Sunday Homily, May 4, 08, 7th of Easter & Ascension

Readings: Genesis 9, 8-15; Psalm 25; 1 Peter 3, 18-22; Mark 1, 12-15

Genesis:  First book of the Bible, starts with creation, goes through Adam & Eve, Cain & Abel, Noah & the flood, the Tower of Babel, & ends with the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob (Israel).

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.

Time: compiled and put together from 1000 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.

40 Days

I want to talk about Genesis.  Picture this.  It is night.  Moon & stars.  Sitting around a little campfire are 3 or 4 families, parents and a half dozen kids.  It is Maybe 1000 years before Christ.  It  is perfectly quiet except for the howl of a few animals out in the complete darkness.

A little girl says to her parents, "Where did that moon come from?  The stars?  Where did we come from?"  The parents tell her about the stories they heard from their elders.

They say: Before people were here the earth was all desolate.  It was dark & cold & waters were raging.  God came along one day and decided to put some order into this mess.  So he got up the next morning and divided up the daylight and the dark.

The next day he got up and created the dome of the sky.  The third day he created the earth and starts plants growing.  The day after that he sets up the sun, the moon, and the stars.  On the fifth day he puts together fish and birds and tell them to multiply.  The sixth day he really has to work hard: animals and especially man & woman.  By now he is tired, so he takes the seventh day off and enjoys his work.  This is the first account of creation in Genesis.

Now at another campfire many miles away a little boy is asking his family the same question.  He is told another story.  One day, say, Elohim is walking on a dirt path (like everyone did.  No pavement).  He leans down grabs a handful, wets it, and molds it into a new form, something with two legs, two arms, and a head.  A man. 

This man is given life and gets put into a marvelous garden with only one command.  Don't eat from that tree.  Time goes on and animals are created which the man names.  However, the man is lonely, so God takes a rib out of his side and molds it into another human  form.  This one, however, is female and becomes man's partner.  The man names her Eve, the mother of all.  This is the second creation story.

At this point in time all is copasetic.  One day, however, while Eve is strolling around the Garden of Eden, a snake begins to talk with her.  Eventually the snake convinces her to try the fruit of the tree.  Uh, oh.  Then she shares it with the Man, now called Adam.  Later, God comes strolling along in the evening and has to call out for Adam & Eve, who are hiding.  He knows what they have done.  They confess and he tells them they will be forever punished with difficult living.  So they get kicked out of Eden.

Adam & Eve have kids.  Cain first, Abel second.  One day both boys make an offering to God.  Unfortunately for some reason, Cain's offering is rejected by God.  He is hurt and gets mad because his brother is accepted.  He kills Abel.  Then he, too, gets punished by God. 

Time passes and apparently many more of Adam & Eve's kids turn out like Cain.  In fact, God becomes so mad, so disappointed in his new creature man, that he regrets what he has done and decides to wipe everyone off the face of the earth–except one guy, Noah.  At this time, Noah is 500 years old.  He builds a boat and it rains 40 days.  Which takes us up to today's reading, where the water has receded and God promises he will never kill everyone with a flood again, signing his name with a rainbow. 

I tell these mythological stories for four reasons.

First, we seldom hear or read these marvels.

Secondly, though it is not in the Genesis reading we have, there is a thread between this part of Genesis 9 and Mark and today: the 40 days.  Forty is a special number in the old times meaning a sufficient number.  It rained 40 days.  Jesus is in the desert 40 days.  And we are spending 40 days of Lent.

Thirdly, when Jesus came out of the desert he really throws himself into his message, which contains 4 points in Mark:

• The Time is now.

• The Kingdom is here.

• Repent.

• Believe the Good News

Fourthly, for centuries up until Vatican 2, the 40 days of Lent focused on fasting and abstinence to imitate Jesus and to do penance for our bad ways.  It was supposed to be a cleansing before Holy Week and Easter and a test of character. 

Fasting usually meant giving up meals.  Abstinence meant giving up a particular item, like Blue Bell or chocolate chip cookies.  I found one amusing note:Thomas Aquinas, one of the great doctors of the Catholic Church who lived ca. 1250, suggested that the faithful abstain from meat, eggs, and dairy.  Why?  Because they were aphrodisiacs and generated lust.  Food, alcohol, tobacco, and sex were all targets of the Church.

Today Mormons fast 1 day per month.  Muslims fast dawn to dusk the month of Ramadan which is August 22-September 20 this year.  This fast often includes liquids. 

Last week I suggested for a positive Lent we might practice sensitivity and service.  This week we might fast, since this has been the hot topic.  Maybe a fast from guilt and stress.

How is Lent going for you?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2009-03-01.mp3

Sources:  Wikipedia on Lent & Fasting; Dominican Website; Creighton U. Spiritual Seminar; St. Raymond Church, Dublin, CA.

Picture 1:  Mass with Reed (3 weeks new)

Picture 2:  Reed with his momma Nikki & granny Jackie

Picture 3: Stacie McKinley, Reed with Jackie & Nikki, Ryan (Nikki's brother & Jackie's son); Rosemary, & Margie Duggan

Picture 4:  Mass with Noah helping

Readings: Acts of the Apostles  2, 1-11; Psalm 104, Lord, send out your Spirit, and renew the Face of the Earth; 1 Corinthians 12, 3-13; John 20, 19-23

Intro to the readings

 I would just like to draw your attention to the reading we have today from Acts of the Apostles.  Luke is very clever in the way the scene is described and unless we are aware, much of what he is doing can easily be missed.  We will be told that there were “pious Jews from every nation living in Jerusalem”.  Even though this Feast of Weeks, Pentecost, was one of the three major Jewish pilgrimage feasts when the Jews would have traveled to Jerusalem, these Jews that Luke mentions are actually “living” in Jerusalem, not just visiting.  And he goes on to list what is most likely all of the places that the Jews would have been scattered to over the many invasions they have experienced, in other words this is the “Diaspora” the scattered Jews. 

 It has dawned on me that to really understand a lot of the subtleties in the New Testament it would help to be Jewish!  Today is Pentecost Sunday.  The word pente means fifty.  And so we are counting backwards and I always thought it was back to the resurrection, but in Luke’s mind it was counting back to the Feast of Passover.  Passover for the Jew was “the moment” when Yahweh freed his people from slavery in Egypt.  For the Christian, it is Jesus’ death and resurrection, laid right on top of this feast of Passover.  Now for the counting bit, and the Jews did in fact count the days from the Passover to the next most important event, described in the Book of Exodus chapter 19 v 16ff, namely the time Moses receives the Torah, the Ten Commandments!  How was that event described, we are told of the sound of thunder and God descending in the form of fire, this was the Old Covenant between God and His People.  Now it is quite common in the bible to have the sound of thunder or wind used when God appears, but nowhere else do both this sound and fire appear together except at Mount Sinai and today in the room with the disciples!

 Speaking about Moses, for Luke, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promise.  When Jesus is baptized and receives the Holy Spirit, Luke immediately gives us this long genealogy of Jesus and Luke takes it all the way back not just to Abraham, but to Adam!  Now we look in the other direction and Luke has Jews from every nation present for the gift of the Spirit.

Pentecost Sunday – Homily

 If today’s gospel sounds familiar, it should, because it is a shorter version of our gospel reading from the Second Sunday of Easter.  It is a similar description of the gift of the Holy Spirit, which we also have in the reading from the Acts of the Apostles.  Today we celebrate the birthday of the Church.  It is the day the church officially recognizes the coming of the Holy Spirit on the apostles from today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles. 

 The Holy Spirit is third person in the Trinity.  That is about as much as can be said without wandering into heresy of some sort!  But what we can do is talk about the effects of the Holy Spirit.  We see in today’s readings that it totally transformed the disciples from fear to faith!  But if we look around other places we find the Spirit descending on Jesus at his baptism and then He begins his public ministry.  The big discussion in John’s gospel was that until Jesus left the Holy Spirit could not come.

 If we think about Luke’s description from our first reading, he takes only four verses to describe the descent of the Holy Spirit, very brief. He is mostly interested in describing the results brought about in the disciples by that event.  And I think it makes sense for us to do the same.  We have been promised the Holy Spirit, we receive the Holy Spirit and so the question is – so what now, what happens, how are we different?

 There was an interesting little event described in the Old Testament Book of Numbers chapter 20.  The folks have been wandering in the desert for a few months, and they have arrived at a place where there is no water.  God tells Moses to take a branch and strike a rock.  Unfortunately Moses kind of thought it was up to him, and so when he hit the rock the first time, nothing happens, so he hits it again.  He got in trouble, because it seems he was thinking that the miracle was going to happen by his efforts.  For me this is a powerful lesson about God and each one of us.  Remember, the gift of relationship with God is a freely given gift, and our response is really and truly free.  We have many great stories from the Old Testament of how many times the people strayed from their covenant with God, and each time when they got into trouble they came crawling back.  They are not too different from us. We can too easily forget that God is in charge.  When we do that, forget who is in charge, we get into all kinds of trouble and fear.  Then we start to worry about stuff that we have no control over.  I believe that is where the disciples were in our readings today, in fear, forgetting that Jesus had told them he would be with them.

 Sometimes when I look at the church today, I see the same thing happening.  The church authorities seem to have forgotten about the presence of the Spirit and instead try to keep the folk in line with rules and threats.  The problem is that threats only work with little kids and only for a short while.  Adults will ignore threats. 

I believe that the Spirit is very much present in each one of us.  But He can only be present when we acknowledge that He is in charge.  When we try to run things, then the messes happen!  We tend to forget that Jesus did tell us he would be with us.  And when we do forget, it seems that then we are in charge.  It was when Paul became helpless by blindness that he was able to listen.  And we know how effective he became once he allowed the spirit to work in and thru him.  This weekend, as we celebrate the birthday of the church, we might we ask ourselves, who is in charge!

Picture 1:   Mass Begins

Picture 2:   The Team

Picture 3:   Communion Volunteers, Joanne, Jackie, Mike, Nancy, Jan, Don, John, & Patricia

Picture 4:   Communion with Nancy & Tony, Richard & Bernadette

Picture 5:   The Kites, Doug & Julie & Emily on their 25th Anniversary

Readings: Isaiah 49, 14-15; Psalm 62, Rest in God alone, my Soul; 1 Corinthians 4, 1-5; Matthew 6, 24-34.

Isaiah reminders—

 Author: This is Isaiah #2, the composer of chapters 40-55.  January 6 we had a first reading from this same chapter 49, verses 4-5, talking about Yahweh’s people being a servant and light to the nations.  I talked about the taxi driver whose son had been killed for his pickup truck in Cuernavaca.

 Date:  Ca. 575 before Christ.  The Jewish people of Jerusalem are defeated, crushed, & in the Babylonian Captivity.  Isaiah #3, chapters 56-66, is writing after the Babylonian Captivity.

 Today’s Message: Even though life is bad, Yahweh says he will never forget his people, somewhat similar to the reading from January 6.

Sources: Good News Bible

Don’ Worry About Tomorrow? 

 Yesterday afternoon I did a funeral celebration for a lady named Rebecca Sides.  It took place at Turrentine Funeral Home on Ridgeview.  She died of cancer at 58. 

 I did not ever know Rebecca personally.   I knew her through Jean Atwood’s son Sean, who married one of Rebecca’s three daughters, Terra.  Rebecca was the payroll supervisor for the city of Plano, so there were numerous Plano City people there, including her supervisor and an assistance police chief, both of whom gave excellent talks. 

 Of all the things I heard about Rebecca the quality that struck me the most was the way she had her priorities in order.  Her number one priority was her family.  She seemed like the family matriarch, a magnetic force that brought members together, especially her 4 grand kids. 

 I talk about her because she exemplified what Matthew’s two lessons are trying to teach us today and what he has been trying to teach us all during this sermon on the mount.  Namely, getting our priorities in order.

 I want to say a word about each of Matthew’s points, serving two masters and not worrying about tomorrow.  One preliminary reminder.

 Matthew is again using exaggeration, hyperbole, and infinite demand to convey his message.  Do you not want to say, ‘Are you nuts, are you crazy?’  There is another half, infinite acceptance, like the line, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, never gets angry, and is abounding in love.”  Psalm 103 & other places. 

 First, ‘Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, your body, what you will wear.  All these things will be given to you.’  Everyone can see this is like crazy.  And this is the negative aspect.  So it all gets dismissed. 

 The positive is the word  ‘worry’ repeated four times and the reference to the birds and flowers.  We can have our priorities and goals without worry.  We can emulate the birds and flowers to a point.  Worry leads to anxiety, to high blood pressure, and to strokes. 

 Secondly, the idea that we cannot serve two masters.  The negative part of this lesson is that it is either/or, black or white, God or mammon.  More exaggeration. 

 More positively, do we not serve a number of masters in our life?  God may be an ultimate master.  Do we not have numerous sub-masters?  Could it be possible I am my own master?  I wonder.

 All these lessons seem to be telling us to get our priorities in order.  From what I heard, Rebecca had hers in order.

 What are your 3 biggest priorities in life?

 Picture 1:   Leo with his baby sitter, Lynda  

 Picture 2:   Marlene & Cindy

 Picture 3:   Penny

 Picture 4:   Zoe

Readings:  

Exodus 24, 3-8, We will do everything the Lord has told us.

Psalm 116, I will take the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

Hebrews 9, 11-15, The tent in which Christ serves is greater & more perfect. 

Mark 14, 12-16, 22-26, Where do you want us to go & get the Passover meal ready.

Chloe, the dancer, in mid-dance

Exodus:   8 points on the readings, including 2 on Exodus, 4 on points related to the readings, & 2 more on Exodus

    1.  This is the 2nd book of the Torah/Pentateuch, the first section of the Old Testament.  Deuteronomy, which we visited last week, is the 5th & last book.  Genesis is the first book.    

2.  Story: This is a fabulous and entertaining fable that tells how the Israelites got out of slavery in Egypt with the leadership of Moses. 

    3.  Passover: the night the angel passed over the first born male children of the Jews because they had smeared lamb's blood on their door posts.  But the angel killed all the Egyptian first born sons to make Pharaoh let the people go.  Remember, this is not history, rather like a fable, like Aesop's Fables.  There is a story about the burning bush in the Holy Land, for tourists.  Tourists are told this bush was the bush that burst into flame and from which Yahweh spoke to Moses.

Remember this Habitat House from the Friday community bulletin? Don't recognize it? This is stage 3, the wall coverings.

    4.  Covenant vs Contract: in a contract two parties agree to do something.  If one fails, the contract is often null.  In a covenant two people agree, and even if one party fails, the other party honors the covenant.  The Covenant between Yahweh & the People:  the people will honor Yahweh as their only god; Yahweh will protect and care for them as his chosen, and bring them into a new land.

    5.  Sacrifice & holocaust: ancient tribal belief that I must offer to my god (s) things precious to me to appease the god's anger or win his favor, for example, with animals, prisoners, and the most beautiful girl in the community.  Jesus was seen as this sacrifice to appease the god, and also as the high priest who usually performed the sacrifice.  Thus the emphasis on blood & death.  Today scripture scholars as well as ordinary folks don't believe any more in a God who was so angry that he demanded special sacrifice.  We do not have a vengeful, angry God.

    6.  12 tribes: the 12 sons of the patriarch Jacob (or Israel; the 3 patiarchs were Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob-Israel).

Mass with John Ross Sima, working in Peru, and Jack Podsiadlo, running a Nativity Jesuit school in NYC.

    7.  Author & Date of Exodus: not Moses.  Rather a compilation of material from different centuries, that was mostly put together after the Babylonian Captivity, e.g., ca. 550 BCE.

    8.  Our Selection from Exodus: the people have been wandering in the desert and are now being given laws and customs they must observe.  The Covenant is being sealed.

The Mass being celebrated in Bob Baxter's century old family house in New Orleans.

The Eucharist in daily life

Folks, it has been an amazing five weeks of peak human experiences for Rosemary and me, like champagne events.  Two weddings, two reunions, and Andy’s memorial right in the middle week, the one Sunday I have been here in the past five.  Each of these experiences has given me a deeper appreciation of life and friendship. 

Rosemary had her fun family reunion in NJ coupled with the 5 Boro Bike Tour of NY, we along with 33 thousand others. 

Jerry McCaffery & Jim Miles meeting after many years

The next weekend we celebrated Jessica Bresson’s wedding in CT.  Two weeks ago we celebrated Kate Banzhaf’s wedding in CO Springs. 

Then, last weekend a reunion of the S.J. class with whom I spent the first 7 years of my Jesuit life.  We gathered in New Orleans, my former home office, which in itself was quite emotional.  I love the city, have not been back in over 10 years, and could see all those Katrina scenes from television in my mind.  Many of us spent a lot of time with the refugees who ended up in Reunion Arena.

Paul Montgommery & his wife, Lilia, and Kathy, Bill Lichliter's wife.

Observations about my class & the reunion.

20 plus guys showed up with their wives. I have to tell you, I did not recognize some of my classmates.  I literally asked a number of the guys, “Who are you?’  Most of us are in our early 70’s. 

 I have not seen the majority since ’65, when we finished up 3 years at Spring Hill College, Mobile.  Most of us were shipping out to various internships around the country.  I lucked out and got to return to Dallas for the first time in 7 years, and I taught at the high school for 3 years, one of the most fun experiences of my life.

As our conversations progressed, I was struck at how each person was at home in their skin.  I saw no posturing or pretense.  These are high octane guys and each has used his talents well as college professors, a doctor, stock brokers, real-estate.  One guys even works for the Atomic Energy Commission in Vienna. 

Bill Lichliter, now in Vienna, Steve Rodi, now in Austin, TX, and Tony Salcido, now in CA & Brazil

I was deeply touched by the presence of one guy’s gentle but severely handicapped son of about 20 years.  Two of the guys had lost their dear wives recently and their stories brought tears to my eyes. 

I also discovered & appreciated a spiritual depth in everyone.  They are progressive and disappointed with the turning back the clock on Vatican II.  The few who attend Mass do so because they know a priest who talks to where they are at.

One of my favorite questions to ask people, as you know, is what is the special blessing or gift in your life since the last time we met.  This group shared on this level from the start and did it with incredible appreciation. 

Two of the guys are still Jesuit priests, one working in Peru, the other working with Nativity Schools in NYC.  These are Jesuit schools focused primarily on underprivileged boys & girls.

Collin Classic, in which a bunch of our community rode.

Finally I saw appreciation, of life, of friendship, and of community.  I love these guys and am stunned at how rich it is to be with them.  The group last met 8 years ago and has met maybe 3-4 times, once in Mobile, in Maryland, & I think in Boston.  In appreciation of this renewal of old friendships & my love for them, I plan to invite the group to consider meeting again in two years, same place.  It is already being talked about.

One last point, a Eucharist event.  John Ross Sima, the priest working in Peru, arrived late and made his appearance in the Saturday morning session.   He brought with him a cream cake from Peru.  He cut it up and passed it around to everyone.

Collin Classic Bike Ride, 8:00 A.M. & departing

I would propose that this is one of the bases of Eucharist: a meal that celebrates our life, our friendship, our love, and, in turn, deepens them.  That’s what we do here.

Your Eucharist?

Rosemary's Blessing

Lord,

May we never take our freedom for granted

and help us to strive so that this same freedom

may be experienced by everyone in our country,

especially the poor and the oppressed,

and eventually by all humankind.

Andrew Greeley   A Book of Irish American Blessings and Prayers  

Thanks to the Team

Music,  Ben & Shonda

Readers,  John & Mary Jane & Buddy, the candle blesser

Gospel & Homily, John Cade

Eucharistic Prayer, John Cade

The Magic Zoom makers, Mike & Richard

Final Blessing, Rosemary

Download Readings Week 14

Please Remember these special people:

For Cindy facing a procedure Monday morning;   For our Bill;  For Esparzas, Frank & Mary, who lost their son Jim to sepsis;   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 Joe Hogan with cancer;  For Loretta's aunt Alicia;    For Sydney;  & For Sir Charlie & Jan;  Shonda's mom;   for Michelle;  

For Jackie's mom;  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;  for Virginia Mattingly

Richard & Mike, this Sunday's producers.

Birthdays:  Brent, 64; Paul Bieda, 59, Kim, Carol Eshelbrenner

Anniversaries:   Jan & Sir Charlie, 58th

Sir Bieda, Is this what happens when you retire??

Community Finances, July 5, 2020

Expenses: $500.00 

Outreach   $100.00   (often for Souls Harbor, Legacy, etc.)

Thanks, Folks, for doing what you can.

Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.  Winston Churchill

John Cade's excellent homily

Homily: I want to thank Stack for making known to us the beauty and power of a Biblical verse in today’s Responsorial Psalm, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.” I now know that this same description of who God is, is also repeated in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in other Psalms.   

• In Exodus Ch 34 we hear that when Moses received the 10 commandments the Lord came down over Mt. Sinai in a cloud and said, The Lord the Lord, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in kindness.”
• In the Book of Numbers Ch 14, when the Israelites didn’t obey God’s commandments and just grumbled about life being difficult, God wanted to wipe them out, start all over and make Moses the head of an even greater nation. But Moses cried out quoting God with what he said about himself on Mt. Sinai, that ‘The Lord is slow to anger and rich in kindness.” 
• At least three psalms repeat this description of God.

Psalm 86 says, “You, O Lord, are merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness.”

Today’s Psalm 103 says, “Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.”

Psalm 145 says, “The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and of great kindness.”

• The Prophet Joel Ch 2, says, “Gracious and merciful is God, slow to anger, rich in kindness.”
• Finally, the funny little story of the Prophet Jonah. He was told by God to go to Nineveh and preach to the people that they better repent or in 40 days they would be destroyed. In Ch 4 Jonah says to God that the very reason he didn’t want to preach destruction to Nineveh and tried to run away, was because, “I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and rich in kindness.”

Mike checking out the production.

My household of three persons are, for the most part, keeping the quarantine, so there aren’t as many opportunities to see God show up in person through the mercy and kindness of others, though I see plenty of it on the news.  Here’s five instances I saw this verse, this definition of God, show up in others, all just this week:

• I was struck again by the graciousness and kindness of our Mass team. The tech squad, e.g., brings some of their own computers, and other electronic stuff I wouldn’t understand, and patch it all together to ‘make community happen’ through this online Mass.
• I went to get about a twice-a-month treat for me and Mama (what I call Kalliopi)—original chicken from KFC. I order the smallest bucket they have, 8 pieces which covers the protein part of two meals.  When I got to the window, the guy says, I have a recommendation—when you want the 8 piece, order the 10 piece special; and it costs less.  He did not have to tell me this little secret. 
• Our AC guy came to perform a semi-annual check-up on our AC system. When he tested the unit’s cold air production he found it wanting and said he thought we’d need a pound of Freon @ $200/lb. But he stayed longer watching the gauge, and eventually said with a smile, “Well, waiting later, now it’s reading okay, so no added Freon is needed.”  He did not have to extend the time of his check-up.
• Joey brought us some of the bulk vegetables she gets from an organic farm near Austin every week. She did not have to drive across town to bring us such a treat.
• Finally, when Joey came, Leo was with her wearing a t-shirt that said on the front in big print, “A little kindness can change the world.” Hello!?  That inspired to recall how often others show up—in so many ways—wearing that Bible verse definition of God: The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.

When was the last time you saw this verse show up in another person, or in yourself?

Christmas Eve Readings: Isaiah 9, 1-6; Psalm 96, Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord; Titus 2, 11-14; Luke 2, 1-14

A Review of Isaiah:

 Author: there are 3 writers of this work of 66 chapters.  Our writer today is Isaiah I.

Date of Writing & of Composing: the work was put together probably after the Babylonian Captivity around 550, a time when the Babylonians with King Nebuchadnezzar defeated the two tribes of the southern kingdom of Judah, where Jerusalem is.

Isaiah I wrote much earlier, like around 700, before the Syrians annihilated the northern kingdom and led the 10 lost tribes off into captivity where they vanished in the DNA of the middle east with intermarriage.  He was warning them their evil ways were going to bring Yahweh's wrath down upon them.

Our Selection: a prediction of an optimistic & hopeful future when the people will be freed from walking in darkness and gloom because a child will be born who is a God-Hero and The Prince of Peace.

Where is He?  Who is He?

Rosemary & I have a love of riding our bikes.  In particular, we love to ride around White Rock Lake, which is about 10 miles around.  We can access it close to our house where the White Rock Trail runs north crossing Royal Lane near Central and heading up past Medical City to Valley View.

One sunny day we were riding as usual.  Most likely Bernadette & Gilberto and maybe Chris Phipps were with us.  We all go at different speeds and we meet half way at a boat house on the south end of the lake near Garland Road. 

On this particular day, I had arrived at the boat house and was waiting as people came in.  No sign of Rosemary.  I was beginning to get concerned when I see her approaching.

She is fine, but says she was delayed because her chain fell off and she did not know how to replace it.  So she started walking.  As she walked numerous people passed her both riding bikes and walking or running. 

Suddenly out of the stream of people a guy asks her if she needs help.  When she tells him her problem, he says, "No problem."  He can fix it, which he did. 

She got back on her bike and continued on to the boat house.

We are in the process this Christmas season of looking around and searching, searching for this God- Hero, this Prince of Peace.  Where is he?  What does he look like? 

I would propose that the man who helped Rosemary is that person.  That is what he looks like.  That is what he does. 

There is another example of this person's presence in the story by our friend Steve Blow in this morning's Dallas Morning News.  A repo man was so touched by the plight of a woman whose car he was repossessing that he got his buddies together & they bought her another car.. A good story.  Read it.

I was so impressed with what the man did for Rosemary that it has made a small but significant difference in my own life.  I have resolved to ask people if they need help when they are broken down, especially on my bike, when I can get hooked often into an obsession with maintaining my average speed or whatever. 

This evening as we look around, this room is full of people who are like our God.  This is what he looks like, like the man who helped Rosemary.

Who is the Prince of Peace in your life?

How are you a Prince of Peace to others? 

Picture 1:   Charlie lighting the Advent & Christmas candles   

Picture 2:    4 of the 5 Bambini, Sienna with her dad, Payton; Leo with his mom, Shonda; Buddy & Torri with their mom, Michelle; Beth 

Picture 3:     All but Emma on the right

Picture 4:     Angels

Picture 5:     Joseph, Dillon, & Shepherd, Hunter

Picture 6:     Angels, Chloe, & Shepherd with Mary, Georgie, & Joseph, Dillon