Sunday Homily, November 8, 2015, 32nd Ordinary Time

 Readings:  

 Joshua, 24,1-2, 15-17,  We will serve the Lord, for he is our God.

 Psalm 34, Taste & See the Goodnesss of the Lord (3rd week)

Ephesians, 5, 21-32, Wives should be subordinate to their husbands as to the Lord.  For the husband is head of his wife.

John, 6, 60-69, Master, to whom shall we go?

Ken and Cindy celebrating 50 years

Joshua:

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

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

The Beautiful Georgie

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

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

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

Cara at 12 years

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

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

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

Special pastries ready for Jim's birthday party

 Rosemary be Subservient to Me as to the Lord?

A crazy thing happened to me some time ago that I will never forget.  I was standing in a line.  Around me were families with kids.  At one point a nice looking family with two or three young kids got into a small disagreement over something involving the kids.  The wife wanted to do one thing, the husband another.

At a point the husband says to the wife, “you are to be subservient to me because the Bible says so.”

Harper

I almost dropped my teeth.  I could not believe what I was hearing.  I even think the wife let him get away with this justification.  Can you imagine me getting away with this with Rosemary?

I love this passage because it exemplifies the danger of taking the Bible literally.  The passage is so easy to explain in terms of contemporary psychology and the value of a human person, male or female. Here is how we see it today.

Blakely

Three models of family interaction.

1.   The patriarchal.  This model considers the male the superior, like in Paul’s instruction.  It is based on an old belief that females were  inferior.  This model certainly exists today. 

When I was in East Africa the men considered themselves the master of the household.  Muslim examples abound these days, even to horrible stories of disobedient women being beaten, starved, and locked in underground rooms.

The HHH team of crazies at dawn along with 15,000 other crazies, An old geezer, Rosemary, George, Dwayne, Tom, Greg, John

2.  The matriarchal.  In this example the wife or mother is considered the head of the household.  There are many amusing examples of families where the male thought he was the head, while everyone knew the household was ruled and organized by the wife.

3.   The equality model.  Both husband and wife are seen as equal and complimentary.  Today this model is more common in many societies, though not all.  Today both the husband and the wife have graduate degrees and professional careers.  The model is teamwork rather than dictatorship.

Sag Wagon, what you don't want to need, but are happy to see if you have a bike problem or are sick. Usually pretty busy the last 25 miles of the 100 mile distance.

Paul sounds pretty archaic and chauvenistic today, but actually at that time he was trying to elevate men’s treatment of women.  Treating a wife with respect was pretty radical for Paul’s time. 

Whatever the model chosen, it comes down to a choice by the couple.  Even this involves equality and mutual input.  Today equality is so taken for granted that a husband saying to his wife that she must obey him because the Bible says so sounds ridiculous. 

HHH riders passing through Shepherd A.F. Base. Touching, a lot of cheering.

Obviously the one couple I was watching took it literally.  I wonder where they are today.

Which of the three models do you choose?

Readings: Isaiah 66, 10-14; Psalm 66; Galatians 6, 14-18; Luke 10, 1-20.

Isaiah: The scene is this. The Israelites are enslaved in Babylon, which was in today’s Iraq, about 60 miles south of Bagdad, now called Al Hilah. Isaiah is telling the people that the day is coming when they will live again in Jerusalem. 

What a Gift Community

When I used to say Masses before we gathered here I was really spoiled. I would walk into St. Mark’s, for instance, put on my robes, celebrate the Mass, and depart, or go over and goof around with Duffy & Rita in the rectory. I had everything prepared before I walked out on the alter and everything was cleaned up after I left. 

The first time we celebrated here, I remember thinking how many little things have to be taken care of. I got to get my own robes, set up an altar, provide bread & wine, and so on. 

Now I am knocked over at how many people pitch in to make this celebration special. Margie does the alter, Jackie brings donuts, Lisa makes muffins, many of you take turns making altar bread and providing coffee. Margarita comes with juice, Roy with the books, Rob & Beth with the cross & wine cups. And this highlights only a few of you. 

The past two weeks I have been especially touched and moved by the community extending itself.

Last Sunday you may remember that we had the summer blood drive. I thought the numbers might be down. It is summer, after all. Yet, on the contrary, after Mass as I was preparing to depart with Rosemary & Naomi, I passed by the blood mobile. I had hoped we might reach 20 donors, though I was prepared for less. The nurses told me they had already received over 21 and I saw about 3 to 4 people waiting. I was stunned.  And grateful.

The second amazing event took place yesterday when a group of about 15 showed up to put a roof on a home. I had spotted the need for this some time ago. I contacted Lynda & Tom to see if they could induce Habitat to help us. They only build new housing, however, and recommended we contact Lake Point Baptist, because they do renovations. 

Through that contact we met this marvelous guy named Alex Moore, quiet, serene, skilled, and hard working. Alex, who is retired and from MN, actually came over by himself Wednesday & Thursday to augur, set, and cement about 15 4 by 4’s to hold up the roof. He did this so we could all work together Saturday. And did we work. Laying roofing tiles over black tar paper in the afternoon sun was like sitting on a hot frying pan. 

I had to depart the project at 3:00 to get ready for a 6:00 wedding, and the last thing Alex asked me was, "We working next Saturday?" He was ready & wants to finish the job.

This is a gift community. And this is saying nothing about your weekly generosity.

Thanks. 

Click here for the audio

Thanks to the Team

Music, Shonda & Ben

Readers, Sandra, Mary Hall, Deacon Mike, & Buddy, the candle blessing

Homily & Eucharistic Prayer, John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike & Becky & Ben

The Final Blessing & sharers of Vows, Rosemary & John

Readings:

Acts of the Apostles, 2, 14, 36-41, Then Peter stood up and proclaimed.

Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want (a good one)

1 Peter , 2, 2-25, To this you  have been called.

John 10, 1-10, Whoever does not enter a sheepfold through the gate….

The Brain Center

Reading 1

A Reading from the Acts of the Apostles       

Peter stood up and, backed by the other eleven, spoke out:  “All Israel, know this:  There’s no longer room for doubt—God made him Master and Messiah, this Jesus whom you killed on a cross.”

        Cut to the quick, those who were there listening asked Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers!  Brothers!  So now what do we do?” 

        Peter said, “Change your life.  Turn to God and be baptized each of you, in the name of Jesus the Christ, so your sins are forgiven.  Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our God invites.”  He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, “Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!” 

        That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up.  They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers. 

Our word for today.

Brain Center??

Reading 2

 A Reading from the First Letter of Peter

        My sisters and brothers:  If you’re treated badly for good behavior and continue in spite of it to be a good servant, that is what counts with God.

        This is the kind of life you’ve been invited into, the kind of life Jesus lived.  He suffered everything that came his way, so you would know that it could be done, and also know how to do it, step-by-step. 

        He never did one thing wrong,

        Not once said anything amiss.

        They called him every name in the book and he said nothing back.  He suffered in silence, content to let God set things right.  He used his servant body to carry our sins to the Cross, so we could be rid of sin—free to live the right way.  His wounds became your healing. 

You were lost sheep with no idea who you were or where you were going.  Now you’re named and kept for good by the Shepherd of your souls.

Our word for today.

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

          Jesus said to his followers:  “Let me set this before you as plainly as I can.  If a person climbs over or through the fence of a sheep pen, instead of going through the gate, you know he’s up to no good—a sheep rustler!  The shepherd walks right up to the gate, the gatekeeper opens the gate to him, and the sheep recognize his voice.  He calls his sheep by name and leads them out.  The sheep follow, because they are familiar with his voice.  They won’t follow a stranger’s voice, but will scatter because they aren’t used to it.”

          Jesus told that simple story, but his listeners had no idea what he was talking about.  So, he tried again.  “Listen. I’ll be explicit.  I am the Gate for the sheep.  All those others are up to no good—they’re sheep stealers.  I am the Gate.  Anyone who goes through me will be cared for—will freely go in and out and find pasture.  A thief is only there to steal and kill and destroy.  I came so they can have real and eternal life—more of it, and better than they ever dreamed of.

 The Good News of John

Birthdays this week, Cole, 11; Patricia, 74; Ron Senter, Warren Philip Wittek, 5

Anniversaries:

Bill & Patty Hammond, 52nd

Joe & Marsha Farmer, 36th

Stack & Rosemary, 15th

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; For John & Connnie's good froends, Bob with cancer & his wife, Judy;  For Joe Hogan with cancer,  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;   For Ryan, Rosemary's nephew, who had surgery; For Bill Hammond,    For Sydney & her dear Husband, Hugh, who just moved to the Other Side,  & For Sir Charlie recuperating from surgery;  Shonda's mom;   For Gilberto recuperating from his gall bladder operation:  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; 

Alexa for Geezers:

https://dl-mail.ymail.com/ws/download/mailboxes/@.id==VjN-o20disL99fAFUQDKN3jElwg6rCMe3hgAlYlniB8fOiVKZ6jrpaegBxmLvS-zsBXwYEbsR5yunJ4BARbffkYcNxh-J5C6LyUnkpuuSevalNc/messages/@.id==AGklRJpWANN5XqtoeQ7_2H6UeDw/content/parts/@.id==2.2/raw?appid=YMailNorrinLaunch&ymreqid=9fd8c449-b7f4-8fa2-1cb9-370000015900&token=zitEzqOML3j84e6ealFTT5U7-km5qEQF52lp7AcCuBbXRR0O5-yl1-InFY5X0PwoQswLjjQvxcsXuJE-xVWJvvmhjudLhA3q-VWFGSpaKXk-0kETKMlGWtop1TbkSRQX

John Cade's Homily on Matthew

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                The Gospel of Matthew and the Jewish Synagogue—Talk Six

For Matthew the Easter moment is the climax of his story, God’s ultimate revelation. 

Before we consider the many contradictions in the Biblical accounts of the resurrection, let’s see where there’s agreement.  They all say that the Easter experience forced them to see Jesus with a radically new understanding.  Whatever Easter was, its effects on those who live in time and space were real, even measurable.  E.g., the behavior of the disciples was changed: Those, who at the moment of Jesus’ arrest had forsaken him and run off, suddenly demonstrated major courage.  They showed a willingness to go anywhere and do anything that would support the reality they had come to know.  Also, following their Easter experience the disciples found they had to alter their understanding of God.  The concept of the oneness of God, so central to Judaism, had to be stretched to the place where Jesus could be included in that God definition. 

[In the New Testament, Paul was the first to speak of this when he said that somehow the reality of God had been met and engaged in the life of this Jesus (2 Cor. 5:19).  He and others began to try to explain how it had happened that “God was in Christ.”  Paul says that, whatever Easter was, God had somehow brought Jesus into the very meaning of God (Rom. 1:1-4).  Next, Mark suggested that at Jesus’ baptism, God had infused the human Jesus with the divine presence and reality.  Then Matthew, and soon after, Luke, suggested that God had entered Jesus at the moment of conception (Matt. 1, 2 & Luke 1, 2). Finally, John, the last gospel, suggested that there never was a moment in time or in history when Jesus was not part of the reality we call God.]

The New Testament is clear about the nature of the Christ experience being some kind of God experience, one that is transcendent.  This raises a question:  Can an experience be real if the explanations of that experience are inconsistent and divergent?  Spong certainly thinks so, and explains it as a human language issue.  There is no “objective language” or “God language.”  We have to talk about our experiences of God in human language.  And every word human beings speak is a subjectively understood symbol. 

There is agreement in the New Testament about the reality of the Easter experience, but there’s a wide divergence in explaining that reality.   The New Testament provides us with five story themes that put the Easter experience into words.  There is little consistency in them. 

                       1^st Example:  Paul knows nothing about the burial tradition with Joseph of Arimathea. The Joseph character is not introduced until Mark’s gospel.  Mark calls Joseph a “ruler of the Jews” (Mark 15:43).  Matthew calls him “a rich man” (Matt. 27:57).  Luke calls him “a good and righteous man” (Luke 23:51).  John calls him “a disciple of Jesus” and adds that together Joseph and Nicodemus performed the burial, and made the burial quite elaborate with “about a hundred pounds” of “myrrh and aloes” (John 17: 38-40).         

    2^nd Example:  Paul has no story of a tomb, so no one visits or finds it empty.  The women coming to the tomb at dawn on the first day of the week enters tradition in Mark, though there’s no agreement about who they were, except for Mary Magdalene.  Mark names Salome (Mark 19:1); then Matthew, writing with the Mark Gospel right in front of him, omits Salome (Matt. 28:1).  Luke adds Joanna and “some other women” unnamed (Luke 24:10).  John insists Mary Magdalene was alone (John 20:1).  And did the women see Jesus at or near the tomb?  Mark says no.  Matthew says yes.  Luke says no.  John says yes; but only Mary Magdalene and only on her second visit.  Of course, these inconsistencies are a literalist’s nightmare.                                                                                     

3^rd Example:  Where were the disciples when they experienced all this?  Paul gives no place or setting for his list of those the Christ appeared to.  Mark has a “messenger” (an angel) simply announce the resurrection and has the women tell the disciples to go to Galilee and “there you will see him.”  However, Mark never describes that appearance (Mark 16:8).  Matthew says it was in Galilee that the disciples saw Jesus, and he describes it in detail (Matt. 28:16-20).  Luke says that appearances of the raised Christ were never seen in Galilee by anyone, only in or near Jerusalem (Luke 24).  Luke adds that Jesus’ appearances continued “for forty days” and then came to an abrupt end.  John says the original appearance of the resurrected Jesus to the disciples was in Jerusalem the evening of the first Easter in an upper room.  He also says this experience was repeated in almost identical form eight days later (John 20:19-29).  John’ also says there was another Easter experience in Galilee, but much later.         

 4^th Example: Who was the first to “see” the resurrected Jesus?  Paul says it was Peter.  Mark never has the raised Christ appear to anyone.  Matthew says it was the women at the tomb.  Luke says it was Cleopas and his companion in the village of Emmaus.  John says it was Mary Magdalene alone.  

5^th Example: Was the resurrection physical?  Paul seems to say no. He says that “what is raised is imperishable” suggesting something that is no longer subject to death and decay (1 Cor. 15:42).  He adds “it is sown a physical body; it is raised a spiritual body” (1Cor. 15:44).  Also in Paul Jesus does not rise; he is raised.  So who or what raised him? Into what was he raised?  Paul writes: “It is Christ Jesus who died, yes, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God (1 Rom. 8:34).  The implication is that Jesus was raised not back into the life of this world, but to the right hand of God.

There are three stories in the Hebrew scriptures of people being raised into God that could have supplied Paul with the image of resurrection that he appears to hold—a resurrection that is “real”, but not physical? 

First, Enoch, known as the father of Methuselah and grand-father of Noah, was introduced with a line in the Book of Genesis:  “Enoch walked with God, and he was not, because God took him” (Gen. 5:24).    

[Interest in Enoch led to the Book of Enoch, written about a hundred years BCE.  It became listed as an Apocryphal O.T. book (so not in the Catholic Bible).  It was lost in the late 4^th century and re-discovered in Ethiopia in the 18^th century.  Enoch’s story included the part that, as a reward for “walking with God” on this earth, he was said to have escaped death to live in the presence of God.]

Second, there is Moses, to the Jews God’s greatest prophet.  In Deuteronomy it says only God was present with Moses when he died. (Deut. 34:5, 6).  A common story was that Moses didn’t really die, but rather God raised him into the life of God. 

And third, Elijah; it was said he was raised from life on earth to life in God.  His story was quite dramatic.  He was transported into the presence of God by a magical fiery chariot, drawn by magical fiery horses (2 Kings 2). 

These three O.T. resurrection stories would be well known by Paul, and by Matthew, since they were part of the Law of the Torah, the scripture scrolls read in the Synagogue in their entirety, each and every year.  Any one of these, or all three, could have shaped how the resurrection of Jesus was understood in a Jewish context.

On the other hand, we also can see the resurrection story evolving and becoming more and more physical.   Mark never has the raised Christ appear to anyone; in his story the women fled in fear and said nothing to anyone.  Matthew, contrary to Mark, his source, has the women grasp the risen Christ, taking “hold of his feet”. This is the first hint in the Easter narratives that ‘resurrection’ was beginning to be viewed as the physical resurrection of a deceased body.  Of course, by the time this physical aspect of resurrection appeared, it was already the ninth decade, about year 82 CE, 52 years after Jesus’ death. 

Luke is the gospel author who does the most to transform ‘resurrection’ into something understood as physical resuscitation.  The raised Jesus can walk, talk, and eat, all physical accomplishments. And Luke has the story of the appearance of Jesus to Cleopas and his travel companion.  Jesus suddenly, out of nowhere, began to walk with them, unrecognized. At the end of the story “he vanished out of their sight” (Luke 24:29).  He just de-materialized!  So even in the physical understanding of resurrection in Luke’s story, there was a mysterious non-physical reality.

The resurrection narratives are contradictory and confusing, but all of them were written out of the conviction that the boundary between God and the human, between heaven and earth, between life and death, had been broken in the life of this Jesus.  The early followers of Jesus had tried to use words to explain what was beyond words.  Their stories were later literalized in Christian history so much that ‘resurrection’ came to be seen as a literal, objective miraculous event.  Claims were made that violate everything we know about how the world operates and how death functions. 

A body deceased for three days came back to life.  A heart that had not beaten from Friday till Sunday started to beat again.  Brain cells, deprived of oxygen for at least thirty-six hours, were restored to fully functioning health.  Flesh that had already begun to smell of decay, was rehabilitated.  The natural world was turned upside down by the invasion of the supernatural world.  Literalism produces disturbing, irrational narratives. 

It’s no wonder why Christianity, presented in literalistic terms seems to more and more people in the modern world to be unbelievable!   Can the resurrection of Jesus be real and yet the explanations of the resurrection be nothing more than mythical language?  Should mythical language ever be literally understood?  Our answers to those questions may actually determine the future of the Christianity itself.

Next week, the final chapter—a pulling together of how the Matthew Gospel was written as a liturgical document;  how it was told against the background of the liturgical year of the Jewish synagogue;  and how Matthew wrote it as an interpretation of the teaching and the meaning of Jesus himself.

Community Finances, May 3, 2020

Expenses: $1835.00

Outreach:  $2350.00  (often Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

4/28/20 we donated  $1500 to Souls Harbor via N.T. Giving Day (the amount was matched that day)

5/3/20 we also donated $2000 to Souls Harbor because of a generous contribution via B.T. Giving Day (also a matched amount)

This is our best week of income in a couple of months. Very humbling.  Thanks, Everybody.

Readings:

 Deuteronomy 4, 1-2, 6-8, The commandments to Moses

Psalm 15,    The one who does justice will live in the presence of the Lord.

James 1, 17-18, 21-22, 27,  Every perfect gift is from above.

Mark 7, 1-8, 14-15, 21-23,  All these evils come from within.

                        Zoe says, "Welcome in, Everybody."

Observations on Deuteronomy

What is it about: Moses is addressing the people just before they are to enter into the Promised Land, the land of the Canaanites.  They have escaped from Egypt and have been wandering around in the desert for about 40 years.  Moses is dying and knows he will not go into Canaan.

The theme of the staged talk is that God has saved and blessed his beloved people.  To help them live better he has given them the 10 commandments and a whole bunch of other laws.  This is a book on the laws.

             Buddy says, "Last day here?  Dunno, I like it here."

This is the 5^th book of the original bible and the fifth of the Big 5, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, & Deuteronomy

Authors:  Inferring from the work, it is obvious that the judges and teachers of the people compiled the material.

Time composed: as with so much else, after the Babylonian Captivity, around 500 before Christ.

               "Hi, Tori, Want to see how you like Sigler?"

Observations on James

1.   We have James for 5 Sundays
2.   James was not an apostle, but head of the community after Jesus.    He gets stoned in 62.

 Sources: The New Interpreter’s Bible Study; The Good News Bible

        3.    Ever hear the story of Santiago de Compostella?    There is a large, ancient basilica in the Spanish province of Galicia, which, even up to today, has been a pilgrimage site for centuries, one of the big 3 sites in the world.  The other 2? Jerusalem & Rome.

The tale?  Briefly.  

        Genevieve says, "Well, it is all new to me.  Let's try it."

The Apostle James supposedly went from Jerusalem to the North West province of Galicia in Spain to convert the people.  He baptized with a sea shell which is his symbol on the pilgrimage route.

He went back to Jerusalem, was killed, and buried.  The angels transported his body to Galicia and buried it there.

One day a little shepherd boy was in the fields and a light shone from heaven on a spot.  A voice told him to tell the bishop to dig there for St. James' bones.  He did, the bishop dug up the bones, and he built a chapel over the site.  

        Leo says, "I like this place and I'll have fun at Sigler, too."

This was about the year 700, just after the time the Moors had crossed into Spain from Africa and swept all the way up into France.  From this time until 1492 when Queen Isabella finally kicked them back to Africa, the Moors lived a lifestyle and culture that was far superior to Spain and Europe in those times.

Meanwhile, James became the patron of the effort to remove the Moor. He was called the Matamoros, killer of the moors.

Over the years the chapel gave way to bigger and bigger until this large basilica was built.  It was a great economic boon, because thousands of pilgrims came.  Cures were apparently taking place.

           After 32 years working at TI, John is retiring.  Give that                       man a cupcake.

The basilica is famous for its huge thurible, which is swung at the end of most Masses from side to side in the apse, not the nave.  This was supposedly to lessen the aroma of the unwashed pilgrims who were allowed to shelter in the balconies around the basilica.

Rosemary & I & even Mary Ellen have visited Santiago de Compostella. Moreover, a former Jesuit classmate of mine from Washington State is this day making the pilgrimage which goes from Europe, like from Paris, over the Pyrenees, and along the northern part of Spain to Galicia.

            Harper says, "What is that man talking about now?" 

Grateful Reminiscing

Seeing that this morning we are doing our last regular Mass in our old home, I would like to do a little grateful reminiscing.  This started out pretty simple, then it got overwhelming, and finally I have narrowed it down to 4 main points.

First, remember the first time we celebrated Mass here, Thanksgiving weekend 10 years ago?  I can remember it clearly.  It had been about 5 months since I had seen most of you and certainly all those people who poured in that Sunday.  I was at the entrance greeting everybody with tears rolling down my cheeks.

                               Leo the Candle Lighter.

There used to be a middle aisle here.  Remember?  That Sunday I walked down the aisle, turned around, and then could not say anything for probably half an hour. 

That was one of the special events in this room and one of the special events in my life.

Secondly, three special events. 

1.  Christmas Eve celebrations with the little kids presenting the nativity.  Remember some of those days when we had a whole bunch of baby Jesus, both boys & girls?

                 Offertory, John & Jean, Louis, Judy & Mike

    Connected with that is the way the community has welcomed the kids     each Sunday, and the babies, like Genevieve and last week, Vivian.      Those kids give me so much spirit to my life.

1. Another special event was Fred’s memorial.  One of our best buddies. 
2. Then there is our music, with Ray and Shonda pulling it all together.   I get so high on what we sing I can dance all week.
3. After all this, thirdly, I have been touched by three special people who give me life, Mike, John, and Tony O’Donovan.

                           The Best, Shonda, Bethany, & Ray.

I remember that it was at Sigler one Sunday when his son Paul brought Mike to the community. 

Without John & his open spirit, I would really feel tied down.  You two help keep the community together.

With regard to Tony, do you realize that we would have been in a bind if he had not stepped forward before I was out some months with my new hips?

The final event I am grateful for is you folks, you people.  I am both touched that you keep coming back, week after week, and because of your presence I begin the week on a high, full of joy and sacred memories. 

Thanks for the 10 years of marvelous memories.

             Genevieve says, "Wake me up, please, when he is finished                   talking. 

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:

Numbers  11, 25-29, Would that all the people of the Lord were prophets.

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

James 5, 1-6, Come now, You Rich, weep and wail over your impending miseries.  

Mark 9, 38-48, If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out.

                                  Says Harper, "Hi Folks, Welcome in."

Numbers:  observation 

In this reading, from the Torah, the Book of Moses, we are given a wonderful example of the expectation of the OT for the coming of the Messiah. It will be fulfilled by Christ, upon whom the Spirit rests, when he and his Father bestow the gift of the Spirit upon all who welcome, live, and proclaim the good news.

Genevieve, too, says, "Good Morning, Everybody, Welcome in."

Homily by Mike

In our gospel reading, John and other of the disciples had been building a barrier between themselves and the flock without realizing it, for they assumed that the Spirit was only going to rest upon them to bring forgiveness to others.  Jesus corrects them. 

All have a responsibility to sow the seed of the good news by word and example. Jesus continually taught those who were following him not to form barriers that would keep them from being one body.

                     Cole, The Candle Man of the Week, at work.

Recall Paul’s letter to the Galatian church, ‘There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female for all are one in Christ Jesus.  Recall that in Advent and Lent we, each of us, live out our gift and responsibility to bring forgiveness to one another; for we are the body of Christ.

The Jewish dietary laws were a barrier between Jew and gentile. It kept them from eating together. So Jesus said to the Jews, ‘Its not what goes into the mouth that defiles; it’s what comes out of the mouth that defiles. In so doing he made all food clean.  When does he tear down this barrier in the Gospel?  Right before he invites both Jew and gentile to eat together at the table of the Lord.

Say the twins, Buddy & Victoria, "Happiness is a cupcake on my birthday, yippee."

All the early followers of Christ were Jews, and they did not even talk to Samaritans.  Early in the John gospel Jesus’ disciples go into town for food and leave him at a well in Samaria. There is a barrier between Jews and Samaritans.  They didn’t talk to one another. 

When the disciples return, they see him sharing his good news to a Samaritan woman.   Jesus lives the truth that God has no favorites. Jesus simply says to his disciples that they must be about sowing the seed of his word and reaping where he has already sown.  Immediately the Samaritan woman begins to give witness in the town that Jesus is a prophet.  And, maybe, he is the Messiah. 

Cupcakes of the Week to Cole and Brent for special services.

Recall the tax collector who climbs the tree in his interest to see Jesus come into Jericho. Jesus looks up and invites Zacchaeus to come down so that he can eat at his house that day.  The seed sown during lunch brought another into the flock.

Jesus’ disciples were Jews who saw the Romans as beasts.  There are several stories in the Gospel about Jesus befriending a Roman Centurion.  In each of them, Jesus tore down the barriers between them by sowing kindness, and goodness and forgiveness.  

                                   Georgie helping out.

Recall the story about the man who had committed serious sin in the Mark gospel.  So much so, that the Jews would not forgive him, rather they expel him from their community.  He comes to Jesus saying, ‘If you want to, you can make me clean.’ Jesus took his hand and replied, ‘Of course I want to, be made clean.”  He again tears down barriers; and he expects us to do the same. 

                                 
The Team at the elevation.

Whenever we isolate ourselves from others, we deny them the opportunity to become one with us.  Take the opportunity this week to welcome or become closer to your neighbors this week, especially the newer ones.  They were meant to be your brothers and sisters.

     Says Genevieve, "May I have that mike, I would like to talk."