A Trinity of Love

This week my husband and I celebrated the 45^th anniversary of our union. It was miraculous for a whole bunch of reasons. No need to go into that list here, but, it is important to understand how blessed we are to be together … for 45 years! And we don’t count (ok, mostly we don’t). Rather, each day we get up and make dinner and go to bed (LOL, at least that’s how it has seemed during the pandemic) and then we do it again and before you know it … poof! … 45 years!

In the beginning we met and found something undefinable that joined us, it was not unlike the formless void described in the creation story [Genesis 1:1-2:4a] and the wind of God swept over us … And then we awakened one day and it had been 45 years and God blessed us and hallowed us and these are the generations of God’s love …

Do you see? The story of creation is the story of you and of me and of us. Creation is ongoing, eternal, in every life, in every love.

The work of God surely is the heavens which are magnificent and beyond human comprehension … the moon, the stars [Psalm 8: 4] … and yet the work of God also is to give us free will to chose to do God’s work in creation. It is only by choice that love becomes action, it is only by choosing to walk in love that we affirm the gifts we have been given in creation as God’s LGBTQ heirs. It is the right exercise of choice—righteousness–that is a sign of having reached maturity in responding to God’s call to us.

God asks only that we listen to one another, live in peace and walk in love [2 Corinthians 13:11-13]. In this way love will prevail.

Jesus sends us out into the world [Matthew 28: 16-20] … as grown-ups with wisdom, to spread God’s love … we, God’s LGBTQ people, are called to show the rest of creation how chosen love works … logical families (as Armistead Maupin called them) or “found families” as I keep hearing recently … it is the truth that God’s LGBTQ people are here as disciples to create healing by bringing found families together.

When we invite someone in, they are healed from the oppression of being cast out. Choosing to walk in love, to invite, to heal, this is our call.

Today is the feast of the Holy Trinity. It is very much the feast of the power of love in creation.

Like a dinner, 45 years in the making.

This is the proof of God’s work among us.

Trinity Sunday Year A 2023 RCL (Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Psalm 8 Domine, Dominus noster; 2 Cor 13: 11-13; Matt 28:16-20)

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

Holy, Holy, Holy

It isn’t quite summer yet, I guess the solstice is coming up in about a week. It’s still raining and we know better than to complain about it and just to rejoice that the water of life is coming now plentifully, at least in this part of Oregon. It is tempting to say it is a sign of renewal but the reality is that it is a sign of the continuity and timelessness of created space. The Spirit is always blowing, the winds of creation are always aloft, there always is the opportunity to move into the dimension of God’s love to experience it’s life-giving power.

Tomorrow is the 24^th anniversary of my ordination as a priest, a priest who was gay, which was a new thing in those days, but nonetheless was a sign of the continuity and timelessness of God’s love on trajectory to a dimension of righteousness and justice. Those who went before me were gay priests, I was a priest who was gay, it was an important step. Although I have to save my energy for the 25^th anniversary next year I can’t help taking a look at points along the way. Here I was in the moment after ordination and vesting:

Here I am blessing pets at Philly Pride at Penn’s Landing in the booth from the William Way LGBT Community Center; one might easily refer yet again to trajectories on God’s vector of justice as we learned how to celebrate LGBT families:

Here I am at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Rittenhouse Square, where I had just blessed this blessed daughter of two lesbian Philadelphia police officers:

This is the first Sunday in Lent in 2017 at St. Paul’s Juneau Street in Milwaukee. It’s not just a “selfie,” itself a sign of movement along the timelessness of creation, but look at my wedding ring, as sure a symbol of holiness as my collar, uniting me and my husband and our love (we just celebrated our 44^th anniversary a couple of weeks ago) with the righteous justice of LGBT priests serving the whole community of God:

Today is Trinity Sunday in the church, the feast of the Holy Trinity, that perfect union of God the creator, Christ the Redeemer, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies all. It is a reminder to all of us that the everyday things, the wedding rings, the puppies blessed, the burbling of babies, even selfies, are all signs of holiness. Wisdom is the perception of this holiness, wisdom is the voice in the stillness speaking in each of our souls, reminding us that all things in creation are holy. God’s love has been poured into our hearts (Romans 5:5) to empower us to keep our feet on the path of the dimension of love. All we have to do is look around, listen, breathe, hug, smile, laugh. All we have to do to experience the truth of the power of God’s love is to be awake to the love that has been poured into our lives.

1 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to thee.
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

2 Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore thee,
casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
cherubim and seraphim falling down before thee,
which wert and art and evermore shalt be.

3 Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide thee,
though the eye of sinful man thy glory may not see,
only thou art holy; there is none beside thee,
perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.

4 Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All thy works shall praise thy name in earth, and sky and sea.
Holy, holy, holy! merciful and mighty!
God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

(https://hymnary.org/text/holy_holy_holy_lord_god_almighty_early).

Trinity Sunday Year C 2022 RCL (Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31; Psalm 8 Domine, Dominus noster (or Canticle 13); Romans 5:1-5; John 16:12-15)

©2022 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.