Labor Day weekend in the United States—it seems almost like Christmas or Thanksgiving these days—lots of cooking of traditional foods, freedom from obligations in the real world which mostly is closed for business (thanks be to God), time to spend relaxing with family and friends. It is a nice break for us after almost two months of uproar from our move across the country and near total change in our way of life. Contrast is always a good thing. Busy-ness breaks for calm, there is time after all to enjoy that which we have been trying to build—a home.
The real world eh? Well, out there in the real world there is a trade war, a looming recession, an enormous hurricane, a continuing crisis in the American presidency, a new mosquito-borne infection … plenty of reality, almost more than we can bear at times. In our own corner of reality we are in a constant state of uproar between recalcitrant contractors and balancing priorities about the house. What are we to do?
Why, we need to embrace the holiday, of course. We need to take time out of busy lives to reflect, to appreciate, to realize the value of the love we share with friends and family, the love with which we interact with community and even with nature. These are the real gifts of our lives and they are created—even curated—when we give love, which we only are able to do if we can step aside from our self-induced regular mad dash to get things done.
Embrace the holiday as a way of preparation as well. Bask in the shared love of family and friends, nurture each other with love and good food, Store up the love given and received. Appreciate the power of that love.
I had one of those “wake up and smell the coffee” moments the other day. The place where we live has recently banished all plastic bags, which is a good thing for the environment. But it has discombobulated the grocery experience because every approach to the check-out presents a crisis of one sort or another. Either you forgot your bags in the car and now have to pay for paper bags or stuff all of the groceries in your cargo pockets, or, you brought your bags but there is no place to put them, and because they’re floppy cloth bags they won’t stay open while you madly try to shove everything in them to get out of the way of the person behind you in line. Whew! In all of this one of the nice things about the culture here—the pleasant cashiers—got displaced. They try to talk pleasantly with you but if you’re like me, you’re too busy jamming things in bags and pockets. Well, the other day for no apparent reason I totally forgot myself, and at the end I looked the cashier in the eye and said “thank you.” (I never do such things, despite my constant preaching about it, I’m way too introverted.) The entire situation shifted in a heartbeat. Calm descended, she smiled and said “you’re welcome” and we all relaxed a little bit.
We forget that scriptural guides like “do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers” (Hebrews 13:1-8) mean just such moments, as indeed does “for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” (Luke 14:1, 7-14). The letter to the Hebrews talks of angels and Jesus in Luke’s Gospel makes examples of banquets, but we need to remember that everyday life is a banquet, that every encounter is an opportunity to show hospitality, that in every moment the opportunity to change reality by giving love is present. All we have to do is remember we are all in this together.
Reality is real enough, as we all know. All too soon we will crank up our busy-ness again. But for now, we need to embrace the holiness of life’s banquets by showing hospitality in every moment.
Proper 17 (Jeremiah 2:4-13; Psalm 81:1, 10-16 Exultate Deo; Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16; Luke 14:1, 7-14)
©2019 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Reality: glbt Christian spirituality 