Homily, Christmas Eve, 12-24-10

Readings:  

Exodus 24, 3-8, We will do everything the Lord has told us.

Psalm 116, I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

Hebrews 9, 11-15, The tent in which Christ serves is greater & more perfect. 

Mark 14, 12-16, 22-26, Where do you want us to go & get the Passover meal ready.

Chloe, the dancer, in mid-dance

 

Exodus:   8 points on the readings, including 2 on Exodus, 4 on points related to the 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.  Genesis is the first book.    

2.  Story: This is a fabulous and entertaining 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's 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.  There is a story about the burning bush in the Holy Land, for tourists.  Tourists are told this bush was the bush that burst into flame and from which Yahweh spoke to Moses.

    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, with 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.  Today scripture scholars as well as ordinary folks don't believe any more in a God who was so angry that he demanded special sacrifice.  We do not have a vengeful, angry God.

    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 Eucharist in daily life

Folks, it has been an amazing five weeks of peak human experiences for Rosemary and me, like champagne events.  Two weddings, two reunions, and Andy’s memorial right in the middle week, the one Sunday I have been here in the past five.  Each of these experiences has given me a deeper appreciation of life and friendship. 

Rosemary had her fun family reunion in NJ coupled with the 5 Boro Bike Tour of NY, we along with 33 thousand others. 

The next weekend we celebrated Jessica Bresson’s wedding in CT.  Two weeks ago we celebrated Kate Banzhaf’s wedding in CO Springs. 

Then, last weekend a reunion of the S.J. class with whom I spent the first 7 years of my Jesuit life.  We gathered in New Orleans, my former home office, which in itself was quite emotional.  I love the city, have not been back in over 10 years, and could see all those Katrina scenes from television in my mind.  Many of us spent a lot of time with the refugees who ended up in Reunion Arena.

Observations about my class & the reunion.

20 plus guys showed up with their wives. I have to tell you, I did not recognize some of my classmates.  I literally asked a number of the guys, “Who are you?’  Most of us are in our early 70’s. 

 I have not seen the majority since ’65, when we finished up 3 years at Spring Hill College, Mobile.  Most of us were shipping out to various internships around the country.  I lucked out and got to return to Dallas for the first time in 7 years, and I taught at the high school for 3 years, one of the most fun experiences of my life.

As our conversations progressed, I was struck at how each person was at home in their skin.  I saw no posturing or pretense.  These are high octane guys and each has used his talents well as college professors, a doctor, stock brokers, real-estate.  One guys even works for the Atomic Energy Commission in Vienna. 

I was deeply touched by the presence of one guy’s gentle but severely handicapped son of about 20 years.  Two of the guys had lost their dear wives recently and their stories brought tears to my eyes. 

I also discovered & appreciated a spiritual depth in everyone.  They are progressive and disappointed with the turning back the clock on Vatican II.  The few who attend Mass do so because they know a priest who talks to where they are at.

One of my favorite questions to ask people, as you know, is what is the special blessing or gift in your life since the last time we met.  This group shared on this level from the start and did it with incredible appreciation. 

Two of the guys are still Jesuit priests, one working in Peru, the other working with Nativity Schools in NYC.  These are Jesuit schools focused primarily on underprivileged boys & girls.

Finally I saw appreciation, of life, of friendship, and of community.  I love these guys and am stunned at how rich it is to be with them.  The group last met 8 years ago and has met maybe 3-4 times, once in Mobile, in Maryland, & I think in Boston.  In appreciation of this renewal of old friendships & my love for them, I plan to invite the group to consider meeting again in two years, same place.  It is already being talked about.

One last point, a Eucharist event.  John Ross Sima, the priest working in Peru, arrived late and made his appearance in the Saturday morning session.   He brought with him a cream cake from Peru.  He cut it up and passed it around to everyone.

I would propose that this is one of the bases of Eucharist: a meal that celebrates our life, our friendship, our love, and, in turn, deepens them.  That’s what we do here.

Your Eucharist?

 

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Alison.  She will take your order for communion.

 

Readings:

2 Kings 4, 8-11, 14-16,   This time next year you will have a baby son.

 Psalm 89,   Forever I will sing the goodness of the Lord.

Romans 6,  3-4, 8-11,  You, too must think of yourselves as living for God.

Matthew 10, 37-42, Whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

 

 

 

Rocco, too, says, "Hi, Everybody."

 

July 4, 1776, Declaration of Independence signed.

50^th anniversary, July 4, 1826: two signers of the Declaration died, the only 2 to serve as presidents,  and mutual friends, Thomas Jefferson & John Adams (excellent source, David McCullough’s John Adams).

 

 

 

She's back, Folks, and better than ever.  Welcome home, Wendy!

 

 

Happy July 4

It is July 4 time and I would like to talk this morning about why I am happy to be an American.  I was sharing my ideas with Rosemary, an advantage to being a married priest (or maybe not), and she said, “Can’t you find reasons a little more dramatic, a little more universal?”  So, my reasons are just my own homey variety. 

I do claim a certain unique perspective because of living in East Africa for 10 years.  I admit there were a few occasions when I was grateful I had the American embassy as a refuge in case I got into some trouble.  I can certainly remember looking at the American flag flying over the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and being grateful and thinking, ‘Yes, that’s my country.”

 

 

 

Wow, I forget how good and beautiful you are, Wendy.  

 

So, here are 3 reasons why I am delighted to be an American this summer.   Natural beauty and people beauty with two parts.

First, the natural beauty.  There certainly are beautiful places in East Africa, for instance.  Like Kilimanjaro, which I climbed 5 times & the Serengeti game park.  Likewise, in Italy, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, even Rome. 

 

 

Welcome, Tim, so good to have you with us.

 

In the States we have the Rockies of CO, Grand Canyon, the beaches, like Hilton Head.  For me, there is nothing better than Yosemite.   But, you say, I live in Dallas.  Beware there is natural beauty here, too.  Try White Rock Lake, try the White Rock Creek trail.  Rosemary & I  ride this trail weekly and I wonder lately, ‘Am I truly in Dallas,’ it is so wild and wooded.   It has been especially beautiful the past couple of months because of the frequent rain.

 

 

I do believe trouble is brewing in that corner again.  Just look at her face.

 

 

In Plano what about the Oak Point Park.  Is this really Dallas?  I just discovered Oak Point last year when the Collin Classic bike tour began there.  

I love the natural beauty we have in America.

 

 

 

Healing and life for Sandra.

 

Then there is the people beauty.   Don’t laugh.  I propose the trustworthiness of people. 

Want to see an amazing phenomenon?   Park yourself on a corner of one of the small towns we will pass through in three weeks on the bike rally through Iowa.  You will see maybe more than a thousand bikes hitched to parking cables and lying on the ground, not one with a lock. 

I park in front of a grocery store, put my helmet on the handle bar, walk in, get what I want, maybe an all you can eat meal for $10 (like lasagna), and return to my unlocked bike. 

I love our ride through Iowa every July.  Only about 12 – 15 thousand riders.  Of all sorts.

 

 

 

Welcome home healing and life for Grace.

 

Want to see another phenomenon?  The hospitality of people.  Join me to ride the Hotter ‘n Hell Hundred the end of August.   There are 10 rest stops, like every 10 miles.  Each stop is loaded with bushels of volunteers overflowing with hospitality. 

I have my two favorites, 30 and 75.  At the 30 mile there is a group of elderly ladies (maybe many younger than I) who personally bake dozens of 6 varieties of cookies.  They positively blow me away and every year I tell them they are my favorite stop of all. 

 

 

 

Would someone please go and sit with Sir Charlie.  

 

 

I will meet new rest stops this August because last year after the 100 miles when I was dead tired, Rosemary got me to agree to ride the 50 miles with her and have a dinner together on the way home.  This spring I tried to renegotiate this deal with Rosemary, and she said, "Too bad, Cowboy, you agreed and you are stuck."

 

 

Offertory with Mike & Jean & Judy & John.

 

What are you proud about this year?

Happy July 4.

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place: and in the sky
The larks still bravely singing fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead: Short days ago,
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved: and now we lie
In Flanders fields!

Taken from IN FLANDERS FIELDS
By Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae

 

Composed at the battlefront on May 3, 1915 
during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium

 

 

Thanks to the Team

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Richard & Brent, Deacon Mike, & Buddy, the candle blessing

Eucharistic Prayer, John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike & Ben & Becky 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

 

 

Readings:

Acts of the Apostles, 1, 12-14, All devoted themselves to prayer

Psalm 27, I believe I shall see the good things of the Lord in the land of the living.

1 Peter  4, 13-16,   Rejoice that you share in the sufferings of Christ.

John 17, 1-11, I pray for them. 

 

 

Remembering……….        This was taken in Yosemite ca. 2003-2004.   A bunch of convicts on a week parole.   The good old days.  Quality went south after this trip: we went co-ed.  We were invaded by sorts like Rose, like Beth, & Nicole.

 

See pix of new rectory at bottom of blog.

 

 Reading 1

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles       

When they were together for the last time they asked, “Master, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel now?  Is this the time?”  He told them, “You don’t get to know the time.  Timing is the Father’s business.  What you’ll get is the Holy Spirit.  And when the Holy Spirit comes on you, you will be able to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, all over Judea and Samaria, even to the ends of the world.”  These were his last words.  As they watched, he was taken up and disappeared in a cloud.

So they left the mountain called Olives and returned to Jerusalem.  It was a little over half a mile.  They went to the upper room they had been using as a meeting place.  All of them agreed they were in this for good, completely together in prayer, the men and women alike.

Our word for today.

 

 

Across Camellia from our house on Tulip Lane 3 homes have been bulldozed including the big one owned by the hockey player, Tyler Sagan.  We should be out of our house in two months and into our new house (see below).  Our old house will be visited by the bulldozer.

 

Reading 2

A Reading from the First Letter of Peter

Friends, when life gets really difficult, don’t jump to the conclusion that God isn’t on the job.  Instead, be glad that you are in the very thick of what Christ experienced.  This is a spiritual refining process, with glory just around the corner. 

If you’re abused because of Christ, count yourself fortunate.  It’s the Spirit of God and his glory in you, that brought you to the notice of others.  If they’re on you because you broke the law or disturbed the peace, that’s a different matter.  But if it’s because you’re a Christian, don’t give it a second thought.  Be proud of the distinguished status reflected in that name!

Our word for today.

 

 

3 homes demolished on this one corner of Tulip Lane & Camellia.

 

 

The Lord be with you.       A Reading from the Gospel of John  

Raising his eyes in prayer, Jesus said: 

Father, it’s time; display the bright splendor of your Son,

So the Son in turn may show your bright splendor.

You put him in charge of everything human,

So he might give real and eternal life to all in his charge.

And this is the real and eternal life:

That they know you,

The one and only true God,

And Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

I glorified you on earth, by completing down to the last detail,

what you assigned me to do.

And now, Father, glorify me with your very own splendor,

The very splendor I had in your presence

Before there was a world.

I spelled out your character in detail

To the men and women you gave me.

They were yours in the first place; then you gave them to me,

And they have now done what you said.

They know now, beyond the shadow of a doubt,

That everything you gave me is firsthand from you,

For the message you gave me, I gave them;

And they took it, and were convinced that I came from you.

They believed that you sent me.

I pray for them, not for the God-rejecting world;

They’ll continue in the world, while I return to you.

Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life

That you conferred as a gift through me,

So they can be one heart and mind, as we are one heart and mind.

The Good News of John.

 

 

 

 

Observations by Deacon Mike

Through the power of the Holy Spirit, the words and actions of Jesus Christ come alive to us within the written gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

It is there that we become aware that the gift of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within our hearts, calls us to forgive others as we have been forgiven; to bring love to others as we have been loved.

In our gospel from last Sunday, Jesus invited his disciples, and us, to follow his way, his truth and his life; so that we can come to be in him as he is in his Father. 

We celebrate the Holy Spirit coming upon the Church

In the Feast of Pentecost; to begin the Church’s mission to the whole world; to Jew or gentile, slave or freeman, male or female, Catholic or Methodist, Baptist or Lutheran.

The Church today places a different emphasis in its selection of readings; they will now begin to come from primarily Luke’s Acts of the Apostles.

So we end our readings this morning that we have taken from primarily the John gospel during this past Easter season this way: “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent me so I send you.

Jesus said to his disciples: “If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. 

I will talk to the Father, and he will provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone who dwells with you and in you.  This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. 

The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him; but you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will continue to do so! 

Then, Jesus said to his disciples, “I will not leave you orphaned.  I’m coming back for you.  In just a little while the world will no longer see me, but you’re going to see me, because I am alive and you are about to come alive with me.

At that moment you will know absolutely that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.  

The Good News according to John

 

 

 

 

Please Remember these special people:

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;  ;  For Frank having hernia surgery this week;  For Joe Hogan with cancer,  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;   For Ryan, Rosemary's nephew, who had surgery; For Bill Hammond,    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie;  Shonda's mom;   For Gilberto:  for Michelle;  For a friend, a neighbor, & a doctor, Karen, with brain cancer; For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free.;    For Hue;  For John O'Donnell;    For Dee, and for her daughter, Lisa; For John Schanot's continued health;  For Anthony & Sabrina;    For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's mother in law, Kalliopi Piskiouli and Lambrini; 

 

Birthdays: Ray (80), Christi Occhipinti (45), Zaile Ekes, Shonda, Brent (13, AA), & Mabel (88!)

 

Community Finances, May 24, 2020

Expenses: $230.00

Outreach:  $120.00  (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Welcome!  Our New Home, the New Rectory

Address 7017 Helsem Lane, same zip code, 75230,  Hillcrest Villas,

2.2 miles from 6107 Tulip Lane (to be bulldozed by the present owner, a former SMU student & basket ball player), S. of LBJ, north of Churchill, rustic motif in the whole subdivision (ca. 120 homes), car ports rather than garages. 

We are blessed with a corner lot, slab vs pier & beam, ca. 2000 sq. ft. (1900 at Tulip Lane, & so much for downsizing). 

The couple selling us their house said that Rosemary' personal letters letting people know we were interested in buying their house really decided them to call us.  A very  nice couple with 3 grown kids.

 

 

Happy Memorial Day from Helsem Way!

Readings: Acts 10 25-48; Psalm 98, The Lord has revealed to the Nations his Saving Power; 1 John 4, 7-10; John 15, 9-17

Acts:  Another review–

Author: Luke, who wrote both the Gospel and Acts

Date: ca. 40-50 years after the death of Jesus

Our selection: This same selection was read on Easter Sunday.  What is happening is this.  Last Sunday we began the second half of Acts, from chapter 9 to the end.  Last week's reading had to do with Paul returning to the community in Jerusalem after he had his conversion experience on the road to Damascus. 

This week we get into chapter 10 which focuses on two characters: Peter and a Gentile (non-Jew) captain in the Roman army named Cornelius.  Cornelius was supposed to be a good man and he has a voice call him, "Cornelius." "What is it, sir?" he answers.  The voice tells him to go a town called Joppa and talk with a man named Peter.  Cornelius sends two servants.

Meanwhile in Joppa Peter has that vision we talked about Easter Sunday: a sheet coming down from the sky with a multitude of animals.  Many of the animals are considered ritually impure by Jews.  Peter is told by a voice to eat from these animals, but Peter refuses.  While this is going on the two servants arrive and the voice tells Peter to go with them.  Peter arrives at Captain Cornelius' house and that is where we take up the story.

Luke is interested here not so much in history as in convincing his readers that the Gentiles as well as Jews are included in the new religion.

Source: Good News Bible

 

Psalms:

Dates: Put together at ca. 300 years BCE.

Author(s): The old belief that David composed all 150 Psalms is just myth.  The reality: many people and groups of people composed the psalms over centuries.

Purpose: songs of gratitude, sorrow, pain, and longing to be sung by the Jewish people, especially in the temple and later in the synagogue.  Special songs were composed for feast days like passover and the feast of lights, to name just two.

Source:Bishop (Episcopal) John Shelby Spong, Origins of the Bible XXV, published 5-2-09 in Mirabile Dictu

   

Requem for a Water Trailer: That Your Joy May be Complete

Friday morning I handed it over, Folks.  You remember the big red water tank I used to fill up at the back door here ever since we started coming here?  Friday I donated it to the Texas Tree Foundation, the group where I used to buy our trees wholesale. 

A number of events were taking place that made me aware it may be time for me to move on to another hobby.  PISD & RISD have both said they don't want any more trees because they get in the way of their big lawn mowers and it busts their budgets.  My truck is smoking badly.  And heading into 70 years I am aware I cannot lift and dig like I used to. 

I admit I experienced a sadness when I went to Jean Atwood's house Thursday night to pick up the trailer, Jean who has been so generous to store the trailer in her driveway for the last 4 years, ever since I departed Jesuit & we planted Plano Senior.  And likewise, Friday morning when I drove it over to the the tree farm.  I have spent hours working with that trailer and have kept alive thousands of little trees through terrific Dallas droughts. 

More than the sadness, though, I sense a joy probably like what is mentioned in John's Gospel, one of my favorite line in Scripture. 

I certainly was consoled when I delivered the trailer to the team at the TX Trees Foundation near TI.  They need the trailer to water trees in a downtown Dallas urban forest park this summer.

I, likewise, am delighted when I ride streets in north Dallas shaded with our trees.  I pass islands, say, on the east side of Love Field, along Lemon Avenue, and I can see in my mind Kovatis and Leals planting the islands or Rose Banzhaf shoveling mulch into containers behind Hillcrest High.  I can see Kim Quirk & her family planting trees in a park at Lovers Lane & Lemon.

I got some amusing memories which give me joy.  Plano Senior, 5:30 A.M., Sean Schleicher watering from the back of the truck in the dark, I'm driving.  I get us stuck in the mud of a shallow irrigation ditch just north of the baseball diamond which had over watered its field and the water had drained into the ditch.

Remember the beautiful day we planted 400 trees in 1 hour at Plano Senior?  We were scheduled to start about 12:00.  Ten minutes before 12:00 I'm in that big south east parking lot getting things ready.  Kovatis comes by and yells, "Where is everybody?  We got a lot of work to do!"   I look up 30 minutes later and people are everywhere.  30 more minutes and people are coming up asking where are more trees to plant.  Everything was planted and the picnic we planned for 3:00 began ca. 1:00. 

Remember the chili picnics prepared by my buddy Lamberty at Jesuit?  Remember way back when we took two Sundays to plant Marsh Lane from LBJ to Northwest Hwy and Frank Hart, my old coach from Christ the King, invited the whole planting party to his restaurant?

These memories give me great joy as do my trips around the streets, parks, and school campuses we have planted.  How many?  Who knows?  Take 20 years and conservatively say we averaged 200 trees a year.  That would be a minimum.  And most of them are all out there.

This is the joy I think John is talking about in his Gospel.  We got it.

What next?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-05-17.mp3

Picture 1:  Mass with Kevin & Noah

Picture 2:  Richardson Women's Club Gazebo Wedding of

Picture 3:  Dorothy & Jim butterly

Picture 4:  The red water trailer custom built by Al Tenbusch

 

Readings:

Isaiah  55, 10-11,   My word shall not return to me void.

Psalm 65,   The seed that falls on good ground will yield a fruitful harvest.

Romans 8, 18-23,  We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains.

Matthew  13, 1-23,  A sower went out to sow.

 

Isaiah, The Great One, observations—

Who:  One of the Big 3 prophets, the greatest in my estimation.  Jeremiah and Ezekiel are the other two.  Actually, the book includes the work of 3 prophets.   Our selection is the last chapter written by Isaiah 2.

Time:  Isaiah 2 was living during the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 555.  Isaiah 1 writes before the Captivity, maybe 150 years.  Isaiah 3 writes after the return to Jerusalem.

 

 

Subject today: better times will come.  I am expanding today’s passage, because it is so good.

Isaiah 2 has some of the most beautiful passages, many of which are seen as foretelling the coming of the Savior.  His readings are used all through the Advent & Christmas readings, as well as in Lent.  Handel uses Isaiah 2 in his marvelous work, The Messiah.

Both the Isaiah reading and Psalm 65 are beautiful.  

 

And My Seed Landed Where?

This morning I would like to talk about how Jesus is said to describe how the farmer’s seed is scattered on four different types of ground, the path, the rocks, the thorns, and the fertile.  Where did your seed fall?  Where did my seed fall?  I’m sure a lot of volunteers would be happy to let me know where my seed fell.

If you are a sinful gambler poker player you would look at this explanation and notice the bad odds, one out of four.  I would propose, however, that we all landed on fertile soil.  Let me offer some examples. 

I’ve shared this example once before, so you might remember it, but probably not. 

 

 

When I was a little kid about 5 years old, I was playing in the driveway of our house in University Park.  There were no fences and the drive went from the street, through the space between our house and the neighbor’s, and to the back up against the alley. 

The neighbor was Sam Berger, who owned a hat store in downtown Dallas.  He was Jewish and lived next to us all during the Holocaust.  I was oblivious to it all.  He & his wife had a big black lady who not only worked in the house, but lived in the back in an apartment attached to the garage, the servant quarters.  This black lady was not nice to me.

 

 

So this day as I am playing in the driveway, the lady steps out of the kitchen door & stands on the steps.  Without thinking, I say, “You are a big fat elephant.”

To the lady’s credit, she marches right across the drive and tells my mom.  My mom comes out of the house, drags me in, and spanks me.  Thinking back, I am impressed that my mom respected the lady.  The spanking, however, and her treatment of me confirmed my suspicions that my seed had fallen at least on the path or rocks, if not right on the thorns.   I definitely grew up with the belief that I was a bad kid. 

 

Despite the fact that you folks might agree with that assessment, I would propose that I was just a normal little boy doing silly things. 

This habit of doing silly, not bad things, can continue into adult years.  I know a guy who gets on his bike and rides off for an hour leaving the driver’s door of his car wide upon. 

I know a lady who last week let her Lincoln run out of gas in rush hour traffic.  Her husband, a bit nettled, brought gas, but then could not start the car.  It had to be towed.

 

 

I know a dear friend who drove into her garage with a canoe strapped to the top of her car. 

You do this stuff and you begin to believe the bad news, ‘I am a loser, I am bad, my seed obviously landed in the ditch.” 

And then there are the malicious acts.  You know where I come in on this.  Kids hurt and abused grow up to hurt and abuse.  They are not bad.  They are damaged. 

So, who landed on fertile soil?  All of us.  God don’t make bad seed.

So, what do you think about all this?

 

 

 

 

Readings: Deuteronomy 11, 18-32; Psalm 31; Romans 3, 21-25; Matthew 7, 21-27

  

Deuteronomy: Just a couple of reminders–

• Deuteronomy is the 5th & last book of the Pentateuch or Torah;
• Moses is reminding the people of how Yahweh has guided and protected them in the desert after escaping Egypt;
• The discourse takes place in the desert outside the promised land, the land where the Canaanites are living.
• Moses is dying and will not enter. Instead Joshua will lead the people.

Matthew & the Foundation of Your House

Because the Gospel of Matthew will be our Sunday gospel now through summer & fall until we begin Advent, which is the first Sunday after Thanksgiving, let me offer some data about Matthew.  I have five observations about Matthew's gospel and a thought about his selection today on foundations for your house.

• Who?  Matthew was not written by Matthew the Apostle. Instead, the writer seems to be an anonymous, non-eye witness Jewish Christian.
• When?  Around 80-85, i.e., about 50 years after Jesus
• Where?  He wrote in Antioch probably.  Rome, Alexandria in Egypt, and Antioch in Syria (today Turkey) were 3 big cities of the the Roman Empire. Antioch was defeated in the 13th Century and never revived, partly because ships could no longer come up river to the city. Sand had collected in the river bed.  Like Seville in Spain.
• What was he trying to do?  He was trying to convince Jew & Gentile that Jesus fulfilled the O.T. prophesies about a savior.  Consequently, he makes multiple references to the O.T.
• Synoptic Gospels?  3 of the N.T. gospels are called the Synoptic gospels, because they are all similar.  Matthew is one of them, along with Mark & Luke.  In fact, Matthew seems to have used Mark & maybe Luke, along with an oral source called Q, as his sources.  Matthew has over 1000 lines, almost 400 of which are identical to Mark.

   In today's selection from Matthew we are at the beginning of his chapters teaching about good living. His metaphor of the house built upon sand makes me think, "Welcome to Dallas!"  Is there a house in Dallas that does not have foundation problems?  If I lay a pen on my desk at home I have to position it correctly or it will roll away.

In fact, a few years ago we invited some foundation companies to give us an estimate on leveling our pier & beam house.  One major company said, "Sorry, folks.  We won't touch this house."  Consequently, we live in a tear down hoping it won't fall down before we are ready to sell and move.

The house obviously is a metaphor for you and me.  We are being instructed to build our lives on spiritual health, especially obedience, which the Deuteronomy reading adds.  Again in these readings, we are presented with a choice.  Deuteronomy calls it a choice between blessing & curse.  I would suggest it is a choice between a path of fear and a path of trust. 

Just like in Dallas, we all attempt to build our lives on a solid foundation.  We would not be gathering here if that were not moving us.  The up side of the metaphor of the house is that we are encouraged again to continue to improve our lives.  The down side is the reality that, like in Dallas, despite our best efforts, we have shaky foundations.  Therefore, are we cursed forever?

I think an answer lies in the readings.  Again we have both positions represented.  We can choose.  The Psalm writer says, "In you, Oh Lord, I take refuge; You are my rock; Take courage and be stout hearted, all you who hope in the Lord."

Consequently, instead of the path of fear, I have chosen the path of trust.  How about you?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-06-01.mp3