Pride for Pentecost

Today is the Feast of Pentecost, the celebration of the receipt and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the “first fruits” [Romans 8:23] of salvation.

We wait, as in all of life, with hope in our hearts, for the fulfillment of love [Romans 8:25].

In churches we wear red to symbolize the fire of the Holy Spirit, but also its power. We read the story from Acts 2:1-11 about the first Pentecost, we try to recreate it with singing and by reading in different languages. We focus on the “amazed and perplexed” [Acts 2:12] part of the story.

But, do we follow the signs all around us? Do we know when the Holy Spirit is with us?

We get carried away by the part about the wind and the fire; those are Old Testament cues for the presence of God’s Spirit. Let’s look at the story again.

“They were all together in one place,” in a house, it says, and they were sitting. They made a lot of noise, babble we might say, talking each in their own way, rather like an airport departure lounge, eh?

They were filled with the Holy Spirit, all of them, each according to their own ability, experiencing God’s deeds of power, rather like a wedding dinner, eh?

Or a parish supper? Or an LGBTQ+ community center potluck? A Pride festival?

The crowd was perplexed, some of them sneered.

Maybe like a Pride festival? In fact, if you want to experience pretty much the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in a crowd of loving people gathered together in one place each experiencing God’s love according to their own ability, expressing their love aloud each talking in their own way … go to any Pride festival.

There you will see the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to send the Holy Spirit, the Advocate [John 16:7], to dwell among those who believe in the promise of the power of God’s love, to empower those who live fully into their own created being, to uplift those who walk in love.

There you will see and hear the whole creation “groaning in labor pains” [Romans 8:22] in anticipation of salvation, which is the fulfillment of God’s love.

God’s Spirit resting in the hearts of those who love will indeed receive the “Spirit of truth …” and be guided into all truth [John 16:13], which is that glory is love and love is glory.

Amen.  

The Day Of Pentecost: Whitsunday 2024 Year B RCL (Acts 2:1-21; Psalm 104:25-35, 37; Romans 8:22-27; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15)

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

LGBTQ+ Witnesses to Love

The Acts of the Apostles tell the story of the new church as it was being formed, after the resurrection of Christ, and before there was any serious structure. In fact, “church” here means the community of faith much more than it means any sort of organization. We see in these stories the “acts” of love performed by those who followed Jesus’ ministry and who therefore receive from the risen Christ the gift of the Holy Spirit—God’s love—to be communicated forward for the purpose of building up God’s kingdom.

So the structure that mattered most then as now was the structure of witness. The new apostle [Acts 1:15-17, 21-26] had to be a person who literally was a witness. Now, witness can mean many things—so not just that the new apostle had seen the events but also that he was present and visible to all of the followers and to the new converts as well because he too had received the Holy Spirit from Christ.

And here is where we see our own selves as God’s LGBTQ+ children, called to be witnesses to our own creation, to our own lives of love, to be visible as LGBTQ+ people in the community of the faithful, indeed, in creation at large.

Ask yourself then when have you been an apostolic witness? Maybe you were part of ACT-UP? Maybe you have been in a Pride parade? Maybe you have been there for LGBTQ+ people in need. Maybe you are the same-sex couple who always bring a terrific casserole to the church potluck? All of these are acts of witness.

We are witnesses to God’s love every time we stand up in the church and profess our faith as the proud LGBTQ+ people we are.

John’s first epistle [1 John 5:9-13] continues to proclaim the facts about God who is love. Love is God and God is love. If we know love then we know God. If we know God then we know love. If we know God and we embrace the love we know, eternal life is ours. Knowing God, loving God, embracing love, is witness of the purest form.

In John’s Gospel [John 17:6-19], Jesus’ prayer makes explicit the relationship between God and Christ and love and, yes, us. Jesus says “All mine are yours, and yours are mine … so that they may be one, as we are one.” When we are one with God we do not belong the “the world;” instead we belong to “love.” We are God’s children. We are the children of love.

We who are God’s LGBTQ children are sanctified; we are holy, in the love we share, because love is truth.

7 Easter Year B 2024 RCL (Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19)

©2024 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Pray. Love is Endemic.

Love surpasses all understanding. How is that? If you know the power of love; not sentimental warm feelings, but truth, justice, righteousness—the things that define God’s love–then you know that love surpasses all understanding. God pours love into our hearts so that we might give love out through our own love of life building it up until the whole of creation sings with joy.

As indeed it is doing right now. The rhododendrons are blooming gloriously, shortly it will be warm enough to plant vegetables for the summer, the peonies are swelling to blossom, after some dry spells the spring rain is gloriously back in Oregon giving us the opportunity for short drives in the rain, for in-between sunny day glimpses of Mount Hood glistening with new snow. Love is endemic.

There are two broad categories of prayer, or maybe I should say, approaches to prayer. Kataphatic prayer is the kind we find in liturgies, precise words repeated over and over in specific patterns. Apophatic prayer is the kind used in “centering” prayer, in which there is no content, only the job of being still and listening for what God brings (here is a tutorial).

I have always been more attracted to kataphatic prayer. Indeed, I find it apophatic in its repetitive nature. That is, as the prayer is recited over and over, consciousness shifts from the foreground to the back, where indeed there is silence, and room for God to enter in. But that’s just me I guess.

I thought of this when I saw this week’s story from Acts [10:44-48] where it says “While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word.” LOL, his kataphatic voice lulled them into apophatic presence. They were lulled into a trance by Peter’s voice and in the trance the Holy Spirit occupied their hearts. The listeners were converted by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Fascinatingly, the story ends by telling us they invited Peter to stick around for awhile.

But there also is a story here about the spiritual welcoming of those were were outcast. The crowd Peter was preaching to was a mix of insiders and outcast; the insiders were “astounded” that the outcasts could get it, not just that they heard and understood but that they received the Holy Spirit.

It reminded me of church conventions, where of necessity everyone is together in one place and in worship the divisions must cease. It is in such arenas that LGBTQ+ people are at their most powerful just by their presence, especially their visible presence among the faithful. Sing a new song, indeed [Psalm 98]. This past week after decades of division our United Methodist kin, in convention, used the joy and love in their hearts to bring LGTBQ+ people into full membership. The insiders embraced the formerly outcast and all of the faithful received the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.

John’s first epistle of love [1 John 5:1-6] continues to explain how all of us who know God’s love must be (as there can be no other possibility) children of God. We know God’s love because we know love as we know gravity. We know love as we know rain and sun and hugs and tears. We know love because we are love because we are people of love.

In John’s Gospel [15:9-17] Jesus tells his disciples about the transcendence of love: “As [God] has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.” Joy must be in us for us to make love complete. But God’s love brings us such joy that we have the capacity to make more love. Love builds up. If we love one another creation will bring everything we need.

Let us embrace the Holy Spirit, rejoice in inclusiveness, and pray however we can for peace in the Holy Land.

6 Easter Year B 2024 RCL (Acts 10:44-48; Psalm 98 Cantate Domino; 1 John 5:1-6; John 15:9-17)

©2024 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.