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.

*Now is the moment

It was a very nice Thanksgiving. It snowed early in the week. Not a lot, just enough to be pretty and to test the snow-removal systems (they worked). So we’re feeling a little bit better about being in a snow zone. It was a quiet Thanksgiving, and the meal went swimmingly. I’m used to watching old movies on Thanksgiving night waiting to get an appetite up for a sandwich, and absolutely nothing of interest was on. But then I got to have my deep turkey sleep. Friday was peaceful and we went to see Dallas Buyer’s Club. It was something Brad wanted to see. (We really wanted to see Harry Potter as Ginsberg but it had left already after only 6 days in theaters here?) The movie is critically acclaimed and I suppose that’s correct, although I found it thoroughly depressing. It reminded me too much of what those days were like. I lived through that era, I survived it, I worked as a chaplain in the trenches of those horrid hospitals where AIDS patients were warehoused to run down their insurance. It is behind me, I hope.

This morning the sun is shining and the snow has melted  … a harbinger of the week to come, I hope. (I’m having electrical outlets installed on the front of the house this week; guess why?)

There is a theme for the first Sunday in Advent that is hard to escape, Paul puts it best “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment.” The rest is clear from all the rest of the scripture, Isaiah promises peace, the psalmist praises unity and reminds us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for quietness, for prosperity. That resonates with me. I prayed each day this weekend for quiet and progress, and that’s pretty much what I got. Jesus says to his disciples in Matthew’s Gospel that they must be ready at every moment. As Paul said, we all know this. Now is the time, this is the moment. Of course, every moment is now, and in every now is the moment, which is the time, to turn to God. Ahhh … you see, it isn’t about scary things coming at you from outside. Rather, it is about whether you can turn to God and stop being apart from God, which is the definition of sin. Can you turn to love? Can you turn to justice? Can you turn away from selfish things? Those are the questions, and now is the time for them.

In the US I sometimes wonder whether there is any point for gay people staying. My friends know I am an expatriate waiting to happen. I already spend more time in Amsterdam and Toronto that I do in the US. This is because, in those places, now is now, and not some future make-believe time. Gay people have equality in those places, and freedom to love, and access to full citizenship and the rights that go with it—not true in the US. So, I’m not going to tell you not to go. I guess I should remind you, however, that it is easier said than done to emigrate.

On the other hand, it is way past time for gay people to come out. It is way past time for gay people to coddle their relatives who “just aren’t ready.” It is way past time for everyone to understand that hetero-hegemony is a sin, that cuts heterosexual people off from God, because by choosing to live in that way they are playing God. We need to remind our hetero-brethren that now is the time, now is the moment. For love and justice,for everyone.

Have a happy and peaceful Advent. I wish you bounteous snowfall, because it brings peace and introspection. I wish you joy in the cuddling and peace in the sleep of winter. And I hope you will remind yourself that now is the time, now is the moment. (Oh, and don’t be putting up Christmas lights or trees yet. It is only the first Sunday in Advent!)

*First Sunday of Advent (Isaiah 2:1-5; Psalm 122; Romans 13:11-14; Matthew 24:36-44)

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