GOD’S MIRACLE, NOT GOD’S MISTAKE

GOD’S MIRACLE, NOT GOD’S MISTAKE

A Durrell Discourse

For years now at Sunshine Cathedral, we have said (repeatedly, often, from pulpit and in print, in lessons and in liturgy), “You are God’s miracle and not God’s mistake.”

After years of using this phrase as a sacred mantra at Sunshine Cathedral, I recently am noticing it popping up on social media. At first, I felt a bit proprietary, as if no other person might have ever thought to string those words together in that order. But then I remembered Ecclesiastes’ wise counsel, “there is nothing new under the sun.” I might have heard it or something similar years before I thought the phrase a product of my own genius. And whether it was me, Zig Ziglar, Mary Baker Eddy or Krishna himself who coined the phrase, what matters is that it is true. I now want everyone saying it, and acting as if the phrase fell from heaven (as perhaps it did).

In my theology, God is really all there is. One Source, One Power, One Presence, One Substance...God is all and in all. That doesn’t mean that we always remember our divinity or that our every act or word is godly, but when we get caught in our dramas and fictions, that doesn’t change the reality that our essence is divine, and what is really Real is what we call God, and what is real about us must be part of God. So, we aren’t mistakes, we are God expressing.

The message of the Incarnation, for me, isn’t that God became human once, but that God expresses in, through, and as all that is, including you and me. Jesus, then, is my reminder that when we are most human, we express divine love.

If I’m part of God, then I am a miracle. If God is love and I am part of God, then my love is God’s love in action. I am, you are, we are God’s miracle and not God’s mistake: That isn’t a slogan to own, but a truth to share. If you see Sunshine folk posting it, feel free to share. It’s a message that needs to be universally embraced.

No matter where you heard it first, I hope you hear it now - you are God’s miracle and not God’s mistake. I especially want my Queer siblings to embrace this truth. We are the Rainbow people of a Rainbow God. Our lives and our love are miracles, never a mistake. Spread the word!

(Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins, Senior Minister, Sunshine Cathedral)

It’s About Power and Privilege, NOT Safety

It’s About Power and Privilege, NOT Safety

By Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins

My father was a public school teacher in the South in the early days of desegregation. Arguments against desegregating the schools included the need to protect “women and children.” Racists perpetuated unsubstantiated fears that racially mixed classrooms and playgrounds would result in “women and children” being harmed. There were no data used to support the notion that diversity increased danger, but facts never deter the fear mongers.

In my coming out days, gay teachers could be fired, gay people in the military could be expelled, gay people in schools, parks, or bar parking lots could be assaulted (often with very little help from law enforcement). Gays were preached against in pulpits, denied jobs and housing, cut off from their families, and forbidden access to youth organizations, and all because they somehow were seen as threatening. I once read in my hometown paper an editorial that said gay people “infested” public restrooms like roaches. To protect the children, we were told, we had to dehumanize, demonize, and ostracize gay and lesbian people. “Sodomy laws” criminalized our very expression of affection in multiple states, and marriage equality was a fantasy that almost no one actually entertained. Gays were a danger, the anti-gay narrative insisted, and for the safety of our families we had to treat same-gender loving people badly.

Now that gay characters are featured on television dramas and comedies, marriage equality is a reality, gay athletes and journalists often “come out”, and many faith communities embrace (and even celebrate) same-gender loving people, the idea of tormenting gay people in the name of public safety seems archaic, foolish, and even cruel. But homophobia is still with us, rest assured.

Now, the infamous “bathroom bills” are in the news. Once again, a community is targeted, vilified, demonized, and excoriated. Again, women and children in particular are being “protected” by dehumanizing an entire group of people, namely, transgender people. The targets change over time, but the tactics of hate and division remain sadly the same.

And again, there are no data to suggest that accommodating transgender people gives cover to dangerous predators. However, by demonizing and targeting transgender people, these “bathroom bills” are making transgender people less safe in their own communities. If we can see “the Other” as something less than human, then cruelty toward “the Other” will certainly follow.  It always does.

The unfounded arguments that minorities are more dangerous or more prone to anti-social behavior aren’t new; they are time tested weapons of bigotry used to dehumanize people in order to create hysteria that protects the privilege and power of the majority for a while longer. It’s time we see through the mendacity of such arguments (and legislation), and demand fair and equal treatment for all people, regardless of their gender identity, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, nationality, or physical ability. Letting people use the bathroom won’t pose any extra danger to our communities, but teaching generation after generation to hate, will.

Books by Durrell Watkins

Books by Dr Durrell Watkins

Available from online retailers, such as Lulu.com/shop, Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com (& Nook)…

Saved from Salvation

A Journey from Fundamentalism to a Ministry of Spiritual Humanism

Spirituality is both a personal and a shared experience; it is private and communal. The old religious dogmas, hierarchies, creeds, and antiquated vocabularies are increasingly irrelevant to 21st century seekers of truth; but the shared spiritual journey still has value. Can we move beyond the irrelevance of outmoded religion and still form spiritual communities, embrace life enhancing rituals, enjoy sacred stories, and ask honest questions that may not have preapproved answers? One liberal minister thinks that such spiritual communities are possible and needed and he has devoted his life to creating such communities. A humanistic spirituality can still embrace mystery and wonder, hope and peace, possibilities and wisdom, and as we offer such spirituality, a new generation may discover that houses of worship can still have meaning.

A Different Kind of Church 

Celebrating the Queer community, affirming the sacred value of all people, blessing this world rather than making promises about the next, acknowledging the sacred in the secular, blending and transcending traditions to create a new and relevant church experience for the 21st century, Sunshine Cathedral is a "different kind of church..."

The Sacrament of Sharing 

Financial gifts are needed to support good causes and churches are especially dependent on faithful, goodwill offerings. But giving is more than funding projects; it is a spiritual discipline that helps the giver grow. Generous people tend to be happier and they feel personally invested in the good work their gifts make possible. As much as churches and charities need our gifts, we need to be givers. This short book will encourage you to grow in the grace of giving and to experience the blessing that it is to be a consistent, generous giver.

HealingPrayers for Depression 

Knowing that prayer is a power within you rather than a way of begging an external Power for help is a wonderful discovery. Using the power of positive prayer, we can reclaim our lives and our joy.

Wrestling With God Without Getting Pinned 

Old Stories, New Thoughts, & Progressive Spirituality

Can a Skeptic Enjoy the Bible? Wrestling With God Without Getting Pinned is an honest struggle to apply critical thinking and practical reason to the myths and metaphors of ancient scriptures. The author believes that creative writing can be true (and in fact can offer new truths as each reader approaches a text) without being factual. Wrestling With God....is an affirmation of truth that does not demand the literary symbols of scripture be taken literally. Rather than asking religion to redeem people, the writer is asking thinking people to redeem religion so that it can be relevant in the

21st century.

Optimism & Gratitude 

Prayers for Every Day of the Year

Using simple and inclusive language, this small book offers inspirational quotes as well as a prayer for every day of the year. Drawing on the wisdom of the Judeo-Christian scriptures as well as on other spiritual traditions of the world, and holding always a sense of optimism and gratitude, these short prayers will remind you of your unity with the one Presence and one Power that is expressing through and as your life and with which all things are possible. As we practice the affirmative way of praying offered in Optimism & Gratitude: Prayers for Every Day of the Year, we will feel empowered and we will learn to expect the best from ourselves and from Life.

Progressive,Positive & Practical: New Thought Reflections 

Consistently throughout this small book, you will be affirmed as a person of sacred value, and you will be encouraged to affirm yourself as a gifted member of the human family, possessed of great potential. You will also be encouraged to see the Light of divinity within you AND within all people.

Progressive,Positive & Practical: Encouragement for Spiritual Leaders 

This is a book that will encourage leaders of progressive, inclusive spiritual communities. As the title says, the teachings are progressive, positive, and practical. This is a book meant to help liberal, open, and affirming worshipping communities thrive by encouraging their leaders.

Fairy Dust 

A positive thinking, optimistic, and empowering book that teaches us to use our words intentionally to direct our thinking in ways that will create the feelings that will bring joy and wonder to our lives.

ATreatment A Day 

A liberal minister offers thoughts about prayer and models of prayer for people who practice spirituality on the margins, and for those who have not identified with a particular spiritual path. This isn't a typical prayer book, but it may become one of the most important ones on your shelf.