Sunday Homily 6-6-10, Corpus Christi

Welcome, Our Dearest Michelle.

Readings:

Isaiah 25,, 6-10,  On this mountain  the Lord will provide for all peoples.

Psalm 23,  I shall live iin the house of the Lord all the days of my life.

Phlippians 4, 12-14, 19-20,  I know how to llive in humble circumstances.

Matthew 22, 1-14,  The king throws a wedding feast for his son. 

Welcome in, say our Dearest Tori & Zoe, and The Great Gilbert.

Two beautiful readings this morning, Isaiah 25, and Psalm 23, The Lord is my Shepherd.

Our Dearest Candle Lighter of The Week, Emma.

Isaiah observations:

Who:  Any idea which Isaiah this is, 1, 2, or 3?   We had Isaiah 1 last week talking about the vineyard.  That was chapter 5.  Pretty easy to guess, Isaiah 1.  But, this is chapter 25.

It seems out of character for Isaiah 1, who criticizes the people.  More like Isaiah 2, which John Cade loves and which we will read this Advent. 

Remember Isaiah 1 is pre-Babylonian Captivity, around 555 before Christ.  This selection is a marvelous vision of peace and sensual satisfaction, one of my favorites.

Yep, it is still Isaiah 1, all the way to chapter 39.  Basically he is saying that a great day will come, after you people have paid for your sinful, selfish ways. 

Does it get more beautiful than this, Beautiful Scene, Beautiful Couple.

On this mountain the Lord will provide for all peoples, the Lord will wipe away the tears from every face.

This morning, Folks, I would like to talk about this line in the context of our lives.

Last week after having been privileged to take part in the beautiful wedding of Paul and Carrie on the very edge of the South Rim of Grand Canyon.  And after having the joy of sleeping in for a couple of mornings when the temperature was in the 30’s both outside and inside through our wide open glass door.  And after having spent one whole day just walking around and doing nothing, a very rare event in our lives. 

After being moved by all this, we turned on the radio in our rental car early Saturday morning to begin our 3 hour drive back to the  airport in Phoenix.  Just catching up on current news.  I was immediately depressed and even angry, which is pretty rare for me. 

Communion on the South Rim.
 

I have caught myself here a few times lately and have decided I do not want to be here.  So I returned to a decision I made to simply turn it off and focus on the beauty and how the Lord provides. 

Let me give you 4 little examples on which I am still dwelling here at home.

First, I was touched by the example of lots of the tourists around the South Rim.   There is a shuttle bus system on the South Rim, three routes, one east, one west, and one in the center.  The west bus and the center bus are new for me since I came here in the ‘90’s.

The South Rim Wedding.

Rosemary & I took them all and occasionally they were full, especially the west bus.  One time I am seated and the aisle is full of standing people.  So I get up and offer my seat to somebody.  After I stand up I happen to look toward the back of the bus.  What do I see?  A half dozen other guys were all getting up.  Many of them were Japanese. 

Rosemary even was bummed later in the day because some guy got up and offered her his seat.  “He must think I’m an old lady,” she grumps to me later.

The Stack Wedding Tree

Two more neat events took place on our flight experience.  First, at our SWST gate there was a special desk with 3 ladies.  We were at the end of a long corridor and probably 200 passengers were waiting for flights to Dallas, San Francisco, & two others. 

One of the girls started talking to the mass of people and then asked, “Anybody celebrating a birthday today?”  Across from us Isabella, a shy girl about 11 put up her hand.  The SWST girl got the whole gang to sing to her and then gave her a $25 gift certificate.  Then the SWST girl went through about a dozen trivia question with $25 certificates for the winners.  It was delightful.

The Best Team, Georgie, Buddy, & Leo.

Then on the plane which had come in from somewhere like Jackson Hole, guess whom we saw, Patricia & Fred.   Guess what, the whole plane gave them a rousing round of applause for their 7^th anniversary.  Patricia must have told the flight attendants.  Who else?

Besides these events, blowing me away most of all, the wedding.  Beautiful place and beautiful people.  It was The Best.

And just to show Paul & Carrie how appreciative I am and we are for the memories, and that I told them that I would give them a special gift when we got home, I have The Gift.  A young Shumard Red Oak, a Stack Wedding Tree. 

Only One Cupcake today??   Yep.

Let me remind them, because they have probably already forgotten, the little tree says two things when you look at it.  First, are you having fun together?  From my experience, if you are having fun in your marriage, you won’t end up in my office. 

Secondly, it says that this old geezer truly loves you.

Thanks for The Memories.

Number 1 of 2 elevations.

Readings:

Sirach, 27, 30-28, 7, Hate not your neighbor.  

Psalm 103,  The Lord is Gracious and Merciful, never gets angry and is abounding in Love.  (Wow!)

Romans  13, 7-9,  Whether we live or die, we are the Lord's.

Matthew 18, 21-35   If my brother sins against me, how often must I forgive him?  .. not seven times, but seventy-seven times…

Tuning in.

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Patrica & Jackie & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel,  John Cade

Homily,  Stack 

Eucharistic Prayer A & B, Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike, Ben & Hue, Richard & Tom & David

Final Blessing, Rosemary

For hosting us at Legacy, Becky

Download Readings Week 24

Please Remember these special people:

For Alan Stryker;  For John Doherty with back pain; For Becky's dad who has 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, sister, & friend, Lynn;  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.

The Brain center

Birthdays:    Sandra Pratt, 80;  Claire Zurchin, 35; 

Anniversaries:  Tom & Lynda, 38th

Mark & Julie Anderlick, 8th

A cool neighborhood on a hot day.

Community Finances, September 13, 2020

Expenses: $ 2,830.00

Outreach   $  380.00  (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

Has this broadcast team not arrived at new heights!

Rosemary's Blessing:

May the Lord grant you

       A tolerance for those who don’t agree with you,

       A refusal to judge others,

       A willingness to forgive,

       A calm and hopeful spirit in the midst of anxieties,

       And a holy anger for injustice in the world.

From Seven Sacred Pauses by Macrina Wiedwrkehr

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: Jesus' Entry into Jerusalem at the beginning, John 12, 12-16; then first reading, Isaiah 50, 4-7; Psalm 22; Philippians 2, 6-11; The Passion, Mark 14 & 15.

We have no homily today because the Passion reading from Mark takes up so much time that it is impossible to add a homily.  Next week, Easter Sunday.

Note on palms:

• Egyptians used them to cover mummies.  The palms were considered prophylactics, able to ward off diseases, like our vaccinations.

• Greeks had the goddess Nike bestowing palms on winners of competitions.  There was a legend that palm trees were so strong that they could stand erect even when burdened with a heavy load.  The winners were seen to have overcome heavy loads to win. 

• People in East Africa, Tanzania, Kenya, & Uganda, even today use palm branches and banana plantation leaves to celebrate at parades.

Sources: National Catholic Reporter, NCRonline.org, Fr. Hays, 4-4-09; plus my own experience in East Africa

Picture 1:  Entrance with sprinkling

Picture 2:  Teresas & Zack

Picture 3:  Rosemary with her sister Clare & brother Peter

Readings: Exodus 32, 7-14; Psalm 51; 1 Timothy 1, 12-17; Luke 15, 1-32 (Great Gospel: Prodigal Son).

Exodus: this second book of the Old Testament is a fun read and describes the escape or exit of the Jews from Egypt led by Moses. 

How did they get there in the first place.  It goes back to the 3 big patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob.  Jacob had 12 sons, the youngest and favorite being Joseph.  His brothers, who hated him, sold him to some travelers who took him to Egypt where he became a favorite of the Pharaoh because he interpreted dreams. 

When he had grown up a famine hit Israel and Jacob sent his 11 sons to Pharaoh to beg help.  Guess who is Pharaoh’s chief of staff: Joseph. 

As time passes many Jewish people settle in Egypt and prosper. The Egyptians get jealous and enslave the Jews.  At one point Pharaoh kills all the first born male Jewish babies. Except one: Moses. 

Our selection takes place after the colorful account of Moses’ call and his leading the people out of Egypt and into the desert.  The people have been rebellious and Yahweh not too compassionate.  Yahweh & Moses are having a little dialog.

The Prodigal Son

Because this story is a work of art I would like to explain the story before we read it.  Someone very creative put this masterpiece together and has given us a marvelous insight into the nature of God, especially a God whose love is not conditional, a view that is almost totally different than the view we get in the rest of the bible, both Old & New Testament. 

The story has three main segments and a footnote: the son leaves his home and his father, the son lives in a distant land, the son returns home, and the response of the son who stayed home.  I will make three observations about each phase of the story.  So twelve observations.

First, when the younger son asks for his share of his father’s estate, the people would right away be stunned, because he was due no share.  The second son receives nothing normally.

Secondly, for asking for this share, the father could have had him killed for his insolence and absurd presumption of entitlement.

Thirdly, the people listening would have been doubly astounded when the father divided his property with the son. This was turning the father into a nut, a fool. 

With the property the son sets off for a distant place, the second part of the story. He squanders all the money, and ends up feeding pigs for a stranger.  First, significant is the fact that he goes to a distant country, that is, a foreign place.  But more importantly, and this is the first comment, he squanders the property. This is the patrimony.  By squandering the money, he is symbolically disrespecting his father.

Secondly, he shows disrespect to the Jewish religion by going to a stranger to get a job. In those days, a person in need would go to the temple, which was set up to help their own. Instead, he goes to a local, meaning a Gentile or non-Jew. 

Thirdly, he debases himself by feeding pigs, the animal rejected by Jews. He even longs to eat the pods the pigs were eating. He has become a total outcast.

At this point the son realizes that on his father’s farm even the hired help lived better.  So he puts together a little speech that includes three parts: confessing that he has sinned, that he deserves nothing, and could he be treated as one of the father’s workers.  Off he goes. And now the story gets even more bizarre.

Obviously the father is watching for him, because he sees him a long way off, runs (the father runs!) to the son, embraces him, and kisses him.  The boy begins his speech, but note, the father cuts it off after the first two parts.

Then the father bestows on the horrible son three significant and symbolic gifts, a robe, a ring, and sandals before calling for the fatted calf to be slaughtered.  First, the robe. This is a sign of dignity, totally the opposite of what the boy deserved. Secondly, the ring. A sign of wealth.  Thirdly, the sandals. Only members of the family wore sandals, not the slaves or hired workers.  It signified mobility. The family member could walk away.

To the listeners of this story the father would look like an idiot, crazy, out of his mind. The son was so, so bad he only deserved death. 

Then to complicate life for the father, the older son proceeds to pout and complain. First, this boy, too, now deserves to be killed because of his disobedience and anger. But, and this is the second observation, the father pleads. Fathers don’t plead. Thirdly, the father lets him know how much he loves him by saying all he has is equally the son’s.

The point of all this: God is like the father.

How do you resemble the father?

AUDIO http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-09-16.mp3

Readings:

Acts 6, 1-7,   The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly.

Psalm 33,  Lord, let your mercy be on us, as we place our trust in you.

1 Peter  2, 4-9,  You are a chosen race.

John  14, 1-12,  Do not let your hearts be troubled.

Buddy says, "Welcome, Everybody."

Observations on Acts:

What : The second half of Luke’s work, the first part being his gospel.  Acts starts after the Resurrection.  We will read Acts all through May and read the last selection June 1, then June 7, Pentecost.  The work focuses on the spread of the early church with special attention given to Peter and Paul and their conflicts over who was to be a Christian, and Jewish laws, like circumcision.  The conversion of Paul is described.

Cole says, "Come in, Folks, you are welcome."

Who: Luke, an educated and civilized Jew who wrote in Greek.

Date:  around the year 65, or about 30 years after Jesus’ death.

Our Selection:  growing pains in the early community.

Watch for two special lines in today's readings.  "Do not let your hearts be troubled" and "You are a chosen race."  They are not in Acts.   I want to talk about these lines.

Cole lighting the Easter Candle

Do not let your heart be troubled.  You are a chosen.

I would like to talk this morning about those two lines I mentioned.  “Do not let your hearts be troubled” and, “You are a chosen race.”   I have two propositions.

1.  You and I are the chosen race.  

2.  Everyone, all humans are the chosen race, even those hurting and doing mean things.  

I have seen this.  You have seen this.  Simple things, things we don’t even take account of at the moment.  They come up when we reflect on the blessings of our day or when we take a moment to contemplate.  Here are three little vignettes about people who are chosen, just like you.

Cole says, Hey, somebody just swiped my new hat."

Recently Rosemary, Aviana, and I went for an evening walk on a new stretch of bike trail.  It is a northern extension of the White Rock Creek Trail, our favorite.  It starts at the Hillcrest & Valley View parking lot, goes west under the Hillcrest bridge, takes a right, and follows the White Rock Creek north up to Spring Valley, running behind the large Greek Orthodox Church on Hillcrest.  It will be a delightful trail when it gets finished.

Want to see a picture of trouble, Gil and Sir Charlie.

The evening was one of the few warm ones we had this spring and the trail was longer than we expected.  By the time we got back to the car, Aviana was gassed and thirsty.  We had no water.  We looked in the park.  The water hydrants were turned off for the winter.   

I went off to check some other hydrants.  Rosemary & Aviana stayed near the first hydrant and near the car.  Families and kids were everywhere having picnics and playing. 

Suddenly a Hispanic man came out of the crowd and offered Rosemary a bottle of water for Aviana. 

Offertory, Mike and Judy, Bill and Jerry

This past week our across the street neighbor, Joyce, who is 85, full of life, and whom we visit every day, Joyce goes to Walgreens.  She is checking out and tries to pull her credit card out.  It came out, but with it are all her other cards. 

The cashier tries to help her stick them back in her bag.  Without knowing it, Joyce drops a few of the cards on the floor, one of which is her Chase Bank card.  She pays and leaves.

Cupcakes of The Week to Fred, Doug, Monica and Richard, Cole and Hue.

She crosses the parking lot and is approaching her car.  Suddenly from behind she hears a man saying, “Ma’am, ma’am.”  She turns around and a tall black man is coming toward her.  He is bringing her dropped cards to her, including the Chase card.  He gives them to her and even refuses to take a cash reward she offers.

The third vignette took place in Strasbourg, France, another French story, again in a little grocery shop, again at the checkout counter. 

Rob & Beth, "Who made that noise??"

This time Rosemary & I are approaching the counter with maybe 2 or 3 items.  We arrive a step behind a little French lady with a cart partially loaded.  She does not push on ahead of us.  Instead, she smiles at us and invites us to go first. 

I am touched by all three of these events.  They take place every day and everywhere.  We live with a chosen race.  Don’t let your heart be  troubled, because you are part of the chosen.

Where and when do you see this?

Shonda, singing God Bless America at The Ballpark in Arlington this afternoon, sees herself on the jumbo screen.

Readings: Genesis 2, 18-24; Psalm 128, May the Lord bless Us all the Days of Our Lives; Hebrews 2, 9-11; Mark 10, 2-16.

Genesis:

Date of Compilation: Most likely during the Babylonian Captivity, i.e., around 600-550 BCE.  But the material for the sources was coming together over 200 years.

Authors:  4 major sources–

The J or Y source (for Yahweh), coming from Judah, the southern half of the divided Jewish state after Solomon's death.

The E source (for Elohim), coming from Israel, the northern half of the Jewish state which was destroyed by the Assyrians ca. 700 BCE.

The D source (from Deuteronomy), coming from the revisions of the prophet Jeremiah's & his companions.

The P source (from the priests), which or who during the Babylonian time took the material from the first 3 sources, wove them together, edited them. 

How do you know: by text analysis, noting different styles of writing, place references (e.g. mention of the Tigris & Euphrates in our chapter 2, which says "Babylon."), event references, people references, and agendas behind the stories (e.g. Sabbath & Creation Story #1).

Subject Matter: A panorama stretching from the two stories of creation, through The Fall, Cain & Abel, Noah & the flood, the Tower of Babylon, the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, Joseph and his jealous brothers, Joseph as governor of Egypt & his brothers' visit & eventual migration to Egypt. 

Our Selection: we will read the whole of creation story #2, chapter 2.  The story comes from the Y or J source, but note the mention of the Tigris & Euphrates, which a person in Babylon would appreciate  ( A clue that a priestly source has inserted a geographic reference.  Why would a Jewish high priest be familiar with Babylonian rivers?  Babylonian Captivity. ).

Hebrews: We will read from Hebrews for the next 6 weeks (excluding All Saints), right up to the feast of Christ the King, which marks the end of the liturgical year.  Then we begin Advent and a new liturgical year.

Author: unknown, but he wrote excellent Greek.  Not Paul.

When Written: 85-95 CE, i.e., 50 plus years after Jesus' death

Subject: superiority of Christ.  Rather convoluted.

Sources St. Louis U. Sundays, John Shelby Spong

Concerning Divorce, Remarriage, & Adultery

After hearing what was said about divorce and remarriage, I can imagine you are thinking, "Okay, Stack, what are you going to say about this topic?"  I intend to talk about it.  But first, a story.

The first week of September Rosemary & I went to Seattle to be part of Gloria Eshelbrenner's wedding.  Since it was our first trip to Seattle, we traveled there on Monday.  We had been told that we would not need to rent a car because our little B & B was close to the center of town.  Great. 

So I am looking at transportation from the airport, shuttle, Gray Line tour bus, or city bus for ca. $2.  Guess which I suggested to Rosemary.  It is not only the cheapest, but the most adventurous.  We took the Gray Line.  Which deposited us in the center of town, where we walked a block or so, having an ice cream along the way, to a city bus, which turned out to be an electric bus.  Great. 

Half way along the route our electric bus breaks down.  The overhead pulley disconnected from the electric cable and the driver could not reconnect it. 

We had been talking with people around us and when we stopped a number tried to help us find where we were going.  Finally a guy stepped forward, asked the address, said he thought he lived close to our address, and told us to follow him. 

We walked up hill, caught another electric bus, rode a mile or so, got off, turned up a street, and the guys said, "There is your house.  I live in that house across the street."  We were touched by the hospitality of the people on the bus and especially of this new neighbor. 

I remember this incident when I reflect on the words of Jesus, "whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."  Strong words.  Five comments: Jesus' words, hospitality, Mark's environment, Mark's intention, for us.

First, you may put your money on it that these words are not words of Jesus.  Students of the bible consider almost no words directly attributed to Jesus to be his exact words. 

Why?  Because Mark did not know Jesus and he is writing from oral sources 30 years after Jesus' death.  They had no recording machines in those days.  Can you remember what happened 30 years ago?  Super Bowl winner?  Pittsburg.  President?  Carter.  Big news?  Ayatolloh Khomeini held embassy hostages.  A prophet of that time?  MLK had been killed in '68.  We can remember his line, "I have a Dream,' because it has been repeated so often. 

Secondly, Jesus' main message about God: hospitable, like those people in Seattle.  He talks hospitality, inclusion, not exclusion, acceptance, not rejection.  E.g., Prodigal Son, to name only one.

Thirdly, Mark's environment.  Bible students think whoever put this booklet together wrote for Gentile Christians living in the Roman Empire, probably in Rome or Antioch, Greece.  He (she unlikely) wrote just after the destruction of Jerusalem & the temple by the Romans after a failed Jewish revolt, 70 CE.  More persecution was expected throughout the Empire.  (Note that the Jews never again had possession of Jerusalem until 1948 when it was granted them by the Allies after WW II & the Holocaust)

Fourth, Mark's intention: encourage these Gentile Christians living in probably Rome to remain faithful despite coming troubles.  One method: keep families united.  Don't break up.  Marriages were arranged by families at this time.  Kids did not choose their parent, kids did not choose their spouses.  Marriage strengthened bonds for self defense and economic survival.  Divorce ruptured these bonds, not just between the couple.  Remarriage caused even more contention.  Thus, divorce & remarriage is strongly discouraged for even survival reasons.

Fifth: for ourselves.  Context vs basic message.

A.  Understand the context of our passage, Mark's background and intention.

B.  Consider this the ideal, the infinite demand.

C.  Remember the basic Christian message: God's infinite acceptance &  hospitality, like the people in Seattle.

What have you gotten for yourself from these observations?

Picture 1:  The Choir, Shonda, Celeste, & Ray

Picture 2:  Birthdays & Anniversaries, Frank, Richard & Sheila

Picture 3:  Denni reading Genesis

Picture 4:  Tom Reading Hebrews