The Post Modern Preacher

I witnessed Canvass Sunday this past Sunday in a different way. The previous Canvass/Stewardship work I have done was all based on Jerry King's methodology. His notion is giving based on committment and generosity as a gift. This worship service was held in a different way. Pledges were placed ritually in an "arc of the covenent" with processional music and a dollar total was given in the service for the total pledged. The process gives me theological questions. Has the church been so commercialized that money is now God and deserves more pomp and fanfaire then the dedication of a child or honoring of new members? On the other side of the coin, churches should make generosity holy and sacred. Where is the fine line between valuing generosity and making cash a golden cow?

Today was my interview for the ministerial intern position with the UUA. I hope things go well and I am chosen for the position. I'm hopeful since it would allow me to work on combining my desire for social justice and worship to look at the liturgics of social change as well as network with seminarians and ministers involved with social action.

Justine Urbikas was elected this weekend to be the youngest adult representative to the UUA Board of Trustees. She is the representative for the Central Mid-West District which is the second largest (in terms of members) district in the UUA. At 19, she shows that Unitarian Universalist Young Adults are leaders, not future leaders of our denomination. It is inspiring to see a leader take the lay leadership route instead of the professional ministry route so many of my fellow young adults (myself included) are taking to become active stakeholders in our faith.

Boston University School of Theology will be hosting a conference this week on Queering the Church. Sponsored by the Center for Practical Theology, the conference will offer panels on the Queering of ecclesiology and liturgy. Marcella Althus-Reid will not be able to make it due to health related issues but Mark D. Jordan, Brown Douglas, Carter Heyward, Robert Goss, and Irene Monroe will be present.

Questions I'm hoping will be answered:
After the deconstruction of typical church structures as patriarchal heteronormative devices that continue to disempower the marginalized, what do we do to reconstruct functional structures that allow for effective work of faith?

What is the place of evil in Queer Theologies if value is present in all existance and all experience? What value is there for the moral, decent, or good?

The Queering the Church conference really had an impact on me. Queer theology is political theology. Making a stand for all people challenges culture. There are a few highlights that I found valuable.

First was notion that church happens only in bodies, and church happens when God is active on earth changes notions of what church is. Church is not buildings. Church is not institutions. Church is people. People are sacred for being people. The imago dei matters. Original blessing matters. Welcoming people as they are and loving them as they are allows for community wholeness. Methodist slogans claiming open hearts, open minds, open doors are hollow if those three close when you are openly queer.

Gender, race, and sex are an economy. Systemically they are valued with price and systemically we divide to cut people away from community. We set up binaries and paradoxical both/ands. The church saves, and it justified slavery. Liberation theologians speak of freedom for black or latin men, and are silent about the abuse of women in black and latin circles. Liberal theologians speak of the righteous as the anonymous Christian and ignore the real economic conditions their societies create of dehumanization and objectification of disempowered groups.
Liberal white males speak of unpacking their privilege and don't act on making the world a more just and equitable place.

Before the conference last week, I thought the polyamory issue was only floating in UU circles. The Metropolitan Community Church also deals with the question. Rev. Dr. Bob Goss suggested as a form of real politic to offer blessings of union until society is ready to take up the issue as a whole.