Pentecost was this past Sunday. Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church Michael Curry gave an amazing sermon (skip to 38:31 - 104:40). I recommend it!

In his sermon, he calls us to permit the Holy Spirit to live fully in our lives. Bishop Curry emphasizes that in the face of great trial, the Holy Spirit manifests in our lives by cultivating a spirit of love.

In Acts 10:15, Peter is hungry and falls into a trance about food - except in this trance God is telling Peter to eat “unclean” food. Peter objects - as a devout Jew with a proper cultural and religious upbringing, Peter knows that eating any of these is strictly forbidden. God’s response: Do not call common (unclean, heathen) that which I have made clean.

This is now a direct contradiction of God regarding the law that was previously established in Leviticus and again in Deuteronomy. In his vision, Peter understands that God is conveying that anything about which God says “It is clean / holy / good / upright,” Peter has no standing in his objection. God establishes God’s rightful place as God, and gently puts Peter in his place, even though this must feel to Peter as though it is coming out of left-field. The vision paves the way for Peter to understand that when he sees the Holy Spirit operating in the lives of Gentiles (unclean, common, not-holy, heathen), then he better reevaluate his own misunderstanding - for God is doing a new thing.

Jesus hints at this earlier in the Gospels by saying that new wine is not put into old wine-skins, as the wine-skins would break and the wine spill out and be ruined. Instead, expect God to challenge the old ways of destructive status-quo thinking with a new, vibrant, loving perspective. Samaritans and women are embraced by their Creator (you can almost hear “Do not call unclean those whom I have made” in the back of Jesus’ mind).

Indeed, we must ask: does God actually make anything that is… common, unclean, not holy? One could argue that we should understand Satan to be created by God, and unholy by individual choice. But that corruption was self-serving and intrinsically opposed to God in favor of self. Samaritans and women did not choose to be “unholy” or “common” or somehow “lesser,” and they are not.

So to the point: Is love (agape, phileo, eros, and storge co-mingled together) between two adults of the same gender 1) of God, or 2) of the devil / wickedness?

I’m not talking about a selfish lust - wicked bigots enjoy slandering gays as pedophiles and hedonists - when in fact there are so many more heterosexuals engaged in illicit and destructive behavior. No, I’m talking about people of the same gender who love each other unconditionally and commit their lives to one another (with eros mixed in to boot).

Saying that love between two people is corrupt simply if between two of the same gender is baseless accusation by those not wanting to engage in actual objective thought.

God is love. The admonition in Acts 10:15 is simple: Do not call common / unclean that which God has made clean / holy. This is God’s direct command to Peter - and this is coming from Jesus, who also said:

John 5:21-24 (NASB) “For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son, so that all will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him. Truly, truly, I say to you, the one who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.”

Much more could be said about this passage at another time, but Jesus - the One specifically saying to those who hear His voice that they are NOT condemned…. that same Jesus is the same one telling Peter to not call unclean what He made.

A house divided against itself cannot stand: Satan cannot be both for pure love and for pure hatred and fear… And the clean, holy God isn’t in the business of making unpure, unclean humans or love.

The culmination of Pentecost is the Holy Spirit’s infusion of God’s presence and love into our lives, and we are admonished by God to be very careful to not slander this Holy Spirit by calling unholy that which directly is an attribute of God, that which can only come from God, and that which the Lord has made clean, holy, and good. Love between those of the same gender is love, and love is of God. This, and every Pentecost, we should celebrate God’s infusion of His presence via the Holy Spirit into our lives and the love which God causes to well up in our hearts.

Christ calls us to love God with all our hearts and love each other just as our very selves. In unity, may we love one another just as Christ has loved us, not permitting difference to drive us apart, but to find unity in our diversity. Let us put away evil divisiveness and see each other as being those whom Christ has made clean.