Nearer now*

We have to admit it was a pretty interesting week for gay people in the United States, and especially for those of us who are or who hope to be married. I am cynical enough that I had suspected sending the issue of our right to marry to the Supreme Court was only inviting disaster. And I have to admit I was wrong, sort of. The good news is that the decisions they made in our favor acknowledge that we exist and that we deserve equality under the law. Make no mistake, the dissenting opinions go more in the usual direction of pointing out that we are not born gay and our sexuality therefore must be controlled by heterosexuals. And while there was some positive decision-making on their part, there also was a good dose of side-stepping the issues—failing to decide California’s Proposition 8, for example, which allowed them to avoid admitting that we have a right to marry.

Still, it is progress, and we had better take it and run with it. I remember right after Brad and I were married in Toronto, we were introduced to a young gay man who said something like “good for you … we have that right and we had better use it or they’ll take it away from us.” He was on to something. Not only that, his point accords nicely with Jesus’ role in Luke 9, where it tells us he “set his face” to go to Jerusalem—nothing like the stern look of a young prophet who has made a firm decision! Jesus is en route, moving ahead, not stopping, and not looking back. He ignored the unwelcoming villagers and excoriated his disciples for complaining. Don’t stop now, don’t look back, was his message. Then a follower wants to join him and Jesus reminds him there is no stopping, no resting place along the way. The next guy wants to go home and put things in order (by burying his deceased father no less!) but Jesus says no again, don’t stop, don’t turn back, keep going is the message. And finally the last follower wants to say goodbye to the folks at home but Jesus says “No one who … looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” And that is the message.

The kingdom of God is the kingdom of justice. It is the kingdom of righteousness, which means all is right with God and within, and righteousness is the flower of the seed of justice. Equality is the garden where justice blooms, and in the kingdom of God, equality, justice and righteousness demand constant attention. Equality, justice and righteousness demand constant awareness, constant motion, and constant motion forward. There is no turning back.

That’s a good message for us, spiritually and otherwise  this week. We have marriage in 13 states now. Thirteen countries have made marriage legal and in some of them it has been long enough that it has become normative. This is true in the Netherlands where I marvel each time I meet two young men who are planning to marry. They plan for a year or more, they make sure they have their finances and their romances in order. And they enter into marriage with a maturity that would make Americans blush.

We all are fit for the kingdom of God, because God has made us heirs of the kingdom by creating us in God’s own image, and that means God’s own lgbt image. Don’t look back, don’t stop, not now, the kingdom has come even nearer this week.

*Proper 8 (2 Kings 2:1-2, 6-14; Psalm 77:1-2, 11-20; Galatians 5:1,13-25; Luke 9:51-62)

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