An organic whole*

Creation is an organic whole. I’m sure that comes as no surprise to anyone. I read this week that the ozone layer has begun to recover, more than two decades after we stopped using ozone-depleting chemicals. The Milwaukee paper today has a cover story about algae blooms in Lake Erie; they’re a problem in all of the Great Lakes, and problems in the lakes signal problems in the environment and presage problems in life all around those lakes, not to mention reverberations worldwide from changes in the socio-economics of the region. It’s a bit like chaos theory, which most of us learned about in Jurassic Park. Everything is connected.

If everything is connected then it follows that a disturbance in one place can lead to a domino-effect of disturbances along the line. This is the reasoning glbt liberators have used for decades to encourage coming out. People who do not come out harm themselves for sure, by not reaching personal fulfillment. But they also harm those around them, entering into relationships based on false pretenses, as well as bringing harm to the rest of us who are gay who are seen as somehow odd for having come out. When all glbt people stand up in society for just whom God has made us to be, there will be no room for oppression or suppression. Paul writes to the Romans (14:7) “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves.” Paul’s focus in this passage is on unity with God, living into life with God. But lest we live fully into life with each other we cannot be one with God.

The other side of this coin, to mush a metaphor, comes in Matthew’s Gospel (18-21-35) where we hear Jesus repeatedly telling his disciples that they must forgive and forgive and forgive and then forgive some more and it must come from the heart. Without the opening to God created by the flow of love among people there can be no space for justice. Without forgiveness there can be no room for everything, which is interconnected, to thrive. Forgiveness must come from the heart and must flow among us, but of course, it does not mean we must be doormats.

Yes, there must be marriage equality. Yes, our families must be respected as such. To that end we must continue to stand up for ourselves. A former mentor used to say repeatedly that the most important thing gay people did in the church was to show up and be visible, as a witness to their faith among the whole congregation. So, yes, we also must find a way to forgive, and with forgiveness in our hearts continue to show up and be visible. Creation is an organic whole.

*Proper 19 (Exodus 14:19-31; Psalm 114; Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35)

©2014 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.