What are we saying Thank you for ?

       In less than a month many people will be rejoicing, countless children will be excited beyond comprehension, all at the bounty of gifts and presents bestowed on them. Adults are not, and will not be immune even if their hysteria is marked in calmer tones as they try to figure out all the new things a new phone or laptop can do ( and figuring out how to do it! ). Perhaps there will be a new car in the mix for a few. This seems a quintessentially American version of a holiday that is named for a holyday that derives from pagan celebrations. Perhaps then it is all too reasonable then that such a holyday is butchered into a cosmic day of unbridled materialism. Will we be thankful then? Will we be thankful and appreciate all the 'stuff' we have received, that we may have even asked for or humorously, bought our most deserving selves? Will we even contemplate the awesomeness and be thankful for God taking on our humanity to the full, from it's most vulnerable state as a newborn ( and then onto manhood )?

         Perhaps "it's a good thing" ( as Martha Stewart would say ) that we have this day today to be appreciative of all that we have in this life and to not yet ave it associated with all the things we want or feel we need or clamor for.  Today may be a day of unbridled eating and sadly perhaps, recuperating and  preparing for mad shopping dashes at ungodly hours this evening or before the buttcrack of dawn tomorrow, but our hearts are in thankful moods.

        In most churches, Thanksgiving is perhaps oddly not a "Holy Day of Obligation" but Thanksgiving is a day when many of the faithful and faithful oriented know enough to say thanks for all the graces we have and none of them are the material things we so often find ourselves thanking God for. The idea that God gives us "stuff' is the errant theology of Paula White's  "prosperity Gospel". Today's reading would lead us ( and any Christian truly worth their salt ), to a different conclusion while still knowing that it is God, the Creator, that we have to give thanks to.

      The only possible scintilla of redemption for a 'prosperity gospel' is that any of the things we do wind up with are to be used for the glory of God and the mission of our Creator. That is not to say something as stupid as 'see how well I am doing, blessed by God, you too can have a private jet for your own use if you just have faith!  That is total BS.  However it is that we do wind up with good 'things' , it is not because God loves us more than someone else. God loves "them" at least as much as God loves me. That is the truth. If you have twenty pair of shoes, besides the question of how you got them or why you feel you needed them, the true question is "how can I help someone who has no shoes?"

         While we carefully digest this passage from Joel today, let us consider what we really have to be thankful for. Waking up might be number one. Number two is easily, the smile and warmth from knowing just how much God loves us. We cannot forget that God loves us all and will always provide for us.  That is something to be thankful for.  Just let us ask ourselves this day and in the coming weeks what is is that will actually make us happy and fulfilled as believers, as people, as beloved brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ. 

Joel 2:21-27

Do not fear, O soil;
   be glad and rejoice,
   for the Lord has done great things! 
Do not fear, you animals of the field,
   for the pastures of the wilderness are green;
the tree bears its fruit,
   the fig tree and vine give their full yield. 

O children of Zion, be glad
   and rejoice in the Lord your God;
for he has given the early rain for your vindication,
   he has poured down for you abundant rain,
   the early and the later rain, as before. 
The threshing-floors shall be full of grain,
   the vats shall overflow with wine and oil. 

I will repay you for the years
   that the swarming locust has eaten,
the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter,
   my great army, which I sent against you. 

You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied,
   and praise the name of the Lord your God,
   who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. 
You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel,
   and that I, the Lord, am your God and there is no other.
And my people shall never again
   be put to shame. 

Turn a different corner

Re-issued remembering my Mother-in-law and Sainted Mother Paulette

Sunday, October 9, 2016

The Feast Day of Saint Paulette

     I can't speak for anyone else but I go through life with a sense of wonderment. The twists and turns of life, what brings you to a certain spot, how our lives intertwine all seem a mystery to me. I have often noted how blessed I am at how things have worked out, appreciating the fine details of my life. What role has kismet played? Kharma? Luck? Blessed by God? I can see myself as if I were a child, filled with awe and amazement at life and how it unfolds for us.

      Yesterday I went to a service for the first feast day of Saint Paulette.  Paulette was an Episcopal Priest and the wife of a fine gentleman that I had the pleasure of working with for many years. Here I found myself at this service, on what now seemed to be our very small island because it turns out I knew so many people in the church. Many had played roles in my own life. In fact, Mother Paulette herself had not only attended my Ordination celebration but was quite active in the LGBT community in the those early years of the so called "gay plague" and long before it was fashionable or acceptable for a church person to be ministering to people with AIDS.  I would be remiss not to note though, AIDS seems exactly the kind of disease and the LGBTQ community is exactly the kind of people I know Jesus would reach out to and minister to but I digress.

        In the sermon offered by an old friend of Paulette's, it was noted how beautiful she was as an individual. It was noted that it was not true that she could walk on water. Paulette's talents, generosity and journey were all noted in detail as were some of her faults lets say or perhaps more annoying gifts would be a better way to put it.

          I came away really knowing who Saint Paulette was, a human fully alive. I knew I had been blessed in knowing her. I came away with that sense of awe again in how her life had intertwined with mine. Paulette's life had touched so many people that had touched me as well. I got to thinking how her love had perhaps been doing double duty, affecting my life in ways I never had known or realized. How blessed am I?  How blessed are we all.

        As with many things in life, I had gone to this celebration of Paulette for one reason, to support a man that I worked with and his family. I came away with that same old sense of awe and an ever growing sense of thankfulness.  I came away gifted in a wholly unexpected way.

        I give pause to think of Frank Capra's, It's a Wonderful Life and hum A Different Corner with George Michael ringing in my head.  We go through life so blind and trying to control all the things that happen to us. We plan, God laughs my mother-in-law would say. How often do we really let go and let life unfold before us? How often do we realize the intense and awesome mystery of life that God lays out before us, meeting our one true love, offering us gifts that we never would have received had we not been at a given place at a given time.

        I think all the goodness and gifts of our life are not accidents, not kismet, not kharma or even good luck. There are all examples of God reaching out to us through each other. Can we open our eye's to see these gifts as they unfold before us? When we accept God's love and share that love, fully alive, we are instruments of God, we are clay in her hands. In so doing we become saints like Paulette who so willingly and thoroughly offered her whole being to God. Paulette is a Saint and yesterday was her feast day.

Gays gathering the sheep

       I recall having a discussion with a coworker many, many years ago about the creation narratives in the Bible. I am a firm believer that the inspired words of God lay out who is responsible for all that we see, have and experience around us. I do not believe for one minute that God actually created the world in seven days. My friend would simply pose the question "are you saying God could not create the world in seven days?" My answer is that of course God could do so but that the evidence God has provided in the created world gives evidence of a more robust and complex story. I would add, a grand schema that the ancients could not even begin to fathom, so God put the essence of the story into their hearts and hence , onto paper, or papyrus or simply as a verbal history before that. But I would hasten to remind myself and everyone, God IS capable of doing anything. There is no proverbial rock that God can create that is too big for her to lift.

       In this passage from Jeremiah, it would almost seem unbelievable that God spoke then about what goes on today.  It is astounding how much truth is in Jeremiah's words. One need only see the message of actions produced by the Roman Church in their malformed traditions and dogma that facilitated, if not created, the scandals of child abuse and perhaps equally as repugnant, the cover ups in attempts to repress scandal.  It is horrifying how many people have been lost to God because of their actions. Today we see the bastardization of God's message by many conservative, so called Christian, evangelists that are causing countless more people to turn their backs on God's abiding and bountiful love.

        It seems to me that God is already gathering the scattered and marginalized, calling to them as only God does and giving them the mantle of responsibility to witness and carry on Her message of abiding love. God after all, can call, and does call, anyone She wishes. The Bible is replete with unlikely servants answering the call. Trumpers note: I hasten to say that there are also those unlikely people who claim to be messengers of God but who repudiate the message by their ungodly actions and lack of love. Love as I remind you is the ultimate arbiter. But I digress. Who then is it that God is calling to gather the scattered sheep?

          I can find not much better example of love, inclusiveness, struggle for recognition and whose message has been bastardized and marginalized than those of the LGBTQ community. Theirs is a love and an inclusiveness that mirrors the diversity and magnificence of Gods created world.Theirs is a love that speaks to God's relentless and abiding love for us in all of creation.  To those who will inevitably point to some puritanical code born of male dominance and misogyny or some misguided and literal translations of Scripture to boost their own anti-LGBTQ agenda, let us note how well the 'straight' community has done at the task of delivering God's message of love. Hate, philanderers, incest, child abuse, titty bars, one night stands and adultery are all born of the straight community, not from our LGBTQ brethren. If you take note of how many times God speaks of, and puts restrictions on sexual behavior in Scripture, it is far and away the straight communities actions involving relationships that God notes problems with. In fact, there are few notations of same sex relationships in Scripture and the few that are noted are loving and committed. One need only look at the stories of Ruth and Naomi or David and Jonathan or the Centurion and his Pais.

         If we look to the LGBTQ community and the promise and diversity of the rainbow, ever present in their flag, you will see the message of God's abiding love and diversity. The gay community is gathering the sheep as proclaimed in Jeremiah. Let us not squander that calling as so many others have done and let us be worthy and willing to take up God's mantle.

        For the marginalized, oppressed and for God's message of love and inclusiveness, I pray.

Jeremiah 23:1-6

Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who shepherd my people: It is you who have scattered my flock, and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. So I will attend to you for your evil doings, says the Lord. Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply. I will raise up shepherds over them who will shepherd them, and they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing, says the Lord.
The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

There is no line there

       The pastor at my church relayed an interesting story in his sermon this past Sunday. He spoke of a little boy, asked by his teacher to draw a picture of his vacation. The boy studied his canvas and sat puzzled. The teacher, seeing his quandary asked if she might lend a hand.  The boy noted that the picture was supposed to be the beach he spent his summer at with the sky above. The teacher said, well simply draw a line across the page, what is above you will color the sky and what is below the line you will color as the sea. The boy shook his head and noted his Dad had taken him out into the water in a boat and that "there is no line there".  I have often noted the same thing from my perch above the sea in my summer abode. Looking out on the sea each morning it is often impossible to determine where the water meets the sky, it is seamless. The shades of greens and blues and grays often simply blend into each other, "there is no  line there".

        In these troubling times, there might certainly be a desire to seek comfort in God. Man thinks the end times are near as witnessed by the many horrors we foist on each other, nations against nations, hatred and divisiveness seem to prevail. I am amused by those with the temerity and arrogance to inform us the date and time the world will end. These kinds of notions and prognostications have been going on since the dawn of time perhaps and certainly escalated after the Crucifixion. So many Christians 'knowing' the end times are near, in their lifetime even. The Apostles also seemed to think it was so. So much of Paul  speaks of not marrying since the Jesus would certainly return any day now. And it was not so; even Jesus himself noted that 'only he Father knows'.  But still we humans seek the "line" that will demarcate this age from the next; our lives to judgment and our heavenly inheritance.

          The truth once again is that "there is no line there" save our own mortality and that too is not something we can put any certainty on - at least as to the exact date and time.  It is more likely that heaven may be on earth and that our goals of wholeness , happiness and fulfillment in our humanity is something that we may not totally achieve in this life but we catch glimpses and our own partial progress.  This is perhaps what gives meaning to our lives. We strive to be the person we were created to be cluttered if you will by some of the crap mankind has created that obscures and hinders us in that process. How sad, how horrible really, for the person who thinks they "win" because they will die with the most toys.  That is not what we are striving for even if the holiday season promotes it and Madison Avenue tries to live it 24/7/365. 

           As love is the arbiter of all Biblical and religious conflicts and contradictions, so too is love the answer to our lives in total. Love is "the line" , sometimes hazy but always certain that marks the earth from the sky, our human existence from eternal life. Perhaps it is not so important after all where the line is so much as to know that our lives and our world blends one into the next and the only continuity of life is love.

         For lives of love and heaven in our lifetime, I pray

Revelation 21:1-8

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,
‘See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them; 
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away.’
And the one who was seated on the throne said, ‘See, I am making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ Then he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life. Those who conquer will inherit these things, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.’

The wisdom of Aunt Jeanne

     I sometimes wonder what my own father ( Pop ) would say knowing that I am gay.  Knowing all that I know about the man, he might easily be one that would have dismissed me into oblivion. At the same time, he was quite learned, read the Koran as well as his own Bible and was a voracious reader. Perhaps he would understand. Or perhaps he would be like my 80 year old aunt Jeanne who said, 'I don't understand these things, but I know you are a good person' and said that she loved me.  In reference to this passage today from Luke, I think there a great many things that we have 'funny' ideas about here on earth. We convince ourselves of so many "truths" and tenets of religion that we fail to see the real truths God tries to convey in Scripture and in creation. I like to think that when we die we will have an 'aha' moment when things come into a sharper focus, like getting a new pair of glasses. Of course we don't really have any idea about what the afterlife is like, our state of knowledge or consciousness. We may get to the pearly gates and laugh our asses off at what we had considered important in our earthly life.

       One thing that I do know is that Jesus was telling us how important love is. I think the point was really, Jesus showed us that he loved us so much that he died for us like a gigantic exclamation point on his own life. Love is truly the most important thing and it is the arbiter of all things, especially Scripture. Holy Scripture of all religions are so varied. In the case of Judeo-Christian scripture, there are many conflicting messages, contradictions and downright evil actions seemingly taking place in the name of God.  Vengeance, hate and violence are not the message God is trying to convey. I think it is more possibly a reflection of a people trying desperately to live a life in accord with God while they lived in violent times, under harsh conditions and among hostile peoples. How do you, how does anyone, find God's presence in the midst of violence, war and Godlessness? That would be the subject for another blog entry.  It does speak to our opportunity if not penchant for taking Scripture literally or simply misinterpreting for our own agendas. What ensues is "religion" and a whole array of rules and rubrics and slants on creation that God never intended. As I said, the arbiter and defining element of life is love. 

            Perhaps we could approach all of life and indeed all religions as ' I don't understand these things, but I know the intent is love'. When we reach the pearly gates, and I believe that we all will, we may find out that all the stuff we found so important on earth are not nearly as important in the eyes, heart and mind of our Creator. I suspect we may find some souls in heaven who we will be shocked to find. If we can accept that, 'come on in and join the party'. If not, the shore of Hades awaits. Our choice, not God's. It will all depend, as does all of life, on how we are willing to love.

        For loving others and accepting God's love of ourselves, we pray. 

       

Luke 20:27-38

Some Sadducees, those who say there is no resurrection, came to him and asked him a question, ‘Teacher, Moses wrote for us that if a man’s brother dies, leaving a wife but no children, the man shall marry the widow and raise up children for his brother. Now there were seven brothers; the first married, and died childless; then the second and the third married her, and so in the same way all seven died childless. Finally the woman also died. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife will the woman be? For the seven had married her.’
Jesus said to them, ‘Those who belong to this age marry and are given in marriage; but those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage. Indeed they cannot die any more, because they are like angels and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. And the fact that the dead are raised Moses himself showed, in the story about the bush, where he speaks of the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.’

The sure thing

       If you had asked me about my future at the age of 40 or even 50, I certainly would not have imagined being married to "another gentleman" as the Roman church said in such an indicting manner in my dismissal letter. I noted in my response that not only had I attempted to marry another gentleman but succeeded, doing so legally and Sacramentally. Take that!  For the purposes of this reflection, I am focusing on the certainty with which we know things. I never would have imagined such bliss, happiness and completeness in God from embracing being gay and celebrating that, elevating that, by my marriage to my husband.  There may have been a few that said "it's about time" when I came out but it was totally lost on me for decades and dare I note, my wife as well. What are your certainties? Any sure bets?

       The invitation to God's table is highlighted today. What I am sad to say is that I am painfully aware of how many of us, right, left, and people of all different denominations seem certain who the real flamers will be. Oh, I am not talking about being gay now, I mean those we are certain will be turned away at the pearly gates to the unquenchable fires of damnation. From "God hates fags" to the self righteous hypocrites of the conservative right to the liberal loving religious left, there are many that are certain they are saved and the 'other' are going to hell in a hand basket. Certain, absolutely certain. There is certainty, arrogance, judgment, hatred and even a snootiness that I'll be saved and you're not. Nanna nanna nah-nah!  

     History is replete with things we were certain of though. As a Roman Catholic growing up I was certain of such things as the Assumption and Limbo. I was certain of what was a mortal sin, a venial sin and who was not being saved. We were the 'one true church' after all.  That same church was certain that the earth was the center of the universe. I had to be so, it bolstered all they believed as true and right. How long did they hold onto that in the face of revealed truth? When was the certainty of Limbo abandoned?

       Just so you know, God dos not work that way I think. The Spirit is alive and well and revealing truths all the time, at least as we can understand them - or as we are willing to understand them. One of the joys of creation is how God reveals Herself to us simply by looking around. Again, if we care to actually look and see.  We discover there is rarely a black and white but shadows of gray, white, black, browns and a rainbow of diversity in creation. 

        As part of creation, we too are a part of that diversity. Mother nature holds no bounds, respects no sociological boundaries man has created.  We really need to be careful of our edicts, certainties, assumptions and judgments.  Many, actually most times, these sure things come around to bite us in the ass, and not in a good way.

            For openness to change, less certainty on our part, to placing value on diversity and openness to God's plans for every person, I pray.

Luke 14:15-24

One of the dinner guests, on hearing this, said to him, ‘Blessed is anyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Someone gave a great dinner and invited many. At the time for the dinner he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, “Come; for everything is ready now.” But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said to him, “I have bought a piece of land, and I must go out and see it; please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please accept my apologies.” Another said, “I have just been married, and therefore I cannot come.” So the slave returned and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and said to his slave, “Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind, and the lame.” And the slave said, “Sir, what you ordered has been done, and there is still room.” Then the master said to the slave, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled. For I tell you, none of those who were invited will taste my dinner.” ’

"I love flowers" - Loretta Castorini ( Cher )

       I have to confess that I have done some unnecessary worrying over saving money for retirement. Will I have enough money to last my entire life? Will I wind up a WalMart greeter at 85 because I am broke? "Hi, welcome to WalMart!" I am a firm believer of doing all that you can with the tools we are given, prudence, patience, wisdom.  But the worrying is what is the focus of today's passage. Will any amount of worry make me more money to last? And even if it did and I accrued great wealth, what good would it be if I died tomorrow crossing the street or struck down by a hidden aortic aneurysm. I had one of those, so that example is always on my mind.

          What today's passage is telling me is to cooperate with God's plan. We of course have no way of knowing nor do we have the possibility of seeing clearly all that is in the mind of God. What we do have control over is how we respond to the gifts God has given us. Those gifts are none of the material goods we see each day. It is not the new Apple ear buds or i-phone XI. It is not a bigger house in a nicer place, a finer school that carries more cache, or the newest car or anything else we so often tend to strive for.  It is a gross miscalculation on our part if these things we often seek are veiwed as gifts from God because we are 'worthy'. Are we more worthy than someone else? Really?? At best, they are tools to foster the kingdom of God and perhaps at worst, tools of the devil to estrange us from the present and what is truly important. Even if we do in fact use our 'gifts' to cooperate with God's plan of love, that is an imperfect and hollow gift back to God.

       What is not hollow and shines brightly for all to see are the things of today's passage.  That is, to be exactly the glorious creation you were made to be. To cooperate with who God created you to be is the most glorious and brilliant sign of God in the world.  Just as the Lillie's or some songful bird gracing a bough outside our window, our beauty is in accepting and cooperating with who we are. 

        There is a unique and undefilable beauty in accepting and elevating all that God created you to be. For me, gay man, spiritual man, artist, writer, father, lover, comforter, friend - all this and more yet to be discovered about myself - is the glory of God revealed. This is the whole and holy gift we offer to creation and back to God. No things could ever amount to anything near to the gift of ourselves - to the magnificence of our creation.

          All one need do is look around and see the magnificent diversity of creation to know that our wholeness and holiness is not found in a wrote set of rules or singular 'plan' for salvation. No religion can synthesize salvation to rubrics that encompass all of creation and God's individualistic plan for each and every one of us. 

       Rules can be tools, 'things' can be tools but the object of our salvation and purpose of being created in the first place is the totality of who we our in our uniqueness and glory.

For diversity and it's divine beauty, we gift thanks and pray this day.

Luke 12:22-31

He said to his disciples, ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.