“The hardest spiritual work in the world is to love the neighbor as the self – to encounter another human being not as someone you can use, change, fix, help, save, enroll, convince or control, but simply as someone who can spring you from the prison of yourself, if you will allow it.  All you have to do is recognize another you “out there”- your other self in the world – for whom you may care as instinctively as you care for yourself.  To become that person, even for a moment, is to understand what it means to die to your self.  This can be as frightening as it is liberating.  It may be the only real spiritual discipline there is.”

A few weeks ago many of us stopped to observe Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR).  In Atlanta that evening there were names called and stories shared of persons who were brutalized for simply living their truth.  The list gets longer each year.   Perhaps there are those among us who are so disconnected from their own truth that they are challenged or angered when they meet someone clearly being their authentic self.

I have been asked why I am so concerned about transgender persons.  After I spoke at one of the TDOR commemorations someone said to one of the members of the church I served, “I didn’t know Rev. Kathi was transgender”.   That showed me how much some of us do not realize sameness is not a prerequisite for care and concern.  The truth is, I looked in the eyes and listened to the words of a transgender church member and suddenly I saw myself in her eyes.  After that moment her issues were my issues, her rights were my rights, her safety was my safety, and her hopes were my hopes.  In short, she was able and willing to “spring me from the prison of myself” and I was able and willing to recognize my other self in the world.

It is going to take more than the transgender community to stop the lengthening of the TDOR list.  Only love and understanding among all persons will illuminate the fear that leads to violence.   When we see our neighbors as our self maybe we will be more dedicated to justice, safety, and human rights for persons we once considered “The Other “.

Now the word of the Lord came to me saying,
‘Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.’

Most of us have not had such a profound announcement of purpose, but we all still have a call. There is a purpose uniquely ours to fulfill. As Kurt Carr has rightly said “No one else can preach your sermon, no one else can sing your song. No one else can ever do what God has chosen you to do.” Unfortunately, many of us are not living our purpose because life gets in the way. Housing, healthcare, food, and clothing have a price and often the pursuit of necessities consumes our life force. Rather than create a beautiful masterpiece, gifted artists are spending their days in office or service positions. Visionary leaders supervise for production rather than organize for societal change. Anointed preachers are silenced 8 hours each day leaving divine truths unspoken. We get up everyday and do what is needed. Yet in the midst of our doing, it’s important to remember… what we do out of necessity is not who we are.

There is still a call that is uniquely yours. Before you were born God knew you would sing, or write, or heal, or speak, or create, no matter where necessity leads. It may take time, patience and creativity but the call is still alive. Before you were born God knew you and gave you a gift to share with the world. Necessity can’t kill your call. It will only die if you never try.

Are you living out your calling?

Namaste

Dr. Kathi

Time is a very precious commodity, yet many of us waste much of our time not being our true self. We learn to play roles in order to be accepted or desired. For my doctoral project my paper was entitled “Wounded and Healed in the House of a Friend: The Faith Experience of African American Gay and Lesbian persons.” As I conducted interviews for the project it became painfully clear that there are many persons in the African American community who have been wounded by the church and church leadership in various ways. For some, the wounds were verbal, for others the wounds were physical and/or sexual. In many cases persons were forced to choose who they would be in a given situation. One interviewee, when asked if she felt welcome at her church replied, “Yes, because they don’t know about my sexual orientation.” And that response highlighted how many gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people live, choosing who we will be in order to be accepted. Imagine how much time is wasted being someone other than who you really are at the core of your being.

The church experience has been venomous for persons who do not stay within the lines of the misinterpretation and manipulation of scripture that bestows power and honor on some and victimization to others. That was the case for persons of African descent, women, disabled persons, persons of other faiths, and those who are LGBT. The poison is not only distributed among the congregation, it is ingested by some of the leadership as well. It’s impossible to handle poison without risking contamination. Some of our embedded theology fosters a denial of our God-given identity in order play the role of something we are not, rather than challenge our traditional world view. However, remember there was once an embedded belief that the world was flat.

We are all complicit in creating an environment where persons do not have the freedom to be. God has given us a kairos moment. It is time to decide if we will either be thoughtful about understanding the love which is our true essence, or continue to demand false identities for ourselves and others. In this moment we have been presented choices: lie or love, welcome or exclude, fragmentation or wholeness, hurt or heal.

Last year I went with a group from Soulforce to meet with Bishop Long to discuss his views on the LGBT community. We offered to help him grow in his understanding and acceptance of LGBT persons. In today’s Kairos moment no matter what the verdict is, this is a moment for all of us to choose love, justice, and transformation.

*From “Kairos: Three Prophetic Challenges to the Church.

I have recently been asked about my beliefs since the quotes I post come from various faith perspectives.  Let me tell you about my faith:

I am an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ. I am a follower of the way of Jesus.  By that I mean I am a follower of the way of love and inclusion. I believe there are many paths to grow in our relationship with the Ground of all Being (who I call God) .  I honor all religious paths that are rooted in love.  I believe that is what Jesus would do if he were physically alive in our time.  Since my personal destiny led me to Christianity I attempt to live what Douglas John Hall calls “The representative life of Christ” by following Jesus’ commandment, “That you have love for one another”. In that commandment I don’t see anything that excludes any one for any reason such as faith, race, class, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, or any of the socially constructed walls of division.  My attempt is to live my life in a way that models and teaches a love that is lived out through compassion and social justice.

Marcus Borg, in his book “Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time” highlights how Jesus followed a radical alternative social vision of compassion in the time when the law based purity system dominated the culture.  Borg states, “To sum it up, the effect of the purity system was to create a world with sharp social boundaries: between pure and impure, righteous and sinner, whole and not whole, male and female, rich and poor, Jew and Gentile.”  In contrast, “For Jesus, compassion was the central quality of God and central quality of a life centered in God.”  Jesus’ inclusive movement was rooted in a love that was based on “feeling the suffering of somebody else and being moved by that suffering to do something.”   That is the model I follow.

Beyond the theoretical understanding of my faith there is an experiential reality.  I believe in a Creator who “Makes a way out of no way” (see the book by that name written by Monica Coleman). There is a Spirit within us that helps us to see and follow a new vision.  I had a vision of wholeness when my body was attacked by Multiple Sclerosis, hence I am walking today through faith and good health care.  I knew there was something better for me when I found myself overcome by depression.  A combination of faith, counseling, and medication restored my mental health.  I revitalized and started churches when many said a woman (particularly a black lesbian) could not make a difference.  Many lives were changed and persons were helped through those ministries.

To sum up it up my faith perspective it is rooted and fueled by love, compassion, and inclusion.

Namaste,

Dr. Kathi

When babies cry they share a common language.  There is no cultural distinction in a baby’s cry. An African child sounds just like an Asian.  An Asian baby cries like the Latino child. An American baby sounds just like the rest.  In a common language they say, “feed me”, “change me”, “pick me up” or “I need a nap”. When one cries the others cry with them.

Maybe they cry because they came into this world from a common source as undefiled pure gifts of love.  Perhaps they cry because they fear that one day their language will change and they will be taught to judge and fear one another due to the color of their skin, or class distinctions, or because they have two mommies or two daddies instead of one of each.  Maybe they know they will be taught to hate rather than to love.

In these times of natural disasters, economic volatility, unemployment, foreclosures, the ecological disasters in the Gulf, and global warming there are so many circumstances that can bring us to tears.  Could it be that we are being called back to our original common language? When we all start to cry perhaps we will realize that at the core we all have the same needs just like those babies on the plane. We just forgot our commonality due to the socially constructed distinctions of race, class, age, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and various other divisions.

Maybe if we can try to remember the love and commonality we came into this world with we would be moved to care and work toward the common good before destruction leads us all back to our common language of tears.

It is time to make our political, economic, and social decisions from a perspective that considers life in all of its forms.  In our work for justice among all of humanity we must also remember our responsibility to all species.   Pelicans cannot vote, but we can.  Turtles cannot demand policies that protect the environment that is our responsibility.  Beaches and marshes cannot stop the damage that has been done, but we can commit to support the organizations that are trying to help.  We are a part of this great system we call Creation.  That pelican is connected to all of us.

If

If you understand that faith is a matter of mind as well as heart…

If for you diversity, tolerance, and inclusivity are strengths to be taught…

If you believe we are called to be nothing less than global citizens, that the social expression of love is justice, and that spiritual concerns are inseparable from commitment to the natural world…

then, we invite you to celebrate your faith, contribute your gifts, and build loving community at the Interactive Faith Cafe.

I’ve learned along the way that “meantimes” often intersect and feel like we’re living in parallel universes of simultaneous difficult situations.

I have been sitting here in the dark aware of the difficult circumstances in my life and I came to realize that the meantime only appears long because we have not released the pressures, challenges, and even joys of the past. Hanging on to the past and regurgitating everything we’ve been through in our meantime adds no value to the possibilities of today. In project management methodology when the project is at a decision point of considering if the project can be completed there is a term labeled “sunk costs”. These are resources that have already been invested early in the project but have no impact on what can be done in the future. Similarly, our meantimes might be more bearable if we could release (sink) the time that has already passed (the “ain’t it awfuls”, victim stances, and “good old days”) and decide that each new day we will make the best decisions and investment in the present day with the gifts and resources we have.

Perhaps the way to navigate the meantime is to embrace the past, bless it, and then let it go. In that way “THIS DAY” can truly be the beginning of a new phase of a life full of possibility. From that perspective, every day of “the meantime” can be the blessing God intended for us.

Namaste (“The Divinity within me perceives and adores the Divinity within you.”),

Dr. Kathi Martin

At the time of my diagnosis I had already had MS for about 20 years. As a result of years of disease my brain and cervical spine were in pretty bad shape. Enhanced MRI scans indicate the areas where MS is active. My scans indicated somewhere between 14 and 17 areas of activity between my brain and cervical spine. It was so bad I tried to cheer up the doctors and nurses as they gave me the news. As I looked at my diseased brain I asked the doctor to show me a scan of a brain that was disease free. I asked if anyone had ever gone from a diseased brain to one that showed no disease activity. He replied, “There is no cure but sometimes the ‘lesions’ go dormant.” I replied “Thank you. That’s what me and God are going to do.” I just needed to visualize what I believed to be possible. With a few years of prayer, medication, and a positive attitude all of the “lesions” became dormant.

For years I have been trying to keep up with my plan of attack for MS in order to slow down the possible onset of disability (some have said it was inevitable). Last week I went for my six month check-up and received some AMAZING news. As we reviewed my scan from six months ago to a new scan the doctor pointed out that my brain is actually repairing itself!! That is a blessing I didn’t even know to request from God.

2008 has been a year of amazing blessings. Some thought it impossible that an African American would be president of the United States. Well I guess we are all witnessing the impossible. Some have suggested that when relationships end two people can not remain close. I have seen the impossible in that as well. My former partner became one of my best friends while we both moved on to wonderful new relationships. There were way too many blessings to list but I can sum it up with God is amazing!

I am very much aware that our country has had incredible challenges over 2008. The economical pressures still exist, unemployment is high, and oppression and injustice still needs to be dismantled. There is much work to be done. Even with all of the issues it is still important to recognize that we have seen some things in our personal lives and our world that helps us to recognize that we are still blessed.

As 2008 ends and 2009 begins I know there are challenges. But in my mind I “see” through a lens of hope that makes me know change is possible. I am reminded of a song The Clark Sisters used to sing, “I’m looking for a miracle, I expect the impossible, I feel the intangible, I see the invisible….The sky is the limit to what I can have..just believe and receive it, God will perform it today.” There is much work for us to do. The first step is to embrace a vision of what can be…

Namaste,

Dr. Kathi

Lately, the more I hear about inclusion, the more I think of self-love and self-acceptance. A few questions arise. Who am I bringing to “the table”, what “table”, and why do I want to be there? Am I at peace with myself enough to positively contribute to the healing of our community and world? Am I secure enough with my own opinion that it is O.K. of others have a different view? Is building a safe, loving and just society the goal or is it most important for me to express my opinion?

I am reminded of the words of Cornel West as he discusses the nihilistic threat to the Black community in Race Matters:

“Nihilism is not overcome by arguments or analyses; it is done through one’s own affirmation of one’s worth – an affirmation fueled by concern for others. A love ethic must be at the center of a politics of conversion.”

There are many issues negatively impacting our communities. Homelessness, joblessness, loneliness, sickness, and various other toxins lead to hopelessness in our society. Let love for ourselves, and others guide our commitment to social justice and inclusion. Per Cornel West, “Self-love and love of others are modes toward increasing self-valuation and encouraging political resistance in one’s community.”

Much love to you all.

Dr. Kathi