I know it is almost Halloween, one of the gayest of holidays. I know it is (arguably more importantly) almost All Saint’s Day, when we hallow (!) all those who ever have learned to walk in love. Curiously, then, the scripture today points directly to the core of Christian life which is the hard work of walking in love.
Love is easy to say, and to write about love is easy, but to live love, to walk in love is not so simple. It is not warm fuzzies, although when everything is copacetic it can seem that way. It is not all laughter and joy, although it should be. Walking in love is work.
To love is to be constantly alert, to be constantly focused on loving. I know, I’ve been living with it, through it. When anxiety comes, you have to overcome it (you cannot let it go, I know this, you have to overcome it with some other sort of feelings) or it will overwhelm you.
The only thing that matters is love and loving and holding love foremost. If you can do that you will understand what Jesus was trying to teach us.
This is why our collect for today as God to “grant that we may run without stumbling.” This is why God in a prophecy from Habakkuk (2:4) says “Look at the proud! Their spirit is not right in them, but the righteous live by their faith.” This is why Paul writes to the Thessalonians (2 Thess. 1:3) that “we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters, as is right, because your faith is growing abundantly, and the love of everyone of you for one another is increasing.” It is the moral of the parable of Zacchaeus (Luke 19:10) says “the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.”
It seems life is full enough of ghoulishness, perhaps we take Halloween the wrong way, perhaps we should embrace it as an opportunity to raise our own spirits with the joy of living into the some of the alter egos we usually suppress.
I am feeling blessed this year by the constance of love in my own life, surprisingly, not having been without challenges this year, but constant nonetheless, sometimes despite my distraction, my anxiety. I have learned to pray “I love …” in my soul around the clock.
Let us embrace our alter egos, let us celebrate our differences, let us raise the level of joy in creation. Let us run without stumbling.
Proper 26 Year C 2022 RCL (Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4; Psalm 119:137-144 Justus es, Domine; 2 Thessalonians 1:1-4, 11-12; Luke 19:1-10)
©2022 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Reality: glbt Christian spirituality 