Acts 5:32 “And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.”
Psalm 118:22 “The same stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.”
John 20:29 “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.”
Walking in love is the challenge. Saying you love is easy; doing it is both hard and easy. If you can walk in love, then a new dimension opens to your eyes and you can see how it works; this is what the apostle means: “we” are and “we can be” witnesses to these things. Witness is not just seeing; it is living, prophetically, into a specific reality. I witness spring and daffodils and tulips. I witness my husband’s sweet love. I witness tragedy in Ukraine. I witness hope.
Rejection is part of resurrection; the pain of rejection is the building stone of resurrection (the “chief cornerstone”), it is the beginning of new life, it is the moment dimensions shift, it requires witness.
God, who is love, is always in our midst, always among us. It is we who refuse to see, it is we who refuse to embrace, it is we who refuse to live in its dimension. It is we who refuse to love, who refuse to live in the dimension of love. But all we have to do to see Jesus among us, all we have to do to find love among us, is shift dimensions so that we love outward instead of waiting for love to come to us.
When we can walk in love we can rejoice, we will know we are blessed because we have not seen and yet have come to believe.
LGBTQ people are created in God’s—love’s—own image as people who are defined by their love. Loving LGBTQ people are facing new challenges in parts of the world. We are called to be fully ourselves, to have strength in the certainty that we are called to walk in love. We are called to resurrection, to new life in the dimension where love prevails.
Second Sunday of Easter Year C 2022 RCL (Acts 5: 27-32; Psalm 118:14-29 Confitemini Domino; Revelation 1:4-8; John 20:19-31)©2022 The Rev. Dr. Richard P. Smiraglia. All rights reserved.
Dimensions of Reality: glbt Christian spirituality 