Preached on
01/01/2016
Story
One fateful day, a samurai (who was the envy of many because
of his skills) was framed; someone has made the Emperor ill and weak, and
started the rumor that the samurai had poisoned the Emperor. And so the samurai was banished to a faraway
island.
Tokoyo, the samurai’s loving daughter, became miserable; she
loved her father so much. She was very determined to be reunited with the only
family she had left, so she set out on a journey to find and rescue him.
First, she sold all of their possessions to a merchant to
gain money for the journey. She journeyed long and far towards the coastline,
where in the light of day, the faraway island can be seen very dimly.
She tried to persuade the fishermen to bring her to the
island, but she didn’t have enough money left to pay for the trip, so they
refused to take her. Still, she never gave up. That night, she found a small,
old boat on the bay, and she set sail for the island.
It was a hard journey in the small boat, but it was nothing
for the valiant Tokoyo. It was still dark when she arrived shore, and she spent
all day looking for her father on that island, but failed.
Night came, and a very tired and sad Tokoyo decided to rest
under a tree.
After a few hours, she was awakened by the sound of a
sobbing girl. Tokoyo hid behind a bush,
and saw a girl dressed in a white robe standing with a priest. They were on the
edge of a cliff, and the priest was in the act of pushing the girl off of it.
Tokoyo came out from the bushes to rescue the girl. The
priest paused and explained to Tokoyo what he was doing.
Apparently, an ancient serpent-dragon called Yofune-Nushi
inhabited the seas around the island. Yofune-Nushi threatened to terrorize the
people on the island and destroy the fishing industry (the island-people's only
source of income), unless they sacrifice a virgin girl to him every year. It
was said that as long as they kept their end of the bargain, the dragon would
leave the town alone.
Feeling that this was very unjust, Tokoyo offered to take
the girl's place. She wore the girl's white offering dress and jumped down from
the cliff, diving into the ocean with a dagger in her teeth, much to the
amazement of the priest and the girl.
Tokoyo dived deeper and deeper, until she found a cave.
Above the mouth of the cave was a small statue of the Emperor. Out of her anger
towards the Emperor, she took the statue to destroy it. But after some
reflection decided it would be better to take it up on the shore to destroy
rather than trying to break it underwater, so she tied it to her belt.
Suddenly, the dragon. Yofune-Nushi came out from the cave.
He assumed that Tokoyo was the offering, so he attacked her. Tokoyo quickly put
up her defenses and blocked the attack.
Then Tokoyo plunged her dagger into the dragon’s eye.
Blinded, the dragon made his way back into the cave, but
Tokoyo chased after him. Again, the dragon put up a fight, but the brave Tokoyo
continued to attack him!
At last, when the vile Yofune-Nushi was killed, Tokoyo
dragged him up on the shore, where she slumped on the sand. She was weak and tired after such a great
fight.
The priest and the girl ran towards her; they couldn't
believe she beat the dragon. The priest carried Tokoyo back to the village,
where the news of her heroism spread like wildfire.
The news reached the Emperor, who was now well and healthy.
The Emperor found out that the dragon Yofune-Nushi had cursed the statue of the
Emperor, and so when Tokoyo killed the dragon and retrieved the statue, the
curse was lifted.
Realizing that Tokoyo's father was innocent, the Emperor
released him from banishment and brought him back home to his daughter. The
Emperor regretted banishing his best samurai, so he gave Tokoyo and her father
a huge sum of rewards and treasures.
Tokoyo was also given the privilege to serve at the palace
as a samurai warrior alongside her father, and they lived happily ever after.
Sermon
One definition of Feminist Theology is that it “Reconsiders
the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of religion from a
feminist perspective with a commitment to transforming religion for gender
equality.” (WGS 320 Chapter 8: Women and Religion flashcards | Quizlet)
Before we explore this definition, I want to consider what
both feminism and theology mean. Edna
Groves, a member of this congregation, shared this with me about her experience
with feminism:
“All I have to do is look at the table of contents in The Feminine Mystique, written by Betty
Friedan and first published in 1963, and I quickly drop back inside myself to
1967, when I first read the book. We were living in South Bend, Indiana, in a
large rented home. Tom had an interim professorship at Notre Dame and our four
daughters ranged in age from 12 to 3. Caring for them and keeping a home were
my primary—and only—jobs. I was doing the best I could to be happy in
motherhood and wifehood, taking care of others. I knew something was missing; I
had known that for quite a while. Even though I had a college degree, being a
wife and mother were supposed to be enough. Some joked that the ‘M.R.S’ degree
was all we needed. Still, I was restless, anxious and aimless.
And then I read the book. The first chapter of The Feminine Mystique is titled ‘The
Problem That Has No Name.’ I remember being curled up in the over-stuffed chair
in the living room, our daughters either in school or napping, my eyes glued to
the pages where she had captured my life experience and questions. ‘Who am I? Do I really exist at all? Why do I
feel like crying all the time? What’s wrong with me? Is this all there is?’ In this book—and others that followed—I saw
that my personal challenges were part of a huge collective experience just
being uncovered. There were so MANY of us in the 1950s and ‘60s who thought
marriage and children would bring life-time fulfillment and found otherwise. In
consciousness-raising groups we were talking about it.
Unformed as I was in 1967, I knew that my life was going to
change. There was more to me than I knew, and I was going to discover what that
was. By 1975 I was a committed feminist, had a Master’s degree in Counseling
Psychology, and a seedling sense of self. The questions? As Rilke writes, I was
‘living my way into the answers.’ Not easy, but necessary.
My understanding of feminist theology tells me I have the
right to define my life. I can discern how to grow into my potential. Further,
my personal experience is to be valued, and shared when I wish. My personal
need and desire to grow, and my belief I had a right and responsibility to live
into my potential intersects with feminist theology. So does my ongoing
experience that my creativity enables me to be a catalyst for others. In very
long hindsight I see that I went from not having a self and living through
others, to learning and acting on what mattered to me and navigating my way in
the world as a self-defining woman. Later in my life, when the psychological
quest morphed into a spiritual quest, further evolving brought me to my Self—the capital ‘S’ standing
for a deep, soulful ground inside of me which is loving, available, and a
source of sustenance for myself and to others.”
“Feminism
is a range of movements and ideologies that share a common goal: to define,
establish, and achieve equal political, economic, cultural, personal, and
social rights for women.” (Hawkesworth, M.E. (2006). Globalization and Feminist
Activism. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 25–27). How feminism manifests in our world has
evolved over time, from women working to get the right to vote to the use of
social media to confront prejudice.
Feminist ideology and theology has been and is powerful and potentially
life changing for all of us.
Now let’s look at theology.
Theology is not static. Prior to
the 20th century, theology focused primarily on a person’s relationship with
their god. Most modern theologians
define theology as a person’s or a religion’s answers to the ultimate questions
of meaning, purpose, existence, as well as one’s belief/nonbelief in a
divinity, in an afterlife, in a soul, and any other supernatural
phenomena. Given that feminism and
theology are not static, let’s consider our definition again: feminist theology
“reconsiders the traditions, practices, scriptures, and theologies of religion
from a feminist perspective with a commitment to transforming religion for
gender equality.” How does this
definition speak to you today?
Perhaps we
could look at this definition of feminist theology through the lens of our
story of Tokoyo. This story is about a
strong and capable woman. She takes on
the quest to save her father, and in the end she is the heroine of the story--
slaying the dragon, breaking the curse on the emperor, and saving her father
from unjust exile.
We have
often heard stories with a male protagonist, but few if any about women. The myths of strong, powerful, wise, and/or
spiritual women are not being taught in our schools and are rarely heard around
our hearths—though Disney has recently featured a few, like the bow and arrow
shooting Merida in Brave—although Disney made Merida thinner and more beautiful
because she was after all their new princess--and Tiana in The Princess and the
Frog, who is an aspiring young black chef who works two jobs, both as a diner
waitress, so she can save enough money to start her own restaurant, however she
is a frog most of the movie. Feminists
and Feminine Theologians are working to bring the stories and myths of strong
and wise women as well as religiously significant women to the attention of
their students and the public, not to discredit the male stories and myths, but
to bring balance the theology that is being taught. They also are working to bring a feminine
influence, a feminine voice, a feminine sensibility into the patriarchal
influence often inherent in the values, beliefs, and traditions in all the
world’s religions. This work ultimately
helps us all to be less blind to the role and significance of women in our
world.
So often
we, both men and women, are blind to how our culture influences us to
suppresses, minimize, and disregard women’s contributions in our religion. I know I have been blind. I preached a sermon many years ago in Austin,
Texas, at Wildflower Unitarian Universalist church on Father’s Day about the
relationship between fathers and sons. I
was approached by a woman afterward who was quite upset that I did not mention
the relationship between fathers and daughters as well. 20 years ago, that was
something that flew under my radar. Not
anymore. Well, almost. Last year, I taught Unitarian Universalist
history at the Unitarian Universalist Midwest Leadership School, and—as it was
sharply pointed out to me after my presentation—when I talked about the early
history of our faith, from 50 ACE to the 19th century, I told the history of
all the old white guys of our religious tradition. OOPS! I hadn’t even brought up the women of early
Christianity and of the 18th century that I knew about—heck it was a woman who
converted John Murray, the father of Universalism in America to Universalism. The Unitarian and Universalist women of the
19th and 20th century were on my mind and in my presentation—transcendentalist
Margaret Fuller, the first woman minister in America, Universalist Reverend Olympia
Brown, and so many others. But that part
of my presentation was days away. I
realized I thought it was taken for granted that old white guys wrote the early
history, and in my head I thought I would talk about women in our movement when
I got to the 19th and 20th century. It
just didn’t occur to me that I needed to preface my teaching of Unitarian
Universalist history with, “And as you all know this history was written by old
white guys and doesn’t include the many women and people of color who
contributed to our movement in its early development.” I needed to “reconsider the traditions … [of
our Unitarian Universalist] religion from a feminist perspective.”
Today’s
feminism and feminist theology is expanding our definitions of feminism, and
impacting our culture in new and different ways. Today’s feminists are interested in inclusive
language and strong women stories, but they are also interested in defining who
they are, embracing their individuality and their rebelliousness—rebelling
against cultural mores and traditions.
They want, as women, to define their own sexuality and their own lives
independently of the dominant patriarchal society. Listen to this poem by fourth wave feminist
artist Kate Rose. In sensitivity to our
worship setting, I have softened the profanity in the poem. (Elephant Journal Author in
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fourth-wave-feminist-artists_566a1b8ee4b009377b24860a)
“This one is for you.
For the dream seekers and the rebels, the ones who not only
don’t fit into the mold—they … break it as well.
This is for the women who do give a …[damn].
We give a [damn] about ourselves, our lives and those that
matter most to us—but mostly we give a [damn] about making a difference in this
one amazing life.
We know that we weren’t born to play life small, and while
life has tried to smack us down at times, we stand right back up asking—is that
all you’ve got?
This is for the women …[willing] to be
themselves—unapologetically…willing to risk, to go after what we love.
This is for the women who stay up late chasing dreams, and
are up early with the sun making them a reality.
This is for those women with thirsty hearts and messy
hair—the ones who march to the beat of our hearts and often find ourselves
alone because of our choices.
This one is for you, for me, and for all the women who often
wonder if they are alone in their individuality.
You’re not.
And although we are as unique as they come, we all are
linked because of the desire to break free from the expectation that we need to
be well-behaved women in order to be loved.
We can’t follow the rules for the life of us.
When given the choice we always choose the most difficult
road, because that is where we often learn the most.
This is for the women who take care of themselves. We are
masters at keeping our [act] together, even when it seems we can’t take one
more step.
This is for the women who tuck themselves into bed each
night. It’s not because we don’t want a lover with us, but because we know
that, unless it’s genuine, solitude is so much sweeter than putting on an act.
This is for the women who just won’t conform no matter how
many times people shake their heads at us.
These are the women who drink moonshine underneath the stars
with their bare feet dirty, and their eyes wild dreaming of their next
adventure.
The women who prefer to be untamed. We don’t care about
letting our crazy show because we know it’s just as seductive as the pull of
our eyes.
This is for all the women who’ve had people ask why we can’t
just be like everyone else. Why can’t we stay in unhappy relationships? Why
can’t we just stay with the secure job? Why can’t we just suck it up because we
are adults? That is what adults are supposed to do.
But we were born differently. Where others see stability, we
see stifling.
‘We dream of a life that fills us with inspiration, and we
dream of a love that even time will lie down and be still for.’ (~ Alice
Hoffman)
We don’t know how to give up on the desires of our hearts.
And while we may seem to wander aimlessly at times, it’s all
part of our un-plan. Because some are just born to be the movers and shakers in
this life—to rattle and shake things up a bit.
And while we may drive you crazy at times, and scare the
…[snot] out of you at others, life would be boring without us.
For we are the wild ones—the ones who make life worth
living.”
I suggest
that Feminism and Feminist Theology are all about pushing men and women out of
our cultural and religious comfort zones—to see the world in its completeness,
not just in terms of “man, mankind, father, brother or brotherhood.” Women want out from under a masculine
cultural umbrella, with its gender dualities, and its black and white absolutism. Today’s feminists accept and embrace
non-binary genders and all the colors of life.
The meditation we did today is an example of how we might
explore these boundaries. Essentially
what I asked you to do was let go of control, to let someone else have control
of one of your limbs. I would guess for
many of you this was a little awkward, and perhaps, so outside of your
experience—say, how you define what meditation is—that you had trouble making
sense of what you were supposed to be feeling or thinking or experiencing. You probably wanted to take back the
control of your arm. Often when we talk
about spiritual exploration, it is all about letting go of control, opening
yourself up to something new, different, something that might offer some
insight or new awareness, something that opens your mind and heart.
However this meditation might also give you some insight
into what it can be like to be a woman in a patriarchal society, where someone
else makes decisions for you and exerts control over your body—think about the
laws in some states that are obstructing a woman’s right to have an
abortion.
In the book, Tending the Holy:
Spiritual Direction Across Traditions, there is an interesting chapter on a
Feminist Model for Spiritual Direction.
The author, Novene Vest, asks us to consider looking at our spiritual
work through a feminine lens. Vest says
that telling a woman to “let go” to gain some insight doesn’t work as well;
Vest suggests that women might instead want to explore how to gain personal
authority and identify a voice in a culture that minimizes or attempts to
suppress their voice. She goes on to
consider the commonly used metaphor for spiritual work of taking a journey, but
offers this: “Might not a woman be more likely to find freedom in an image that
suggests a safe [enough] place … to conceive and then give birth to a child? What would be the effect of thinking of our
basic spiritual practice as involving the rhythms of nesting, gardening,
creating a place of beauty…[imagining] a place long treasured, where we had
enjoyed watching the play of light and shadow shift with the seasons and the
years…cherished the rhythms of aging and dying and birthing again as they
appear in the cycle of all living things.”
I am
suggesting that in our spiritual, heart, or ethical work, we strive to blur the
lines of our cultural limits as we discern who we are as spiritual beings. Do not allow your spiritual work to be
defined by what others say, perhaps it is a journey or perhaps it is building a
home, perhaps it is being out of control or perhaps it is finding your
authority. Feminist Theology is about a
willingness to buck the system, to rebel against having your identity defined
by anyone other than yourself, to be willing to be moved and transformed by new
ideas, new concepts, new ways of seeing life.
Feminism is for everyone, although it is through women’s experiences
that we, humankind, can begin to see the world differently than we have been
taught. Feminism and Feminist Theology
challenge us to understand more, empathize more, stretch ourselves more than we
would if we simply accepted the cultural messages we have been fed since
birth.
Judy
Chicago, an American feminist artist, art educator, and writer, gives us some
insight into what our world and our theology might be like if we accept the
challenge that feminist theology offers:
And then all that has divided us will merge
And then compassion will be wedded to power
And then softness will come to a world that is harsh and
unkind
And then both men and women will be gentle
And then both women and men will be strong
And then no person will be subject to another's will
And then all will be rich and free and varied
And then the greed of some will give way to the needs of
many
And then all will share equally in the Earth's abundance
And then all will care for the sick and the weak and the old
And then all will nourish the young
And then all will cherish life's creatures
And then all will live in harmony with each other and the
Earth
And then everywhere will be called Eden once again
So may it be.
