Sunday Homily 3-8-09, 2nd Lent
Readings: Genesis 22; Psalm 116; Romans 8, 31-34; Mark 9, 2-10.
Genesis:
Reminders: First book of the Bible, going from Creation, Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah & the Ark, Tower of Babel, up to our selection today, the first of the 3 Patriarchs of Israel, Abraham (plus Isaac & Jacob, also called Israel). Multiple authors, put together from, say, 1000 to 500 BCE.
Today's Selection: We jump from last week's story of Noah and the promise Yahweh made to him of no more floods, signed with a rainbow, to Abraham, the first of the 3 Patriarchs. In some ways this is an astounding story. Remember it is fable, a vision of God had by one person or a few people, then written down after it passed around orally for many decades.
Transfigurations
Last Monday Bob McGrath, Bill Hammond, & I had lunch with 50 college kids in the yard of a Christian church in San Leon, Texas. Folks, I bring you good news this morning. These kids, from St. Bonaventure U., Buffalo, were dedicating their spring break week to hurricane recovery work in the the Galveston area.
San Leon, which I had never heard of, is a tiny coastal village not on the Gulf like Galveston, but on the southwest corner of Galveston Bay. The bay is shaped like a vertical football. At the toe, right side or southeast, is Galveston slanting up the right side. San Leon is just above the toe on the other side, the left side or south west. It faces directly east into the bay. Houston is a mass on the northwest corner or the upper left. In September last year San Leon got hammered by Hurricane Ike and had water 6 to 8 feet high over the village. It is a mostly poor community without even a police force. So it had a lot of crack shacks, which were wiped out, to the local population's delight.
We were having lunch in the church yard after spending the morning picking up trash in the drainage ditches on either side of a 3 mile, straight road that headed directly into the bay. At one point after the food had arrived, bread, peanut butter, jelly, and some granola bars, someone said, "Food is ready, come and get it." And everyone got up and began helping themselves around the food table.
I was standing back a bit and noticed another boy was standing back with me. I said to him, "You better get over there before all the food is gone." His reply stunned me. He said, "I'll let the others get their food and then I can get mine." I was really moved by this tall kid's sensitivity and I told him so. In fact, we had evening sharing sessions, some of which I got roped into coordinating. I shared with the whole 50 what had touched me, one of my blessings of the day.
I was touched again later that afternoon. It was 3:30 and the 25 or so kids I was working with picking up the trash were pooping out. I'm thinking we either call it a day or take a break and then put in another hour. I pass out water bottles trying to get a feel. Suddenly ahead of us a guy pulls out on the road with his little tractor & big trailer and asks help to clean the trash out of a forest off his property. Like an 8 foot wave passed through & back leaving all sorts of garbage everywhere. We talk about it and decide the group will split in two, half continuing with the drainage ditches, the other half cleaning the forest.
Everyone jumps in with renewed energy despite the fatigue. At the end of the hour during which we loaded the guy's trailer perhaps five times with mountains of trash, I am ready to call it, when the guys find a big pile of trash crowned by a fiberglass boat. I am suggesting we leave it because the trash is endless, but those kids wanted to load the trailer one more time and get that boat out of there. They did, and they even unloaded the trailer on the road edge. (check Friday's blog for pictures of the boat and the lunch)
This spirit of generosity and sharing characterized the whole week and repeatedly humbled me. The evening sessions carried us to a new level. I felt I was walking sacred ground with sacred people. In fact, I was.
Two other phenomena touched me unexpectedly. First was where we stayed. University Baptist Church. Apparently the month after Ike hit Galveston and volunteers started showing up to help clean up and repair, University Baptist, a small, probably 100 seat modern brick church, began to house volunteers. When our 50 plus arrived there were already 17 members of another team on the premises. What the church did for us was they handed over their church as a dormitory for the kids, a row of chairs down the middle, boys on one side, girls on the other, cots everywhere. They had a trailer with shower rooms for males & females, 4 showers per set. They had installed a portable building in which were housed another 30 people, including some of us.
This week the church plans to house 100 more university students spending spring break. In fact, to help accommodate the number, I had a team of about 6 regulars and lots of passer bys sanding & painting 17 Army surplus bunk beds that would augment the cots. I don't even know where the 100 will all go. What I do know is that I was again humbled by the amazing spirit of this little community.
Then, finally, the group of 17 men. They were Baptists from Springtown in Fort Worth, all old geezers who are retired or semi-retired. They know plumbing, electricity, carpentry, all the needed talents. They can do a make over in days. In fact, the church where we ate in San Leon had been helped by a similar group. In 5 days that group had demolished the remains of the former church building and built up a delightful, simple, brick facade church with bathrooms and auxiliary rooms.
I bring good news this morning, folks. I was hit over the head by these people. I witnessed transfiguration. Despite all the gloom these days, people, kids are transforming their environment and themselves. At the beginning of Lent, I mentioned trying sensitivity and service. I am privileged & have been made richer by this week.
Your Transfiguration?
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-01.mp3
Picture 1: Lunch in church yard, San Leon, TX, "Come & get it."
Picture 2: Jim Mahar(Faculty sponsor), Rob (guy at lunch), J.S., Pastor Billy, Bob, & Bill
Picture 3: Mike painting army surplus cots for 100 incoming spring break volunteers this week
Click on this link to see a Houston TV special on the work in Galveston:
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6686990&rss=rss-ktrk-article-6686990
