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The Rainbow Connection Last night’s jazz concert with the Pete Rodriguez Quintet was a real treat. Trumpet, sax, piano, bass, and drums each played a distinctive and essential part. Each had his moment in the spotlight and other moments to keep the beat or the chords in the background. Jazz plays with sound that reminds me of life itself—harmony, beauty, discord, conflict, soothing relaxation. Entertainment at its best takes us outside ourselves and into another reality. Speaking of entertainment, The Muppet Movie came out in 1979—27 years ago! (What were you doing in 1979?) By November of that year the popular theme song "The Rainbow Connection" had reached #25 on the Billboard Hot 100; the song remained in the Top 40 for seven weeks altogether. Kermit the Frog (voiced by Jim Henson) sang the original lament and played his Muppet-sized banjo. Do you remember? [Play recording of first verse as sung by Kermit] Since then, the song’s popularity has led to versions sung by such familiar singers as The Dixie Chicks, The Carpenters, and many others. The song was written by Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher.[i] Kenny Ascher received Oscar nominations in ‘79 for the entire song score for the movie and for this unlikely radio hit. Kermit is longing for more in life, just like Judy Garland’s character Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz when she sings “Over the Rainbow.” For as long as rainbows have appeared after a rainstorm or anywhere else, we have admired their beauty. For millennia, we have associated them with hope for a brighter day after troubled times. Countless groups have adopted rainbows for the positive feelings connected with them. Perhaps the most familiar of these are associated with gay and lesbian pride. Our hope is that people of any sexual orientation will enjoy equal measures of freedom and responsibility, privilege and expectation. I am preaching to the choir, of course. When a teenage Live Oaker can notice that this morning’s story about Tango would be a good parable for all ages, we can applaud his parents, his Sunday School teachers, and his sexuality education for a job well done. Special thanks go to Alan McCracken for bringing Roy, Silo, and Tango to us. I know I’m preaching to the choir because just last week, Ravi and Gregory Chandran received a standing ovation upon their presentation at the close of their fabulous wedding ceremony. [A/This] rainbow flag was part of the processional and was placed on the altar as a powerful statement of support. For thousands of years, the church has been the place where couples were blessed during their weddings. Only in the past few hundred years has civil marriage become the practice. It has been a matter of legal rights and inheritance issues, including ownership of women. Beginning tomorrow, the US Senate is scheduled to begin debate on the Marriage Protection Amendment. People in whom I place a measure of trust and hope say it has little chance of passing. However, it became a moment for photo ops and grandstanding in a special press conference yesterday at the White House. “The Rev. William G. Sinkford, UUA President, wrote, "Amending the United States constitution to deny same-gender couples the rights and responsibilities of marriage would be to enshrine discrimination into the document that provides the foundation for our democracy. While the constitution has been amended in the past, it has never been altered with the express intent to deny equal protection to an entire class of citizens, and now is no time to start.” Now is the time to ACT. Contact your elected representatives. Write a letter in the Fellowship Hall following the service. Tell us your personal encounters with this issue in the community. Unitarian Universalists have been supporting gay rights since the early 70s. Our clergy have remained among the leaders in officiating for gay and lesbian wedding celebrations. Some of them, like my colleague Rhett Baird, who was in Fayetteville, AR, have actually refused to conduct any wedding ceremonies until same sex marriage is recognized in their states. The Unitarian Universalist Association, which is the name of our denomination, is currently conducting a campaign called “Standing on the Side of Love.” From our denominational web site: “We know from our religious experience of worshipping and being together that what unites us as families and as people is much greater than what divides us. We need policies that will help create as many stable, healthy families as possible—not impose definitions of what constitutes a family. As a religious tradition dedicated to promoting democracy and justice, we believe that the proposed amendment would hurt thousands of families and children, turn the Constitution into an instrument of religious discrimination, and eviscerate the principle of equal protection.”[ii] Human rights for all U.S. citizens are at stake. Keith Kron is the UUA’s Director of the Office of Bisexual Gay Lesbian and Transgender Concerns. He’s the guy who sent the two posters and a letter to us recognizing Live Oak as a Welcoming Congregation. Keith and his partner Collin Koo live in two different countries. Together as a couple for two years, Collin lives in Vancouver, British Columbia and Keith recently moved from Boston to Blaine, Washington, to be closer to Collin. Keith says, "Collin moved to Canada from Malaysia where he grew up and was born. He first moved to California but realized he probably would not be permitted to emigrate to the US as Canada was much more open toward gays and lesbians. We met at a tennis tournament and dated long distance for two years while we tried to figure out how to be together. I work in the United States, and living in Canada would be problematic. Collin isn't sure he would be permitted to move to the US. Fortunately, my work allowed me to relocate to Washington. But our choices are difficult: either we continue a cross-country relationship, or I move to Canada and look for work there. Since we can get legally married in Canada, I could become a citizen. But I love my work here and couldn't find a similar job. Collin could find a similar job in the US, though not surprisingly, he finds Canada more welcoming. That might be different if we could get married in the US. So we live in two countries, spending as much time as we can together."[iii] Keith and others have been planning six workshops to take place this month in St. Louis for our annual UU gathering called General Assembly:
There is a danger in dividing people into groups because it tends to ignore the range of personality and behavior within those groups. Individuals who are hated because of their group identification can suffer alone or they can join with other members of the group. They share personal experiences of oppression and ways to resist oppression. They share a struggle for survival. They share the experience of community as a source of hope and understanding. Audre Lorde described herself as "Black lesbian, mother, warrior, and poet". She was in so many minority categories she could be hated by just about anyone. All of the categories helped define who she was and they also placed her in multiple circles where you and I might find ourselves, too. For example, she and I were both born female and so were at least half of you and at least half of the world’s population. But the only thing we all have in common is gender. The way we express our femaleness is a function of gender expectation in the culture as well as our own unique personality and style. My point is that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people share some things in common, but THEY are a diverse collection of individuals, too. Christine Smith shares my whiteness, my femaleness and my vocation. She is ordained in the United Church of Christ. But, she is also a professor of preaching and worship [United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St. Paul]. She is also a lesbian. One of her books on preaching was assigned reading in my own preaching class in seminary at Southern Methodist University. Smith names three broad areas for which we must continue to work:
1) personal and social equal
rights
2) sexual liberation
3) social and religious
transformation Here’s a story from the Rev. John Thornburg, pastor at Northaven United Methodist Church in Dallas. It was Mother’s Day, and prayers were offered for mothers, for women without children, and for mothers who have not been a source of strength for their children. While this last prayer was offered, for mothers who had not been a source of strength, one young man wept quietly. Three women turned in their seats and gently placed their hands on him. The pastor explained: “Some months before, strengthened at least in part by the fact that he had a church family that affirmed him both as a child of God and as a gay man, he had come out to his parents. They severed ties with him immediately and took such actions as returning the Christmas gifts he sent them without opening them.” The church then became his primary spiritual refuge in the depth of his sorrow and pain. So long as good people are condemned for who they are as human beings, we must offer refuge. So long as religion is used as a tool for hatred, we must offer refuge. When my sons were very young their dad painted one wall of their bedroom with a rainbow that swept from floor to ceiling and down into a pot of gold. One day when our younger son Fred was napping, he used a pencil to draw his own rainbow below the other one. We never did erase or paint over that drawing. During this week of Gay Pride, we celebrate the rainbow. We continue to look for the symbolic pot of gold on the other side of reality: the right to work, to buy insurance, to live where you want, to love whom you want, and to provide care to loved ones in the hospital or at the end of life. Too often, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender individuals and couples are denied these basic rights. Too often they must remain closeted for fear of losing jobs, homes, or insurance. Live Oak can be pleased that an active PFLAG chapter meets here. PFLAG stands for Parents, Family and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. In yesterday’s parade, PFLAG won a prize for their float—a house with a sign over its door saying, “Everybody Is Welcome.” In addition, Gregory and Ravi have initiated a twice-monthly support group for individuals who choose to remain closeted or who are in the process of coming out—the next meeting is tomorrow evening. Though we welcome all people who share our approach to religion, our special welcome to socially marginalized and hated people is right and just. Songwriter Fred Small wrote a song to a child called “Everything Possible.” The chorus goes like this:
You can be anybody you want
to be / You can love whomever you will Let us leave a legacy of love. Let us become a rainbow of color through which divine light may shine. Namaste. |
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Copyright
©2006, Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Church.