Readings: Acts 5, 12-16; Psalm118; Revelation 1, 9-10; John 20, 19-31

 

Second Sunday After Easter – Reflection on the Readings

 

  

Acts of the Apostles continues Luke’s Gospel by focusing on the spread of Christianity after the Resurrection.  The focus is first on the work of the Apostles and especially on the position of Peter, and then in the second half of the book, the focus is on the work of Paul. 

 

Today’s reading from Chapter 5 comes immediately after the apostles have been brought before the Sanhedrin (the powers that be in the Jewish community) and told to stop their preaching about Jesus.  This is clearly a focus on the question “who will be in charge of the twelve tribes of Israel?  It also echoes back to Abraham and his being placed in charge of the tribes of Israel. 

 

   

Remember, we are dealing with a group who have only the Old Testament to turn to in their attempts to make sense of all that they remember or heard about Jesus.  The power of God, working thru Peter is now much stronger than even when Jesus cured.  All people need for healing is to have Peter’s shadow pass over them.  There is no need for any physical contact!  Luke is here building up the importance of the “new leaders” of the people, the apostles.

 

  

 

Our second reading is from the Book of Revelations; a much-misunderstood work, which I wish had never been included in the New Testament!  The work is primarily written in an apocalyptic style and its main focus is on the Roman Empire and the battle which the early Christians had with that entity.  There is nothing about the 21^st century in this writing, nor about how the world itself would end!  The writer had no idea of a place called the USA nor the Soviet Union!  

 

Second Sunday After Easter – Homily

 

Poor Thomas!  Actually thank God for Thomas!  It is comforting to know that someone else had doubts about the resurrection.  One week after our high point of Easter Sunday we are immediately given this wonderful little incident.  What I like about it is that it allows space for a very natural doubt to exist side be side with the faith in the Resurrection. 

   

Back in 1968 a book was published called Introduction to Christianity by Joseph Ratzinger.  The book was a through examination of the Apostles Creed.  I remember being surprised when he talks fairly early on in the book about both the believer and unbeliever share, each in his own way, doubt and belief.  At the time it struck me as quite surprising.  Remember I was a naive seminarian in my early twenties and everything was rock solid!  Oh for those nice innocent days!!

  

I have since grown up to recognize the truth in Ratzinger’s book, and in my own life.  If we remember back to the church before Vatican II we seemed to live in a world of certainty.  We were told exactly how everything was, now it seems things are messy!  It is what happens when you look behind the curtain, as happened to Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. 

   

Doubting seems to be an integral part of our lives.  We would very much like the comfort of absolute certainty, and we do have it in a few things, like death and taxes, but for all the other areas of our lives we move from one doubt to another, all the while trying to either buy insurance or insulate ourselves in some other way against the uncertainties of life.  And belief in God is one area where there is lots of room for doubt, since God is mystery. 

 

 

  

So what can we begin to compare or faith in God to in our experience?  It seems to me that it is like being in love.  You meet someone and fall in love.  But the other person is free to respond or not.  The minute you force their response it is no longer love.  And so our most intimate of relationships with other humans is based on a hope that the other will respond and continue to respond.  If I think of God along those lines there is one major difference, God is going to love me, in this relationship; God is the only one taking the risk. 

 

Picture 1:  Tony begins Mass

 

Picture 2:  The Offertory

 

Picture 3:  Jim, Bob, Jackie, & friend 

 

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:

 2 Kings 4, 42-44,  “They not only ate, but had leftovers.”  

Psalm 145,    The hand of the Lord feeds us; he answers all our needs.

Ephesians 4, 1-6,   “Pour yourselves out in acts of love; and be quick to mend fences.”

Alleluia – “A great prophet has risen in our midst.”

John 6:1-15 (also in Matt 14:13-21, Mark 6:31-44, Luke 9:10-17) – “Jesus took the bread, and having given thanks, gave it to them.”

 

 

 

 

                   Genevieve says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome."

Introduction to the readings:

The Jewish people wanted to have a king like other nations had.  Wasn’t God’s idea; the people kept demanding a king; he let them have a king.  The idea was that the kings, starting with Solomon, would represent the sovereignty of God by being good kings. 

For 500 years there were 40 or so kings, and of course they were mostly rather pitiful, a few were pretty good.  Today’s reading is from the second book of kings, so during the time when kings ruled the Jewish people, starting with Saul about 1000 years before Jesus, and ending about 500 years later with the Babylonian captivity (555). 

 

 

       Leo & Shonda, too, say, "Good Morning, Folks, Welcome."

 

 There were prophets and holy men before there were kings.  They are the ones who kept tabs on the kings and represented God’s take on issues. 

Today’s reading introduces Elisha, a holy man respected by Joram, king of Israel and Jehoshaphat, king of Judah.  This little story of Elisha feeding a crowd of 100 with 20 loaves of bread was chosen to connect with the story of the multiplication of loaves in the today’s Gospel story. And the letter to the Ephesians teaches what sharing in the meal should signify and bring about in one’s behavior.

 

Emma, too, says that she and her buddy welcome everyone.

 

HOMILY:

We have heard many times the reading about the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and the fish.  This is the only miracle story repeated in all four Gospels. 

How appropriate that feeding those needing food was the best miracle story known; it could be told today with equal impact.  I forget the stats, but it’s millions of people, including children, who are hungry every day and without food (who knows the number or percent). 

 

                  Harper says she thinks it is fun being here.

 

Also in each of these four repetitions of the story, there is a formula or ritual stated: “Jesus raised his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to his disciples.”

So first, the story is a story about Jesus performing a miracle, which is how writers in those days made someone ‘famously big’ or a ‘god to be reckoned with’. 

Secondly, this story was well known, since all four Gospel writers or compilers used it. 

And thirdly, one line in the story became part of the shared meal starting with early Christians all the way down to today. 

 

            Victoria having just too much fun with her mom.

 

The reading from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, liturgically, seems to teach what flows from sharing in this ritual meal.  And his answer is unity, recognizing that we are called to be one body, united in love.  Paul describes our call from God as pouring yourself out for each other in acts of love, accepting other’s differences and being quick to forgive.

 Three questions to mull over: 

In your family (at home, here, friends group) how do you see acts of love being shared, and differences accepted?  

How quick are you to mend fences and forgive one another? 

Do you make the connection between sharing bread here at Mass, and experiencing connection and oneness with others in your everyday life?

        

 

Genevieve, who has learned already from previous Sundays how to turn it off, says, "Wake me up when the fun begins."

 

 

 

 

 

Sez Luke, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in.  This is my first time here."

 

 

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, 38-43, 45, 47-48,   If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out

                   

 

 

 

Welcome in, Ben, Cody, and Olivia.

 

 

The Book of Numbers

The fourth book of the Pentateuch.  It leaves us with the impression of a carefully structured and organized religious society moving through history under the sustaining and guiding hand of God.  It is a complex collection of historical, legal and liturgical traditions spanning a period of about a thousand years! 

An outline would identify three broad divisions of the book: The sojourn at Sinai, chapter 1-10 covers the last 19 days the Israelites spent at Sinai. 

(Story of Sinai by bus from Cairo to El Arishe & Tel Aviv.)

 

 

 

 

Pardon me for needing your help, Hue, but even at 78 I need help getting dressed & suited up.

 

 

The second section deals with the journey from Sinai to Moab, chapter 10-22 and covers a span of about 38 years. 

The third section, chapters 22-36, covers events in Moab  over a period of 5 months. 

Today’s reading is from the beginning of the second section, when the people are just starting out on their journey.  Moses is getting concerned with the responsibility of all of the people, so God shares the spirit, which is on Moses among 70 elders, even two who were not part of the group gathered around the Tent.

 

 

 

 

 

The Best Music with Shonda & Ben.

 

 

The Letter of Saint James

This is the final Sunday  (Hooray!) for the second reading to come from the Letter of St. James (Santiago de Compostella), which we have listened to for the past five weeks.  In the reading today the mood is very stark!  “Your wealth has rotted away”.  The audience for this letter is the communities outside of Jerusalem.

Again, remember the letter is a collection of moral observations and instructions, and in today’s reading James’ does not have much that is positive to say about the rich.  The bigger context is to encourage the Christians who are suffering at the hands of the powerful.  James reminds his audience that Jesus is coming again very soon!  Immediately following today’s reading he says “Be patient brothers until the Lord’s coming.”

 

 

 

 

Tori Lights our Candles of the Week.

 

 

If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out  (the homily that I passed on because I accidentally read the wrong Gospel for today.)

 

Two comments about this line in the reading.

First.  I spent the years 1968-72 studying theology in Toronto.  We had a lot of gray days in Toronto seeing as it is on the northern shore of Lake Ontario.

One of those days, the news came out in the Toronto newspaper, the Globe & Mail, that a young guy had intentionally blinded himself.  Guess why.  Yep, he read this line in Mark and figured his eyes were a source of temptation.  Doing what?  Maybe just girl watching.

I remember all the guys (there were around a hundred of us) were repelled by the news.  There was a gut level response that what this poor guy did was sick.  It was self mutilation combined with religious extremism. 

 

 

 

 

The Offertory Team, Cheryl, Grace, & Diane

 

 

That for me is the negative.  Any way it can be positive?   As a motivator?  Yes.  I’m reminded of how important self motivation is to all of us.  I am reminded by the St. Marks Boy School running by our house in the morning before school.  I am reminded by Tom & Paul & Carrie running their marathons.   I am inspired by Richard losing weight & keeping it off when told he could get diabetic..   I am reminded at the JCC (Jewish Community Center) 6 AM spin class where Haya, a little lady older even than I am who rides with a slightly bummed right shoulder M, W, F. 

I look upon God’s position on this as infinite demand, yes, coupled with infinite acceptance.

What do you need?  Motivation?  Look around you.

 

 

Wake up, Luke, it is time to sing and dance.

 

 

 

 

Welcome in, Everybody.  Abrasos for todos.

 

 

Readings:

Genesis 9, 8-15,  Never again shall all creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood.

Psalm 147,  Your way, Lord, are love and truth to those who keep your covenant.

 1 Peter 3, 18-22,  God patiently waited in the days of Noah.

Mark 1, 12-15, The Spirit drove Jesus out into the desert.

 

 

 

Hi, Harper.  How many Girl Scout cookies you going to sell us today?  (Lots!)

 

 

Genesis:  observations–

What:  First book of the Bible, starts with creation & ends with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob (Israel).  Any reading from this book should start with Once upon a time.   Why?  Because we have here a literary genre that is like myth or a fairy tale in our language.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for bringing up the bread & grape juice, Joe & Brent & Cheryl.
 

 

 

Author: Not Moses as was thought for centuries before people began to study the work.  At least 3 sources: 

• a Y (or J) source for the group that addressed God as Yahweh;
• an E for the group who addressed God as Elohim (Like two historians calling NYC The Big Apple or New York City, or Denver by its name or Mile High City);
• and a P group that focused on the priestly class, activities, & customs, the Levite tribe.

Time: compiled and put together from 950 to 500 BCE.

Today's Selection: the flood has just receded and Noah is receiving a promise (called covenant) from Yahweh that never again will people be wiped out by a flood.  Guess what the sign of the promise is.

 

 

 

Hey, You People, did not your mommas tell you not to go out on a cold and rainy morning?!

 

 

A Happy Lent

I want to talk this morning about having a happy Lent.  Why?  Because God created us to be happy. 

I admit again that this is my least favorite season of the year.  I always look for something positive to do and am never really satisfied with what I come up with.

 

 

 

 

Getting bored?  Join the kids in the playroom.

 

 

Some years ago Diane McMahon recommended to me a facebook article by a lady named Karen Ehrman.  She says, “For this Lent don’t give something up, take something up.”  She has 4 positive suggestions for taking something up.  I add a 5^th.   I like her suggestions.

 

 

Get your Wednesday ashes at Marlene's comfy house.

 

 

1.       Take up note writing to people with whom you don’t communicate that often, but who are friends.  She says she buys 40 cards, envelopes, and stamps.  Each morning she sends one out to a friend, just saying that she likes the person.

2.       Take up the phone and call someone every day or once a week and tell them you are calling just to tell them thanks for being a good friend.  

 

 

 

People come from the north.

 

3.       Take up a simple gift for a friend or family member.  Like bring flowers to someone, bring a Starbucks, offer to wash the dishes, or clean or dust the house, mow the grass (welcome to Tulip Lane).  Invite someone to lunch.  This is a once a week or occasional take up.

 

 

 

People come from the South. 

 

4.       Take up a simple gift for a stranger.  Like the recycle men, the garbage men, the checkers at the grocery.  Compliment the checker on her finger nails, give $10 to each of the garbage men (watch out for their over the top gratitude). 

5.       Take up visiting someone in retirement or in a hospital.  (This is my addition, not Karen’s)  We got lots of people you may choose from.

 

 

 

Ashes for Debbie & Bobby.

 

 

As you can see, some of these suggestions are occasional or once a week ideas.  Plus, what we have here are only seeds.  Even while you were listening to the five I put forward, you may be been thinking about other possibilities.

How can you have a happy Lent?

Source: Karen Ehman, on line.

 

 

 

 

Ashes for Cindy.  A good Ash Wednesday gathering.

Readings:  Jeremiah 20, 7-9; Psalm 63; Romans 12, 1-2; Matthew 16, 21-27

Jeremiah: One of the 3 great prophets, called the "broken hearted prophet,' because he had a heart rending life predicting punishment of death and destruction for the Hebrews for their sinful ways. 

He wrote from Jerusalem ca. 600 B.C. and his predictions came true when Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem in 588 B.C., defeated the Hebrews, and took them off to Babylon-Baghdad as prisoners.  Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke as a visual aid to his message.  He may have been ultimately killed by the Hebrews.

Deny Yourself, Take up Your Cross, and Follow Me

This simple little line from Matthew can be very tricky.  It can be approached healthily or in a less than healthy way.  I can witness to the latter in my own life.  I have already described how as a young Jesuit I was expected to do penance and deny myself in various ways, like the practice of using little whips to scourge our backs and little chains with points to wear around our thighs.  This was supposed to bring me closer to God.

I can laugh at this now, but I am humbled at how easily I can be programed.  When I read this line and others like it in the Bible and remember my experiences with such spirituality, I pick up the scent of an ancient philosophy that still influences a lot of religious activity which is not spiritually so sane.  The philosophy: dualism. 

The idea is simple.  Reality comes in pairs, hot & cold, rich & poor, order & chaos, and, in particular for this discussion, body & soul or flesh & spirit or mind & matter.  So far so good. 

The trouble enters with a judgment about the flesh & spirit.  Specifically, flesh is bad, spirit is superior.  Consequently, so that my spirit may reach an elevated plane of purity & perfection, and ultimately closer union with God, I attempt to control the flesh by disregarding the body's existence & appetites, ultimately aiming to live without it.  How about that!

There is a healthy, in fact, a rich approach to the line.  But first a couple of facts.  Dualism is identified as far back as 1000 years B.C. and came out of Zoroastrianism, a religion that worshiped one god and believed in an afterlife.  Did it come from Egypt as so much did at that time?  No, from  Persia, the area we call Iran today.  Zoroastrianism was widespread until Muhammad arrived on the scene around 650 and established Islam.  Through the ages lots of people picked up on dualism, for example, Plato, Augustine, Descartes.

I have two stories about people who healthily acted out self denial.

First, a girl I know who when she was 11 years old thought that she would like to join a swimming team here in Plano. She tried out, more than once, failing each time.  Undaunted, she practiced.  When she was 12 she not only got on the team, but she won the state championship in her age bracket. 

She continued to swim through grade school and into high school, practicing 2 hours early in the morning before class and two hours after school.  She even went to Providence College on a swim scholarship.  This girl, Megan, whom I love tremendously could have slept in two more hours every morning when she was in high school, she could have come home after school and watched TV.  It would have been easier.  This is healthy self denial and because of it she is a girl more alive, more whole, more fully alive with a vibrant spirit.  She is now the mother of Liam, who was our Baby Jesus in the Christmas drama, and the daughter of Rob & Beth.

Saturday we celebrated with a parade in Parker another girl like Megan, Nastia, home from the Olympics.

The second person is Thomas McGowan, 50 years old.  You might have read about him in the paper a few weeks ago.  He was just released from prison after spending half of his life there for a crime he did not commit.  The Innocence Project obtained permission to run a DNA match & he was exonerated. 

I came to know more about him through an old friend and classmate of mine, Tony Levatino, who in his retirement works at the Holy Trinity Center, the outreach arm of Holy Trinity Parish, just like ours.  Tony got familiar with him because his sister works at Holy Trinity and happened to talk with her.  Turns out he could not find a job.  Tony had a connection with the Anatole Hotel and got him hired.

Besides being moved by what Tony was able to accomplish, I was also moved whenTony said Thomas was an excellent man, cheerful, without anger, not wanting to blame anyone.  He accepted his fate while hoping for exoneration.  He was peaceful.  Thomas was a man who denied himself and took up a cross.

These two people have both denied themselves.   Megan strove to achieve, Thomas accepted.

How & why do you deny yourself?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-08-31.mp3