Sunday Homily, October 27, 2013, 30th Ordinary Time C cycle

Readings: 

Isaiah 7, 10-14,   The virgin will conceive and bear a son.

 

Psalm 24,  Let the Lord enter, he is king of glory.

Romans 1, 1-7,  Grace to you and peace.

Matthew  1, 18-24, She was found with child through the Holy Spirit.

 

 

 Christmas observations:

1.  Celebration of Christmas was banned in Boston up until ca. 200 years ago.  The Puritan influence.  They had seen the corruption of Rome and the inquisition.  They feared and hated Rome and Catholics.
2. Rome had a feast of Saturnalia, which was connected with the Winter Solstice.  It was a feast of the harvest and of light, light returning in the northern hemisphere.  For centuries Roman Catholicism refused to honor the feast, but eventually adopted it as a date for Christ’s birth.
3. The winter solstice had been celebrated for 10,000 years, back when humans started farming.
4. Christmas Eve, Kinshasa, Zaire, 1977.  I was in Kinshasa, Zaire (now, The Congo), Christmas, 1977 and attended a Christmas Eve Mass that was marvelous, singing that went on forever and dancing on the part of the African priest in a very colorful set of vestments.  Having a good set of kidneys helps because the celebration goes on  2 ½ hours.  

 

 

Seen The Spirit Lately?

Ever get the feeling that the world is just getting worse every year, more wars, more killing, more kids being hurt, everything worse?  Where is the spirit of peace and caring?

I would like to propose the spirit is here.  Good things are taking place.  Let me give you 4 examples that have just taken place.

 

 

The first I heard about took place during the ice storm the week after Thanksgiving.  I35 going north through Denton became a parking lot when 18 wheelers got stuck and blocked the highway.  This happened that Friday afternoon and the highway was probably down for the night. 

The pastor of some church in the area heard about the people on the highway.  He gathered a bunch of his community and out they went to the highway with food, hot drinks, and blankets for those who needed them.  Some people were even invited into people’s homes.

You folks would do this.

 

 

At the same time that afternoon our neighbors called to invite us to lunch on the grill because our electricity was off.  They had a gas grill.  The lady across the street offered to let us stay at her house.  She had electricity.  We were on the second of our two day return drive from Thanksgiving at Rosemary’s sister’s house in Hilton Head.

Secondly, you remember that I worked in Oklahoma after the tornado.  I heard of a lady who is making special Christmas ornaments for people who have lost all their precious ornaments.  I thought about those people whose houses I helped to clear out and thought what a nice idea.

 

 

Thirdly, three celebs, two sports stars and one singer.

Ever hear of Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans, a wide receiver.  For the 7^th year in a row he took 12 underprivileged kids on a shopping trip at Kids R Us.  They had 80 seconds, his number, to grab what they wanted.  He even chipped in an Xbox 360 for each kid.  17 thousand bucks.  Sounds like Love for the Kids.

 

 

Also, Damien Lillard, 23, a hot new player for Portland.  He took a whole bus load of kids on a shopping trip.

Then, the singer Beyonce went into a Wal-mart, bought 750 $50 gift cards for everyone that moment in the Wal-Mart. 

 

 

Fourth.   Out of bad stuff, good stuff.  A grandmother was caring for 9 young kids somewhere here in Dallas.  She had bought their presents and had them hidden in her apartment.  Yes, you guessed it, they all go stolen.  The story got out and she received more presents than she could ever have afforded. 

Where are you seeing The Spirit of peace and caring this Christmas?  How are you contributing to it?

 

 

Readings: Genesis 12, 1-4; Psalm 33, Lord, let you Mercy be on Us, as we place our Trust in You; 2 Timothy 1, 8-10; Matthew 17, 1-9

Genesis observations—

 What: the first book of the Bible.  5 main character clusters, Adam & Eve plus family, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob.

 Author: not Moses, as popularly thought for centuries, before biblical studies began..  A composite with 3 major contributors, called the Yahwist, the Elohist, and the Priestly.

 

 Date: The events themselves, did not take place, myth.  The writers, at least 2 of them, the Yahwist and the Elohist, seem to be composing during the time of the kings (for example, King David), maybe 1000 years before Christ.

 

Subject: Last week touched upon Adam & Eve & how our ancestors speculated about how we came into existence and why life has suffering. 

Today we look at how the Jewish people thought their nation came into existence.  Abraham is like George Washington.  He is seen as divinely appointed, just as the people thought they were divinely appointed.  There is a quality about the reading that says, “God told me to take your property.”

References: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter’s Study Bible.

 

Homily by Ed Lamberty

 

Sorry, no homily in print today.  The video of the homily went a bit long & was a personal story.

 

Picture 1:   Sacrament of the Sick, Curtis & Barb

Picture 2:   Our Father, Wendy, Ray, & Jon

Picture 3:   Our Father, John, Charlie, Jan, Rick, & Jackie

Picture 4:   Ed Lamberty tells his story

Picture 5:   2 Kite sisters, Emily & Lindsay in from college

Picture 6:   Zoe & her buddy, Carol 

 

Readings:  1 Kings 19-21; Psalm 16, You are my Inheritance, O Lord; Galatians 5, 1, 13-18; Luke 9 51-62.

 

Thirteenth Sunday Ordinary Time

 

Introduction to the Readings

 

 

Our three readings today come from the First Book of Kings, the Letter to the Galatians and Luke’s Gospel.  I suspect that the only reason for the selection of the first reading is because it contains a sentence which is very similar to one found in today’s gospel, namely a request to say good bye to my parents, similar to the gospel response to a calling namely “let me first say farewell to my parents”. 

 

 

 

The Book of Kings selection describes the transfer of power from the prophet Elijah to the prophet Elisha.  Don’t be confused by the fact that in the reading Elisha slaughters the oxen and burns the plow.  This is to show that he is abandoning his old life for the new one. 

   

 

And maybe the second reading was selected because the word “yoke” would connect it to the first reading!  And of course the word plow shows up in the gospel, tying the three readings together!!   But we have been reading from this letter for the past several weeks. 

 

 

 

Remember Paul is trying to show that having Christ inside is all that is really needed, not observance of the Law of Moses.  In fact we will see a very powerful statement that the whole law is fulfilled by loving your neighbor as yourself.  

One clarification about the gospel reading; when the young man asks to be able to bury his father first, Jesus’ response seems harsh to our ears.  However, you need to understand that custom had it in those times that the eldest son would live on the land of his parents and was responsible to bury them when they died.  His father is not dead, the son simply wants to put off following Jesus until some unknown time in the future.

  

 

Homily

Reconciliation and Forgiveness

Last Saturday I had a chat with an aunt of mine in Dublin.  She is an Ursuline nun and will be 95 in September.  I asked her if she was following the World Cup and she said, “Oh yes, we keep hoping that England will be beaten”!! 

 

 

It is an attitude not unlike what Jesus came across in the gospel today.  To the Jews the Samaritans were the modern day English to the Irish!   There are several references to Samaritans in our gospel stories, the Good Samaritan, the Samaritan woman at the well and if we don’t understand the animosity that existed between the two groups we miss a whole lot about those incidents.  To talk about a ‘good Samaritan’ is like talking about a good Palestinian to an Israeli or a good English man to my Aunt! 

 

 

When apartheid was abolished in South Africa and Nelson Mandela was elected president, in order to try and create a single unified country he established the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to try and put the past in the past.

 

 

The week before last, the Saville Report was issued in England and it was a 10 year study of a very sad day in Derry in the North of Ireland when 13 civil rights people who were marching in a parade back in January of 1972 were shot dead by British troops. 

 

 

The report finally laid to rest the claim by the army that they had only fired in self-defense, the report said the army had lied, the victims were all unarmed.  The new British Prime Minister, David Cameron, publicly apologized for the incident.  These were first steps in reconciliation over a terrible wrong.

 

 

The need for reconciliation doesn’t stop just with countries and nations.  Most of us know only too well the pain caused by separations within families or longtime friends.  I find it funny when you see little kids playing and they get in a row over something.  One will run home saying “I am never going to play with Jimmy again”.  Just as the parents are getting ready for a face off, they had better look around, because the kids will be back together as best friends. 

 

 

But by the time we are adults something seems to change.  Fear, blindness or pride seems to enter into the equation and keep us apart.  And then pretty soon we are finding all kinds of additional items to throw on the resentment heap to justify our position. 

 

 

We can’t afford to let this happen.  We need to reach for forgiveness, we need to remember the words of Jesus, “Peace be with you”  “Take the mote from your own eye before reaching for the splinter in your brothers eye”

 

 

Each one of us at least knows of situations where family members have become estranged from each other, or lifelong friends have parted ways over some perceived or real wrong done.  These are very sad situations, because we will never have the chance to recapture and live the time days, weeks or years lost.  In our gospel today we see a classic example. 

 

 

The Samaritans and Jews had parted ways during the exile.  In the eyes of the Jews they were not fully Jewish because they had intermarried with pagans and I’m sure the list is long.  After the Exile, when they returned to rebuild the Temple, the Samaritans did nothing but harass their efforts.  By the time we get to Jesus there is nothing but pure hatred between them.  When Jesus is passing thru a Samaritan village and is not welcomed, James and John want to call down fire on the place.  Jesus simply moves on.

 

 

Irreconcilable differences can be over come, but it takes both parties to want this. At least we must ask ourselves, have we done everything we could.  Then be at peace.

 

 

I am going to keep working on my aunt’s opinion of the English! 

 

Picture 1:   Mass begins

 

Picture 2:   Communion

 

Picture 3:   Chloe

 

Picture 4:   Zoe    

 

Readings:

Acts 2, 14, 22-33,  Peter stood up and proclaimed.

Psalm 16,  Lord, you will show us the path of life.

1 Peter  1, 17-21,  Conduct yourselves with reverence..

Luke  24, 13-35,  The disciples were going to a village called Emmaus.

 

Mike's Homily

There was a short story written by Steve Blow in the Dallas Morning News on Easter morning.  It was about a young man who belonged to one of the United Methodist churches, here in Plano.   He was out walking some time before Easter on the east side of the church property when he found an old wooden cross in some deep brush leaning against a tree.  It had become badly weathered, but he recognized it as the one the youth group used in its sunrise Easter services. Now, a decade or so later, after he had repaired, sanded and varnished the cross, it stood that Easter morning at the entrance of the church; later to be surrounded by a group of faith filled friends.

In the beginning of the reading from the John gospel of last Sunday, the eleven disciples had hidden together in an upper room; they had no faith in Christ.  The crucifixion and death of Jesus had filled them with fear.   

It is terribly important for us to be reminded of two things.  The first is that the gospel stories are written as parables; the second is that after Christ returned to the Father in glory, the Church was given the Holy Spirit and the responsibility to be Christ in the world.  Empowered by the gift of the Holy Spirit, it was the Church who extended to the disciples in the upper room Christ’s words, ‘Peace be with you;’ as the Father sent me, now I send you;’ ‘receive the Holy Spirit.’

In faith, they believed!  When Thomas returned he did not believe that Christ had come to them. He wanted proof! ‘Unless I place my hand into his side I will not believe.’  A week later, what the Church offered Thomas was not proof, but the opportunity to have faith. ‘Place your hand into my side to receive the treasure of the good news’. 

In the Mark and Matthew gospels the disciples are told in like manner by the Church to follow Christ in faith by going after him to Galilee; for the beginning of the Mark Gospel, occurs in Galilee with the words, ‘The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ the Son of God.’   

The end of today’s parable from the Luke gospel complements last weeks reading from the John gospel, by also addressing the eleven in the upper room.  It begins with two men who are being led by the Church as they attempt to come to understand God’s plan of salvation.  Christ, through the Church, tells them that he is truly present to them in the liturgy of the Word and Eucharist. 

Visualize the likes of Clare, Barb, Maureen, Mary Ellen, Bernadette, Dee and Marilyn, for example, at the tomb when the sun rises on that first Easter morning, only to find the tomb empty.  ‘Didn’t he say that he would rise?’ ‘Don’t you feel his Spirit welling up within you?  It would have been a faith experience for them, too. 

Together they would have been the vision of angels rejoicing as messengers and teachers of the Word. If they had actually seen a bunch of angels singing and praising God, there would have been no faith. Their freedom to have faith would have been taken from them.  It is faith that enables us to become Christ in the world.

So, we have gathered here today in faith, believing that it is by the power of the Spirit that the bread blessed and broken has become for us Christ; that the good news becomes for us Christ; that gathered in his name Christ is present in us, so that we can be Christ in the world.  

 

 

 

Sister Act, while Zoe lights our candles for the celebration, Georgie reads the blessing for the candles.

 

 

Readings: 

 Acts of the Apostles 4, 32-35 ,  The community was of one heart & mind

Psalm 118,  Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting.

 1 John 5, 1-6,  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is begotten by Bod.

John  20, 19-31,  Thomas doubts.

 

 

 

 

Father & Son Act, Cody and Ben.

 

Acts of the Apostles observations:

 

Again like was explained last week, this work is basically the story of the development & growth of the Christian community after the death of Jesus up to Paul's arrival in Rome.

 

It is considered more idealistic than factual.  This passage is a good example of this  idealism.  The socialistic life style presented is what we lived as Jesuits.  Any money we earned went into the community.  Any needs we had for money came from the community.    Some communities I lived in had a cash drawer.  You took what you needed.  Other communities I went to the brother.   He may be on a tractor pulling a gang mower on the football field.   I would wave to him & he would pull a wad of cash out of his pocked and give me whatever I needed.    There was a mutual trust.

 

 

 

Offertory Act, Bill & Ron, Richard & Carol, & Barb.

 

Today's homily was a reading by Beth of The Fall of Freddie the Leaf By Leo Buscaglia. 

 

 

 

 

Is not the worker worthy of a reward?  Ask Beth.  Thanks, Beth, for the touching reading of The Fall of Freddy the Leaf.

 

 

 

Ugh, ogh, Folks, She is back.  Watch out, You Girls.

Readings: Isaiah 49, 14-15; Psalm 62, Rest in God alone, my Soul; 1 Corinthians 4, 1-5; Matthew 6, 24-34.

Isaiah reminders—

 Author: This is Isaiah #2, the composer of chapters 40-55.  January 6 we had a first reading from this same chapter 49, verses 4-5, talking about Yahweh’s people being a servant and light to the nations.  I talked about the taxi driver whose son had been killed for his pickup truck in Cuernavaca.

 Date:  Ca. 575 before Christ.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are defeated, crushed, & in the Babylonian Captivity.  Isaiah #3, chapters 56-66, is writing after the Babylonian Captivity.

 Today’s Message: Even though life is bad, Yahweh says he will never forget his people, somewhat similar to the reading from January 6.

Sources: Good News Bible

 

Don’ Worry About Tomorrow? 

 Yesterday afternoon I did a funeral celebration for a lady named Rebecca Sides.  It took place at Turrentine Funeral Home on Ridgeview.  She died of cancer at 58. 

 I did not ever know Rebecca personally.   I knew her through Jean Atwood’s son Sean, who married one of Rebecca’s three daughters, Terra.  Rebecca was the payroll supervisor for the city of Plano, so there were numerous Plano City people there, including her supervisor and an assistance police chief, both of whom gave excellent talks. 

 Of all the things I heard about Rebecca the quality that struck me the most was the way she had her priorities in order.  Her number one priority was her family.  She seemed like the family matriarch, a magnetic force that brought members together, especially her 4 grand kids. 

 

 I talk about her because she exemplified what Matthew’s two lessons are trying to teach us today and what he has been trying to teach us all during this sermon on the mount.  Namely, getting our priorities in order.

 I want to say a word about each of Matthew’s points, serving two masters and not worrying about tomorrow.  One preliminary reminder.

 Matthew is again using exaggeration, hyperbole, and infinite demand to convey his message.  Do you not want to say, ‘Are you nuts, are you crazy?’  There is another half, infinite acceptance, like the line, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.”  Psalm 103 & other places. 

 

 First, ‘Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, your body, what you will wear.  All these things will be given to you.’  Everyone can see this is like crazy.  And this is the negative aspect.  So it all gets dismissed. 

 The positive is the word  ‘worry’ repeated four times and the reference to the birds and flowers.  We can have our priorities and goals without worry.  We can emulate the birds and flowers to a point.  Worry leads to anxiety, to high blood pressure, and to strokes. 

 Secondly, the idea that we cannot serve two masters.  The negative part of this lesson is that it is either/or, black or white, God or mammon.  More exaggeration. 

 More positively, do we not serve a number of masters in our life?  God may be an ultimate master.  Do we not have numerous sub-masters?  Could it be possible I am my own master?  I wonder.

 
 

 All these lessons seem to be telling us to get our priorities in order.  From what I heard, Rebecca had hers in order.

 What are your 3 biggest priorities in life?

 Picture 1:   Leo with his baby sitter, Lynda  

 Picture 2:   Marlene & Cindy

 Picture 3:   Penny

 Picture 4:   Zoe