Summer at last. The rain is mostly gone, thanks to the extra months of it everything is gloriously green, the gardens are beginning to produce. We’ve had a good run with arugula and lettuces, and from the flower gardens we’ve had roses in abundance for awhile now but the tomatoes and peppers are coming along just fine. The chore of mulching is at hand, now that the bulbs mostly have passed. After that, just a little pruning and we can relax and enjoy the gardens the rest of the summer. Optimism. It feels good to feel optimistic.
Optimism has been sparse the last few years, between the pandemic, the fluttering economy, and war in Europe on the one hand, gun violence, violence perpetrated on our persons by the right wing Supreme Court and the near constant terror of the 45th president’s so-called administration, on the other. It feels good to feel optimistic. Optimism is a sign of the presence of love, of the approach of hope. We have to hang on to hope as we navigate this quagmire shoal armed as best we can with love.
God called Amos to a life of prophecy using a very real metaphorical plumb line. It says “[God] was standing beside a wall built with a plumb line, with a plumb line in [God’s] hand.” (Amos 7:7). God tells Amos it is a reminder that God has set a plumb line in the midst of the people. That line is the opening to the dimension of God’s love. One way is the way of the kingdom of God, the other is the abandonment of love and the pathway to disaster. The plumb line is a pretty terrific reminder that building is incremental and dependent on care and attention to detail. We are called to walk in love always, not just occasionally, and to be attentive to the power of love given to us at all times.
Regarding the plumb line with respect and choosing the dimension of love bears fruit and brings strength, not only for endurance but also for the joy of a world functioning in the dimension of love (Colossians 1). Jesus reminds an inquisitive lawyer (LOL) that the only law is that “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).
Attention, care, caution, adherence to the plumb line, choosing always the dimension of love. The good Samaritan makes the right choice, to offer hospitality and healing regardless of politics or social standing (Luke 10:30-37). There’s that plumb line again.
The only law is to love your neighbor as yourself and that law has a requirement of loving yourself. The plumb line is in your own heart. The law of love emanates from our LGBTQ hearts, from the love that defines our lives, and it builds up with care and attention. Pride month might be over but the love of ourselves that is the gateway to a community where we all walk in love begins with our own pride in the LGBTQ people who God created us to be. Let’s begin there and hang onto hope and optimism as best we can.
Proper 10 Year C RCL 2022 (Amos 7:7-17; Psalm 82; Colossians 1:1-14; Luke 10:25-37)
©2022 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Reality: glbt Christian spirituality 