Sunday Homily, August 19, 2007, 20th of Ordinary Time

Readings: 1 Samuel 16, 1-13; Psalm 23, The Lord is My Shepherd; there is nothing I shall want; Ephesians 5, 8-14; John 9, 1-41. 

 

 

Fourth Sunday of Lent – Intro to Readings

 Our three readings today have to do with seeing.  In the first reading we have the account of Samuel being sent by God to find a successor to King Saul.  At this time, the succession of the kings was not by direct descendant, but they were chosen by God..  Recall that Saul was their first king, a king they demanded from God so that they could be just like every other people around them.  God gave them Saul.  Saul did not quite work out, and today’s reading is the account of God’s selection of his successor, David.  The account focuses on the fact that God sees people differently than we do.  You might say he shines a light through the cover of the book to see into the person.

 Paul’s letter to the Ephesians continues this theme of God’s light and introduces us to the well-known phrase “Jesus is the Light of the World”.  The Letter to the Ephesians is one of those letters where Paul’s authorship is strongly questioned.  The letter contains no references to companions, addresses no particular questions or issues in a particular community, and very closely resembles the Letter to the Colossians.  There is much reference to Baptism in the letter and it seems that some of the passages in the letter are taken from early Christian liturgies, particularly Baptism. 

 

Our responsorial Psalm today is the very beautiful Psalm 23 “The Lord is my Shepherd” and has two ideas: God as Shepherd and God as Host.  The psalm was probably part of a thanksgiving liturgy.

 Our gospel today is from St. John and originally I had intended to read the shorter version, but all of the commentators I read were so full of praise for the entire chapter and how it is one of the masterpieces of Johannine story telling, well what could I do!

 

 Homily

 Last Monday after work, I caught the DART train home.  When I got into the front carriage, there was a young woman at the front of the carriage speaking to everyone.  I sat down and immediately realized I was in for a sermon!!  Not what I needed at that moment.  I wanted the train driver to come out of his cab and toss her off the train!  But as she talked I listened.  She was telling us about how Jesus had come into her life and saved her, and Jesus would save us too, if we would only accept him.  In fact we were already saved. 

 As I listened, I started to do what the Pharisees did in today’s Gospel.  I wondered so what now, what is the big difference in her life, I wanted to know the “so what”.  Then I began to ask myself would I be willing to get up in front of a carriage full of people and share my faith in Jesus.  She was a very good speaker, she spoke clearly and calmly.  Then she sat down after thanking us for listening.  The man in the row behind her leaned forward and said something to her, I didn’t hear, but I could see that she wiped a tear from her eye.  The train rolled on and after a few stops she rose, turned to us all and invited us to have a “Blessed day” and got off. 

 

 Onto the train got a young man, who sat in her seat, about her age, dressed all in black, a black shirt with the word “neurosis” written across the front, long hair and a tattoo on his arm.  He had leather straps on his wrists with metal spikes on them, and a metal belt and chains around his waist, and a ring in his nose!!   Oh boy, did I have fun with the contrast as I thought about today’s readings!  I had jumped to all sorts of conclusions about the young man.  I was judging the book by the cover. 

 If I go back to my questions about what the young woman was saying.  So what difference was Jesus’ presence in my life?  I need to constantly be aware of my own blindness when it comes to other people.  I need to make sure I don’t fall into the trap of having a closed mind, which is what the Pharisees had in the gospel.  They were completely blind to the miracle, and only saw that Jesus broke the Sabbath law.

 

The blind man’s sight of who Jesus was is something that happened over time.  At first he saw Jesus as “the man Jesus”, then “he is a prophet” then finally as “Lord”.  So too for us, our sight, our faith, is a journey and we grow in our understanding of who Jesus is and what our response to Him is, as we live and allow Him into our lives.

Picture 1:   Mass begins with Tony & Kevin  

Picture 2:   Tony congratulating Bob

Picture 3:   Beth & Rob, Beth being today's photographer

Picture 4:   Cara & Sean with mom & dad, Christine & Ed  

Picture 5:   Leo joins the choir

 

       

Readings:                          

2 Samuel   12,  7-10, 13, David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Psalm 32,  Lord, forgive the wrong I have done.

Galatians 2, 16, 19-21     A person is not justified by work or the law

Luke 7, 36-8, 3,  The woman who bathed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair.

 

 

Welcome into our beautiful world, Everet.  You are marvelous.

 

 

2 Samuel observations: (Following upon last week)

What :  2 Samuel is the second book in a 4 book semi-history of the early tribe of Israelites.  The books, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings.  The story goes from Samuel, the last of the judges, to Saul, the first of the kings, to King David (with Goliath, Jonathan, Mikah and dancing, Bathsheba & Solomon).

The two books of Samuel focus on Saul & David and their difficult relationship.

 

 

Victoria says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in.

 

 

When composed:   during the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555 before Christ.  Why at this time?  Same reason why so much was composed at this time, to explain why the Captivity, to keep the tribal identity, and to provide hope for a brighter future.

Who composed:   Tradition said Jeremiah the prophet, but contemporary studies show at least 3 writers.

Today's selection:  the prophet Nathan is chastising King David because he has been really bad.  See the homily, a Bible story today.

Sources: New Jerusalem Bible, Wikipedia

 

 

 

The Team

 

A Bible Story

This morning I would like to tell a bible story.  It is about the great Jewish hero, King David.  I tell the story because it is background to today’s first reading from 2 Samuel.  More than likely you have not a clue about where today’s passage is coming from.

Here we go.  This is the way the composers put it together, not necessarily how it was.

 

 

Anybody notice?  Buddy has his own robe.  Congratulations, Buddy.

 

 

There was a man named Jesse who had 8 sons.  Samuel, the last of the judges is sent by Yahweh to find a successor to Saul, the present king who is misbehaving and Yahweh has decided to reject him. 

Read about Saul and you can’t help but see bipolar symptoms.

 

 

The Best Music.

 

So Samuel goes to Bethlehem to the house of Jesse, who has 8 of sons.  The first 7 pass by and Yahweh tells Samuel, "Not this one."   Eventually number 8 comes in, Little David.   When Samuel sees him, Yahweh tells him, “That’s the one.”

So, David is especially chosen by Yahweh, a hero quality.

David goes to Saul’s court and becomes a favorite.  Then in a fight with the Philistines, little David kills the giant Goliath.  Another hero quality.

 

The Play Center.

 

Time goes on, Saul gets jealous because David is so popular and he decides to kill him.  The second part of 1 Samuel details all the struggles between Saul and David.  David even has a chance to kill a sleeping Saul in a cave, but he simply cuts off a piece of his cloak to show Saul later.  Saul cries, swears he will stop trying to kill David, but then continues.  David’s mercy, another hero quality.

Time goes on, Saul actually commits suicide, and David becomes the popular king of the Jewish nation.  His army is defeating all their enemies.

 

 

 

Sandra with her granddaughter, Maddie, from Nebraska who now goes to TCU.

 

One morning our hero king is strolling on the roof of his palace.  While walking he spies a beautiful woman on another roof taking a bath.  He invites her over for dinner and, behold, she becomes pregnant.  David is already married to Saul’s daughter, Michal, but Yahweh has rejected her because she mocked David for dancing before the people in a victory parade.  The woman, Bathsheba. 

So David decides to invite Bathsheba’s husband to dinner.  Her husband, Uriah, is with the army in the field.   David gets him drunk and tells him to go home to his wife.  Then Uriah will assume that Bashsheba’s baby is his. 

 

 

 

Leo the Candle Lighter of The Week.

 

However, Uriah tells David he won’t sleep under a roof while his men are sleeping in the field.  So that plan won’t work. 

Then David tells his commander to put Uriah on the front line, get into a battle, then pull the other men back, leaving Uriah.  So Uriah is killed.

 So David, our hero king, invites Bathsheba to join his household. 

At this point the prophet Nathan of our story is told by Yahweh to visit David.   Nathan tells David a little story.

 

 

Guess who now walks.  Beware.  "Good Morning, Genevieve."
 

 

There were two men, a rich man who had everything, large flocks and every convenience.  The second man, a neighbor had nothing more than a little lamb which he had bought.  The man loved the lamb and even slept with it.

Two visitors come to the rich man’s house.  Instead of preparing a meal from one of his own lambs, the rich man takes the poor man’s lamb for his meal.  Nathan asks David what should happen to that rich man.  David says he should be severely punished. 

 Nathan says, “You are that rich man!”   David is stunned and goes into penance and mourning.  This is where our story comes in.  All this happened before our little reading.

 

 

 

Collin Classic Bike Rally.

 

A lesson?   Even the hero, the chosen of Yahweh, fails and commits sin.  We are all King Davids.   

Lesson 2: Yahweh forgives and accepts.  This theme is exemplified by our gospel, the woman bathing Jesus’ feet with her tears.  Forgiveness and acceptance.

I would suggest it also involves self forgiveness and self acceptance when we fail to be what we would like ourselves to be.

 

 

Crossing the dam at Lake Lavon. 

 

David was accepted by Yahweh and Bathsheba, although she loses her first child with David, goes on to have another son, who is considered the ancestor of Jesus.

How good is your self acceptance?

 

Rest stop # 3 on the shore of The Lake.

 

 

 

 

Readings:

Genesis  9, 8-15,  The waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all mortal beings. 

Psalm 25,    Your ways, O Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

1 Peter 3, 18-22,   Christ suffered for sins once.

 Mark 1, 12-15,   The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert.

 

 

Genesis:  observations–

What:  First book of the Bible, starts with creation & ends with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob (Israel).

Author: Not Moses as was thought for centuries before people began to study the work.  At least 3 sources: 

• a Y (or J) source for the group that addressed God as Yahweh;
• an E for the group who addressed God as Elohim (Like two historians calling NYC The Big Apple or New York City, or Denver by its name or Mile High City);
• and a P group that focused on the priestly class, activities, & customs.

 

 

Time: compiled and put together from 950 to 500 BCE.

Today's Selection: the flood has just receded and Noah is receiving a promise (called covenant) from Yahweh that never again will people be wiped out by a flood.  Guess what the sign of the promise is.

 

 

A Happy Lent

I want to talk this morning about having a happy Lent.  Why?  Because God created us to be happy. 

I admit again that this is my least favorite season of the year.  I always look for something positive to do and am never really satisfied with what I come up with.

 

 

However, this past week I got something good.  During the week Diane McClurg sent me a facebook note that she had something.   Then she sent me another more insistent facebook saying she was waiting.  So I opened it up.  And am I grateful.

What she had sent was a copy of an article by a woman named Karen Ehman.  Karen Ehman says, ‘For this Lent don’t give something up; take something up.’  She has five ideas that are pretty good.  Here they are.

 

 

 

1. Take up note writing to people with whom you don’t communicate that often, but who are friends.  She says she buys 40 cards, envelopes, and stamps.  Each morning she sends one out to a friend, just saying that she likes the person.
2. Take up the phone and call someone every day or once a week and tell them you are calling just to tell them thanks for being a good friend.  
3. Take up a simple gift for a friend or family member.  Like bring flowers to someone, bring a Starbucks, offer to wash the dishes, or clean or dust the house, mow the grass (welcome to Tulip Lane).  Invite someone to lunch.  This is a once a week or occasional take up.

 

 

 

1. Take up a simple gift for a stranger.  Like the recycle men, the garbage men, the checkers at the grocery.  Compliment the checker on her finger nails, give $10 to each of the garbage men (watch out for their over the top gratitude). 
2. Take up visiting someone in retirement or in a hospital.  (This is my addition, not Karen’s)  We got lots of people you may choose from, starting with Rita. 

 

 

 

As you can see, some of these suggestions are occasional or once a week ideas.  Plus, what we have here are only seeds.  Even while you were listening to the five I put forward, you may be been thinking about other possibilities.

How can you have a happy Lent?

Source: Karen Ehman, on line.

 

 

Readings:

 Joshua 24, 1-2, 15-18, Far be it from us to forsake the Lord.

Psalm 34,    Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Ephesians 5, 21-32,   Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.

John 6, 60-69, There are some of you who do not believe.

 

 

"Good Morning, Dear Vivian, and welcome to your community that loves you."  Vivian makes her debut.

 

Joshua:

Who is Joshua and what is this booklet about:  Joshua was Moses' assistant, his lieutenant when the the Israelites wandered in the desert.  The booklet is the story of the Israelite invasion of Canaan under Joshua's leadership. 

Author: somewhat amusingly, the fundamentalists say that Joshua wrote most of the booklet.  More scientific scholars say the work is a compilation of a number of sources.

 

Genevieve says, "Welcome, Everybody, Nice to be seeing you all.

 

Date of composition: again fundamentalists state that the booklet was composed 1400-1370, i.e., while Joshua lived.  Scholars of a broader vision suggest that even if a Joshua existed the work was put together 800-700 BCE. 

The work combines a number of traditions about battles & destruction of cities to create a nationalistic narrative that justifies the Israelites' taking another peoples' land for their own.

Ethical Question: genocide.  This is a bloody book.  Yahweh commands that the Israelites exterminate every breathing thing, including women & children & livestock. 

 

Sienna, too, says, "Hi, Folks, it is fun to be back and see you."

 

The battle of Jericho is characteristic.  For 6 days the Israelites marched around the city, blowing horns and menacing the people.  On day 7 they marched around 7 times and the walls came tumbling down, as in the spiritual.  Then every person except one woman & her family were slaughtered.  Lots of debate and rationalization over these events.

Our Selection: The last chapter of the booklet.  Joshua, who is dying, calls the people together at a place called Sechem and puts it to them.  Stick with Yahweh who has done all these things for you (which are mentioned in the text but are long & tedious) or choose another path of your own.

Sources: Good News Bible, Got Questions.org, Wikipedia

 

 

Brooklyn says, "This is super, I'm not the youngest around here anymore.  Where are those two little girls?"

 

Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord

Sounds good to me, Folks.   However, when I bring this up to Rosemary, what do I get?  “Want to start sleeping in the back yard dog kennel tonight?  Even my mom was not impressed with this little statement of Paul.  Just ask my poor dad. 

And guess what: I married my mom.  So much for the joy of being a married priest.

 

"Anybody planning a race over here?"  "No thank you.  We would rather sleep while that old geezer goes on talking."

 

Some years ago while I was waiting in a line to ride the roller coaster at 6 Flags I overheard a husband telling his wife to obey him because of this passage, he was the head of the house and the Bible says it.  I almost dropped my teeth. 

The family, mom, dad, and two young girls were trying to decide something.  Finally, even the wife says to the girls that they have to obey the man.  He is the head.

So, how do we handle this, especially when we are repelled by the idea?

 

Teamwork.  Vivian's mommy, Bethany taking care of Genevieve.  Does it get any more beautiful?

 

Perspective!   Traditionally there are three types of family relationships.  This is fairly simple.

    1.  Matriarchal: the woman/wife is the head of the family.  Culturally this has been established occasionally and in some places.

    2.  Patriarchal: the husband is the head. 

    3.  Equality: both are partners, husband and wife. 

 

         Brandon, the Ace Candle Lighter with his mom, Mary.

 

Paul's place:  guess which paradigm Paul comes from?  Paul lives in a culture which considered women & children little more than domestic animals.  In Tanzania I found the same paradigm among the ordinary people.  This paradigm has been followed more probably  because men are physically stronger and don’t hesitate to maintain control with physical violence.

Even though today Paul can sound wako & chauvanistic, what he says about husbands loving their wives as they love their own bodies, this was pretty radical.

 

           Cupcake of The Week Time: Payton and The Girls.

 

Today: all three of the paradigms are valid.  Among most educated people, however, equality between husband & wife, men & women is the more healthy.    Besides, as we know, women just won’t let us guys get away with it. 

Certainly with education for both men and women, there is equality.  And just this week, two women passed the Army Ranger training program. 

 

"Zoe, You look even prettier without those teeth."

 

So, again, beware of taking the Bible literally.  Check our blog from last Thursday to find some other interesting biblical statements.   Like beating your kids.

What paradigm do you prefer???

 

 

 

          And keeping us all together, Mary, Bethany, and Ray.

Readings: Genesis 22; Psalm 116; Romans 8, 31-34; Mark 9, 2-10. 

Genesis:

Reminders: First book of the Bible, going from Creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah & the Ark, Tower of Babel, up to our selection today, the first of the 3 Patriarchs of Israel, Abraham (plus Isaac & Jacob, also called Israel).  Multiple authors, put together from, say, 1000 to 500 BCE.

Today's Selection: We jump from last week's story of Noah and the promise Yahweh made to him of no more floods, signed with a rainbow, to Abraham, the first of the 3 Patriarchs.  In some ways this is an astounding story.  Remember it is fable, a vision of God had by one person or a few people, then written down after it passed around orally for many decades. 

 

Transfigurations

Last Monday Bob McGrath, Bill Hammond, & I had lunch with 50 college kids in the yard of a Christian church in San Leon, Texas.  Folks, I bring you good news this morning.  These kids, from St. Bonaventure U., Buffalo, were dedicating their spring break week to hurricane recovery work in the the Galveston area. 

San Leon, which I had never heard of, is a tiny coastal village not on the Gulf like Galveston, but on the southwest corner of Galveston Bay.  The bay is shaped like a vertical football.  At the toe, right side or southeast, is Galveston slanting up the right side.  San Leon is just above the toe on the other side, the left side or south west.  It faces directly east into the bay.  Houston is a mass on the northwest corner or the upper left.  In September last year San Leon got hammered by Hurricane Ike and had water 6 to 8 feet high over the village.  It is a mostly poor community without even a police force.  So it had a lot of crack shacks, which were wiped out, to the local population's delight.

We were having lunch in the church yard after spending the morning picking up trash in the drainage ditches on either side of a 3 mile, straight road that headed directly into the bay.  At one point after the food had arrived, bread, peanut butter, jelly, and some granola bars, someone said, "Food is ready, come and get it."  And everyone got up and began helping themselves around the food table.

I was standing back a bit and noticed another boy was standing back with me.  I said to him, "You better get over there before all the food is gone."   His reply stunned me.  He said, "I'll let the others get their food and then I can get mine."  I was really moved by this tall kid's sensitivity and I told him so.  In fact, we had evening sharing sessions, some of which I got roped into coordinating.  I shared with the whole 50 what had touched me, one of my blessings of the day. 

I was touched again later that afternoon.  It was 3:30 and the 25 or so kids I was working with picking up the trash were pooping out.  I'm thinking we either call it a day or take a break and then put in another hour.  I pass out water bottles trying to get a feel.  Suddenly ahead of us a guy pulls out on the road with his little tractor & big trailer and asks help to clean the trash out of a forest off his property.  Like an 8 foot wave passed through & back leaving all sorts of garbage everywhere.  We talk about it and decide the group will split in two, half continuing with the drainage ditches, the other half cleaning the forest. 

Everyone jumps in with renewed energy despite the fatigue.  At the end of the hour during which we loaded the guy's trailer perhaps five times with mountains of trash, I am ready to call it, when the guys find a big pile of trash crowned by a fiberglass boat.  I am suggesting we leave it because the trash is endless, but those kids wanted to load the trailer one more time and get that boat out of there.  They did, and they even unloaded the trailer on the road edge.  (check Friday's blog for pictures of the boat and the lunch)

This spirit of generosity and sharing characterized the whole week and repeatedly humbled me.   The evening sessions carried us to a new level.  I felt I was walking sacred ground with sacred people.  In fact, I was. 

Two other phenomena touched me unexpectedly.  First was where we stayed.  University Baptist Church.  Apparently the month after Ike hit Galveston and volunteers started showing up to help clean up and repair, University Baptist, a small, probably 100 seat modern brick church, began to house volunteers.  When our 50 plus arrived there were already 17 members of another team on the premises.  What the church did for us was they handed over their church as a dormitory for the kids, a row of chairs down the middle, boys on one side, girls on the other, cots everywhere.  They had a trailer with shower rooms for males & females, 4 showers per set.  They had installed a portable building in which were housed another 30 people, including some of us.

This week the church plans to house 100 more university students spending spring break.  In fact, to help accommodate the number, I had a team of about 6 regulars and lots of passer bys sanding & painting 17 Army surplus bunk beds that would augment the cots.  I don't even know where the 100 will all go.  What I do know is that I was again humbled by the amazing spirit of this little community.

Then, finally, the group of 17 men.  They were Baptists from Springtown in Fort Worth, all old geezers who are retired or semi-retired.  They know plumbing, electricity, carpentry, all the needed talents.  They can do a make over in days.  In fact, the church where we ate in San Leon had been helped by a similar group.  In 5 days that group had demolished the remains of the former church building and built up a delightful, simple, brick facade church  with bathrooms and auxiliary rooms.

I bring good news this morning, folks.  I was hit over the head by these people.  I witnessed transfiguration.  Despite all the gloom these days, people, kids are transforming their environment and themselves.  At the beginning of Lent, I mentioned trying sensitivity and service.  I am privileged & have been made richer by this week.

Your Transfiguration?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-01.mp3

Picture 1:  Lunch in church yard, San Leon, TX, "Come & get it."

Picture 2:  Jim Mahar(Faculty sponsor), Rob (guy at lunch), J.S., Pastor Billy, Bob, & Bill

Picture 3:  Mike painting army surplus cots for 100 incoming spring break volunteers this week

Click on this link to see a Houston TV special on the work in Galveston:

 http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6686990&rss=rss-ktrk-article-6686990

Readings:

Wisdom 18, 6-9,   Your people awaited the salvation of the just.

Psalm 33, Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Hebrews 11, 1-2, 8-19,  Descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Luke 12, 32-48, Do not be afraid any longer.

 

 

To be afraid or to not to be afraid

I would like to talk this morning about fear.  It is certainly mentioned all through the readings.  The idea is that you got to be on guard.  The master will come when you are not watching and you will get beaten or worse. 

At the beginning of the gospel, however, it says, “Do not be afraid any longer, little flock.”  So which is it?  The whole Bible is full of messages about fear and punishment.  God’s love seems totally conditional. 

 

I would propose, however, that the core message is do not fear and that God’s acceptance of us is unconditional.  We are challenged, nevertheless, to be aware and to be vigilant.  To what?  To all the ways his love touches us in life. 

 

I have a little story that exemplifies what I am talking about.

 

A while back I was out at the big airport to pick up somebody, I don’t even remember whom.  On this occasion I had parked and come in to the waiting area.   I am hanging around and somehow got talking with a guy even older than you know whom.

 

He lives in Dallas and is waiting for a guy about his age coming in from Germany.   They are old buddies.  How did they get to know each other?  It was during the Second World War.  The man waiting next to me was a guard in a prison camp in the U.S. for captured Germans. 

 

During the man’s time as a prison camp guard, he got to know one of the German prisoners.  They found out they had a lot in common.  For one thing, the German spoke English.  Time passed, the war ended, and the German prepared to return home.  It came up that they both would like to keep in touch. 

 

Over the past years this is exactly what they have done, one visiting the other and vice-versa.  The families of both men have gotten to know each other, the kids included.  

As I watched, the German came out and the two men hugged.  They may both be widowers, but they still have a friendship they discovered and developed in a prison camp.   

 

When the Bible talks about being on guard and being vigilant, I would
propose that we can take that to mean being on guard to spot that ray of God’s love.  It may be a friendship that blossoms in a prison camp, it may be the beauty of nature, it may be simply the joy of being alive.   These two old guys were on guard more than figuratively, and they found something special for the rest of their lives.

What about forgetting fear and being on guard for the special sign of God's love in your life?  Today.