Prepare the Way of Love

The sun is shining today in the Willamette Valley. When I went outside to get my newspaper this morning the sky was hazy with fog but the sun’s rays were pointing brilliantly in a fan shape through the stately Douglas firs all around. It was heavenly.

This past week we had arborists here. We had an old silver maple that had slowly been dropping its branches on our house and our neighbors’ backyards over the past year and a half. It took months to figure out what to do and finally get someone here to do it, but this week the tree was trimmed. Now there is a lot of fresh firewood in our woodshed and there is no possibility any branches will fall on anything. It is that last bit that I am noticing each morning as I look out where the cracked branches used to be. I had grown so accustomed to worrying about when they might fall that I find it difficult to remember, now, that that problem is resolved. We are prepared for ice storms and winter winds, whenever they might come.

Preparation means change, and change means both working past the former reality and accepting the new.

Advent is a season of preparation. We are called to look inward, to work past former realities, to generate new realities and to accept the change.

Love is the path to the dimension where change is not just accepted but embraced, cheered with joy, accepted with grace—dare I say (?) it is the dimension where change is loved.

Love, of course, is the “robe of righteousness that comes from God” (Baruch 5:2), the “diadem of the glory of the Everlasting.” It is the love of creation making those heavenly rays of sun shine through the trees to remind us not only that we are all part of something larger than us but also that we and all of creation are loved. It is the love that comes to us in this way that is the robe of righteousness and the diadem of glory. It is the love to which we are called that is the manifestation of our blessing. This call to love, that our love might “overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight” (Philippians 1:9), is the affirmation of the certainty that we are called to love. It is our sign as LGBTQ people that we are called as God’s loving children who are defined by the love we share, to love.

We are called to “prepare the way” (Luke 3:4).

We are called to embrace the love in our hearts as the instrument of change, of new reality, of preparation. Why, it is just like the new reality that Amy Schneider, a trans woman, is still an on-going champion of Jeopardy. The brilliance of her smile shows that love that fuels her. Her gentle embrace of her identity, her proud posture in the world, is a sign to all of us that we, too, can find the dimension of love.

Prepare the way indeed.

2 Advent Year C 2021 RCL (Baruch 5:1-9; Canticle 16; Philippians 1:3-11; Luke 3:1-6)

©2021 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Love is the sign*

Love is such a powerful emotion. When we fall in love we give ourselves over completely to the other. We don’t even think about it, we just do it, because somewhere in our soul we sense it is right to do. I remember when I fell in love with Brad, the first time, and I remember when I fell in love with Brad the second time, and I remember the other times too, because they are imprinted on my soul. The power of raw love is enough to move mountains.

What we forget, we 21st century people, we technological marvels, is that God is that powerful love. Anytime we are truly in a loving relationship it is because God is the glue that has put us there. God is the potter and we are the clay (Isaiah 64), we are the work of God’s hand. Then again, we have to be careful that we are experiencing love, and not just lust, and not just neediness. That’s why I pointed out that I have fallen in love with my husband more than once. Love grows, love deepens, love matures, love resonates—all of that takes place in relationship. Loving God, and gaining knowledge of God’s love for you, is like that too. It isn’t all warm fuzzies—it takes time, it needs to grow, to mature, to deepen, to resonate.

I like to tell people sometimes how, when I go off on vacation and lose my daily ritual, I sometimes forget to pray. Always, when I do that, God comes calling. Usually God comes calling in a kind of sweet, joking way; I will be enjoying a sunrise, or the ocean, or just a quiet coffee, and there will be a sudden nagging in the back of my brain, and I know it is God saying “okay buddy, where are you, I miss you.” I always laugh. God likes it when you laugh. Because it means your love for God is real enough.

Of course, we who are glbt people know all about love, because the society in which we live has chosen to define us culturally by that love. I’ve just returned to the US from two weeks in Belgium and The Netherlands. The culture there is different; people are just people there, and people who love are celebrated for the richness of their experience. It is refreshing to see. But I digress … Love is powerful, that’s the point where I began. Look at the whole of the reading from Isaiah for today (Isaiah 64: 1-9). It is as surely a love letter as any I ever have seen; God’s people, in love, are hurting because God has turned away from them “You were angry, we sinned, because you hid yourself we transgressed … you have hidden your face from us ….” The pain is crystal clear, it is the cry of a lover in distress. You see, even in loving God, there is relationship, and relationship always is sticky because it requires as much attention to other as to self, more maybe.

Jesus said “keep awake.” I think he meant, “be real.” We are gay people who have been put here on earth to love each other, but also to show the rest of the world what love can look like. We must keep loving each other, in all of the ways our gay culture has created, because those are signs to the rest of the world of the power of God’s love. We must never turn our backs on God, and the best way to remain always connected to God is to remain always in a state of love with one another. Remember that Jesus has told us that to love your neighbor as yourself is the same as to love God with all of your being.

So it is now the first Sunday of Advent, the season of preparation. It is time to put away the turkey platter, and take advantage of the cool dusky evenings to think and pray and feel closer to God. It is time to plan gifts to warm the hearts of those whom we love. It is time to rethink how it is that we feed not just our families but our communities as well. It is time to reflect on love as God’s most powerful gift. Jesus said “when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates.” He means, when we truly love, really love, deeply love … those are the signs that the kingdom is with us and God is near.

1st Sunday of Advent (Isaiah 64:1-9; Psalm 80:1-7, 16-18; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:24-37)
©2011 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.culture, society, reflection