Readings:

Ecclesiastes 1, 2; 21-23,  All things are vanity.

Psalm 90,  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Colossians 3, 1-5, 9-11  Seek what is above.

Luke 12, 13-21, You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you.

 

 

Ecclesiastes Observations: 

Author:  unknown.   A belief was that it was Solomon

Date: 
 250-150 years before Christ.

Subject: 
the work is a putting together of a lot of folk sayings and life
observations which represent wisdom sometimes, sometimes not.  For instance, today’s selection. 

Today: 
pretty pessimistic.  It says that
everything is vanity. 

 

Colossians
observations:  We are done with this work for now,
fortunately.

Best line of
the Day: check the Psalm, the 4^th stanza, “Fill us at daybreak with
your kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days.”  This has been my experience the past week in
Iowa.  More in the homily.

 

Fill us at daybreak with
your kindness

Fill me
at daybreak with your kindness, that I may shout for joy and gladness. 
This was Iowa, folks. 

If you
don’t know what this is all about it is this. 
Sunday, July 21^st, Chris and I set out on our bikes with an
estimated crowd at times of 35,000 riders. 
We departed the west side if Iowa at the Missouri River and finished at
the east side and the Mississippi River 7 days later, Saturday. 

The
whole experience really touched my spirit, but let me single out three special
events, hospitality, trust, and beauty.

First, hospitalty.  Most of
the nights on the ride my team, Spokes of Hope, a cancer support team from
Indianapolis, found homes at which we could set up tents in the yard.  This was a little more private.

 

One
family in Oskaloosa, the next to the last night, knocked me out.  They had a nice big 5-9 acre lot with two
houses for the family.  They hosted about
80 people, Spokes of Hope and Livestrong, Lance Armstrong’s former cancer
program. 

When we
arrived they had spread out on their deck chips and dip and drinks.  At 5:00 they themselves served us all an
enormous dinner.  The next morning they
sent us on our way with a great breakfast. 
All gratis, no charge.   Hospitality.

In Des
Moines a widow of about 6 months invited our 14 member team into her nice
house.  She is a doctor and teaches at
the local medical school.

She,
also, fixed us all a big dinner and a big breakfast.  She sent us on our way with a few dozen
chocolate chip cookies and brownies.  The
Indianapolis folks are probably still eating those cookies.   All
gratis, no charge.  Hospitality.

Next, trust.  Never did I fear my bike would be
stolen.  In the small towns where it was
impossible to ride because of the mass of people, bikes were dropped
everywhere.  In fact, the problem was
remembering, “Wow, where is my bike?”

One
afternoon I rode up to a Tom Thumb type grocery store that had an $8 all you
can eat pasta & dessert sale.  This
was in the last overnight town on the road, Fairfield.  I remember hesitating at first.  My bike. 
Lots of people around.  Plus lots
of bikes.  I left my bike with my helmet & gloves hanging from the handlebar.  An hour
later it was right there along with all the other bikes & bikers.  The trust, everywhere.

Finally,
the beauty.   Don’t believe the idea that Iowa is flat.  It is not mountainous, okay.  It is hilly. 
This trip had lots of hills and lots of scenic vistas, plus beautiful little towns.  Once
I must confess at the end of a day 110 miles long I had to walk a hill, my
thigh muscles saying they just might like to cramp.   I learned prudence from Rosemary.

There
were a number of occasions when the hospitality, the trust, and the beauty, to
not even mention my gratitude at being able to do this, just touched me to
tears as I rode peacefully along.  Which
made me say to myself, “Watch out, man, you can’t see and you will crash.”

This is
the psalm line exemplified, “Fill us at daybreak with your kindness, that we
may shout for joy and gladness all our days.”

How is
it for you?

 

Readings: 2 Samuel 12, 7-13; Psalm 32, Lord, Forgive the Wrong I have done: Galatians 2, 16, 19-21; Luke 7, 36-8, 3.

 

Sunday Homily 6-13-10, 11^th Ordinary Time

 

Preliminary observations:

The First reading today is from the Second Book of Samuel and it is about King David.  The Jewish people had reached a time in their history when they wanted to be just like their neighbors, who all had kings!! 

 

 

 

The prophets viewed it as not a good thing but basically we find Yahweh saying “let them have their king”, and so Saul is the first king and he is followed by David.  David is one of those huge figures in the Old Testament, and even gets mentioned frequently in the New Testament since Jesus was from the house of David. 

 

 

King David was a very interesting character, very human and very much loved by Yahweh.  The time frame for this is about the year 1000 BCE.  Before we listen to today’s reading I need to set it up.  The Book of Samuel, if it were being reviewed today by those who do those things would get an “Adult Only” rating.  I don’t want you to let your kids read this book, it is full of sinning and murder and other bad stuff!!

 

 

One day David is out walking around on the roof of his palace and he sees Bathseba bathing.  He takes a fancy to her, but she is already married.  No problem if you are the king.  He simply has her husband Uriah sent to the front lines of a battle where he is killed.  Getting a woman to be your wife this way is not good, even if you are the king, and God gets a little upset!!  Now just before our passage today we have the following piece in the Book of Samuel and I want to read it to you.

 

 

“The LORD sent Nathan to David, and when he came to him, he said: "Judge this case for me! In a certain town there were two men, one rich, the other poor.  The rich man had flocks and herds in great numbers.  But the poor man had nothing at all except one little ewe lamb that he had bought. He nourished her, and she grew up with him and his children. She shared the little food he had and drank from his cup and slept in his bosom. She was like a daughter to him. 

 

 

Now, the rich man received a visitor, but he would not take from his own flocks and herds to prepare a meal for the wayfarer who had come to him. Instead he took the poor man's ewe lamb and made a meal of it for his visitor."

 

 

 

David grew very angry with that man and said to Nathan: "As the LORD lives, the man who has done this merits death!  He shall restore the ewe lamb fourfold because he has done this and has had no pity." 

 

 

Then Nathan said to David: "You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of Israel: 'I anointed you king of Israel. I rescued you from the hand of Saul.  I gave you your lord's house and your lord's wives for your own. I gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were not enough, I could count up for you still more.  Why have you spurned the LORD and done evil in his sight? You have cut down Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you took his wife as your own, and him you killed with the sword of the Ammonites.  Now, therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah to be your wife.'”

 

 

Our Second Reading is Paul to the Galatians, and Paul is very upset.  Remember first that Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles.  Initially in the early community the thinking had been that when someone who was a Gentile became a Christian all they had to do was be baptized, then the requirement to become a Jew was added, namely circumcision. 

 

 

Paul had come to the opinion, based on his revelation of the risen Lord on the road to Damascus, that baptism was all that was needed.  There was a whole lot of friction between Paul and the Church in Jerusalem who felt that Sabbath Observance, Dietary Laws and Circumcision were required.  In today’s reading we hear a phrase from Paul, “justified by works of the Law” that meant obeying the Torah law.  For Paul, having Christ in him was all that was needed, namely having a relationship with Christ.

 

 

Eleventh Sunday – Homily

 

 

The message today is primarily about forgiveness, but I want to begin before forgiveness with a session on sin, which I am an expert on!!  Because the practice of frequent confession seems to have disappeared there is a danger that we could lull ourselves into thinking that sin too has gone away, and I’m afraid that this would be a big mistake on our part.  Lets start with what sin is. 

 

 

Any action, which damages our relationship, either with God or another person, is sinful.  Now that kind of statement is pretty sterile on its own, so lets try to put some flesh on it.  Imagine you have someone in your life who loves you very very much.  Now you have done something, which hurts them, accidentally or not, it doesn’t ever matter.  Imagine how you would feel. 

 

 

The problem with our sins is that I’m afraid we don’t realize how much we are loved by God, for some reason it just doesn’t really sink in enough, because if it did, then sin would devastate us.  It seems to me that woman in our Gospel was very aware of what her sins were doing.  For some unexplained reason, maybe listening to Jesus speak somewhere, and it hit her.  We clearly see her response. 

 

 

David has a clear vision of his sin.  Paul is taking the position that if Christ is living in us, than we are alright, we are forgiven, and we don’t need to be doing extra things.  The hard piece for us to understand is that God’s love for us is so great that we are forgiven, even before we ask for forgiveness.  That doesn’t mean there aren’t consequences for sin.  We know there are.  David’s son died because of his father’s sin, the woman in the gospel story was an outcast in her society. 

 

 

The lesson for me in today’s liturgy of the word is how closely am I aware of my sins, and the need to change sinful behavior?  Just because I am forgiven thru God’s love doesn’t mean I can just continue to sin.  If I truly love someone, would I want to continue hurting them just because they readily forgave me?

 

 

Picture 1:  Mass Begins, welcome!

 

Picture 2:  Communion, Tony, Richard Baack & Richard Froebe

 

Picture 3:  Communion, Tom Fleming & Teresa Read

 

Picture 4:  Fred & Maureen

 

Readings:

Ezekiel 33, 7-9,  The wicked shall die for his guilt.

Psalm 95,  If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts.

Romans  13, 8-12,  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

Matthew 18, 15-20,   Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name, there am I

The Best, Shonda & Ben (plus Aviana's nose)

 

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Mike & Geri, & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Deacon Mike

Homily,  Deacon Mike 

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike, Ben & Hue

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

 

 

 

Download Readings Week 23

 

 

Homily for September 6, Deacon Mike 

Jesus has made us aware that when two or more of us get together on any decision at all on earth, we are to address it with communal prayer; asking our Father to guide us, with the power of the Holy Spirit. What would be an appropriate example?  We are the Church, called by this name: “Christ in the world.’ Together, its single women, and married women and men, have been called by the Holy Spirit to  ordination.  This is a “yes,” on earth and a “yes in heaven; Our action is this: pray to our Father for our hierarchy to recognize these authentic calls to ordination for men and women.

 

Today, Matthew’s Good News toward the end of this gospel
the Church of its responsibility to bring forgiveness even to the tax collector.  This forgiveness is a “yes,” on earth and a “yes,” in heaven, for early in this gospel Jesus had asked Matthew to follow him; which he immediately did; and he had been a tax collector.  Jesus then informed the religious leaders, that granting forgiveness was the reason that he had come into the world. 

 

 

Rosemary's mural from the old house, rescued by Mike the day we left the house.

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;  For Becky's dad who just moved to the other side;  For Cindy recuperating at home;    For Esparzas, Frank & Mary,  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;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, Woodlands,  For Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody & Ben & all of Shonda's dear family;   for all the students and teachers and coaches returning to school.

 

The new house amid the trees.

 

For Jackie's mom;  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, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer.

 

Our Father.

 

Birthdays:     Aggie, Jean Wright

Anniversaries: 

David & Caroline, 35th

Dee & Mike, 63rd

Rob & Beth, 46th

Aggie & Alan 53rd

Mike & Geri, 45th

 

 

A cool neighborhood on a hot day.

 

Community Finances, September 6, 2020

Expenses: $ 700.00

Outreach   $   (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

 

 

Our new address,  7017 Helsem Way, Dallas 75230.   This enclave has TREES, unlike our poor, dear, tornado battered Preston Hollow neighborhood.  It is so special.

Readings:

Wisdom   18, 6-9,  The night of the Passover was known.

Psalm 33,  Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.

Hebrews 11, 1-2, 8-19,   Faith is the realization of what is hoped for.

Luke 12, 32-48,  You must be prepared for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come.

(Less than amiable readings this week.)

 

Say Genevieve and John, "Welcome in Everybody."

 

 

Observations on the book of Wisdom:

What:  Exploration of the meaning and value of wisdom.  The author is the first to express a hope for immortality, a Greek concept.

 Who:  A Greek Jew who wrote probably in Alexandria, Egypt.

 

An observation on Hebrews:  one of the most difficult books in the Bible.

 

 

Just watch how good I can walk.

 

 

Watch out for the Beauty

As you may imagine, I am not comfortable at all with the tenor of our readings this morning.   Do you really think our God is a mean master sneaking around looking to snatch us when we have messed up? 

No way.    Instead, I would suggest our God is a God of gifts.  We are challenged to be alert, yes,  & watch out for the beautiful gift of the moment.  And there are many each day. 

Let me exemplify with three stories from Iowa and the Ragbrai bike rally.

 

 

If there is a candle lighting Olympic category, sign up our man, Cole.
 

 

 

Firstly, on the third or fourth night of our week we pulled into a scenic hilly town called Centerville.  Our group of about 25 was invited by a couple to camp in their front and back yards. 

I arrived about 4:00 and immediately went out to get something to eat.  I returned and found the hosts, Terry and Kevin, had produced a huge spread in their driveway, hamburgers, brats, cookies, and two gallons of vanilla ice cream with, of course, chocolate sauce.  I could not believe my eyes.

 

 

Camping in the shady yard of a beautiful Victorian two story. 

 

 

I was most touched and thanked them over & over.  This hospitality was a norm and it never ceased to catch me unaware and to touch me.  Our God is a God of Gifts.

Secondly, the Air Force.  Every year I see Air Force men & women in these marvelous blue & white bike outfits with big, upright wings on their back.  I remember other years when we had 50 or 60.  This year there were ca. 115, according to one guy I asked.  

 

 

The Air Force, not only riding, all 120 plus of them, but helping anyone who came up with a flat, a dropped chain, or an accident.   They were everywhere and I told them I was really proud of them.  Sign up next year, Ryan, Chebino.

 

The men and women not only rode the 500 miles, they also stopped to help bikers who had a flat or who had dropped their chain.  And, of course, they patched bikers up who had scratches & bruises.  Likewise, they can phone in for an ambulance, of which I saw a bunch.  I would see them all along the road.  I am so proud of these Air Force people.  Our God is a God of Gifts.     

Likewise, David, himself stopped once and patched up a girl he saw fall down.

 

 

Oh, my gosh, where did I put my bike?   A typical scene in every town we entered.  

 

 

Thirdly, on the second day coming out of Shenandoah and heading toward Creston, going up a hill, I spot a three wheel bike with two people.  One person is a woman in, say, her thirties.   Next to her was an older man, slender with white hair.  She is pedaling.

On the back of the tricycle there was a hand written sign.  “My father is 81 years old and he has stage 4 cancer.  This is his first Ragbrai.”   Wow.  Talk about being moved. 

 

 

Does life get better than this?? 

 

 

This was only part of the story.  A guy had ridden past this dad & daughter, had dropped his bike up the hill, run back down, and was pushing the three wheeler up the hill.   Further up the hill I saw another guy had dropped his bike on the shoulder, and he, too, was running down to help push. 

Our God is a God of Gifts.

 

 

And you were hoping to get through this town in how many minutes?  And you still have not reached the town square.

 

 

Because of many of these & many other similar moments, when I finally arrived at the marvelous, mighty Mississippi, I just had tears streaming down my cheeks. 

Our God is a God of Gifts.

What are yours today?

 

Our God is a God of the Gift of cuddly grandmothers for lovely girls like Zoe.

 

 

Readings:

Revelation 7, 2-4, 9-14, These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress

Psalm 24, Lord this is the people that long to see your face. 

1 John 3, 1-3,  See what love the Father has bestowed on us.—–

Matthew 5,1-12, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom.

 

 

 

Thanks to the Team,  Ben & Shonda's  

Readers,   Denni & Tom & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  Deacon Mike 

Homily,  Deacon Mike 

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,  Richard & Hue 

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

 

 

Download Readings Week 31 All Saints (2)

 

 

Homily by Mike Carrell,   All Saints            

The Mark gospel teaches us how potential saints come alive:  It begins with the unexpected: an accident; a death; a fire, a flood. It is then that a call comes to us; the kingdom of God is at hand; repent. Live the Good News! 

Buddy, this morning, revealed to us from the Matthew Gospel how the beatitudes call us each to be the light in the world, to be saints.

The feast of All Saints teaches us that holiness comes in all sizes and shapes. Saints are rich and poor, young and old, warriors and peacemakers, scholars and those who don’t even know how to read. Every era has its saints as does ours. We read about the struggles our nurses and doctors face day after day to keep patients alive during this pandemic.

 

 

Mary Ellen, Honfleur, France, 2011, one of our Saints.

 

We give thanks to our parents, grandparents, and god parents who gave us names of known saints when we were baptized; they were intended to challenge us to be ready to respond to a call to holiness.

Most of the names of these heroes that we read about in the News have already faded away; however some of our teenagers have chosen not to forget about these holy ones by taking their names when they were and are confirmed.

Praise be to God.

 

Please Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;  For John Doherty recuperating from an operation this past week for his back pain;   For David Dinsmore's bad shoulder from a biking accident;  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;   For Mary & Dave Hall's g-daughter Allison Keller working at St. Lukes, The Woodlands,   For Loretta's aunt Alicia;  For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom & Cody & Ben & Leo & all of Shonda's dear family;  

 

 

Mike, how come you did not invite us to this beautiful lake?  Daisy State Park, Arkansas.

For Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For both Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg; For Meredith, cancer free;    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, plus John's daughter, Joey, with cancer,  For the students, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

 

 

 

Birthdays:  John DeGenova, Ed Kless, Karen Anderlick, Ryan McCabe, 19

  

 

Community Finances, November 1, 2020

Expenses: $750.00

Outreach   $200.00    (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

Home, Sweet Home for Mike & Gerry.

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

 

Gracious God inspire us with the hope in the gift of shalom, the gift of wholeness and the promise of your presence.

Give wisdom to seek nonviolence as an answer to the violence of our lives and world.

Give us courage to seek wholeness in a fractured and divided world, to find reconciliation rather than revenge, to abandon the instruments of violence and death and entrust our lives, our homes and our families to you.

May your presence fill us and others with the thirst for unity, wholeness, and the desire to see all people valued as created in your image.

May we and others receive your shalom, that we might be faithful instruments of your love.

Blessed be your name forever,

Amen.

Rabbi Andrew M. Paley, senior rabbi with Temple Shalom, Dallas.  He emailed this letter to his congregation and gave The Dallas Morning News permission to publish it.

 

Readings:

Isaiah 62, 1-5,  The Lord delights in you.

Psalm 96,  Proclaim his marvelous deeds to all the nations.

1 Corinthians 12, 4-11, There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit.

John 2, 1-11, There was a wedding at Cana in Galilee.

 For those who don’t have a decent Bible or a book of the readings, here are two links that I use, The Bible at Your Fingertips (http://st-luke-church.org/bible-at-finger-tips.php) and USCCB, The New American Bible (http://www.usccb.org/).  

The difference?  The first is Protestant more or less, and the second is officially Catholic and has the 12 little books in between the O.T. & N.T., called Deuterocanonical or Apocrypha. 

Both are good translations.     

 Homily for January 20

 One of the three summer canoe trips that I used to organize each year at St. Mark was for the 13 and 14 year old children.  It was a three-day trip where we put in the Brazos River just south of Cleburne off highway 67 below the Boy Scout camp.

On the third day all the adult team was aware of a stop we would make an hour or so before we would board the bus for home.  The young people would be tired and hot as they approached some water gently pouring over some limestone at probably 5 or 10 gallons a minute like a miniature waterfall. 

They got terribly excited when they were told that it was a natural spring, cold and drinkable. The kids would take turns standing under it with their mouths open. 

2000 years ago a traveling Jesus and his disciples would have loved such water.  They would have used it drink and to dilute the wine that they had with them.  Travelers usually didn’t drink water unless it was living, flowing from a spring or recent rain.  They drank diluted wine.

The OT Stories were written around things like living waters, wine and vineyards.  Since the gospels fulfilled the expectation of the OT for the coming of the Messiah, within them these symbols took on a deeper spiritual meaning. The vine became the symbol of Christ, living waters the symbol for the good news.

Since the word, wine, is present in most, if not all, of the books in the OT, we should expect that the wine in today’s gospel would be a symbol for something terribly important…and it is.

In the Mark gospel we are presented with this metaphor.  You don’t pour new wine into an old wineskin.  Anyone who ever left a wet handball or golf glove in the sun knows why.  You would find it stiff and hardened.  If you tried to pour new wine into them, the cracks in the leather would become revealed.  The wine would be lost; the leather also would be of no value.

Therefore, Place new wine into new wineskins!  In the Story where you find that metaphor, you are introduced to the hardened hearts of the Pharisees and scribes who had rejected the good news and therefore the Holy Spirit that flowed forth from those living waters.

Remember the Holy Spirit and the unclean spirits cannot coexist within a heart.  A new wineskin is the heart of someone who has repented and welcomed the new wine, the Holy Spirit.

So, now you pretty much know the meaning of the parable about the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee.  The old wine gave out because God sent to us his only begotten Son with new wine. The empty jars used in the purification rite within Judaism that had been empty, barren, now would be fulfilled by living waters, to the brim…from which would pour forth the Holy Spirit. 

What one thing would I like for you to take away from the gospel today?  

The Greek word for the servants who assisted Jesus in today’s gospel is used for male or female, diakonia. We are to understand that they were manifesting the Holy Spirit to those at the wedding feast of Cana by their words and actions. 

You might have felt distanced by Nancy’s 2^nd reading if you were wondering who those people are in our assembly.  We are those people!   Those who proclaimed the Word; those who serve at the table, those who distribute from the table; those who wash and fill the cups; those who bake the bread; those who set the table with gifts; those who lead us in song; those who give and distribute our gifts to those in need; those who visit the sick; those who extend the sign of peace to one another.

We are his body, blessed and broken for each other.