Massah and Meribah?*

“Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ended this week. It was always a dreadful policy, dreamed up by some policy wonk someplace who figured compromise with human rights was a step forward, forgetting altogether that to compromise any human’s rights is to deny them the respect God demands for them. Well, that said, the policy has ended, but of course, discrimination has not. Serving openly won’t end the discrimination; there will still be snickering and lost promotions and low priority for housing and on and on. But at least the government no longer officially sanctions discrimination in this regard.

It is a useful lesson to hold up next to that story from Exodus, about the angry exiles wandering in the desert cursing Moses and demanding tests of God. Libertation doesn’t just happen, exodus doesn’t just happen, equality for lgbt people isn’t going to just happen. Rather, it takes a million steps, like Confucius’ famous journey, some forward, some sideways, a few back. Like most journeys there is plentiful time to pause for reflection. I think of all of the ways in which equality has come to be—marriage for instance where it is available. I remember marveling at my own wedding that it was even possible. This week I’ve spent in Amsterdam I’ve noticed a remarkable number of gay couples who’ve just been married. Marriage has been available in the Netherlands for more than a decade, but something has shifted in the consciousness of gay people such that young couples now grow up and fall in love with the expectation that marriage is a real possibility. That is the blossoming of equality in the hearts and souls of gay people. This is the outpouring of God’s grace, like the waters at Massah and Meribah, through the lives of lgbt people living into the fulfillment of God’s call to them.

I suppose that makes me like those angry exiles yelling at Moses. (More likely, I’d have been standing behind them shaking my head.) But it has happened several times this week that a couple has walked into a room and been applauded waving their rings and grinning ear to ear. Part of the beauty of it is being able to witness the shift in the community attitude. And that is a lot like what happened at Meribah too. Look at that psalm, written generations later, recounting the flowing of water as a praiseworthy deed and a wonderful work, the ire of the moment completely past in the fulfillment of the reality of the presence of God in everyday life.

And God is in the reality of everyday life, even when we grumble, maybe especially when we grumble and moan and then do the right thing. Like the first son in Jesus’ parable, who says he will not work but goes anyway, most of us push through life in a kind of reverse swim, instead of sweeping water behind we fend off whatever comes at us. And then in a moment of intense clarity we see that we need not struggle so much, because God is with us in every thing.

God is with us in the struggle for lgbt equality. We know this because we see the fruits of God’s mercy in our lives. We know this because we know God created us in God’s own image. We know this because we see God’s love in each other’s eyes.

Proper 21 (Exodus 17:1-7; Psalm 78:1-4, 12-16 Attendite, popule; Philippians 2:1-13; Matthew 21:23-32)
©2011 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Diversity in your midst*

Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if gay people truly were integrated. In my own mind I would want it to be something like the atmosphere at the Gay Games. There, almost everybody is lgbt. I first experienced that in New York in 1994, and then again in Amsterdam in 1998. It was wonderful, if fleeting, to be able to walk around in an exclusively lgbt environment. But I don’t think that is what integration is going to look like. I think integration is going to look a lot like, well, Amsterdam today, or maybe San Francisco or New York or Los Angeles. There, lgbt culture sort of disappears into the background. I was in Los Angeles earlier this summer, and the main thing I remember was hearing Lady Gaga everywhere I went. I think that’s what integration will look like.
Which sort of goes to show you that God has God’s own plan for things. This is a close relative of that old saw “be careful what you wish for (or we could say, pray for)” because you might get it. But, it might turn out to be not at all what you had in mind.
This week’s scripture has that lesson from Exodus about “manna from heaven.” The people complain that by following God they’ve wound up out in the wilderness starving. So God promises them plenty of bread. Only when they get it, it comes in the form of a dust-like substance in the morning dew. No leavened loaves for them. It goes well with the Gospel parable about the laborers hired last in the day who have got the same wage as those who worked all day in the hot sun. These go well together because they both speak to the issue of the power of God to make the experience of creation equivalent, regardless of the many kinds of divergence humans try to introduce. In God’s intension, all is equal, all parts of creation are equal, all persons in creation are equal, and each person’s share in creation is equal.
That’s a good thing, because it means there truly is no discrimination, no bar to salvation, no room for injustice in God’s kingdom. If people suddenly stopped discriminating, what would the world look like? It would look about the same, except there would be more diversity in each person’s immediate presence. And the cultural things that arise to keep us apart would begin to disappear.
It is a situation much to be desired. Do you want a glimpse? Have a look at the chancel at the Church of the Holy Trinity any Sunday, then, when you come to communion look along the rail, and as you head back to your seat look around the church. There you have it. God’s kingdom in diversity, in equality, in your midst.

*Proper 20 (Exodus 16:2-15, Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 Confitemini Domino, Philippians 1:21-30, Matthew 20:1-16)
©2011 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Shifting realities, an example

As I said in yesterday’s post, I’m changing the title of this blog.

On one hand I think it’s too bad, because I rather liked the irony of basing the title on Jesus’ commandment to “feed my sheep.”

But when I discovered an unmentionable right-wing politician had used the same words as title of a book, I knew I had to change it (no, I won’t name him or his book!).

And maybe, in so doing, I’m demonstrating the new title. We as Christians must always be willing and able to shift our focus so as to see God’s constantly shifting new reality. So, here we go …. enjoy the ride!

Whirlwinds*

What can I say? I missed last week. The preceding week I was in Milwaukee teaching. The very famous east coast earthquake shook us up there too, the table at which I was sitting moved about rather dramatically. As if that hadn’t been scary enough, the next thing I knew I realized I had to cut work short and fly home early or risk not getting home at all because of the hurricane (Irene). I was barely in the door before we were loading up the car to evacuate, worried about promises of lengthy power outages and flooding (neither of which became manifest here, as it turned out). Still, where those things happened the after effect was severe, so we were glad we hadn’t risked it. We had a lovely weekend in Harrisburg, which is nicer than you might think if you haven’t ever been there. Still, when I looked at the scripture all I could think was how disrupting those few days had been, and that made me wonder what it must have been like for the followers of Moses to wander about for so long, so lost.

This week was quiet, and I vowed to change the title of this blog once I discovered a Republican presidential candidate has a similarly-titled book. Stay tuned for that!

Now I have a cold, cough cough … and the week to come includes more air travel. Woe is me.

Here is the gist of this week’s scripture [Romans 13:8]: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” What a beautiful summary, what a brilliant commandment–marching orders for gay people. Let us go forth and love one another, for that is the job God has given us to do, in every circumstance, in every situation. Keep on loving one another, even as life’s whirlwinds rage about. Keep on loving one another for that is the one thing we owe to God in return for the love God has given us.

Proper 18 (Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 149 Cantate Domino; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20)
©2011 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.