Pride, Revelation, Responsibility

The anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion is June 28, which is next Weds. This is why “Pride” always fell on the final Sunday in June (until it didn’t). For years I never experienced Pride, I just wasn’t there then …. And then one year I was in San Francisco for the American Library Association and trying to get from one committee meeting to another there it was in my way … San Francisco Pride. OMG I might have said! Was I shocked? Yes, but not because of what I was seeing; I was shocked to realize I had blown off this responsibility for so long. I never made it to that committee meeting; I joined the ragtag bunch on the fringe of the parade (ok, we were just invited to join if we wanted and march along) and eventually there I was at Market and Castro—another name for “heaven” if you were a gay man at that time.

Back in real life I discovered “Pride” in Philadelphia was always on the wrong day (in theory so as not to compete with the big Pride in New York City). Nevertheless, and decades later, the day after I was ordained a priest it was Pride in Philadelphia. Bishop Walter Righter (who had famously been tried and acquitted of heresy for ordaining a gay man) was the parade guest of my diaconal gay outreach ministry, and all of the dozens of family members who had come to my ordination came along.

I said my first mass as a priest, we sang Te Deum Laudamus, I gave my mother a rose (my brother and I had spent hours the night before wandering around Center City looking for that rose!) and then everybody went to the parade. Bishop Righter was seated in a convertible, I was marching just behind him. At the end of the parade we went into Christ Church Pine Street to a planned Evensong where I preached. Then we all gathered at my house in exhaustion, and … in PRIDE of course! I’ll never forget my college friends exchanging reminiscences of the day with my 70-something Dad who had taken his paraplegic wife the whole route in her wheel chair alongside my brother and my mother (Dad’s ex!). How’s that for parental love?

God’s love is the sure foundation, for sure!

Sometimes. normal things are the things that are the most significant catalysts. Like my Dad taking his wife in her wheel chair to follow me on a gay pride parade the morning after I was ordained a priest. You couldn’t make a movie about this sort of thing, nobody would believe it. But there it was, God incarnate, love incarnate, love in action, love generating love. Not unlike God hearing the voice of Hagar’s outcast son and providing first life-saving water and then an eternal blessing [Genesis 21:8-21].

And oh my that Evensong, we sang and sang and sang and sang and sang … and prayed. And rejoiced. We gave thanks for God, for love, for each other, and for God’s having brought us to that moment. Love, supplication, God will answer [Psalm 86:5-7].

This all happened in 1998. Three weeks later I went to Amsterdam to the Gay Games and my life was changed again and again, almost daily. I couldn’t believe I was finding myself in a place where everybody was like me, instead of the usual reverse where I was the outcast. It was exactly what I was called to do: to look, to see, to receive the revelation, to reject the state of disconnection, which is sin and to be born over and over in total connection. Alive to God in Christ [Romans 6:1b-11].

[Matthew 10:24-39] “Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops.” Be proud! Be proud of who God has made you to be in God’s own loving image, be proud of the love you share, be proud of those who love you in the form in which you are.

Proper 7 Year A 2023 RCL (Genesis 21:8-21; Psalm 86:1-10, 16-17 Inclina, Domine; Romans 6:1b-11; Matthew 10: 24-39)

©2023 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Pride, Prevailing Grace

We are in Pride month, we are on the eve of “Juneteenth” … is it a coincidence that celebrations of liberation coincide?

They are the evidence of grace, which is the work of God’s love in and among us. Grace always prevails.

The hard part is that “prevail” part … unfortunately, it means there often are struggles. Pride is about LGBTQ people saying we are proud of who we are and more importantly, we are ready to proclaim our creation as people created in God’s image. Juneteenth, well, it is a celebration of the end of the enslavement of people in the United States, but as we know, it was the end of the beginning … we could hardly say that black people have equality in the US today. Just as we could barely choke it out that some of us queers are sort of equal a little bit sometimes.

But look at what God asks of us—to “proclaim with boldness the truth” and to “minister justice with compassion” [collect for Proper 6].

God appeared to Abraham “as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day” [Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7)]. Theophany at high noon while you’re sitting on the front stoop? Not only does Abraham not realize this is God, God does nothing but appear and the sit down in the shade of the tree.

God drops in and waits for hospitality. What a concept!

Abraham begs pardon of the visitors and throws open his home and his larder. The whole household rushes to make a meal–they bake cakes, they roast a calf, they even make cheese! and then they stand by while they partake of hospitality.

And then grace prevails. Then, God says that Abraham, who is 100 and his wife Sarah who also is 100 will have a baby. And they do!

I love this story. At first Sarah hides, then she laughs, then she sings with joy. Abraham did not recognize God, but did the right thing anyway. How much does that sound like real life? How much does that sound like a pride parade? Laughter, song, tears of joy, and grace … not to mention the heat of the day.

We are called to follow the examples of Abraham and Sarah, to be hospitable—to walk in love—and to “offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving” [Psalm 116:11, 10-17], to sing praises to God and to creation.

Paul [Romans 5:1-8] reminds us that it takes perseverance. That although grace prevails, it is not without the hard work of walking in love that we realize grace. Paul writes that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint” because we are after all made of love at the core.

Sounds like Pride to me again. I am (erm) “mature” enough to remember when it was a crime to be me, to remember when I dare not express my love in public, to have known the joy of both dancing queens and marriage equality. I am wise enough to know that this fight has been fought over and over and over and that we must not now give in to the voices that would oppress and suppress us. We must walk in love, offer hospitality even in the heat of the day, and sing praises to God. We must march with joy and pride. Most of all we must persevere.

And grace will prevail.

Jesus goes on a campaign from town to town and he sees that the need is immense so he ordains his disciples to act as well in his name, to heal, to cure, to bless [Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23)]. He gives them quite specific instructions, which, as we can see, match the actions of Abraham in the unknown presence of God.

And here is the sum for today: it is in hospitality that we will find that God is in our presence. When we open our hearts to the possibility of love we can see that God is with us always and that grace has indeed prevailed.

And, finally, is Jesus’ perfect advice about those who will not receive God .. shake the dust off your feet and move on … and when you find a welcome sing praises and give thanks.

Proper 6 Year A 2023 RCL (Genesis 18:1-15, (21:1-7); Psalm 116:1, 10-17 Dilexi, quoniam; Romans 5:1-8; Matthew 9:35-10:8(9-23))

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

Trial-and-Error Faith

It rained Friday. It wasn’t supposed to. But, I kept praying “please rain.” And then, to help it along, I got the car washed.

But it rained. It hadn’t rained in 21 days and no rain was forecast for any time soon. And then there it was all night and all day about ½” which is really terrific for my arugula and basil and zinnias and lettuces not to mention the roses which are blooming in abundance.

And there’s another thing: I had heard all my life how impossible it was to have roses, and then I went to a friend’s house about 10 years ago and WHOA! the whole yard was filled with giant rose bushes taller than me and all blooming and blooming … so I got a couple just to see; this was when I was still back in the Midwest.

Then I moved here. Portland. It’s the “rose city,” right? So I planted roses, in pots and in the ground, and what do you know they actually enjoy being in my garden and they keep blooming and blooming.

I always have enjoyed them, but at first I wondered why they just bloomed once and quit.

Then a family crisis led to clipping roses every day to try to bring some joy; and what do you know, they kept blooming and blooming.

So now I clip the flowers and bring them in and we have beautiful vases of roses in our house. And in the gardens they keep on blooming, putting out new feelers and ever more clusters of blossoms.

It seems to me this is an example of faith, especially of the kind of faith that requires trial-and-error, and of course, it is an example of God’s faithfulness in creation.

In Genesis [12:1-9] we have this story about Abram (later he will be called Abraham) answering God’s call. It’s a long story but what I think is critical is that he just keeps going, he keeps trying one thing and then another, and especially at each step he keeps giving thanks. He “built an altar to the Lord” and then “he moved on” and then “he pitched his tent” and “built an altar to the Lord” and on and on he “journeyed on by stages.”

That’s the revelation of scripture about real life, isn’t it? We just journey on by stages. But what was the key for Abram? The key was gratitude, giving thanks, but more importantly being thankful; every time Abram pitched a tent he built an altar and gave thanks.

I’ve experienced a series of little miracles lately … I now laugh when they come because, of course, it gives me such joy, but also because I see how it works even if only in a mirror darkly (as Paul might have said). Some, if not most, have come from my singing praise without even thinking about it, not to mention healthy doses of trial-and-error. So trust me, don’t forget to give thanks and especially to sing your thanks as praise, as Augustine is said to have advised prayer sung is twice prayed.

Play the harp, the psaltery, the lyre, the trumpet, sing a new song, sound a fanfare … of loving kindness, which fills the whole of creation … [Psalm 33]

How funny, it is Paul here [Romans 4:13-25] who reminds us Abram was 100 years old when this story began! But the story is all about inheriting love through righteousness, which is walking in love. And it all rests on faith, which is the faith in knowing that love is the power of the universe, that love works, that love creates, that love gives, that loving creates more loving.

In Matthew 9 [9-13, 18-26] Jesus reminds the crowd that it is not about the establishment, but rather, it is about those who have fallen aside, those who are disconnected, those who need to heal, those who need healing. For Jesus, “healing” is not just about illness of the body, it is about being cast out of the body of Christ. He tells the woman with sores that her faith has made her well. He raises the daughter of the synagogue’s leader by offering love. He takes her by the hand to guide her back into the community.

And so Jesus takes us by the hand. It is a good moment for us to remember that it is we, God’s LGTBQ heirs, who are taken by Jesus’ hand and brought, in loving, into the community of all creation. It is in our pride in the loving selves God has made us in God’s own image, it is in our colorful diversity, it is in drag, in joy, in songs of praise, and indeed in our outcastness, our differentness, our oppression—it is in all these ways and uncounted others that Jesus takes us by the hand and shows us that healing is in the way of love.

Jesus takes us by the hand and reminds us that it is our faith, however trial-and-error it seems, it is our faith sung in songs of praise that makes us well. It is our faith that we are God’s LGBTQ heirs who are called to heal creation with the love that overflows in our hearts.

Proper 5 Year A 2023 RCL (Genesis 12:1-9; Psalm 33:1-12; Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:9-13, 18-26)

©2023 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

A Trinity of Love

This week my husband and I celebrated the 45^th anniversary of our union. It was miraculous for a whole bunch of reasons. No need to go into that list here, but, it is important to understand how blessed we are to be together … for 45 years! And we don’t count (ok, mostly we don’t). Rather, each day we get up and make dinner and go to bed (LOL, at least that’s how it has seemed during the pandemic) and then we do it again and before you know it … poof! … 45 years!

In the beginning we met and found something undefinable that joined us, it was not unlike the formless void described in the creation story [Genesis 1:1-2:4a] and the wind of God swept over us … And then we awakened one day and it had been 45 years and God blessed us and hallowed us and these are the generations of God’s love …

Do you see? The story of creation is the story of you and of me and of us. Creation is ongoing, eternal, in every life, in every love.

The work of God surely is the heavens which are magnificent and beyond human comprehension … the moon, the stars [Psalm 8: 4] … and yet the work of God also is to give us free will to chose to do God’s work in creation. It is only by choice that love becomes action, it is only by choosing to walk in love that we affirm the gifts we have been given in creation as God’s LGBTQ heirs. It is the right exercise of choice—righteousness–that is a sign of having reached maturity in responding to God’s call to us.

God asks only that we listen to one another, live in peace and walk in love [2 Corinthians 13:11-13]. In this way love will prevail.

Jesus sends us out into the world [Matthew 28: 16-20] … as grown-ups with wisdom, to spread God’s love … we, God’s LGBTQ people, are called to show the rest of creation how chosen love works … logical families (as Armistead Maupin called them) or “found families” as I keep hearing recently … it is the truth that God’s LGBTQ people are here as disciples to create healing by bringing found families together.

When we invite someone in, they are healed from the oppression of being cast out. Choosing to walk in love, to invite, to heal, this is our call.

Today is the feast of the Holy Trinity. It is very much the feast of the power of love in creation.

Like a dinner, 45 years in the making.

This is the proof of God’s work among us.

Trinity Sunday Year A 2023 RCL (Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Psalm 8 Domine, Dominus noster; 2 Cor 13: 11-13; Matt 28:16-20)

©2023 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.