Is the pandemic worse or better? I guess it depends on where you are about now. We are experiencing increasing numbers of infections daily in much of the US, including here in Oregon (although the numbers here are still lower than in other parts of the US). On Facebook I can see my friends in other parts of the world reuniting, going out, beginning to take up the new kinds of life that will be required to live in the pandemic until either a vaccine or a cure emerges.
We are still hunkered down.
The question in my heart each day is: “will this be the day we give enough love to bring life back into equilibrium? And each day I wonder where is the love we need to be giving? Where is the love we need all to give to bring each of us individually back into the arms of our loved ones, back into the company of dear friends, back into the simple things in life like sitting on a park bench or getting a coffee or a drink?
There is a lot of “self” (“flesh” as Paul might put it [Romans 8:9-17]) visible in the world right now. Flesh feels good in the moment but it is not in the Spirit, it does not lead to “minds set on the things of the Spirit.” What is the difference between places with rising infection rates and those returning to some version of normalcy? With all deference to all of the potential political comments that could pop up here, let’s focus on things of the Spirit. The difference is that in places where people dwell in the Spirit, where they give love for each other and for the collective all, the Spirit triumphs, and sets people free.
There is no barrier to love except self.
Love can set us free.
Those who love are occupied not with self but with the building up of love, the growing of love, the expansion and sharing of love. Think of how good it feels to hug your pal—now multiply that feeling a million times and then a million times a million. That is the love we need to give right now, in every moment.
All of us are capable of this love, because all of us are created in God’s image, and in that we are already filled with love, because God, who is love, dwells within us. All we have to do is let self step aside and let that love work its magic.
Jesus’ parable about seeds sown in good soil (Matthew 13:18-23) is just another interpretation of this fact about God’s love. The seeds sown in good soil are the seeds of love sown in a world where love prevails. Such seeds must yield more love.
Jesus nails it when he points to “the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields.”
We must hear the word and understand it. We must imagine the warmest hug ever, and then multiply that feeling, as I said. And then we must stand vigil against the weeds and rocky grounds of our own hearts, so that we stay focused on that love. It is we who must sow the seeds of love.
There are sociological theories about the role of lgbtq people in society that point to a calling of sorts, a kind of genetic imperative that the world must yield seeds of love that in turn yield crops of love. One idea is that we are hear, indeed, to give love; that we are well-suited because our very God-given identity is bound up in the love that we share with each other.’’
We must sow the seeds of love, now more than ever.
Proper 10 Year A 2020 RCL (Genesis 25:19-34; Psalm 119:105-112; Romans 8:1-11; Matthew 13:1-9,18-23)
©2020 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Reality: glbt Christian spirituality 