Translator: Denise RQ Reviewer: Lena Clemente
Obviously, the disguise is working.
I'm really just a pussycat.
(Laughter)
I want to talk to you today about two stories,
the space between them,
and their relationship to women in the rest of the world,
The first story is this one:
a [young] woman says to [an old] woman,
"Old woman, what is a woman's heaviest burden?"
The old woman looks at her for a minute and says,
Child, a woman's heaviest burden is to have no burden to carry it all."
That's not an answer,
that is a whale that that rings through centuries of systems
that have made women invisible,
had no time to listen to their questions,
let alone to honor their answers to the problems of life.
This morning's question
is how do we account for this as people of faith,
and how can that happen to half the human race?
The answer is not as difficult as it may first seem, actually.
We can account for this once we know
that the fact is that the status of women has always been a matter of faith.
It has a religious foundation.
Given the interpretations of the Abrahamic creation story,
the second-class status of women throughout the ages
has always been called God's will.
But between that kind of faith and the facts of science today,
there is now a great gaping space
in the way we once looked at the definition of God and life
and the way we're beginning to see those things now.
Now, in our time,
Darwin and those findings that followed from his
are reshaping the very way we think about creation.
You and I live at a crossover moment in time
meaning that whatever has been considered true up to this time
will not be considered true after this time.
Just as Galileo's telescope made us rethink our place in the Universe,
evolution is now casting new light
on the nature of God and our own responsibilities
in this world as human,
it even affects the way we think about ourselves,
and it must definitely affect the way we think about women
because these facts from science are challenging what up till now,
faith always demanded,
and those implications are life changing.
I want to take a few minutes to look at each.
According to the classical rendering of the scriptures,
the world was personally designed by God:
one level, one stage, one item, one event, one person at a time.
We went from the Sun and the Moon to the sea, to nature, to animals,
and finally, to that great crown of creation: the male one.
(Laughter)
They gave us life as a pyramid
with God on top, and the male Adam: God's chosen agent.
Who is a God like that?
The God of classical scriptures, our Creator, a personal designer of life;
that God is also a lawgiver to be obeyed here
so you can get some place better later;
that God is a judge
who rewards obedience and punishes for failure
and that God is clearly a male patriarch
who means therefore, that males have always been closer to God.
Point: hierarchy is built right into that system.
The images of God that derived from that model are just as clear:
God's a vending machine.
You want to win the lottery, ask God;
you need a scholarship, you can get it;
you want a raise, say the right prayer.
(Laughter)
(Applause)
Harry Emerson Fosdick says that makes God a cosmic bellboy.
(Laughter)
God in that world is a magician;
that's the God who turns red lights green before you get to the corner;
that God is a tempter who is testing us to catch us sinning;
that's the gotcha God;
and that God is the manipulator of nature.
That God sends Sandy and Katrina - I've heard experts in the country say -
in order to punish us for homosexuality and premarital sex.
I noticed we have no tornados directed at cruise missiles or Hiroshima.
In that worldview, God has a plan for everybody,
you're supposed to be able to figure it out before it's too late.
That's one God of life,
but we're getting a new view of creation now
that is emerging in the scriptures of science.
In those scriptures, life comes out of a big bang, a cosmic explosion
that spews the components of life into the atmosphere
and enables and allows them to evolve
variously, slowly, singling,
and creation in this model is not a series of unique personal acts
designed by God as they are in Creationism;
they are the acts of a great God
who says, " My gift to you is life. Use it well."
At this point, in these scriptures,
some people say, "Well, in that case, there is no God.
God's passe; we don't need a God. We are self-sufficient."
But others may be thinking more deeply;
say, "Maybe", "Really?", "Well, who put the fighter in the Big Bang?"
They say, "No, evolution isn't irreconcilable with faith.
This is a great God, a humble God, allowing life to work itself out."
If that's the case, and I truly believe it is,
it's not necessary for us to rethink the existence of God.
What is necessary for us is to rethink our own definitions of God.
This old world begins to weaken a little
under the challenges of science, that's true,
but science is also enabling us to see new dimensions of God.
What are they?
Let's look at the kind of theology of life that is emerging now through evolution.
First: in this model of theology, creation is a work in progress.
Each of us is a bit of it, and each of us is meant to complete
our own and all of life around us that is our responsibility.
God here is the God of ongoing creation not the God of past rules.
This is the God who shares responsibility with the human race,
and this is not about discovering a black box full of hidden plans about me.
It's about dealing with now in a wholly wholesome way.
In this theology of life, failure is not fail here;
it's a part of the process, it's built into life - all life;
it's about learning when you hit the wall, adjusting when you fall down the stairs,
trying when you didn't make it.
It's not about perfectionism.
All we know about perfectionism
is that you and I are perfectly aware that it's perfectly impossible.
Here, free will really gets to be important;
It is my will, it's not God waiting to see
if I get to the answer that God wants me to get to.
In free will, everything that you and I do
changes the world everywhere and for everyone.
We know that God doesn't create evil; we do.
God didn't create cruise missiles and nuclear bombs; we did,
and we can uncreate them any time we want to.
Why?
Because in this model,
we have a responsibility to the ongoing creation of life,
and we share that with our humble God
who is accompanying us, right now, here, with you and me
not monitoring us, not abandoning us,
not setting out to catch us but to say to us, "I'm with you. I'm with you.
You did great yesterday. We can match it today."
This God is a summoning God saying, "Don't stop now. Come on.
Don't stop growing now, don't close your mind now.
Don't stop your soul now!
I have so much more that you can find if you'll just look."
What does it mean then?
Well, the classical view says
humans are powerless; women, most of all.
Humans are rule keepers, God's the scorekeeper,
and the sanctification of self is what central and critical.
It's a kind of a spiritual narcissism; you'll love it.
All of life is all about me and my getting somewhere else.
The scientific view is the opposite of that: turn it over.
In this view, life unfolds;
where you've been is part of where you should be,
and it's the experience you need to go where you will go.
Here, growth is ongoing for all of us;
all life is the same, we all have gifts for everyone.
Here, failure is a learning situation,
and here, God is with us as we grow
to strengthen us, to encourage us, to call us on to fullness.
The classical scriptures are right there.
They call God, 'Emmanuel': God with us.
So what is science calling us to?
Science is calling us to a new Galileo moment;
it's all over now.
You're building the new;
it's been given to you, this is what's you're responsible,
find this God that is the star light of your life
and follow that God to the rest of your life.
This science is giving us a whole new sense of purpose in life.
Yes, it's about the development of myself,
but it's about the development of the entire world, as well.
This view of life says we are all equally responsible:
men and women.
This science is giving us a God big enough to believe in.
And what are the implications for women?
There's a major difference here.
Do you notice? No male hierarchy in the plan.
No pyramids
no submission,
no second-class.
Women and men are equal agents in the enterprise of life.
What you do not do as women will not get done, is not being done;
and you read the morning paper,
and you complain about that when you haven't done your part
because nobody's allowing you to do your part.
Here, women are meant to be
equal participants in human decision-making,
and women too are co-creators and agents of life in the world
who must take their equal place in the human enterprise fully.
Which leads to the second story.
Once upon a time,
on the way to the temple, an old Sufi dropped to his knees,
began to dig through the sand.
Finally, pilgrims surrounded him,
trying to help him dig and find what he was looking for.
They said, "Sufi, what are you doing here?"
He said, "I lost my treasure."
Hours later, the Sun got hotter and drier.
Finally, one pilgrim has the sense to say to him,
"Sufi, are you sure you lost your treasure here?"
The old man got up and said, "No, no, no! I didn't lose my treasure here.
I lost my treasure over there on the other side of the mountains."
And the pilgrims said, "Well,
if you know that you lost your treasure on the other side of the mountains,
What are you doing? What... why are you digging here?!"
He said, "Because there's more light here."
(Laughter)
Evolution is shedding new light on our lives.
Be sure you're looking in the right place for the fullness of yours.
Chardin says the only task worthy of our efforts
is to construct the future,
but time changes nothing; people do.
Clearly, we must each do something
to change the future for both women and men
for as Toffler reminds us
that if we do not shape the future, we shall be compelled to endure it.
Right now, dear friends, read the paper;
this world is seen through one eye, hearing with one ear,
and thinking with one half the human mind,
and its decisions show it.
The world cannot bear much more of that.
Do something to change the future
for women as well as men, for men as well as women,
for our children, for life everywhere.
Thank you.
(Applause)
(Cheers)
(Applause)