Take the Reins, Love

God is always with us, it is only we who fail to see. Jesus, God, Love, is always in our midst.

Jesus is with us in every thing and at all times. It is only we who fail to turn to the dimension of love who fail to recognize him.

In the resurrection on the beach story at John 21 Jesus comes to the frightened disciples who have been working all night on the sea. Even as he appears to them, he has already prepared breakfast on the shore for his friends, he has prepared to nourish them in body and spirit. In the story Jesus finds the fish for them, Jesus feeds them, Jesus tends them and Jesus brings them relief.

The same truth is echoed in the story of the conversion of Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus in Acts 9. Jesus is with Saul who is persecuting the faith, Jesus is with Saul in his mortal illness, Jesus is with Paul in his conversion, Jesus is with Paul in his recovery and Jesus is in the nourishing food that is the metaphor for healing in this story.

Jesus is with us too. Jesus is with us in the pandemic, Jesus is with us in the dark nights of the soul, Jesus is with us in our loving relationships, Jesus is with us in our broken relationships Jesus is with us in the puzzlement and confusion, Jesus is with us in the passion, Jesus is with us in the gentle smiles and the angry moments too. Jesus is always with us in the reality of our lives. And yes, Jesus is with us in our LGBTQ lives, the ones we are called to by being created LGBTQ in God’s own image.

It is God, Jesus, Love, who feeds us, nourishes us, nurtures us, heals us. This is love, this is why we must learn to turn to the dimension of love. If we can learn to live in that dimension we can rejoice, dance, sing, pray, worship and we can feed, tend, nurture and follow.

We, the weary workers in the boat, the hungry friends on the shore, we are called to take the reins of this challenge—to love.

3 Easter Year C 2022 RCL (Acts 9:1-6, (7-20); Psalm 30 Exaltabo te, Domine; Revelation 5:11-14; John 21:1-19)

©2022 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.