Sunday Homily, March 25, 2007 – Lent, 5th Sunday
Readings: Isaiah 43, 16-21; Psalm 126; Philippians 3, 8-14; John 8, 1-11.
Isaiah – The scene: the Jewish people are captives in Babylon ca. 550 years before Christ. Isaiah the great prophet had warned the people that their bad ways were going to lead to this.
In this chapter 43 Yahweh reminds them of how much he has done for them in the past and lets them know that they are still his people. Their lives will get better.
The first 5 verses of this chapter are some of the best in the Bible, telling the people to not be afraid because he is with them.
Philippians – Philippi was the first church Paul set up on European soil. He is in prison. He is basically saying that for him nothing has any importance beyond his relationship with Jesus.
Judging
Our recent trip to East Africa was divided into two parts. The first half we spent in Tanzania visiting some of the world’s most marvelous game parks, like Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater.
The second half we spent time at place called Elsamere on the southern shore of a lake called Naivasha in the bottom of the Great Rift Valley. The place is somewhat famous because it was here that Joy & George Adamson made their home and where they raised a baby lioness named Elsa. Joy & George eventually let Elsa return to the wild, but while together they were the subject of the famous film Born Free, the story of Elsa.
The place is delightful, accepting at most 16 guests with three cottages spread out from the main house which is used as a dining room. It is here at Elsamere where we could not leave our cottage at night because hippos are grazing, one night right outside our window.
When we arrived, there were already 8 visitors, all Brits, 6 women in a group and a couple. Since they had already been eating meals together for a couple of days, we ended up seated at the second table with one of the Kenyan assistant managers.
As time went on, despite our efforts to get to know the Brits, nothing developed and I began to feel the ladies were ignoring us Americans. A couple of the ladies I had greeted seemed pretty disinterested in chatting. We had a good time with the couple. However, I was, as they say, put off by these women.
I know what it was that put me off. They never initiated a greeting and in the evening before dinner when we arrived with our guard from the cottage, they were all seated around the fire place. No welcome. In fact, they seemed totally involved in their own conversations.
Until the last night. Thirty minutes before dinner, snacks were served and we all made a big circle in front of the fireplace. All were departing the next morning. We three were split up around the circle.
Now they talked with us, especially a couple of them who had hilarious personalities. It was in this circle that we heard the story of the calendar (the women all belonged to the same organization that put out the famous calendar that was the subject of the movie "Calendar Girls"). We spent the time in hysterics.
The next morning I told them that my only disappointment at Elsamere was not having the opportunity to get to know them better.
I came close to judging and condemning these 6 Brit women, of judging the book by the cover.
Who is the Brit that you are condemning?
