My husband’s closet is full of wrapped Christmas presents. I know it isn’t supposed to be a competition, but when I wandered in there to grab the laundry and saw them I had a moment of panic. Now, to be fair (to myself), my dresser is crammed up with unwrapped presents—it’s not like I haven’t been working at it. Still, I’m nowhere as organized about it as he is.
My heart is in the right place. I love giving the right gifts. The problem is figuring out what gift is “right.” I also have the experience developed early in life of getting massively into the Christmas spirit the week or so before Christmas, and not until then. So for decades I merrily hit the stores in the days leading up to Christmas (remember stores?) shopping for just the right thing, in the right size and the right color. In those days I would madly be wrapping in the afternoon on Christmas Eve; after I was ordained I had other priorities that day so I’ve learned to get to it sooner! There was one year (1986 I think) when we had just moved into our home in Philadelphia a week before Christmas and I actually spent the afternoon writing my Christmas cards (remember Christmas cards?).
Oh well, the point is, giving has to be complete. A couple of weeks ago we decided (thanks to the cold rain … hallelujah) we needed a humidifying pot to sit on the gas stove. Shopping online I noticed several that were indeed charming enough to make great Christmas presents. But we needed the humidity now, not in three months, so we went ahead. The gift here was the health benefit and immediacy was a critical part of it.
We are heirs of eternal life if we can be givers of love. Love is our hope and our inheritance. We purify ourselves by loving—by giving—without exception. Giving must be complete, made completely of love. The fullness of our inheritance as heirs of God’s creation comes from having innately within us the love that is God in a glass half full not half empty. The dimension of love is complete. We can enter that dimension when we can give completely.
In Mark’s Gospel (12:38-44) we have the story of the “widow’s mite”—the story in which Jesus is observing rich people making temple donations when a “poor widow came and put in two small copper coins.” Jesus tells his disciples that hers is the greatest gift, because she “has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.” It is a sign of her faith, that she gives completely.
It reminds me of when my husband and I were legally married—on our 30th anniversary of life together, now 13 years ago. We had a small gathering of close friends join us at City Hall in Toronto for what turned out to be an amazing, ontologically-shifting experience. The connection is this—when we returned home and began telling our friends we had gotten married most replied by saying “is that any good?” We sent a card to everyone on our Christmas card list just to let them know. And suddenly gifts started arriving in the mail. One by one relatives responded with hand-written notes and lovely gifts, including not a few family heirlooms. When I told my husband I was puzzled he just grinned and said “no, this is what you do when someone gets married.” Our families sealed our joining by welcoming us with gifts. Their giving was complete.
We’ve had two readings from the book of Ruth: last week we learned how Ruth and Naomi re-engineered their family after the passing of all of the menfolk and in so doing sealed their love. This week we see how they continue to build what might be thought of as a logical family—the kind LGBTQ people build—as a means of nourishment, of restoration, of the building up of love. The sealing of the joining of family by giving which is complete. (See for example: https://rpsplus.wordpress.com/2020/07/26/the-majesty-of-love/ ; https://rpsplus.wordpress.com/2021/08/29/love-sustained-in-beauty/; https://rpsplus.wordpress.com/2021/07/18/building-a-house-of-love/ ).
God is love and love is the basis of creation. The widow gave love, all that she had, so as to seal the family of creation by building up more love. Ruth and Naomi gave love, all that they had, to seal the family of creation by building up more love. We all are called to give love completely to seal the joining of the family of creation by the building up of love.
Proper 27 Year B RCL 2021 (Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17; Psalm 127 Nisi Dominus; Hebrews 9 24-28; Mark 12:38-44)
©The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Reality: glbt Christian spirituality 