Announcements

Isaiah 66:   They shall bring all your brothers and sisters from all the nations as an offering to the Lord …

Hebrews 12:  So strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees.  Make straight paths for your feet, that what is lame may not be disjointed but healed.

Luke 13:  For behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.

John asking us to recall our blessings of the past week

Thanks…

Music,    Ben & Shonda

Readers,  Connie & John

Gospel,   John Cade

Homily,  John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,      Hue & Richard & Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Connie reading from Isaiah
                 

Readings:  Download 08-21-22- Readings – 21st Sunday Ord

Homily:  

John reading from Paul's letter to the Hebrews

Remember these special people:

For Jan; For Sandra who has been diagnosed with Large B Cell Lymphoma;   For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer and Kaliope, John Cade's Mother-in-law;  For Hue; For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey recovering from a fall;    For Tom Good;  For a young man, 19 struggling with a brain tumor and cancer;     For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie & Jan; 

Linda

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren;     For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & friends, Annie, a mom of 3 kids and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Connie and John

Birthdays:   Marilyn Ackerman 8/26

Anniversaries:   

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $   2,370.00

Outreach: $   125.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.

The Kiss of Peace, Ben, Cody, Richard and Aggie

Rosemary's Blessing:  

Special Reminder for Holy Thursday & Good Friday:

Place: Marlene's home, 2017 Keystone Place, Plano

Time: 7:00 P.M.

Thanks for the hospitality, Marlene

Guess Who!   Congratulations, Wendy, Brandon and Atlas Xavier Hartsell (8 lbs 15 ounces.)

Readings: Wisdom 18, 6-9; Psalm 33; Hebrews 11, 1-19; Luke 12, 32-48.

Wisdom: this book is one of the 12 special books only finally approved by the Catholic Church at the Council of Trent in 1546.  Martin Luther, for instance, did not think the 12 books were genuine.  Whatever the case, the 12 books are in a special section of our bible after the Old Testament.

The book we are reading from today contains traditional Jewish and Greek ideas about life, basically saying that God rewards those faithful to him & punishes you know whom.

What are You Afraid of?

When I was about sixteen, I came home from the old Jesuit High School one afternoon probably in the spring.  Nobody was home, not even my sister as far as I can remember. My dad was at work. My mom was at one of her afternoon bridge clubs and had gone with one of her friends because her baby blue Pontiac was in the garage. 

After hanging around a bit and getting bored, I decided I was going to go visit a friend and use my mom’s car. Mom, however, did not like me using her car, so I could not find her keys. Now in those days all of us kids knew how to run a car without keys. It was called hot wiring a car. You used tin foil on the back of the key slot under the dash. 

So I hot wired my mom’s big Pontiac, pulled out of the driveway onto Stanford, and turned toward Preston Road. Arriving at the corner the car stalls. For five minutes I am working on the key slot to start the car, all to no avail, when a car coming north on Preston turns into Stanford. A lady is driving.  I know that lady and sitting next to her, my mom.

The master had returned and the servant was unprepared. In fact, the servant was caught red handed.

I never got that car started and, in fact, had to pay my hard earned paper route money to get it towed and fixed. I had shorted out some wires. I don’t remember my mom ever saying anything, but I was humiliated. 

I remembered this incident when I read about the master & the servant. I have some observations about these readings.

First, I don’t see our God as a thief who is trying to catch us off guard. He is not a strict master who is looking to catch us red handed and beat us. 

Secondly, I don’t see us as servants. In fact, in John’s gospel Jesus says he does not call us servants, but friends. In today’s psalm it says, "Blessed the people the Lord has chosen to be his own.  We are his chosen.  So is everyone.

To see this parable in a positive light, I would go back to last week when we talked about life being a gift.  When it says that the Lord will come at an hour we do not expect, I propose that the gift comes at moments and in packages we do not expect.  Appreciation is the goal and the process. It involves being sensitive and reflective.

One of the best lines in the whole gospel today is the very first line where Jesus says, "Do not be afraid any longer." This means I do not have to be afraid of God, afraid of death, afraid of getting caught red handed, or afraid of missing the gifts of the moment. 

I’ll always remember how stupid I felt when my mom came around that corner and saw me in her car, broken down. She did not tear into me, and neither do we have a god who is a thief or master who will beat us. 

So what are you afraid of?

"Welcome in, Everybody," from Carol Ann & Doug, David & Caroline.

 Readings:

Jonah 3, 1-5, 10,  The word of the Lord came to Jonah (a fun story)

Psalm 25,  Teach me your ways, O Lord

Corinthians 7, 29-31,   The time is running out.

Mark 1, 14-20, Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.  

Mother & Daughter, Connie & Jessica.  Welcome home, Jessica.

In our first reading, the word of the Lord came to Jonah; he was to call the people of Nineveh to turn from their evil ways.

Our second reading from 1 Corinthians is reminding us what is really important;

be Christ in the world.

Hi, Leo. 

Homily:  Mike  

The first words in our reading from the Mark gospel were a call given by Jesus of Nazareth to follow him to Jerusalem, ‘The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, and welcome and live the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Jesus then calls Peter and Andrew and James and John, to leave their nets and follow him, to become fishers of men.   It is important to realize that the inspired writers of all four gospels began each gospel with a summary of the important teachings that they had presented within their gospels. 

Leo??  Anybody seen Leo around?

Today’s reading is about the enhancement that the early Church made to the sabbath synagogue service of Judaism to form the Christian Liturgy of the Word.

During the Babylonian captivity the sabbath synagogue service began to come into existence, for the Jews were in exile, the temple was a long way off, and it had been destroyed.  This service of worship and instruction was implemented and Judaism did survive; its worship and its religious instruction that had been handed down to each following generation had become the glue that held the Jews together.

Welcome to the Choir, Emma.  You sing beautifully.

At the time of Jesus of Nazareth, it was a service each sabbath with Psalms to be sung to worship God, a readings that was an expectation from the Law and Prophets for the coming of the Messiah, and a teaching on that same reading given by an elder or scribe, if possible.

With that in mind, listen how our early Church chose to enhance the sabbath synagogue service for the Church’s Liturgy of the Word and show, at the same time, the sacred relationship that would always exist between Judaism and Christianity:

Our Candle Man of The Week, Ben, at work.

In today’s reading, Jesus entered the synagogue and taught, and we are told that by the power and authority of the Holy Spirit he astounded those at the service for his teaching of the Good News was unlike those given by the scribes. The scribe could only give a teaching on the  expectation of the passage; Jesus’ words gave a fulfillment of the expectation.  

This fulfillment was followed by a spiritual instruction given on the fulfillment [like the one you are reading].   The inspired writers of a complementary parable Story about this enhancement, given in the Luke gospel, put the fulfillment of an expectation on the coming of the Messiah from Isaiah this way:  Jesus stood up after the reading from Isaiah in the synagogue service saying, ‘This day these words are being fulfilled in your hearing.’  

The Team, Leo, Georgie, Buddy, and Deacon Mike, waiting to share his homily.

Something to think about:   Yesterday’s Sabbath Synagogue Service, at one location, began with Hymns and Blessings, and a reading from the Torah from a calendar of readings that stretches over one complete lunar year.

Mike, scoping out the landscape.

1 Samuel 1:  Before the year was out, Hannah had conceived and given birth to a son. She named him Samuel, explaining, "I asked God for him."

1 John 3: What marvelous love the Father has extended to us! Just look at it – we're called children of God!

Luke 2:  Every year Jesus' parents traveled to Jerusalem for the Feast of Passover.  When he was twelve years old, they went up as they always did for the Feast.

Another Reminder for the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, December 29, 2024

2 Kings 4:  This time next year you will be fondling a baby son.

Romans 6:  …you too must think of yourselves as dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus.

Matthew 10:  And whoever gives only a cup  of cold water to one of these little ones to drink because the little one is a disciple – amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.

Cody reading from 2nd Kings

Thanks…     

Music,    Shonda & Ben 

Readers,  Cody & Mary

Homily,   John Stack

Eucharistic Prayer A & B,  John Stack & John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers,   Kevin

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Mary reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans

Readings: Download 07-02-23 Readings -13th Ordinary

Homily: 

Jackie reading her homily

Remember these special people:

For Jan Keszler's Family; For Sandra Pratt's family;  For Cindy Cramer's family;  For the family of Ron Senter;   For Meredith  whose cancer has come back;  For Tom  Quinn who had back surgery on November 21st; For Lambrini, John Cade's wife, who is dealing with cancer ;  For Madeleine, Richard Eshelbrenner's granddaughter;  For Hue; For Jackie;  For John's sister, Kathey recovering from a fall;   For Tom Good;   For Mary Hall's friend Cadence still suffering from a serious medical condition;   For Sir Charlie;  For Ron ;  For Teresa Quinn's niece, Maddie who has a brain tumor;

Jackie's mom, sister, & friend, Lynn;  For Rick Turner searching for a kidney donor, Type O neg.;   For Jean & Cliff Wright;  For Dee, and for her daughters, Lisa & Lauren;  For a young man who is suffering from depression;  John Cade's daughter, Joey, with cancer; from Barbara, a little baby boy named Ford recuperating from an operation & the families of Annie and Michael ;    for the medical staffs, teachers, and coaches in our public & private schools.

Connie and John

Birthdays: Brent Burmaster 7/6, Paul Bieda 7/8

Anniversaries:  

Community Finances:   

Expenses: $  680.00

Outreach: $   360.00

Thanks again, Folks, for doing what you can.