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.

LGBTQ+ Prophets Building Up Love

Atmospheric rivers, wars in Ukraine and Gaza, ice storms, … what a way to describe what we pray for today as “in our time … give us peace.”

Of course, time is not ours, time and space, which are one, are God’s. Creation just is. Justice is, love is, and it is up to us to reflect and reveal and respond, to understand that we live in all time. Thus, peace is the power of love, which comes from the power of our response in loving.

Moses [Deuteronomy 18:15-20] proclaims that God will send prophets like him, who will be “from among your own people.” Prophets are those who are called by God to call us all into love and away from disconnection. We are taught to think of the prophets in scripture, Moses and Elijah and Isaiah and Jeremiah and people like that, when we think of prophets. We forget that Rosa Parks and Jim Obergefell are prophets. Undoubtedly there are prophets in your life, people whose truth is definitional for you.

So we forget that we too are prophets when we walk in love in response to God’s call to us to live into the love with which God created us as LGBTQ+ people in God’s own image.

Paul draws a distinction between knowledge and love in 1 Corinthians [8:1b-13], between acting from the heart and soul, loving, which builds up more love, as opposed to acting from conventional wisdom, which builds up more fences. When we act from love we build up more love. When we build up love we cannot be disconnected from each other or from God. When we show the love we have for our LGBTQ+ lives, the joy builds up the whole connected community of humanity. Building up love is the prophet’s call.

A CNN piece this week reports that “Gen Z adults identify as LGBTQ at much higher rates than older Americans … ” (Nicole Chavez, CNN, Jan. 25, 2024 https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/25/us/gen-z-adults-lgbtq-identity-reaj?cid=ios_app). It is because of us, because of our lives as prophets of love. Gen Z adults have grown up in a world of loving possibilities, in which we, God’s LGBTQ+ prophets, have filled creation with our love, in which the example of the possibilities of our love, given us in creation by God, is visible, palpable, and loving.

It is because our love is visible, as a form of prophetic witness, that so many have been able to step aside from the strictures that bound them [the “knowledge” that puffs up in Paul’s words]. Have you seen any of the Showtime/Paramount+ series Fellow Travelers (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fellow_Travelers_(miniseries) )? Among other things, it is a pretty accurate representation of those times not all that long ago; of the dangers and trials of LGBTQ+ life in a time before the prophecy of those of us who follow still the exodus call of Stonewall (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots ). Drag queens at Stonewall Inn leading the charge—more LGBTQ+ prophets.

In Mark’s Gospel [1:21-28] Jesus is confronted by a “man with an unclean spirit.” Jesus understands completely that this is a case of a human emptied of love and thus overwhelmed by the vacuum inside. Jesus loves, calls out the truth, and love rushes in. The unclean spirit, the vacuum in the absence of love, creates a void, a vacuum in the consciousness of creation. Jesus voids the vacuum and fills the man with love. Love fills up the void, love builds up the kingdom. Love leads the way for prophets to gather creation together.

It is the comprehension of the power of our own LGBTQ+ love that makes us prophets. Our love fills the void, our love builds up.

4 Epiphany Year B 2024 RCL (Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111 Confitebor tibi; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; Mark 1:21-28)

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

Called to Love

Hard work, hard work, hard work … I keep telling you this love stuff is hard work. Why do you think God appointed us, God’s LGBTQ+ people to do it? It’s not just a challenge, it takes guts to make the world work with love.

Our collect today (the opening prayer) asks God to increase in us “faith, hope and charity” because to “obtain [love]” God has to make us love loving [the prayer says “love what [God] command[s]!].”

These last few months the lectionary has had us following the generations of Abraham, and the journey of the Exodus. It is a story of a spiritual journey toward salvation, which God has made available to all of creation. It is a revelation, or a meditation if you will, about the challenge of living as humans in the world, about the challenge of living together in the world, about the challenge of being at once stewards and subjects of creation. The story ends today with Moses’ death [Deuteronomy 34:1-112] and the beginning of the period of Joshua as prophet. It is important that these leaders are called “prophets,” meaning they are neither autocrats nor monarchs, but rather, they stand in view of God and the people, translating as best they can, God’s law of love.

The liturgical response is Psalm 90 [1-6, 13-17], which reminds us that all time is all at once and already is. Time-space is a single continuum. Time and space bound the dimensions of love in which we live. Love indeed is all around us. When Jesus says “the kingdom has come near” he means “the next dimension over” … “can you get there?” The way to get there is through the action of love.

The testing of Jesus continues in Matthew’s Gospel [22:34-46]. Jesus resolves all questions into an equivalence: love God, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

The revelation from scripture is that love is tough but love is the law in the dimension that God has prepared for all creation. But we have to choose love. We have to choose the prophetic action of standing tall in the face of challenges and remembering always to respond by continuing to walk in love.

It is about to be the feast of All Saints, in which we remember those who indeed walked in love. Is it just quirk of fate that All Hallows Eve comes first, in which an ancient tradition of warding off the absence of love has become a celebration of joy and childlike rejoicing? Is it an accident that LGBTQ+ people revel in the opportunity to express the love God created within us to share as we dress up and dance and rejoice?

It is our call from God, to be the visible prophets of love, to stand tall as the revelation of active love that works.

Proper 25 Year A 2023 RCL (Deuteronomy 34:1-12; Psalm 1; 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8; Matthew 22:34-46)

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

Think Again: and Live!

Our job, no matter how difficult, is to be joyful.

“Be joyful all you lands,” God says.

Have joy in your heart. Do what ever you have to do to have joy. Because joy is love manifest. And your job is to love. Your job is to proclaim the Good News, and that is to show joy.

(My husband, has so much joy in his heart, that just being near him makes me overflow with joy. See?)

Yes indeed, we—you and me—we all are those people who have walked in darkness and seen that great light, which is the light of hope, the light of love, the light of joy. We have “increased … joy … [we] rejoice before [God].”

Sing,

dance,

hug,

smile.

 “Sing and make music” however you must—bake cinnamon rolls? grow tulips? make hamburger stroganoff? fix your friend’s broken garage door? hug your beloved? say “thank you” and mean it?

Sing, dance, hug, smile, and make music however it is you do that.

Our job is not to proselytize, our job is not to teach, our job is not to lecture.

Our job is to PROCLAIM with joy. “For the message about the cross … is the power of God”

Jesus told the crowd “repent.” It means, “think again.” That means, “wow, just stop for a moment and think about it.” It means, think before you speak.

Yesterday I was walking up a rainy street in Portland, my knees hurt, I was trying to make sure my walking stick didn’t hit a slick patch. And a woman coming toward me was in my way, and I was irritated by her. She was walking toward me with a walker. And as our paths crossed she smiled at me and said “Hello.” And I was irritated. And I was frightened. And I was captivated by her smile. And I was enthralled by her joy in the small steps she could make and her encouragement for mine. And I “re-pented” and in a heartbeat I looked her in the eye and said “thank you” and “hello” and smiled. And I could feel the both of us stand taller and walk with greater assurity. Joy.

Jesus walked, Jesus called, Jesus saw, Jesus said … and Peter and Andrew and James and John “immediately” re-pented, they “thought again” and they followed him.

And what of us LGBTQ siblings under God? According to The Rev. William Barber II (https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/21/us/william-barber-christian-nationalism-blake-cec/index.html’) we—queers and fags!–we have the power to unseat those who deny us a living wage, who deny us equality, who deny us a seat at the table, who deny us healthcare. All we have to do is: stand up, be present, be visible, this is called “witness” in theology.

And then re-pent, think again: smile, bring joy, bring love.

Re-pent.

Think again. And live!

3 Sunday after the Epiphany Year A 2023 RCL (Isaiah 9:1-4; Psalm 27:1, 5-13 Dominus illuminatio; 1 Corinthians 1:10-18; Matthew 4:12-23)

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

Called to See

Every now and again it strikes me how much every day is the same, every week is the same, everything is the same. I wait for it to be evening then I wait for it to be morning then before I know it’s Sunday again. I joke (maybe joke?) with my husband that my entire life consists of making dinner—I plan it in the night, I check the pantry when I get up, I thaw things through the day, as soon as the sun is low in the sky I’m in the kitchen cooking, then we have dinner, then I go to bed and start all over. Time is passing, it seems, but then again maybe as Einstein said, it is just an illusion (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=82388.0 ). But, of course, the science of Einstein’s perception is that the passing of time depends on the frame of reference.

One way to look at it is to think about how we live in a certain dimension in which our synchrony with creation, a kind of harmony, is an eternal reality. In that there is grace, God’s love freely given in the absolute reality of life.

But then it occurs to me that how we tell our stories to ourselves defines the dimension in which we reside. Do I live in a dimension of dinner? Or do I live in a dimension of love and care, one in which my whole being is oriented to my husband’s, and to the things we share. The moments of togetherness, sharing, indeed loving, are the sunrises of the dimension in which we live. The sun sets and the moon rises and our love carries us. The harmony, the synchrony of the two of us in creation is our own dimension of love.

We all are called to tell—to prophesy if you will—about the dimensions of love we create and inhabit. It is their cumulative overlapping stew that is the eternal dimension of God’s love.

Isaiah (theologians will call this “Second Isaiah” Isaiah 49:2ff.) said “[God] called me before I was born … made my mouth like a sharp sword … made me a polished arrow” and (49:6) “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” The Psalmist (40:10-11) “proclaimed righteousness … did not restrain my lips … I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance, I have not concealed your love.” Paul wrote to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1: 9) “God is faithful, by [God] you were called into the fellowship of … Jesus Christ.” John the Baptist (John 1:34) “I myself have seen and testified.”

As I have written and preached many times, we who are seeking to comprehend how God calls us often don’t realize that we already are living the lives to which we have been called. We have been called to be God’s LGBTQ people, God created us LGBT&Q in God’s own image so we might be a light to the nations. We have been called to lead our LGBTQ lives in the light, as a witness to God’s faithfulness to us. We have been called to proclaim our pride in our God-given LGBTQ lives as a way of pointing to the highway of love into the dimension we create by living in and through our love.

There is a reason Jesus said (John 1:39), simply “Come, and see.”

2 Epiphany Year A 2023 (Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-12 Expectans, expectavi; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42)

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

A Rainbow of Prophets

Prophets are God’s people who are chosen to demonstrate to all the rest of us the power of God’s love. Often prophets do this just by being whoever they already are. There are famous dramatic stories in the Old Testament about burning coals and voices in the tornado and even the sound of sheer silence (I might have made up that bit about the tornado, but you get my drift), but if you look at what prophets actually did, you will see that they walked around a lot (Isaiah walked naked for three years), they ate, they dropped in on people, they slept, and they gave their best advice about walking in love.

There are prophets among us always as well. People of my generation will recognize a few names, the most famous probably being Rosa Parks, who famously sat down. But what about Jim Obergefell, whose suit established the right to marriage equality in the US? What about recent Jeopardy! champions Amy Schneider, Mattea Roach, and Rowan? All they have done is smile and play a game—on television with millions watching! As I said, all they did was to do what they do, to be who they are, visibly. (I know, when I write about Jeopardy! it seems to unsettle people, but let’s face it, an average of 9.2 million viewers watch that show five days a week; and these viewers are everybody everywhere. Jeopardy! is so important that even way back when I was a hospital chaplain and set out to visit everyone scheduled for morning surgery, I was instructed by the senior chaplain to be sure I did not visit anybody during Jeopardy!).

Well, we have more prophets this week, and in their actions and beings we have more evidence of the ubiquity of God’s love. We have seen the work of hundreds of thousands of voters, acting and being and walking in love to bring forth greater domestic tranquility, less bullying, reinforced justice. And we saw what has been called a rainbow wave—“for the first time out LGBTQ candidates were on the ballot in all 50 states—as well as D.C., Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/11/11/lgbtq-midterms-2022-candidates/ ). Who are the prophets here? The candidates, the voters, all of us? Yes, indeed, to all three.

It is in these small ways we know we are walking in the dimension of love, that we can hold fast to hope, that God is always creating “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17), that we must not be “weary in doing what is right (2 Thessalonians 3: 13), that as we go God always will give us words and wisdom (Luke 21:15), and that we must always give thanks and rejoice (Canticle 9 Isaiah 12:4-5).

Of course the hard work has only begun, but that is how each day begins. There is always the hard work of remembering to walk in love even in the face of bullying and Injustice—especially in the face of bullying and injustice. Just do what you do, be who you are, emulate the prophets all around you, walk in love.

Proper 28 Year C 2022 RCL (Isaiah 65:17-25; Canticle 9 (Isaiah 12:2-6); 2 Thessalonians 3:6-13; Luke 21:5-19)

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

Awkward Blurting Prophecy Love

Love builds up, which is how there is such power in being in a community of people who walk in love. This is why the LGBTQ community clings to its identity as a community of people who are created by love in love for love. The one thing we all know when we see each other at pride festivals or LGBTQ film festivals or at the LGBTQ community center (or dare I say it? even in the bars) is that we all know in our hearts what it means to love. And we all know the cost of that love. And we all know the value of that love.

We who are God’s LGBTQ heirs are born of the stuff of love, which is how we are connected to creation through eternity, which is how eternity is our inheritance. We have the tools to be people of love but it is up to us to learn to use them.

Jeremiah (1:4-10) relays the story of the revelation of his role as a prophet of the God who is love. God tells Jeremiah he was conceived as love for love to love and given in his birth the words of love. Jeremiah keeps saying “I am only a boy” but God keeps reminding him God has given him the words he needs. Like the awkward Noah, tumbling into love with Benjamin who blurts out “it’s safe to let someone love you” (Benjamin 2019 ). Noah is a prophet here, as indeed are we all when we let ourselves experience love, blurting along in our childlike way the truth God has given us.

Luke (13:10-17) tells the complex story of Jesus’ healing of a woman in the synagogue on the sabbath. The “leader of the synagogue” is indignant that Jesus has “worked” on the sabbath. Jesus (angry Jesus, hurray!) reminds the crowd that the sabbath is God’s day, love’s day, and therefore there is no better time for healing, which is the imparting of love. We have to remember that healing has multiple meanings in the Gospels, not just sudden wellness but more importantly restoration to the community. Not unlike how we now are trying to learn how to rejoin our communities after three years of quarantine and lockdown.

What Jesus means is that there is no one time but there always is all time and every time for love. And Luke tells us the crowd rejoiced. Hallelujah. Hurray for awkward blurting prophecy love.

Proper 16 Year C 2022 RCL (Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; Hebrews 12:18-29; Luke 13:10-17)

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

Plumb Lines, Pride, and Optimism

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 45^th 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.

Prophets of Love

We were watching an old movie last night and the heroine said “I just want things to stop happening to me.”

I said to my husband “that’s how I feel.”

Peace.

Peace is that place where nothing is happening. Because when nothing is happening, everything can happen.

Well, that’s hard to explain isn’t it?

But first, a note about Amy Schneider, whose forty day winning streak ended this week on Jeopardy!. Yes, she was just one of those people who plays on tv game shows. But, no. She was a heroine of the LGBTQ movement, for showing up, for telling her story about Princess Ozma on national television and for then continuing to show up. This is the essence of prophecy, showing up and being visible and sometimes nothing seems to happen. Prophets bring peace in just this way.

After a couple of challenging weeks, I am really looking forward, with love in my heart, to a fire in the fireplace and tuna casserole for supper (although I am puzzled by the shortage of medium shells in the market!?). I’m really looking forward, with love in my heart, to my husband’s hugs and his laughter. I’m really looking forward, with love in my heart, to peace, to that time and place where nothing is the best loving thing happening, where love can just be.

The essence of God’s creation is love. Love underlies all else. We call that subtstrate in my science. It means everything else rests on its functioning. The way it functions is that we must call it forth to make it visible. We can do that easily, by just being people of love.

Making the supper, knowing your husband will revel in eating it. That kind of thing is what it means to love.

In Luke’s Gospel (4:21-30) Jesus returns to the synagogue of his youth. Everyone is smiling and welcoming him and beaming with pride at this nice young man, now all grown up. That is, until he tells them the truth about love. He recounts this history of prophets who came and found no love and so could build no love. The crowd, without love, notoriously becomes enraged and chases Jesus to the edge of a cliff. The cliff is very real but is also a perfect metaphor for the cliff we live on if we fail to walk in love. Jesus, who has love for them, is protected by the love in his being and they part, like the proverbial Red Sea, for him to pass through the midst of them.

Prophets come from God to show us a glimpse of ourselves. We can see in them the source of love that can be built up for the glory of creation. We can find that peace that passes all understanding if we can see the love the prophet shows us and find just a bit of it in our own selves. All we need is a scintilla, from which to build up. As Paul says (1 Corinthians 13:12) we need only see love as “in a mirror, dimly” for it to begin to build.

At the beginning of the Gospel story (which is also the final line from last week’s appointed scripture) Jesus says “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” As I wrote last week, it is important that it happens in their hearing, in a community sensibility, rather than in their sight, which they might easily ignore. He means, love has come for you, love has come to tell you love is here, love has brought you a prophet to show you the way, love is ready for you to grasp it and to build it up.

In a way, in this time and this world, all of us who are God’s created LGBTQ people are prophets. Our job is to love, to love and to live, in peace, to be seen to be loving people living in peace, to build up the power of love. Even when we understand only as in a mirror dimly.

Epiphany 4 Year C 2022 RCL (Jeremiah 1:4-10; Psalm 71:1-6; 1 Corinthians 13:1-13; Luke 4:21-30)