Life Under the Bushel Basket Matthew 5:13-16 Isaiah 58:1-12 Rev. Jason Alspaugh First Baptist Church of Dayton February 9, 2014 Jesus says, you are the salt of the earth and you are the light of the world and a city set on hill, and we believe him. We even learn to sing, this little light of mine and we have every intention of letting it shine everywhere we go. But somewhere along the way it happens almost without noticing, we lose our flavor, we relocate, and ultimately we retreat to the shelter of bushel baskets. They come in all shapes and sizes, these bushel baskets. It could be a wall at a school dance. Leaning against that wall are young men and women wallflowers who love to dance. They practice in front of the mirror at home, and they re good. They may not win So You Think You Can Dance, but there s no reason for them to stay on that wall. They could light up the dance floor, but they re afraid. And the wall is safe. Bushel baskets come in all shapes and sizes. It could be a car. Imagine you re stopped at a traffic light, and you happen to look over at the guy in the car next to you. You can t hear him, but he is clearly rocking out to Aretha Franklin, as he mouths the letters R-E-S-P-E-C-T with attitude. And then he looks over and realizes that you re watching him, and immediately he stops, and wishes the light would just turn green. He usually sings when the car is moving, because it s like no one is around it s just him and the radio. He might not be the next American Idol, but there s no reason he couldn t sing in the choir. He could probably handle a solo part, but he s afraid. And the car is safe. Now at this point, you might be thinking this is all no big deal. It s just dancing and singing. What s so bad about life under the bushel basket? After all, you re safe. Well, there s a line in the song, Hopeless Wanderer, by Mumford & Sons where it says the shelter also gave the shade, but in the dark I have no name. So think about
it the wall and the car and all the other bushel baskets are safe, they provide shelter, but it s also kind of dark; and you re hidden, and nameless. And walls and cars are just the beginning. The more sophisticated and the more institutionalized a bushel basket becomes, the more sinister and dangerous it is for our wellbeing. In Lee Daniel s film, The Butler, we are reminded of the ways our African American brothers and sisters have been forced to live their lives under the bushel basket of segregation. After the brutal murder of his father, Cecil Gaines is brought in from the cotton fields to serve in the house. He is instructed to be so quiet when serving; they don t even want to hear him breathe. It s ingrained in him at an early age, that the room should feel empty when he s in it. Later on, Cecil learns from a man named Maynard how to serve in fancier establishments: Cecil, he says, we got two faces. Ours, and the one we got to show the white folks. And when Cecil lands a position as a butler at the White House, he s told, You hear nothing, you see nothing, you only serve. [1] Howard Thurman often wrote about how, out of fear, his fellow African Americans those numbered among the disinherited learned to survive by mak[ing] their bodies commit to memory ways of behaving that tend[ed] to reduce their exposure to violence and how they survived by engaging in deceptive practices like double talk and having different personas like those two faces Cecil learned to have.[2] It s no way to live really. For a gay person, the bushel basket is better known as the closet. It s not a real closet, of course, it just feels like you re walking around in one all of the time. It s been described as suffocating and lonely and depressing and safe. Not unlike African Americans in the days of slavery and Jim Crow, gay folks learn to behave in ways that minimize threats of violence and experiences of prejudice sometimes acting unusually more masculine or more feminine, or speaking without gendered pronouns so as not to reveal same sex attraction. Like all other bushel baskets, the closet may be safe, but it s not the kind of life Jesus intended. Thus far, I ve described life under the bushel basket as one of fear, without dance and song; without joy. It s safer, but at what cost? Because it s also lonely, depressing, and suffocating. And it s dark, and in the dark [we] have no name there is a loss of identity, a true sense of self. Friends, none of these descriptors are meant for the followers of Jesus or the world he so loves. Jesus said that [he] came that [we] might have life, and have it abundantly (Jn 10:10). And yet there are bushel baskets everywhere even in this church. So what are we to do?
Perhaps we should start by listening to voices from the margins, to those who have lived under the bushel basket. Ash Beckham gave a TED talk in Boulder, Colorado back in September about coming out of the closet.[3] But she didn t just talk about the gay closet. Instead she asserted that we all have closets. Your closet may be telling someone you love her for the first time. Or telling someone you re pregnant. Or telling someone you have cancer. Or any of the other hard conversations we have throughout our lives. All a closet is, she said is a hard conversation. She then goes on to tell a story about how: Several years ago [she] was working at the Southside Walnut Café, a local diner in town, and during [her] time there [she said she] went through phases of militant lesbian intensity not shaving [her] armpits, quoting Ani DiFranco lyrics as gospel, and, depending on the bagginess in [her] cargo shorts and how recently [she] had shaved [her] head, the question would often be sprung on [her], usually by a little kid, Um, are you a boy or are you a girl? And there would be an awkward silence at the table, [she d] clench [her] jaw a little tighter, hold [her] coffee pot with a little more vengeance, the dad would awkwardly shuffle his newspaper, and the mom would shoot a chilling stare at her kid. But [Ash] would say nothing. And [she] would seethe inside. And it got to the point that every time [she] walked up to a table that had a kid between 3 and 10 years old [she] was ready to fight. And that is a terrible feeling [she said]. So [she] promised [herself], the next time [she] would say something. [She] would have that hard conversation. So within a matter of weeks it happens again. Are you a boy or are you a girl? Familiar silence, but this time [she s] ready. And [she is] about to go all Women s Studies 101 on this table. [She s] got [her] Betty Friedan quotes. [She s] got [her] Gloria Steinem quotes. [She] even [has] this little bit from Vagina Monologues [she s] gonna do. So [she] take[s] a deep breath and [she] look[s] down, and staring back at [her] is a four-year-old girl in a pink dress. Not a challenge to a feminist duel, just a kid with a question, Are you a boy or a girl? So [Ash] take[s] another deep breath, squat[s] down next to her, and say[s], Hey, I know it s kind of confusing my hair is short like a boy s and I wear boy s clothes, but I m a girl. And you know how sometimes you like to wear a pink dress and sometimes you like to wear your comfy jammies? Well I m more of a comfy jammies kind of girl. And this kid looks [her] dead in the eye without missing a beat and says, My favorite pajamas are purple with fish, can I get a pancake please?
And that was it. Just Oh, okay you re a girl. How bout that pancake? It was the easiest hard conversation [she had] ever had. And why? Because pancake girl and [Ash], we were both real with each other. Ash s insight that we all have closets and that all a closet is, is a hard conversation led me to think that we should be a place, a community known for having those hard conversations. Not to have those hard conversations means that we as a church would be hiding under a bushel basket albeit a rather large, very ornate bushel basket. For individuals, Ash said that [n]ot having those hard conversations, that can go on for years, and your body just can t handle that [ ] When you do not have hard conversations [ ] you're essentially holding a grenade [ ] if you do not throw that grenade, it will kill you. Think about what that could mean for a church. Not having those hard conversations i.e., staying under the bushel basket is detrimental to the life of a church. To go on about the ritual life of the church, without attending to the needs of those who live life under the bushel basket, is to remain hidden ourselves, belying the very nature of the Church. Deitrich Bonhoeffer said that The followers [of Jesus] are a visible community [ ] Flight into the invisible is a denial of the call. A community of Jesus which seeks to hide itself has ceased to follow him (The Cost of Discipleship117-118). Every Second Sunday of Easter we read in the Gospel of John (20:19-31) where the disciples are meeting under the cover of darkness, behind locked doors, because they are afraid. And the resurrected Jesus comes to them and says, As the Father has sent me, so I send you. We were never meant to hide under bushel baskets. To hide is to deny the call to what Bonhoeffer described as extraordinary visibility, whereby God is glorified. Friends, that is why we are here. Marianne Williamson said it well, We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."[4] So what might it take for us as a church to be less like a bushel basket and more like a lampstand? Again, we might look to the margins. After her encounter at the café, Ash came up with what she calls the 3 Pancake Girl Principles. [5] What it takes to come out of any closet, she said, is essentially the same: #1 Be Authentic Take the armor off. Be yourself. That kid in the café had no armor, but I was ready for battle, she said, If you want someone to be real with you, they need to know that you bleed,
too. Church, if we are to have those hard conversations about race and sexuality and dying and poverty and politics and more, we ve got to take the armor off and be ourselves. It s not safer than the bushel basket but it s a better life. #2, she said, Be Direct Just say it. Rip the BandAid off. If you know you are gay, just say it. Friends, there really is so much good that happens in and through this church, but if we are a diverse congregation, if we are serious about racial reconciliation, if we are committed to serving the needy in our city, if we are really Welcoming & Affirming, then we need to stop assuming that everyone knows, and be intentional about making it known. And #3 and most important, Ash said, Be Unapologetic You are speaking your truth never apologize for who you are. You are the light of the world, Jesus declared, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven (Mt. 5:14, 16). Never apologize for that. There s another line to This Little Light of Mine that I learned as a kid. We didn t sing it today, but it asks the question: Hide it under a bushel? And immediately there is a resounding, NO! It goes like this (sing-song): Hide it under a bushel? NO! No. The answer is: No. ADDENDUM I want to thank everyone for the spirit with which you received this sermon. Many of you present would notice that I did not explicitly reference the fact that I am gay. I refrained from doing so primarily because it s never felt authentic for me to make such an announcement. I have always preferred to come out in conversation, preferably over a good cup of coffee. And knowing that I would not have had that particular conversation with everyone present on Sunday morning, I thought that such an announcement would make me the focus of the sermon, and that all of the other good things I wanted to say would be missed. One of the most important parts of this sermon for me is the invitation to engage in hard conversations, and that remains an open invitation. So if you ever want to talk about anything, I m here. P.S. Full disclosure: I ve also been a wallflower and that guy singing in his car. Actually, I m still that guy.
[1] The screenplay for The Butler can be found at http://twcawards.com/assets/downloads/pdf/leedaniels-the-butler-screenplay.pdf [2] Howard Thurman, Jesus and the Disinherited, 40, 60. I highly recommend this book for any who would seek to understand the mind of the disinherited. [3] You can watch Ash Beckham s TED talk in its entirety on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksr4xuu07sc [4] Marianne Williamson, A Return to Love,. [5] As pastor for children and youth, it makes me smile to think that that little girl taught Ash something. Rev. Jason Alspaugh Associate Pastor for Children and Youth, etc. First Baptist Church of Dayton, Ohio "The faith of a child is the seed of the kingdom of God."