Synchrony

Time is a curious concept; I was going to say it was a curious “quantity,” because I think most of us think of it that way, but we know from Einstein that time is simply a human psychological imperative … that is, all time is already all at once, but we choose for our own benefit to see time as sequential and therefore as ordinal.

So, when I complain (as I did yesterday in the hot sun bent over my gardens) that I have had to plant vegetable starts and move lemon trees and avocado trees and olive trees outdoors from their winter garage greenhouse and start regular watering rituals as though it were August … and it’s only mid-May … it is a way of measuring time over and against the real experience of life, which is that it’s hot and it isn’t raining. But, then again, I don’t have to worry about the little trees in the garage anymore, and I get to garden in the warm sun, and already we are enjoying food from our little garden. The earth responds to stewardship and collaboration and creation thrives in synchrony.

So, what does that tell us about faith, and joy, and grace and the realization of God’s reality among us? It tells us, that we are not in charge of time … things do not happen on our command … I had a priest mentor many years ago who used to say to me over and over (and over, I never did quite get it) that things happened “in God’s time.”

So this week in scripture we have Jesus telling his disciples on the verge of his ascension that “it is not for you to know the times … but you will receive power … when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses.” [Acts 1:6-14]. So you see, it is not up to us to decide when it is time, it is only up to us to be bearers of the Spirit of Love and to be witnesses to the power of walking in the dimension of love.

Curiously, after the ascension, the disciples went back up to that upper room … I made a note three years ago that they had “sheltered in place.” Back then, in 2020, we all were terrified of COVID-19, and we all were locked down in place, sheltering to stay alive. But now this scripture has additional meaning. It reminds us that part of witness is rest, nourishment, hospitality, centeredness … all of those things that “home” mean to us (even when home is just a momentary shelter).

Curious note from Acts: the disciples “were constantly devoting themselves to prayer, together with certain women.” Clearly the women were somehow outliers, probably as we know from our own LGBTQ experience not in reality as much as in the cultural necessity for the author of Acts to use that odd formulation in order to include them. That was a complicated sentence (sorry!) to express a complex reality, which is that although we are outwardly oppressed—just look at all of the vile coming our way under the cause of fighting “culture wars” or “wokeness”—the reality is that we are essential, we are created and called by God to be part of the synchrony of the dimension of love.

So let’s remember that we are called to give thanks, to rejoice, even in adversity, to be “merry and joyful” and to “be glad and rejoice” [Psalm  68]. We are to “sing to God … sing praises.”  Because, as Peter says in his epistle [1 Peter 4, 5], “do not be surprised,” and “rejoice” and “discipline yourselves, keep alert” and “be steadfast in your faith” which is love.

God is glorified in us, as we are glorified in God, because we all are glorified in each other—every person is God’s heir, and welcome to inherit the riches of the kingdom of love, if only we can keep alert. Love in every moment. Do not let yourself fall into criticism, or anger. Keep alert that you love more than you do not love. This, is how we live into the synchrony Jesus described for us [John 17: 10]: “All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them.”

The Seventh Sunday of Easter Year A RCL 2023 (Acts 1:6-14; Psalm 68:1-10, 33-36; 1 Peter 4:12-14, 5:6-11; John 17:1-11)

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

Called to See

Every now and again it strikes me how much every day is the same, every week is the same, everything is the same. I wait for it to be evening then I wait for it to be morning then before I know it’s Sunday again. I joke (maybe joke?) with my husband that my entire life consists of making dinner—I plan it in the night, I check the pantry when I get up, I thaw things through the day, as soon as the sun is low in the sky I’m in the kitchen cooking, then we have dinner, then I go to bed and start all over. Time is passing, it seems, but then again maybe as Einstein said, it is just an illusion (https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=82388.0 ). But, of course, the science of Einstein’s perception is that the passing of time depends on the frame of reference.

One way to look at it is to think about how we live in a certain dimension in which our synchrony with creation, a kind of harmony, is an eternal reality. In that there is grace, God’s love freely given in the absolute reality of life.

But then it occurs to me that how we tell our stories to ourselves defines the dimension in which we reside. Do I live in a dimension of dinner? Or do I live in a dimension of love and care, one in which my whole being is oriented to my husband’s, and to the things we share. The moments of togetherness, sharing, indeed loving, are the sunrises of the dimension in which we live. The sun sets and the moon rises and our love carries us. The harmony, the synchrony of the two of us in creation is our own dimension of love.

We all are called to tell—to prophesy if you will—about the dimensions of love we create and inhabit. It is their cumulative overlapping stew that is the eternal dimension of God’s love.

Isaiah (theologians will call this “Second Isaiah” Isaiah 49:2ff.) said “[God] called me before I was born … made my mouth like a sharp sword … made me a polished arrow” and (49:6) “I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” The Psalmist (40:10-11) “proclaimed righteousness … did not restrain my lips … I have spoken of your faithfulness and your deliverance, I have not concealed your love.” Paul wrote to the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 1: 9) “God is faithful, by [God] you were called into the fellowship of … Jesus Christ.” John the Baptist (John 1:34) “I myself have seen and testified.”

As I have written and preached many times, we who are seeking to comprehend how God calls us often don’t realize that we already are living the lives to which we have been called. We have been called to be God’s LGBTQ people, God created us LGBT&Q in God’s own image so we might be a light to the nations. We have been called to lead our LGBTQ lives in the light, as a witness to God’s faithfulness to us. We have been called to proclaim our pride in our God-given LGBTQ lives as a way of pointing to the highway of love into the dimension we create by living in and through our love.

There is a reason Jesus said (John 1:39), simply “Come, and see.”

2 Epiphany Year A 2023 (Isaiah 49:1-7; Psalm 40:1-12 Expectans, expectavi; 1 Corinthians 1:1-9; John 1:29-42)

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

Make Haste for Love

Time is a conundrum for sure. Sunny days go quickly, rainy days drag on. Time in the pandemic quarantine is just the same—spring-like weather walks and Zoom meetings make the time go quickly; winter nights and worry in the dark make it seem to drag. Physics tells us that space and time are fused in a curved trajectory of motion that makes it possible for time to rush by and stand still all at once.

What time is it for us now?

In Psalm 31, a hymn about God as refuge, time plays a dynamic role. The psalmist both prays that God will “make haste to deliver me” (verse 2), and asserts that “my times are in your hand” (verse 15). How can we ask God to hurry, if in fact, time—our time—is in God’s hands in the first place? As I said, it is a conundrum; a mystery of creation.

It is springtime for sure in Oregon, summer-like weather the last few days has teased our senses with the recollection of “normalcy” even as the Covid-19 pandemic increases its grip on our companions journeying through the space of creation and this time of trial.

As it turns out, my time is your time, God’s time is all time, time in the universe is not really time as we experience it. Human time is a human creation. The concept of sequence is a human interpretation. This psalm verse is one of those that shows us how the oral history recorded in these ancient texts is informed by the reality of the universe, there is no time except God’s time, which is all time, all at once.

This means, of course, that the long hours we spend in anxiety are just a moment extended by our attention to it. It means that the years we waste waiting for “the right moment” don’t really exist, we are just expending our humanity waiting for our psyche to catch up with God. In reality all time is now. As St. Paul said (2 Corinthians 6:2), “Now is the time.” Now, is always the time. What are we waiting for?

Of course, we are waiting for the pandemic to disappear, to recede, to go away, to leave us alone—or we are waiting for a combination of vaccine and effective treatments. We are waiting for the opportunity to be together again, to embrace, to share affection physically. We are waiting for the opportunity to share emotion together applauding an orchestra or cheering a team. We are waiting for God, our refuge, to manage our time, which is in God’s hands.

As I often write, dimensionality is a key to understanding both the laws of creation and the message of the Gospels. If we chose to live effectively in the unitary dimension of self and control then our time expands within us. But if we choose to live in the multi-dimensional space where love is the law then our time always is rushing us along like a rapid stream as love drives the dynamic dimensions of God’s creation. If we can learn to walk in love, we can see that we already inhabit God’s kingdom. In Peter’s first epistle (2:2-10) the apostle reminds us that “once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Peter wants all disciples—that means you and me–to understand that we have not just a choice but a call to move into the new dimension of love. We can only move into this dimension by giving love, by embracing love in our very beings and by walking in love. When we walk in God’s love then we are “called out of darkness into … marvelous light.”

The trick is, we must give love outward. Not desire affection, which is not giving love. But loving the sky, loving the warmth of sun, loving how good it feels to roll over in bed, loving your morning coffee, loving the smile of your beloved, experiencing love is giving love. The more we give the closer we come to God’s kingdom. It is both that simple and that hard.

In the famous “Farewell discourse” in John 14:1-14 Jesus said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. How does that speak to us as lgbt people? First, do not worry, but rather feel God’s love by feeling the love you experience and loving in response. It is love that makes God’s “house” a place where there are “many dwelling places”—many “homes,” many sites of love and loving. We whose families are more often assembled from love than by genetics know well what it means to make new room in life for someone who is loved. We must remember always to celebrate our love because to do so builds up the love that nurtures all of creation.

Later in the same passage Jesus says that he is “the way, and the truth, and the life.” He means he is the way—the road, the path, the route—because he teaches us to love and to give love, which is the “way” to the truth that creates ever more brilliant life.

What time is it for us now? It is the fifth Sunday after Easter. It is the fifth or sixth month of the pandemic. Our time is in God’s hands. And that means it is time for us to make haste for love.

 

5 Easter (Acts 7:55-60); ; 1 Peter 2:2-10; John 14:1-14

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

God’s kiss*

It’s Advent (I almost want to add, “at last”). We had friends over for dinner the other night. It was a lovely evening. At one point, while I was out in the kitchen cooking, I heard them ask Brad about whether we would get a tree for Christmas. The question seemed to come up because we don’t have any decorations going on yet.

Of course we don’t! We’re good Anglicans. Christmas begins at sundown on the 24th of December. Harumph, harumph!

When I got back in the room I told them all, fondly, of how while I was in seminary at Chelsea Square in 1995, we had our collective parents visit us for Christmas. And of how, the Advent Police (which was just a joke!) would prevent excessive decoration before the 4th Sunday in Advent. Still, I think it is important. My neighbor across the street has had Christmas ornaments out since mid-October. Last year when I finally strung Christmas lights during Advent 4, she came over and cried about how great it was I put up lights. I’m glad she likes them. I’ll do it again this year. But not until it is time.

God’s time is not my time or your time, but it is our time. Because in God’s good time all is revealed. I remember only barely an excruciating letter telling me that, although I clearly was called to the priesthood, I would have to wait a bit. That was God’s time catching up with my time. And it was right. And here we are two decades later. I am God’s priest in Christ’s church. And it all is good, in God’s good time.

So we have to just catch on to that. For us, gay folk, we have to sort of bear down, as they say, about how slowly our rights are being made permanent in the US. Not to beat a drum, but my friends, if you would move to Canada, or the Netherlands, or Belgium or Spain, you would be protected under the constitution as a gay citizen, you would be permitted to marry, and not treated as a criminal when your partner died. And you would have the right to live and love, as it says in the psalm “righteousness and peace have kissed each other.”

I wish. I can’t wait.

Well it isn’t time for Christmas lights yet. It is Advent. It is time for darkness in the evening, for getting used to the different schedule of the sun. It is time for contemplation as cold approaches. It is time for careful planning about what we will do for our families in the new year. This is the purpose and the meaning of Advent. And, of course, also, to be still, to listen for the voice that cries out, to know that for God a day is like a thousand years. To know that God is not slow about God’s promise, to know that waiting with God is the path God has chosen for us.

I love Peter’s letter (2 Peter 3:8 ff.); it is from the heart. Do not fear, do not fold up, while you wait, “strive to be found at peace; regard the patience of Christ as salvation.” It means to persevere my friends, persevere mostly in love. Love, love, love. That is how to prepare for God’s good time.

God’s kiss … think about that. How sweet is the kiss you know from the one you love? And yet, how complex is the love you share that greets that kiss? Think about that when you think about how God’s kiss can happen, when righteousness and peace kiss each other? What will that look like in your life? Righteousness means being right with God, peace means being right with each other. As we know from Jesus, both are the same, we cannot be right with God unless we are right with each other, and we cannot be right with each other until we understand that to do so is to be right with God. Righteousness, peace, indeed must kiss each other.

There is another way to look at this kiss, as well. In many cultures a kiss is a greeting. Is this kiss, God’s kiss, a beginning? Advent my friends is “the beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” who will “baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Take time, God’s time, to be ready.

2 Advent (Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13; 2 Peter 3:8-15a; Mark 1:1-8)
©2011 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.