Haydenville Congregational Church The Rev. Dr. Andrea Ayvazian January 13, 2013 Isaiah 43:1-7 Tattoos on the Heart May the words of my mouth, and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen. Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest, works as a pastor in a neighborhood with the highest concentration of murderous gang activity in Los Angeles. His book TATTOOS ON THE HEART is, in the words of one reviewer, a breathtaking series of parables distilled from Boyle s 20 years in the barrio. Father Boyle lives and works with gang members some big and burly, some small and delicate, some girls, some boys, some with families, some homeless, some with children of their own, all tattooed and he offers them boundless, restorative, unconditional love. In the Preface of the book, Father Boyle says, William Blake wrote, We are put on earth for a little space that we might learn to bear the beams of love. Turns out this is what we all have in common, gang members and nongang members alike: we re just trying to learn how to bear the beams of love. Walking into the middle of a gang fight to break it up, shopping at JCPenney s with a gang member just out of prison, visiting mothers who have lost sons to gang violence, taking young men out to their first restaurant where the menu does not hang on the wall, celebrating Mass in juvenile halls, probation centers, and jails, Father Boyle talks about God, Jesus, compassion, kinship, redemption, and mercy. The tattooed tough guys and gals in the gangs proudly display their body art even when some of it isn t art at all but vulgar words tattooed across their foreheads. But one of the most touching moments in a deeply touching book, is when several gang members tell Father Boyle, who they lovingly call G-dog, that his name is permanently tattooed on their hearts. Today s Scripture reading from the Book of Isaiah could serve as the basis of Father Boyle s entire ministry. Through the prophet Isaiah, we hear the God 1
speaking of God s love for and attachment to each one of us. One could say that the prophet Gregory Boyle is not only channeling these words from God to the gang members he knows and loves, but he is making these sentiments manifest in his daily actions with these poor, marginalized and in many ways disempowered young men and women. thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One your Savior 5 Do not fear, for I am with you Father Boyle reveals God s steady love to the gang members who are trying to prove how brave they are when they are so frightened, to the young men who are suddenly fathers when no one was a father to them, to the girls at the edges of the violence and the center of the pain Father Boyle, G-dog, has earned his place as the person, the name tattooed on their hearts. TATTOES ON THE HEART is an astonishing book. It is like reading a book about everyday miracles. But I must admit that apart from this book that I loved, tattoos in general have been on my mind for a while now. A couple of years back as I quietly and not so quietly approached my sixtieth birthday, I decided that the year I turned 60 I would take a long, solo bike trip, AND I would get a tattoo. (I know it seems cliché, everybody gets a tattoo when they turn 60 but I decided to do it anyway.) Well, the year I turned 60, I did take long solo bike trip. (Remind me never to do that again.) But I didn t get a tattoo. It is not that I changed my mind. I intended to get a tattoo, I wanted to get a tattoo, but I could not decide WHAT to get tattooed on my own precious, aging, wrinkled body. I could not get a butterfly or a rainbow or a horseshoe. I thought about a peace sign, but no. I wanted to get a tattoo but could not decide what. 2
So I told my friend Deb that I wanted to get a tattoo but could not decide what to get. Deb took my dilemma seriously bless her heart and said this: Andrea, think about what you really love. Now think about getting that tattooed on your body. Hm-m-m-m-m-m-m I thought. What I really loved get that tattooed on my body. What I really love. My mother. My sisters. Michael. Sasha. My church. I actually thought of you. I actually thought of getting some representation of our Church, OF YOU, tattooed on my body. Deb said I should think about what I really love and get that tattooed on my body. And I thought of our Church. Can you imagine me getting all your names tattooed on my body? It s like what God feels about us, as told through the prophet Isaiah, reflects what I feel about our Church family, about you. I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. When Deb said, think about what you really love and get that tattooed on your body. And I said out loud, my mother, my sisters, Michael, Sasha, my Church. Deb laughed. And then she stopped and said: Actually that is so touching. Your Church. Your mother and Michael and Sasha are predictable. But your Church. Wow. You could get a little Church tattooed on your body Andrea, you know she said a little New England Church with a steeple. A boxy little Church. All colored in. You could do that. As I prepare to depart for my long-awaited sabbatical I wanted you to know that I actually thought of getting our Church, basically YOU, tattooed on my body. I love you all. And I am grateful to you. For so many things, in so many ways. There is an African saying that goes like this: A person becomes a person through other people. I know that you have helped me become me. You have responded to my teaching, enduring my repeating, critiqued my preaching, welcomed my loving, forgiven my goofing, shared in my laughing, 3
joined in my singing, said Amen to my praying, and hugged back with all my incessant hugging. We will be apart for three months you taking good care of yourselves and each other, worshiping here, meeting in the Dining Room, singing your Anthems, praying strong prayers, and hearing great preaching. I will be worshiping at a Jesuit Monastery in Gloucester, then in a big old cathedral in Boston, and then on the Camino the ancient pilgrimage that I will walk for weeks through northern Spain. You live inside me now and I live inside you so we will carry one another when we are physically apart. We ll look up at the same moon, lift prayers to the same God, pray deeply through the same days of Lent, rejoice on the same Easter morning. You are tattooed on my heart and I will think about you every day. Like the gang members telling Father Boyle that his name is tattooed on their hearts, I am telling you that YOU are tattooed on my heart. You are there permanently and forever. So back to turning 60 in 2011 and the long, solo bike trip the long, slow, solo bike trip. The long, slow, solo endless bike trip. I went on the bike trip, but I did not get a tattoo. But when I turned 61 I realized that I could tattoo something I loved on my body not my mother s name or Michael s or Sasha s or my Church. I decided to honor my heritage and tattoo my own name in Armenian on my arm. And so I did. My own name in Armenian is literally tattooed on my arm. Your names are metaphorically but in a very real way truly tattooed on my heart each one of your names. Remember when we are apart that God is near and you are loved and cherished. I know you. I know you get lonely and frightened. I know some of you struggle with depression and demons, fears and worries. But I also know that God is good and God is loving and God is consistent and God is with you every minute. I know that you are precious in God s sight and that God is a source of comfort and love, strength and courage, peace and delight available to you.always. 4
Those prophets of old they channeled God.they had a direct line to the divine and they proclaimed God s words in the world, gave God s words to the world. Listen again to the words of God spoken by the prophet Isaiah: thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One your Savior 5 Do not fear, for I am with you We may, when we are apart, pass through rough waters and through the rivers We may walk through fire But God has promised that God will be with us, each one of us. We shall not be burned, the flame shall not consume us. For we are people of faith, strong and brave, and we hold tight to the Lord our God, the Holy One, our Savior. And we know we are precious in God s sight, and honored and God loves us. Remember that I will be holding God close during these months apart. Talking to God, walking with God, turning to God, relying on God that is for certain. And remember that I will be holding YOU close during these months apart. We belong to God and we belong to each other. Pema Chodron says, You are the sky. Everything else is just weather. You are the sky to me. I considered tattooing a representation of you on my body. I considered tattooing an image of you and us on my body. You are the sky to me. Everything else is just weather. 5
Remember that you are tattooed on my heart. Be well and safe and stay close to God until we are together again. Amen. 6