UNITED
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost -
Anne G. Cohen
Wisdom of Solomon 7:22b-8:1 (deuterocanonical)
References to the Chimera are from Ugo
Bardi's
Chimaera: The Origins of the Myth (March 1997)
For Our Reflection:
The soul is an ecology, a territory. It is populated.
- declined to state
In its highest sense [the soul is] a vast capacity for
God. A chamber
with elastic and contractile walls, which can be expanded, with God
as its guest, illimitably, but which without God, shrinks and shrinks
until every vestige of the Divine is gone, and God's image is kept
without God's Spirit.
- Henry Drummond, Natural Law in the Spiritual World (1883)
My soul is myself; the well-spring or point of consciousness, or center
of inner activity. the most real thing in the universe
to me; the start
for all other knowing, the test by which I judge all other data.
- Upton Sinclair, What God Means to Me (1935)
Chimera: Claiming a Spiritual Identity
Earlier this year, a woman in need of a kidney
transplant asked her
family to be tested for a DNA match. As a result of these tests, she
discovered that neither of her sons, both of whom she had given birth
to, carried any of her DNA. It was as if they had a different mother.
Further testing on herself revealed that she carried
two sets of DNA in
her body. One showed up in her blood and several organs, the other
several other organs.
The medical explanation was that HER mother had carried fraternal twins
- two fertilized embryos - that, very early in the gestation process,
merged and became one person. Literally, this woman IS her twin sister,
as well as herself... her sons' aunt, as well as their mother... which
raises serious identity issues for her. It also raises questions for
the crime fighting community regarding false negative DNA tests. But I
don't want to go there this morning.
The medical term for this multiple DNA condition is, as usual, a
mythological term: Chimera. There are Chimeras born all over the world,
more often than we think or know about. I immediately think of the
possible link with our transgender brothers and sisters - and, of
course, the implications for those among us with organ transplants.
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Interestingly enough, the symbol or logo for the
American Society of
Transplant Surgeons is the Chimera. The chimera is a beast from
ancient mythology that, like the Minotaur or Sphinx or Mermaid, is
composed of multiple species. The first head and legs are a lion, the
belly is a goat - with a head rising from the middle of the creature -
and the tail is a serpent complete with snake head.
The story in its earliest written form - Homer's Iliad written in the
9th century bce - says this of the Chimera (Greek for
"young-she-goat"):
***
She was of divine race, not of men, in the fore part a lion, in the
hinder a serpent, and in the middle a goat, breathing forth in terrible
manner the force of blazing fire. And Bellerophon
slew her, trusting
the signs of the gods.
***
Homer gives here one version of the classic "dragon-slaying hero
story." However, the IMAGES - in sculpture and relief - go back much
further than Homer - indicating an oral tradition as old as 2500 bce -
spanning continents and cultures. It is more than likely that an old
tale was twisted to meet new circumstances and power structures. Just
as Eve became the new - powerless Isis - and the snake became her enemy
instead of her tool - Chimera has been transformed from goddess to
monster.
A clay Sumerian cylinder seal from the 1st half of the 3rd millennium
bce shows a winged lion harnessed to a chariot - with
something falling
downward from its mouth. Standing on the lion is a naked goddess
holding thunder bolts. On the chariot is a male God representing the
sun. In Sumerian cosmology, the sun god's name is Utu,
the sky goddess
is Inanna - the most loved and best known of the
Sumerian deities. She
was mother and loving partner, but also huntress or dragon or lioness.
In fact, Inanna was referred to as Labbatu or "lioness."
The clay seal seems to depict the lion spewing lightning - in concert
with the storm goddess' thunderbolts. The storm is followed by the sun
- blessing the land with a good harvest. It is a story of nature's
powerful hierarchy and the people's honoring of the source of fertility.
Joseph Campbell (The Masks of God), among others, describes a shift in
human history when
***
a whole set of cosmic beliefs turned from a Goddess-ruled system to a
male dominated system, where the main God is a father figure. In this
cosmic revolution, ancient myths and histories changed their
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meaning as well. The winged lion, the storm beast of Sumerian times,
ceased to be a symbol of fertilization and became an evil monster. The
goddess, she who rode the lion, and at times she herself a lioness,
became, too, an evil creature... the center stage was stolen by the male
hero, Ninurta or Marduk,
who was there to slay her, affirming his male
superiority...
So the Chimera is in the end a grotesque and deformed image of the
mother goddess and it embodies all the evil men can think about
women... Valerius (1st century ad), an author
much fashionable
throughout the Middle Ages, [says this] "You do not know that woman is
the Chimaera, but it is good that you should know it;
for that monster
was of three forms; its face was that of a radiant and noble lion, it
had the filthy belly of a goat, and it was armed with the virulent tail
of a viper..." a woman is beautiful to look upon, contaminating to
the
touch and deadly to keep.
***
The winged lion was a storm beast of the Sumerian-Babylonian mythology -
a symbol for the goddess Inanna. The ancient
Greek word for "storm" is
"Cheimon" - giving us a linguistic link to
"Chimera," Greek for a goat
that has lived one winter. In Christian mythology regarding the devil,
the goat element is evidence of an "unclean" nature. Nobility
has
become unclean and, therefore, evil.
Mythologically speaking, this leads to some SERIOUS
identity issues for
those labeled "Chimera" by the medical profession. Even so,
what might
this have to do with us as
Judeo-Christian-Agnostic-Spiritual-Human-Beings worshiping God and
contemplating the meaning of Life in a vast Universe on this beautiful
Sunday morning?
We may get a clue if we turn to the text read to us this morning by Jim
Dekker. The words come from the Wisdom of
Solomon, a Jewish text,
written in Greek in Egypt around 30 bce. It is
a text that was left out
of the biblical canon, but re-included by the Roman Catholic church -
therefore found in SOME bibles at the end of the Jewish scriptures -
before Matthew.
The author is passionately in love with Sophia, the Wisdom aspect of God
- a manifestation of God transformed by Christians into the male
Christ. The words used to describe her are borrowed largely from Greek
philosophy. And in the midst of this ardor and hyperbolic display of
affection, the writer says this:
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***
Although she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in
herself, she renews all things; IN EVERY GENERATION SHE PASSES INTO HOLY
SOULS AND MAKES THEM FRIENDS OF GOD AND PROPHETS; for God loves nothing
so much as the person who lives with wisdom. (7:27-28)
***
In every generation she passes into holy souls and makes them friends of
God and prophets... Wisdom - Spirit - Breath - Logos - Light _
Emanation from God - enters into holy HUMAN souls... and makes them
friends of God - chimeras with and of god - prophets - wise beings for a
generation.
Every time we gather at the communion table we affirm our friendship
with God, the Christ within all of us, our very cellular DNA connection
with the Deity that makes us all part of Itself - ONE BEING.
It is an affirmation of Ultimate Interbeing.
It is physical, it is spiritual, it is natural, it is ritualistic.
It is an honoring of powers beyond our control and beyond our
understanding - yet deeply embedded and embodied in our deepest selves.
The woman who needed a new kidney got one from her husband. She now has
three sets of DNA in her body that are medically identifiable. She is
her sister and herself, her husband and her sons, she is all of these.
Even more, she is Chimera with God, a soul that is occupied by Wisdom,
literally one with the Universe and all that exists physically and
spiritually - ancient and future.
She is no monster and neither are we. We are those who are CAPABLE of
claiming a spiritual identity - Chimeras of God - populated and complex
- noble and unspeakably beautiful. May it be so. And may the myth
of
our having passed through this time and place be told with wisdom and
truth in the generations to come.
*********************
SUNDAY BULLETIN
WE GATHER FOR PRAYER AND CELEBRATION
Music for Gathering
Welcome and Perspective on the Day
Musical Preparation for Worship - A Time for Centering
+ Call to Worship (responsive)
One: Life is a gift for which we are grateful.
Many: We gather in community to celebrate the glories and the
mysteries of this great gift.
+ Hymn Praise the Source of Faith and Learning Hymnal # 411
+ Opening Prayer (responsive)
One: Let us
worship with our eyes and ears and fingertips;
Many: Let us
love the world through heart and mind and body.
One: We feed our eyes upon the mystery and revelation in the faces of
our brothers and sisters.
Many: We seek to know the wistfulness of the very young and the very
old, the wistfulness of people in all times of life.
One: We seek to understand the shyness behind the arrogance, the fear
behind the pride, the tenderness behind clumsy strength, the anguish
behind cruelty.
Many: All of life flows into a great common life, if we will only open
our eyes to our companions.
One: Let us worship, not in bowing down, not with closed eyes and
stopped ears.
Many: Let us worship with the opening of all the windows of our beings,
with the full outstretching of our spirits.
One: Life comes with singing and laughter, with tears and confiding,
with a rising wave too great to be held in the mind and heart and body,
to those who have fallen in love with life.
Many: Let us
worship, and let us learn to love.
One: And let
us pray the words that Jesus taught to his
disciples..
+ Our Common Prayer (unison)
Creator God who art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done,
on Earth as it is in Heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
And forgive us our debts
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil,
For Thine is the kingdom and the power
And the glory forever. Amen.
Time for Silent Reflection
One:
My soul waits in silence.
All: God is my rock and my fortress. I will be at peace.
Silent
Reflection
The
Assurance of Good News (unison)
Made in the image of God, we are vessels for the Divine Spirit.
Thanks be to the
One who Made Us as we are!
Sung Response "Hallelujah. God be praised!"
(CSB #5 Refrain)
WE TEACH, REFLECT AND PROCLAIM
Conversation with Our Children
Reading from the Hebrew Scripture / Christian Apocrypha
Wisdom of Solomon 7:22b-8:1
Sermon Chimera: Claiming a Spiritual Identity
WE RESPOND TO GOD'S INVITATION
Intercessions, Celebrations and Encouragements
Call to Prayer Be still and know that I am
God Hymnal # 743
Time for Silence
Our Joys and Concerns and an Offering of Prayer
Sung Response In Solitude Hymnal #521 vv. 1 & 2
We Offer Our Gifts So That Our Lives May Be Our Prayer
Offertory
Prayer of
Dedication (unison)
All gifts have their origin in You, O God, the source of all creative
and healing energy. We rejoice when Your love finds a faint echo in
our lives. We sense our destiny when Your grace moves through us to
touch another. Help us to learn to be open and vulnerable to the needs
of Your world and to respond with the generous spirit of Christ. Amen.
+ Sending Hymn Praise to the Living God
Hymnal # 8
+ Commissioning (unison)
Because of those who came before, we are;
in spite of their failings, we believe;
because of, and in spite of the horizons of their vision, we, too dream.
Let us go remembering to praise,
to live in the moment, to love mightily, to bow to the mystery.
+ Sung Response (we gather in some semblance of a circle)
CSB #42 Refrain
Draw the circle wide. Draw it wider still.
Let this be our song, no one stands alone, standing side by side.
Draw the circle wide.
+ Postlude
***
WORSHIP NOTES
Call to Worship is by Marjorie Montgomery, #452 Singing the
Living Tradition, Beacon Press, Boston c.1993 Unitarian Universalist
Association
Opening Prayer is by Kenneth L. Patton, Ibid. #437
Commissioning is by Barbara Pescan, Ibid. #680