Having a vision, Aggie?

 

Readings:

Isaiah 11, 1-10, The wolf shall be a guest of the lamb…(beautiful, poetic?)

Psalm 72,  Justice shall flourish in his time, and fullness of peace forever.

Romans 15, 4-9  Let us throw off the works of darkness

Matthew 3, 1-12,  John the Baptist appeared, preaching in the desert  (Fear based spirituality?)

 

We have noticed that people discover that the Blog has not been coming.  Typepad tends to drop people for no reason.  So if this happens to you, just sign up again by going to www.johnstackministries.com

 

 

Welcome in, Chip & Cathy.

 

Curtis Jenkins, December 15

This morning I have my first Christmas homily of the season.  I want to introduce you to Curtis Jenkins, a  school bus driver for about 70 kids from Lake Highlands Elementary, Richardson West Junior High, and J.J. Peace Senior High.  Jenkins is a 46 year old black guy who married his 8^th grade girl friend.  They have 3 daughters all in their 20’s. 

 

 

Teamwork.

 

Jenkins has been driving the school bus for 7 years.  Initially he gave up his career as an electrician/ plumber so he could be more present to his mother, who is not well.

What is special about Curtis is taking place right now, this very week  All the 70 kids who ride his school bus may make a request for a Christmas present.  Last year apparently when Curtis had bought, wrapped, and loaded all the gifts into his bus, there was hardly room for the kids.  He does this every year.

 

 

Candle lighting with Tori.

 

Plus, during the year he gives birthday gifts (Sound familiar?  Maybe cupcakes?).   As the kids prepare to disembark, Curtis gives them a little pep talk, like a hope talk.  Maybe a quickie homily or final blessing?  He even develops community responsibility by creating clean up teams, safety teams (like bigger kids helping smaller kids, and helper kids (like for gift distribution).  Parents say their kids wake up eager and excited that they get to ride Curtis school bus.

 

 

He's got it memorized, Folks.

 

Curtis was featured in the April 20, 2019 edition of the Dallas Morning News. 

You know what this makes me want to do?  Pick up on Cathy’s idea last Sunday where we would give a Christmas gift to every kid in this school.  Are these not our kids?  A possibility?  How many kids are here?

 

Juliets' Christmas luncheon.   Table 1 of many.

 

All these ladies do is have parties!

 

 

 

 

 

Readings: Isaiah 53,10-13; Psalm 33, Lord, let Your Mercy be on Us, as We place Our Trust in You; Hebrews 4, 14-16; Mark 10, 35-45

Isaiah:

A review:

  

Authors: at least 3 because there are 3 distinct parts to Isaiah the book. 

  

Time of Composition: near the end of the Babylonian Captivity, i.e., ca. 550 BCE.

 

   

Subject Matter: warnings about impending doom because of the badness of the people in part 1 up to chapter 39.  The remaining two parts are called the Book of Consolation, letting the people know that a more peaceful & prosperous time is coming. 

   

Today’s Selection:  (read all of chapter 53) 4 observations—

A. This chapter in 2 Isaiah is not included as one of the 4 Suffering Servant Songs, though it presents the same theme. 

  

B. The he, the servant that is talked about is

   –for the Hebrews, the Jewish nation/people;

   –for Christians, Christ.

   

C.  False Belief number 1?  The Jews thought Yahweh demanded suffering or sacrifice of valuable items ( e.g., sacrificial lamb ) as payment for badness. 

 

D.  False Belief number 2?  Not for the first 200 years, but eventually Christians were taught to believe that an original great sin had been committed by our ancestors & that sin could only be paid for by a human-divine hero, Jesus.  He had to be sacrificed to this god.  Or as the first line of our official reading says, “The lord was pleased to crush him infirmity.”  Do you think God really crushes people with infirmity?

Was there really an original sin?  Contemporary theology says no. 

 

   

The Greatest

 

August, 2007, there was an article in the N.Y. Times.  It focused on a work called Come, Be My Light, a collection of letters by Mother Teresa.  I mentioned Mother Teresa last week as an example of a person who gave it all up and went out into the street to help the disadvantaged.  Why did she do this?  Apparently because of her faith in Jesus and his message.  The N.Y. Times article, however, noted that Mother Teresa confesses in her letters that for years she harbored doubts about her belief in God, this while she was rescuing homeless people off of the streets, living out the role of servant mentioned in the gospel. 

 

I mention this event because despite people's accomplishments, we are all human, and because many of us have the similar doubts.  Mother Teresa got a lot of criticism for these doubts, people even calling her a fraud or hypocrite.  I would propose that she was more genuine because of her doubts.

 

Two observations that seem relevant to this issue.  The observations come from an excellent book, The Future of Faith by Harvey Cox (loaned to me by John Cade). Cox has been teaching divinity at Harvard for 40 years and wrote the famous Secular City in '65.  The observations are, first, a short history of Christianity and, secondly, where is Mother Teresa and where are we.  

 

 

 

First, Cox says there have been three stages of Christianity, the stage of faith, the stage of belief, and the stage of the spirit.  

 

He suggests that we have been living in the third stage for the past 50 or more years.  It is characterized by a desire on the part of many people to become spiritual.  Not necessarily religious with all the rules and dogmas.  This period is reflective of the first stage. 

 

The Age of Faith lasted around two hundred years after Jesus.  During this time there was a spiritual excitement about the prospect of a new world coming.  Jesus called it the kingdom and it was a this world event.  There were many little Christian communities, a variety of liturgies, a democratic process, and an anti Roman Empire stance.  There was a sense of being touched by the spirit of Jesus, with his vision for a better world where the poor and outcast would be welcomed. 

 

Despite an excitement of spirit, the time was marked by persecution.  The Roman Empire did not tolerate groups of people who would not worship the emperor.  It was during this time when the Christians were the entertainment in the Colosseum.

 

The second stage, the Age of Belief, officially begins in 313, when the emperor Constantine granted freedom to Christians. Fairly quickly Christianity became the religion of the empire.  Sounds good so far.  But as Cox notes, when the Empire made Christianity official, Christianity became an empire and lost much of its spirit.  Faith was measured by belief in dogmas, belief in things about Jesus. 

 

A clerical class developed, the class became rich and powerful, they began to lay down beliefs that had to be held, writings were revised so as to create a fiction to support apostolic succession so these clerics would appear entitled.  Creeds multiplied.  Only 12 years after Constantine's Edict of Milan of 313, a council of Christian leaders, now called bishops, met at Nicaea in 325 and came up with the complicated Nicene Creed.

 

In 385 CE a particularly ominous event took place.  For the first time ever a meeting of bishops, condemned of heresy and had killed 7 Christian men.  The group under the leadership of a man named Priscillian encouraged abstinence from meat & wine, recommended study of the sacred writings available to them, and allowed what could be called charismatic praise of God. 

 

So where are we and where was Mother Teresa?  I was born about 30 years after Mother Teresa, but she & I both were brought up in the Age of Belief.  I had to memorize the Baltimore Catechism.  The more I memorized, the more faith I must have.  I don't think Mother Teresa ever moved totally out of the Age of Belief.  However, her life exemplifies the Way of Faith 

 

 

Today I find lots of Catholics & Christians, like myself, trying to return to that original time of faith & spirit.  Dogmas like the infallibility of the pope, the Assumption, the Immaculate Conception, & canon law are not vital.  A spirituality that deepens faith is vital.

 

Where are you on this journey?

 

Source: The Future of Faith, Harvey Cox (excellent)

 

Picture 1:  Mass begins with Kevin helping

 

Picture 2:  Sebastian welcomes the Community

 

Picture 3:  The Community

 

Picture 4:  The Coffee Shoppe with Joan & Jerry, Bob & John

 

Readings: Exodus 16, 2-15; Psalm 78, The Lord gave them bread from heaven; Ephesians 4, 17-24; John 6, 24-35

Exodus

Over the past several weeks John, (Stack) has been telling us about the real starting point of the history of the Jewish people.  Starting with the death of Solomon the kingdom is divided, and then follows invasion after invasion.  First the northern kingdom, Israel, is wiped out by the Assyrians, and never recovers, around the year 732.  Then the southern kingdom of Judah falls to the Babylonians, and the people are taken away into captivity, the city and more importantly the temple is destroyed!  We find the beginnings of the written Old Testament at this time.  The story of the Exodus, when the people were enslaved, rang true for the people, had a big impact.  This offered them hope in Babylon. 

The book of Exodus has three main sections.  One – the stubbornness of the Pharaoh is overcome when Yahweh hears the cry of the slaves.  Two – the Sinai event, the covenant and finally, Three – the coming into the Promised Land.  This all took 40 years, and so we need to have stories in-between.  Today’s is one of these, showing Yahweh feeding his people, who are into some serious grumbling!

Ephesians

An interesting letter, attributed to Paul, but we know better.  Probably written after Paul’s death in Rome .  Not too clear that in fact it was written for the folk in Ephesus or was more a letter, which could have gone to anyone.  There are no issues, which are being addressed going on in a local community.  But there are some interesting items in this letter.  This is the letter where we are told that wives need to be submissive to their husbands, children obey their parent, and slaves be obedient to their masters.  Parts of this letter could easily be parts of very early liturgies.

Homily for Sunday August 2, 2009

I think the topic for consideration today has to be connected with food— or by extension nourishment!  We are in John’s Gospel.  Last week we had the feeding of the 5,000 or if you prefer, the feeding of John Stack on a stopped train somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Africa.  Food figures very frequently in the stories we have about Jesus, culminating with the Last Supper.  Jesus uses meals to really get people thinking again about their lives.  He dines with sinners, eats on the Sabbath, feeds the multitudes a couple of times, goes to wedding feasts and probably gets everyone drunk!  And finally adds a whole new layer of meaning to the Passover Meal.

 

But I want to suggest another form of nourishment, which we find frequent reference to, and that is ”spiritual nourishment”.  We have many, many examples of Jesus going off by himself into the hills to pray.   In this country we are more than blessed with the physical nourishment, we are “super-sized”, and unfortunately life seems so busy that the “Spiritual Nourishment” can too easily be forgotten.  I find that my prayers are the same ones I learned as a child, and I now try to find new ways to pray.  Part of the challenge is that I needed to update my images of God too.  The childish ones have had to go.  There is no tall bearded man up in the sky!  I am challenged to replace this god, my creation, with one more in keeping with our better understanding of the universe.  Plus, recall, the minute I have God figured out, I am probably in heresy!!!!

 

Our community, getting together each week is a huge help.  I have a chance to sit and listen to the Scriptures, reflect on their meanings as they apply to my life.  I have a chance to interact with others in a different way than I do with people I meet thru work.  Sometimes prayer is just sitting and listening to God, and sometimes it is God listening to me.  Then there can be other times when we can both just sit and be!  The silence, which happens when two people are very comfortable together.

 

 

 

Picture 1: Mass with Tony, Kevin and T.J.

Picture 2: Wendy, Shonda and Ray

Picture 3: Charley Keszler, Diamond (Gayle & Tony's niece), Gayle and Tony

Picture 4: Jane and Paul Drake

 

Isaiah 50, God opens my ear that I may hear

Psalm 116, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

James 2,  What good is it if someone says he has faith but does not have works.

Mark 7,  Whoever wishes to come after me must  deny himself.

 

 

Welcome from Ben.

 

Thanks……

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers, Denni & Tom, & Buddy, our candle blesser 

Gospel,     John Cade

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,     Richard & Hue & Mike

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy for all these years & will miss you enormously, Becky

 

 

The John & John Team

 

Homily by John Stack,  Download John Stack homily 9-12-2021

 

 

Remember these special people:

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

  

Peace, Everybody.

 

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

 

 

Happy Anniversary, Dear Mike & Geri.

 

Birthdays:   Warren, Sandra

Anniversaries:  

Mike & Geri, 46th

Tom & Lynda, 39th

Beth & Rob, 37th

 

 

Happy Birthday, Warren.

 

Community Finances,   September 12, 2021

Expenses: $375.00

Outreach: $150.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

Happy Birthday, Dear Shonda

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

May those that love us, love us.

And those that don't love us, may God turn their hearts.

And if He doesn't turn their hearts, may He turn their ankles, so we will know them by their limping.

An Irish Blessing

 

 

Rosemary reading her Irish Blessing.

 

 

 

Peace Richard & Everybody.

Readings: Genesis 18, 1-10; Psalm 15; Colossians 1, 24-28; Luke 10, 38-42

Genesis: the word means "origin," and that is what the book details.  Our selection today comes after the creation, Cain & Abel, Noah & the flood, & the tower of Babel.  The big three patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob. 

In our reading Abraham is now old, as is Sarah, his wife. They have no son. After their hospitality to two strangers, guess what happens?

Activist or Contemplative?

The years I lived in Tanzania I used to travel constantly giving retreats & seminars.  When I finished a stretch, I would return to our little Jesuit house near Kilimanjaro to catch up on perhaps 2 or 3 months of mail, to work up more seminar material, and to relax. 

One morning I was working at some task at my desk next to a front window when I saw the car of one of my best friends coming in the gravel drive.  He was a French Canadian priest who, when he was not working with me on one of our programs, lived in Dar es Salaam, the capital of the country.

As soon as I saw him I remember feeling uncomfortable.  As Rosemary says, I can get anal about projects. I am sure that morning I had my time all mapped out with various projects.  My friend’s arrival meant he had driven up from Dar es Salaam and I was going to have to go be hospitable for a while. Maybe he wanted to spend the night.  We did not have phone service, so you could not communicate.  You just showed up and the African custom was hospitality above all, day or night.

Somehow I must have managed, and I can’t even remember how long he stayed. 

All the people in the world are divided into one of two categories: activist or contemplative.  Today we call it Type A or Type B.  We are born into our group, like being right or left handed.  Both groups have their positive characteristics and their negatives. 

Type A, for example, is efficient, economic with time, likes to start on time and finish on time. As you know, I am Type A.  When I notice we are running over an hour with our Mass, I get antsy.  Type A people get energy from projects and love to tackle problems and challenges.  The energy enables these people to work long hours, even without breaks. Work schedules are established and followed. When you were in school, did you turn in term papers early or start work the night before they were due? Type A’s turn in early.

The down side is summed up in the slogan, "Projects over People."  Whatever I was doing that morning was more important than greeting my good friend.  It is hard for me to stop and chat with a neighbor when I am mowing the grass.

The contemplative, on the other hand, is laid back.  Projects can be postponed for suitable reasons without stress. Starting & ending on time is easy, no stomach knot if late. A day off can begin without any schedule other than waiting to see. Type B’s can focus on whomever they are with in a very complimentary way. Being over doing. 

The weak side of the Type B, of course, is accomplishment.  That term paper may not get in on time because it was begun just last night. Meetings can start late and go on without limit. 

We have cultures that lean one way or the other.  Tanzania was more contemplative.  People were patient.  Hospitality, a prize. 

What about U.S. culture?  Obviously Type A. This, of course, makes it more difficult for a contemplative to live happily in the U.S.  Want to be a young lawyer, a CPA, go to SMU’s MBA program?  Total Type A life style. 

So which types do you think Martha & Mary were?  And the writer, what type was he? Of course, one type can drive the other type crazy. My sympathy goes out to Martha because I’ve been in her shoes.  The writer obviously thinks the contemplative Mary is better. But really? I admire Martha for voicing her complaint, even though she gets shot down.

Actually, self redemption and maturity involves me as a Type A moving more into the contemplative side of the continuum. And vice-versa. The unredeemed Type A turns into a driven obsessive.  The unredeemed contemplative spends life doing nothing.

One of the things I have learned to do is take time off during which I do nothing.  Funny thing, even during this time, I will find myself setting a goal to read, say, fifty pages of a book today. I have to say to myself, "No, Stack, stop that." I can pull this off in Mexico or Italy or at Clare & Joe’s in Hilton Head.

It would be fun to bring in someday the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator and offer it to the whole community, then explain it for a few Sundays.  I taught this in Tanzania. You might find out more about yourself, and see how your type is good, whatever it is, Martha or Mary.

What type do you think you are? How do you know?

AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-07-22.mp3

Readings: Isaiah 49, 3-6; Psalm 40, Here am I, Lord, I come to do your will; 1 Corinthians 1, 1- 3; John 1, 29-34

 

The Baptism of the Lord – Introduction to the Readings

 Our second reading from Acts of the Apostles deals with what I will call a tipping point of major proportions, namely the account of how St. Peter understood that the Good News was not just for the Jews but also for all peoples.  We have just a short section of the whole story; it is about the baptism of Cornelius and his family.   It is also the last sermon which we have from St. Peter. 

 Prior to the section we read today there were two visions, Peter had a vision of all kinds of animals being lowered from the heavens and heard a voice telling him to eat, but he protested that the animals were unclean, only to hear God say that what He has made clean you have no right to call unclean. 

 
 

 Cornelius also had a vision, which told him to send some men to get Peter in a neighboring town.  This double vision is what it took to convince Peter that it was okay to baptize gentiles without having them circumcised first!!  This was a major change for the early community.

 The other great tipping point is in the gospel, which gives us the account of the start of Jesus’ public ministry.  This is one of those rare accounts, which all four of the gospel writers agree on, and marks the transition from Jesus’ private life to his public life.

 

By the way, our first reading is from a book we have been reading from for several weeks now, namely Isaiah.  As John has pointed out, there are different writers of this work.  Last week we heard from Isaiah 3 and earlier we had Isaiah 1.  Today our reading is from Isaiah 2, who introduces us to the Suffering Servant. 

Why didn’t the later two writers use their own names?  For the same reason that you will see books with James Patterson’s name boldly on the cover, but if you look closely you will see that there is also another name below his.  The well-known name adds authority to the unknown author; true today and true over 2,500 years ago!

 

 

The Baptism of the Lord – Homily

 If we look for signs of confirmation in the New Testament they are all over the place, in fact they are clearly mentioned in two of today’s readings.  We are told that we receive the Holy Spirit in Confirmation and that is what happens in Acts to Cornelius and his family as they are baptized and in Matthew’s Gospel to Jesus as He is baptized.  The Holy Spirit is very much part of baptism; while pouring the water the words said are “I baptize you in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit”.

 So how is it that we now have two separate sacraments?  I was baptized when I was four days old and confirmed when I was ten years old.  In the early church there was only the sacrament of baptism. 

 
 

But as the community grew and as the numbers who were joining grew – particularly after Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Empire, the bishops could not attend to all baptisms, both because of the large numbers joining and because their diocese were quite large. 

 In the Eastern Church, centered in Constantinople, the problem was solved by having the priest both baptize the candidate and confirm that action with the laying on of hands. 

In the Western Church, centered in Rome, the bishops decided to keep the conferring to themselves, and so the practice grew that way of separating the sacrament of joining or initiation into two events.  What also helped speed up this process was St. Augustine’s position that baptism was needed to overcome the effects of Original Sin, if one wanted to enter into heaven.  Let’s not wait for the bishop to make his rounds for baptism!

 

 It is clear just from our readings today that the Holy Spirit is received at baptism.  What I would like us to focus on is this.  We are told that we receive the Holy Spirit at Confirmation- we become soldiers for Christ.  What does this mean to you and me here today?  I find some clues in today’s readings.  It was only after he was baptized and received the Holy Spirit that Jesus comes out from obscurity and begins his Father’s work. 

 It was only when the Spirit came upon both Peter and Cornelius, in our second reading, that there was a major change in the requirement for the membership of the early community.  One no longer needed to be circumcised, or no longer needed to be Jewish.  Membership was now open to the gentile world.  The Spirit was responsible; it gave these people the courage to step beyond themselves.

 At the beginning of mass today I quoted from Pope Benedict about the importance of quietness and reflection in our lives.  It is only if we have this quietness that we can begin to hear the promptings of the Holy Spirit which can call us to new actions.  I really believe that it was the Spirit that led me to this community and the courage to reactivate my priesthood after 33 years of silence.  What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?

  

Picture 1:    Tony celebrating

Picture 2:    The Music Machine, Wendy & Shonda & Ray

Picture 3:    Sacrament of the sick

Picture 4:    Offertory with Mary Ellen & Loretta & Ray

Picture 5:    The Kites, Bernadette, Rich, & Fred