Readings:

Isaiah  49, 3, 5-6,  I will make you a light to the nations.

Psalm 40,  Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.

1 Corinthians 1,  1-3,  Grace to you and peace.

John  1, 29-34, I saw the spirit come down. Like a dove.

 

 

Isaiah reminders, again—

 Author: This is still Isaiah #2, the composer of chapters 40-55.  Isaiah is my favorite book and Isaiah 2 I love the most.  As John Cade pointed out a while back, Isaiah 2 is used by Handel in his work, The Messiah, another of my favorites.

 Date:  Ca. 555 before Christ.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are in the Babylonian Captivity.

Subject:  A great day will come for you Jews in this slavery.  You will be a beacon to others, glorious, and a light to nations everywhere.

 

 

A Light to the Nations?  Get Serious.

Here it is again, folks, that line that has motivated me for decades, “I will make you a light to the nations.”  Last week Isaiah 2 mentioned giving sight to the blind.  It is the same idea and motivator for me.

So, this week, while I am reflecting on the readings and my favorite line, Tuesday comes with the news that 75 people have been killed by bombs in Bagdad, Iraq.  Me, a light to the nations?  Get serious.

 

 

Next I hear & read news about 20 plus killed in Kabul, Afghanistan, including 2 Americans.  Both of these places ware special to us Americans.  A light to the nations?

On top of this, I am reflecting on an anniversary, a sad one.  This week is the one year anniversary of Kate Banzhaf who died in a car wreck near Colorado Springs.  The person driving Kate was drunk, and she survived.  This was only months after I had celebrated Kate’s wedding.  A light to the nations? 

 

 

If I let myself, I can get truly discouraged by focusing on all this and so much more.   Two things help me.

First, ever hear of the Christopher movement?  This was big probably in the 40’s when I was a little kid.  The slogan is, “Better to light one candle than curse the darkness.”  I have a vivid memory of being in the Cotton Bowl as a little boy with my dad.  It was a Christopher rally.  At one point all the lights were turned out and everyone lighted the candle they had been given.  I was very impressed by this metaphor.

 

Secondly, I look around me at some of the many good things going on.

For instance, I read about Brian DiCarlo, a 23 year old Oregon State student who is walking through a parking lot when he finds an envelope.  He opens it and finds thousands of dollars, like 40 thousand. 

He does not even think twice.  He goes right to the police.  In fact, a 71 year old lady, Sharon Davis, had been on her way to pay on a new house and dropped the money accidentally.  He wanted no reward, but she gave him $300.  He may get much more from readers.  Someone will set up one of those contribution sites.

 

Likewise, Bernadette & some others sent me news of Cardinal O’Malley of Boston, a Franciscan.  He is at an ecumenical service at a Methodist church.  On his way out a minister steps up and asks the Cardinal’s blessing. 

Picture & article on Cardinal O'Malley:   Download Cardinal O'Malley 1-23-14

Behind this man is another minister, a woman.  She asks for O’Malley’s blessing and when he does it, he looks right at her and asks for her blessing.  She gives it.  Incredible. 

 

 

Finally, I don’t have to go farther than this community.  You people have and do bring light to the nations, nations like Soul’s Harbor, Habitat, a crippled lady almost homeless in Cuernavaca, Mexico,  families in our own community stressed out by emergencies, Dallas Area Rape Crisis Center, our local food bank, and numerous other nations. 

I am consoled to be part of you people.

 

 

It is a challenge to stay away from the discouragement that comes from reading & hearing about the tragic stuff.  Instead of cursing that darkness, each of us can still light one candle.  A whole dark stadium can be illuminated.

Whose candle illuminates your life and with whom do you share your candle light?

 

 

Readings:  Sirach 3, 17-29; Psalm 68, God, in Your Goodness, You have made a Home for the Poor;  Hebrews 12, 18-24; Luke 14, 1-14

 

 

Introduction to the Readings

 

 

 

The first reading today is from the Book Sirach, which used to be better known as Ecclesiasticus.  It was written about the year 180 BCE by Jesus, son of Elcazar, son of Sira, and later translated by his grandson into Greek.

 

 

Sirach was a highly respected scribe and teacher, a person who traveled quite a bit, may even have been a diplomat to foreign courts.  Later in his life he started a school in Jerusalem where he tried to pass on to the young people the great love he had of the Scriptures combined with what he had learned from his own experiences about life. 

 

 

 

The book is part of the Wisdom literature and the reason for its older title, Ecclesiasticus is that in the past it was one of the most used and quoted books by the Church!   Our reading today fits well with the topic in the gospels, humility.

 

 

 

The second reading is from the Letter to the Hebrews.  The author is unknown, although for a long period of time it was assumed to be Paul.  But today most scholars agree that the style is too different and the Greek used is the best in the New Testament. 

 

 

 

The overall message of the letter is one of encouragement to hang in and not get too complacent with the faith.  Probably written late in the first century, the main theme is the priesthood and sacrifice of Jesus.  This is the letter where we come across the many references to Jesus as the High Priest. 

 

 

 

I sometimes wonder if this focus was due to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem (ca. 70 C.E.) and the end of the priesthood as the Jewish people would have known it, and so to fill the void the author holds up Jesus and his sacrifice as the one true sacrifice. 

 

 

 

Another important theme is the pilgrimage of the people of God to the heavenly Jerusalem, and it is on this topic that our reading is taken from for today.

 

 

Homily

 

 

The theme of the readings today is humility.   From a careful reading of the gospel, I am left a little confused because it seems to me that the main point Jesus could be making is how to get more recognition by being humble.  That said, since I have nothing good to say about it, I want instead to take advantage of the fact that today we are going to be baptizing Emma and welcoming her into our community, and so would like to offer some thoughts about baptism. 

 

 

 

If we go right back to the earliest days of Christianity, we find baptism!  Early in Mark’s gospel Jesus is baptized by John in the Jordan.  In Matthew’s gospel the apostles are instructed by Jesus just before his ascension to “go teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of Father, Son and Holy Spirit”.   And through out the Acts of the Apostles it becomes clear that baptism was the way to join this community. 

 

 

 

It was the Rite of Entry!  And all of the people who were being baptized did so after hearing the message or the teaching as Matthew puts it.  If kids were baptized, it was only because the family was joining. 

 

 

 

It wasn’t until the fifth century when St. Augustine stated that only the baptized could get into heaven that the focus and practice shifted.  This of course created a huge pastoral problem for those who died before being baptized.  It was only in the 12^th century that Peter Abelard came up with the notion of Limbo, for those who had died unbaptized. 

 

 

 

One of the consequences of all of this was that religion was taught to kids, and not to adults!!  When was the last time any of you were at a formal class or session on your faith, outside of mass?  Think about it! 

The catholic faith as most of us have it was given at a kid level.  This might have been fine at a time when most adults were not educated beyond the 6^th grade, if even that, but today most adults have at least completed high school and a large number even college. 

 

 

 

Let me be clear, when I take about “faith” I am specifically referring to our personal response to God, our relationship with God.  Our acceptance of the invitation from God, to love God.  The information stuff, the doctrines, etc., are secondary.  When we were baptized as infants, someone else made that decision for us.  Today while Emma is being baptized, can we take a moment to reflect on the decision made for us, and make it for ourselves!  What does it mean in your life today, that you are baptized?

 

 

Picture 1:   Emma's welcome into the community baptism

 

Picture 2:   Emma's family, godparents Bobby & Tanya, parents Tom & Beth

 

Picture 3:   Sisters, Megan & Emely Kite.  Megan off to teach in Spain for a year.

 

Picture 4:  Chloe

 

Picture 5:  Jackie & Cathy accepting from Mike our monthly $2000 donation to the CCAC

 

 

Could we be looking at Santa or Kevin??  Welcome in, Whoever you may be.

 

 

Readings:

Genesis15, 1-6; 21, 1-3    Look up at the sky and count the stars.  Just so shall your descendants be.

Psalm, 105,  the Lord remembers his covenant forever.

Hebrews 11, 8, 11-12, 17-19  By faith Abraham obeyed.

Luke 2, 22-40,   Simeon & Anna meet Jesus

 

 

 

Thanks, Dearest Harper, for bringing along you grandmother Cathy.

 

Genesis obserevations :

What : the very first book of the bible beginning with Adam & Eve, the two creation myths, Cain & Abel, Noah and the flood, the Tower of Babylon, and then the big 3 patriarchs of the Jewish nation.  They are Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  The book is a fun read.  It is not history, but speculation and tribal myth. 

Date: contemporary scholarship thinks that the work was composed either before or during the B.C., the all important Babylonian Captivity. Why?  Give the Jewish people a sense of historical identity and tribal cohesion.  

 

 

 

The "A" Team, complete with lights.

 

Today’s selection: all about Abraham, the first of the 3 Great Patriarchs.  Abraham is crying and lamenting the fact that he has no children.  Why?  Sarah was childless and Abraham was 99 years old.  A “we have a problem, Houston” situation.  The Lord hears Abraham and uses a beautiful metaphor to show Abraham what is going to happen. 

Because the editor of this reading has so taken the fun out of it, I want to read a bit more.  Sit back and enjoy the story of how Abraham and Sarah had a baby.   I'm including parts of three other chapters between chapters 15 and 21.

 

 

 

 

Ben, our Candle Lighter of The Week, in action.

 

David Vanderpool

This morning, the last of the year 2017, I have a New Years story for you. Actually, it comes from the front page of last Sunday’s Dallas Morning News.  Mike Carrell saw it and gave me a heads up.

There is a guy named David Vanderpool.  His dad was a surgeon and David attended St. Mark’s Boys’ School.  When David was 15, he made a trip to Israel.  In the town of Nazareth he happened to get into a conversation with another 15 year old, a girl from Nazareth and a Christian. 

 

 

 

Cheryl reading The Blessing of the Candles.

 

 

At some point the girl asked David what he planned to do when he grew up.  David had not thought a lot about it, but assumed he would become a doctor like his dad.  David was impressed by the girl.  She had taught herself English.  He asked her what she would do.

“I will carry water and have babies,” she responded.  There were no other options.  David was stunned and embarrassed by his affluent and free life.

 

 

 

Even after the spectacular Christmas Eve (200 plus), Shonda, Ben, and David sing and play on.  

 

So, David did go to college at TX Tech and became a surgeon, but the girl’s response stayed with him.  He married Lauri and they had two sons and a daughter.  During this time two things took place. 

First, they made a number of medical relief trips to countries in Africa and South America where there were crises.  Secondly, David and Laurie made a promise to themselves that when their last child, Jacklyn went off to college, they would move to a third world country in need.

So, all went well for some probably 15 years, until 2013.  Jacklyn was going off to college.  Decision time.

 

 

 

John & Alison bringing up the Offertory of Bread (baked by Alison) and Wine.   What??  No wine, not even grape juice for everybody?   Too cold, slippery, and dangerous to have Jan bring the communion cups.  Thanks, Jan for staying home.

 

What did they do?  Yep, they sold their house and all their belongs, including a $20,000 pet guitar, set up a foundation called LiveBeyond, and moved to Haiti.  Haiti was chosen because they had already spent some time there after the 2010 earthquake.  They had to go back.

In the four years since their move to Haiti, the couple have set up a 60 acre complex with a hospital and school.  There was no clean water, no sewage process, no electricity in the village they chose because of its poverty, a town called Thomazeau.

 

 

 

The Great Father & Son Team, Cody & Ben.

 

A special joy came this year in the person of Jacklyn.  She finished college at A&M and decided she wants to live and work with her parents.

How are you going to emulate the Vanderpools in your village and in your neighborhood this New Year of 2018?    

Happy New Year.

 

 

 

Who wears these light up shoes?    Hint: he's an altar server.

Readings:

Proverbs 8, 22-31,  When the Lord established the heavens I was there.

Psalm 8,  O Lord, our God, how wonderful your name in all the earth.

Romans 5, 1-5,  We have peace with God.

John 16, 12-15,  I have much more to tell you.

 

 

Observations on Proverbs

What : basically a collection of moral and religious teachings.  Pretty boring.  Some amusing like—

“The lord hates people who use dishonest scales. 11, 1

If you don’t punish your son, you don’t love him. 13, 24

Better to eat a dry crust of bread with peace of mind than to have a
banquet in a house full of trouble.  17, 1

Children naturally do silly things, but a good beating will teach them.
22, 15

And my favorite….

Better to live on the roof than share the house with a nagging wife. 25, 24

Author: 
Who knows.  Not Solomon, as was thought for a long time.

 

 

A Trinity

Last Friday Rosemary & I made one of our usual morning bike trips around White Rock Lake.  We come down the White Rock Creek Trail from the north and proceed south, clockwise along East Lawther Drive by the Arboretum, to the dam, where we take a vista stop. 

 

The bike path running along the south shore of the lake and Garland Road is pretty high over the lake and the dam.  There is an observation deck extending out over the lake and dam, which is about 20 feet above the lake and the spillway.  We are looking north across the whole expanse of the lake at this observation point.

 

Friday when I rode up and stopped just ahead of Rosemary, there was a
young dad with his one or two year old little boy.  Dad had a trailer for the boy and he towed the trailer with his bike.

When I arrived the little blond haired boy with about two teeth was
being held by his dad against the black wrought iron railing.  The boy was throwing little sticks into the lake and watching them go over the spillway. 
He was squealing with delight and when I applauded he was more
joyful.  We talked a bit and I was enchanted.  

 

I want to talk this morning about the marvelous Psalm 8 we have just read. It is talking about us and God’s work in us when it says,

You have made people a little less than the angels,

And crowned them with glory and honor.

You have given them rule over the works of your hands.

I looked at the nice dad and his delightful son and thought to myself, ‘What beauty.”

 

The psalm writer also talks about the work of His Fingers.  Another striking image.  I saw the work that Friday, also, in the beauty simply in the rich tones of green as we rode along the path in the woods.

Then he talks about the heavens and says,

When I behold
your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars which you set in place.

Have you ever done this?  Lie down on the ground on your back and look up at the sky? 

 

 

I do this when we are backpacking in the mountains and I find it
terrific. Whatever the sky is doing, clear blue, partly cloudy, or windy, it is
sensational.  I come away feeling humbled, awe-struck, and blessed to be here. 

 Why I never do it except in the mountains, who knows.  Every year I
intend to.

 

 Take a look at that marvelous Psalm 8.   When is the next time you will look at the sky?  When look at the colors of nature.  When look at a child, like the kids running around here,  and say to yourself, 'What beauty!'?

 

Readings:  Ezekiel 2, 2-5; Psalm 123, Our eyes are fixed on the Lord, pleading for his Mercy; 2 Corinthians 12, 7-10; Mark 6, 1-6. 

   

Introduction & Homily by Tony O'Donovan:

 

Ezekiel 2:2-5; the prophet wrote at a very traumatic time for the Jews.  In 595BCE the Babylonians had destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple!  The people were carried off into exile.  Their whole understanding of this event was punishment for their behavior.  The style of the book is what is described as Apocalyptic. Other books in this style are Daniel and Revelations in the New Testament.  Characteristic of this style is strange visions and prophesies about the future.  Ezekiel himself has been described as a strange one!

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 Paul’s Second Letter to the community in Corinth.  In fact scholarship today is pretty much in agreement that what we have in first and second Corinthians are parts from four letters.  In the section today we have Paul what I would call ‘ranting’ about himself.

Mark 6:1-6:  Today’s gospel reading is early in Mark.  You will recall that last Sunday we had several miracles attributed to Jesus.  This Sunday we find Jesus showing up at home in Nazareth, and the people are unable to see him as anything but a carpenter.

How is your Eyesight!!

Today’s gospel strongly suggests that we take a moment to examine our eyesight!  In the gospel we find a whole town with poor eyesight.  They can only see Jesus as one of their own, a carpenter, and not as Mark has been presenting him, the Son of God. 

It becomes too easy for us to fall into traps about how we see people in our daily lives, and of course depending on how we see them affects how we treat them.

My mother used to have a saying about people, and I think she sometimes applied it to me.  “I was a house devil and a street angel”.  It can happen too easily.  We treat those closest to us perhaps not as well as we should, we take them for granted.  We go deaf to the things they say to us, and eventually the relationship becomes stale or worse, dead.  I guess another way of saying it is that “familiarity breeds contempt”.

 

 

 

Audio: Sorry, on vacation this week.

 

Picture 1  Mass with Tony concelebrating and T.J. helping

 

Picture 2:  Altar Servers

 

Picture 3: Tony celebrating after 33 years

 

Picture 4:  Tony receiving the community's blessing read by Rosemary with support from Reilly, Richard, Maureen, Ryan (hidden), and Ginny

   

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