Sunday Homily 11-1-09, All Saints

Readings:  Exodus 22, 20-26; Psalm 18; 1 Thessalonians 1, 5-10; Matthew 22, 34-40

Exodus: One of the great books of the Bible, the second book of the O.T.  The name  means 'departure' and refers to one of the most important event in Israel's history, the departure of the people of Israel from Egypt where they had become slaves after going there to escape drought in their own land.

Our selection has Yahweh speaking the law to the people as they wander around in the desert.

The Great Commandments

A priest in Chicago who is a psychologist and whom I admire, Andrew Greeley, tells the story of a woman who had three or four kids.  As she was bringing up the family she noticed that so many of the children around her were rebellious, disrespectful, lazy, and without discipline.  She determined that her kids would be respectful, active, and disciplined. 

She demanded they assume responsibility in the house for various chores, they had strict curfews and limits, and they were disciplined when they failed or were disobedient.  Time outs, privileges taken away, groundings, no TV, no cell phones, and so forth.  All were used to maintain discipline. 

The kids grew up, were successful, and all moved away.  Seldom did Mom hear from them.  One day when she was talking with her youngest, a girl, who was celebrating her birthday, the mom asked her why she and the others never kept in touch.  Had she not trained them all well for life and taught them discipline and integrity?  "Yes, Mom," the girl replied.  "But I never felt you loved us. I was a project."

Matthew in today's gospel explains what the two greatest commandments are, love God & love your neighbor as yourself.  Over the years I have taken a psychological approach to these two, noting that there really are three.  The third command is implicit, love yourself.  My observation is that, first, loving myself is often the hardest, and second, it is the foundation of the other two.  Can't love God or anybody else very well if I hate myself.

Today, however, I would like to make some observations about two groups of people, the Pharisees and the neighbor.  This will give you an idea why the question of the Pharisees is important and a trap. 

About the Pharisees, a rather crazy group of people not even absent from our own times.  The word means 'separate.'  The Pharisees saw themselves as separate and so did the people.  They were separate because they obsessively and rigidly observed the law. 

Their goal was to win Yahweh's favor by being perfect and at the same time act as an example of righteousness to the people. 

Their road map was the law.  Guess what the law meant for the Jew of this time.  First, there were 613 commandments, then 365 prohibitions (one for every day of the week), and finally, 268 prescriptions.  Total: over 1200 rules for behavior, and the reading from Exodus provides some examples.  The Pharisees studied and meditated on these laws.  The poor people, the people who had to work could never hope to focus on all these laws, which is why the Pharisees were mostly rich and, therefore, separate from the people and in their eyes superior to the people.

The pharisees' struggle: are all laws equal because they all come from Yahweh, or are some more important than others.  It was this question they studied, meditated upon, and argued over.  Which leads us to today's encounter with Jesus. They are trying to trap Jesus, make him choose one of these 1,200 laws.  He sidesteps the trap and pronounces the two laws which sum up all the laws. 

The sad side of the pharisees' life style is that they are obsessed, and that is just unhealthy.  Religious obsession can be as harmful to your health as drugging, drinking, or smoking.  They have OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder.  Love is minimal here.  In fact, fear is probably the motivator.  Whatever, the relationship is between God and the law observer is not the standard that Jesus is suggesting.

Which leads to the neighbor, the person I am challenged to love as I love myself.  Two observations.

First, there are two groups of my neighbors, immediate and remote.  The immediate neighbor is my family member, my village neighbor, the people I encounter daily or regularly. 

The remote neighbor is the alien mentioned in the the Exodus reading, the kid being made to be a soldier in Darfur, the mother in Guatemala, our mother & daughter in Cuernavaca, Mexico, the sick who come to CCAC.  I would even suggest that the pharisee is my neighbor. 

Secondly, while Jesus says that I am challenged to love my neighbor as myself in this setting, in another place he raises the stakes.  He says to love my neighbor as "I have loved you."  Pretty lofty demand.  Infinite demand, infinite acceptance. 

I am convinced that loving a god we cannot see or touch, if that is possible, is built on loving others, which is built on loving myself, something the sad, obsessed pharisee cannot do.  Thank God that none of you are pharisees, or you would not be here.  However, we can follow the footsteps of the mother who failed to show how much she loved her kids. 

As we head into a marvelous time of our year, Thanksgiving, Advent, Christmas, we begin with Halloween this week.  How are you showing your neighbor your love?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-10-26.mp3

Picture 1: Wendy, Ray, & Celeste

Picture 2: Margie Duggan

Picture 3: Roseamry & Tom Fleming, Rob & Beth Robinson

Readings: Acts 2, 1-11; Psalm 104, Lord Send our your Spirit, and Renew the Face of the Earth; 1 Corinthians 12, 3-13; John 20, 19-23.

Pentecost:

Perspective A: The Catholic Encyclopedia says this feast commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit (or Ghost) upon the Apostles 50 days after the Resurrection.  The root of the word pentecost is 5, like pentagon.

Perspective B: biblical students point out that this event is one in a series of events that base their timing on the calendar of Jewish liturgical feasts.  They point out how Mark, the first to write a gospel, started this process by providing Jesus stories appropriate to the first 6 months of the liturgical calendar of synagogue celebrations.  Remember the followers of Jesus spent about 50 years as Jews worshipping in the temple and synagogue, until 88 C.E., when a split occurred.

Luke, our writer today, built his gospel on Mark and expanded it to fill the whole liturgical calendar year.  Mark only covered about 6 months.  Thus, Luke is the only one who presents the Pentecost story and he puts it together with the Jewish feast of Shavout which takes place 50 days after Passover.  Shavout celebrates Moses receiving the 10 commandments 50 days after the exodus from Egypt.  All symbolic events. 

Note another example: Mark tied the crucifixion to the Passover, the feast commemorating the Jews escape from Egypt. 

Whatever we think took place at this event called Pentecost, for me it seems like it was at least a moment of light, enlightenment.

Sources: The Catholic Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Bishop John Shelby Spong.

Pentecost: An Enlightenment

A week or so ago I put together something I have never done before.  I bought a dozen roses at Tom Thumb, took them home to Rosemary to help me arrange them in her artistic way, and drove up to Plano Presbyterian to give a gift of thanks to the staff on the 8^th floor.

I confess I waited until I could walk well without a cane so I could show off for everyone who had helped me out. 

The experience was touching and a bit anti-climactic.  Anti-climactic because I ended up going on a Saturday instead of a work day.  This was because the charge nurse and the nurse who was charged with my care got her schedule changed from a Friday to a Saturday. 

Being a Saturday, the staff of nurses and physical therapists that I had come to appreciate were mostly off.  In fact, the hall that had been such a beehive of activity when I was there was totally quiet. 

Why did I do this?  Because I had acquired this deep appreciation of life and people in that hospital and the recuperation months afterward.  This enlightenment is what I think Pentecost is all about. 

What touched me even more was when I gave my charge nurse the roses. She told that she and her colleagues often hear about one of their patients doing well after they return home.  But in all her years working as a nurse, this was the first time a patient had returned with a gift.  This, too, was a Pentecost moment.

Whom or what do you appreciate most today and what are you doing about it?

Picture 1:  Mass begins, first time solo flying since early January

Picture 2:  Jan & Charlie

Picture 3:  The Dopnut Shoppe, Chloe with her mom, Clare, Maggie with her mom, Tanya, and Hue on the left

Picture 4:   Mike Moretta & Beverly (fiancee until Saturday)

Good Morning, Tori, Good Morning, Zoe.  So nice to see you dear girls.

Readings:

Isaiah 5, 1-7,  The fruitless vineyard

Psalm 80,  The vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel.

Phlippians 4, 6-9,  Have no anxiety at all

Matthew 21, 33-43,  The vineyard owner & the unfaithful tenants. 

Good Morning to you, too, Riley, and welcome in from Atlanta.   It is so nice to meet you.  I knew your mom when she was your age.  And you are as pretty as she was.

Reading 1; Isaiah 5:1-7

Introduction:

The vineyard in Isaiah is a sad story.  Why?  The fruit from the House of Israel should have been praise and thanksgiving to God.  But there was no thanksgiving given and no humility shown.  There was no lived praise or peace or justice.

Thanks, John and Buddy and Mike, for celebrating today.  I knew before we did Paul & Carrie's wedding this weekend, I would be jet lagged out after the wedding and an evening arrival from Grand Canyon and Phoenix.

Reading 2; Paul’s Letter to the Philippians 4:6-9

Introduction:

Today’s reading from Philippians contains a teaching common to several of his letters, “Have no anxiety at all; rather you should give thanks in everything, for that is God’s will for us.

Thanks for the Homily, Mike.

Reading from the Holy Gospel according to Matthew 21:33-43

Introduction: The landowner in the parable is God, and his gift to Israel is the kingdom, the tenants are the Jewish chief priests and elders of the people, the servants were the prophets.

The Father’s son is Jesus, who is the cornerstone, the fountain of living water [the good news], and the source of the Holy Spirit [the new wine].

The Gentiles are to be the recipients of the kingdom.

It was a marvelous, beautiful wedding and I am so peaceful resting in the back row for this celebration.  Thanks again, John & Mike.

Homily

Our Liturgy of the Word always leads us to the Liturgy of the Eucharist. 

Recall Paul’s teaching, ‘In everything give thanks for that is God’s will for us in Christ, Jesus.’

Paul & Carrie begin their wedding standing on the top of the South Rim of the Grand Canyon on a beautiful evening.

In our soon to be celebrated Liturgy of Eucharist, we are presented with the perfect example of Jesus giving thanks to the Father.  Of course, he does so with no anxiety, but instead with thanksgiving. 

Since the bread that we break and share with one another is a participation in our communion with Jesus Christ; we are invited to join with Jesus as a Thanksgiving to his Father.  We, too, as his sons and daughters, through the power of the Spirit, can give ourselves back to the Father.

In the background is the North Rim, to which Paul & Carrie, plus a few others, are hiking this very day.  These dear people are in shape.  More next Sunday.

Judy and I have a friendship with a couple in Austin who, about 15 years ago adopted a baby boy.  After some months it became apparent that he was born with special needs.  In everything they gave thanks. The angels in heaven sought to find perfect parents for the boy; and they did. Today he is still has needs; but he is active, full of excitement, and appreciative.

May each of us continue to seek to do God’s will for us in Christ, Jesus.

The celebration of Greg & Erin continues on with the help of Cole and Diane.

Readings:  Exodus 24, 3-8; Psalm 116, I will take the cup of Salvation, and call on the Name of the Lord; Hebrews 9, 11-15; Mark 14, 12-26

Exodus: 8 points on the readings, including Exodus–(2 on Exodus, 4 on points from the other readings, 2 more on Exodus

    1.  This is the 2nd book of the Torah/Pentateuch, the first section of the Old Testament.  Deuteronomy, which we visited last week, is the 5th & last book.

    2.  Story: This is a fabulous and edifying fable that tells how the Israelites got out of slavery in Egypt with the leadership of Moses. 

    3.  Passover: the night the angel passed over the first born male children of the Jews because they had smeared lamb blood on their door posts.  But the angel killed all the Egyptian first born sons to make Pharaoh let the people go.  Remember, this is not history, rather like a fable, like Aesop's Fables.  The Last Supper was a Passover meal.  

    4.  Covenant vs Contract: in a contract two parties agree to do something.  If one fails, the contract is often null.  In a covenant two people agree, and even if one party fails, the other party honors the covenant.  The Covenant between Yahweh & the People:  the people will honor Yahweh as their only god; Yahweh will protect and care for them as his chosen, and bring them into a new land.

    5.  Sacrifice & holocaust: ancient tribal belief that I must offer to my god (s) things precious to me to appease the god's anger or win his favor, for example, animals, prisoners, and the most beautiful girl in the community.  Jesus was seen as this sacrifice to appease the god, and also as the high priest who usually performed the sacrifice.  Thus the emphasis on blood & death.

    6.  12 tribes: the 12 sons of the patriarch Jacob (or Israel; the 3 patiarchs were Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob-Israel).

    7.  Author & Date of Exodus: not Moses.  Rather a compilation of material from different centuries, that was mostly put together after the Babylonian Captivity, e.g., ca. 550 BCE.

    8.  Our Selection from Exodus: the people have been wandering in the desert and are now being given laws and customs they must observe.  The Covenant is being sealed.

The Special Meal

As usual, last Thursday & Friday I am preparing thoughts and ideas for our homily today.  I tell Rosemary that I want to talk about the theme of special meals in connection with Eucharist and that I am going to take a big risk and put it together after the Collin County Classic Bike Rally.  Why?  Because I am anticipating that the meal they serve to the riders after the ride will be special, a meal from heaven. 

After the race yesterday, however, I totally was not hungry.  My stomach is not sick, just tight from so much exercise.    In fact, if I want anything it is  half of a cold watermellon.  I even pass up some tremendous food at the Eshelbrenners where they were celebrating Gloria's visit from Seattle.  She is getting married this Labor Day and guess who is doing it. 

So I head home and tell Rosemary please get the watermellon ready.  She opens it and, ugh, it is over ripe.  So I go to Tom Thumb and finally about 3:30 I have the first bite of watermellon.  Folks, it was watermellon from heaven.   I did not have a big feast, but I had a special meal of watermellon & a salad.

What is your special meal?  Your favorite?  Your favorite restaurant?  Favorite meal of the year?  Thanksgiving?  I talk about this because special meals are the form on which the Eucharist was originally built.  I see 3 characteristics about a special meal that are common with good Eucharistic celebration.

    First, camaraderie and conviviality.  I expected that we would have a bunch of our people at the McKinney North High School dining room for lunch.  It would have been an electric ambiance with everyone just finished the run.  It did not turn out that way.  Thanksgiving can have this characteristic.  Our Vines celebrations have it.

    Second, quality food and drink and often special food.  Thanksgiving we have turkey, birthdays have ice cream & cake with candles, weddings have special cakes.  In Tanzania a goat was roasted over a spit to celebrate a wedding.  It lasted all day long.  Which brings up time.  Special meals take an hour or more when it is really working.  We at Vines spend an hour, maybe a little more.  We have good wine and good bread, home made bread. 

    Thirdly, rituals.  At Thanksgiving we often say a prayer of thanks.  At weddings, cake cuttings.  At special events, blessings can be mentioned.  At Vines we have our rituals, the sign of peace, the music, the readings and great homilies.  Next week we have a special blessing for the old dads.

I would propose that special meals are the foundation for Eucharistic celebration.

What meals are special to you?  How do you initiate them?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-06-14.mp3

Picture 1:  Cole Ryan Webster welcoming the community with Kevin & T.J.

Picture 2:  Cole's baptism with his mom Erin & dad Chuck, Lisa & Brandon

Picture 3:  Lynda with Kayla

Picture 4:  Peyton & Madison with their mommy Ashley

Numbers 11, Would that all the people for the Lord were prophets.

Psalm 19, The precepts of the Lord give joy to the heart. 

James 5,  Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder.

Mark 9,  If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

Shonda & Ben bringing us together.

Thanks……

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Beth & Rob & Buddy, our candle blesser 

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Hue & Mike

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Beth reading the first reading from Numbers.

Readings: 

Download Readings 26th Ordinary time 09-26-21

Homily by John Stack,  

Download Homily 26th Sunday 9-26-2021

Rob reading from James.

Remember these special people:

For John & Karen Anderlick's unborn grandson;   For Rosemary's great niece, Rylie;  For Richard's grand daughter, Madeleine;   For Esparza's new great grandson  & Frank;  For all the medical personnel struggling to treat the tsunami of sick people, in particular, locally, Cindy's staff at Presby, Dallas, and at Frisco Presby, the mother of Harper and Betsy, Kendle, working in labor & delivery, and for Hue & Linda's daughter, Doctor Rosemary Beavers;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody &  Leo & all of Shonda's dear family; For Ursuline Sr. Mary Troy,

Jan & Charlie saying, "Hi, Everybody!"

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.; For Meredith, cancer free & John Schanot;    For John O'Donnell & Jean;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren  ;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little 12 month old baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & a nephew; for David McKeon's brother, Hugh; For Beth's friends & brother;   for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Mary, Connie, & John singing the beautiful hymn "On Eagles' Wings."

Birthdays:   Ben's daughter, Sophia, 14 (yesterday), Judy Carol, Leo (11?), Jackie Johnson

Anniversaries:  

Fred & Patricia

Tom & Becky Good

Ron & Nancy Kovatis

Cathy, Fred, & Ron updating the news of the week.

Community Finances,   September 26, 2021

Expenses: $600.00 

Outreach: $5.00 

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary sharing her beautiful Blessing of the Week.

Rosemary's Blessing:

“Rivers do not drink their own water;

trees do not eat their own fruit;

the sun does not shine on itself

and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves.

Living for others is a rule of nature.

We are born to help each other.

No matter how difficult it is.

Life is good when you are happy

but much better when others are happy because of you.

Let us remember that pain is a sign that we are alive,

problems are a sign that we are strong and

prayer is a sign that we are not alone.

If we can acknowledge these truths and

condition our hearts and minds, our lives will be more meaningful,

different and worthwhile.”

Pope Francis

Peace, Everyone!

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