God, intimacy, sin*

I often tell people who take the time to talk with me that I sometimes despair of ever being able to explain the Gospel.

I see what the larger church has done—they have made it so simple an idiot can process it, but, of course, in so doing they also have taken away any humanity in the process. There is no list of sins. Some churches have lists, because it helps them oppress people. But God has no such list. Sex, chocolate—when used to create joy, are not inherently sinful. And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise—they’re wrong.

So here we have the prophet Jeremiah, speaking to a people who have broken every law, and furthermore suffered the consequences. And through his voice God says “they shall all know me.” Do you get what that means? To “know” someone is to share intimacy. So God is saying, all of God’s people, who are truly faithful, will share intimacy with God. And then God says “I will remember their sin no more”—do you remember that sin means being disconnected from God? If one shares intimacy with God, then one cannot by definition, know sin.

Here is God saying that God is with us in every breath, every intimate moment—yes, go ahead and let your mind fill in that blank—and therefore, because we are one with God, we cannot be disconnected from God.

But, of course, the choice is ours. We can choose to share closeness with God, or we can turn our backs.

We who are gay know the intimacy of our God. After all, we are made gay in God’s image so that we can spread joy through all of humanity. Our job, is to embrace the intimacy God has given us with each other, so that in so doing we enhance the intimacy of all humanity with God. Just as God, through Jeremiah, told us to do.

5 Lent (Jeremiah 31:31-34; Psalm 51:1-13; Hebrews 5:5-10; John 12:20-33)
©2012 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.