Homilies are normally not written to be read, but to be heard and to be listened to. There is also a difference between hearing a sermon and reading it. The "written" sermon is almost never the one that is actually delivered, unless the preacher is a robot. Besides, the delivered sermon comes "viva voce", it is a living experience that cannot be the same when read.
The power of a stirring homily does not lie in the preacher's words but with the Spirit that stirs from within. "Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth!" is the attitude of the faithful listener who then allows the Spirit to speak to him or her through the words of the preacher. It is for this reason that I have been reluctant to provide my homilies for general reading; it places undue weight on my text.
However, I have come to realize that my homilies are not mine "to hold on to", but mine "to give away"; and if the Spirit chooses to use my mere words to "speak" to the reader, then may the glory be His.
Few can claim total originality for any homily, and I make no such claim. Wherever and whenever possible, I strive to always acknowledge and give credit to sources and texts. I ask the same courtesy from you.
Subject to these caveats, I humbly, but gladly, invite you to linger, read and reflect. The apostle Paul exhorts us: "Since you are eager for spiritual gifts, strive to excel in them for building up the church." (I Cor. 14:12).
I invite you to join me in doing the same as you reflect on these homilies. May God smile on you today and always!
Serving all in Christ,
Vincent S. Raj, Ph.L., STL
Rector
St. George's Episcopal Church
Salinas, California
I think you would agree that today's Gospel is rather startling; it leaves us a little breathless; perplexed; perhaps even a little anxious.
"....I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and one's foes will be members of one's own household."Mt. 10:35-36
There is a sharpness in Christ's statements that is unsettling. These are not gentle words from a Messiah inviting his disciples and saying: "Come follow me". Not the words of the Jesus who allowed Himself to be led "like a lamb to its slaughter."
Instead, today's gospel portrays Christ as a Messiah who is in a hurry; who brings not peace, but dissension & division, even within families.
We can all acknowledge that we don't always live up to the Gospel message.
His message can be met with acceptance or rejection, and can be a source of conflict & dissension even within the same household!
One could say that Jesus' words are an attempt to startle his audience out of its complacency. And perhaps even ours!
We get busy, or is it that we keep busy?..... busy with our daily lives, our jobs, our families, our friends, our recreation..... especially during these summer months....
And precisely during these times in our daily lives, we need to be called back to reality ...... Today's Gospel is such a call..... a call to what is real about Jesus' message....
Today's Gospel is a reminder from Our Lord that if we claim certain values, and claim a certain faith... we need to give expression to it; to let it show..... and we are told by Him that taking such a stand could bring us into conflict with the very people we love dearly.....like one's own family members.
I've been reading a book entitled "Portrayal of a Friend" by E. Stanley Jones, an American who became one of Mahatma Gandhi's dearest friends. He was an Evangelical Christian who was awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize in 1961. He went to India at the age of 23, and lived and died there in 1973, at the age of 89. He was probably one of the foremost missionaries of the 20th century. Indians who came to know him revered him. People thought of him as a "RISHA", a "SAINT".
"Portrayal of a Friend" is a book he felt compelled to write in 1948, shortly after Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated... I was three years old at the time!
In this book he describes the very first time he met Mahatma Gandhi. This was at the beginning of Gandhi's rise to national status. He was just getting to be known as one of India's leaders....
Mr. Jones, being a Christian missionary, asked Gandhi this question: "How can we make Christianity naturalized in India, not a foreign thing, identified with a foreign government and a foreign people, but a part of the national life of India, and contributing its power to India's uplift? WHAT WOULD YOU, AS ONE OF THE HINDU LEADERS OF INDIA, TELL ME, A CHRISTIAN, TO DO, IN ORDER TO MAKE THIS POSSIBLE?"
Mahatma Gandhi, writes E. Stanley Jones, responded with great clarity and directness:
First, I would suggest that all of you Christians, missionaries and all, must begin to live more like Jesus Christ.
Second, practice your religion without adulterating it or toning it down.
Third, emphasize love, and make it your working force, for love is central to Christianity.
Fourth, study the non-Christian religions more sympathetically to find the good that is within them, in order to have a more sympathetic approach to the people.
The author goes on to state how Mahatma Gandhi, without any hesitation whatsoever, put his finger unerringly on the four weak spots in our individual and collective lives as Christians.
Jesus tells us: IF ANY MAN WISHES TO SERVE ME, LET HIM FOLLOW ME. And E. Stanley Jones remarks: It is possible to serve Christ, AND NOT FOLLOW HIM..... NOT FOLLOW HIM IN CHRISTLIKE LIVING!
"I would suggest that all of you Christians.... live more like Jesus Christ." Mahatma Gandhi need not have said anything more. HE WENT TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER........
IF WE ALL LIVED LIKE CHRIST, WHAT A WORLD THIS WOULD BE!
Today's Gospel invites us to shake away from our complacent living..... IT IS MEANT TO SHAKE US UP!
Jesus, the meek "Lamb of God", could show emotion when emotion was needed....... Remember how he chased the merchants and the money-changers out of the Temple? It angered him to see "His Father's House" transformed into a marketplace.
Today He tells us that "taking a stand" for what He stands for can cost us..... can cost us even the affections of our own family sometimes...... THE COST OF DISCIPLESHIP IS LIFE ITSELF ......but it is ETERNAL LIFE that we are talking about.
And ETERNAL LIFE is well worth taking a stand for!
When we reflect on our own lives.....in the quietness of creative silence....we can ALL acknowledge that we don't always live up to the Gospel message. We can all acknowledge that, by and large, we are all "easy-going Christians".
A few years ago Carol and I were invited to a musical at The Western Stage at Hartnell College. It was a Rodgers & Hammerstein musical. The power of "Rodgers & Hammerstein music" is perhaps surpassed only by the lyrics of their songs. I remember two lines that struck me that evening:
A bell is not a bell, until you ring it!
A song is not a song, until you sing it!
In the context of what Christ is telling us today, let me say this to all of us: Faith is not faith, until you live it!
And that means living it in both fair-weather and foul!
Christians cannot just be fair-weather friends of God!
(Friends of God - F O G - that could be a nice message on a "rubber bracelet" I think!!!! The kind people are wearing these days..... We had one that said HOPE at Relay for Life. Maybe St. George's should give out bracelets that say "FOG: FRIENDS OF GOD"!!)
If we consider Christ to be our Rock and our Salvation, then we have to profess to the world that we stand for Him.
If He is that "something" in our lives, that "something" that keeps us from falling for any thing and everything. .... If He is that "anchor", then we must proclaim Him.
It is the confession of His Name, and our Faith in Him, that keeps us from drowning in the confusion of our times.
Let me paraphrase Paul from his letter to the Romans: In Christ we are dead to sin; we live now unto God!
The Prophet Isaiah invites us in verse 5 of the same chapter we heard today: "O house of Jacob come. Let us walk in the light of Yahweh." Isaiah 2:5
We have only THIS life to live. Let us live it with LOVE!
Let us show the world that it is the same Love that Christ brought into this world that propels us, and inspires us.
I read somewhere that "motivation" is born out of fear. "Inspiration" comes from Love.
So let us be "inspired" by Christ's Love........ Let us love, like He did, WASTEFULLY.... Let us give it away....throw it away.... spread it around.... Lavish it upon all who come our way.... WASTEFULLY.......
DO NOT WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW TO DO WHAT YOU CAN TODAY, BECAUSE "TOMORROW" MAY NOT BE THERE FOR US!
In the name of the Father, who created us;
and of the Son, who redeemed us and loves us;
and of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us and sustains us. AMEN.
6th Sunday after Pentecost
June 26, 2005
I don't think there is any religion today that offers animal sacrifice, but in the days of the Old Testament, as in other earlier centuries, the concept of burnt offerings was well understood and practiced.
Just about every religion, including the religion of Israel, God's chosen people, offered sacrifice through the ritual of burning.... So it is against this backdrop that we read today from the 50th Psalm ..."....Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
And in the reading from the book of Hosea we heard this:
"...I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6
The point that is important to note in these inspired words from the Prophet Hosea is that the God of Israel is teaching His people a basic tenet, a basic teaching about what true religion is all about.
It is not just the "works of the law" that God is asking of His people.
I'm just a simple sinner who received God's good grace somehow.
The religions of those days were choke-full of rituals....as was the religion of the Jews. They knew all about rituals.
They could follow the "letter of the law"; and for most of them the rituals of religion was what religion meant to them.
As an aside, you may be interested in knowing that the Buddha, who inspired the religion that we know today as Buddhism, was from a princely Indian Hindu family. He turned away from Hinduism as a young man because it had become a "ritualistic" religion; a religion only of rituals.
But the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was a different God.
The God who told them "I AM WHO AM" was leading them through His chosen and inspired leaders....David with his Psalms; the Prophets with their teachings and warnings .....patiently teaching His chosen people, the people with whom He had made a Covenant, that true "religion" was not just about rituals and burnt offerings.
True religion, instead, was above all a matter of the heart. True religion was not just a matter of animal sacrifice, but of inner sacrifice: sacrifice of the spirit, not just sacrifice of flesh.
And thus we can read Psalm 50 with this new understanding, and hear what God is saying to His people through David:
I will not accept a bull from your house,
or goats from your folds.
For every wild animal of the forest is mine,
the cattle on a thousand hills.
I know all the birds of the air,
and all that moves in the field is mine.
......the world and all that is in it is mine.
Do I eat the flesh of bulls,
or drink the blood of goats?
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving.
And Hosea speaks for Him: "...I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6
We, in the 21st century, are not into burnt offerings in the Old Testament sense. But we do have our own modern day version of burnt offerings.
Let me suggest a "burnt offering" ......
Can coming to church on Sundays be a burnt offering? Of course it can!
If coming to church on Sundays was the extent of our religion, and it wasn't followed up by any "faith in action", then indeed it would be just another burnt offering.
In the spirit of what the Prophet Hosea and David are saying to us today, God measures us not just by the number of Sundays we are in Church!
Remember last Sunday's Gospel? "Not everyone who says "Lord! Lord!" will make it into the kingdom of heaven."
I was raised in a Church that insisted that you attend Mass every Sunday. It was a "mortal sin" if you skipped Mass on Sundays. And you had to go "confess" before you could receive Communion again.
But what if you made it to church every Sunday, but cheated your customers at your store on Mondays and weekdays?
What if you were here each and every Sunday, but wasted your employer's time surfing the web at work on weekdays?
That's where Sunday's Church meets up with Monday's truth......
That's where belief meets up with behavior!
That's where faith meets up with action!
Our Sunday faith must meet up with weekday action otherwise it is an empty faith....... AND JUST ANOTHER BURNT OFFERING!
What matters to our God is faith that shows itself in ACTION.....
in the way we act out our faith outside of church;
outside of Sundays;
God wants us to live out a life of faith.... out there on the streets where we meet up with people.
Mother Teresa says....very simply, and yet very profoundly:
The fruit of Faith is LOVE.
And the fruit of Love is SERVICE.
And the fruit of Service is PEACE.
Someone put it this way..... "If we all LIVED like Christians..... emphasis on the LIVING, what a world this would be!"
Perhaps that is the reason Andrew Carnegie, the great philanthropist, was not a church-going man. He knew too many people who went to church, and didn't do much else with their faith!!
But I also think not going to church was HIS LOSS! While making a huge contribution to elevating the level of his fellow human beings, Andrew Carnegie fell short of elevating himself before his Creator and God.
The flip-side of this coin is: If you dare to believe that your God is Love..... and wishes you to Love and Serve others as part of your Faith...... then you must prove it by loving God first!
But that will have to be the topic for another sermon, on another day! Let me end with this poem by Maya Angelou......
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not shouting "I'm clean livin."
I'm whispering
"I was lost,"
Now I'm found and forgiven.
When I say..."I am a Christian"
I don't speak of this with pride.
I'm confessing
that I stumble
and need CHRIST to be my guide.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not trying to be strong.
I'm professing
that I'm weak
and need HIS strength to carry on.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not bragging of success.
I'm admitting
I have failed
and need God to clean my mess.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not claiming to be perfect,
My flaws are far too visible
but God believes I am worth it.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I still feel the sting of pain,
I have my share of heartaches
So I call upon His name.
When I say... "I am a Christian"
I'm not holier than thou;
I'm just a simple sinner
who received God's good grace somehow.
May His grace and Peace abide with us always!
In the name of the Father, who created us;
And of the Son, who redeemed us, and loves us;
And of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us, and sustains us. AMEN!
3rd Sunday after Pentecost
June 5, 2005
As if we needed to be reminded of our propensity to sin, we heard on the news yesterday that police in Wichita, Kansas had arrested the infamous "BTK" killer....someone who is alleged to have tortured and murdered as many as ten women since the 1970s.
It turns out that the arrested man is an established resident of his community, a family man with two grown children, and even a leader of his Church in Wichita..... in fact holding the title of President of his Church!
My dear brothers and sisters, we Christians, just as every other human being on the face of the earth, can just as justifiably say: "There go I, but for the grace of God."
We don't know what went on in this individual's mind, nor what propelled him to commit such horrific crimes....... whatever it was, for us it is a stark reminder of human vulnerability..... of fallen human nature...... and our need, our constant need of God's grace in our daily life. "There go I, but for the grace of God" is a statement that each of us can apply to ourselves.
We are all capable of receiving grace sufficient to be saints; but innate to each of us is also the ability to be heinous criminals.....but for the grace of God!
I thank God that in our Church we are invited each and every year during Lent, to dwell on and reflect on "sin and grace"; on our human condition; on human fragility and vulnerability; and on our call to conversion not just at Baptism, but all through our earthly life...... thank God Lent comes around every year to remind us of our fallen human condition.
He knows of her five former husbands, and that the man she is living with now is not her husband.
Even practicing-Christians sin; we too have an ongoing need for repentance and renewal. The example of this alleged "BTK killer", reportedly a Christian, is just the latest reminder of that. May God have mercy on this man for his alleged crimes. May he find the grace of conversion even as he faces the consequences of his alleged past actions.
Today's Gospel reading from John [John 4:5-42] was a rather long reading.
But it is one of the most touching stories in the Gospels. Unlike parables, stories that Jesus told his listeners to make his point, today's reading is about an actual meeting, an actual encounter that Jesus has with "a Samaritan woman".
John, the author of this Gospel makes sure we understand that this was not just an ordinary encounter. Men and women, unless they were related to each other, did not address each other in public in those days.
And Jews and Samaritans did not quite get along.....and each left the other alone. So for Jesus to take the initiative to ask for a drink of water from a woman, and a Samaritan woman at that, was no ordinary initiative.
John, in remembering and writing about this meeting years later, recognizes its significance. And he wants US to recognize its significance.
Jesus is the one who initiates this encounter.
He invites this woman into a significant conversation.
The conversation is not about Jesus needing a drink of water, because later on in this reading He tells his disciples: I have food to eat that you do not know about.
THIS CONVERSATION TAKES PLACE BECAUSE JESUS IS SEEKING TO TOUCH THIS WOMAN WITH GRACE SUCH THAT SHE HAS NOT RECEIVED BEFORE.
In revealing to her his knowledge of her past life..... that He knows of her five former husbands, and that the man she is living with now is not her husband... in telling her of his knowledge of her past, and in spite of that still speaking to her, Jesus assures her that he is not condemning nor judging her....like her peers in her community.
There is significance in the fact that this encounter, John tells us, takes place at this well "at about noon". Village life in those days dictated that women go to the well in the early morning hours.... to avoid the heat of the day. This woman went to the well at noon because she was shunned by her peers. And being ashamed of her life, she was avoiding them.
Jesus knows all that......and that is why she is startled by him striking up a conversation with her.
But should we be startled or surprised by anything Jesus does?
Isn't He the one who is always seeking us out?
Isn't He the one who pursues us?
Isn't He the one who leaves the 99 sheep on the mountain, and goes to seek the one sheep that is lost?
Isn't He the Good Shepherd that cares for ALL HIS SHEEP..... particularly the ones that are lost?
Lent is a time not only to remind ourselves of our need to "seek God", but also to remind ourselves that GOD, in Jesus, CAME SEEKING US.
"I have come that you may have life, and have it more abundantly", says Jesus in chapter 10 of John's Gospel [John:10:10].
Remember the bumper sticker of some time ago: GOD LOVES US. HE GAVE. ..... period!
Are you tired of your own brokenness? There is a man at "Jacob's well" who knows all about your brokenness.
He is there waiting for you to stop by..... he'll ask you if He can have a drink of water. But what He really wants is to offer YOU the living water of his grace....the life-giving water of strength and renewal.
He waits there, at Jacob's well for all of us "broken" human beings....offering us "life-giving water"..... the water that will become a spring gushing up to eternal life".
The Samaritan woman was transformed because of her conversation with Jesus...... so can we.
He is there waiting, waiting to engage us in personal conversation...... my prayer is that we may all take advantage, this Lent, and engage Him in this life-giving conversation and conversion.
In the name of the Father, who created us;
And of the Son, who redeemed us and loves us;
And of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us and sustains us. AMEN.
3rd Sunday in Lent
February 27, 2005
My dear fellow-Americans, happy 4th of July!
Happy 228th Birthday!!
Do you feel old? You shouldn’t!
By the standards of the “old world”, Europe, Asia, and their civilizations….. we are a young nation. Some would say we are in our teens!!!
But regardless of this youth, most of the rest of the world, in spite of our engagement in Iraq, in spite of Vietnam ….. most of the rest of the world envies us and our way of life: our freedoms; our standard of living; our independence; our joy of life…… we are the envy of nations and continents….. and of millions of men and women around the world.
But let me take you back a few years into ancient history……
In God’s dealings with ancient Israel, the city of Jerusalem held great importance. Jerusalem, the holy city, was the symbol of God’s presence and blessing on His chosen people. And the luster of Jerusalem was symbolized above all by The Temple.
The first Temple was built by King Solomon himself…..who followed God’s specific instructions……he constructed the greatest and most magnificent building of his day….. the Temple of Jerusalem epitomized the greatness of Israel’s God, and their special relationship with Him. The Temple contained The Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies, where reposed the Tablets of God’s Law…..as given to Moses……
Jerusalem, the holy city, was the center of the world for the Israelites. As long as there was Jerusalem, and there was the Temple….Israel’s convenant with God was secure!
And the Israelites loved Jerusalem; and they loved their temple. And they rejoiced with her in joy, and drank deeply from the prosperity that flowed from their covenant with God.
As do we Americans! We love our country……. for what it stands, and for what it provides. And we thank and bless God for showering His blessings upon our land……for the prosperity that we claim as our own. As I said earlier, we are the envy of nations!
But of those who have received much, much will be expected.
Israel was blessed with prosperity and wealth; and Jerusalem, the holy city, was respected and loved. It stood as a light unto the nations…..as a sign of their fidelity to their God, and their adherence to His principles and His truth.
And like Israel, the America that we all love, and are proud of, and of which we sing…. this America of ours, also owes its God much thanks and praise. America owes God the gratitude due for the abundance and prosperity that has been ours; and the blessings that we can all call our own!
Our country was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and our founding-fathers meant to establish a country that acknowledged God’s sovereignty over us.
It is no coincidence that our currency bears the words:
IN GOD WE TRUST.
To my knowledge, no other country in the world has this. It is there for all the world to see wherefrom we draw our strength.
As you walk up the steps that lead to our Supreme Court building in Washington D.C., you can see near the top a row of figures that represent the world’s law givers……. they all face one person in the middle, who in turn is facing forward looking straight ahead….. that figure is Moses, and he is holding the Ten Commandments.
And as you sit inside the courtroom, you can see the wall right above where the Supreme Court Judges themselves sit,….there above them is a display of the Ten Commandments.
That great patriot and Founding Father, Patrick Henry, is quoted as saying: “It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded not by religionists but by Christians, not on religions but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ.”
On a day such as this we must remind ourselves of our roots, and our reason for being: “ONE NATION, UNDER GOD” is what we are all about; and this is how we should continue to solemnly pledge in our Pledge of Allegiance.
This notion of acknowledging our Creator and Father is being assaulted these days, and not just by atheists. For the sake of political correctness, and supposed separation of church and state we are being pushed by some to set aside our natural bias and belief in an Almighty God…. to the point that GOD cannot be mentioned in graduation & commencement ceremonies.
But listen to this wonderful story……..it came to me courtesy of one of our parishioners……
They walked in tandem, each of the ninety-three students filing into the already crowded auditorium. With rich maroon gowns flowing and the traditional caps, they looked almost as grown up as they felt. Dads swallowed hard behind broad smiles, and moms freely brushed away tears.
But this class would not pray during the commencements ----- not by choice but because of a recent court ruling prohibiting it. The Principal and several students were careful to stay within the guidelines allowed by the ruling. They gave inspirational and challenging speeches, but no one mentioned divine guidance and no one asked for blessings on the graduates or their families.
The speeches were nice, but they were routine……until the final speech received a standing ovation.
A solitary student walked proudly to the microphone. He stood still and silent for just a moment, and then, it happened. All 92 students, every single one of them, suddenly SNEEZED!!!!!!
The student on stage simply looked at the audience and said, “GOD BLESS YOU, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!” And he walked off stage…..
The audience exploded into applause. The graduating class had found a unique way to invoke God’s blessing on their future, with or without the court’s approval.
Let me tell you, our Founding Fathers would have approved of that class action!! From where they are, they smiled approvingly at those young graduates. But isn’t it sad that we have come to this!!!
God has shed His grace on our nation….. may He continue to cherish and bless our land! But may we also NEVER FORGET from whence come our blessings!
And because of those blessings, and because of the opportunities and opulence that we are provided, we also have a profound obligation to our future…. and not just because it is the future of our children, and the future of our own nation.
We have an obligation to the rest of the world, my dear people!
We are Judeo-Christians, and we claim ONE GOD who is Father of ALL NATIONS. If we truly believe in His ONENESS, then we also believe in the ONENESS of humanity…… and so humanity must claim our loyalty and devotion as well.
HUMANITY, all of it, IS THE CHURCH IN THE MAKING….. HUMANITY IS THE “BODY OF CHRIST” THAT WE CHRISTIANS ARE CALLED TO BUILD……
In today’s Gospel we read about how Our Lord sent 70 disciples into every town and place where he himself intended to go……. Our Lord intends to go to every corner of the globe….into every nation, and every village….into every little town….and every filthy slum…..
We, because we have been blessed with so much, have a special obligation to “go tell it on the mountain, over the hills and everywhere”……
We, as a people, cannot be fixated on just our own needs and desires, and wants.
We have an obligation, a sacred obligation, to spread the blessings of God Kingdom.
Our destiny, as Americans and as Christians, is to be the face of Christ to the world!
It is a responsibility that we must shoulder for the sake of Christ…… the PEACE of Christ must be shared and proclaimed by us.
The 70 disciples were told to bring “Peace” to every household that received them; and to proclaim that the kingdom of God had come to them.
We, you and I, are called to proclaim that kingdom to one and all.
We who share the blessings of that Kingdom, cannot squander it away just on ourselves.
We are called to be the face of Christ’s Kingdom to the world!
Our world needs love…..a lot more than it deserves……
Our world needs healing…..much more than it gets…..
Our world needs justice…..much, much more than seems ever possible…..
Our world is always, and will always be in need……THE HARVEST IS GREAT, BUT THE LABORERS ARE FEW….. can you help the Lord of the Harvest….
Today it is Iraq!
Yesterday, and for the past 50 years, it has been Israel and Palestine!
Yesterday, a few years ago, it was Uganda and Idi Amin.
Yesterday, and a few years earlier, it was Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.
Tomorrow it could be the Sudan; Korea; or some South American country!
THE WORLD IS ALWAYS THIRSTY….. someone has said.
The water that will quench this thirst comes only from the ONE who says to you and to me:
I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD!
I AM THE LIVING WATER!
HE WHO DRINKS FROM ME WILL NEVER THIRST.
On this joyous 4th of July, let us commit and rededicate ourselves to offering the Living Water of Christ to all who come our way….
MAY GOD CONTINUE TO BLESS AMERICA!
AND MAY WE ALWAYS BE WORTHY OF HIS BLESSING!
AMEN!
5th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST / Year C
July 4, 2004
It has been an extraordinary week in many ways! And this weekend is perhaps a momentous one for us; for our future; for our world; and our future together!
Who would have thought that Elizabeth Smart would be resurrected from the dead? She was, from the standpoint of our collective memory as a nation, all but gone…..she was well on her way to becoming one more statistic! The media had all but forgotten her.
But her family’s faith and trust: that God tests; but that God also provides…their faith and trust kept them strong. I heard that they were prepared, in faith, to accept the loss of their daughter…. indeed the “death” of their daughter, even as they hoped, and prayed, and believed that she was alive. And behold! Elizabeth was restored to them; resurrected from a living hell; from the bowels of a living hell! NINE MONTHS of hell.
God tested this family… as very few families have been tested….and they came through with their faith intact…..and their daughter home! And we all give thanks and praise.
We heard, in today’s reading from the book of Genesis, of the story of how God tested Abraham. Isn’t this timing something?!
On the face of it, it is a horrendous story…..can you imagine God asking you to sacrifice the life of your child…..what sort of a “God” would do such a thing?! Yet, Abraham’s faith did not waver….just as the Smart family’s faith did not waver!
Abraham, while suffering through the anguish of taking his son, Jacob, with him to the top of that mountain….oh! how he must have anguished with his little boy by his side….the little boy who wondered why his father was taking him up to offer sacrifice, without the sacrificial lamb….where was the lamb that was to be sacrificed?
The thoughts that must have gone through Abraham’s mind…..Jacob was his only son…..a GIFT from God at the ripe old age of 99….with the promise that he, Abraham, would be “the father of a great nation”…..and here he was, being asked to “give him up”!!
I cannot even begin to imagine what kind of thoughts the parents of Elizabeth Smart must have gone through during the past nine months….thinking about and anguishing over the whereabouts of their daughter! And struggling with their faith….just as Abraham must have struggled!
This kind of faith is called radical faith; and Abraham’s response was grounded in radical obedience to his God.
He knew and acknowledged that everything he had; everything he possessed; everything he called his own…..God had provided. He owed everything to his God…..and God could take it back….if he so wished.
But Abraham trusted his God…..who had ALWAYS provided. He believed in his God to ALWAYS provide…..and God did.
And miraculously a lamb appeared!
Miraculously, Elizabeth Smart was found to be alive!
I heard one of Elizabeth’s uncles say on TV: “We’ve always believed in miracles.” And her father gave thanks saying: “We are so blessed to have this miracle happen to us!”
It is not just Faith that pleases our God; it is Faith and Gratitude as well that pleases Him. Let us be thankful for them; for their faith, and for this miracle.
Let me add one final comment to Abraham’s story of faith……God did provide him a ram as a sacrificial lamb, and that offering was complete.
But that story was only the beginning of the history of God’s work of salvation with His people. Some two thousand years later, God would send His only son, Jesus Christ, to be the ultimate sacrifice for all mankind…..Christ would be the “ultimate sacrificial lamb”…..if you’ve wondered why Christ is sometimes referred to as “the Lamb of God”, think back to the Old Testament custom of offering a sacrificial lamb. Christ became for us the Lamb that God provided….He freely gave Himself, and died for us all….. the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
This verse by Brian Wren seems appropriate:
Great God, in Christ you call our name
And then receive us as your own
Not through some merit, right or claim
But by your gracious love alone.
We strain to glimpse your mercy seat
And find you kneeling at our feet.
In the name of the Father, who created us;
and of the Son, who redeemed us;
and of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us.
Amen.
SECOND SUNDAY IN LENT / Year B
March 16, 2003
Among the stories and parables that the Gospels contain, and among the lessons that Jesus has taught us, there are some that have endeared themselves to us all. The parable of the good Samaritan is one of them.
This parable, like the parable of The Prodigal Son, The Sermon on the Mount, and perhaps the miracle at Cana, stands out. Their stories, and the lessons they teach us, have endeared themselves and worked their way into our collective psyche!
The very story itself…..of a traveler traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho and beset by robbers…… the imagery of this parable reaches out to all of us….
But it is also the challenge of the LESSON that this parable portrays that, while hard to take, makes it a lesson to remember.
As a clergyman, this parable in particular, is a reminder and a lesson in humility…. the two men who pass this traveler by are religious representatives of their community…..a priest and a Levite, a lay assistant…. they cross over to the other side….. in other words, they don’t want to be bothered…. Are they too busy? Do they have more important things to do? The situation that they came up on was certainly unexpected….. did they look at it as just an unexpected distraction? Life often surprises us with the unexpected.
And God certainly surprises us with the unexpected. He usually doesn’t notify us in advance! I am sure we can all remember occasions when we have come up on situations that have called for a particular response……and perhaps we have looked away….or walked away….. we did not respond to that basic instinct of “reaching out and helping ”.
The parable of the Good Samaritan gets you every time!
Each time you read it, or hear it…. it brings you up short!
Because it reminds you every time that we have, many a time and time and again, not followed its lesson…… Jesus ends this parable with those words: GO AND DO LIKEWISE!
GO AND DO LIKEWISE!!!!!!
When was the last time that you really inconvenienced yourself…… went the extra mile….. did whatever it took, like the Samaritan in today’s Gospel, to help someone in distress or need? When was the last time?
If you can remember it, you are a better person than a lot of us!
We saw a movie recently, entitled “RADIO”….it is not a new movie; probably came out a few years ago…..didn’t become a box-office hit. But it is out in DVD and Video.
It is based on the true story of a mentally retarded young man, a young black man, who answers to the name of Radio; and a North Carolina High School football coach. Cuba Gooding, Jr. plays Radio, and Ed Harris is the coach.
It is the moving story of how one person goes out of his way, and against the grain…..and at some cost to himself and his family…. to help someone insignificant, powerless and seemingly useless!
In this movie the football coach reaches out to help this retarded young man….and slowly draws him in, to become part of the team….
In one scene, after the football season is over, Radio’s mother asks the coach: “Why are you doing it?” The coach answers: I guess it is the right thing to do.”
And she responds, with these sublime words of reality: “There’s a whole lot out there that’s right. Doesn’t mean that we all do it!”
THERE’S A WHOLE LOT OUT THERE THAT IS RIGHT….. WE DON’T ALWAYS, ALL DO IT!!!!!!!!
A man was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho, and was set upon by robbers…..and he lay helpless by the side of the road……
Have you seen this man? Has he come across your path of life?
And did you, like the priest and the Levite, cross over to the other side of the street…..and walk on by?
No doubt, in your life, this man was not by your roadside.
It may not have been a man….. nor by a roadside.
But we all meet such men and women…..and usually at the most unexpected of times, and in the most unexpected of places…….
Jesus calls us today….by way of this parable…..to be a “good Samaritan”……when & where it counts!
Jesus Christ is always challenging us to be better than we are!
If we call ourselves Christian, then we have to expect to be challenged at every turn!
If you want to look at it another way, it is the curse of being a Christian, your God is constantly challenging you…
To be challenged to be better than you are….at every turn…. is the CRUX of Christianity….it is the Christian way…..the only way for us…..
But, as Radio’s Mother put it: “There’s a whole lot out there that’s right; doesn’t mean that we all do it!”
In this movie that I told you about, the coach at one point tells his teenage daughter how, as a 12 year-old, he had seen a little boy “locked up” within a chain-link fence on his newspaper route. He had that route for two years, but didn’t tell anybody, or do anything to help that little boy!
And there lies the rub……that’s where the rubber meets the road! And that’s where a lot of us come up short…….
But Jesus will continue “pushing our buttons”….. He will always continue to challenge us…..
You no doubt have noticed that the “hero” in this parable is…..for crying out loud, A SAMARITAN!!!!
The Samaritans were a people of another land. The Jews of Judea looked down upon them…… they were Gentiles! They were despised…. but Jesus chooses to make his point by making a Samaritan the hero of his parable!
That tells me there is hope for you and me…….
That tells me that there is hope for us, even, and in spite of those, and there have been many, un-Christian moments, and lapses, in our lives!
There is a reason why the Church exhorts and encourages us to come listen to THE WORD OF GOD every Sunday. The challenge of “living out” our Christian way of being on weekdays calls for the nourishment by Word and Sacrament on Sundays.
There will be other times when we will hear the parable of the Good Samaritan…..and there will be other times when we will feel that we continue to come up short……
Even as God, in Jesus, constantly challenges us to be Good Samaritans…..He is also constantly forgiving us for not always being the Good Samaritan!
IT IS TOUGH BEING A CHRISTIAN EVERY DAY OF YOUR LIFE, NO DOUBT ABOUT IT!
That’s why the philosopher, Nietzche, said: THE LAST CHRISTIAN DIED ON THE CROSS!
But keep in mind, lest you get discouraged……being a Christian is not about being a perfect Christian, or even about being perfect.
It’s about STRIVING, AND STRUGGLING TO BECOME A CHRISTIAN!!
I am not a Christian, I am only becoming one!
And by the grace of God, by the time He calls me home, I hope to have learned how to be one, so that I can be embraced by the One True Christian……Christ Himself!
And by the grace of God, so can you!
In the name of the Father, who created us;
And of the Son, who redeemed us;
And of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens and sustains us.
AMEN.
6th Sunday after Pentecost / Year C
July 11, 2004
As I read between the lines of today’s readings from both the Old and New Testament, it seems to me to have a clear message:
There is an invitation to all of us to be better than we are!
Having gone through Lent and Holy Week into Easter, God is now calling us to pass from death to life. And we are told that we know we have passed out of death into life because of love!
As the apostle John says in today’s epistle: “He who does not love, abides in death” (I Jn 3:14). But in love abides the fullness of life, as Christ Himself taught us. And He now invites us to do the same!
“By this we know love, that he laid down His life for us”, says John, “and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”
And we are further asked to love, not just in word and speech, but in deed and in truth ! In other words, by our actions!
INVITED TO BE BETTER THAN YOU ARE……..
Have you ever been accused of trying to be better than you are?
It’s putting you down, isn’t it?
It’s telling a person, “You don’t belong here!”
“You are not one of us!”
It’s worst expression goes like this:
WHO IN HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TRYING TO BE BETTER THAN YOU ARE!!
Those seven words have been burned into many a soul; not just in the United States, but all over the world.
Jesse Jackson runs for President, and who does he think he is, trying to be better than he is!
In pre-Mandela South Africa, any black who aspired to a decent job was excoriated for trying to be better than he is!
The young Mahatma Gandhi was once thrown out of the first-class compartment of a train, even though he had a first-class ticket……who did he think he was, trying to be better than he was!
If an outcast untouchable in Hindu India aspires to better himself, he has no chance! His society does not allow it!
And God forbid if he were to have his eye on a girl from an upper caste…….who does he think he is, trying to be better than he is !!
Human nature, it seems, if left to its own devices, can do no better.
Human beings, if left to live a life without God’s grace, can do no better!
An unredeemed world, where mankind is not called to be better than it is, would be a world of “dog eats dog”, and a rat-race for the survival of the fittest !
But thank God for Grace and Redemption.
Thank God, our God is greater than our hearts.
Thank God for His invitation to us “to be better than we are”!
I AM SURE you are all familiar with James Michener, the writer. You have probably read one or more of his many books.
JAMES MICHENER WAS NOT A MICHENER!
Michener was the adopted name that came from his “adoption mother” at a very young age.
The Micheners of Pennsylvania are a proud and ancient breed; and everyone in the United States bearing that name is related to everyone else.
But James Michener, the beloved writer known and admired by millions around the world, was not one of them !
AND SOME OF THEM NEVER LET HIM FORGET IT!
He writes in his memoirs about how infuriated one of them was because he went by that name!
On the day after his name first appeared in a Philadelphia newspaper James Michener received this letter:
Dear Mr. “Michener”????? ( Michener in quotes, followed by question marks!)
You don’t know who I am, but I sure know who you are. You aren’t a Michener and never were. You’re a fraud to go around using that good name and you ought to be
ashamed of yourself. Sooner or later the truth will be made public and you will stand disgraced in the eyes of all good people. Why don’t you operate under your own name, which I am sure is something like Ginsburg or Cohen.
The letter ended with : I’ll be watching you! And signed : A real Michener.
This individual continued his tirade against James Michener through his anonymous letters for many, many years; and always after Michener did something positive.
But it was when Michener won the Pulitzer prize that he really exploded ! He ended that letter with the sentence that I mentioned earlier : “WHO IN HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TRYING TO BE BETTER THAN YOU ARE?”
James Michener took this person’s vitriolic attacks with grace, and a dose of humility. He used them to remind himself to not let his laurels go to his head. Nevertheless he wrote in 1992:
“I have spent my entire life trying to be better than I was, and am brother to all who have the same aspirations!” (The World is my Home, A Memoir, 1992)
But unlike the harsh world we live in; the world that puts you down instead of building you up, the world reestablished by Christ invites & challenges you at every turn to be better than you are!
It is an invitation extended by Christ to us and to the rest of humanity. By the force of His conquering death He lifts us up into resurrection and has said to us:
“ANYONE WHO HAS FAITH IN ME WILL DO WHAT I HAVE BEEN DOING; YOU WILL DO EVEN GREATER THINGS THAN ME!”
“Take up my cause”, He seems to say to us. “Look at what I have done, and do more!”
The Ethiopian minister in today’s Old Testament reading was trying to be better than he was! He had even gone to Jerusalem to worship! Who did he think he was ?
But wait! Instead of being put down and told to go back to where he came from, the God he was seeking and the Christ he knew nothing about, sends him a messenger, Philip, to enlighten him. He then asks, and is baptized, and is welcomed into the kingdom.
What a contrast to the world of our everyday experience!
BY CONTRAST, the “kingdom of God” that Christ wants established is a kingdom where “being better than you are” is not just a challenge, but a birthright!
By the triumph of Cross and Resurrection, Christ tells the brotherhood and sisterhood of humankind:
I HAVE MADE IT POSSIBLE FOR YOU TO BE BETTER THAN YOUR SINS; AND GREATER THAN YOUR FAILURES!
AS INDIVIDUALS, AS NATIONS, INDEED AS HUMANITY, YOU MUST RISE ABOVE THE FRAY!
YOU CAN, AND MUST, BE BETTER THAN YOU ARE !
But because He knows that we are faint-hearted and easily discouraged, He reassures us, “Behold, I am with you always.”
The church reminds us of His abiding presence in its liturgical celebration of Pentecost, which is just a few weeks away. But can we grasp the promise of Pentecost, and say YES! to God’s challenge…..to go forth and Re-Make the world in His image and likeness?
The promise of Christianity is for ALL nations. Christ’s love, like His religion, has no national boundaries! It embraces Hindus & Muslims; Jews & Buddhists, & Sikhs, and whoever else is out there. His love is an all-embracing love of humankind!
And we are invited to do the same : and not just to love our neighbor, but to also love our enemy!
Christ has promised us His Holy Spirit, who abides with us till the end of time. With His help we can reshape the world, and re-make it in His image and likeness.
WE CAN BE BETTER THAN WE ARE, with grace from above and within!
With grace from above, WE CAN MAKE THE WORLD BETTER THAN IT IS….. AND BECAUSE OF SUCH GRACE….
Every time a child hurts, we must say NO! that should not be.
Every time a woman is abused or violated, we must say NO, that must not be.
Every time a hate crime is committed, we must say NO! that must not be.
When a woman in some African nation is mutilated, we must say NO! that must not be.
When 12 year olds in Asia are exploited and forced to work, we must say NO! that must not be.
When young girls in Asia are sold into sexual slavery, we must say NO! that must never be.
AND WHEN PEOPLE SAY: WHO IN HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TRYING TO BE BETTER THAN YOU ARE…. We must say : BY THE GRACE OF JESUS CHRIST THIS IS MY STORY! THIS IS MY SONG! THIS IS MY DESTINY, ALL LIFE LONG!
In the name of the Father, who created us; And of the Son, who redeemed us;
And of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us. AMEN
5th SUNDAY OF EASTER / Year B
MAY 21, 2000
St. James’ Episcopal Church
Monterey, California
Acts 8:26 — 40
Psalm 66:1 — 8
I John 3: 14 — 24
John 14: 15 — 21
Easter Sunday inaugurates The Great Fifty Days of Easter…. the period that is known as The Season of Easter. It takes us all the way to Pentecost Sunday.
But Easter isn’t just a day! It is a life…. Resurrection Life! And resurrection goes on and on…it does not end on Easter Sunday, and not at Pentecost either.
This past Sunday we celebrated the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. But on Monday Marciano Martinez, known to us as Rocky, celebrated his Easter….his resurrection. Then Thursday came along and Terry Schiavo claimed her resurrection after a Good Friday that, for her, lasted 15 years!
And as I was finishing this sermon yesterday, they announced the death of The Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. The Bishop of Rome earned his well deserved “resurrection”!
But resurrection happens everyday for someone, somewhere….we just happen not to know when and where, or to whom……but it happens all the time.
BUT IT IS NOT THE “HAPPENING” THAT IS IMPORTANT. IT IS THE “CLAIMING” OF RESURRECTION THAT IS IMPORTANT.
Allow me to explain.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German theologian who stood up to the Nazis and was executed because of it, said this: “We pay more attention to dying than to death. We’re more concerned about getting over the act of dying than in overcoming death….. There is a real difference between the two.” Getting over the act of dying is within the scope of human possibility. Overcoming death means resurrection.
And then he goes on to say: “To live in the light of resurrection - that is what Easter means.”
Jesus abolished death, transforming it from a door that slammed shut into one that opened to whoever knocked.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, even as he was being led to be executed, joyously proclaimed that as a Christian, death was a beginning, not an end. It was the key to life; TO DIE WAS TO LIVE.
Over the past two weeks or so, we were all subjected to the drama of Terry Schiavo’s dying. We got “an unwanted, unseemly, and unsolicited” daily blow-by-blow from TV reporters, spokesmen for the family, so called spiritual advisers….. even Congress got into this act.
There was so much daily “blow by blows”; descriptions of Terri’s dying, with exaggerations and misrepresentations, one wonders what happened to respecting the sanctity of death!
It seemed that in the haste to ensure that Terri Schiavo stayed alive, we forgot our belief in Resurrection.
Life gracefully making room for death was set aside…… an individual’s dying overtook death itself.
The spectacle that we were subjected to was the spectacle of people wanting to see Terri live without dying. The spectacle of seeing the fight over keeping Terri alive at all costs….even by some clergy….. was a horrifying and sad spectacle.
They looked at her dying as a door that was being slammed shut, instead of as a door that was opening……
Whatever happened to Resurrection Life?
Whatever happened to the joy of dying in order to live?
I am sure heaven shed more than a few tears over the spectacle of Terri’s dying. But I am also sure that her heavenly Father’s embrace was all the more stronger, and all the more loving.
Today medical science can keep us alive long after we can breathe on our own, or feed on our own. If pushed to the limit, medical science could keep us alive without dying.
Ever since the time of Dr. Christiaan Barnard’s first heart-transplant in December, 1967, medical science has held out for us the hope of replacing our body parts as they wore out…… keep us on the road, so to speak, like old classic cars! New hearts, new kidneys….someday perhaps new brain-boxes….implanted as and when needed!
Would this result in immortal beings who would have no occasion to be raised from the dead as Lazarus was?
Would Jesus’ words about being “the resurrection and the life” have no more significance?
Will there be no more “rising from the dead”? No more “dying in order to live”?
Living without dying, life without Resurrection, is not an acceptable proposition, because it would only mean an unending continuation of living here on earth.
The purpose of life is to be resurrected to HEAVENLY LIFE, to HIGHER LIFE…..not just a continuation of this life.
That is our belief; that is our Faith.
I came across this analogy, and I must share it with you:
A CATERPILLAR has no idea of its impending resurrection…..it does not know that it is meant to die as a cocoon, in order to be transformed into a beautiful butterfly.
If told, would it believe? Can it conceive being transformed from a poor earth-crawling worm into a creature of the air…. with exquisitely painted wings?
Imagine wise old caterpillars shaking their heads and saying: No, it can’t be; it’s a fantasy; it’s self-deception, a dream. We’d rather stay as caterpillars.
Those who want to cling to this earthly life are like caterpillars refusing to believe that there is a life beyond their known existence that they are destined for……that they only need to reach out and to let go; that they need to die, in order to live.
My prayer for you and me, as the years go by, and as and when we find ourselves in the limbo between living and dying….. when our time draws near….. my prayer is that we can hear Christ’s words to us:
“I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE”
“I HAVE GONE AHEAD OF YOU TO PREPARE A PLACE FOR YOU, SO THAT WHERE I AM, YOU MAY BE ALSO.”
My prayer is that we will reach out and claim Resurrection because Christ has earned it for you and for me.
My prayer is that we will all follow the example of Pope John Paul II, who has left us a valuable lesson on how we should all face the end of life. He has shown us that there is dignity in dying — that we need not be afraid of death.
That, my dear people, is Christ’s Easter Message.
That is why we proclaim today and always: ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! And what say you?...... HE IS RISEN INDEED, ALLELUIA!
In the name of the Father, who created us; and of the Son, who redeemed us and promised us eternal life; and of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens and sustains us. AMEN.
SECOND EASTER / A
THE SUNDAY AFTER EASTER SUNDAY
April 3, 2005
Today’s Gospel story offers us the possibility of vividly imagining, a Christ who shows Himself as so very human on the one hand, and so very divine on the other!
On the human side……….
Jesus tells his disciples to leave. The gospel says: “…he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead….”
And then what does he do? He dismisses the crowd. In other words, He was seeing them off!! He was saying goodbye!! We are talking about a crowd of 5000 and more!
And remember, this is right after just having fed them with a miracle…..the five loaves & two fish that we heard about last Sunday….
Can you picture Him mingling with them? …..as grateful as they must have been for his consideration…after all, his disciples had wanted them all to be sent away to the nearest town to fend for themselves!
And here he was….saying goodbye!
“Thank you for coming”, you can imagine Him saying to them! Not unlike a priest standing at the entrance to the church, thanking the congregation as it leaves…..
It would have been entirely reasonable for him to have got on the boat with his disciples, and just waved goodbye to the crowd. They would certainly have understood.
But no! Jesus goes the extra mile…..he takes the time to mingle with the ordinary people in his life!
I can relate to this Son of God!
I can relate to this God who treats me like a human being;
who comes and mingles with me…
who cares about my hunger & thirst….for food, and more..
….me, just one in a crowd of 5000!
Who knows how many people Jesus actually touched that day! It’s got to have been at least in the hundreds….they must have practically mobbed him….and remember, he didn’t have his entourage of disciples around him to keep them away. He had sent them away! Yes, I can relate to this kind of God!
And then there is the divine side of Christ that we also see in today’s gospel.
After spending time by himself in prayer, which will have to be the topic of another sermon, on another day, Jesus joins his disciples on the boat. They were having a hard time, and were being battered by a storm. And he comes to them walking on water!
But it is not His walking on water that I want to draw your attention to this morning. It is Peter’s…..
Peter, always the enthusiastic one…the one to jump in with both feet, and all heart….the one who seems to represent a lot of us…..we hear him say to Jesus, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” And Jesus, the Christ, immediately says, “COME!”
“COME!” he says to Peter, and Peter steps out on to the water…and walks…..that is the amazing thing…he walks on water….but his faith wavers…and he falters…..and he cries out….”Lord, save me!” And Jesus is right there…! “You of little faith,” he says ever so gently, “why did you doubt?”
Like Peter we too, at times want to respond to Our Lord’s invitation to “walk on water”! And like Peter we too come up short on faith & trust in our Lord.
Walking on water…….how does one walk on water? Have you and I tried walking on water lately? Perhaps we have…..
When Christopher Columbus embarked on the Santa Maria to discover India….yes, that’s right, INDIA….Columbus didn’t set out to discover America….it was INDIA that he was seeking.
The whole world believed, back then in the 15th century, that the world was flat; and sailors believed that if you traveled far enough on the ocean your ship would eventually fall off the edge of the world!
But the voice of God in Columbus called out to him….COME!
Walk on water……and discover for yourself the marvel of creation on the other side of the world! And Columbus did….and the rest is history.
In our own lifetime, how about the first astronauts to land on the moon? Don’t you think that was an invitation to walk on water? Oh! yes, it was!
God urged scientists to defy the forces of gravity, and to launch a shuttle into space. There were skeptics galore, scientists of every kind, who didn’t think that a space capsule could ever make it back to earth! In their mind, sending those astronauts to the moon was a one way ticket for a burial in space!
Yet you and I can remember the day that we were sitting on the edge of our seats watching that TV screen….I was in Rome then, it was 1:00 o’clock in the morning….. watching the first man set foot on the moon…..and then making it safely back to mother earth!
Yes, that was walking on water all right!
Like Christopher Columbus before them, and like Peter, those astronauts must have had their moments of doubt about their mission………
And yet, beyond it all….Christ beckons, saying gently all the while: “You of little faith, why do you doubt?”
I am moved to end my sermon today by reading to you a beautiful hymn of faith that I received from someone not too long ago. I am grateful to a lot of friends who share their faith via e-mail…I always tell them that I reserve the right to share it freely…this is one of those e-mails received…perhaps from one of you…. I edit as needed, and at times embellish with a few words of my own….
I hereby dedicate it to the One who says to us, in today’s gospel: COME!
12th Sunday after Pentecost / Year A
August 31, 2003
Matthew 14: 22-33
“….when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind….”
Romans 7: 21-23
Dolly Parton, of Country Music fame, was on the TODAY show earlier this week promoting her new CD: Halos & Horns!
Halos and Horns…..if we examine ourselves honestly, in the silence of our hearts, and in the privacy of conscience, we can admit to the undeniable fact that we all have both halos and horns; not just one OR the other, but BOTH! The good & the bad; the saint & the sinner…..are to be found in one and the same person.
We heard the apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans, put it this way: “…..when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind…”
That story, as you know, goes back to our first parents…….I mean our FIRST PARENTS…..as in Adam & Eve. God created them, man and woman, and put them in The Garden of Eden.
The Bible tells us that it was a place of perfect bliss….a place of absolute happiness. They had everything they could possibly want, and more. And, they had something else as well!
Our Creator God gave them the gift that was not granted to any other creature of His. HE GRANTED THEM THE GIFT OF FREE WILL! Adam & Eve were free to live in the company of God, or free to leave the company of God.
The Tree of Knowledge, that famous apple tree, stood for their freedom: the freedom to choose to be with their Creator, or to be away from their Creator; to be without their Creator.
The serpent, we are told, tempted them with the suggestion that by eating of its fruit, they would have knowledge….they would know, on their own, what was best for them! In other words, they would have no need of their Creator! They would be like God!
Well, we know the rest of that Bible story…..they expressed their freedom, and in so doing disobeyed their Creator….and the consequences of that disobedience, of that first sin, impacted all of humanity for the rest of time. From that time on, mankind has struggled with the concept of good and evil.
We find ourselves, as human beings….every one of us…..wanting in our hearts to do the good…..but ending up, many a time, doing the opposite.
The Apostle Paul reminds us today that each of us has implanted in us “a seed”, if you will, for doing good; and “a seed” for doing evil! To paraphrase him: “The good that I want to do, I do not! The evil that I do not want, I do.”
Halos & Horns….we are born with both; we all have a bit of the Halo, just as we have the Horn!
Saint and sinner….we all have it in us to be both….and in the course of our lives, we struggle mightily with being one or the other; or being one and the other!
It is a struggle that men & women are faced with every day of their lives; and it is an eternal struggle that will never cease.
There is a restlessness in the hearts of men & women that is a reminder of the time when Adam & Eve, before the Fall, were in the company of their God…..and their hearts were in bliss, and at peace.
St. Augustine, the African Bishop of Hippo, put it this way in the 4th century: “Thou has made us for Thyself, O! God; and our heart is restless until it rests in Thee.” (Confessions)
The disobedience and the fall of our first parents transformed the bliss of the Garden of Eden into the burden of life on earth…..and death and strife entered into life!
And if mankind were left to its own devices, there would be no hope for us. Why should we, sons and daughters of Adam and Eve, be able to do any better than they did?
But God could not leave His creature, Man, to fend for himself and to flounder. So from heaven He reached out to His creation through Jesus Christ, and redeemed Humanity.
And thus, He once again holds humanity in His loving grasp. He holds every human being in His loving embrace!
But when we do the evil that we do not want, when we sin, we choose to leave His embrace.
As strong as His love for us is, He still will always respect our freedom “ to be with Him”, or “to be without Him”. God will allow us to cut ourselves off from His love, if that is what we choose.
Adolf Hitler preached his misguided philosophy of superiority of one race above others. He exercised his free-will, and taught intolerance and hatred. In doing so he took himself out of God’s circle of love, and instituted his circle of hate. And God cried at the subsequent slaughter of six million Jews!
You’ve heard the familiar phrase: There go I but for the grace of God! St. Paul tells us that it is only God’s grace in Jesus Christ that keeps us from succumbing to the weakness of the flesh…..our spirits may be willing, but our body, our flesh, is weak.
But we can indeed draw strength from the grace of Christ’s redeeming love. In Him we have claim to the life of the Spirit. In Him we can leave the weakness of human frailty behind, and live in the joy & glory of His love.
Christ, for us, has become the new measure of being human.
If by Adam’s fall we all became subject to sin & death, then by Christ’s redemption we have become subject to love & eternal life. Jesus Christ is our new Adam! He is our principal cheerleader! He cheers us on, and asks the best of us.
But He goes one step further……He gives us the grace, the strength, the courage….to be able to do it!
In Him, we can live, move, achieve and be our best!
Be our best, or be a beast…or be a bum… the choice is always ours.
Two boys grew up in the same village in the former Soviet Union, in the Republic of Armenia. They were both altar boys, acolytes, in their church. They were both named Joseph.
One of them learned to speak seven different languages, and became a Cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church. His name was Cardinal Joseph Agagianian. I knew him when I was a student in Rome. As a Cardinal he took part in the election of three Popes. He himself was considered Papabile, and it was rumored that he had been in the running during the consistory that elected Pope John XXIII, the good Pope John.
The other boy, also an acolyte at one time, got yelled at by his Priest, and never went back to his church, or any other church. He never learned to speak any language other than Russian, but nevertheless went on to take half of Europe, and was responsible for the killing 60 million people during his years of dictatorial power. His name was Joseph Stalin.
Men and women are made in God’s image and likeness. We can choose to create heaven on earth, or we can create hell on earth. The choice is an individual choice….always is; always will be.
God’s grace is sufficient for each and every one of us to be able to give our best, and to make our world a better place than when we entered into it.
But will we avail ourselves of His Grace?
Will we take the hand that is offered us from above?
That is the 64,000 dollar question!
To be the best! Or to be a bum! Or to be a beast!
Halo or horn? Saint or sinner?
We all came into this world as both saints & sinners.
But we can only leave it as one OR the other.
May we all accept God’s grace to become the saints that we are meant to be, and further the cause of humanity, and the evolution of our human-ness.
In the name of the Father, who created us; and of the Son, who redeemed us; and of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us. AMEN.
7th Sunday after Pentecost / Year A
July 7, 2002
We are a little more than halfway through our Church’s season of Pentecost, but we still have another ten or eleven Sundays to go before we move into Advent!
In another Christian tradition they call this season the season of “Ordinary Time”. Could it be because after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, life is supposed to become “ordinary”? Just hum-dum….? We put life on “cruise control”, and let it take care of itself?!!! Is that it? I don’t think so.
But the season of Pentecost IS our longest season, and nothing much happens, liturgically speaking, between Pentecost and Advent. Perhaps that’s why they refer to it as just “ordinary time”!
“Ordinary Time”….. the ordinary days of our lives…..nothing much happening….. we are just living out our days….. we go through the summer ….schools’ out….we go on a trip perhaps…. a vacation…. we are getting back into school now…. and life will pick back up….. but not quite yet!
It occurs to me that our lives can be full of “ordinary time”…..indeed, life IS full of “ordinary time”! Or is it, really?
I mentioned that liturgically speaking, nothing much happens on the Church calendar between Pentecost and Advent…..and we could get lazy and lethargic into thinking of it as just an “ordinary” season!! But that would be quite wrong!!
Take an instance from yesterday……yesterday Ginny & Frank Price invited us to join them to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary…… what a milestone, and what a blessing! But as we do on such occasions, it made me reflect on the time that has passed by in the life of Ginny and Frank.
Their 60th anniversary is a HUGE milestone……….but before that there was their 50th…… their 40th….. their 25th……. way back, their 10th….. even their 5th……
AND IN BETWEEN THESE MILESTONES IN THEIR MARRIAGE, THERE WAS A LOT OF ordinary time ; a lot of ordinary years!
But do you think Frank and Ginny would call those “in-between” years ORDINARY YEARS? I bet they wouldn’t! And neither would you!
The point that I want to make is this:
It is the “ordinary” days and years of our lives that go
to make our lives!
It is the ordinary days of our lives that test our worth!
It is those supposedly ordinary, in-between, mundane, every-day times….. that test our marriage….. and test our caliber!
And this brings me to today’s reading from the Old Testament….from the Book of Exodus…….the story of THE GOLDEN CALF!
Allow me to “set the stage”, and present you the larger picture…….
Moses, by the astounding power of God, has liberated the Israelites from Egyptian slavery…… by signs and great miracles:
the waters of the river turning into blood;
the pillar of fire protecting them from Pharoah’s pursuing army;
the parting of the Red Sea.
In a manner of speaking, the Israelites have experienced their “Pentecost”…..the manifestation of God’s power.
And what lies ahead of them is THE PROMISED LAND…..the land that Moses is leading them to….that they can call their own…..it is the land promised to them by their faithful God…….
But between the “Pentecost” of liberation from slavery in Egypt, and arrival in the Promised Land…….. THERE ARE THOSE ORDINARY YEARS IN THE DESERT!
And it is during those ordinary years that the people of Israel rebel against Moses, and their God!
How quickly they forget the blessings of their God!
They get impatient with Moses….. he is spending too much time up on the mountain-top…..
They get impatient…… and they want their own god…..a god of THEIR MAKING! And the Golden Calf is made!
Thus has the Golden Calf become the symbol of “false gods” since that time! The ultimate symbol of “other gods”!
Time and time again the Israelites fall short of their covenant with their God……. during those ordinary years in the desert.
THE DESERT, my dear brethren, also symbolizes the “ordinary years” of our lives…… the ordinary days; and the ordinary weeks; and the ordinary months and years of our every day!
And it is during these ordinary “lower cap” days……that we fall short of our own covenant with our God!
Israel’s Covenant commitment was to be faithful to the ONE God. And they rebelled, and built their golden calf.
We have all had our “golden calf” moments, when we have rebelled against what we know to be right, and pursued our own false god, knowing that it was wrong!
WE ALL HAVE COVENANTS AND COMMITMENTS…… not only with our God but also with each other……
As Christians we have a sacred covenant with our God and our Church family
we have a covenant, a sacred covenant, with our spouse & with our family…..
we have covenants with employers….
we have covenants with friends…..with associations, organizations…..
And it is during the ORDINARY DAYS of our lives that our covenants are tested!
The test does not come on the 5th, 10th, or 25th anniversary of a marriage or covenant………..it comes during the ordinary days of that relationship.
It comes on sunny days, but also on rainy days, and foggy days.
It comes on holidays and workdays.
It comes on Sundays and weekdays.
It comes EVERYDAY!
And it is EVERYDAY that God calls us to be true to our COVENANT with Him, and with everyone else.
But it is hard being true to our covenants EVERYDAY! In fact it is impossible to be true to our covenants everyday…………….except by the grace of God !
Our opening prayer, our Collect today acknowledges this…..so I want to end with that prayer……
O GOD, FOR AS MUCH AS WITHOUT THEE WE ARE NOT ABLE TO PLEASE THEE, MERCIFULLY GRANT THAT THY HOLY SPIRIT MAY IN ALL THINGS DIRECT AND RULE OUR HEARTS……….
The EVERYDAY challenge of loving and living is where the challenge lies.
And my prayer for all of us is that we may seek, ask, and find the SPIRIT OF GOD to assist us through the ordinary days of our life.
In the name of the Father, who created you and me;
And of His Son, who redeemed you and me;
And of His Holy Spirit, who sustains and enlightens you and me; AMEN.
15th Sunday after Pentecost / Year C
September 12, 2004
Just a few hours ago in Rome, the Bishop of Rome “beatified” Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She now has the official title of “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta”.
Beatification is one step short of “Canonization”: which is the process in the Roman Catholic Church of officially declaring that an individual has achieved “sainthood”. In other words, the Church declares that that individual has, with ecclesiastical certainty, made it to heaven; that he or she has been embraced by God, and has joined the ranks of His Angels and Saints.
That Mother Teresa would receive this honor was never in doubt to those who knew her, above all the “street people” of Calcutta! They thought of her as a living saint, and they called her “the saint of the streets.” The common people, the “nobodies” and the homeless of Calcutta affectionately called her “Maathaji”, an endearing Hindi term that meant “dear mother”.
When she died, I believe in 1998, both the state and federal governments of India gave her an official state funeral. Mother Teresa would never have wanted that, but Indians had embraced her as their own, and the government could do no less! This, in a country where less than 3% of the population is Christian; fewer than 30 million Christians in a country with a population of over One Billion!
But even saints have to struggle with life, and life’s ups & downs; and Mother Teresa had her share of it.
It isn’t true that saints are saints because they lived their lives in a constant state of piety and grace! St. Augustine, the great African saint of the 4th century, led quite a promiscuous and lusty life as a young adult.
And even later, as he struggled to break the shackles of his sexual addictions, he would often find himself praying — “Grant me chastity, O Lord,….but not just yet!”
Mother Teresa, it is said, had intense feelings, through most of her life, of being abandoned by God. While she had a clear sense that God had called her for a certain “mission” in life, she also had a hard time feeling God’s presence in her life, ironic as that might be!
She is reported to have written in her journal: “I am told God lives in me — and yet the reality of darkness, and coldness, and emptiness, is so great that nothing touches my soul.”
You may be familiar with the saying that “God tests those He loves the most.” Though it may not seem that way, I do believe that God tries and tests His saints the most.
But it doesn’t seem that way to us on the outside. On the outside, Mother Teresa was known for her perpetual smile…..that never left her face. The smile on Mother Teresa’s face was as much a part of her as her weathered face itself! And yet, on the inside, she had her anguished moments; her “dark nights of the soul”, to use a phrase coined by another great saint, from the 16th century, St. John of the Cross.
Mother Teresa, now Blessed Teresa, had her “nights of nothingness”, and her “nights of doubts”….even as she trusted her God in the midst of these doubts.
But Saints do make it look easy…. to us folks on the outside!
It’s like with our super-atheletes…..a Michael Jordan making a basket while flying through the air; or a Tiger Woods coming from six or eight shots behind on the final day of the tournament; and going on to win by two strokes!!
But if you really wanted to know, they’d be the first to tell you that it takes years and years of hard work and discipline. (Or just ask Richard Smith about running the marathon! He competes in several marathons every year….as a matter of fact, he just came back from the Tahoe Marathon!)
And saints, if you asked them, would tell you that their lives, on the inside, was any thing but rosy!
But Mother Teresa would also tell you that it’s all worth it. You see, while struggling to sainthood, they all invariably found inspiration in their Lord, Jesus Christ; the One who first “bore it all”.
We heard the Prophet Isaiah say in today’s reading: “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases….he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities…..upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed….the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all!
I do believe that saints discover that you can only grasp eternal life by learning at the foot of The Cross. They remember after all, that even Christ, in the midst of excruciating agony, couldn’t help crying out: “My God! My God! Why have you abandoned me!”
But they also know, having learned through prayer and suffering, that the “dark night of the soul”, as with Christ, does lead to the joy of the Resurrection.
Please remind yourself of that, next time you are in your “dark night”.
And so there IS hope for you and me!
And that actually is one of the reasons why the Church, the Roman Church, has the practice of canonizing & proclaiming saints.
It is to “present” to ordinary Christians, like you and me, that God’s Grace of sainthood is also available to us in our ordinary lives…..that you and I can also achieve sainthood in our lives……”His grace is always there; and it is sufficient.” We only have to “grasp it”…..to claim it for ourselves….
So my wish and prayer for you this morning, (and for me!), is to wish you sainthood!
And if you need more instruction on that, just call on “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta”…..she’s available to every one for “spiritual consultation”….she would welcome your inquiries, I am sure!
In the Name of the Father, who created us;
And of the Son, who redeemed us;
And of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens and sustains us,
AMEN.
19th SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST / Year B
October 19, 2003
Those of you old enough to remember the 1980s might also remember the TV actor, Telly Savalis, who starred as KOJAK, a New York City cop. He’s the one who introduced the phrase: “Who loves you, baby?” Remember that? Kojak always went around with a “lollipop” in his hand!!
BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT I WANT TO MAKE TODAY!
I just started reading a book entitled VITAL FRIENDS by Tom Rath…… it is a book about the people that you can’t afford to live without.
The first chapter of the book is a question: Who expects you to be Somebody? It relates the stories of “Roger” and “Maggie”…..not their true names.
Roger lives on the streets.
But his earlier life has been very normal…. He grew up in a wonderful home, got married right after graduating from college, found a respectable job in mechanical engineering, bought a house and two cars, and had three children by the age of 30.
Maggie never had much of a chance growing up.
She didn’t know her biological father; she wasn’t even sure her mother knew who he was. When Maggie was young, her mother bounced from one abusive relationship to the next. Each man who entered her home seemed worse than the previous one; and her mother, who was terribly needy, spent her life doing anything to please her men, even at the cost of ignoring the damage they inflicted on Maggie.
When Maggie was 16, she was sexually assaulted by one of her so-called “step-dads”…. when she went to her mother for help her mother didn’t believe her. She stood behind her man; not her daughter! That is when Maggie left her home…. stayed with a classmate for a while, then at a local center for runaway teens….and eventually ended up on the streets…… like Roger.
But Roger is still on the streets; while Maggie is now a successful executive in a major financial services company.
The first chapter of this book asks and answers the question: Why do some people emerge from homelessness and recover, while others do not?
As you read Roger’s story you learn about his increasing frustration at work. His only real friend at work gets fired. They used to do everything together. Aside from his wife, Jimmy was Roger’s best friend in the world. Their friendship kept them engaged in a job that was otherwise dreary. His friend’s termination left Roger devastated, leaving him little motivation to go to work.
Worse still, he had a boss who took every opportunity to remind his employees how much seniority he had, and would belittle Roger and everyone else at every turn. He was one of those managers who demeaned and abused his employees. It was too much for Roger, and he began drinking.
At first it was one or two nights a week at the neighborhood bar; and soon that became five or six nights…… and then it was a downward spiral; he began to self-destruct. His wife tried to help, as did family.
At the age of 32, Roger lost his job, his wife, and his children. He moved into a small apartment; his mother paid his rent for six months and tried desperately to help him. He continued to push her away, and eventually, like the others, she too gave up on him out of frustration.
Left with no means of support, he started living out of his car until one day the car was impounded because of back taxes and unpaid parking tickets. ROGER BECAME HOMELESS FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE!
When asked: “Does anyone expect you to be somebody?” Roger took a deep breath before he replied: “I DON’T THINK ANYONE DOES ANYMORE.”
Maggie’s story, on the other hand, took a twist.
After six years on the street, she ended up at DAYHOUSE….. a shelter for homeless people. DAYHOUSE always had a few volunteers….usually idealistic young people wanting to change the world….some of them volunteered to pad their resumes, to meet school requirements, or to please their parents.
So when Jessica, a female volunteer, tried to strike up a conversation with Maggie she was skeptical and didn’t say much. But Jessica continued to try, and Maggie started to sense her genuine warmth…. something most of the other volunteers didn’t have.
Even after her “volunteer time” had ended, Jessica continued to visit Maggie…… some days they would just spend time together and talk. At other times Jessica would have ideas about how she could help Maggie get a job….and she would help her with mock job interviews. When Maggie got a real interview, Jessica insisted on taking her shopping so she would have something decent to wear.
Talking about their first outing together, Maggie remembered what happened when they bumped into one of Jessica’s classmates at a department store. After exchanging pleasantries, Jessica said, “This is my friend Maggie.” Those words were burned into Jessica’s memory for good….. they motivated her even more.
In spite of Jessica’s help, it was almost two years before Maggie found a job. She started out as a receptionist at an accounting firm; quickly learned the business…… and soon after had enough money to rent an apartment. She then earned a degree and became an auditor. And the rest, as they say…… is history! As I said earlier, at the time that Maggie was interviewed for this book, she was an executive at a major financial service company.
When Maggie was asked, “Who expects you to be somebody?” her immediate response was: “Jessica”.
My dear people, on the highway of life we all have a basic need to be somebody…… each and every human being has a deep, deep, ingrained desire TO BE OR TO BECOME SOMEBODY!
Most, if not all of us, have been raised in families where parents nurtured us and loved us; affirmed our capabilities and encouraged us to succeed….. they wanted and expected us to be somebody! Remember the words of that song: You have to be loved in order to be somebody?
Our parents and our families loved us into becoming and being “somebodies”………..and we can all be thankful for that, and count our blessings.
BUT LIFE HAPPENS……. and there are the “Rogers” of this world who run into situations where they come to feel that they are isolated and alone…… when they feel that they have no one who cares about them any more….. NO ONE WHO CARES IF THEY BECOME SOMEBODY OR NOT!
And that, as is clear from Roger’s & Maggie’s stories, can make the difference between being able to conquer homelessness or not.
What makes a person capable of rising above one’s self and situation? What is it that prompts one individual to pull himself up by his own bootstraps, while another individual collapses under the same burden? Is it just one’s intellectual abilities? Or can a relationship with someone, or someone’s belief in you…..make the difference? This book I am reading makes the point that people and relationships do make the difference.
We live in an age when more and more people are isolated and alone, in spite of being surrounded by so-called friends and family.
Teenage suicides suggest that even though young people may seem to have dozens of “friends”, they are more often than not really “lonely” and “friendless”. When the chips are down, they really have no one close enough that they can talk to!
In a world such as ours, a world that so often is a lonely world for so many out there, it is worth reminding ourselves of our God; a God who invites us to have a “personal relationship” with Him.
Our 21st century world can entice you with its glamour and glitz; its sophistication and wealth. It can also seduce you, and make you dizzy and drunk. And when it is finished with you, it can discard and dismiss you….and throw you away like a wet rag.
Whether you are a “Roger”, who had a normal life and was raised by a loving family; or you are a “Maggie”, who was let down by the very person who should have been there for her in her moment of need……wherever each of us may be in this continuum between “being loved and being lost”, let us not forget that God is the one person who is there for us through the thick and through the thin.
God has been, and continues to be faithful to us….
He faithfully loves us
He faithfully cares for us
He faithfully sees us at our very best
God faithfully sees us….each of us…..
As capable of being good
As capable of talent
As capable of being befriended and loved.
And it is this faithfulness on his part that empowers us to be faithful to Him:
His faithfulness to us empowers us to take the gifts He has given us, and use those gifts more fully.
His faithful patience with us (remember, God isn’t finished with us yet!)…his faithful patience with us empowers us to be patient with each other.
His faithful love empowers us to be faithful in our love for one another…and in our love of Him.
His faithful giving of Himself to us in the Eucharist empowers us to give of ourselves to family….to friends….to neighbors….to each other….to our church….to the world.
Faithful love, and faithful giving, begins and ends with God.
HE, is the one who can truly ask each one of us…… paraphrasing Kojak….. “Who asks you to be Somebody?”
MY DEAR PEOPLE, G O D ASKS EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US TO BE SOMEBODY.
HE EXPECTS US TO BE SOMEBODY …… Let us never forget that.
We are made in HIS image and likeness ….. we have been embraced by HIS eternal l ove.
The world around you may come crashing down; friends, bosses, coworkers and even family may let you down…..BUT GOD WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN.
HE ALWAYS EXPECTS YOU TO BE SOMEBODY ……AND HIS GRACE AND STRENGTH IS ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU.
In the name of our Father, who created us;
In the name of the Son, who loved us and redeemed us;
In the name of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us and sustains us.
A M E N.
10th Sunday after Pentecost / Year B
August 13, 2006
I hope all of you brought your sense of humor with you this morning!
Today is one of those Sundays when all of the Readings are "in sync"... they are all around a central theme... and the theme that we are offered today to reflect on is the theme of God's compassion and provision.
In the first reading from Nehemiah we were reminded of God's fidelity and constancy in forgiving His chosen people.....even when they, time and again, and again, turned their backs on their God.....the God who had led them out of the land of Egypt and out of slavery under Pharoah.
The story of God's actions with His chosen people, the Israelites, is a story of God's constant giving, versus the Israelites' inconstant faith.
It is the story, the salvation story, of God's fidelity to His promise, and mankind's infidelity in keeping its end of the bargain.
It is the history, the salvation history, of man's needs, and of God providing for those needs in all seasons!
If we read and hear between the lines of today's readings, we learn that our God is there to provide for us.....in season, and out of season....He is constantly providing.
And this generous provision by God is epitomized by His providing for his people through 40 years in the desert; the 40 years that the Israelites spent in the Sinai desert, during which He brought them from the land of slavery and need, to the Promised land, the land of freedom and plenty.
Satan created Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and Krispy Creme Donuts.
And of course we see the same compassion and provision in the actions of Jesus.
Today's Gospel tells us that when he saw the great crowd "he had compassion for them, and cured their sick."(Jn.14:14) And we then heard about one of the spectacular miracles of Christ...the miracle of the loaves and fish.
The life of Jesus is a life of constant giving.
Like His Father before Him, He shows us that what God is about, which is to "provide for us".....in all the seasons of our life!
God gives, and gives, and gives.
And Jesus gave....He cured the sick. .....He gave sight to the blind!......He fed the 5000 and more....from five loaves and two fish....and there were 12 baskets full of leftovers!
The God of the Old Covenant loved His people wastefully, in spite of their inconstancy and infidelity.
And Christ, the Lord of the New Covenant, gave Himself wastefully ....He gave all He possibly could....with His very life.
But as we read the history of God's dealings with His people.....actually His dealings with ALL of His creatures..... WE SEE A CERTAIN DYNAMIC......
This dynamic is linked to God granting human beings their FREEDOM......It's not just that He freed the Israelites from slavery. He granted us human beings FREE WILL...
the freedom to accept or not accept;
the freedom to obey, or not obey;
the freedom to trust in His Ultimate Wisdom, or to rest on human knowledge and human ability.
Indeed, I dare say, that next to creating us, our gift of Free Will is God's second greatest gift to humankind. We are not just creatures with instincts. God has gifted us with an intellect that allows us to discern and choose.
An "e-mail story" I received this past week illustrates this dynamic in a very humorous way. I received it from a friend, a parishioner actually. It makes the point about our freedom to choose.... This Other Creation Story goes like this:
Do you still have your sense of humor?!!
A DIFFERENT CREATION STORY
In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth and populated the Earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach, green and yellow and red vegetables of all kinds, so Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.
But using God's great gifts, Satan created Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and Krispy Creme Donuts. And Satan said, "You want chocolate with that?" And Man said "Yes!" and Woman said, "And as long as you're at it add some sprinkles."
And they gained 10 pounds. And Satan smiled!
And God created the healthful yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair. And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat and sugar from the cane, and combined them.
And Woman went from size 6 to size 14!
So God said, "Try my fresh green salad." And Satan presented Thousand-Island Dressing, buttery croutons, and garlic toast on the side.
And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following their repast!
God then said, "I have sent you heart healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them." And Satan then brought forth "deep fried fish" and "chicken-fried steak"... so big it needed its own platter.
And Man gained more weight, and his cholesterol went through the roof!
God then created a light, fluffy white cake, named it "Angel Food Cake," and said, "It is good." Satan then created chocolate cake and named it "Devil's Food" and "Death by Chocolate".
God then brought forth running shoes so that His children might lose those extra pounds. And Satan gave cable TV with a remote control, so Man would not have to toil changing the channels.
And Man and Woman laughed and cried before that flickering blue light, and gained pounds!
Then God brought forth the potato, naturally low in fat, and brimming with nutrition. And Satan peeled off the healthful skin, and sliced the starchy center into chips, and deep-fried them.
And Man gained more pounds!
God then gave lean beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite. And Satan created McDonald's and its 99-cent double cheeseburgers! Then said: "You want fries with that?" And Man replied, "Yes! And super size them!" And Satan said, "It is good."
And Man went into cardiac arrest.
God sighed, and created quadruple bypass surgery. Then Satan created HMO's!
And so this other creation story goes on..... and will keep going on.... as long as we have our FREEDOM, and are free to choose. .... Freedom is a wonderful gift from God. But we must cherish it and exercise our freedom wisely, for there are CONSEQUENCES to our choices ....
This creation story you heard ends with a final "thought", which humorously illustrates CONSEQUENCES.......
They say there is more money being spent today on breast implants and Viagra than on Alzheimer's Research.
What this means is that by 2040 there should be a large elderly population with perky boobs and huge erections, and absolutely no recollection of what to do with them!
GOD WILL GIVE and GIVE, AND CREATION IS THERE TO TAKE FROM.........In fact Creation is ours to conquer and control. That is also God's Commission to human beings.
However, we humans also need to understand that NOT EVERYTHING is for our taking.....
THE PROVERBIAL "FORBIDDEN FRUIT" CAN BE HAD, BUT ONLY AT OUR OWN PERIL!
In the name of the Father who created us;
and of the Son, who redeemed us, and loves us;
and of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens us, and sustains us. AMEN.
11th Sunday after Pentecost
July 31, 2005
The Letter of James is not a very long Epistle, as Epistles go....especially when you compare it with some of Paul's other letters.....just five short chapters. But this letter carries a lot of punch. Within this short letter he goes to the heart of the matter very quickly: he zeroes in on Faith that manifests itself through RELATIONSHIPS.
If we believe, then we must act a certain way; if we believe, then we must relate to other people in a certain way. If we believe, we live a certain way.....it all comes down to our "relationships".....in how we deal with other people....in how we relate to those who cross our path of life.
James reminds us today of our human tendency to treat different people differently. This tendency is not just yours and mine; this tendency is "ingrained" in society as a whole.
You must confront the fact that Christ invites you to "go against the grain".
Paul points to a very obvious trait of society. And since his Letter was written in the 1st century, obviously a trait that is very ancient, and one that still endures - society's trait to look differently at the rich, versus the poor! Or, as James puts it: a person with gold rings and fine clothes....and a poor person in dirty clothes....
The tendency to look at people differently, and to treat them differently - our society does it; all societies do it; you and I do it. There is a natural inclination to do it; there is an "ingrained" inclination to do it. Like attracts like; birds of a feather flock together. What seems familiar and similar, we can relate to easily. But what seems strange and different does not attract us. It tends to turn us away.
America today takes pride in its diversity.....and rightfully so. American society today is more and more described as a "salad bowl", and not a "melting pot", and that is a good thing.
A "melting pot", in the social sense, conjured up an image of a society that enabled all of us to melt our differences, and we all get "melted down", losing our differences, and become one.
The "salad bowl" description, on the other hand, pictures a salad that is made up of a variety of ingredients.....they all get tossed around in the mix, and yet maintain their individual flavors; their individual colors; their individual characteristics.The individuality of the ingredients enhances the diversity of the mix.....and this adds flavor and a richness.
We Americans are learning to appreciate the fact that our individual differences - ethnic, cultural, racial and religious - are indeed differences and attributes to be appreciated. It is our diversity that leads us to our strength.
We are getting better at appreciating each other more.
We are getting better at accepting each other's differences more.
But we are not all there yet.....
There was a time, not too long ago, an island not too far away, the island of MOLOKAI! Today this island has rejoined the beautiful islands of Hawaii....and is just another "destination island" among the other islands of Hawaii.... but it was not the case just a 100 years ago!
Molokai, just a 100 years ago, was a forgotten and forbidden island. Intentionally forgotten by the rest of Hawaii; and forbidden to all except those who were condemned to live there in total isolation from the rest of the world. No one went to Molokai; no one wanted to go to Molokai; Molokai was an island for the condemned -MOLOKAI WAS A LEPER COLONY.
In those days leprosy was a fearful disease and lepers were "treated differently" - they were isolated, separated from society, and condemned to Molokai. Lepers were dropped off on the island to fend for themselves. And you fended for yourself till the day you died.
Lepers were different; they had a disease; so society dealt with them differently....NO ONE QUESTIONED IT! NO ONE WANTED THEM AROUND! THE WORLD WAS BETTER OFF WITH THEM ON AN ISLAND! It was an ingrained idea that no one wanted to touch......
Until a young man from Belgium, by the name of Damien, decided by the grace of God that that is where he wanted to serve as a missionary. He would go there, not because he had to, but because he wanted to. He would leave the comfort of home in Europe, and travel across the world to a SEEMINGLY God-forsaken island......AND LIVE AND SERVE AMONG THE LEPERS.
Damien went to Molokai, and became DAMIEN OF MOLOKAI. I don't remember how many years he served on the island; but he ended up dying on it. You see, after living among the lepers he himself contracted leprosy. He became one of them, and died as one of them.
But because of Damien's work in Molokai, the world was made aware of the treatment of lepers in those days, the treatment of fellow-human beings just because they were different.
Damien taught the world a lesson in Compassion and Caring - a lesson in "loving your neighbor as yourself". As the Apostle James says in his Letter, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works?"
If you are in the process of "becoming a Christian", you must confront the fact that Christ invites you to "go against the grain". And if you are open to His grace, that is available to all who seek it, you may be surprised by what the grace of God may prompt you to do, like it did Damien of Molokai.
But before you despair, not all of us are called to be "Damiens"!
We are, however, called to be "Christ-like"!
But I honestly don't know which is the bigger challenge - go off to a "leper colony", or try to be Christ-like!
The answer, I believe, is not in trying to do "the heroic", for the sake of the heroic. The secret is in trying to do "what you are called to do". Listen to the "heart" of your desires, for in your desires is God's call to you (Jesuit spiritual wisdom).
Dorothy Day, who died in 1980, was a social activist. She was a "radical" who became "radically committed" to the Gospel. She started out as a "Socialist", and then discovered that the Gospel was more radical than she could ever be as a Socialist, and so she became a Catholic Christian! (If you didn't know where the name for our local charity for the homeless, "Dorothy's Place", came from, now you do).
Dorothy Day wrote, back in 1945, the year I was born,"Christ is always with us, always asking for room in our hearts.....If we hadn't got Christ's own words for it, it would seem raving lunacy to believe that if I offer a bed and food and hospitality to some man or woman or child, that my guest is Christ......It would be foolish to pretend that it is always easy to remember this. If everyone were holy and handsome, with "alter Christus" shining in neon lighting from them, it would be easy to see Christ in everyone.
If Mary had appeared in Bethlehem clothed, as St. John says, with the sun, a crown of twelve stars on her head, and the moon under her feet, then people would have fought to make room for her. But that was not God's way for her, nor is it Christ's way for Himself, not when He is disguised under every type of humanity that treads the earth......he made heaven hinge on the way we act toward Him in His disguise of commonplace, frail, ordinary humanity."
As we cross each other's path in life, we will meet "strangers and pilgrims" along the way, and it is often a challenge to move beyond the comfort zone of our own tradition; our own community; our own family.
Jesus embarrassed his disciples and the religious leadership of his day by intentionally welcoming those who were unacceptable: the disenfranchised - women, children, lepers, tax collectors - He received them with grace, and touched them with healing.
Like Damien of Molokai and Dorothy Day, we too are invited to look at the Gospel's message of "loving your neighbor as yourself", and discovering the possibility that your neighbor could quite well be on the other side of the world.
Happy travels, fellow Christians! Happy travels!
In the name of the Father, who created us;
And of the Son, who redeemed us;
And of the Holy Spirit, who enlightens and sustains us.
AMEN.
14th Sunday after Pentecost
September 14, 2003