We will get through a second dystopian Trump era - but we must stick together and love one another through it.

Nov. 5 - bundle of Nerves.
Nov. 6 - Shock. Depression. Anger. Incredulousness. Anxiety. Grief.
Nov. 7 - I was starting to regain perspective and letting myself feel determined again.


These were my thoughts on social media November 7:

Okay, I've had a couple of days to pray, marinate, ponder, wallow in denial, then in self-pity, then in fuming rage...you know, cope. Now I'm in a better place (but I reserve the right to come apart at the seems on any given day from now until Nov 2028).

So here's my sane moment: 45/47/34 aka Felonious McPredator von Perfidy will unleash unfettered Dickery & Fuckery & Shittery & Ass-Hattery & Buffoonery & Stankery (so many eries). We will be aghast. Then we will be furious that we were even the slightest surprised. Then we will be demoralized that we live in a country where he is both not incarcerated and is somehow, by anyone at all, admired. But, this is the reprise of this number. We know how it goes. We survived the original production of Orange Turd: the Musical. We'll somehow manage to get through the Revival. 

We are again "the resistance." We will have to use every tool at our disposal: law, hope, collective compassion, righteous indignation, love of neighbor, love of self, love of liberty, forensic skill, creativity, resilience, imagination, snark, humor, camp, spirituality, music, film, theatre, comedy, history, pride, storytelling, self-care...to protect ourselves and one another. We'll grow stronger in the process. We'll love more fiercely. After every fall we will get back up, middle finger at the ready. We'll be okay because we have one another. 

Yes, there will be ugliness, but it will not diminish or demolish our beauty. Our Queer and Trans and Subversive and 2 Spirit and Nonbinary and Ally and Ase and Intersex and Questioning and Pan and Poly and Leather and Drag and Bisexual and Interfaith and Agnostic and Humanist and Pagan and Atheist and Progressive Christian and New Thought and Jewish and Muslim and Buddhist and Hindu and Sikh and Baha'i and Tattooed and Pierced and Camp and Body Positive and Sex Positive and Weed smoking and Feminist and Womanist and Democratic Socialist and Poetic and Artistic and Science Trusting and Peace-seeking Woke and Ever Woker selves will prove indomitable, invincible, and indefatigable. 

It won't be easy, but we will be mighty and we'll survive and ultimately prevail. Don't give up. We faced Sodomy Laws, we faced opposition to marriage equality, we faced AIDS, we faced religious bullying, we faced unenlightened families and cruel neighbors...if nothing else, we know how to survive. 

Rest when you need to. Fret when you must. But then, get back in the fight. We are going to prove to be absolutely legendary in the next few years. My favorite table grace is: "God bless the food and the revolution." I'll be praying that daily for quite a while. Alright girls (I say that in the most gender non-specific way): It's time to slay (in the gay way that isn't lethal, but still, you for real don't want to be the recipient of Queer slayage).
--dw
#slay #ResistFascism #resistproject2025 #wegotthis #StrongerTogether #resistance #keephopealive #lovewins #lgbtqiaplus #lgbtqpride #staywokefolks

The Strange Mixture of Anxiety and Hope

I’m worried. I’m worried about Christian Nationalism, which is really white nationalism, it has nothing to do with jesus.

 

I’m worried about rights being rolled back. The right to support gay and trans kids, the right to talk about LGBTQ families in public spaces, a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, the right to vote,

 

the right to learn history as it occurred even if some of it is ugly, the right to hold even the most powerful accountable for their abuse of power…

 

I’m worried for those who have known discrimination and who are being told they will know more of it if certain agendas are enforced.

 

I’m worried, but not hopeless. Because for now, we can vote. We still have a say in how our future will unfold.

 

Democracy is from the Greek, Demokratia meaning “power of the people.” If we don’t use our power, it will be taken from us, and then democracy gives way to something far removed from Jesus’ dream of a divine kin-dom.  

 

Instead of leaving our fears unchallenged, let’s take Jesus’ advice and seek God’s kin-dom, that realm of peace and justice-love where the last are first and the first are last, where even a widow’s mite is meaningful,

 

where hunger isn’t allowed, where the elderly are safe and children are encouraged and people are never demonized for their love and where the sacred value of all people is recognized.

 

The kin-dom of God is in our hands. We can reject Christian empire and embrace instead God’s kin-dom, the non-kingdom, the anti-empire.

 

I’m asking people of faith to dare to dream Jesus’ dream of God’s universal family making sure that no one is oppressed, forgotten, or left out, and then let that dream inform your participation in our democracy, which if we are as Christian as we claim to be, will look more like Jesus’ dream, and less like empire.

 

May the divine kin-dom come and the divine will be done. Amen.

Pardon My Overshares

Pardon My Overshares
When I came out to myself, I came out to the world (and btw world, in case you forgot, I’m still gay!). And it was such a liberating and life-giving experience that it taught me to live my life openly, gladly, and as much as possible without shame or fear (or at least in spite of fears).

And so, I may “overshare” on occasion. I share my doubts, my challenges, my victories, my hopes, my joys. I share about my battles with (and various victories over) depression. I shared about my detached retina, long healing process, and the joy of finally having better vision than before the incident. I shared when loved ones passed from this life experience to whatever is next. I share about my long, complicated, and often dysfunctional relationship with the scale. I share about coming of age in the world of AIDS and living well as a long term survivor. Recently I’ve shared about a fairly brief experience of Bell’s Palsy (and the exciting and rapid improvement that followed).

I am not looking for sympathy (well, not from the masses...I have my personal sympathy providers and I’ll call them when I need them). I’m not looking for anything, actually. What I want to do is share that living a life of faith is not necessarily a life of constant ease, but it can be a life of constant hope and joy that is frequently renewed. I want to show that faith can help us find and employ tools that will enable us to conquer, survive, learn from, or reinterpret the challenges in life. Faith can even give us the power to laugh and laughter, as it turns out, is healing.

I simply want to be a credible witness to the truth that while experiences come and go, we always have the power to hope, to love, to laugh, to keep moving forward. We can demonstrate blessings in the middle of uncertainty, and we can experience love, peace, gratitude, and optimism regardless of the circumstances at hand.

I don’t always do it as well as I’d like. I can feel defeated or overwhelmed or afraid like everyone else, but I do try to remind myself that I don’t have to stay stuck in those feelings forever. And when I change my attitude about something, I almost always, to some degree, also change my experience of it. And I hope that is encouraging to others who may be facing difficulties.

So, forgive me for the overshares, but I offer them as gifts, and like all gifts, if they don’t appeal to you, “accidentally” leave them in the car and forget about them (possibly regift them later). But if they do encourage you, I am so glad and that alone makes it a blessing for me.

—Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins
Sunshine Cathedral
Ft. Lauderdale

Californians Facing the Fires Are in My Thoughts

I’m thinking of that old hymn, “Showers of Blessings.” I’m wishing for showers of blessings to fall upon the people who are frightened or injured or dislocated by the fires in California. May the people find the comfort they need. And God bless the first responders!

Navigating the Difficulties

NAVIGATING THE DIFFICULTIES 

The storms. Mother Nature crying out in pain. Climate change, and those who reject the evidence of it. Fires. Earthquakes. The threat of war. People terrified of losing lifesaving healthcare. Xenophobia. The normalization of blatant racism. Demonization of same-gender loving people. Dehumanization of gender non-conforming, gender queer, and transgender people. Islamaphobia. Anti-Semitism. Inexperience and ineptitude in high places. And this is all in addition to personal difficulties, uncertainties, regrets, and fears which might seem daunting enough without angst on a global level. 

How to find peace in the midst of the chaos? How to hold onto faith, or at very least, hope? 

For me, this is where spirituality comes to the rescue. I turn to my sacred texts and I find Joseph recovering from betrayal, false accusations, abandonment and not only surviving but thriving and helping others do so as well. I see Jacob wrestling with the unknown and refusing to give up until he receives a blessing. I see Ruth widowed and in distress but finding ways to survive and take care of her loved ones. I see Jesus having love for Lazarus that death itself could not sever. I see Hagar crying because she has been exploited and abandoned by a powerful man and is alone in a desert facing almost certain death when suddenly she finds a well in the wilderness and a friendly community and her life is saved and takes on new meaning. The sacred stories remind me that difficulties are part of life, but so is navigating them and finding new opportunities and renewed joy. 

The faith community is also a source of strength for me. We pray together, sing together, laugh together, cry together...TOGETHER. We're never alone. We don't have to face anything in isolation. 

And in addition to stories and community, spirituality gives me the gift of prayer. Prayer for me is an inward experience, an embrace of high ideals, a immersion in hope, a summoning of strength, a moment to draw from the well of peace, a reminder that there are possibilities that we may yet see and seize. Prayer also reminds me that I am part of a larger life that cannot be diminished by any situation or circumstance. 

Maybe some of us are feeling a bit overwhelmed these days. There are many ways to navigate the difficulties. My primary way is to engage and depend on my spirituality: my sacred texts, my loving community, and the comforting power of prayer. My prayer in this moment is that those facing the storms of life discover within themselves an abundance of peace, hope, courage, and comfort. Amen.  (dw)

My Prayer on this National Day of Prayer

The National Day of Prayer is held annually on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952.

Let us pray for the United States of America:

O God whose kin-dom knows no geographical borders, we affirm today that your benevolent omnipresence enfolds and includes all life. And we take great comfort in that truth today; and comfort is needed.

The politics of self-interest which would deny care to some who need it most frightens us, and so we pray - God have mercy.

The politics of division, where large segments of the human family are dehumanized and demonized, leaves us desperately sad. God have mercy.

The politics of domination makes us anxious and concerned. God have mercy.

Attitudes which seek to exclude people because of who they love, how they identify themselves, how they pray, or where by accident of birth they started life seem to run rampant, and so we pray - God have mercy.

Violence is ever with us. God have mercy.

Mistrust plagues us individually and collectively. God have mercy.

Racism infects our hearts and our institutions. God have mercy.

Xenophobia, transphobia, misogyny, and heterosexism all seem to be experiencing a collective and unholy revival. God have mercy.

Our very earth seems to be at risk, and not only of being harmed, but of having that harm ignored for profit. For our earth, our mother, our home we pray - God have mercy.

Mass incarcerations, the threat of war, illness, poverty…there are so many needs to address. For those trying to address them, please give them wisdom and strength and courage.

We know all nations face times of economic difficulty, or conflict, or vulnerability in the face of natural disasters, and we know that you have blessed the human family with resilience and the grace to hope even in the most dire of circumstances, and so we remember today that whatever frightens us will not last forever, but dignity and grace and the possibility of healing will last. We know that faith, hope, and love all endure, and that the greatest of these gifts is love. Let us today embrace the power of love. Let us love ourselves, and our neighbors, and our enemies, and our country, and our world and may this love bring healing wherever, whenever, and however it is most needed.

On this day of prayer, let us also call to mind people of faith: those who embrace Judaism, those follow the way of Jesus, those whose prophet is Muhammad, those who identify as Sikh, those who seek enlightenment as Buddhists, those who worship as Hindus, those who keep the traditions of the native ancestors of this land alive, those whose faith is in human potential, those who place their faith in science, those who faith is unnamed but no less dear and sustaining to them…may our various faiths bring out the best in us and help us see and honor the best in one another.

God bless this country and help us be kinder, more inclusive, more just, more peace loving, and more willing to assure the well-being of all who call this land their inherited or their chosen home. God, in your mercy, hear our prayer. Amen. 

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins

Senior Minister

Sunshine Cathedral 

As sent out via Constant Contact

Healing Prayer

I need to say that I believe in healing. Not just the body's natural impulse to strive toward wholeness (though that is pretty amazing), and not just medical procedures that ease pain and prolong life (though that, too, is fabulous!), but in something more mysterious.

I have prayed for decades for people to experience healing, and so many have. Often that healing includes remission or cure, other times, the healing looks like courage or peace or restored relationships or a quality of life that defies circumstances or a gentle release at the end surrounded by loving hearts. I don't get to choose how the healing shows up, but I've witnessed it in many ways, and each of them are profound, beautiful, and even miraculous.

I've experienced healing in my own life, from living decades with a chronic (and once considered fatal) illness, to living an active life without surgery in spite of spinal birth defects (lots of massage, chiropractic, acupuncture, and the occasional aid of a cane have been been part of making the active life possible), to a seemingly miraculous remission of cat allegories and asthma, to having a retina reattached that over time (and a couple of surgeries) left me with better vision than before the detachment! There have been some biopsies along the way as well, but so far, so good. I must admit I always get a little anxious when those come around, but somehow the anxiety passes (and isn't that a great healing?!). I have also battled depression for most of my life, but even so, I have known great joy. The depression returns, but it has learned it will not be allowed to stay uninterrupted (not as long as I have insurance and a pharmacist!).

There are also the "rare" instances we all hear about...the person who comes out of the extended coma, the person for whom there are no more treatment options who somehow survives, the person who was never supposed to walk again who somehow does at last, the spontaneous remissions that can't be explained. And even though these "Lourdes"-like cures and second chances may be rare, that they happen at all seems to give us permission to hope that they will happen again, and again.

I'm sitting with these thoughts of healing because so many people are facing health challenges right now, or maybe for personal reasons I am particularly aware of them right now. And so I have been praying a lot for people in need of healing. As I said above, I don't get to decide how the healing shows up, but I trust that the energies of prayer are carried on currents of compassion that do reach those for whom we pray and that our prayers make a difference. When I know someone is praying for me, the comfort is as real as it is indescribable.

I have prayed for people and marveled at their recovery; and I have prayed for people and grieved that their situation did not improve as I had hoped. And yet, I trust that the loving energy emitted by prayer was a gift every single time, and that somehow, in ways I may never know, something was better because I took the time to wish someone well and to affirm possibilities that might not be obvious to everyone.

I believe in healing, even when I don't see it, even when it happens in ways that I may not recognize, even when it comes in ways other than I would have chosen if the choice were mine to make; I believe in healing, and I am stubborn enough to hope for miracles.

During my AIDS ministry in the 90s I learned that it cost me nothing to summon hope for someone. In those days my promise to people was, "as long as you hope, you can trust that at least one other person is hoping with you." I am resurrecting that promise for whoever needs it today. If you are trying to summon hope, I will hope with you. I can't promise any particular result (I don't sell snake oil, but hope is free and I will cling to it stubbornly on your behalf).

I really do believe that hope, compassion, and prayer make a difference, and at least sometimes, that difference may even seem miraculous.

(Durrell Watkins - prayer companion, dealer in hope)

An End of Day Prayer During Turbulent Times

I worry that environmental protections are being rolled back, but I assume and hope that such myopic actions are temporary and will one day be corrected.
I worry that dictators may try to take advantage of an unprecedented lack of experience in the executive branch of US government, but I hope the judicial and legislative branches will intervene to keep us safe.
I worry that hard won victories for marginalized and vulnerable people are being targeted and attacked, but I trust that Justice will have Her say and that ultimately, fairness will prevail.
I worry that xenophobia, racism, homophobia, and transphobia will destroy human lives, and even cost lives, but I also hope and believe that human kindness is indomitable and will eventually save the day.
And, on top of these "big" concerns, I am aware of people who are hurting, who are facing loss, who are dealing with great personal challenges, whose futures seem uncertain, and for them I wish comfort, strength, courage, and the sustaining power of hope. I wish them peace of mind, and even a miracle or two.
My concerns are many tonight, and so it is that I invoke grace which is equal to every need to enfold us all. Amen.

(Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins)

HIV: Memories & Hope

     It was the 1980s. I was in college. I was home for the holidays and met some of my old high school friends in a local bar. We hadn’t been “out” in high school (some of us were still sorting out our feelings and attractions) but we had each discovered and happily accepted our sexual orientation since graduation. It was great to be back home and together, living out loud as the people we were meant to be. Our level of connecting and sharing was richer, deeper, and more profound than it had ever been. Living in the power of truth has that effect, doesn’t it?

     During one of those heart to heart and soul to soul conversations that young adults like to have late at night in dark bars, I said to one of my friends, “I’m so scared of this AIDS stuff that’s out there. I don’t know what I would do if I got it.” Without missing a beat, my friend responded, “I have it.”

     I was devastated. It was more than concern for my friend, however. There was a level of terror that swept through my body as if I had been given the diagnosis. You see, it was the first time someone I knew had been diagnosed with the HIV virus. His self-disclosure made it all very real to me. If he could get it, anyone could. I could. It was no longer just a news story; it was as of that very moment part of my life.

    My friend was luckier than many in those early days. He went from nutritional therapies to monotherapies to combination therapies. He survived as treatments advanced. And when the day came for me to tell him that I had sero-converted, he was supportive, loving, and encouraging. He showed me that a diagnosis need not define us or steal our joy.

     One day many years later, my healthy, athletic old friend, who had proven that the human spirit is potentially indomitable, drowned while on vacation. After going toe to toe with HIV with remarkable success, an undercurrent at a Delaware beach is what ended his life. It seemed surreal. My grief was powerful and long-lasting.

     It’s a new year, and somehow this new beginning brought to mind these ancient memories, but the memories are accompanied by a sense of gratitude for the strides we’ve made in HIV care since those uncertain days. The memories also stir within me a hope that people will no longer contract HIV (it is preventable). I hope those who are HIV positive will become aware of their status and get life-saving treatment. I hope people will lovingly remember those we lost too soon. And I hope that HIV awareness and activism continue until all who are positive are liberated from shame and stigma, all who are HIV negative remain so, and at long last, a cure is found.

     AIDS isn’t over yet, but I still believe that it can be defeated if we will remain vigilant. May this new year be a happy and healthy one for all of us.

Rev. Dr. Durrell Watkins is the senior minister of the Sunshine Cathedral in Ft. Lauderdale

written for the Florida Agenda

Love is Good Medicine

Dr Durrell's Spiritual Prescriptions (a bi-monthly column in the Florida Agenda)

"Love is Good Medicine"

A young friend of mine recently tested positive for HIV. I was heartbroken. Of course I’m relieved that he got tested, that he knows his status, and that he is seeking treatment. And, I am confident that he will respond well to the treatment and will live a long, productive life. But I also know that care-free, medication-free days are a thing of the past for him. I know the life-saving medications might have inconvenient side-effects. I know that he will worry about who to tell and when to tell and how to tell about his HIV status, because even in 2015 people with HIV are still often stigmatized. My friend is single, and I know that revealing his status to prospective sexual partners might cause him some embarrassment, regret, and anxiety. And, I imagine that some people will back away from entering into intimacy with this beautiful, delightful young man because of his status.

In an age of PrEP and of effective treatments that can help most people manage their HIV, AIDS is not the all-consuming terror that it was in my young adult days. Consequently, we’ve let our guard down a bit, and some in our community have become a bit judgmental of those who seroconvert in this day and age. But the truth is that HIV has not yet been cured (I, for one, continue to hope and pray to see the day when a cure is found and made accessible to all people), and until HIV is cured, some will continue to get it. While I hope that people will be very careful in their romantic lives, I also hope we will remember that HIV isn’t something that anyone deserves. It isn’t bad karma or divine punishment. It is a virus and viruses tend to spread.

I don’t want anyone to get HIV ever again, but some will. And for those of us who are HIV positive, I don’t want any of us to ever give up hope for healthy, vibrant lives and I don’t want any of us to ever be ashamed of our health status or afraid that we are unlovable because of it. And because people still must live with HIV, I hope all of us will choose to be supportive, compassionate, and kind. Fear and condemnation didn’t do any good in the 80s and 90s when AIDS was ravishing our community, and fear and condemnation still won’t serve us well today.

The old slogan, “Hate HIV, not People with HIV” still rings true for me. HIV will one day be completely defeated, but until that glorious and miraculous day, let us remember to love ourselves and one another. Love is still good medicine, and it is still very much needed.

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

Confessions of a Struggling Optimist

Optimism is a choice for me. It isn't "natural"...that is, I didn't learn it in my home or school or even in the church of my youth. Because I was already a young adult when I embraced New Thought philosophy (the idea that we can take control of our habitual thinking and thereby improve the conditions of our lives), I had long established/programmed thought habits that fed into anxiety, shame, regret, and dread. 

As a child and young adult, I worried about almost everything. I saw the world as a challenging place where every good thing and every success could only come by means of struggle. Added to the habitually negative way of viewing the world that I was taught was a family history of depression. I not only "learned" anxiety, in some ways, I biologically inherited it!

Additionally, I was a gay child in a super conservative, fundamentalist Christian region of the country, where fear (fear of God, fear of Hell, fear of punishment, fear of not being good enough, fear of gays!) was practically in the water supply...it seemed ubiquitous, natural, normal, and inescapable. So feelings of anxiety, loneliness, and low self-esteem all seemed to come naturally to me; those feelings certainly dominated my mind for the first 20 years of life (and have paid unwanted visits from time to time ever since).

But I did discover the idea that there is a universal power that flows through and expresses as all life, that this power is the energy of life, the "stuff" from which we are made, and by changing our thoughts and attitudes and expectations we can tap into that power and direct it more usefully for our benefit (rather than unintentionally using it to reinforce our fears). If such a power exists and can be used for our benefit, then hope is reasonable, and I decided to become a person of hope. 

So for almost 30 years I have been an avowed optimist. But that doesn't mean that the first 20 years of programming went away. Some days, I still struggle. My struggles are now aided by the assurance that things will get better, that I deserve for them to get better, and that I have the ability to weather the current storm (real or imagined) and see brighter days again. The struggle doesn't last as long, or occur as frequently, but it does still happen.

I still have work to do. To this day, when I experience inward turmoil, or outer challenges, a negative voice rises within me accusing me of being a fraud: "How can I be an optimist if I'm dreading the doctor visit, or sad that someone didn't appreciate me, or worried about the success of a project?" Those old negative tapes still exist. They are buried, the volume is turned down, but they are still in storage in my subconscious. 

Usually, when I feel badly about feeling badly, I am able to remind myself that optimism isn't a choice I made 30 years ago; it's a decision that I FIRST made 30 years, and it's a choice I must continue to make daily. When I remind myself of this, I start to forgive myself for being overly critical of myself, and I begin again affirming my value, daring to know that things can, ought to, and must get better, and I start remembering the many things for which I can be grateful. I start to see the good that outweighs the bad, the good that the bad can't take away, the good that is waiting for me beyond the bad...sometimes, I even notice that the bad isn't as bad as I first imagined. 

I share this because optimism saved my life. It got me through bouts of depression, including the worst bout of my life about 5 years ago. It also helped me cope with spinal defects, get my weight under control, and even live a healthy life, in spite of a chronic diagnosis, for a couple of decades now. Optimism has helped me survive professional challenges, has made it possible for me to see 22 countries so far, earn multiple degrees, and find and share my life with the true love of my life. 

I believe in optimism, I depend on optimism, and I am grateful for optimism. And I know as well as anyone that optimism is a daily choice, there can be set backs, and it may not come naturally to some of us. But just because we have some troubling days or some old thought habits pay us an unwanted visit, that doesn't make us frauds or failures...that just reminds us (to borrow from A Course in Miracles) to "choose once again." When we hit a rough patch, that's when we need optimism the most, and we can choose the power of optimism again.

There remains a universal power, we are part of it and it is part of us, and we can use it to improve our lives. We can remind ourselves of this fact as often as we need to, and as we do, things start to get better again. So, I remain an optimist. Some days it takes more effort than others, but I still believe that it's worth the effort. And so it is.

Only a Dying God Needs Defense

Those who feel they need to "defend" God, "God's word," God's prejudices, God's hatreds, God's hangups...seem so angry, and of course they are. Who wouldn't be angry to realize they had a God that was so puny as to need human defense?
Of course, what they seem to be angriest about is that blaming their own fears, hatreds, and prejudices on God is no longer persuasive in society at large. We are now holding them accountable for how they treat others and are not giving them a pass simply because they believe dehumanizing and demonizing others is somehow "God's will."
Perhaps their god of wrath and condemnation is on life-support and the plug will soon be pulled. But endless Hope, Compassion, Beauty, Love, and Life-force will remain, and perhaps some of them will learn to call those powerful experiences divine. (dw)

Breathe. Pray. Choose.

Sometimes things happen quickly, challenges come one after the other, and emotions whirl mightily like a wind storm; if we aren't careful, we'll get caught up in that and create a tragic tale of how life is unfair and mischievous forces are out to get us. But a deep breath (or 30), a brief prayer, and a choice to see things differently can calm the storm and what was getting ready to play out as a tragedy (or least a really bad melodrama) on the stage of our minds is reduced to an annoying moment, soon forgotten and replaced with hope, peace, and a trust that something good is at hand. Today's power words: Breathe. Pray. Choose.

Let There Be Peace

So much swirling through my mind today: concern for the people of Nepal, hope for peace in war torn areas, sadness for the turmoil in Baltimore, awareness of perpetual injustice that leads to protests than grow into riots, optimism for nationwide marriage equality, caution about new attempts at discrimination that will likely follow. With so much going on in the world, I offer this prayer from the Buddhist tradition for the whole world: "May we be filled with loving-kindness; may we be well. May we be peaceful and at ease; may we be happy" and this prayer by Masahisa Goi: "May peace prevail on earth." Amen.

I Remember

I REMEMBER

I, like everyone else, remember September 11th, 2001 when New York City and Washington, DC were attacked by hijacked aircraft. I remember the fear, the loss, the pain. I remember other things as well.

I remember the world extending concern, good wishes, and compassion in that moment of despair.
I remember communities coming together to raise money, clean up rubble, help wounded people, and comfort one another in a time of grief. I remember that a decade later, the master mind behind the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden, was killed. I don't rejoice at any killing. I might have preferred he be captured, tried, and incarcerated. But in any case, there was a sense of closure.

A lot was lost on 9/11, but so much more was spared, and good things were stirred within us. Heroism, compassion, resilience...the best of our humanity overpowered a moment of tragedy.

I have other remembrances, today. I remember that 9/11 wasn't the first, last, or largest tragedy to impact the human family.

I remember that the US government went 7 years without officially responding to the AIDS crisis. I remember that lives were lost because we failed to summon the better angels of our nature in time to contain a pandemic. I also remember when effective medications were finally released and people started living well with HIV, having real hope for long lives.

I remember growing up in a very homophobic environment, too scared to even admit to myself that I was gay, living in shame, fear, and confusion. I remember all those feelings rushing back to mind when Matthew Shephard was brutally killed for being gay. I also remember when Vermont started offering legal civil unions to same-gender loving couples and when Massachusetts first allowed same-gender loving people to marry, and that since those initial breakthroughs marriage equality has gained a lot of momentum. 

 I remember when Don't Ask, Don't Tell was overturn and LBGT people could serve openly and proudly in the US military. I remember that we have made a lot of progress.

I remember that our nation's history includes slavery, Jim Crow, and bloody battles for civil rights. I also remember that on November 4th, 2008, the 44th president of the United States was elected and he is a person of African descent.

I remember that on December 7th, 1941, the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor. I remember that following that, Japanese Americans were unfairly imprisoned in their own nation just because of their ethnic heritage, and I remember that on August 6th, 1945 the first time any nation used a nuclear weapon in war was when the United Stated dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Three days later Nagasaki also experienced nuclear devastation. Today, Japan is a democracy, a major economy, and an ally of the nation that they once attacked, a nation that retaliated with world changing force.

I remember that a prayer that we use weekly at Sunshine Cathedral is actually the gift of a witness of the atomic bombings of Japan, Masahisa Goi, who prayed (as we do each week), "May peace prevail on earth."

And today, I remember two journalists who were brutally killed in Syria and I wish their families comfort in the days and months to come.

There are many sad events in history to remember, and we should remember. But let us also remember the healing that followed, the opportunities that sadness could not take away, and the hope that remained for better days.

Today, I remember 9/11/01, but I also remember that pain was not invented that day, nor did pain win that day. Hope is always the indestructible force, and so while I remember events from the painful past, I also remember that we always have the power to hope and work for a better tomorrow. Let's do remember that we have the power of hope.
 

Blessings,

 

Rev Dr Durrell Watkins

Senior Minister 

Sunshine Cathedral 

Depression is No Joke

I didn't know that Robin Williams struggled with depression, but I'm not surprised. That much creativity and genius often has a deep, internal struggle behind it. And for him to be so up, the downward swings must have been very difficult. Anyway, I'm not qualified to analyze the late Robin Williams, but his sad departure from this life brings to mind loved ones who have battled depression. I struggled with depression as a child and four years ago I found myself in the midst of deep despair, and I am so thankful for friends who loved me through it as well as medication and therapy. I got through it and have gotten good at self-care, but I am ever mindful of those who are still trying to find their place of peace and wholeness. May all who are hurting today find the strength and comfort they need.