I’m Not an Aquarius

Sermon Delivered By

Reverend Nancy Bouchard

January 25, 2009

“Mom, I’m An Aquarius”

I’d taken my five year old niece out for pizza on her birthday. We were waiting for our meal to arrive when my friend Victor came into the restaurant. He saw us and immediately came over to our table to say hello. I introduced him to Vanessa and told him it was her birthday and we were out celebrating. “Oh” he said, “Happy Birthday, and then added “You’re an Aquarius.”

I was both confused and curious as I watched Vanessa’s eyes get fiery and a look of disbelief come over her face. “NO WAY” she shouted, “I’m an Italian.”

Victor and I broke out in big smiles but refrained from laughing so not to be condescending to Vanessa. She remained indignant until Victor left.

As we ate our pizza I was curious about her reaction and made a couple comments. “Is it pretty cool to be Italian?” “My daddy’s an Italian.” “What are Italians like Vanessa?” They have big families. They like to eat lots of pasta. My best friend Cory is Italian.” “And,” I said, Italians are very smart and cute! And we both laughed.

We ate in quiet and I contemplated the messages we give our young people about their identity. Vanessa was only five and yet there was already a strong sense of what was an acceptable label. I wondered how her identity would change over time and what would influence the changes.

At some point, Vanessa predictably piped up and asked me, “Aunt Nancy, what is an Aquarius?” “Oh, it has to do with the stars and your birthday and certain ways that you act.” “How does an Aquarius act?” “Friendly and independent, they love pizza and they ask lots of questions.” My limited and slightly embellished knowledge was enough to satisfy Vanessa. That night when I dropped her off I heard her say to her mother “Mom, I’m an Aquarius.”

I’ve been intrigued by the issues of identity. What is it that happens to us when we identify as the “funny kid,” or the “quiet one,” “the trouble maker” or the “peace maker,” an Italian or an Aquarius.

The answers I know are complex, sometimes identity can be the annoying “you’re just like your mother” (said in a tone less then flattering). Researchers study the issue from many perspectives: nature vs. nurture and the shaping effects of, family and community expectations, peer pressure culture or sub-cultures. This mornings music selections reflect the thoughts I’ve been giving to the identity of Jesus.

♫♫ Jesus Christ Superstar ...Do you think you’re what the say you are?

It was long before the six years in seminary or my spiritual journey as a Unitarian Universalist that I wondered about the identity of Jesus. I’ve been curious since I was a kid. Who was Jesus of Nazareth, was he really God or was he a man, was he a superstar who could intervene in our lives or was it all just an exaggeration?

From childhood, I’ve had these images of Jesus in my mind, a beautiful little baby in his mother’s arms, a mad man with long hair tossing about and piecing angry eyes, tipping over tables in a temple and most disturbing the image of a limp and torn half naked body, begging to understand why he had been forsaken. And yet here I was praying at night as I lay down to sleep that the abandoned one would save me?

I heard the stories of our new members last night and resonated as they revealed the stages of their changing religious beliefs. By age twelve I had relegated Jesus to scapegoat status. He became the target for all my disappointments and disagreements with religious doctrine and I too left him to bear the cross of falsehoods, lies and cynicism.

This question of Jesus’ identity has been the center of controversy for over two thousand years and as our historical reflection in this mornings reading suggests, the systematic construction or destruction of Jesus (depending on your viewpoint) has undeniably engaged humankind in recurrent and deadly conflicts.

Three hundred years after the approximate date of his death there would be a debate in Nicaea At the order of Constantine The Great 400 church leaders would gather to resolve disagreements arising from within the Church of Alexandria. The burning question? Was Jesus of the same substance as God or merely of similar substance? An illustration of this question might be something like “box of wood” does that mean a box made of word or a box full of wood?”

The argument at hand was big! It challenged the whole terrain of religious thought. The gospels had extensively defined Jesus, a Messiah prophesized in the Old Testament, a son born of a Virgin, a miracle healer, a teacher, a subversive who was crucified, a prophet who was resurrected from the dead, and a judge, coming again to sit in vindication.

A priest name Arius whose position was the least favored, believed that God and Jesus were not the same. He decided to chanted and sing his argument to the Emperor. Had the Beacon Choir been his back-up singers the decision might have been different, but Arius lost. The council’s identity of Jesus became official … the first line of the Nicene Creed may sound familiar “We believe in one God the Father Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.” His identity was settled in these words “Light of Light, very God of very God, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father…”

Jesus officially became a Superstar and as author and minister Rev. Donald Armstrong put it, the theological question changed. It was no longer “Who do you say I am” it was “What would you like me to be?”

There is a Buddhist saying “If you wish to untie a knot you must first understand how it was tied. The knot of Jesus’ identity has really been fraying since the moment it was tied. Despite outcries of heresy and a threat of death, Arius and many others throughout history (including our own Unitarian ancestors) continued to vigorously suggest that “God in the flesh” was and is; metaphoric, symbolic, figurative language.

As theologians, scholars, writers and great thinkers of the world continue to closely examine more than the four gospel images, a distinction has unfolded and the Jesus of Sunday school stories are bumping into more contemporary knowledge of Jesus as a historical figure.

In 1906 honorary Unitarian Albert Schweitzer wrote The Quest for the Historical Jesus, highlighting a “secret search” begun in the 1800’s by academics who did not want to study Jesus through a theological telescope. The historical quest was the path that would establish the history of Jesus the man from Galilee contrasting Jesus the superstar of the New Testament.

The significance for me personally has meant an opportunity to establish a new relationship with more authenticity. The historical Jesus like many of us was a religious seeker, a non-conformist, troubled by the lack of compassion, and the callousness of religious tradition. As a child, he was likely educated in the local synagogue, he was undoubtedly bright and defiant and intolerant of the mounting disregard for the teachings of the Torah and Jewish traditions.

Biblical scholar Robert Funk characterizes Jesus as a “social deviant, a charismatic teacher and a trouble maker. These are roles many of us aspire to in the most constructive sense. Jesus left his religious tradition to inspire others to rediscover the significance of humanity and the relationship with God. As a human he experienced first hand the devastation of poverty, the grief of death, frustration of greed and ignorance, unconditional and devoted love and betrayal.

As I learn more about the human Jesus I can see there is a possibility of a bridge that connects the sacred and the secular.

I am intrigued and relieved to know there is a future for his prophetic life beyond the marketing of a divine identity used to instill fear and judgment by conservative Christians. What might be called the imprisonment of Jesus by the right, the historical quest is countering with an effort to liberate Jesus from the scriptures, the creeds, the stories, the icons and the grasp of the myths.

As Unitarian Universalists we are called by our principles to be the voice of the poor, the marginalized, the environment, religious freedom, compassion, and spiritual growth. What a great role model there can be in Jesus of Nazareth.

I teased Vanessa about, “No Way! I’m an Italian” on many occasions. But one day she rose to the occasion and answered back “Aunt Nancy, I’m an Italian, I’m an Aquarius and I’m so much more!

So how would Jesus likely have responded to the Apostle Judas, when he asked

CHOIR “Do you think you’re what they say you are?”

I think he would have said: NO WAY! I’m a human!

Blessed Be, Shalom, Om Namah Shivia, Amen