Sunday Homily, May 31, 2015, Trinity, B
Readings:
Deuteronomy 4, 32-34, 39-40 Moses said to the people.
Psalm 33, Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.
Romans 8, 14-17, Those who are led by the Spirit of God are people of God.
Matthew 28, 16-20, The disciples went to the mountain.
Says Harper, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."
Deuteronomy observations:
What: This work is the 5th and last book of the Pentateuch/Torah. The first 4 books are Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, & Numbers. Deuteronomy has basically 3 speeches delivered by Moses before the people enter the promised land. He reviews all they have endured the past 40 years and how Yahweh has shown his care and power to save them.
Author: Moses may have spoken some of the ideas in the speeches, but others have put the work together. In fact, in chapter 34 the death of Moses is described. Someone other than Moses probably covered this episode.
Date: 700 years before Christ.
Our Selection: the end of the first speech. Moses is reminding the people of how Yahweh cared for them and why they must honor him for this as their one and only god.
And says Harper's grandmother, Cathy, and Jackie and Rick, "Welcome Folks."
A God of Relationships
Want to know what makes for happiness? Old Stack will tell you this morning. I have talked about some of this in the past, but it is so good it is worth reviewing. I do this especially on the feast of our three person god. Our god is a relationship god and that is what I want to talk about.
The ideas this morning come from a study of 268 male Harvard students starting in 1937, a 7 decade longitudinal study that is almost unique in its breadth. The identities of the students are secret unless the student identifies himself. Ben Bradlee, the editor of the Washington Post did so, and it was deduced after he died that President Kennedy was one of the students. This write up comes from a June Atlantic magazine.
Emma the Candle Lighter with Georgie's help.
The question was not how much trouble or how little they encountered in life, but how and to what effect they responded. How they adapted and became happy -healthy or sad-sick people. Psychiatrist George Vaillant has spent the last 40 years organizing the data coming from the study.
He has come up with the following suggestions taken from the lives of these 268 men. Here are 7 factors that contribute to happy-healthy people:
Cupcake of The Week to Mabel at 83.
1. Education. For you kids who just finished a long school year, it may feel so good to be out. However, your education is a big factor in you being a happy-healthy person, in the future and even now. I would include ongoing education. We never cease to learn new things, even how to dance, yoga, languages, history, geography, and so on. In Plano, look up S.A.I.L., Senior Active in Learning, an excellent program
2. Healthy & mature adaptability. Vailant identifies 4 ways of adapting, from psychotic, immature, and neurotic, to healthy, like humor, altruism, forgiveness. See the link to get his complete explanation. Try 3 things, laugh, forgive, and accept. And try it on yourself to start with.
Cupcakes of The Week to Ray and Brent
3. No smoking. Never too late to stop if you already have started. You kids, you will end up looking uglier than me if you start the habit. Beware of copping out on the electric cigarette.
4. Moderate use of alcohol & no abuse. College kids and even high school kids get caught up here so easily. The culture of drinking excessively. However, a new phenomenon is emerging as our population ages, geriatric alcoholism. A bench mark? 2 glasses of wine or two beers a day. More than that and look for two results: alcoholism and denial.
Cupcake of The Week to Renee for coming home with her degree after 5 years at Kansas State.
5. Exercise. Want some exercise next week? Come with me to the J tomorrow morning, 6:30 spin class. Make it fun, make it daily. At least a few times a week, like take a walk.
6. Weight control. My visit to McDonald's. Kids loading up on layers of fat, salt, and sugar. A very seductive place.
Cupcake of The Week also to Zaile, a week late.
7. Relationships: loving and long term. Vaillant suggests that this is the factor. Loving is life-filling, it is motivational. Because I love another, I exercise, I study, I approach life with moderation and spirit. After all the data he has evaluated, Vaillant states that a relationship of love is the only thing that really matters in life.
How are you doing with these 7?
Who is the person you love most in the whole world?
Source, Atlantic, http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200906/
Not a cupcake to Kevin, but, from The Community, a $550 gift and a standing ovation for not only his high school graduation, but even more for his years of faithful, reliable help each week. The Best to you, Kevin, because you are The Best.