Weekly Lectionary Webinar

1. WeeklyLectionaryWebinar Readings for Sunday, November 27, 2011 Presented by staff and friends of Sunshine Cathedral Metropolitan Community Church affiliated with the Center for Progressive Christianity Ft Lauderdale, Florida, USA

2. Contributors Rev. Dr. Robert Griffin Sunshine Cathedral Chief Programming Minister Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins Senior Pastor Sunshine Cathedral Rev. Dr. Mona West Director, Office of Formation and Leadership Development Metropolitan Community Churches Rev. BK Hipsher Virtual Chaplain Sunshine Cathedral Director of Sunshine Cathedral in Second Life

3. Spiritual Heroes November 27: Harvey Milk (1931-1978) First openly gay elected official (USA). Although not a professional politician, Harvey Milk ran for a seat as a City Supervisor in San Francisco in order to stand for the rights of people without a voice —blue collar workers, the elderly, racial minorities, and especially gays and lesbians. He expected he would die violently, and was shot five times at close range by another politician angered at his stand for gays. That night 40,000 people took to the streets in a candle light vigil outside City Hall. Although not a religious person, he is remembered because, as Cardinal Juan Fresnos of Chile said, “Whosoever stands up for human rights stands up for the rights of God.”

4. Spiritual Heroes November 29: Dorothy Day (1897-1980) Prophet of social justice. Despite the fact she held no official position in the Catholic church, and that her thoughts were mostly rejected in her life, it was said at her death that she was “the most influential, interesting, and significant figure” in the history of American Catholicism. Committed to social justice and pacifism, she founded a lay movement, the Catholic Worker movement, which sought to live out the radical gospel commandment of love in the social and political realm by embracing voluntary poverty.

5. Spiritual Heroes December 1: World AIDS Day Since 1988 this day has been a time for remembering those who have died and for renewing our commitment to support those living with HIV throughout the world. The red ribbon, which began as a “grass roots” effort, has become an international symbol of AIDS awareness.

6. Spiritual Heroes December 3: Mary Baker Eddy (1821 – 1910) Author of Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures and Founder of the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Boston. Also the leading figure in the Christian Science movement.

7. Liturgical Season Advent 1, Hope Sunday

8. First Reading The Wisdom of Mary Baker Eddy (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures) “The advent of Jesus of Nazareth marked the first century of the Christian era, but the Christ is without beginning of years or end of days. Throughout all generations both before and after the Christian era, the Christ, as the spiritual idea, the reflection of God, has come with some measure of power and grace to all prepared to receive Christ, Truth. Abraham, Jacob, Moses, and the prophets caught glorious glimpses of the Messiah, or Christ, which baptized these seers in the divine nature, the essence of Love. The divine image, idea, or Christ was, is, and ever will be inseparable from the divine Principle, God.”

9. Second Reading 1 Corinthians 1.9 (The Inclusive Bible, Priests for Equality) God, through whom you have been called into intimacy with Jesus our savior, is faithful.

10. Gospel Reading Mark 13:24-31 (CEV) 24“In those days, right after that time of suffering, ‘The sun will become dark, and the moon will no longer shine. 25The stars will fall, and the powers in the sky will be shaken. 26“Then the Son of [Humanity] will be seen coming in the clouds with great power and glory. 27He will send his angels to gather his chosen ones from all over the earth. 28“Learn a lesson from a fig tree. When its branches sprout and start putting out leaves, you know summer is near. 29So when you see all these things happening, you will know that the time has almost come. 30You can be sure that some of the people of this generation will still be alive when all this happens. 31The sky and the earth will not last forever, but my words will.”’

11. Reflections Rev. BK Hipsher ~ Ponderings What does Advent mean? Christ the mirror Our intimate connection with God our mother Things are not always as they seem No matter how bad it gets, we are not left to deal with it alone

12. Reflections Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins ~ Biblical Reflection First Reading – MBE speaks of “Christ” as a quality, a spiritual reality, a principle rather than limiting it to a person. This seems compatible with the Quakers’ concept of the Christ being the inward light or “that of God” in every person. It is also similar to the Buddhist concept of the Buddha Nature being innate to all of us; following one like Sidhartha who achieved Buddhahood helps us realize our own enlightened potential. MBE has a low (almost Abelardian) Christology that says Jesus is a human example to follow (not an exception to the rest of humanity), making Christ not a person to be venerated but a principle to be cultivated. Jesus is the example of what the Christ Nature looks like once it is achieved. Jesus the Christ helps us recognize and actualize the Christ in us. “…Christ in you, the hope of glory.” Colossians 1.27 There are of course higher Christologies, but this low Christology/high Anthropology can be offered as a reasonable alternative to those who cannot accept a high Christology or atonement theologies. The Christ we are waiting for in this theological framework is already within us (“nor will people say ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is,’ for the divine presence is within you” Luke 17.21).

13. Reflections Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins ~ Biblical Reflection Second Reading – “God…is faithful.” Following the first reading, we are Reminded that “God shows no partiality” (Acts 10.34). The God of Jesus’ understanding and teaching is universally accessible. Divine love is unconditional and all-inclusive. Rather than arguing about if one must believe in God, the idea that God is faithful assures us that God believes in us. “By grace you have been saved through faith…it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2.8 Grace is unearned, but this passage is usually presented as if it is object that we purchase with our faith (which makes it not grace, but a business transaction). Instead, we can read the deutero-Pauline Eph. 2.8 to say what the authentic Pauline 1 Cor. 1.9 says – God is faithful. Our wholeness/liberation (“salvation”) is a gift given by God because God believes in us, trusts us, has faith in us. We are saved by God’s grace through God’s faith in us…through God’s faithfulness. The faith that works the miracle isn’t ours, but God’s. God is faithful.

14. Reflections Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins ~ Biblical Reflection Gospel Reading – This is the gospel reading chosen for Hope Sunday. While the imagery may at first seem unpleasant, we must remember that apocalyptic literature is resistance literature, and one offers resistance because one has HOPE that it will lead to better days. A contemporary example is the “Occupy” movement. The radical change it calls for is scary for the 1% who hold the most power, privilege and wealth, but the “scary” change is good news that offers real hope for the other 99% seeking economic justice. Mark, written about 70 CE (the same year Jerusalem and the Temple are destroyed) is responding to the world that he knows coming to an end. It’s already happened! He is expressing hope that something can happen to raise up something new and better from the wreckage. He isn’t predicting the end; he’s hoping for healing from the end that has already occurred. He’s hoping for a Christ experience that will “occupy” imperial Rome and bring healing and justice at last.

15. Reflections Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins ~ Biblical Reflection Article in Sunshine Cathedral’s weekly newsletter (“The Sun Burst”) Nov. 27th – Dec. 24th: Our Advent-ure Continues by Durrell Watkins “Each person can, and must at some time, awaken to their true nature to live a life of freedom and conscious cooperation with the highest good.” Ellen Grace O’Brian As we move through Advent toward celebrations of Christmas, we hear a lot about the coming of an anointed, prophetic, way-showing, healing, wise figure. We may think of this “coming” as Jesus’ arrival in history and the courageous and compassionate life that he lived. Or, we may think of this coming as a return of those Christ-qualities that we find in the stories about Jesus. Perhaps we are hoping for the coming of the Christ Consciousness in each of our lives, that is, we are waiting and working for the day when we each wake up to our divine potential and live in the power of goodness and love. Whether we are remembering the coming of Jesus and honoring his example of justice-love, or we are looking forward to a day when all of humanity finds the divine Spark within…the same divine Spark Christians identify in Jesus, we are all affirming hope for humanity, the possibility of peace, the joy that comes with justice, and the life of love that is God ordained. May our Advent-ure lead us all to a profound experience of Christmas.

16. Reflections Rev. Dr. Mona West ~ Going Deeper +the passage in Mark's gospel reminds us of the tension of the Advent season: It is one of both dread and longing +Rudolf Otto explores this tension in his book The Idea of the Holy. God is "mysterium tremendum" and " mysterium fascinans". Union with the a divine both attracts and repels.

17. Reflections Rev. Dr. Mona West ~ Going Deeper +the Advent admonition to 'keep awake' is really a way of life-- we are to always be looking for Christ in every moment ( which echoes the Mary Baker Eddy reading). +here are some wonderful words about Advent hope from Henri Nouwen: "Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled, but fulfilled according to the promises and not according to our wishes. Therefore hope is always open-ended."

18. Reflections Rev. Dr. Mona West ~ Going Deeper +the words of this African American spiritual echo the gospel reading: My Lord, what a morning / My Lord what a morning / My Lord, what a morning / When the stars begin to fallYou’ll hear the trumpet sound / To wake the nations underground / Looking to my God’s right hand / When the stars begin to fallYou’ll hear the sinner moan / To wake the nations underground / Looking to my God’s right hand / When the stars begin to fallYou’ll hear the Christian shout / To wake the nations underground / Looking to my God’s right hand / When the stars begin to fall

19. Presenters Dialogue

20. Book Resources

21. Lectionary Discussion~Open Discussion Weekly Lectionary Webinar Facebook Grouphttp://on.fb.me/weeklylectionary