Readings:  Sirach 3, 17-29; Psalm 68, God, in Your Goodness, You have made a Home for the Poor;  Hebrews 12, 18-24; Luke 14, 1-14

 

 

Introduction to the Readings

 

 

 

The first reading today is from the Book Sirach, which used to be better known as Ecclesiasticus.  It was written about the year 180 BCE by Jesus, son of Elcazar, son of Sira, and later translated by his grandson into Greek.

 

 

Sirach was a highly respected scribe and teacher, a person who traveled quite a bit, may even have been a diplomat to foreign courts.  Later in his life he started a school in Jerusalem where he tried to pass on to the young people the great love he had of the Scriptures combined with what he had learned from his own experiences about life. 

 

 

 

The book is part of the Wisdom literature and the reason for its older title, Ecclesiasticus is that in the past it was one of the most used and quoted books by the Church!   Our reading today fits well with the topic in the gospels, humility.

 

 

 

The second reading is from the Letter to the Hebrews.  The author is unknown, although for a long period of time it was assumed to be Paul.  But today most scholars agree that the style is too different and the Greek used is the best in the New Testament. 

 

 

 

The overall message of the letter is one of encouragement to hang in and not get too complacent with the faith.  Probably written late in the first century, the main theme is the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus.  This is the letter where we come across the many references to Jesus as the High Priest. 

 

 

 

I sometimes wonder if this focus was due to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (ca. 70 C.E.) and the end of the priesthood as the Jewish people would have known it, and so to fill the void the author holds up Jesus and his sacrifice as the one true sacrifice. 

 

 

 

Another important theme is the pilgrimage of the people of God to the heavenly Jerusalem, and it is on this topic that our reading is taken from for today.

 

 

Homily

 

 

The theme of the readings today is humility.   From a careful reading of the gospel, I am left a little confused because it seems to me that the main point Jesus could be making is how to get more recognition by being humble.  That said, since I have nothing good to say about it, I want instead to take advantage of the fact that today we are going to be baptizing Emma and welcoming her into our community, and so would like to offer some thoughts about baptism. 

 

 

 

If we go right back to the earliest days of Christianity, we find baptism!  Early in Mark’s gospel Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan.  In Matthew’s gospel the apostles are instructed by Jesus just before his ascension to “go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit”.   And through out the Acts of the Apostles it becomes clear that baptism was the way to join this community. 

 

 

 

It was the Rite of Entry!  And all of the people who were being baptized did so after hearing the message or the teaching as Matthew puts it.  If kids were baptized, it was only because the family was joining. 

 

 

 

It wasn’t until the fifth century when St. Augustine stated that only the baptized could get into heaven that the focus and practice shifted.  This of course created a huge pastoral problem for those who died before being baptized.  It was only in the 12^th century that Peter Abelard came up with the notion of Limbo, for those who had died unbaptized. 

 

 

 

One of the consequences of all of this was that religion was taught to kids, and not to adults!!  When was the last time any of you were at a formal class or session on your faith, outside of mass?  Think about it! 

The catholic faith as most of us have it was given at a kid level.  This might have been fine at a time when most adults were not educated beyond the 6^th grade, if even that, but today most adults have at least completed high school and a large number even college. 

 

 

 

Let me be clear, when I take about “faith” I am specifically referring to our personal response to God, our relationship with God.  Our acceptance of the invitation from God, to love God.  The information stuff, the doctrines, etc., are secondary.  When we were baptized as infants, someone else made that decision for us.  Today while Emma is being baptized, can we take a moment to reflect on the decision made for us, and make it for ourselves!  What does it mean in your life today, that you are baptized?

 

 

Picture 1:   Emma's welcome into the community baptism

 

Picture 2:   Emma's family, godparents Bobby & Tanya, parents Tom & Beth

 

Picture 3:   Sisters, Megan & Emely Kite.  Megan off to teach in Spain for a year.

 

Picture 4:  Chloe

 

Picture 5:  Jackie & Cathy accepting from Mike our monthly $2000 donation to the CCAC

 

Readings:  2 Samuel 7, 1-16; Psalm 89; Romans 16, 25-27; Luke 1, 26-38. 

2 Samuel:

Date compiled:  650-600 BCE, probably in Jerusalem.  David lived ca. 1000 BCE

2 Samuel is part of a 4 book assembly: 1 & 2 Samuel and 1 & 2 Kings. 

Subject matter:      a)  Samuel as Judge

                              b)  Saul as King

                              c)  David as King

Sources:          a)  The court history of David written by Gad

                       b)  Samuel wrote chapters 1-24 of 1 Samuel

                       c)   Anti-monarchy source

                       d)  Pro-monarchy source 

                       e)  Redaction & editing by Nathan   

King David, Jesus' Ancestor   

 In the spirit of anticipating Christmas, I would like to tell you an Old Testament story this morning, a story about one of my most favorite O.T. characters, King David.  We Catholics do not have a tradition like Protestants do of hearing over & over the stories of the great ancestors of our religion and culture.  Today we can rectify this a bit.    

To get the scene you have to go back 1,000 years BCE.  David and two other great leaders are all living at the same time.  Samuel is the first of the three and he is the last ruler of Israel who is a judge.  Saul is the second person.  He follows Samuel as leader and is the first king of Israel.  

What is happening is that Saul is doing a bad job of being king.  If you know any psychology you will detect that he is bipolar or manic depressive.  He has big mood swings.  Yawheh has tired of him and has whispered to Samuel that Samuel needs to go find a new king.  Yehweh deconsecrates Saul as king.  He directs Samuel to go visit a man named Jesse with 8 sons in a special little town.  Name that town.  Bethlehem.  This is significant to N.T. writers like Luke and you will hear it mentioned in the Christmas readings. 

As each son is brought before Samuel Yahweh whispers in his ear, "No, not this one," even though Samuel thinks each one would make a good choice.  After the seventh son is rejected, Samuel prepares to leave, but asks Jesse if he has any other sons.  Jesse says that, as a matter of fact, he does have another son, his youngest, who is out in the fields tending the livestock.  When David comes before Samuel, Yahweh whispers, "This is The Man."  Samuel consecrates David then and there the future king of Israel.

With that David moves into King Saul's palace as a page and becomes a favorite to Saul.  David can interpret dreams and he can play a soothing guitar that calms Saul when he has some of his dark moods.  David pleases Saul so much that eventually David marries his daughter Micah.

Life goes on peacefully this way until one day the Philistines come to attack.  The Hebrews are terrified, in fact doubly terrified because of one giant guy who is killing everyone and challenging any & all Jews to come out and fight him.  Guess who this guy is.  The Famous Goliath.  Guess who volunteers to come out and fight.  David.

This part of the story we all know.  David dings Goliath with a stone from his sling shot, then whacks off his head with Goliath's own sword.  David becomes very popular with the people.  David becomes unpopular with Saul who begins to feel the poison seed of jealousy.  The jealousy expands so much that eventually Saul dedicates all his efforts to killing David.  David hides in the desert and ultimately Saul dies.

At this point David becomes the king and is successful in all he does.  At one point, in fact, after a successful military campaign against their enemies, David comes dancing joyfully into the city of Jerusalem leading the military parade.  From a nearby window his wife Micah is watching and as the Bible says, she is disgusted.  When David returns home and is greeted with the derision of Micah, he defends himself and declares that he will continue to dance his joy before the Lord.  Yahweh is not impressed with Micah' criticism and she never has any children.

Not all the time does David join his armies in the field.  On one occasion he is strolling on the roof of his house in the afternoon.  He looks over to a neighboring roof and discovers a woman bathing.  David is bitten.  He sends his servants to invite her to dinner at the king's palace.  A month or so later, guess what.  The lady sends word that she is pregnant.  Guess who this lady is.  The famous Bathsheba.

David decides that he can't let it be known that he is the father.  He sends for Bathsheba's husband, Uriah, who is one of his best soldiers.  He invites him for dinner, gets him drunk, then tells him to go home and sleep well.  Uriah, however, is a man loyal to his comrades and decides that he will not go into his house to sleep when his fellows are sleeping in the fields.

So the next morning David sends him back to the field with a note to the commander.  The note instructs the commander to put Uriah in the front of the fight and when they are all engaged to pull everybody back but Uriah.  Uriah gets killed. 

Shortly after this David is visited by a local prophet who has received a message from Yahweh.  Nathan tells David a story about a rich man who took a poor man's sole beloved sheep and slaughters it.  Nathan asks David what should happen to that rich man and David says he should be severely punished.  Nathan says, "You are that rich man."  So David acknowledges his failure and does penance. 

Meanwhile Bathsheba has a son.  The Great Solomon.  He who built the Jerusalem temple which the Jewish people are still lamenting since its destruction by the Romans.

You will see Luke make a big deal out of the lineage of Jesus, that he is of the house & family of David.  Solomon, the son of David & Bathsheba is his great, great grandfather.

There are so many lessons in this story.  I have just two observations.

1.  Jesus comes out of a lineage with a unique event.

2.  God forgives even some big sinners.  We can take consolation from this & know that we are accepted.

What about David do you like the best? 

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-12-21.mp3

Picture 1:  Our Father

Picture 2:  Maggie McGrath & Tom (dad)

Picture 3:  Cliff Wright

            

Genesis 15, 1-6; 21, 1-3 ,  Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can.   This is the official selection.  But for us, I've included 16, 1-10; 17, 9-12; 18, 1-3 & 9-15.  This stuff is too rich to pass up.

Psalm 105,    The Lord remembers his covenant forever.

Hebrews 11, 8, 11-12, 17-19,  By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called.

Luke 2, 22-40,   The purification of Jesus.

 

 

Genesis obserevations :

What : the very first book of the bible beginning with Adam & Eve, the two creation myths, Cane & Abel, Noah and the flood, the Tower of Babylon, and then the big 3 patriarchs of the Jewish nation.  They are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The book is a fun read.  It is not history, but speculation and tribal myth. 

Date: contemporary scholarship thinks that the work was composed either before or during the B.C., the all important Babylonian Captivity. Why?  Give the Jewish people a sense of historical identity and tribal cohesion. 

 

 

 

Today’s selection: all about Abraham, the first of the 3 Great Patriarchs.  Abraham is crying and lamenting the fact that he has no children.  Why?  Sarah was childless and Abraham was 99 years old.  A “we have a problem, Houston” situation.  The Lord hears Abraham and uses a beautiful metaphor to show Abraham what is going to happen. 

Because the editor of this reading has so taken the fun out of it, I want to read a bit more.  Sit back and enjoy the story of how Abraham and Sarah had a baby.   I'm including parts of three other chapters between chapters 15 and 21.

 

 

Another Christmas Story

On Christmas Eve I told you a Christmas story and said that it was a Christmas event.  And what is a Christmas event?  It is an event where a person receives peace, joy, and light.  It usually happens between people.  But I can have the same event in a place, for instance, the Meyerson, or riding across Iowa on my bike, or backpacking in Yosemite.  It happens often to me here with you people.

 

 

 

In fact, somebody asked me why don’t you just take this Sunday off?  We were here just a few days ago.  I know why.  I am having too much fun here.  This is not an obligation, it is a treasure.

Anyway, our story goes like this.  It comes from Steve Blow, the columnist of the Dallas Morning News, December 25.  You may remember Steve has written Rosemary and me up a couple of times. 

 

 

He says there was a lady named Renee of Lake Highlands on her way to work the morning before Thanksgiving.  She pulled into the neighborhood Whataburger drive through to get a pick up.

When she got her diet Coke, the girl in the window, who was very cheerful, said like, “This ought to pick you up.”  There was no one in line behind Renee, so she chatted, saying, “Well, at least, I’m off Thanksgiving and we can have a nice Thanksgiving meal.   How about you?”

 

 

The cheerful girl said, “No, she had to work and the Thanksgiving meal would have to wait until she could earn the money to buy the food.”  She had two jobs to make enough for herself and her two children.

By now a new customer had pulled up behind Renee.  She had to move.  Before departing, she blurted out, “I’m going to get you Thanksgiving.”

Jazmen Woods, the Whataburger girl, said customers tell her stuff all the time.  She pays no attention.

 

 

But that afternoon, Renee called the Whataburger and later took a whole Boston Market Thanksgiving meal to Jazmen’s apartment in the Vickery Meadow area of northeast Dallas. 

That was only the beginning.  Renee discovered that Jazmen had hardly any furniture for herself and her two young children.  So she went on line to her neighbors, telling the story saying, “If you would like to contribute to making Christmas special for this sweet family, please feel free to join me.”

 

 

You know the rest of the story. 

Another Christmas event that gives peace, joy, and light. 

Like I asked Christmas Eve, When were you touched in this special way? 

And to whom do you share peace, joy , and light?  (Besides to me.)

Source, Steve Blow, Dallas Morning News, December 25, 2004

 

 

Readings:

Exodus  34, 4-9,   A merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness and fidelity.

Psalm from Daniel,  Glory and Praise forever.

2 Corinthians 13, 11-13,  Rejoice.

John  3, 16-18,  God so loved the world.

 

 

Father’s Day History:

 Four steps:

     1.  The Civil War started thinking about a Mother’s Day.  Anna Jarvis pushed it ca. 1907 and it was made official in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson.

       2.  Monongah, WV mining disaster, 210 fathers killed, Dec. 6, 1907 (just before Christmas & after the Mother’s Day activity).  Fairmont, WV.   Grace Golden Clayton pushed the idea. 

        3.  Spokane, WA, Sonora Dodd & influence of Mother’s Day.  Dodd’s dad had fought in the Civil War and all by himself raised Sonora & her 5 siblings.   

        4.  Pres. LBJ made it special, 1966.  Pres. Nixon made it a national holiday, 1972.

 

 

Exodus Story: 

So the Israelite people have been wandering around in the Sinai desert for many years after escaping from old Pharaoh in Egypt.  Moses has been invited up Mt.Sinai to receive 10 Commandments.  

He comes down all loaded with two stone tablets written on both sides and discovers that the people have become  exasperated with him and the wandering in the desert.  They have created a gold bull to celebrate with and to worship.

 

 

Old Moses, all angry, throws down the tablets and breaks them.  He calls Aaron, his lieutenant, tells him to gather the Levite tribe, the priestly tribe, and he tells them to slaughter all the rest.  They do.

Then, and here we take up the reading, Yahweh tells Moses to make two more tablets and to return to the top of Mt.Sinai, where he will get another set of commandments.  It is here where that marvelous line about the nature of God is mentioned again, "The Lord is gracious & merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love."

This is ancient folk tale literature at its best.    

 

 

Responsorial Psalm from the Book of Daniel: 

Another great folk story is behind this song.   Characters: three Jewish boys, a gold statue, and the great King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, what a name.   Get the names of these boys, Shadrack, Mechak, and Abednego.  Terrific.  I had a dog in East Africa I called Shadrack, a German Shepherd.

Seems like old Nebuchadnezzar decided to cast a gold statue.  He wanted everyone to bow down to it.  Three Jewish boys said no.  Even though they were favorites of the king, he had to throw them into a flaming furnace.   

Far from being burned up, the boys started dancing around in joy and they sang the song we have for today’s responsorial psalm.  Though this is totally a mythical story, you can picture them.

 

A Father, merciful and gracious, slow to anger and rich in kindness

Letme talk this morning about fathers.  I would propose that, among all the qualities of a father, one that enables a father to reflect the image of God is my favorite line, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and rich in kindness.  These qualities are attributed to God  and I think men can image the same qualities.  An example.

Ever hear of a guy named Kenny Thompson?   He is an elementary school tutor at Valley Oaks Elementary in Houston and a father.  One day Kenny reads a news report about an elementary school in Salt Lake. 

 

 

Turns out a bunch of kids were not getting their normal lunch because they owed money to the cafeteria.  Not a lot f money.  After all, the lunches ran about 40 cents. 

So Kenny enquires about the cafeteria at Valley Oaks where he is a tutor.  He discovers about 60 kids not getting their normal lunch, just a cheese sandwich.  Moreover, many of the kids are so embarrassed they skip going to the cafeteria for the cheese sandwich.

 

 

Kenny Thompson pays up all the kids’ cafeteria bills, totally almost $500.  He says these kids don’t need to be worried about their lunches, for many the only whole meal they will have all day.  They are in the school to learn and they cannot learn on an empty stomach or embarrassment.  

Kenny’s story got picked up by a local TV station and now he has gone national, creating  a fund under the title Feeding the Future Forward. 

 

 

Kenny Thompson is godlike, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in love. 

Know anybody like this?  

How about you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Readings:

 Isaiah 35, 4-7, The eyes of the blind will be opened.

Psalm 146,    Praise the Lord, my soul.

James 2, 1-5, 21-22, 27,  Show no partiality

Mark 7, 31-37, Jesus heals the deaf & mute man.

 

 

  

Homily:

 

Last Sunday Stack reminded us about how Moses told the people of Israel that they would have their own land promised by Yahweh.  And how after Moses’ death Joshua and others wiped out the Cannanite tribes who resided there, and just moved in. 

 

 

The theme today is that of healing.  During the week I was touched by two visuals of a lack of healing for people.  The first was the visual of a dead child lying on a beach in Turkey, whose family were trying to get from Syria to safety in Europe.  His family was one of thousands escaping from war torn Syria, escaping death by the King’s military, or by the rebel fighters, or by ISIS jihadists.  Newspeople often refer to them as ‘immigrants’–-yet their country is in civil war and there is hardly a safe place for anyone on any side.  They are refugees.  They leave everything behind.  They cross the Mediterranean in rubberized boats or rafts.  Many don’t even make it to the first stop in Turkey.  These thousands of refugees are leaving their homes, leaving their land, in search of a safe place for their families, for their children. 

 

 

The second visual that struck me this week was from a series of articles in the National Catholic Reporter on the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ and its impact on people over centuries.  The ‘Doctrine of Discovery’ is found in papal bulls beginning in 1436; that’s almost 600 years ago.  One example is a papal bull from 1493, after Columbus’ ‘discovery’ of the Americas.  This papal bull gave Ferdinand and Isabella “full and free power, authority and jurisdiction of every kind” over almost all of the Americas, except for part of modern-day Brazil and a few islands.  Some say this was the beginning of international law as each succeeding papal bull would quote or reference those that came before.  When, in the late 1400’s discoverers were finding lands far away from Christian Europe, they found these lands occupied with non-Christian peoples, tribes and civilizations.  The papal bulls gave Christian discoverers full power and authority over all non-Christian peoples in these lands.  This meant the land could be claimed by the Christian discoverer (like for Spain or for France, etc.) and the non-Christian people could be enslaved, made to become Christian, even killed if they resisted.

 

 

Fast forward to 1823.  This Doctrine of Discovery was legitimized in a ruling by Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall.  His ruling maintained that Native Americans had the right to ‘occupy’ land, but not have full ownership, and that tribes were dependent on the federal government.

 

 

So the two visuals that touched me this week were the thousands of refugees fleeing Syria, especially the little boy lying dead on the beach; and the millions of peoples in the Americas, Africa, the Pacific islands, etc., dispossessed of their lands, culture and religion, to a large extent due to a series of papal bulls and the Doctrine of Discovery. 

 

 

What would healing look like for the people of Syria fleeing war and devastation?  What would healing look like for the offspring of the indigenous peoples of North and South America? of Africa? of  the pacific islands?   

 

 

And how do I individually, or as a member of this Christian community, promote healing in my own world?