Let's Move Beyond the Worship of Violence

When the original followers of Jesus responded to the violent execution of Jesus by insisting that somehow he didn't stay dead, that was brilliant! It filled people with hope, with courage, and with a sense that even the most horrible injustices can't have the last word. What a powerful movement the Jesus Movement started out to be!

Within a couple of centuries of Jesus' execution, the movement was becoming an institution, and by the 4th century CE, it was blended completely with the very state that had executed the Wayshower. Rather than using faith, imagination, ritual and story-telling to overcome violence, the institutional church had started to worship the very violence done to Jesus.

As Emerson said, what we are worshiping, we are becoming. As Christians have worshiped the violence of the cross rather than celebrating victory over the violence of the cross (symbolized by the resurrection narratives), racism, sexism, war, capitol punishment, homophobia, conquest, environmental destruction, and all manner of intolerance have been fueled in the name of the Prince of Peace.

Today, same-gender loving people are killed in Jamaica while churches and politicans refuse to speak out against the violence...as they venerate the violence done to Jesus as being somehow salvific. Today, same-gender loving people are dehumanized and threatened in Nigeria while much of the Church remains silent. Today, same-gender loving people in Uganda face possible legislation that will cost them life and liberty and will also hurt people who make any attempt to defend them. And again, Christians, violent followers of the killing cross, remain silent.

When we worship killing, its no surprise that we become killers and those who remain silent as killing happens. When the most horrific act of violence is our most celebrated act of "grace"...of course wars, torture, state executions, child abuse, and violent language against the "Other" fail to move us.

One day, I hope and pray, Christianity will be defined not by who we hate, who we deny rights and liberty, and how intolerant we are of difference, but rather by Jesus' Golden Rule...to treat others as we would wish to be treated.

Jesus spoke truth to power, and when abusive power killed him, he continued to live in the hearts of the people he had touched with his message of hope and love. They triumphed over violence by insisting that Life had and would always win out over violence. May those who still claim to follow Jesus return to that early message of Life and Hope and Compassion and Justice...a message so unlike what is so often now called "Christianity." May Christianity become (once again) the way beyond, not of, the cross.

- Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Sunshine Cathedral

View These Discussions on You Tube

Gay & Christian
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/0/jOesUDnJp7o

Affirmative Prayer
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/1/q9SvRqRX-1U

What Does Atonement Mean for Us?
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/2/o1jN3GGVS3I

Why Does God Allow Evil?
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/3/74p1k5cNTB4

Does Positive Thinking Really Work?
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/4/L5DjW2NhS9U

The Authority of Scripture
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/7/mC4lsnuSfds

Where Do We Go When We Die?
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/8/3MHEolRsbWQ

How Can I Be Good Enough?
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/9/qgzWdXmk71w

Affirming Gay Outreach
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/13/QINPS3Y4Qa8

Queer Bible Study
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/16/JqzAGelxe_8

Can Gays Pray?
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/20/GPjsdnrC1NE

The Integration of Sexuality & Spirituality
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/21/KTOsRSflKO4

What is Progressive Christianity?
www.youtube.com/sunshinecathedral#p/u/32/Kb-ctsKbvPw

Redeeming Jesus

Redeeming Jesus: A Progressive Christianity Mini-Conference

It is a joy and a pleasure to welcome you to the Redeeming Jesus Mini-Conference to be held at the Sunshine Cathedral in Fort Lauderdale, FL.

This Progressive Mini-Conference will bring together a diverse and ecumenical group of people to discuss a variety of ways to approach, experience, consider, and follow Jesus.

This isn't a homogenous or dogmatic conference, but an open and honest sharing of a variety of Christologies to show how Christ remains a relevant figure for 21st century progressive Christians and our friends. All presentations will demonstrate faithfulness to the liberating Good News that many different kinds of people have found in the Jesus story.

The conference will include dinner on Friday evening, continental breakfast on Saturday morning, and a box lunch on Saturday. There will be break out sessions for interactive discussion. There will be dinner and lunch speakers, a Key Note Address, multiple plenary sessions, time for networking, and a devotional time during Saturday breakfast. Conference registrants are invited to worship at Sunshine Cathedral on Sunday, January 24th as well.

Please visit www.sunshinecathedral.org to learn about the workshops and presenters that will make the Redeeming Jesus: A Progressive Christianity Mini-Conference a progressive, positive, and practical experience!

Also at www.sunshinecathedral.org you can learn about nearby lodging options if you need to spend a night or two in beautiful Fort Lauderdale, FL.

The Late (& GREAT) Charles Ludlam to be a Theatre Hall of Famer

Everyone who knows me knows my real religion is diva worship - Mae West, Sophie Tucker, Bea Arthur...among the living Bette Midler, Lynn Redgrave, Judi Dench, Jim Bailey, Charles Busch (gender is relative in my world) - Well, one of the chief deities in that pantheon is Charles Ludlam! And he's being inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame!

I remember food

Weight Watchers muffin & coffee with skim milk for breakfast...something green and leafy for lunch...another workout tonight with the 20something bundle of energy before the Healthy Choice frozen dinner to end the day...is this really my life?

Simple Theology

If I were to boil down my religious convictions, I would simply say:

God is omnipresent.

Actually, I would say God is Omnipresence.
The Field of Possibilities, the Energy of Life, All That Is (which of course is more than the sum of Its parts), Universal Consciousness, Supreme Intelligence, the Love, Beauty, Generosity, Hope, Goodwill, Strength, Courage, and Compassion that expresses throughout the world...I tend to call these Qualities "God" and I believe that God is omnipresent...God is the Power and the Presence that is everywhere and at all times fully and completely available.

The second part of my simple theology is that because God is Omnipresence, we are always at one with the divine Presence...It surrounds us and flows through us. It expresses in, through, and as us. This understanding is what I call At-One-Ment.

I don't believe that we were ever estranged from a remote deity; nor do I believe that any sort of sacrifice (human or otherwise) was ever required to reconcile us to God. God being Omnipresent could never be separated from us. It is in God that we "live and move and have our being." Atonement, in my understanding, isn't an extraordinary act that reconciles us to God; it is the awareness that we were never and could never be separated from God. It is the realization of our At-One-Ment.

God is Good.
God is Omnipresent.
We are one with God.
This is my simple theology.

Biblolatry, Hatred, and Gay Marriage

Bible believers are free to vote their biblical values. Many who fund anti-gay marriage initiatives and who vote to keep same-gender loving persons as second class citizens often use the bible as their justification to do unto gays as they would never want anyone to do unto them.

I assume those who use the bible to justify their heterosexism have sold all their possessions and given all the proceeds to the poor (Mark 10.21).

I also assume all the women who voted against gay marriage because of their biblical faith never teach sunday school, sing in church choirs, pray in public, preach, or otherwise break silence in church (1 Corinthians 14.34).

I certainly hope NONE of the righteous voters are tatooed (Leviticus 19.28), and I would bet that every single one observes the Jewish Sabbath from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday as is COMMANDED in the precious Ten Commandments (Exodus 20.8).

And, being the good biblical literalists they are, I'm sure they've worked out somehow which of the two contradictory creation narratives (Genesis 1.1 - 2.4 and Genesis 2.5 ff) they take at face value. I'm sure they believe slaves should obey their masters and men can have multiple wives and children can be beaten and that it is very difficult for the wealthy to "enter the kingdom of heaven)...bearing in mind that almost everyone in the US is wealthier than most everyone else on the planet.

As long as they are consistent with their biblical literalism and biblically excused fears and hatreds, I'm OK with it all...oh, wait...maybe hatred is hatred and no amount of proof-texting can make it less ugly than it is. OK, i'm back. Let's fix this mess and demand equality for everyone.