If we Dare

They say that time and space are one. This actually is a tenet of physics and of theology (which we should remember is the queen of the sciences). The meaning of the union of time and space is that all things happen and have happened and will happen in the space that is. That means that we experience (or maybe perceive is a better word) only tiny portions of reality in each moment, as we pass through dimensions. We experience everything at once, but we perceive things sequentially.

Another way to look at it is to understand that temporality is a human invention that has its purposes, like movie start times, airplane take-offs, and so forth. But, in reality, the life you love already exists and is waiting for you to get onto the plane of its existence.

Thus, when we read of King David committing sin (2 Samuel 11:1-15)(and let’s be clear that the sin is the cutting off of himself from God), we see that the outcome is the loss of love. The power of the anointing of David as King over all of God’s dimension of temporal geography is in the eternity of the connection between God and David and thereby between God and the people. All love and all of heaven always exist. This unity of love can be experienced when we allow ourselves to cross into the dimension of love, when we open our hearts to the love that is all around us, when we remember that love builds up.

In Psalm 14 we hear about “fools”— people who do not embrace love—they are said to have no “knowledge.” Knowledge, of course, is the eternal wisdom about love and loving God and loving each other, wisdom that is written on our experience and in our genes through our creation in God’s loving image.

The letter to the Epehsians (3:14-21) asks us to strengthen our inner being—our soul—which is where we are in direct contact with the Holy Spirit. It is in our souls that we dwell in the dimension of love, if we dare. There we are “rooted and grounded in love” in a dimension so wide it is “the breadth and length and height and depth” of the “love that surpasses knowledge.” There we may attain the fullness of God, if we dare.

In John’s Gospel (6:1-21) we have two stories—Jesus feeds thousands with bread and fish, and then he calms the sea. To the nascent church of the years after Jesus’ resurrection these were stories that sustained the believers. The main point of the first story is that the miracle comes from the love in the boy who gave all he had (“five barley loaves and two fish”). The main point of the second story is how people (even the disciples) are loathe to recognize God in their midst (notice the way that Jesus says “It is I”, as in Exodus God says God’s name is “I Am”). The moral of the story is the last line, that once they recognize God in Jesus in their midst, their boat lands on dry land and their trial is over.

Such is the power of love, if we dare.

If we dare to be who God created us to be, if we dare to be fully loving LGBTQ people created in God’s own image to love, if we dare to look up and see the love in the faces of those around us, we too can experience the breadth and length and height and depth of the eternity of God’s dimensions of love.

Proper 12 Year B RCL 2021 (2 Samuel 11:1-15; Psalm 14; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21)

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

The Potential Moment of Love

Life is full of “surprises.” It is what makes life “interesting.” I’ve been having a string of these “interesting times” lately.

And yet, love keeps pulling me through.

And that is God’s message to us through Christ, that love is always the answer.

Today I look out my window at lush greenery under gentle almost-summer sunshine. My little family is slowly coming back together. My husband smiles; he is so filled with love it is at once a surprise and a comfort. But it clearly is his clue to resilience and longevity.

God tells us that as a church of believers God is our sure foundation. We have to translate that language a little bit. We have to understand that the “church” is a community designed for the building up of love. After all, that is what “worship” is all about, that we should all give as much love as we can in community. Think about how your heart melts during worship and how much love is built up in you before the end. Now, think about how that is true of every person in the worship. Now do you get it? It is for the “us” that we gather to worship, because when we do we build up that sure foundation of love.

When I first began evangelism (in the Episcopal way, I mean) in the LGBTQ community, I think the most striking reality for me was the sheer number of faithful LGBTQ people in the pews. It was a sign of the love in the hearts of our LGBTQ friends, that our love was helping to build up the community. And in the Episcopal Church, where we experienced not only tolerance, not only acceptance, but full communion and full community in the ordination of LGBTQ clergy and the support of adoption for LGBTQ families and the equalization of the marriage rite to apply to all humans—these all were signs of the active shared love of God. The second striking reality, then, was my discovery that everywhere I went in the Philadelphia gayborhood I encountered faithful LGBTQ people who were not members of any faith community but who were committed to walk in God’s love. I discovered walking those brick sidewalks and cobblestone streets, dropping by the William Way LGBT Community Center, tending a booth at PrideFest and OutFest, that there was a large community of LGBTQ people walking in love. Evangelism in this community was a joy. It was primarily the action of being lovingly present together.

Time is that inexorable human creation that we use to sequence events in God’s space that all always exist. Last Sunday I was unable to post here but I was able to celebrate on Facebook the 23^rd anniversary of my ordination as a priest. In the secular world today is Father’s Day. June is LGBTQ Pride month in the USA so many cities (like Portland, Oregon) are having pride festivals today (the traditional celebrations likely still virtual in places such as San Francisco and New York will take place next week, to coincide with the anniversary of the June 28, 1969 Stonewall Rebellion). In the church calendar it is the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost. The lessons include the stories of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49) and Jesus’ stilling of the storm (Mark 4:35-41). Both are fine examples of faith in the salvation of walking in love. David, facing the challenge of his life with love in his heart is confident that God’s love will prevail. David knows that God’s love is salvation in every aspect of life and that giving love is the deliverance God promises to all of us. Jesus is sleeping in the boat being tossed about on a stormy sea while the disciples tremble in panic. When their panic reaches a fever pitch they wake Jesus who rebukes them for forgetting to love, for letting their focus settle on fear instead of faith. The fact that Jesus is asleep shows us the power of the love of God that is full within him. The sea is stilled because love demands it.

In celebration of the anniversary of my ordination I posted this photo of me blessing folks immediately after the ordination.

As I look at that smile on my face I remember the feeling I had at the time that was not unlike the metaphor of the calm after the stilling of the storm that had been my decade-long walk toward that moment. The love in that moment was what set me out on those brick and cobblestones to bring the Good News to those in the LGBTQ community who so eagerly walked already in love.

In 2 Corinthians (6:1-13) Paul reminds us that “now” always is “the acceptable time … the day of salvation.” It is his way of reminding us that it is always the time for walking in love. The inexorability of space-time in the dimension of love means that now is always the culmination of all time and thus the culmination of our calling to walk in love. And now is always the potential moment of salvation because now is always the potential moment of love.

Our job as Christians is to keep God’s love uppermost always and never to give into fear. Our job as LGBTQ Christians is to continue always to walk in the love that is the God-given trait that defines our very creation. The potential moment of love is now.

Proper 7 Year B RCL 2021 (1 Samuel 17: (1a, 4-11, 19-23), 32-49; Psalm 9:9-20 Confitebor tibi; 2 Corinthians 6:1-13; Mark 4:35-41)

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