Keep thinking*

It is tough to move around. No matter how nice a place your new place is, the change is always problematic. The shifting of culture is really more important than most of us think. We think the US is one country and everything is the same, but we really are a nation of 50 countries, and each one has its own collection of cultures, and they all really are different from each other.

Wisconsin is lovely. We are especially moved, after 30 some years in the Northeast corridor, to see the sky. And especially at night. We can see the moon, and the stars—all of them—against the inky black sky. And now we live on the edge of Lake Michigan, which is one of the world’s largest inland seas—freshwater notwithstanding. Just those things, simple as they sound, are part of the different culture here, and especially are part of our comprehension of this new place where we find ourselves.

I think maybe because I have not worked as a priest much (I am not yet licensed in Milwaukee, and have served only once in Philadelphia since moving in May), I have a kind of secular perspective. I notice how, when I hear church people talk, they sound churchy. And it almost immediately turns me off. There was an interesting article in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel a week or so ago about how churches are trying to attract young men. We drove past a place last week called “Brew City Church.” We laughed, but I bet they get more young men than anything with a saint in its name. So, I am going to try to make a theological point here without getting churchy. Let’s see how well I do.

To know, in the ancient texts, usually is code for sex. And when it isn’t code for sex, it is metaphor for the kind of melding that happens between souls during sex. Somehow the most human moment we can experience is also crossed with the most holy moment. And when the Old Testament prophets talk about “knowing” God, they mean having that kind of intimate experience with God, knowing God in your soul, and God knowing you in your soul. This is the second Sunday in Advent. Christmas is three weeks away (take that! all you premature marketers!). And God says through the prophet Isaiah that “the earth will be full of the knowledge of God.” Wow. The whole of the earth, every living thing, is destined to know the soul of God.

It means that you should take time in these deliciously dark nights of winter to look inside your own soul, to find God within you. The only sin, remember, is refusing to be one with God.

In this week’s scripture, we have the story of John the Baptist appearing in the wilderness. He eats locusts and honey—ick! And the author of Matthew’s Gospel has him saying some dramatic things. But the most important thing he says is this, which Jesus also will keep saying (a sort of leitmotif in Matthew’s Gospel): “repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

So let’s see. Repent means pause and look inward. Re- pent; pent, again. Do it again. Look inward, again, and again, and again. Because the kingdom of heaven not only has come near, it is here, nearby. Only by continually thinking (pent, penser, to think) can you move yourself into God’s dimension. God’s dimension of reality. Only by moving to the dimension where you know God will you find God’s kingdom.

In God’s dimension of reality there is justice. And there is peace. And there is equality for all of God’s creatures. We who are glbt must re-pent until we are truly proud of the souls God has given us to live in. When we have done that we will stop bowing to hetero-hegemony. Then we will see that the blindness society has keeps people from seeing that some people are not replicas but are diverse. Nature is diverse. Humanity is diverse. God’s creation is diverse. We are diverse.

Have a soulful second Sunday in Advent. (Remember, Christmas begins at sundown on Christmas Eve, the 24^th of December. Don’t be saying “happy holiday” to people for six *$&^@ weeks!)

*2 Advent (Isaiah 11:1-10; Psalm 72:1-7, 18-19; Romans 15:4-13; Matthew 3:1-12)

©2013 The Rev.Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Love is the sign*

Love is such a powerful emotion. When we fall in love we give ourselves over completely to the other. We don’t even think about it, we just do it, because somewhere in our soul we sense it is right to do. I remember when I fell in love with Brad, the first time, and I remember when I fell in love with Brad the second time, and I remember the other times too, because they are imprinted on my soul. The power of raw love is enough to move mountains.

What we forget, we 21st century people, we technological marvels, is that God is that powerful love. Anytime we are truly in a loving relationship it is because God is the glue that has put us there. God is the potter and we are the clay (Isaiah 64), we are the work of God’s hand. Then again, we have to be careful that we are experiencing love, and not just lust, and not just neediness. That’s why I pointed out that I have fallen in love with my husband more than once. Love grows, love deepens, love matures, love resonates—all of that takes place in relationship. Loving God, and gaining knowledge of God’s love for you, is like that too. It isn’t all warm fuzzies—it takes time, it needs to grow, to mature, to deepen, to resonate.

I like to tell people sometimes how, when I go off on vacation and lose my daily ritual, I sometimes forget to pray. Always, when I do that, God comes calling. Usually God comes calling in a kind of sweet, joking way; I will be enjoying a sunrise, or the ocean, or just a quiet coffee, and there will be a sudden nagging in the back of my brain, and I know it is God saying “okay buddy, where are you, I miss you.” I always laugh. God likes it when you laugh. Because it means your love for God is real enough.

Of course, we who are glbt people know all about love, because the society in which we live has chosen to define us culturally by that love. I’ve just returned to the US from two weeks in Belgium and The Netherlands. The culture there is different; people are just people there, and people who love are celebrated for the richness of their experience. It is refreshing to see. But I digress … Love is powerful, that’s the point where I began. Look at the whole of the reading from Isaiah for today (Isaiah 64: 1-9). It is as surely a love letter as any I ever have seen; God’s people, in love, are hurting because God has turned away from them “You were angry, we sinned, because you hid yourself we transgressed … you have hidden your face from us ….” The pain is crystal clear, it is the cry of a lover in distress. You see, even in loving God, there is relationship, and relationship always is sticky because it requires as much attention to other as to self, more maybe.

Jesus said “keep awake.” I think he meant, “be real.” We are gay people who have been put here on earth to love each other, but also to show the rest of the world what love can look like. We must keep loving each other, in all of the ways our gay culture has created, because those are signs to the rest of the world of the power of God’s love. We must never turn our backs on God, and the best way to remain always connected to God is to remain always in a state of love with one another. Remember that Jesus has told us that to love your neighbor as yourself is the same as to love God with all of your being.

So it is now the first Sunday of Advent, the season of preparation. It is time to put away the turkey platter, and take advantage of the cool dusky evenings to think and pray and feel closer to God. It is time to plan gifts to warm the hearts of those whom we love. It is time to rethink how it is that we feed not just our families but our communities as well. It is time to reflect on love as God’s most powerful gift. Jesus said “when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.” He means, when we truly love, really love, deeply love … those are the signs that the kingdom is with us and God is near.

1st Sunday of Advent (Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37)
©2011 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.culture, society, reflection