A hen and her wings*

How hard is it to come out?

Well, that all depends on the context of course. I don’t remember that I didn’t come out because I was afraid, which is what I hear from so many people who seek my counsel. What I remember is more complicated—it is that I didn’t get it. And so it wasn’t until I actually wanted a specific fellow (and of course, he was straight) and couldn’t have him, that I began to get it. And to notice that all around me were men who did get it. And not only that, when I looked closely I saw that they saw that I was one of them. I remember leaping wholeheartedly into their metaphorical embrace. That is, I did that once I had got it figured out.

That’s an artifact of my times, of course. Today adolescents get told they’re gay by their parents and grow up fully aware. In the Netherlands, where marriage equality has been the law since 1998, young people grow up able to dream about marrying the man or woman of their dreams. And then they do.

In Luke’s Gospel this week (Luke 13:22-35) Jesus is metaphorically throwing up his hands because very time he invites people to join his brood they ignore him. He says: “How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” Well, he means exactly what he says. You are children of God. And God your mother has stretched out her wings to gather you, her brood, under for protection, warmth, nurture. So why do you resist?

CHT is a church of the Episcopal denomination, which is the American name for Anglicanism. We are rooted in catholicity, our bishops retain apostolic succession, and our priests are ordained in succession. We are catholic people. And yet we are not Roman Catholic. And we are sex-positive, and we are gay affirming. Last Sunday our deacon’s marriage to his long-term husband was made public in the prayers of the people. One Sunday last summer all of the couples whose wedding aniversaries were celebrated were gay or lesbian. And yet we are fully integrated in the church. We all gather together in our church, with our straight or bisexual siblings under God’s protective and nurturing wings.

Paul wrote: “Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us.”

Come to CHT my friends. God’s wings are large enough to nurture you too.

*2 Lent (Genesis 15:1-12,17-18; Psalm 27 ; Philippians 3:17-4:1; Luke 13:22-35

©2013 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

On your lips*

I suppose everyone will preach this week about Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by Satan.

Have you ever given thanks to God? I mean really? Of course you have, you do it all the time. But, when you scream out “Oh my God!” are you really giving thanks to God, or are you giving honor to You? Right, most of us mean it to be about us, about how we feel, and not about God. Well, that’s what Paul calls living by the flesh. Think again.

Ok, now, say to God “Oh gosh … look at this beauty in my life … thank you for it.” And say to God “What a trial I am going through … thank you for being with me in it.” And say to God “Wow … this is your world, thanks for calling me to live in it.” If you can do this, you can avoid the temptations of the flesh and of the devil. (And I don’t mean anything about sex! Sex is good!)

St. Paul says “The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart.” He means, do go around saying the truth. “Oh my God” and “God bless you” and “God help us” and however you keep the “word” on your lips and in your heart.

Gay people need to work at this because we’ve spent so long in the diaspora that we don’t remember how it works. But hey, it’s pretty simple. Just remember God. And remember that God wants you to be the best glbt person you can be. Just go with God, give thanks to God, and brazen out the rest. It’s good to be gay. And to admit it is to shrug off all of the temptations of Satan. Because so long as you are being the lgbt God made you to be, no devil can tempt you.

Love God, love your lgbt self. Give thanks.

*1 Lent (Deuteronomy 26:1-11; Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16; Romans 10:8b-13; Luke 4:1-13)

©2013 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Of Shining Faces, Blushing, and God*

Exodus 34 tells us that when Moses came down from his encounter with God, his face was shining, and this physical affect becomes a theme of the story that follows–the shining face reflects the glory of God. I just have to say I love imagining how the shining face got that way and how it worked–I’m not sure whether I should think of, say, a Mummer with makeup on (thanks to www.philly.com for this image) ;  or whether I should think of a teen blushing when … well, whenever.

Either way it has got to be a kind of human—very human—response to the presence of God. So in that case I guess we had better think about how it is that both   Mummers and blushers know the presence of God in a very real way. After all, God is always present, but especially we are aware of God’s presence when we are at peak performance. As it were …

Well, Paul says to act with great boldness, and with unveiled faces to see our own selves being transformed from one degree of glory to another … He means go ahead and let your face shine with the boldness of the knowledge of the presence of God’s glory within you. In other words, be yourself, and be your best self, always. For gltb folks that is critical advice–be your best glbt self, always, boldly!

Of course the shining face leads into the story from Luke 9 about Jesus’ transfiguration. I think the interesting bit today is the tag bit added to the Gospel at the end. After the transfiguration, after Jesus and his disciples are back down off of the mountaintop and back in the real world, the real need is the casting out of a demon. The disciples have tried and not been able. Jesus, just faces it down and casts it out.

How often must we do that? The answer is often. We often must cast out demons, especially those that keep us from being boldly who God has made us to be. We have to cast off our own internalized phobia. We have to cast off our own self-doubt. We have to face it down and shed it. Just like that.

And then we also have to turn to the demons around us that hold us back and keep us from the glory of reality that God has intended for us. The Boy Scouts of America is a good example in the news this week. We, the glbt people of America, need to cast out the demon that oppresses us, that treats us as outcasts, that casts out even little children …

The main point is that we, the gltb children of God, should be continually astounded at the greatness of God. Let your face shine, boldly.

Last Sunday after Epiphany (Exodus 34:29-35; Psalm 99; 2 Cor 3:12-4:2; Luke 9:28-36, [37-43a])

©2013 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Keep a-goin’*

Have you noticed that this is the time for crazy tv ads? This is the time of year for things like “vegematic” or “superremover” or whatever sort of crazy thing people think might be possible to sell, especially late at night. But even this morning in my newspaper, the coupons, which usually are for Pillsbury Crescent rolls, were mostly for old people stuff—knee pills, diapers, etc. Ick … I know …. What does that mean about this time of year? Look at the collect for the day today: “God, you are in charge, please listen when I pray, and give us peace.” That’s a pretty simple prayer after all … no divine intervention, no magical story.

The gospel is the second half of the “Jesus preaches in his childhood synagogue” story. Last week we had the first half, where he shows up and preaches, and everyone is sort of shocked. He announces his agenda, by saying “today, scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” This week we have the other half of the story. It is rather more exciting, because it tells us that when Jesus tries to tell the truth to his synagogue, they become outraged and try to kill him. Miraculously, like a ghost, he passes through the midst of them and goes on his way. That made me think about what it means to just keep on keeping on. Because that’s what we do: miraculously, we just pass through and go on our way. Life’s too short to worry about the crackpots, as it were. But, where is God in all of that?

In the reading from Jeremiah we hear the story of God calling Jeremiah to be a prophet. God tells Jeremiah (who has protested, of course) in no uncertain terms, that this has been God’s plan all along, and that God now has put God’s own words in Jeremiah’s mouth. And yet, what is the job of a prophet in the Old Testament? Well, above all, it is sort of like the sheriff … to root out corruption and make sure everyone is safe. No wonder we need vegematic ….

The third lesson this week is from 1 Corinthians; it is the lesson about the definition of love that so often is read at weddings. And yet the best part is this: “Now we see in a mirror, dimly … but then we will see face to face.” Paul is reminding us that what we think we know about God is only of our own making. That eventually, if we can walk in love, the love will become like our life blood, and then we will see, face to face, God, who is love.

We are glbt people, who are defined as outcast in our society because of those whom we love. My goodness, look at us! Well my friends, all of us are made in God’s own image. All of us are called to prophesy, which means to stand up in the world and show the world what God has given us, and often, to pass through the mob and go on our (i.e. God’s) way. And God has given us everything we need already. We are called to love. Love, love, love. Love, my friends is the outpouring of your soul, in which is the love God gave you in creation.

Like Jesus, we often have to pass through and go on our own way. In fact, to do this, is exactly what God has called us as lgbtq people, to do.

As the famous poem by Frank Lebby Stanton says: “Keep a-goin'”!

Epiphany 4 (Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30)

©2013 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.