Recognition is the Revelation of Resurrection

Faith … well, is hope, and trust, and loyalty, but most of all, it is love in action. The “eyes of our faith” are the eyes of our souls, open in even the most difficult moments to simple acts of love.

We have had a family crisis since the disappearance of Red Oval Farms Mini-Stoned Wheat Thins (go ahead and laugh, it’s supposed to be funny). We ran out sometime in the fall, and they aren’t being made any longer. And it isn’t just (like most complainers on the web) that we miss the big crackers (that, as reviewers notice, stopped breaking along that line several years ago when Nabisco acquired Red Oval Farms or some such and changed the recipe) but we were addicted specifically to the little ones, the minis, tiny squares, just the right size to fit in my Fiestaware ramekins …..

So, yesterday, after months of trying substitutes and searching online, we went to Trader Joe’s, because they supposedly had a good substitute. Trader Joe’s is always difficult, too busy, too small, too hard to navigate. But today it was really almost impossible … people were jumping in front of us to grab things, we couldn’t even get a good distance (for someone with my sightedness) from a shelf to see what was on it because people kept shoving us aside literally, and huffing loudly, to grab stuff all around us.

Btw, there was no such product in the store.

We left.

But … day before yesterday we went to our newest romantic place (LOL), the Market of Choice (a supermarket). There we didn’t need much and we gathered it quickly, but then I was struck almost literally dumb as I walked up to the checkout. There was a hot young fellow with a beard … normally I would just go for his lane … but right next to him, laughing and joking, was a really nice lady who has been taking care of us for months … oh no, I thought, what to do … fortunately my husband grabbed the cart while I was frozen in fear and headed for our lady friend’s aisle. And I’m glad, she is always so loving, and we love talking with her, and he made the right choice, even as I couldn’t.

See, I keep telling you, this walking in love stuff isn’t as easy as singing hymns and pretending you are pious at church where the Spirit has been whipped up and it seems like second nature.

In Acts 1 Peter preaches to immense crowds and at the end of the story we learn that 3000 were baptized at once! Because they welcomed his message of love.

The Psalmist asks (116: 10) what can we give God in return for the promise of love? The answer is faith, of course, which is walking in love, most easily expressed with a simple “thanks.”

In his first epistle Peter (1 Peter 1:22) reminds us that we purify our souls by “obedience to the truth so that [we] have genuine mutual love.” Love in action, always.

Theologians argue about this passage from Luke [24:13-35], and indeed the other resurrection appearances in the Gospels, where the disciples don’t recognize Jesus. Is he so changed that they cannot recognize him? Are they so disabled that they cannot see God?

No, it is just that, we don’t expect that the person standing next to us, cold, sweating, naked, hungry, afraid, dirty, whatever … is our risen Savior. And yet, it is exactly the person standing next to you, always, whoever it is, who is exactly God incarnate, with you, recognizing you, offering love, your Redeemer.

We do not see God because we are so busy being us. Just look. Just pay attention. God is with you. God is all around you. Resurrection is with us, near us, always.

I do not know why or how it is that suddenly we, God’s LGBTQ children, are the subject of social and political struggle. I suppose we likely are in for a bit of turbulence as we remind the world that we too not only have a right to live, but that we too are created by God in God’s own image and we too are called by God to be loving heirs of the dimension of love.

It is worth remembering that witness works, that by being visible, by being recognized as loving siblings, neighbors, colleagues, co-workers, (LOL even shoppers), we remind everyone around us that in recognition is the revelation of resurrection, the doorway to the dimension of love.

3 Easter Year A 2023 RCL (Acts 2:14a, 36-41; Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35)

©2023 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

We all are Witnesses

Easter-tide, thank goodness, is a time of refreshment, rejuvenation, reorientation to life without holidays –a kind of opening of the way of normalcy. With any luck the weather will get better and soon spring sun will be the norm instead of a rare surprise. My tulips are beautiful on the rare occasion when there is enough sun for them to open up! This sense of return to normal is, I think, a major aspect of faith. It is easy enough to get whipped up by holiday hype, it is another thing to walk in love, to live the love that God asks us to live into. God asks us to understand in resurrection the idea that there is always renewal where there always is love in action. Resurrection is within us.

So it is that like Peter (Acts 2) and the other disciples, we are witnesses—[Acts 2:32] “This Jesus God raised up, and of that all of us are witnesses.”  Yes, Peter means that he and the disciples were witnesses of the risen Jesus. But he also means that all of us, you and me, if we have faith, if we live into our covenant with God that we love our neighbors as ourselves—we are witnesses of resurrection.

In this, then, is our joy. In the leaves popping out on stems that remind us spring is coming and life is abundant and that there is always renewal. This is our joy in the smiles and hugs of loved ones, in the greeting by the nice lady at the supermarket, in the sweet sound of a familiar voice—in a hundred moments in each day is the proof that resurrection is within us, that God has raised us up too, that our joy is complete in the fullness of the path God has pointed out for us, the doorway into the dimension of love [Psalm 16:11].

In his first epistle [1 Peter 1:3-9] Peter speaks of hope, of that sense of trust that is the essence of faith that our inheritance of love is “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.” It is this hope that is the catalyst for Easter joy, the sense of renewal, or if I may, of salvation, which is “more precious than gold” because like all of life it has been “tested by fire.” We know that resurrection is within us if we can keep our feet on the path into the dimension of love.

John’s Gospel account of the risen Jesus’ visit to the upper room [John 20:19-31] leads usually to the focus on Thomas, whose “doubt” is revealed not only as very human but also as very intimate. Whatever Thomas’ failings, however momentary, the love he shares with Jesus is so powerful that the risen Christ comes to him to say “Do not doubt but believe.”

Jesus ends the story with the pronouncement “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”

Thus belief completes the circle of faith, the route back to love, the sure way to the dimension of love.

And so even we, the LGBTQ Thomases of our own time, we who are oppressed and outcast and reviled and distrusted even in our own “enlightened” day, we still believe, because we know the power of the love we have been given in our creation in God’s own image as inheritors of God’s love, as gatekeepers of God’s dimension of love. We know that resurrection is within us because we experience it every day, every moment, in the love we share. We all are witnesses. We all are blessed.

Second Sunday of Easter Year A 2023 RCL (Acts 2:14a, 22-32; Psalm 16; 1 Peter 1:3-9; John 20:19-31)

©2023 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Easter Joy is Easter Love. Alleluia!

The magic of Easter is the magic of new things, of springtime, of sunshine and flowers and let’s just admit it—hope. And yet, the magic of Easter is the magic of old things made new, of regeneration, of sunshine and flowers and springtime yet again and again and again, and the reassurance of that is the reassurance of the certainty of love. And hope.

We know the Easter story so well we sometimes forget to focus on its meaning, the immanent eternal universality of love. God is love, and the actions that help us understand the elements of the Christ event are the actions of transmitting love.

Acts 10: Love shows no partiality. We who are love are witnesses to all that love has accomplished. Everyone who walks in love receives eternal connection to the source and power of love

Psalm 118: Give thanks to love, to the source of love, to the building up of love. Love’s mercy endures for ever. Love is my strength, love is my song, love has become my salvation. Love’s doing is marvelous in every way. On this day love has acted, we rejoice in love with love.

In the story of the resurrection told in John chapter 20, we have clearly a logical family, like the logical families of so many of us who are created with love as God’s LGBTQ people. This logical family is created by love, sustained by love, walking in love, and yet is forced to persist in love when pain is inflicted.

John 20: The “other” disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, outran all the others so powerful was the love and hope within. The “other” disciple saw and believed in what the power of love had done. Mary Magdalene’s love was so powerful he heart was broken, she wept, but angels comforted her. When she saw Jesus she supposed him to be the gardener, who was tending creation, as always, with love. She knew him when he spoke her name. She praised the power of love which had yet again transformed her.

The truth of the resurrection is this: it is not just as an event in history that we honor. Rather, it is a timeless event in our own hearts. We go through cruxifixion and resurrection daily, constantly even, in our lives. We depend on the promise of the eternity of love to restore and replenish us. That is the promise of Christ.

For us in the LGBTQ community, it is the promise that the love with which we are created in love’s very image is not only real but powerful and eternal. It is the knowledge that our loves and logical families are honored by love, that there is always another morning, that the tulips always will bloom in spring, that love is everywhere that we can embrace it.

Easter joy is Easter love. Alleluia!

 

Easter Day Principal Service Year C RCL 2022 (Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24  Confitemini Domino; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 ; John 20:1-18)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Touch, See, Love

I hope everyone had an amazing Easter.

I have missed a few weeks here because of a family emergency. My own Easter was sweet enough, as it was the day the emergency receded and a semblance of normalcy began to return. It was a lesson in faith and hope greater than I have experienced in a long time, a reminder that Easter is not just a date or a church holy day but rather an eternal state of life. Resurrection is constant and eternal and always, always linked to faith and hope. Alleluia!

In John’s first letter (3:1) we are called to perceive the evidence of God as love: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.” We might paraphrase it thus: see what love love has given us that we should be the result of love. Love is the power and the glory, love is the key to life, and indeed love is the key to resurrection life. It is in the glory of a life lived walking in love that we who are the evidence of love are called to, in turn, keep the love going. Verse 7 says: “Everyone who does what is right is righteous” and that means that everyone who manifests love is, indeed, love.

As I walked through the weeks of our emergency I was uplifted by what I can only describe as my own personal cloud of LGBTQ witnesses, especially one angel with multihued hair who seemed to hover protectively over me. I felt the warmth of the love of these several angels whose own faith in the love we share in our own logical families (https://rpsplus.wordpress.com/2020/07/26/the-majesty-of-love/) upheld me and reinforced the love that was within me.

In the resurrection appearance in Luke’s Gospel (24:36b-48) Jesus calls his disciples to turn from the absence of love that occupied them (“they were startled and terrified”) and to turn toward the love he knew was in their hearts “touch me and see,” he said, and then, “have you anything here to eat?” It is in the reality of shared humanity that we see the truth of the love we all have been given in our creation in God’s own image. It is in the simple things, a smile, a pat on the shoulder, a warm greeting, a touch, a bit of hospitality, a bite to eat—it is in these things that we “touch and see” the glory of love, the vitality of love, the power of love.

3 Easter Year B RCL 2021 (Acts 3:12-19; Psalm 4; 1 John 3:1-7; Luke 24:36b-48)

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

Burning Hearts

Is your heart burning within you? I bet it is. Is there someone you love who is beyond your touch, beyond your breath, beyond your ability to soothe or comfort? Are you missing the precious presence of someone you love? Videoconferencing is great but does not allow us the natural intimacy of even a pat on the shoulder. LOL 30 years ago when I was in seminary Emeril Lagasse used to tell us to complain that we needed “smell-a-vision,” whatever happened to that idea? Well, here we are in a pandemic. And I would be willing to wager that everybody is missing somebody. I know that I sure am. I think LGBT folks are especially susceptible at this time because we tend to have crafted our families from near and far based on love and affection rather than genetics. That pang in your heart, the “burning” Jesus’ disciples spoke of in the story of the resurrection appearances at Emmaus (Luke 24:13-35) is that pang of recognition mixed with the emotional pain of absence. In the Eastertide stories about how Jesus, resurrected, appeared, we forget that it is not just the twelve who see him, but others as well. The difference between who sees and who does not is that sense of “hearts … burning within.” You see, this is the very definition of love.

In the Acts of the Apostle’s (2:14a), Peter reminds us that “God made Jesus both Lord and Messiah.” Let’s decode that. “Lord” is in Hebrew “God.” And “Messiah” is “anointed one.” What Peter is telling his listeners is that the risen Jesus is God incarnate (remember Christmas, when the baby Jesus was “Emmanuel” “God with us”?). And, as well, Jesus, risen, is the one anointed to bring salvation. And that means the one to bring God’s love into fruition.

Later (Acts 2:36-41) Peter tells his crowd to “repent” to receive the Holy Spirit. To “repent” means is to turn toward the dimension of love. It means to stop being solely of self and instead to being to be of love. Repentance means to transform your being by moving into the new dimension where you love—there you will see Jesus and receive His Spirit of love.

Who among us would not rather be having a nice walk or a nice meal with someone we love who is now at a distance? I think the key thing in the Gospel account is how, until they were able to switch from self to love, until they connected with the burning in their hearts, the disciples could not see that this was indeed the resurrected Christ.

What are we to do? How do we find our own resurrection truth? As always, the answer is love. We all know what it feels like to love. Answer the burning in your heart by giving your love.

Alleluia. The Lord is risen indeed.

 

3 Easter Year (Acts 2:14a, 36-41); Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17; 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35

©2020 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Being*

Thanks for your patience. After Easter I went to Amsterdam for two weeks. I know everybody thinks Amsterdam is a party town but that isn’t why I go there. There are several reasons I go there, actuallly. Maybe at the top of the list is that it has a culture that lets me be me. I think everything flows from that.

Of course, there are other major points. One is that, allowed to be me, I finally can relax. When I’m in Amsterdam I often sleep soundly all night and for 10-12 hours, whereas in my own home in the US where I have a wonderful bed, I rarely sleep 8 hours, and that in 45 minute segments. Doctors are always trying to diagnose something. I always tell them “but, in Amsterdam, I sleep soundly all night.”

Being allowed to be myself means I have genuine friends and even casual relationships, some of which are now 15 years running, that are all just based on real friendship. Then the next layer means, that being relaxed and among friends, I can be creative. So I often spend entire days (after my morning coffee) writing. In a short two week period I have finished six scientific papers (and that doesn’t include the ones on which I’m the second author and somebody else wrote most of it), started three more, and worked night and day on a book. I had hoped to finish the book. It actually is all in the template to be sent to the publisher—except I’m just not done enough yet. But the three days since I got back to the US have been telling, I haven’t had a moment’s peace to even look at the book, let alone finish it.

Then there is the culture of canals and tolerance and gezelligheit …. in fact, on the way in the immigration officer asked the guy in front of me whether he spoke Dutch (he didn’t); same officer didn’t even respond when I walked up and spoke Dutch to him … so when he asked me why I came to Amsterdam so often I said “because it’s gezellig!” He laughed and stamped my passport. And then said “welcome.” So I thanked him loudly in Dutch, and finally got a reply in Dutch.

Acts 9 speaks of a disciple in Joppa named Tabitah who was devoted to good works and acts of charity. But I think the key is that she was a disciple. That means she knew Jesus. In the story, she becomes ill and dies, and then Peter is summuned from nearby Lydda. Peter seems to be learning the ropes here, but he knows what to do—he prays. Tabitha is resurrected.

This is a metaphor of course as much as it is a true story. It reminds us that our faith begins in faith. The first thing we learn is that Tabitha had faith, she knew Jesus after all. And then it tells us that no matter what happens, prayer is the path to the reality of resurrection.

Is it an accident that I have a writing alternative life in Amsterdam? No. It is the answer to a prayer I had many years ago, that I might find peace. And so I have now in abundance the peace that passes all understanding, as the husband of a wonderful man for 35 years, as a priest, and as the quiet American on the north side of the gracht (erm, canal) typing away at his laptop. This is a kind of ongoing resurrection for me. It is, in effect, being.

What does resurrection look like for you?

Alleluia. Christ is risen!

The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

*4  Easter (Acts 9:36-43; Psalm 23; Revelation 7:9-17; John 10:22-30)

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

No Cross, No Crown*

“No Cross, No Crown” is a famous quotation, apparently from William Penn (although, curiously, somehow in my brain I’m associating it with Oscar Wilde—Google did not confirm that). I first encountered it sitting at the bar in the bar called Twin Peaks at the corner of Market and Castro in San Francisco. I thought it was hilarious at first, and then I began to understand the depth of its wisdom, especially in such a place. I don’t know whether you know Twin Peaks—it’s an old and venerable and remarkable institution with its big wooden bar, huge round tables, and those enormous open windows facing out both onto Castro and onto a spur of 17^th St. and Market. All of gay San Francisco comes and goes past that corner. I used to love to sit there at the end of the day as the sun was going down (or being blanketed by fog) over the real peaks just up the hill. You could watch people pouring out of the subway station and just imagine their glamorous San Francisco lives. And although my visits there have become fewer and farther between, I still enjoy the energy of the community in that place. And I have, indeed, been surprised to there encounter friends from all over the world, dropping by to pay homage while in town.

Well, back to “no cross, no crown.” It’s pretty pithy. I guess it just about sums everything up. Not just Christianity (although that), but life in general too. I discovered by Googling the phrase that it is considered a companion (or parallel) to “no pain, no gain.” I think what struck me about it that first time in San Francisco was the idea of the power of being fully gay. I sat there and saw that sign and looked around me and out the window at an enormous slice of God’s kingdom, all of it gay, and I saw the wonder—the glory, if you will—of living into the gay lives God has given us. But that glory follows the cross of coming out. No closets here—the phrase says to me that if you’re not willing to bear the social cross of coming out you won’t find the glory of the reality of created life. That’s a fancy way of saying the closet is deadly and coming out is the path to knowing God through knowing each other. And that is the definition of resurrection.

Easter is all about resurrection. We make a mistake as Christians when we focus too much on physical health as it’s meaning because we miss the dimensionality that way. Resurrection is how we continually connect and re-connect with God by connecting and re-connecting with each other. Broken relationships healed are a kind of resurrection. Broken spirits revived are a kind of resurrection. Jesus’ very real death and very real resurrection took place to show us how to stay connected with God. Jesus’ resurrection is our light that shows us the way to fullness of life in community. Resurrection is total connection, total connection with all of God’s powerful reality. Resurrection is in every moment in every life so long as we let Christ in.

No more closets. Time for the crown.

*Easter (Acts 10:34-43; Psalm 118:1-2, 14-24; 1 Corinthians 15:19-26; John 20:1-18)

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

“My little children”*

I guess the best part of this week is having Holy Week over with. I know I experienced a vast sense of relief once the Easter Vigil was done, and even more once Easter had come and gone. I’m not sure why such a beautiful time is so tense, but I suppose for a priest it has something to do with the combination of expectations and responsibilities.

The best part of this week is this wonderful reading from John’s first epistle. “My little children” he writes, “I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.” What has he written? That he has seen Jesus. That he has seen Jesus risen. That “God is light and in him there is no darkness at all.” And that it is a conceit ever to think that you have not sinned, just by your very being. This, of course, is the nature of humanity. And it is why God had to become man in Jesus, so God could experience sin first-hand as a human, and so God could learn how to forgive the sins of humans, especially those of us who are willing to repent.

I know there is a dark side to our religion, where people are persecuted and “sin” is evil and people are supposed to feel bad about being who they are. But this is not God’s will, and this is not the content of Jesus’ Gospel, and we see this truth in our weekly re-enactment of Easter at the Eucharist. We give thanks to God, we apologize for our mis-steps, we take a deep breath and breathe in the breath of life that is God’s Holy Spirit, and then, connected once more we resolve to stay connected.

And then we go out into the world, and get unplugged. The extent to which we stay unplugged is the problem. John here is saying to us, “little children” even if you get unplugged don’t worry, God will plug you back in.

This is the truth Doubting Thomas could not believe until he saw it. But blessed are we if we believe even though we have not seen. But then, we have seen. We have seen resurrection in our own lives, each day, each week, each moment. And we know the presence of God in our hearts.

My gay and lesbian and transgendered and bisexual children, do not ever believe that your sexuality is a component of sin. God made you in God’s own image, as you are. Believe, and be blessed.

*2 Easter (Acts 4:32-35; Psalm 133; 1 John 1:1-2:2; John 20:19-31)
©2012 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

Fear not*

Alleluia! Christ is risen! The Lord is risen indeed, Alleluia!

The hallmark of the Gospel appointed for the Easter Vigil is the moment the angel, sitting in the empty tomb and emanating a brilliant light, says “Do not be alarmed,” or, in other words “don’t be afraid.” It is such a stark thing in the moment that I pondered it all by itself. It got me to thinking about fear, which, after all, is a pretty common thing. Fear is a powerful emotion. All of us live with fear at some level. Some fears are silly and some are life-preserving and it just takes maturity and judgment, and self-confidence I guess, to know the difference.
 
In the story, Mary Magdalene and Mary and Salome enter the tomb only to find this angel, who says to them “Do not be alarmed.” In the revised standard version he says, rather sharply: “Stop being afraid!” The Greek actually says something like: “be not greatly astonished;” and In the Jerusalem Bible, he says, calmly: “there is no need to be so amazed.” In every instance he is telling them to push past their fear, which is preventing them from seeing God’s reality. Of course there is more, because next he tells them: Jesus “has been raised.” God’s action has taken place, and Jesus has been pushed through to God’s risen reality. And finally the angel tells them to: “go” … “tell” … “there you will see him.”

This is the prescription for faith. First, stop being afraid! And then, go. Take action. Go and tell, and keep going and keep telling the story of the power of resurrection in your own heart. In the going and the telling you will see the glory that is the risen Christ. And so, for we who are lgbt Christians, this is the call to resurrection life, that we must push past our fear of being who God has made us to be; we must push through to God’s real reality, in that place where all of God’s children are equal in their diversity. And once there, we must tell our stories, because it is in the telling of the story that we will see revealed God’s truth. It is in the telling of our stories that we will understand resurrection life, to which we all have been called by a loving God whose power and glory is … love.

Fear not, my friends. Christ is risen.

The Great Vigil of Easter (Romans 6:3-11; Psalm 114; Mark 16:1-8)
©2012 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.

You don’t always get burned*

Yesterday, in my blog browsing, I came across someone who promised to explain why some gay believers persist in their faith despite the “underlying contempt” that comes from what is perceived to be “the church.”  I was irritated, and at first I didn’t want to read it. (And I’m not going to give you the link now either!) Eventually I had a look and I was unimpressed. It not only did not answer any questions at all, it was the usual blather about how gay people are persecuted by “the church.” (Did you notice, I put that in quotation marks both times?)

This sort of thing irritates me because after 14 years of ordained ministry, much of it as a priest in and for the gay community, I just get weary of feeling like I’m talking to a brick wall. And that brick wall, this time, is the glbt community! “Come on folks!” I want to shout. “I have been telling your for years that you have a place at the table, that God created you gay and that’s a good thing, and that the church” (at least mine) “welcomes you with open and affirming and loving arms!”

I guess there are a couple of things going on. Of course, there really are so-called “churches”–like the Roman Catholic one–that oppress gay people. They do it to keep power, pretty much in the same way and for the same reasons they oppress women. And there are the right-wing fundamentalist sects, that do it for the same reasons. And there are similar sects of other religions as well. But then there also is the notorious “Stockholm syndrome,” in which hostages learn to rely on being captive. This is not the first time I have made this analogy in addressing the glbt community. I see it all the time. Somehow, because we grew up feeling oppressed (I don’t mean to belittle the true oppression we face, by the way), but somehow because we have felt that oppression for decades, suddenly when it is not there anymore we just can’t cope. Or, at least, we can’t cope right away. You know I remember when I was a little kid my dad caught his shirt on fire when he got too close to the stovetop. And even though I cook all the time, I still have a little bit of fear of cooktops. So when I’m in my apartment in Amsterdam that has an induction cooktop I’m afraid of it, even though I know it isn’t hot. I have to re-learn. And that’s what happens to glbt folks too. So I’m here to say “Friends, the Episcopal Church has gay and lesbian priests and bishops and laity. We are fully incorporated in the fabric of Christianity. This is true of other Christian groups as well.” Not convinced? Come to Church of the Holy Trinity and see for yourself.

I guess the other part of it is how well we glbt folks have learned to banish or shun ourselves. We need to put that habit aside, and learn to see ourselves in the light of Christ. And that, folks, is what resurrection is all about. Sure the story makes us wonder, about Jesus and the tomb more than 2000 years ago. But resurrection is not distant my friends, it is real and urgent and now happening to each of us, if only we can learn to see it. We have to put aside the old way of thinking, and let the light in.

In the scripture for Easter we have this funny sermon by Peter. Every year I look at this and want to laugh, because it says he converts thousands, but it just isn’t a very good sermon! Then again, I always remind myself, this is not the sermon itself, but the version of it that got passed around like a party story from ear to ear through thousands of people until it got written down. Be that as it may, the power is in the opening clause “I truly understand that God shows no partiality.” That means, you and me, folks, are God’s children too. Paul says we should set our minds on things that are above, where Christ is. He says the old life has died and us with it, and now we are resurrected with Christ. Our glory, like Christ’s, is hidden with Christ, in God. It looks odd to 21^st century eyes. It means, stop living in the past, and start living like a child of God, and you will see that you have resurrection life too.

Finally, the Johanine resurrection appearance reminds us that Jesus is utterly transformed by his resurrection. Not even his good friend Mary Magdalene recognizes him. Until she hears his voice, she cannot believe it is him. My friends, resurrection transfigures—it wipes away the old, it erases the oppression, it reveals the light. And all you have to do to experience it, is seek it. Turn, look, see. Alleliuia, Christ is risen for you.

Easter (Acts 10:34-43;Psalm 118: 1-2, 14-24; Colossians 3:1-4; John 20:1-18)

©2011 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.