We Are All Connected by God’s Love
Today’s first lesson tells us that wisdom and understanding existed before the creation of the world.
In fact, wisdom and understanding were God’s tools in creation.
To me, that begs the question: why then are wisdom and understanding so elusive to us now?
We consistently lack the wisdom to understand that God considers every human being one of God’s children.
We lack the wisdom to know that it is God’s will that we love one another.
And yet, God’s wisdom is infused throughout creation.
There are no mistakes in creation.
Not in the black hole or the supernova.
Not in the dodo bird or the platypus.
Not in the wide array of hues that our human siblings come in.
Not in all queer variations on our gender, sexuality, and romantic expression.
We are all equally loved by God—cherished, in fact.
And we are commanded by God to likewise love one another.
So why is that so hard for us to do?
In theological circles, we talk a lot about intersectionality.
Intersectionality refers to the interconnectedness of all the categories we have fabricated for ourselves—like race, class, gender, sexuality, even religion.
No human is a monolith.
We are each a combination of those categories.
And because we have diversity within ourselves, you would think it would help us to understand each other better.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t—at least, not always.
But the real lesson of intersectionality is not our interconnectedness—although that is certainly important.
The real lesson is our interdependence.
I think one of the things we can do to live into God’s command to love one another is to look into ourselves.
Is there something about the diversity within ourselves that can help us to accept the differences in another person?
Is there some common experience that we share?
Now—a word of caution.
When we talk about shared experience it is important that we not do it comparatively—as if it were a contest.
Starting from a position of “my suffering was worse” or “you had it easy”—that is the path to division, not connection.
We’re looking for things about each other or experiences we share that might be a foundation for understanding.
A foundation for relationship.
A foundation not only for interconnectedness, but also for interdependence.
A foundation for love.
I am a white, middle-class, gay, Christian man.
Because I am gay, I understand something about oppression.
But, as much as I might like to, I will never fully understand what it is like to grow up black in this country.
To suffer from systemic racism.
To fear being pulled over by a police officer because I’m driving while black.
I depend on my black siblings to share their experience of affliction.
And how that affliction produced perseverance.
And how that perseverance resulted in character.
And how that character provides them with hope.
Because that hope binds us and makes us both stronger.
Because I am gay, I understand something about marginalization.
But, as much as I might like to, I will never fully understand what is like to be a woman in this country.
To be underpaid and underappreciated in the workplace.
To have my healthcare threatened and denied.
I depend on my female and trans woman siblings to share their experience of affliction.
And how that affliction produced perseverance.
And how that perseverance resulted in character.
And how that character provides them with hope.
Because that hope binds us and makes us both stronger.
Because I am gay, I understand something about injustice.
But, as much as I might like to, I will never fully understand what it is like to be an immigrant in this country.
To be denigrated as dirty and a criminal.
To be afraid that I might be abducted by masked government agents and separated from my family.
I depend on my immigrant siblings to share their experience of affliction.
And how that affliction produced perseverance.
And how that perseverance resulted in character.
And how that character provides them with hope.
Because that hope binds us and makes us both stronger.
Being gay is just one facet of who I am.
And it gives me some insight into the experience of siblings in other social categories.
But that insight is imperfect because my struggles are not the same as the struggles of others.
We do not react to the struggles we encounter in the same way.
We do not process the lessons from those struggles the same.
And perhaps, most important of all, my personal trauma is not intergenerational.
It is not a trauma that has been suffered by my ancestors.
But it is a connection and a starting point for relationship and bridge-building.
I had the honor of officiating at the renewal of wedding vows for a lovely couple on Wednesday evening.
Robin and Frank are a straight couple who have been married for 36 years.
They heard about the Marriage Equality Celebration we were sponsoring, and they wanted to participate.
You see they have a lot of diversity in their family.
They understand how important love and support are.
They celebrate the diversity in their family.
It’s a beautiful thing to behold.
Their love for each other is so strong that it was important for them to stand up in visible support of Marriage Equality.
Even when they found out they were going to be front and center as the only couple because they were kind of hoping that they could stand up but still blend into the background.
They stood up because they understand that every human being is one of God’s children.
They stood up because they understand that it is God’s will that we love one another—and they do exactly that.
They love one another.
And they love all their human siblings
Which brings me to today’s gospel.
I confess, when I first read it, what stuck out to me was “Everything that Abba God has belongs to me.”
It’s because I was hearing it with human ears.
It reminded me of the seagulls in “Finding Nemo” or a two-year-old with a toy.
“Mine … mine … mine!”
But ownership—belonging to someone—is not always about possession.
That idea is the result of our cultural conditioning.
It is rooted in our greed and our imperfection—our sinful nature.
So hearing Jesus say, “Everything that Abba God has belongs to me.” sounded, for me in the moment, decidedly un-Christlike.
Those words didn’t sound like the Jesus I know because the Spirit had not yet spoken to me.
She had not revealed it to me.
So, I dwelled on those words and waited for the Spirit to speak to me—and finally, she did.
Belonging isn’t always about possession.
Belonging is also about love.
Belonging is also about acceptance.
Belonging is also about family and community.
So, with that new realization, I asked myself, “what belongs to God?”
What is God’s favorite creation?
What is the only creation that God called “very good”?
We are!
Each and every one of us—without exception.
Black, white, red, yellow, or brown.
Male, female, intersex, or trans.
Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, agnostic, or atheist.
God love us all.
God claims each of us as God’s own.
God calls us by name.
God loves us unconditionally.
And God asks us—commands us—to love one another.
The way God loves us—without exception.
In today’s second lesson, the Apostle Paul writes, “we confidently and joyfully look forward to the day on which we will become all that God has intended.”
It’s clear to me that God intended for us to love one another.
God intended us to live in a harmonious community together.
As the family of God’s children.
In all our glorious diversity.
Let us be confident that God’s Wisdom and Understanding will imbue us with the will to live into what God intends for us.
Let us revel in the diversity of our human siblings and the many gifts that diversity brings.
And may we rejoice in God’s Kin-dom come.
May this meditation on God’s word keep our hearts and minds on Christ Jesus. Amen.