Sunday Homily 5-15-11, 4th Easter

 

"Welcome in, Everybody," sez Crazy Patricia.

 

Readings: 

1 Samuel 2, 7-9, 12-13, 22-23,   I would not harm the Lord's anointed.  

Psalm 103,  The Lord is kind & merciful. (a good one, a favorite line)

1 Corinthians 15, 45-49,    The first man was from earth; the second from heaven.

Luke 6,  27-38, Do good to those who hate you.

 

 

 

" Welcome in, Everybody," from the whole team.

 

Observations  on 1 Samuel

Our 1st reading today is from the first book  in a fun & interesting 4 book series which is somewhat historical, somewhat metaphorical & imaginative.

The books: 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings.  The first two books center on 3 main characters, the first ever kings of the Israelites, namely Samuel, the first king, Saul, the 2^nd king, an insecure, jealous, and paranoiac man, and the Great King David, a colorful character. 

Ever hear of Bathsheba?   Check out David in 2 Samuel.

 

 

John reading his marvelous updating of today's Gospel.

 

The last 2 books, 1 & 2 Kings, describe the beautiful times of Solomon and the building of the temple.  The final book of the 4 describes the bad ways of the people which lead to the bad days of the Babylonian captivity.

Estimated time of composition, ca, 555, during the Babylonian Captivity.

 

 

Wake up, John.  Punch him, Karen.

 

Homily, February 24

When I was studying  theology in Toronto from ’68-’72, the fall of my second year we had to take a course in moral theology.  We were part of a consortium of seminarians.  We Jesuits were the biggest group with ca. 40 guys.  There were probably 6-8 other groups, even some individuals.   All guys.

We Jesuits lived in a large building in a northern suburb called Willowdale.  There were four classes with a total of probably 200, plus 6-8 Jesuit professors.  We had classes on the down town campus of U. of Toronto.  

 

 

Our bread baker and hostess with the mostest welcoming everybody to communion.

 

The fall of my second year our class had to take a course in moral theology.   Fundamentally it was how to administer the Sacrament of Reconciliation, or Confession, plus other moral questions.  For example, like torture, capital punishment, abortion.

The professor of this rather large class was a young Jesuit priest just graduated from Harvard, named Bryan.  I honestly don’t remember his last name.  Bryan was sharp, liberal, and not blessed with public relations skills. 

 

 

And hiding behind John, Allen & Aggie.

 

Bryan put off the majority of the class and a group even came to complain to him.  What did Bryan do?  He told them if they did not like him or his presentations, they could go somewhere else.  He did this with more blunt language than I use here.  So all these guys boycotted his class.

I give all this information as background to my interaction with Bryan in the spring semester of that same academic year.

 

 

Would someone please sit with Sandra.

 

At the end of our third year the Jesuit program normally had the moral theology exam.  Since my class had already covered the class requirements, some of us thought we would like to take the moral theology exam at the end of the second year.   Get it off the agenda.

So I get elected to go make the request to, take a guess, Bryan.  He not only denies my request and tells me to wait until the end of year 3, he tells me if I & my buddies do it anyway, he will flunk us all.   We did and he did.   I even went to the Jesuit rector to complain before we took the exam, which, incidentally was in Latin before a board of 3 of the Jesuit faculty.

So, if I am supposed to love my enemies, do I have to love Brian?   Yes.

 

 

Welcome Home, Beth, our Colorado Snow Bird of the Week.

 

Two comments.  We are dealing here in Luke with infinite demand.

At the same time, we are offered infinite acceptance.  For example, my favorite line showing up this morning in the Psalm, The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in kindness. 

 

 

Help is on the way, Hugh.

Readings:  

 1 Kings, 19, 4-8, Get up and eat, else the journey will be too long for you.

 Psalm 34, Taste and see the Goodness of rhe Lord

Ephesians 4, 30-5, 2, Be imitators of God and live in love.

John 6, 24-35, I am the bread of life. 

Kings:  a review–

Subject: The kings of Israel.  The Big 3 kings were Saul, David, & his son Solomon.  The 2 Books of kings follows the 2 Books of Samuel, which describe the lives of the the kings up to the death of the Great King David, my favorite.  1 & 2 Kings takes up the life of Solomon, David's son, his building of the temple, his death, and the fate of the kingdom following his death, that is, it divides and is conquered. 

Time Period:  from ca. 900 – 550 BCE, or from Solomon to Nebuchadnezzar & Cyrus.

Authors: a compilation of many sources that was put together at the end of the Babylonian Captivity, ca. 550 BCE. 

Our Selection: focus is on one man, the prophet Elijah.  The kingdom has already been split.  Our story takes place in the northern state, Israel.  Time of severe drought.  The king is Ahab; his queen, the famous Jezebel.  The prophet Elijah has scolded them for turning to false gods to end the drought.  

There has been a contest in chapter 18: Elijah vs the 450 prophets of Baal, ultimately to see which side would be more effective in bringing rain.  2 bulls were slaughtered.  Naturally, Elijah wins when Yahweh answers his prayer, sends down fire, and consumes the bull Elijah has slaughtered.  When he wins, he slaughters the 450 prophets of Baal.   

We enter at a point where Jezebel is furious with Elijah for killing her favorite prophets and aims to kill Elijah.  He is going to run away all depressed.   

We will read an expanded chapter 19, from 1-13.   In fact, I want to tell  you the story in Chapter 18, such a special story.    

 

Taste & See the Goodness

This story takes place in Marshalltown, Iowa.  It is the fifth of eight layover towns on our west to east bike ride across Iowa, a trip called Ragbrai (Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride across Iowa), 10 thousand people this year, its 40^th.

We had just had a lasagna dinner at a Christian Church in the town center.  We are getting our campsite & gear ready because a storm was predicted.  The temperature had been above 100 and rain & cooler temperatures were approaching.  In fact, we could see big clouds building in the west and heading toward us. 

At 8:30 a shower hit.  8:45 it tapered off.  I took a bag of water bottles to a nearby pavilion to fill them.  I fill them and prepare to return when it went chaotic.  The rain came down in sheets, the wind blew every which way, and suddenly two gigantic gusts blew everything over, tents, bikes, gear.  People poured into the pavilion.

I could not see Rosemary & Aviana, but I know Rosemary well enough.  She can cope & would be okay. 

After 30 minutes of this torrential rain, it began to lessen.  Then the police arrive & tell us we are being evacuated to a school because of tornadoes & hail coming our way.  Not good.

I run & get Rosemary & Aviana.  Our tent has collapsed, so we roll it up wet and put it in the back of the van.  We end up in a Lutheran Church because the school could not fit everyone.   It is dark by now, still raining lightly, but cooler. 

I can still remember entering that Lutheran Church.  First of all, it was air conditioned.  Wow, so nice.  Secondly, the pastor was at the entrance welcoming everyone, saying we could use every room & corner.  We did.  It was wall to wall people.  We all spent the night on the floors, which were carpeted. 

Lying on that floor in the middle of a crowd in the middle of the night, I considered chucking the remainder of our trip.  So much of what we had was soaked.

The next morning about 5:30, however, it was spectacularly beautiful, cool and sunny with light, left over clouds.  People were in great humor.  One guy said to me with a laugh in the parking lot of the church, “It’s just Ragbrai, let’s ride!”  And I did.  And Rosemary did.  And so did Aviana, who had been the queen of those sleeping in the church. 

There were a gazillion lessons that struck me & Rosemary from that adventure.  Let me single out 3. 

First, we were homeless and taken in, sheltered, and shown warm hospitality, by a Lutheran Church.  Yahweh showed hospitality & care for Elijah.  We attempt to show hospitality as a community.  Look at Habitat.  Look at the Katrina refugees.

Secondly, like Ephesians says excellently today, there was no bitterness, anger, fury, or shouting.  In fact, generosity & love emanated from the Lutheran community and we returned it in a small way.

A basket had been put in the back of the church part of the complex and it was filling with $20’s.  Rosemary sent a thank you note to the pastor.

Thirdly, taste & see the goodness of the Lord.  I love this line and what it calls me to.   I could savor the goodness some at the time.  But I had a list later with Rosemary. 

The ability just to ride my bike.  And we got the car fixed easily (dashboard light came on).

The cooler temperatures and the needed rain, which produced a glorious day.

The evacuation so peacefully accepted by so many, and especially the Lutheran Church, which was so gracious.

Folks, we take bunches of trips in our lives.  We taste & see the goodness of the Lord every day.  Occasionally we have an adventure like Marshalltown.   At the time of the adventure and even more so later, we really taste & see the Goodness.

What happened the last time you really tasted and really saw the Goodness?

 

• Intro to Readings:

   

  Psalm 103 – In Psalm 103 we hear the psalmist’s description

  of God. This same verse is also in psalm 86 and 145, and in Exodus

   

  Ch 34 and Jonah Ch 4. It’s no wonder that, hearing these words,

  thanksgiving became one of the hallmarks of Christian communities.

   

  First Corinthians: Ch 1 Paul opens his letter to the

  Christian community in Corinth by giving thanks for the

  abundance of spiritual blessings they have received.

   

  Luke, in his Gospel, Ch 17, highlights how thanksgiving is

  the way to acknowledge blessings in our daily lives.

   

   

   

  Homily:

   

  Marv Knox is field coordinator for Fellowship Southwest, a

  ministry that provides services for people in the Rio Grande

  Valley, including refugees at the border, kids in public schools,

  disaster relief, and helping people avoid the unjust system of

  payday loans. His article in the Morning News on Friday inspired

  me. He wrote of the similarity between giving thanks and counting

  blessings. He proposes counting our blessings, as we do here

  every Sunday. People pretty much agree we’ve been living

  through hard times.

   

   It’s clear we are a nation divided. Some are still waiting to

  know the outcome of political races; when people are

  divided almost 50-50, counting and re-counting votes takes

  a lot of time.

   We’re still hearing of the forest-fire body counts, with

  hundreds still missing and unaccounted for.

   Refugees the world over, and at our own border, are hoping

  and asking for safety from danger.

   The chaos in Europe and confusion in our western alliance.
   Experiencing the results of global warming, with increased

  intensity and frequency of storms, floods and fires.

   The dropping and shaky stock market.

   The threat again of nuclear aggression from North Korea.

   These hard times, of course, are societal, shared by all;

  there are also the personal hard times we each live with,

  e.g., living with my sisters’ hurt and inability to speak with

  one another. You know your hard time—the anxiety, hurt,

  sadness or trauma you live with.

   

  Counting blessings moves our focus from the dark to the light.

  It helps us see what’s going right, even while we know much is

  going wrong.

   

  Counting blessings turns our attention away from ourselves to

  acknowledge the helpful actions of others.

   

  Counting blessings gives us hope. As we count blessings—

  and give thanks—we see that God is unchanging—ever faithful,

  loving, and abounding in kindness.

   

  Today, like every Sunday, we counted blessings in our lives.

  Imagine, rather than writing his letter to the Christian community

  in Corinth (Greece), Paul wrote to this Christian community,

  saying: I give thanks for your openness to God. There’s no end to

  what has happened in you; it’s beyond speech. The truth of Jesus

  has been clearly verified in your lives…. God will never give up on

  you. Never forget that.”

   

  So: How have you opened your eyes and minds to see and count

  blessings in your life?

Acts 5:   Thus they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and mats so that when Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on one or another of them.

Revelation 1:I saw seven gold lampstands and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, wearing an ankle-length robe, with a gold sash around his chest.

John 20:   “My Lord and my God!”

 

 

Paul reading from the Acts of the Apostles

Music,   Ben & Shonda

 

Expenses: $   850.00

Outreach: $    520.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Denni gets a cookie for her birthday.

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Life is short …

Break the rules,

Forgive quickly,

Kiss slowly,

Love truly,

Laugh uncontrollably,

And never regret anything that made you smile.

Mark Twain

Acts 1:  “. . . for John baptized with water,  but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

Ephesians 1: May the eyes of your hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones, and what is the surpassing greatness of his power for us who believe, . . . 

Luke 24:  “. . . And behold I am sending the promise of my Father upon you; but stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Mary Jane reading from the Acts of the Apostles

 

 

Thanks…     

Music,   Ben & Shonda

Outreach: $   230.00   

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

 

 

Shonda gets a cookie for her birthday

 

 

Rosemary's Blessing:

Christ has no body now on earth but yours,

     no hands but yours,

     no feet but yours,

Yours are the eyes through which Christ’s

     compassion is to look out to the world,

Yours are the feet with which Christ is to

     go about doing good,

Yours are the hands, with which Christ is to 

     bless all people now.

From a prayer by Teresa of Avila (1515–1582)

Readings: Jeremiah 1, 4-19; Psalm 71; 1 Corinthians 12, 31 -13, 1-13; Luke 4, 21-30

Jeremiah – The Prophet Jeremiah lived before and during the great Babylonian captivity.  He loved the people, but warned them that they faced catastrophe for their unfaithful ways.

Today’s selection has Jeremiah talking at the beginning of his call by Yahweh to speak to the people.

1 Corinthians, 13 – Here it is: Paul’s famous treatise on what love is.

Love is Patient, Love is Kind

Last night I had the privilege to be part of one of those magic weddings.  There are magic and super magic weddings.  This was super magic. 

A while back I performed a wedding out of Dallas.  Because the couple was not too clerical and I had the opportunity to stay for the reception, which I can seldom do here in Dallas, I wore a black shirt with a silver tie.  Not a clerical shirt.

When I went into the sacristy before the wedding the woman who took care of arrangements was waiting for the priest.  When she saw me in a tie, it was like, “You are the priest!”

For the rest of the time I was in that church her approach to me was disdainful, like I was repellent.  I was getting judged for not having a collar on, like a good priest is supposed to have on.  I was not a terrorist, I was a fellow Catholic, a priest at that time in good standing.  I just did not have that little plastic tab on.  Love is patient. 

How sad we can be, even when we are in the midst of helping to perform a marvelous event like a wedding.  The wedding was magic, but I have felt sad for the woman.  Love is kind. 

She & I are called to the same kind of love in two ways.  We are called to be patient & kind with everyone we meet, even if the person is not a Catholic, or a Plano resident, or a criminal

We are also challenged to be patient and kind with ourselves when we fail.  This may even be harder to do sometimes than being patient and kind with someone else.

Last night’s wedding was blessed from beginning to end.  No one seemed critical of the ceremony or what we did.  Why can’t all of our life be similar?

With whom do you struggle to be patient & kind?  How patient and kind are you when you fail?

Download the mp3 of the homily here.