Approaching a Sacred Season

Dr. Durrell’s Spiritual Prescriptions

Approaching a Sacred Season

            In 1207 C.E. Rumi was born in what is today Afghanistan. Rumi was a philosopher and a poet, and his writings were filled with sensual mysticism.

            Rumi’s spirituality was part of the Sufi tradition, a mystical form of Muslim practice, and his particular spiritual journey seemed to be about increasing awareness of human unity with the Divine (which Rumi called his “Beloved”). His poems are filled with longing to be in constant communion with the divine Presence.

            Rumi was also a lover of the arts. He believed poetry, dance, and music had spiritual qualities and could be employed in the spiritual search for meaning.

            For Rumi, love was divine, the God of his understanding was infinitely loving, and sharing love extravagantly was a way to honor the Sacred. As we pray, sing, dance, and express love, we are evolving toward enlightenment, growing in our awareness of the Divine, and if we have in any way felt disconnected from our spiritual Source, we will begin to feel reunited with It…or so the philosophy of Rumi would suggest.

            Rumi’s understanding of spirituality as a returning to our Beloved Source, or awakening to the divine Presence, can be seen his poetic prayers of love to the Infinite, as when we wrote, “The minute I heard my first love story, I started looking for You, not knowing how misguided that was. Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They are in each other all along.”

            I suppose the reason Rumi is on my mind right now is because we are approaching a sacred season, and sacred seasons should help us, to borrow a line from Marianne Williamson, “return to love.” Returning to divine Love is the heart of Rumi’s beautiful works.

            November 29^th begins the Christian season of Advent which leads to the celebration of Christmas on December 25^th (when we recall the birth of Jesus and find ourselves called to acts of generosity). December 6^th is the first night of Hanukkah (the Festival of Lights, a commemoration of the rededication of the Jewish Temple). December 22^nd is the Winter Solstice, or Yule, a sacred time for Wiccans and Neo-Pagans. And December 24^th this year is the day of celebration for the birth of the prophet Muhammad. With so much spirituality in the air, so much hope and goodwill, the holiday season always feels a little magical. If only we could hold onto that magic all year long!

            So, as we approach this sacred season, I add my wishes to the magic-filled air. I wish for religion to be a unifying force that affirms the sacred value of all people, rather than a weapon used against those we dislike or distrust. I wish for refugees to find safety, and for them to be treated with dignity wherever they may go. I wish for the LBGT community to remain vigilant in working to secure and protect equal rights in every area of life. I wish for peace to become more popular than violence. I wish, as Rumi did, that we will all fall in love with divine Love, by whatever Name we call It and in whichever tradition we celebrate It; and I wish for us all to seek to express that Love more and more in our lives. The approaching sacred season is a good time to start.

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins is the Senior Minister of Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale.

written for the Florida Agenda

particularly outraged

Dr. Durrell’s Spiritual Prescriptions

Particularly Outraged

I’ll just say it: I’m P.O. (particularly outraged). One of the reasons that I am particularly outraged is because religion is important to me. My brand of religion is decidedly progressive, and is more about building community and offering hope in this world than about trying to figure what an afterlife might look like or how to get there. Nevertheless, as non-dogmatic as my religious experience is, religion remains important to me and building progressive faith communities that focus on human potential and the sacred value of all people is my life’s work. Religion, for me, can (and ought to) be about giving people tools for their individual spiritual journeys and bringing them together to celebrate life’s joys and to face life’s challenges. I believe religion can be a powerful force for good in the world, and I want it to be. So, when religion is used to hurt entire communities of people, I, as a religious person, am particularly outraged.

I am disappointed that the proposed Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) was defeated last week in Texas. I’m disappointed that it didn’t pass, but I am P.O. (particularly outraged) that transgender people were vilified, demonized, and dehumanized in order to defeat an ordinance that would have provided protections for many. Had HERO passed, the elderly, religious people, veterans, gays and lesbians, transgender people, people of all national, racial and ethnic backgrounds, people with disabilities and more would have been protected from discrimination. But anti-equality forces launched a smear campaign against transgender people saying that offering them equality would pose a danger to cis-gendered women in the city. They had the temerity to claim that men would cross-dress in order to harm women in public restrooms if HERO passed.

Of course, nothing before or since the vote would prevent predators from donning a disguise and trying to hurt people, but affirming the full humanity of transgender folk has nothing to do with violent criminals disguising themselves. The opponents of HERO tried to reduce the transgender experience to playing dress-up, and they added nefarious motives even to that. The ignorance of transgender realities was astonishing and the fear-mongering was reprehensible, if effective.

Fundamentalists celebrated all over social media the day after HERO failed. They were congratulating themselves for taking a stand for morality; but slander and discrimination are not the paths of the moral high ground.

Religious conservatives often insist they are victims when their prejudices aren’t enshrined in law or when people they find distasteful are afforded full and equal rights in society; but as a religious person, let me assure you: not letting discrimination disguised as religion have the force of law in all of our lives is not a denial of religious liberty; it is resistance against religious tyranny.

Marriage equality was a huge victory in this country, but the war on human dignity, on equal rights, on LBGT safety is not yet over. In fact, in some ways, it may be getting uglier than ever. This is not the time for the LBGTQQIA community to become complacent or to allow ourselves to become fragmented. We must continue to stand together, work together, and insist that all people have a right to love genuinely, to live safely, and to be treated fairly. This is not only a strategy for survival - it is what my understanding of healthy religion demands.

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins is the Senior Minister of Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale.

written for the Florida Agenda