift you carry can help heal the woundedness of world right now. 

I have I have taken you on a long and wandering journey this morning, following the star of my thoughts, and bearing my own gift.  I can’t hope that I have led you to any epiphany, but perhaps I have begun to lead you to what may be the beginning of a new experience for you. As the reading from Father Richard Rohr this morning said:

“An epiphany is not an experience that we can create from within, but one that we can only be open to and receive from another.”  

May we all leave this open space today more open and ready to receive than we were when we entered.

So may it be.

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1 Merriam Webster On-line; http://www.m-w.com/

2 From Oysters and Pearls, by Jimmy Buffett and Mac McAnally, from the album Beach House on the Moon (1999)

3 From Our Tribe: Queer Folks, God, Jesus, and the Bible, by Rev. Nancy Wilson; Millennium Edition, Alamo Square Press, c. 2000, by Rev. Nancy Wilson