I apologize that I’ve missed posting the last couple of weeks. First we moved from Philadelphia to Milwaukee. Then I went to Rio de Janeiro for work for 10 days. Then I was recovering from all of the above. Here’s a picture of Ipanema, the famous beach in Rio, which was just outside my hotel.
I suppose one of the things on my mind is how jumbled life has been of late. We’ve done pretty well at transplanting ourselves but we both would tell you it has been tough. The last time we moved was almost three decades ago, so it isn’t just the cultural difference or the matter of everything being different, but also the physical demands, which are different at 30 than they are at 60 (trust me!). ..
But it reminds me of these “widows” in the stories as well as of Paul recounting his conversion. In 1 Kings Elijah is commanded by God to go to the home of a specific woman, identified as a widow. When he gets near the town he finds her “gathering sticks.” So, we learn, not only is she a widow, which means she has no means of support and no inheritance to rely on (in other words, no family but her son), but she has to gather weeds outside the gates to eat. As she works, she fills her head with worry to the point that when Elijah speaks with her she bursts out in anger. In the second part of the story, after she has trusted in God and Elijah has fed everyone, her son (in other words, the very last hope she has) becomes deathly ill, again she lets her anger and anxiety overwhelm her and it all bursts out when Elijah speaks to her. As I said, the other stories are similar (which is why the lectionary brings them all together!).
It is hard enough, sometimes, just to get through life, without the additional burdens that membership in creation sometimes brings (weather, for instance) or in society (jobs, politics, housing, family) and sometimes it can all seem overwhelming. And that is the lesson—if you let it overwhelm you then you will fail to see the grace of God staring you in the face. There are lots of morals to these stories, but the message for us is not to let worry or anything else overwhelm our sense of the very presence of God in our lives. As Psalm 146 says (verse 5), God keeps God’s promise forever.
Today is Gay Pride in both Philadelphia and Milwaukee. The rainbow flags were flying over the lakeside festival as I drove past earlier today and it was beautiful. It was a reminder that my family—my husband and me and the love we share—is blessed by God. That whatever else preoccupies us, God has brought us together and made us one, and that is God’s promise to us forever, and that is the gift of being God’s gay and lesbian children.
Psalm 146 vs. 9 “The LORD shall reign for ever, your God … throughout all generations! Hallelujah!”
*3rd Sunday afterPentecost or Proper 5 Year C (1 Kings 17:8-16 (17-24); Psalm 146; Galatians 1:11-24; Luke 7:11-17)
©2013 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Reality: glbt Christian spirituality 