Alpha and Omega*

[John 18:37] “For this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

[Revelation 1:8] So it is to be. Amen. “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, who is and was and who is to come, the Almighty.

[2 Samuel 23: 6-7] But the godless are all like thorns that are thrown away; for they cannot be picked up with the hand; to touch them one uses an iron bar or the shaft of a spear. And they are entirely consumed in fire on the spot.

 I hope you are feeling restored. We are. For all of our carrying on about turkeys and football and shopping, I have had an American moment this year. Thanksgiving has been a moment of pause and of the giving of thanks for the love I share and for his full recovery from the medical establishment’s foolhardiness. And we ate turkey, and watched movies (we’re gay – remember? – no football in our house!), and made turkey soup and had sandwiches, and tonight Mexican pizza—jack cheese and black beans and green chiles—for relief from the monotony of turkey dinner. “I like turkey dinner” Brad kept saying. I was grateful to hear it. And he ate the whole pumpkin pie leftover. I was thrilled. And for these small things I am thankful to God.

So it is time to turn to Advent, and to the darkness that gives us space for contemplation before the annual celebration of the birth of our savior. I am so grateful to my colleagues in seminary who introduced me to so many approaches to Advent. I have learned to savor the season, much as I savor the weekend after Thanksgiving as a time of quiet. Advent is about getting ready. Are you ready?

Are you ready to hear the truth? Jesus is the king of heaven who came into the world as a human so that everyone of us who could hear his voice could belong to God’s truth. Not just “would hear” but “could hear.” Are you one who can hear but refuses to listen? Advent is for you. Stop, sit very still, watch the gray clouds on the horizon, look at the sea all gray below the cloud cover, and listen, listen, listen, for what God is saying to you. Do not be like the thorns that are thrown away … instead, just listen.

And you will hear God saying “I am the Alpha and the Omega.” That means the beginning and the end, and that means, all things. That is God’s truth. Nothing else is God’s truth. You are gay and lesbian and bisexual and transgendered, and you are made in God’s own image. And you hear God’s truth, which is that God and no human is all things. God has made you to be one of the precious who hear God’s voice, who know God’s truth. The truth is this, that God loves you. And all God wants from you is that you should love God too. And the best way to do that is to love one another.

We celebrate this moment of pause – in the church it is the feast of Christ the King – because it is time to turn to Advent, to turn inward, to think carefully about how we listen to God and to the truth that Jesus came to give us.

Pray. Listen. Give thanks always. The Alpha is The Omega.

* Proper 29 Christ the King (2 Samuel 23:1-7; Psalm 132:1-13, (14-19); Revelation 1:4b-8; John 18:33-37)

©2012 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved