Sunday Homily, October 14, 2012, 28th Ordinary Time B

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," say Sydney & Hugh.

 

 

Readings: 

Isaiah 43, 16-21,  See, I am doing something new.

Psalm 126,  The Lord has done great things for us, we are filled with joy.

Philippians 3, 8-14, I consider everything as a loss.

John 8, 1-11,   Let the one who among you is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.

 

 

And likewise from Jackie, "Welcome in, Folks, we have a reconciliation service this morning before the Our Father."

 

 Isaiah Observations:

The scene: the Jewish people are captives in Babylon ca. 555 years before Christ.  Isaiah No.1  had warned the people that their bad ways were going to lead to this.   

In this chapter 43, which is Isaiah No. 2, Isaiah has Yahweh reminding them of how much he has done for them in the past and lets them know that they are still his people.  Their lives will get better.  

 

 

Candle service with Tori lighting and her brother, Buddy,  reading The Blessing of the Candles.

 

 

The first 5 verses of this chapter are some of my favorites in the whole Bible.  Isaiah No.2 is telling the people to not be afraid because he is with them. It goes— 

Do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you.  I have called you by your name.  You are mine.  When you pass through deep waters, I will be with you…  When you pass through fire, you will not suffer.   I regard you as precious, honored, and I love you.  

I will give up whole nations to save your life, because you are precious to me & because I love you and give you honor.  Do not be afraid, I am with you.

 

Bernadette says, "Hey, those are my grandkids.

 

Philippians Observations:

Philippi was a town in Macedonia, now called Greece.  Philippi was the first church Paul set up on European soil.  He is in prison.  He is basically saying that for him nothing has any importance beyond his relationship with Jesus.

Psalm 126 ( a good one), 

The Lord has done great things for us.  We are filled with joy.

 

 

Spring Fever: Juliets out on the town.

 

Punishment or Compassion

I would like to talk this morning about the woman in the gospel, the one about to be stoned to death for being caught in adultery.   An example of punishment vs compassion.   The Law vs Jesus.  The brutality and the injustice of it smacks me in the face.  It is, also, so contemporary.

It reminds me of a very uncomfortable situation I found myself in when I was learning Swahili in Tanzania.   This would have been about ’77 or ’78, when I was just getting into the language. 

 

 

The Best with Shonda & Ben.

 

I was at an outstation church from an outstation church maintained by our Jesuit parish in a town called Tabora, smack in the middle of Tanzania, on the east-west train track.   This is the place where I later fell into the grave of a little lady I was burying and the place where I spent Advent and Christmas one year with two young Jesuit interns from the Island of Malta just off the Mediterranean tip of Italy.

On this occasion I was being shown around by the 4-5 men of this tiny village with a small, mud walled church.  I could not have been saying much because the language was still quite difficult for me.

 

 

The Minor Elevation.

 

It was afternoon of a pleasant day.  We are way out in the bush and I remember the land was fairly green.  It was probably the period of the small rains, meaning, say, February or March.   The long rains come in our summer.  This is south of the equator.

At one point the men and I are wandering up a slope on top of which was a fairly large corrugated metal building, probably built by the government to help the villagers store their produce.

 

 

Communion Service table with John and Alison.

 

As we get closer I can hear voices from inside the building and a thud or two.  Maybe the guys escorting me had explained what was going on and I did not understand.

Whatever the case, we are maybe twenty yards from a door at the corner of the building when, all of a sudden, the door opens and a few guys come out and with them staggers a man who has been beaten.  He is dressed in nothing more than something like a towel or a skirt.  He has bruises on his shoulders and legs.  Because he is black I can’t see discoloring, but I see wounds. 

 

 

Offertory team with Lynda & Tom, Teresa & Tom.

 

He has been caught cattle rustling.  He took one cow that he found out in the countryside near the village and attempted to get away.  He is a skinny older guy and probably not too smart.  They caught him easily. 

After teaching him a lesson, they are planning to walk him to the police station about 40 miles away in Tabora, the larger town I came from.  Along the way they will pass a few small villages where the inhabitants will also beat him.  If he makes it, jail will look pretty good.  And he does make it, I heard later.

 

 

Reconciliation service, "Please forgive me," "I forgive you."

 

When this old guy sees me, he sees a savior and comes toward me with a begging gesture. 

I am ready to throw up and I want to tell the people to stop beating the man.   But I don’t know the language and I feel very awkward because these people are hosting me.  I feel paralyzed.

What do I do?   I did nothing.  And I was haunted by my doing nothing for years.  I had to forgive myself somewhere along the years.

 

 

 

Everyone is offered the opportunity to ask for and to give forgiveness, plus a peace hug.  Most moving.

 

 

 

                

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Welcome in, Everybody, sez Ken.

 

Readings:

Isaiah 58, 7-10,  Share your bread with the hungry.  (A beautiful passage. Note: I lied. I thought we were done with Isaiah until next Advent, or so  I read.  I am happy to be wrong.)

Psalm 112,  The just man (person?) is a light in the darkness to the upright.

1 Corinthians 2, 1-5,  I came to you in weakness and in fear.

Matthew 5, 13-16, You are the light of the world.

 

 

It takes a team.

 

Isaiah reminders, again—(I lied again, Folks.  I thought we were finished with Isaiah, my favorite, until next Advent.  Nope.  Not really sorry, though.  We have him again Feb. 26, last Sunday before Lent.)  Where did I get my research?

 Author: This is Isaiah #3, the composer of chapters 56-66.  Isaiah #3 lives after the Israelites have returned to the ruined city of Jerusalem.  It is a very depressing experience after the exuberance of being allowed to depart from slavery in Babylon.  Like returning to your shattered home after a tornado, hurricane, or forest fire.

 

 

"Nuts, Sandra, I think I lost that thumb drive."

 

 Date:  Ca. 555 before Christ, the composition.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are home again.

Subject:  A great day will come for you Jews.  You will be a bright light at dawn and your wound will be healed (of your defeat and slavery), if you take care of your neighbor, providing food, clothing, and shelter.  The corporal works of mercy.

 

 

Good Morning, Bill & Cindy.

 

Your Light must shine before Others

This is the fourth or fifth Sunday we have dealt with delightful readings that involve light, either receiving light or giving light.  Guess what.  I want to talk again about 3 people who are lights for me.

I have talked before about that guy whom I greatly admire, Jim Mahar, a professor of something like economics at St. Bonaventure University near Buffalo, NY.  This guy just continues to amaze and humble me. 

 

 

 

The Candle Girls at work.

 

I first met Jim through Bill Hammond.  He, I, and others,  all went down to Galveston to help with the clean up and repair of the city after hurricane Ike in 2008.  It seems to me like yesterday and, yet, it is incredibly long ago.

There were 20-25 of us, mostly students probably on spring break.  We stayed in a very hospitable Protestant church.  The pastor himself was most friendly and accommodating. 

 

 

Buddy reading The Blessing of The Candles>

 

The kids had bunk beds on the left & right of the church.  We old guys bedded down in a rectangular room with about 20 Baptist Men volunteers.  I could talk about those guys all day, they are so good.  The only problem that time: one guy in our dorm snored like a bear. 

These guys had an 18 wheeler trailer that they had rigged up with a number of showers.  The people in the church community fed us 3 meals a day. 

 

 

The Offertory a family affair,  Gil, Michelle, & Bernadette.

 

This was the first time I worked with Jim Maher.  I also went to Moore, OK, a suburb of OK City to help with a tornado that passed through a little trailer town called Little Ax.  And now  I get a facebook note from Jim, working with a bunch of St. Bonaventure kids in maybe the Bahamas.

Jim is a bright light in my life.  In fact, his light is blinding.  I am exhausted just following him from one disaster to another.   He and some kids even came to help in Rowlett once a few years ago.  I did not get to help out, but Bill Hammond was there. 

 

 

The Minor Elevation.

 

Secondly, Pope Francis.  And not just because he is a Jesuit.  Ever hear of Palazzo Migliori at St.  Peter’s square in Rome?  I just saw this in a news bulletin. 

I am proud of Francis and his team because he is taking a rich 19th century palace on the edge of St. Peter's square and turning it into a home for homeless.  The palace could  have been sold or rented out for an enormous sum.   "Beauty heals" was Francis' observation when he inaugurated the palazzo.

 

 

Communion Time.

 

About 50 men & women now sleep in the palazzo, which has 16 bedrooms.  Volunteers provide hot meals.  Among the volunteers are some Americans.

 

 

Bill give a pretty good health report.

 

 

The third group: our kids.  They don’t have to do anything and I love them.  I am so delighted with their presence, which brings light to our celebrations.  Look at Betsy, our most recent arrival.   Betsy, this does not include the monster who brings you, though I am exceedingly grateful to her, not only bringing you, Betsy, but also your big sister, Harper.

I have always welcomed little kids at the Masses I celebrate, and for sure, at St. Marks.  I would normally invite them up around me during the Eucharistic prayer.  One time in the big church a little boy knocked over the standing candles and another time a little baby barfed on my shoulder while I was welcoming her or him for maybe the first time. 

 

 

Sez Betsy, "Wow!  What is this??"

 

Guess what, everybody was so timid and cowed that Sunday they did not even stop me to let me know the baby had thrown up on my shoulder.  Only after the Mass, when even I was beginning to wonder about where that smell was coming from, did someone speak up.  These events both took place in the big church, not the 10:30 cafetorium.   That 10:30 crowd would have spoken up, probably laughing at me.

Again the questions:

Who gives you light?

To whom do you give light?

Anybody know who these character are??

 Readings:  Isaiah 45, 1-6, Who is Cyrus?; Psalm 96, Give the Lord glory and honor; 1 Thessalonians 1, 1-5; Matthew 22, 15-21, Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar.

Isaiah observations: This selection comes from what is considered Isaiah 2, the author of the Book of Consolations, written after the first 39 chapters and during the Babylonian captivity.    Isaiah speaks from Yahweh's perspective and He is calling someone by name.

So, who is Cyrus?   Cyrus the Great of Persia, modern Iran, built the first great empire, which extended as far as Athens in Greece.   He was a benevolent emperor of his people and the people he conquered, for instance, the Israelites.

Isaiah 2 is championing Cyrus because he hears of Cyrus coming and hopes Cyrus will defeat the Babylonians and set the Israelites free to return to Jerusalem.  This is exactly what Cyrus does.  Where is Babylon?  Try 50 miles south of Baghdad on the Euphrates River.  What is left?  Rubble. 

Thessalonians:

• Time written: ca. 50 A.D.   Considered Paul's first letter, and, in fact, the earliest written document in the N.T.
• Place: Paul was writing in Corinth, Greece to the town in northern Greece, Thessalonica, at the northern corner of the Aegean Sea.  He had founded a community there.
• Purpose of writing: to comfort and encourage the new Christians of Thessalonica, most of whom were Gentiles.    He sent Timothy to see how things were going.   The report Timothy brought back was largely favorable—hence the warm tone of the opening thanksgiving, which forms the main part of today’s reading. But there were also a few problems in Thessalonica; we will meet them on the thirty-second and thirty-third Sundays.

Resources: The New Interpreters Study Bible; St. Louis U. Liturgical @ Liturgical.slu.edu

 

Matthew observation: Render to Caesar

Matthew lifts this story right out of Mark.  The story is a game that was popular among the intellectuals in Jesus time, like a game of verbal chess.  The object was to confound your opponent so that choosing either one of two answers springs a trap. 

Watch the smarmy language of the Pharisees and you can almost see them salivating at the impending kill.  

The trap: do you think it lawful to pay the tax to Caesar or not?  Jesus confounds them by choosing both.  Jesus wins the game. 

Why do Mark & Matthew use this story?  To show how Jesus is superior.  He is worthy of being followed and listened to.

 

 

Me, a Light in the World? 

I want to talk about the alleluia verse, “Shine like lights in the world.” 

After getting ordained at old St. Rita’s in June of 1971, I was sent to Miami to work as a chaplain in the big medical complex known as Jackson Memorial.  It was like Parkland and Southwestern Medical.  

The Jesuits of my southern province had a big parish right in the middle of downtown Miami, and part of the team worked the hospitals.  I was a summer helper and loved it. 

One day after I had been there about a week, a little blond  girl of 10 or 11 was brought into the burn ward.  Ever been in a burn ward, a children’s burn ward?  Tough places.  I spent a lot of time in these wards.

The girl, Anna, had been with her family on a sail boat.  Somewhere along their trip the boat had passed under a bridge.  Anna was standing on the edge of the boat with her back leaning against one of the guy wires.  

As the boat went under the bridge, the mast touched an electrical line.  The electricity went down the mast and the guy wire.  Anna was electrocuted and burned.  Fortunately, she was hurled into the cool water which helped to stop her burns.  

However, her back and the insides of her thighs and legs were seriously burned.  She would stay in Jackson for 2 to 3 months, even after I had to move on.  

I got really close to Anna & her family.  I visited her first & last every day and I was privileged to be allowed by the doctors to hold her hand when her bandages had to be changed.  Her parents had to leave the room.  You know how this is such a high tension time.  It used to leave me shaken.  

I talk about this because the alleluia verse tells us to be lights in the world.  I think this is what it means.  I was privileged to be with that little girl & her family in such a horrible experience.  It is reciprocal: she was a light in my world.

The good news is that Anna finally did leave the hospital all healed up.  I never had the opportunity  to see the family again, but I corresponded for years with the mom.  Somewhere during my time in Africa, the connection got broken.  I know that maybe 15 years later her mom wrote me that Anna had married and had a little kid.

In whose world are you a light today?  

Picture 1:    Mass Begins

Picture 2:    Bethany       

Picture 3:    Miguel

Picture 4:    Delgado Corner with Fred

Picture 5:    Justin

Picture 6:    Emma  

 

 

 

Welcome to the beautiful colors of Advent & Fall in Dallas.

 

Readings:

Isaiah, 11, 1-10,  On that day the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb. (a beautiful reading)

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

 Romans 15, 4-9,  Welcome one another as Christ welcomed you.

 Matthew, 3, 1-12,   John the Baptist appeared preaching in the desert.

 

Welcome, Everybody.

 

Observations on the Isaiah and the Matthew selections.

These two reading today have a sort of ying & yang quality to them.  Isaiah is looking for peace while Matthew talks about John the Baptist, who does not specialize in peace.  

You will find the selection from Isaiah (this is Isaiah 1) to be a beautiful dream about peace.  He even looks at the animal kingdom for peace.  Watch how Isaiah enters into this theme when he talks about the wolf.

And what was John's message?  You better behave and repent or you are going to get it.

So how do you you reconcile the reading from Matthew with a
God who loves unconditionally? 

 

Happy Engagement, Carrie & Paul.

 

In place of our usual homily today we have invited one of the men from Souls Harbor so share his journey of recovery.  

 

Ha!  I caught you, Beth.  Swiping pastries before the kids and I can get there.  Sure, you think I believe that you brought those.

 

 

 

 

From John & Connie, "Welcome in, Everybody."

 

Readings: 

Deuteronomy 26, 4-10,   He brought us out of Egypt.  

Psalm 91,  Be with me, Lord, when I am in trouble.

Romans 10, 8-13,    No one who believes in him will be put to shame.

Luke 4,  1-23,  Jesus in the desert for forty days.

 

 

Likewise from Jackie, "Come on in, Folks, & welcome to Day- light Savings Time."

 

 

Sunday Homily, Mike Carrell, 3-10-19

 Lent is preparation for Easter, so the words spoken over those who desire ashes are more appropriately the choice given by the Church from the Mark gospel, ‘The time is fulfilled; the Kingdom of God is at hand; Repent and Believe in the Good News.’  

 

 

 

Welcome, Ana-Patricia & Alicia, from the old 10:30 cafetorium Mass at St. Marks.

 

Last Sunday, led by our musicians, we responded together from the Psalm 92, ‘It is good to give thanks to the Lord.’ That psalm reminds us to begin and end each day saying, ‘Thank you Lord for being with us, here and now.  Thank you Lord for the seed that you have sown into our hearts along with a the desire bear good fruit. Let us be led by your Spirit to be Love in this world.

 

 

And while we are at it today, welcome to more 10:30 cafetorium Mass goers, Cathy, her daughter, Katy, and Katy's marvelous fiance' Enza from Uganda, no less.  But he does not speak Swahili!

 

 

Here and now, in every moment of the day, we are the body of Christ in the world.  Our mindset should constantly be that we are meant to be Love, in everything we say and do.  So,‘In everything give thanks for that is God’s will for us in Christ, Jesus.’ 

 

Not to long ago, I was in a waiting room while Judy was being seen by a doctor. There were a hand full of children’s books among the magazines on a table there. They usually have a good intended meaning, so, I took the liberty of choosing Aunt Grace and her nephew about to give birth to a garden. I smiled, and said to myself, ‘With a name like ‘Aunt Grace,’ this is got to be good.

 

 

Hi, David, Hi, Caroline.

 

Before they took a step into what would be their garden, they started with a prayer. Then they began to remove the weeds, cans, bottles, sticks and rocks. When that was done, they broke open the soil and used a wheelbarrow to cover it with an abundance of new mulch, to provide the garden with good soil.

 

 

The Most Reliable Jan making sure everyone can go to communion.

 

 

This sounds a lot like Lent doesn’t it; with each of us refreshing our garden, and why John has a Sunday each year when we grant God’s loving forgiveness to each other.  Lent is a time to be more aware of the people we meet everyday.  With goodness and kindness, we can smile more; say thank you more; and you are welcome, more.

 

 

The Bona Responds Team on site in Wilmington, NC, to help people with recovery from the Hurricane Michael last Fall.

 

 

We can do lots of little things like letting the car and its occupant get in front of us without honking at them. Let’s be aware of the mother with small children. We can help her put her groceries in her car, and to push her cart back for them. Let’s have a neighbor or two, or three over for coffee.  Practice makes perfect.

 

 

From our community, Connie & John Bresson, David Dinsmore, and, of course, Bill Hammond.   From St. Bonaventure University, the man behind all the recovery work so many in our community have volunteered for over the years, Jim Mahar.

 

So, what was it that Aunt Grace and her nephew sowed in their garden? Of all things, Potatoes. She taught her nephew how cut up potatoes that were covered with eyes into pieces, so that the eye of each piece could and would be placed in an upright position within the good soil, looking up to the heavens with faith that this would bring forth a bountiful harvest, that they could share with their neighbors.

 

Our journey through Lent has just begun. Who might you invite to journey with you?

 

 

  What a Team!

 

 

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.