1st Sunday of Advent, November 28, 2021

When I looked at the email this morning for the Blog, I realized the video for Earth Day was not included.  Please go to www.johnstackministries.com and pick up the video there.  Believe me, it is worth it.

 

 

Job 7: Job spoke, saying: Is not man's life on earth a drudgery?  Are not his days those of hirelings?

1 Corinthians 9: I have become all things to all, to save at lease some.  All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it.

Mark 1:  He told them, "Let us go to the nearby villages that I may preach there also.  For this purpose have I come."

 

 

 

Welcome, Everybody!

 

 

Readings:  

 Ezekiel   17, 22-24,   All the trees of the field will know…

 Psalm 130,   Lord, it is good to give thanks to you.

 2 Corinthians —  A special reading

 Mark 4, 26-34,   This is how  it is with the kingdom of God.  

 

 

 

 

Welcome to our Fathers' Day Special.

 

 

Homily by John Cade:  

Jesus taught that the kingdom of God is here all around us and, yes, it is miraculous, like the mustard seed or pine nut are miraculous. To Jesus’ listeners the gifts of nature, like the growth of plants, were a mystery, how they start out so little and somehow grow so big. This is how God’s Spirit works. From inside we are moved to grow, to mature, to share, to help create God’s kingdom. 

 

 

 

 

Emma sharing one of  her special gift, lighting our candles.

 

 

Examples of people building the kingdom abound. We see each week this wall of portraits of people who were like us, regular people, and who also dared to love their neighbors however they met them: Like Mahatma Gandhi in India, standing for non-violent civil disobedience and for self-government for the Indian people; like Martin Luther King Jr. in the U.S., standing for racial equality and against unjust war; like Mother Teresa in India, serving the poor and outcast; like Oscar Romero in El Salvador, standing for his people against political tyranny and abuse; like Nelson Mandela in South Africa, standing for his native people of color against apartheid; like Cesar Chavez and Harriet Tubman in the U.S., Cesar standing against the unjust treatment of migrant workers and for the right to unionize, and Harriet standing for the freeing of slaves and risking her life supporting the ‘underground railroad’; and so forth with the others.

 

 

 

The Team.

 

 

These people were, like us, born as regular people. They had eyes like us to see, and ears like us to hear, and they, each in their own way, imagined how they could help build up the kingdom of God in their time. We tend to make our heroes seem other-worldly, bigger than life. We put them on a pedestal, just out of our reach, just a bit too super to imitate. But this is an overly idealized view. Most people who actively build up the kingdom of God don’t get known as super heroes, don’t get their portrait on a wall.

 

 

 

The Doughertys, Connie, John, & home from college, Kevin.

 

 

Like my sister-in-law who raised 2 children while working full time as a teacher and when her husband developed a brain tumor, being a caring partner in his journey. She now divides her time between helping her grown daughter, a single mom who has MS and a 3 year old son, and helping her 95 year old father, who is in failing health, to remain in his own home. 

 

 

 

The Best, Shonda, Ben, & David.

 

 

 

Or like two young men and fathers I know who, though their marriages did not succeed, stay true to their mission to be fathers to their sons, participating wholeheartedly in their growth and development.

 

 

 

The Bresson Offertory Procession, Kevin, John, & Connie.

 

 

These good people are builders of the kingdom of God visualized by Jesus. Look around. See all the ways people you know are building up the kingdom. How you help make the kingdom come in your time is limited only by the unlimited ways you can imagine it. It’s not how big a splash you make. It’s the love and courage and persistence of your choices and behaviors that make God’s kingdom come in our world in our time.

 

 

 

Welcome Home, Mary Ellen.  So nice to see you here with us all.

 

 

Who have you seen building up God’s kingdom, and you can imagine their portrait on the wall? And when did you last imagine how you could build up this kingdom in your lifetime?

 

 

Thanks for being special to us all, My Dearest Emma.

 

 

 

Readings:  January 18, 2015

1 Samuel 3,  3-19,  Go to sleep, and if you are called, reply, “Speak, Lord, your servant is listening.”

Psalm 40,    Here I am, Lord, I come to do your will.

1 Corinthians 6, 13-15, 17-20,   Your body is a temple of the Spirit within you.

John 1, 35-42,   What are you looking for?

 

 

 

1 Samuel observations:

What: 4 books about 4 big leaders of the People, Samuel & Saul, David & Solomon.  1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings.

Who: Samuel is the first big leader of the people.  He is a judge and the last.  The following 3 are kings of the people, Saul, David, and Solomon. 

Time:  The events take place ca. 1100-1000 before Christ.  The compilation & recording of the events takes place ca. 555 before Christ.  Sound familiar?  Babylonian Captivity

 

 

Today's Selection: Yahweh is calling Samuel in a dream.  This ties in with the Gospel where three future apostles are called.  Samuel's mother was Hannah, and she is famous because of a touching story about how she came to have Samuel.  

I had the story of King David read the Sunday before Christmas and I talked about Samuel.

Hannah, Samuel's mother,  had promised Yahweh that she would dedicate to the temple her son, if she got one.  Consequently, our selection finds Samuel residing in the temple with Eli the prophet.  He would be about 12 years old.

Be aware that while these marvelous stories are mythological, the writer is attempting to convey to a simple people lessons in trust in Yahweh.

The Samuel reading, the Psalm, and the Gospel are all about call.  I would like to talk about this at homily.   As the Psalm says, "I come to do your will."  What is that?  What if it is just being  peaceful? 

 

 

 Big Calls and Little Calls

Like I mentioned, I would like to talk about calls this morning.  I would observe that there are big calls and little calls.  A big call would be like my call to go work in Tanzania and East Africa.  A little call could be like this.  Our story of the week.

So I go to the J this past Friday morning, the Jewish Community Center.  You know I go there Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for a 6 o’clock spin class.  The room has 25 stationary bikes and often the majority are occupied. 

 

 

I had not been to the spin class since the Monday 10-12 days before.  I had a low grade, almost cold during the cold cloudy period and I just could not get it to go away.  One of the things I do to get ahead of a cold, beside heat and hydration, is rest.  I do no exercise and I force myself to lie down for an hour in the morning and in the afternoon. 

I knew what it was going to take and it did.  The sun came out Thursday, the temperature moderated, and, voila, the cold disappeared.  I could not wait for Friday morning.

 

So I get there, say, ten minutes early.  I walk in, say hi to the lady who gives me a locker key for the change room and a towel.  I walk into the change room and say hi to two other old geezers I like to joke with.  

All this time I am expecting that someone, at least the lady at the entrance, might say, “Where you been?  I’ve missed you.”  No, nothing, not even the two old geezers.

 

So I walk down the hall and enter the spin room about 5:50.  Perhaps 8 people are there, including a lady who always rides on the bike immediately to my left. 

She is doing pre-ride exercises on the floor.  I say hi to her and talk with two guys I like, younger guys.  Yep, you guessed it.  No word about me being gone.  I was deflated.  I like the spin classes, but I equally like the people and I know pretty nearly everyone by name.  In fact, when I first started coming, people would just walk in, get on a bike, and start riding without a word to anybody.  Now I greet everyone and it seems like people are talking more. 

 

 

Eventually I just told people I had been gone almost two weeks because of a faint cold.  Then I had a couple of people say they had noticed I had not been around. 

The temptation?   Baloney on those people.  I have liked them, greeted them, and told them that I missed them when I noted that they had been gone, even for one class.  It is easy for me to notice, because the majority use the same bike each class.   I know some of them were flattered when I noticed.

 

 

That’s the temptation.  What’s the call?  Even a little call.  I think the call to me, at least, is to continue to greet these folks, to chat them up, and, yes, to tell them I missed them when they are gone for a class or two.  People are worth more than my deflation.

So, be sure to tell Rosemary and me how much you missed us the next time we are away for a week.  Only so much deflation I can handle, and you know Rosemary.

How do you handle being deflated like this?

 

 

Readings:

Malachi  3, 19-20,  There will arise the sun of justice with its healing rays.

 Psalm 98,  The Lord comes to rule the earth with justice.

 2 Thessalonians 3, 7-12,  See what love the father has bestowed on us.

 Luke, 21, 5-19,   When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified.

Some Sundays the selection of readings are beautiful and touching. Some Sundays they are not.  Such are our readings today as we come to the end of the church readings for this year.

 

Who is this little girl in John's arms welcoming everybody?

 

Observations on Malachi:

What:  The very last book of the O.T.  A little book, only 4 short chapters.  

When:  After the return of the Israelites from the Babylonian Captivity, therefore, the 5th century before Christ, i.e., ca 499 and before.

Message: because of laxity and corruption Malachi is warning the people that they will get punished again.  Such is our reading today. 

 

 

Getting ready: you put your left arm in, Buddy, you put your right arm down, and you shake it all around.

 

 

Thanksgiving I

With the approach of Thanksgiving, my favorite feast of all, I would like to talk about what I am grateful for on two occasions, this Sunday and next Sunday. 

I want to talk today about what I am grateful for because it has been a rough, almost depressing week for me.  Tuesday night, of course, was where it began.  As the evening progressed I began to tell which way the wind was blowing. 

 

 

Got it, show time.

 

As you know, by 9:00 I was ready to go to bed, but I was also tempted to stay up.  Temptation.  So as not to get wound up, I told Rosemary I was going to be as normal and would check in the morning.  I went to bed consciously focusing on my blessings, and in the morning, despite the news, I continued.  This focus really helped me to maintain perspective and hope for the future. 

Want to know what the blessings were?  Here are the big four.

 

 

Our Candle Man of The week, Buddy.

 

First, I was grateful for the relationship Rosemary & I have.  Rosemary does not come to bed with me at 9:00, but she and Aviana are all snuggled in when I get up at 4:00.  The gift of their presence on a cold morning is almost enough to make me change my mind about getting up. 

The second blessing takes place when I get up.  After doing some pushups and crunches at home, I head to the Jewish Community Center where I join 10 – 20 others doing spin class and then I work out in the gym for 15 minutes.  In the winter I take a  shower.   I love the exercise and I love the congeniality.  I know a bunch of  people by name and even know a bunch of birthdays in my spin class.  Guess what I do on their birthdays. 

 

 

Congratulations to Cody and our dear Shonda (marriage).

 

Connected with the exercise at the J, I love the gift of White Rock Lake and my ability to be able to ride around it.  Thursday or Friday The Lake was flat as glass, just beautiful.   

Third blessing, you people, our community.  Every Sunday I head home with Rosemary and sometimes Aviana on a high.  The high continues through the afternoon when I am sorting through all the pictures for about 30 that I plug into the blog.

 

 

Hey, Leo, I am jealous of your glasses.

 

 Fourth blessing.  Thursday morning I was privileged to visit a guy’s mother who was just on the edge of moving to the other side.   She was in one of the retirement homes on Plano Parkway.  I went in.  She was lying on her back in bed.  Her eyes were open but she was oblivious.  Occasionally she had like muscle spasms where she would kind of ball up. 

I blessed her and then leaned down and caressed her cheek.  I put my left hand under her hair and talked quietly to her.  I heard the word mama once, so I started telling her her mama was coming for her.

 

 

The Best, Shonda & Ray

 

This went on for, say, 10-15 minutes.  I had worn my white alb to give her peace.  Then it happened.  She focused and looked right into my eye.  We looked consciously at each other maybe a foot apart.  I continued to reassure her.  Then she was gone again.

These are the daily blessings I focused on to maintain my normal inner peace.

 

 

Welcome Home, Norm, good to see you.

 

If you needed to, what did you do?

 

Welcome home, Kim and Dave, good having you in.

 

 

Isaiah 6:  As the earth brings forth its plants, and a garden makes it's growth  spring up, so will the Lord God make justice and praise spring up before all the nations.

1 Thessalonians 5:  May the God of Peace make you perfectly holy and may you entirely,  spirit, soul, and body, be preserved blameless for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

John 1:  "I am the voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight the way of the Lord;"