Synergy of Love

Body-mind connection, another kind of “syn”ergy, is critical in creation. We have certain biological imperatives, but our evolution, which is God-given, has brought us to a place where mature life (I mean grown-up, not “old”) is meant to be a perfect synergy of mind and body. Sometimes theologians refer to this as “spirit” and “flesh,” to achieve the right balance is the key. In fact, this synergy is presented all through scripture as variously dichotomy, challenge, and gift.

It is a gift, that our minds control our bodies and our bodies control our minds.

To live in connection, without “sin,” means that we must manage the balance constantly. Yet, we must have faith that it is managed, and not expend spiritual energy on “control,” because that disrupts the synergy.

See, I’ve been telling you, it’s complicated. I know I’ve written more than once here that there was a day in seminary, not too far into the first term, when I sat straight up in my little desk and said to myself “there is just no way to explain this ever.”

Still, I was ordained and sent out to keep trying. So, still I try. Because God’s kingdom requires us to grasp the truth about this simple but complex balance.

In today’s scripture you will encounter the “Ten Commandments” [Exodus 20:1-17]. They are given at a critical time in the story of how God was revealed to God’s people. They are moral rules, they are all in some way the same rule over and over, which is, to love your neighbor as yourself, which is, to love your own self, and then to extend your love outward. Always.

Psalm 19 [7-14] says God’s law is perfect and revives the soul and rejoices the heart, our love of God, indeed the love God has given us, endures forever. Indeed, God’s love for us is true, more desired than gold, sweeter than honey in the comb. We pray to be kept from secret faults, from presumptuous disconnection, from the outcome of letting the synergy of body and mind, of flesh and spirit, get out of balance, even in our innermost thoughts.

In 1 Corinthians [1:18-25] Paul reminds us that we, indeed, are those who are the called. God has created us, specifically to call us, to show humanity how to live a life of love.

The inexorable march of Lent moves us ever closer to the truths of what theologians call “the Christ event”—the crucifixion, death, and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. John’s Goespel [2:13-22] is one of the accounts of Jesus storming the temple in Jerusalem. We read the story as though it is an act of anger, vengeance, retribution. But, if we look deeper we see that Jesus took dramatic action which no doubt was unwelcome by those in the temple precinct.

But, did he ravage and kill?

No.

He drove out the cattle and sheep and released the doves. Do you know why the cattle and sheep and doves were there? To be sacrificed; the sellers were there to make money providing the animals for sacrifice.

Jesus saved the lives of the animals and ended the financial exploitation of the people. He brought love back into a space where love had long since ceased to prevail.

And that is the essential story of Christ, that Jesus of Nazareth, who is anointed the Messiah, the Christ, brought love into the foreground in space where love had receded in the face of habit and custom and the imbalance of body over mind, of flesh over spirit. Jesus reminded people of the joy of walking in love. Jesus loved so we too, might learn to love.

God creates us to live in synergy and calls us in that very act of creation, in God’s own image, to live fully into our LGBTQ+ lives, as Paul reminds us, as Jesus shows us, to be witnesses of the synergy of love.

3 Lent Year B 2024 RCL (Exodus 20:1-17; Psalm 19 Caeli enarrant; 1 Corinthians 1:18-25; John 2:13-22)

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