"The Great Spritual Migration" by Brian McLaren from PULSE - September 28, 2016

it really is a joy to welcome you to pulse this evening here at Cathedral of Hope and this is a worship service that we do every Wednesday evening but tonight is a little different and perhaps even more special we want to welcome you especially if you're here for the very first time this night we also want to welcome you regardless of where you are on your spiritual journey whilst Cathedral of Hope United Church of Christ is a congregation that is unashamedly reclaiming Christianity for the world and for Dallas Texas we're also a congregation that respects wherever people are so wherever you are in that journey you're in safe space this evening and invite you to reinterpret to reframe to reenter stand to reimagine to retune whatever it is that you need to do to make this good news available to yourself you see that's what spirituality is all about it's not about us telling you what to believe it's about allowing the holy to be present within you and so we want you to have permission this evening to do whatever you need to do to get out of this experience whatever you need to get out of it out of it that's our responsibility each and every one of us as individuals but we want to know that you are welcome in this place usually Wednesday night we would also be serving communion we are going to do that this evening but we're going to do it at the end of worship because we want to make sure that we respect that folks were amongst us who perhaps don't come from that tradition so if you are needing communion this evening after worship is finished there'll be ministers available at the communion table you're free to come and to share in a small act of communion we also want to know that they want you to know that Pulse Cafe will be on this evening and it will be in the fellowship hall and you are also able to meet with Brian McClair and after worship this evening to have your book signed and if you didn't pick up your book already if you haven't purchased it you can do in the bookstore it will be open all the way through this evening and there is a special discount on the book this evening so you don't miss out on that opportunity you certainly don't miss out on hearing this incredible man I'm so delighted to be able to welcome Brian McLaren here to Cathedral of Hope he is a spiritual warrior he is someone who has been on quite the journey over his life and minister three and it shares that through a number of testimonies and through a number of books but this book the great spiritual migration is reportedly and I would agree probably the finest book that he is written to date and I say to date because God is not finished with him yet and there is still yet more to come from him I'm excited I know you're excited you don't need to hear anything else from me for those of you who are new I'm Reverend Neil cos artist Thomas that happened to be the senior pastor of this congregation but we believe in this place that we are all ministers and gifted for the purpose of allowing God to shine through us we're gonna allow God to shine through Bryan this evening please welcome Brian McLaren good evening everybody I am so happy to be here can I just say I really like your church this is my second time here I just feel so at home if I lived in Dallas I know our I'd be on a weekly basis and I love your your pastor nice work getting this guy and I met your new pastor here and what a beautiful thing is happening here I got in a plane week ago Monday and went to Seattle Washington and then on Tuesday I went to Portland and then I'm Wednesday I went to San Francisco and then on Thursday I went to Los Angeles and on Friday I went to San Diego actually I missed someplace in there anyhow I was there then from there I went to Phoenix and from there to Denver and I woke up in Denver this morning and I get to be here with you tonight and I'm on this I'm on this book tour I never thought I would get to be a writer aye-aye-aye my plan was to be an English teacher and what got me going to be an English teacher was when I was about 10 or 11 years old I read a book that kind of changed my life it was a work of adolescent fiction and I bet some of you here have read it did any of you ever read the book my side of the mountain anybody you ever read that book some of you so look this is you know what adolescent fiction is right it's for teens and preteens and and it's a book about a boy maybe 14 years old who runs away from home in New York City and goes and lives in the forest and for a year he lives on his own in the forest and he makes friends with a weasel and he tames a falcon and he eats roots and berries and makes a house in a tree and it's just a wonderful story now I don't know what it was I I was a little boy who grew up in a fundamentalist Christian house you know it you know what that means if any of you don't know it means thank God you don't know what it means they're silly but but I grew up in a fundamentalist home and at the time I didn't know why reading that book would be so important to me but can you see why a boy growing up in a home like that might have dreams about running away but it's not just that it's that a all of us when we were that age we were having to imagine leaving the life that in a sense we inherited from our parents and making it our own you know what I'm saying and so it makes perfect sense that a popular book for pre-adolescence would be a book about going and making your own life finding your own identity in fact that image of going into the woods is really about going into your own interior the darkness and depth of your own life finding out who you are I can't imagine what making friends with a weasel would be except getting in touch with the parts of us that are little weaselly and scary and all the rest right and of course what would taming a falcon suggest maybe getting in touch with the spiritual sides of ourselves I didn't know any of that when I read a book this book when I was a boy I just knew that it made me come alive and if you told me after I read that book that someday I'd be a writer and I get to write books for other people I just couldn't have believed it because it just I just knew what a difference what a difference that made for me but the fact is a whole lot of us are trying to figure out how to come into our own how to be who we are because we had so many people telling us you have to be this you can't be that you have to fit into this box you have to fit it into that slot and then we struggle to figure out who we really are and you know it's sort of amazing a lot of us would end up in a church because churches were off in the places that tried to box us up more than any place else and we're trying to figure out now we sort of got the idea that maybe what we sang a few minutes ago that what God's message to us is really that we're loved and we don't have to be somebody else but we're loved for who we are and maybe what churches are supposed to be is not places that try to cram us all into this slot or this box but they're supposed to be places that invite us out and say hey you can be who God made you to be and so here we are trying to figure out what went wrong with our religion that jammed so many people into so many boxes and invite us all in a sense to come of age to be who we are so that's kind of what brings me here I'd like to read two little passages tonight from this book that I just wrote and you'll catch on imagine that you just bought a 12-pack of coke each virgin can sits before you bubbling with a promise of caffeinated carbonated carbohydrate-rich pleasure you remove the first can from the cardboard box and pop it open you should see how I spelled that you lift the can to your lips but the liquid tastes salty and foul shocked you throw it away and open the second can you take a sip a sip and immediately spit it out it tastes like spoiled milk you open a third can and lift it cautiously to your lips but don't drink the smell of carbonated sewage disgusts you if the fourth and fifth cans greet you with the scent of gasoline and vinegar how likely is it that you'll open the sixth through twelfth cans each of which has the classic sweet velvety tongue tingling taste you were expecting now imagine you call coca-cola customer service and share with them your experience customer service says coca-cola world headquarters how may I help you you say I just bought a 12-pack of coke that tastes terrible customer service says I'm sorry to hear that what color with the cans the cans were normal bright red with white lettering customer service well that's the most important thing was the cardboard box sound the box that contained the 12 cans yes the cardboard box is fine it was the taste that was the problem thanks for calling I'm glad the cans were red in the box was sturdy enjoy coke and have a nice day a brand like Coke only has meaning because it is linked to an essential quality or qualities for a soft drink taste not the can with a politician policies effectiveness and character count not hair style or skin color with a bicycle speed weight and comfort are paramount not saddle color and what are the qualities of Christian faith that really matter regardless of packaging therein lies the trouble for centuries Christian faith has been presented as a system of beliefs the system of beliefs has supported a wide range of unattended consequences from colonialism to environmental destruction subordination of women to stigmatization of LGBT people anti-semitism to Islamophobia clergy pedophilia to white privilege what would it mean for Christians to rediscover their faith not as a problematic system of beliefs but as a just and generous way of life rooted in contemplation and expressed in action and compassion that makes amends for its mistakes and is dedicated to Beloved Community for all good Christians migrate from defining their faith as a system of beliefs to expressing it as a loving way of life could Christian faith lose the bitter taste of colonialism illusion judgment hypocrisy and oppression and regain the sweet and nourishing flavor of justice joy and peace so I know a little bit about the story of this beautiful congregation and I got to be here a couple of years ago and be honored as one of the heroes of hope here which meant so much to me and whenever anybody asked me about this church I always say the same thing I say I I go to a lot of churches and my time with Cathedral of Hope stands out as one of the most precious worship experiences of my life not only because the music was unbelievable and other but it was the love that I felt from the people here I what I felt and I had so many people share just a snippet of their story with me what I felt here was that so many people had been hurt by religion and religious people they had they had tasted some pretty sour stuff but they instead of making them bitter it made them better and they decided to not put up with that but to find something deeper and richer they went for the real taste of what I think Jesus was about which was the flavor of love so when I wrote this book I wanted to try to explore what I think is happening in the Christian faith it's happening here in the United States but I've had the chance I've been in it but only maybe 40 45 countries something like that but I've been a lot of places around the world and I've seen this happening in so many different places in different ways where people are saying we focused on the can we focused on the packaging we focused on the box and we've not paid enough attention to the contents to what really it's supposed to be about so what is the real contents what is this thing really supposed to be about a Pharisee came to Jesus and said good teacher what is the greatest commandment and jesus said to him thou shalt have the correct beliefs and the second is like it thou shalt join a denomination that upholds those correct beliefs not the gospel you understand what Jesus said is absolutely stunning he said the great commandment is love the Lord your God with all your heart soul mind and strength but here's the real kicker and the second is like it which means the second is equal to it the second is equal in importance do you understand what a stunning thing that is to say you shall love the Lord your God you shall love your neighbor as yourself what is the essence what is the core Jesus didn't say hey listen I've come to introduce some new beliefs get rid of the old beliefs we'll start a new religion and named it after me it's not what he said he said he said look I'm here come follow me I'm here to teach you a new way of life not a system of beliefs a way of life and this is a way of life centered in love I grew up in very strict churches that were very you know firm on their beliefs and I was on my way out but through two things through a very powerful spiritual experience that I had and through a friend my life was changed in a positive direction and the friend really introduced me to Christian faith not as a system of beliefs but as a way of life I'll tell you how it happened he was a youth leader and I was not interested in any kind of youth groups or anything like I said I'm on my way out of this whole thing and he asked me to come on a retreat and so I'd never been on a retreat before I didn't even know what that was like we were going to war or something but he told me no we go away to this camp and we have a lot of games it's a lot of fun so I thought ok I'll try this out so I go arrive at the church where they have these buses and we're all going to get on buses and the prettiest girl that I knew was there and she had her best friend who was a little prettier and I went and said hi to Debbie and she introduced me to Ellen and the three of us we were together for that whole weekend and man I loved retreats I thought man this is great I want to be part of this youth group if this is what it's about and Debbie and Ellen and I like we were tight you know and we had a lot of fun and all the rest the weekend ends and the Brussels are at the retreat center and we're about to get on the buses and come home and my buddy who was the youth worker says hey Bryan come here I want to talk to you and he had this annoying habit he'd sort of put his arm around you you know and I just made me feel a little creepy put his arm around me and he says it looked like you were having a good time this weekend I said ah man I had an awesome time thanks for inviting me it was unbelievable he says ya noticed you were hanging around with with Debbie and Ellen the whole time I said yeah he said yeah I just before we left I just wanted to tell you I'm really kind of disappointed in you like my heart just sank what do you mean he said well I realized watching you this weekend that you didn't really understand what this youth group is about I said well what do you mean he said Bryan you don't know this but you're a leader people look to you and they they like you and they see you as a leader he said and you might not understand this but what we're trying to do in this youth group is really different we're trying to create a place in this youth group where everybody matters where the fat kids matter and the skinny kids matter and the cool kids matter and the Nerds matter where the athletes matter and and the you know the out of it kids matter where everybody matters and we don't put labels on kids where everybody matters and when you came here and you spent your whole weekend with the two best-looking girls in the whole place everybody looked and said yeah this is just like everybody else the cool kids hang out together and leave the rest of us on the outside now can I tell you how I felt at that moment I was ticked off because I'd had such a good time and I was so mad at him for raining on my parade but at the same time I knew what he was talking about I knew what he was talking about and I didn't say anything even though I was sort of gritting my teeth and I was angry but I thought you know he's right we need places in this world where everybody matters we need places where everybody's loved and so something happened between then and when I made my way to the two buses and there was a split second it was just a split second and Ellen and Debbie got on the first bus and I got on the second bus and I remember standing at the front of the long row of benches in the bus and I looked and I said who's the loneliest kid on this bus and I went and said I'm gonna sit next to that person you know in a funny way there was no big theology thing going on at that moment that's almost when I think maybe I became a Christian because at that moment I got that this is about love this is nothing wrong with Debbie and Ellen this is about me why am I here what's this about does that make sense oh and and in a way what my youth group leader did for me is he challenged me to think about what it means to be a Christian as a way of life which is the way of love you know there's a really really famous passage in the New Testament that everybody reads at weddings you know the passage I'm talking about first Corinthians 13 I don't want to read first Corinthians 13 I hope you will read it later if you've never read it it's not just for weddings anymore it's actually for life it's for families and it's for offices and it's for churches and it's for believe it or not it's for politics and it's for all of life it's about love and how important love is I want to read you the verse that comes right before that famous passage that nobody ever reads and the one that comes right after that passage that nobody ever reads here's one who comes before and now I will show you the most excellent way that little three-letter word way I will show you the most excellent way and then he starts talking about love he talks about love for a bunch of verses and says a lot of beautiful and poetic and challenging things and then when he's done here's what he says follow the way of love I will show you the most excellent way follow the way of love so brothers and sisters what it strikes me when you're thinking about the power of one the power of one person with love in his or her heart is the power to bring about real change in this world but here's the problem our religion if you call yourself a Christian if you don't that's great god bless you you probably have good reasons for not doing so but if you call yourself a Christian our religion has been about checking everybody's beliefs we've become kind of the belief police and we've created this whole system where if you don't have the right beliefs we tell people God's going to torture you forever God loves you but if you don't have the right beliefs you know and a lot of us are saying that's not right we've got to rediscover our faith not as a system of beliefs but as a way of life which is the way of love I don't know if you ever thought of it before but you could think of Cathedral of Hope as a studio of love you know you like you have a yoga studio and when you go to yoga studio you don't just take notes on the history of yoga you actually learn the moves you know if you go to an art studio you don't just hear a lecture about Rembrandt you actually get out paints and you might paint her you might get out some rock and do a sculpture you actually do stuff you practice stuff and kind of the goal of being part of a congregation like this is that you actually learn how to do the art of love the way of love in your daily life does that make sense a dance studio you stand in front of a mirror so you can actually see how you look so there's a sense you you know we come here and we think how am i doing it learning out of love to love Kent can I tell you if I if you ask me for a curriculum for the studio of love this might surprise you but I wouldn't put loving God first I'll tell you why in a second but I would first in this in this curriculum for the studio of love first I would put loving your neighbor and your neighbor means the people closest to you and but it also means those people that we exclude or look down upon or or you know put on the outer periphery of our lives that we actually learn how to see them as human beings too and and love them even as far as our enemies to love other people and I would start there because in as we learn to love other people and see all their imperfections that will prepare us that's love 101 Erol prepares for love 201 which is to learn to love ourselves now you know you might say well why don't we start with ourselves well you could if you want I wouldn't argue with you but I'll tell you something in the process of loving others you find out they have a whole lot of faults and sometimes that makes you more ready to say I wonder if I have any of those you know and you learn they have great strengths and and it's almost as at least for me and learning to love other people I'm able to almost get a little distance from myself and see I'm just like anybody else I'm a mixture of strengths and weaknesses you know I had a very powerful in my life I was I was a pastor for 24 years and I was out running which you know I always hate like as soon as I run my lungs start saying you've done enough you know stop stop but I try to do it and so I was out running and and as I was running this like thought came to me and here was the thought you're nicer to everybody else than you are to yourself if somebody else makes a mistake you say it's okay don't worry about it if you make a mistake you beat yourself up for hours it was funny it was from loving other people that I was able to see that I wasn't being very good to myself I know none of you have that problem learn to love God learn to love yourself third I think if Jesus were here today I think he would say it this way if you love your neighbor you love yourself you better learn to love the earth because if you want your neighbor to be able to breathe and you want to be able to breathe you both need air and if you want your neighbor to be able to drink and you want to be able to drink you both need water and if you'd like both of you to be able to eat it would be nice for there to be soil and plants and honeybees and all you understand and loving the earth is necessary for loving each other especially in a time when we're destroying the earth and so and loving the earth that would be love 301 and then we come love 401 and that's where I would talk about love and God and here's why I put it last not because it's least important because but because I think if you love your neighbor and yourself and the earth you will have already come to love God because you will have encountered God in your neighbor and and the love that you love yourself with when you're gracious to yourself will be the love of God and the love that you love the earth in a sense God loves the earth and you'll be sort of joining God and loving the earth you know wow what a beautiful stream and God's saying will you finally notice I feel the same way let's love this string together and so then God's face will be a familiar face does that make sense so this to me is is the great opportunity of a time like this when we see a lot of people in God's name doing a lot of really terrible and stupid things hateful things mean-spirited things in God's name as if God loved Christians and not Muslims or as if God loved straight people and not gay people or gay people and not trans people or white people and not people of color but we just got to get beyond all that amen and we got to understand if we don't learn the way of love let's not call it Christianity so my hope is that you know when when I write something and you sort of send a book off into the world it's like sending a kid off to kindergarten you hope he does okay and doesn't get beat up by the bullies and stuff like that but my hope is that a whole lot of Christians around feel like something's wrong and that will say you know what this is our opportunity not to complain about other people who don't get it my different father Richard Rohr Franciscan brother says the the best critique of the bad is the practice of the better so instead of moaning too much about how some other people are messing things up my hope is that we could decide we're going to get on the way of love and not to me is the beginning of a great spiritual migration amen thank you very much

Channel: Cathedral of Hope

Views: 17,936

Rating: 4.1847134 out of 5

Keywords: Cathedral of Hope, Dallas, Texas, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Bi-sexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning, Straight, Ally, Christian, Progressive, Liberal, United Church of Christ, UCC, Neil, Cazares, Thomas, Cazares-Thomas, The Power of One, PULSE, September 2016, Worship, Bisxeual, Christian Church, Brian McLaren, The Great Spirtual Migration

Id: BHpQpgU-uPE

Length: 29min 22sec (1762 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 28 2016