Nobody can Erase Love

What an amazing Lenten roller coaster we seem to have leapt onto all of a sudden. No need to urge us to introspection, we have plenty of reason coming from our friends on the—erm, “right?” From pandemic to insurrection to persecution of trans folks to homophobia masking as some sort of parental wisdom to making “don’t say gay” permanent for all ages. It seems if we let them, our phobic “siblings”—and don’t be misled for a moment, this all stems from internalized fear of self—want to erase LGBTQ, just one swipe and “all gone.”

Well, sorry, no. We cannot be erased. We are not punching bags or whipping [persons] or chose your own metaphor, but not even Lent can bring us to sit back and wait for our own erasure. We are God’s LGBTQ children, created in God’s own LGBTQ image, called by God to be visibly LGBTQ in the world to show the world the power of love as it is manifest in our diverse identities. We cannot be erased. Pick somebody else to bully. God is on our side.

God has a compact with us. It goes something like this [Ezekiel 37:14]: we are the operative characters in this reality drama, so we have been given everything ew need, and there are no ifs-ands-or-buts the truth is the truth. We only can fail if we fail to remain connected to each other, which is how we remain connected to God, who has given us everything we need.

Yes, it’s a circle; let the circle be always unbroken. God’s own spirit is within us, we who are God’s LGBTQ children, and God has called us to live fully into the lives God has created for us so that we might be a witness to the power of God’s love.

Psalm 130 verse 2 says if God noted what was done amiss who could stand?” and verse 5 is a chorus about how our souls wait for God more than “watchmen for the morning.” We wait for God … well, yes, but not really because God is already here with us. It is our own selves we wait for, we wait for our own selves to shift into God’s dimension of love, to get firmly on God’s loving frequency. And once we do, nothing can stop the power of God’s love within us.

Ostracism, mysogeny, racism … they all are part of the same set of “fears” that try to outlaw us because of who we are and how we love. They are the hallmarks of what has been done, what is being done “amiss.” Who then can stand?

It seems some folks are trying to outlaw us; to erase us.

Because God dwells in every one of us, love dwells in every one of us [Romans 8:11], in every moment. Embrace God’s spirit within us, embrace LGBTQ love.

The story about Lazarus [John 11: 1-45] is very beautiful. It has been a huge part of my formation as a priest. It is about the very human Jesus weeping … why? Because his beloved Lazarus has died. But more … because they didn’t call him in time, because Lazarus didn’t need to die but they didn’t pay attention in time, because now that they have called him they still don’t quite get it.

The story has the kernels of the reality of God. God always listens. We need forever to be giving thanks because that opens the channel. It is the absence of love that bound Lazarus. Jesus prayed: “Lazarus, come out” and then, “unbind him, and let him go.”

How many of us know that trope? How many of us have had to face being unbound and let go. I still remember the joy of that moment when I finally “let go” of the things that bound me. I still celebrate that joy. I still revel in that joy. That love has sustained me ever since I was unbound and found the pathway into God’s dimension of love.

Nobody can erase love. Nobody can erase the love that dwells within us, which is the spirit God gave us, in the land God has created as ours.

5 Lent Year A 2023 RCL (Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; Romans 8:6-11; John 11:1-45)

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