Whirlwinds*

What can I say? I missed last week. The preceding week I was in Milwaukee teaching. The very famous east coast earthquake shook us up there too, the table at which I was sitting moved about rather dramatically. As if that hadn’t been scary enough, the next thing I knew I realized I had to cut work short and fly home early or risk not getting home at all because of the hurricane (Irene). I was barely in the door before we were loading up the car to evacuate, worried about promises of lengthy power outages and flooding (neither of which became manifest here, as it turned out). Still, where those things happened the after effect was severe, so we were glad we hadn’t risked it. We had a lovely weekend in Harrisburg, which is nicer than you might think if you haven’t ever been there. Still, when I looked at the scripture all I could think was how disrupting those few days had been, and that made me wonder what it must have been like for the followers of Moses to wander about for so long, so lost.

This week was quiet, and I vowed to change the title of this blog once I discovered a Republican presidential candidate has a similarly-titled book. Stay tuned for that!

Now I have a cold, cough cough … and the week to come includes more air travel. Woe is me.

Here is the gist of this week’s scripture [Romans 13:8]: “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.” What a beautiful summary, what a brilliant commandment–marching orders for gay people. Let us go forth and love one another, for that is the job God has given us to do, in every circumstance, in every situation. Keep on loving one another, even as life’s whirlwinds rage about. Keep on loving one another for that is the one thing we owe to God in return for the love God has given us.

Proper 18 (Exodus 12:1-14; Psalm 149 Cantate Domino; Romans 13:8-14; Matthew 18:15-20)
©2011 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.