Sunday Homily, August 5, 2007, 18th of the Year
Readings: Ecclesiastes 1,2; 2, 21-23; Psalm 90; Colossians, 3, 1-11; Luke 12, 13-21
Eccllesiastes: this book contains the thoughts of the "philosopher," a man who reflected on how short and contradictory human life it. He could not understand the ways of God. Nevertheless, he advised people to work hard and to enjoy the gift of life as much and as long as they could. In our selection you will see how he is pessimistic & depressing.
I’ve chosen to expand the reading to give you a better view of his style.
The Gift: Celebrate it and Share it
Last Saturday evening our group of seven set up a campsite above the shore of the second of a group of three High Sierra lakes ten thousand feet high. The lakes are called the Rae Lakes.The next morning we planned to climb 12,000′ Glen Pass, which was standing straight up in front of us. The Rae Lakes are exactly at the line where trees cease to grow very well, so we were camping on somewhat open granite & shallow soil.
Our menu that night was beef stroganoff and because we always had more than we needed, we invited three women at the neighboring campsite, a mother & daughter and another young woman. The two younger women turned out to be teachers in the San Francisco area, teaching mostly underprivileged & handicapped children. The girl traveling by herself had once even brought a group of 7th graders out to the wilderness. The three were eventually planning to climb Mt. Whitley and then exit.
The next day Rose spent a lot of time climbing & talking with the girl who was hiking alone. As a result, the two became good friends and discovered that they shared a number of the same dreams, to teach kids and to teach about nature. The girl even recommended a neat little Italian restaraunt in Fresno, our town of arrival & departure.
Our readings today all seem to indicate that life is futile and useless. Why do anything? Just eat dirt.
Two observations on this.
First, life does not have to be looked at as useless. It can be seen as a gift.
Secondly, the gift can be celebrated and shared with others.
Let me work backwards. I was impressed with those women because they were into sharing the gift. The two young girls were teaching. The mother came into the wilderness to share the gift with her daughter, even though the mother did not look like the backpacking type.
We also saw numerous scout troops during our nine days. Once we ran into a group of fourteen, about four adults and ten boys & girls about 15 or 16. When we asked them who they were they said they were a camp. We think they were taking a group of troubled teens on a wilderness trek. This is sharing the gift.
Before I share it, however, I think I got to celebrate the gift. Which is exactly what we were doing in the High Sierras, and do every year. Which is what we do here on Sundays. We celebrate the gift of life.
How do you celebrate the gift and share it?
AUDIO: http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2007-08-05.mp3