The sun is shining, the rain seems to be on hold for awhile, it’s lovely to look out to see bulbs beginning to pop up in the garden, to see the sun gently shining. It’s terrific to be able to use my whole house, to sit where I want to, to putter and fix things and plan meals.
You see, we just spent ten days in isolation, masked in our own home, living in separate rooms. One day my husband was so lonely he went outside to wave at me through my window. A COVID scare, of course. It seems I was exposed. It might seem our reaction was severe except that I couldn’t be sure I wasn’t a carrier and I couldn’t live with myself if I gave it to him.
It wasn’t a blithe error on my part. I had gone for healthcare and was treated by someone who wasn’t very responsible, as it happens.
Then again, I was masked at all times.
I called my doctor who ordered a test and said if it was negative we didn’t need to isolate. Except, it took 4 days to get the test and 5 days more to get its result, by which time it was 10 days past the exposure. In the end, there was no infection (and, 3 tests in all, just to be precise). We endured 10 days of being separated from each other, being denied the love that comforts and nurtures us, because we were—frankly—betrayed.
Then again, now we know masks work. N95.
I guess it’s a sign of the times. I can’t begin to describe the sinking feeling in my heart at the first news, the denial–we both said over and over “but we’ve been careful for two years” and “we’ve done everything right.” Except, I went for healthcare. Foolish me.
I did my best to build up the love in my soul. I spent whole nights chanting “I love you.” We knocked on each other’s doors to say out loud “I love you.”
I wrote my Epiphany song of love to my husband last week. It was all the scripture said to me. Love, and building up more love.
The first part of loving, the beginning of giving love, is having love. To have love we must feel the love in our own being.
Then Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God, and all the people answered, “Amen, Amen” …. “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep” …. This day is holy to our LORD; and do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength” [Nehemiah 8:6, 9-10]
The magnificence of God’s love is in the simple way that love builds up, in the manifestations of overlapping spheres of love. I love, you love, God loves, you love God’s love, I love the liberation of creation and all of this love overlaps and grows, nourishing everything. And, there is no time like the present, which is in fact all time all at once. Time is loving through space, the overlapping spheres of love overlap now but also forever, my mother’s love enveloping me and her mother’s her and evermore onward (it was the memorial of my mother’s birthday right at the midpoint of our isolation and I could feel her love and remember her tending me as a boy).
1 The heavens declare the glory of God, * and the firmament shows his handiwork.
2 One day tells its tale to another, * and one night imparts knowledge to another [Psalm 19:1-2]
And we all are one, all people, all of creation, all one synthesis of the overlapping spheres of love.
Just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body [1 Corinthians 12:12]
Love builds up and explodes outward like the rays of the sun. Giving love is received in love. Love is imparted by all the senses. Especially, we experience love in the words of those whom we love.
Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit …
began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone …
“Today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” [Like 4:14, 15, 21]
Life is restored in the love we share once again, still, and forever. The gentle smiles, doing the dishes and taking out the garbage, coffee together in the morning sun, hugs whenever it seems right. Love builds up.
Is there a message here to the LGBTQ heir of God’s love? Only my constant reminder that we are singularly created in God’s own image as people who are defined and identified by the love we share.
3 Epiphany Year C 2022 RCL (Nehemiah 8: 1-3, 5-6, 8-10; Psalm 19 Caeli enarrant; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21)
©2022 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Reality: glbt Christian spirituality 