Celtic Advent - Day XIII- November 27

 

Celtic Advent - Day XIII - November 27

"But what we all can do, as flawed as we are, 

is still see God in other people 

and do our best to help them find their own grace. 

That's what I strive to do, that's what I pray to do every day."

~ Barack Obama

Where do you find evidence of the incarnation? 

Where do you see the 'enfleshment' of God?

To me, those two questions lead me deeper into the mystery of the incarnation of God-in-Christ. It's important to ask those questions and follow them to their answers, even though, more often than not, the answers lead to more questions. 

Harder-to-ask questions. Impossible-to-answer questions. 

Where the person of Jesus is concerned, we are asked to believe that "God took on human flesh and dwelt among us". It is near impossible for the modern, human mind to grasp that concept. It makes absolutely no sense. It defies logic. It is a thing surpassing the limits of human understanding. 

The only way the incarnation makes any sense for me is when I see a spark of the Divine in others. If it's possible for that to happen in ordinary human beings, it's possible that a man named Jesus from Nazareth carried within him more than just a spark but was, like the burning bush that was not consumed that Moses saw, a Divine flame. 

Today is the first anniversary of the death of someone who carried that spark of the Divine that leads me to believe not only in the possibility but the probability of the Incarnation. 

Louie Crew Clay was the inspiration for the founding of IntegrityUSA, an independent organization of, initially, lesbian and gay and then expanded to include, bisexual, transgender, intersex and other queer Episcopalians. 

Louie was born Ermine Louie Clay in Anniston, Alabama, or as he liked to swish, "Quean Lutibelle of the House of the Alabama Belles". After he earned his doctorate, he taught in preparatory schools in the United States, Hong Kong and China and was a tenured professor of English for years at Rutgers University in Newark, NJ. 

He married the love of his life, Ernest Clay, in 1974 although the marriage was not legal until 2013 when marriage equality became the law of the land. 

It was a long, difficult, often painful road from "do-it-yourself" marriages and finally being able to claim the civil right that had always been yours. In that time, Louie worked tirelessly, going wherever he was asked and showing up in places where he wasn't wanted, always using his Southern charm to magnify the strength of his abilities as an evangelist.

There was this one moment which stood out for me. Of all the "Louie stories" in my Louie bucket, this one is no doubt my favorite.

It was around the year 2000. We were somewhere in the midwest. I want to say South Bend, Indiana, in an effort Louie started with conservative evangelical priest Brian Cox, which was called The New Commandment Task Force. 

The goal of this effort was to bring conservative, evangelical, moderate, liberal and progressive Episcopalians together to sit down and talk and find common ground. 

The hope was to avoid schism when the inevitable lesbian woman or gay man was elected bishop in The Episcopal Church and/or marriage equality in the land required sacramental rites in the church. 

One evening we had dinner - eight to ten of us at a round table - with folks from the community. Louie was holding court, as he often did, with me on one side and a lovely elderly woman who was physically frail but had a very strong, very conservative, very traditional conviction about the world and the church and God and people and how it all worked together for the good for those who love the Lord. 

The woman was relentless but she found her match in Louie whose enthusiasm and joy to meet her every question and challenge was irrepressible and infectious. 

It is true that all good things do come to an end, however. Around about 10 PM the two were showing signs of fatigue but no sign of stopping this polite, gentile but very fierce tete-a-tete. 

Louie looked distressed, as did his companion, but then suddenly, inexplicably, Louie's face brightened. Clearly, he got an inspiration and seemed excited to share it.

He pulled up his then ample frame and turned toward her, a bright smile on his face. 

"Suppose . .  . ." he said, "just suppose I were able to go to a physician and change my sexual orientation."

"Oh," said his dinner companion, "Oh, wouldn't that be wonderful? And," she hastened to add,"it can you know. I have heard tell of doctors, good doctors, who can work wonders to help people change their sexual orientation."

"Would you do that?" she asked, half-surprised, have serious. 

"Welllll . . . .," said Louie, "let's suppose I could. Tell me," he continued, "If I could . . . if I could suddenly become heterosexual . . . tell  me . . .. would you allow me to marry your daughter?"

"Why NO!" said the woman, the words spoken so forcefully they pulled her fragile frame up off he chair. "Of course not!"

"Well, why not?" asked Louie.

"Well . . . she sputtered, "... because you couldn't be trusted!"

"Ah, I see," said Louie as he began to push himself away from the table to make his way back to his room for a well-deserved night's sleep, adding "And, I think you do, too."

The woman suddenly realized what had just happened, what she had just conceded to - that a person's sexual orientation is something one is born with and can't be changed. 

As the realization washed over her face, she watched Louie stand up as anger rose in her. 

"You," she said, pointing her finger at Louie, "YOU are ruining my church, the church I love, the church my parents and grandparents held as sacred for me and I have held as sacred for my children but you, YOU are ruining for my grandchildren."

Louie smiled at her graciously and said, "Ah yes, but even if I could change, which I can't, but even if I could, it would still not be enough to change anything, would it?" 

And then gave a polite bow, turned and walked toward his room, leaving her to consider his question.

Louie was best known for his signature saying, "Joy, anyway!" This is one but of the ways he made that saying authentic.

That was one of the times I knew the truth of the promise of our baptism that we are "marked and sealed as Christ's own forever." 

It was one of those moments when I saw the Divine light fully operative in one person - not to stifle the light in another but not at the expense of his own light, either. 

And, it is in such times and moments that my belief in the incarnation is strengthened. 

I invite you to think about those moments in your life - perhaps your own experience, perhaps an experience you had watching the exchange between other people - when you understood that God was present in that person, in that exchange. 

What are the stories in your life when, to rephrase Anne Lamott, "God-with-skin-on" shows up and you understand something more, something deeper, something inexplicable but true about the incarnation? 

Here's a quote to help with tonight's meditation:

"How can you seek God if (he's) already here? It's like standing in the ocean and crying out, 'I want to get wet.' You want to get over the line to God. It turns out (he) was always there." Francisco's eyes began to gleam. "Grace comes to those who stop struggling. When it really sinks in that there's nothing you can do to find God, (he) suddenly appears. That's the deepest mystery, the only one that counts."

~ Deepak Chopra, "Why is God Laughing? The Path to Joy and Spiritual Optimism