Sunday Homily for July 29, 2018, 17th Ordinary Time, B cycle

 Readings:   Jeremiah 31, 31-34, I will place my law within them and write it upon their hearts; Psalm 51, Create a clean heart in me, O God; Hebrews 5, 7-9, He learned obedience from what he suffered; John 12, 20-33, Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground.  Whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life.

Jeremiah:  We have not seen Jeremiah for a long time, since before Thanksgiving.  Remember that he is one of the Big 3 Prophets (because of the size of the work, e.g. 62 chapters in Jeremiah), who are Isaiah, Jeremiah, & Ezekiel.   A review:

 

Author: most of the work is done by Jeremiah’s scribe Baruch.  Jeremiah is described as the broken hearted prophet because of his heart rending life spent warning the people & kings that their behavior was going to be punished.  And so it happened with The Babylonian Captivity.

Time:  ca. 600 BCE, as an easy date to remember.   The Captivity went from around 585-550 BCE.  Jeremiah may have died in Egypt during The Captivity in Babylon.

The Scene:  Remember that the Holy Land had a north & a south, Israel & Judah.  First, the northern kingdom, Israel, was defeated by the Assyrians, 622 BCE.  These Hebrew tribes vanish into the DNA of the region, “The Lost Tribes of Israel.”  Next, the Babylonians & Nebuchadnezzar defeat the Assyrians and threaten the southern kingdom, Judah with the capital Jerusalem.  Jeremiah is watching this and seeing it as Yahweh's punishment.  In 596, more or less, the Babylonians do destroy Jerusalem and cart the Hebrews into slavery.

Today's selection, chapter 31.  Yahweh is promising to make a new covenant or agreement with all the people, and to forgive them, after having shown the people who is master.  Here is the covenant idea mentioned again.  It is a pact or a deal.

Sources: Fr. Reginald Fuller, St. Louis U., Wikipedia; Answers.com; Encyclopedia of Judaism

 

Hate My Life?

I have a story this morning which I have told twice, once at St. Mark's, over 8 years ago and here about 4 years ago.  Pardon me if you've heard it. Some of our best stories we tell over & over, they are so poignant.  The story speaks to my point today.  I had permission for the story.

It happened many years ago when I was working full time as a psychotherapist out of an office at Jesuit.  I think it was the first Monday morning of May.   I know it was a beautiful morning like today.  A boy came to see me who had been in my office on and off for about six years.  He had just graduated from high school and enlisted in the Air Force.  He had struggled since grade school with bouts of depression, and that morning seemed to be in great shape.  We did not even spend more than 30 minutes together, his mood was so up beat and care free.

 

He left.  Maybe two or three hours later a call came in.  The boy had left Jesuit, crossed Inwood to the Lincoln Center complex at LBJ, drove up to the top of the four floor garage, parked his car, headed to the edge of the garage, and walked over the side.  He landed on the cement street four floors below, face down flat.

A passerby saw it, called 911, and in a second the paramedics from just around the corner were on the scene.  He was in Parkland in a flash.  He lived.

It was not for about 3 weeks until I got to visit him.  He apologized.  I admit I was mad.  I loved this kid.  He fooled me.  He said that he had been in a zone, happy because he knew he was out of there, meaning he was ready to go to the other side.  He wanted to escape the pain of life and go to heaven.  He said he had  no fear in walking off that fourth floor, none of the hesitation you feel before you jump off the high diving board the first time. 

 

You may guess why I tell this story.  It exemplifies what happens when you take literally "whoever hates his life in this world will preserve it for eternal life."  This little piece of advice, taken the wrong way, can be so dangerous. This boy hated his life.

 I would suggest there is a negative and a positive way to hate my life. 

The negative is exemplified by this kid's story.  This is often what is happening when you hear of someone cutting on themselves.  If I hate my life and hate myself, I will want to punish myself.  So I cut myself.  Or I may think that I am such a loser that no one will pay me any attention if I do not do something dramatic like spill my blood. 

 

Even without such dramatic examples, I do not want to encourage someone who hates their body, hates their job, hates their family, hates their school, hates.  Just thinking about this I recoil.   There may be reason for the hatred.  However, "There is a better way," I want to say and I would say it.   I believe in talk therapy.   Feelings are all okay.  I just don’t want some feelings to stay around. 

On the positive side, I would suggest two things.

First, the word hate can be considered as hyperbolic, a big word meaning exaggeration.  It is like Rosemary telling me, "You get me up at 5:00 tomorrow morning for spin class & it is divorce!”   Think she is exaggerating?  I hope. 

 

  

Secondly, I would suggest that this all has to do with being more alive now, in this life. The grain of wheat falling to the ground and dying fits in with this.  For example: look at March Madness.  Many of these player have died to themselves to achieve & to be better players.  How many hours in the gym have they spent practicing free throws?  When they could be hanging out, sleeping in, text messaging?  And they love their lives.  I’ve seen boys do this at Jesuit. 

Goofy, but I hate my life to love my life.  I don't want to get up early.  I could sleep in to 11:00.  However, I, we, Rosemary & I get up and head over to the Jewish Community Center, 6:00 A.M. spin class.  The result even Rosemary loves  life.  And so do I.

The boy who jumped is now okay, amazingly.  It took him years of physical recovery.  Two things did not happen that blessed him.  He did not damage his brain and did not damage his spine.  Every other bone, plus his teeth, were broken.  Once he got strong enough he went to medical technical school, got his certificates, and now has good jobs in various hospitals in the city.  I don't think he hates his life anymore.  In fact, he loves it. 

 

How do you love your life?

Sources:  The Center for Liturgy, St. Louis U.; St. Raymond Catholic Church, Dublin, CA; Carmelite Order Web; Homilias Domincales.

 

 

Readings:                          

Isaiah   66,  10-14,  Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad.  

Psalm 66,  Let all the earth cry out to God with joy.

Galatians 6, 14-18,     Peace and mercy be all who follow.

Luke 10, 1-12, 17-20,  The kingdom of God is at hand.

 

 

Says Dana, "Good Morning, Everybody, welcome in."
 

 

 

Readings observations: 

Isaiah 66:  This is the very last chapter of  The Great Isaiah, so you can guess it is upbeat and hopeful for the future.  The Israeli people have just returned from the Babylonian Captivity to discover a totally destroyed Jerusalem.  It will get better, he says, rejoice.

Psalm 66:  66 seems to be the number this week.  

Also, these two readings talking about joy and rejoicing are so apt for our July 4 celebration.  I want to talk about July 4.

 

 

 

Our Community mascot Mr. Gorilla, likewise, says, "Come in, You All."

 

Happy July 4

It is July 4 time and I would like to talk this morning about why I am happy to be an American.  I was sharing my ideas with Rosemary, an advantage to being a married priest (or maybe not), and she said, “Can’t you find reasons a little more dramatic, a little more universal?”  So, my reasons are just my own homey variety. 

I do claim a certain unique perspective because of living in East Africa for about 10 years.  I admit there were a few occasions when I was grateful I had the American embassy as a refuge in case I got into some trouble.  I can certainly remember looking at the American flag flying over the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya and being grateful and thinking, ‘Yes, that’s my country.”

 

 

Sez Sir Charlie to Kevin, "Kevin, wouldn't you like to buy cheap my almost  new, beautiful, smooth running Studebaker?"

 

 

So, here are 3 reasons why I am delighted to be an American this summer.   Natural beauty and people beauty with two parts.

First, the natural beauty.  There certainly are beautiful places in East Africa, for instance.  Like Kilimanjaro, which I climbed 5 times & the Serengeti game park.  Likewise, in Italy, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, even Rome. 

 

The Best Music, Bethany and David.

 

In the States we have the Rockies of CO, Grand Canyon, the beaches, like Gulf Shores, AL.  For me, there is nothing better than Yosemite.   But, you say, I live in Dallas.  Beware there is natural beauty here, too.  Try White Rock Lake, try the White Rock Creek trail.  I ride this trail and wonder sometimes, ‘Am I truly in Dallas,’ it is so wild and wooded. 

A few weeks ago, thanks to the Collin Classic bike rally, I just discovered in Plano the Oak Point Park.  Is this really Dallas?

I love the natural beauty we have in America.

 

The Offertory Crew, Laura (whom I knew when she was a nice little girl), Sandra, and Ann.

 

 

Then there is the people beauty.   Don’t laugh.  I propose the trustworthiness of people. 

Want to see an amazing phenomenon?   Park yourself on a corner of one of the small towns we will pass through in three weeks on the bike rally through Iowa.  You will see maybe more than a thousand bikes hitched to parking cables and lying on the ground, not one with a lock. 

I park in front of a grocery store, put my helmet on the handle bar, walk in, get what I want, and return to my unlocked bike. 

 

 

Today's community.

 

 

Want to see another phenomenon?  The hospitality of people.  Join me to ride the Hotter ‘n Hell Hundred the end of August.   There are 10 rest stops, like every 10 miles.  Each stop is loaded with bushels of volunteers overflowing with hospitality. 

I have my two favorites, 30 and 75.  At the 30 mile there is a group of elderly ladies (maybe many younger than I) who personally bake dozens of 6 varieties of cookies.  They positively blow me away and every year I tell them they are my favorite stop of all. 

 

 

Richard, this Bellvita goes to Carol with an abundance of love and powerful karma on her birthday, that she does well with the chemo beginning Friday.

 

 

What are you proud about this year?

Happy July 4.

 

 

Today's team.  All the world is on vacation this week, and certainly all our kids.  

 

 

 

Sophia says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

 

 

Readings:

Jeremiah  20, 7-9,    You duped me, Lord, and I let myself be duped

Psalm 63,   My soul is thirsting for you, O Lord my God.

Roman s 12, 1-2,  Do not conform yourselves to this age.

Matthew 16, 21-27,  Whoever wishes to come after me, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.  

 

 

 

And Harper, too, says, "Come in, Folks.  Take this chair."

 

Jeremiah observations–

What:  I think Jeremiah is my second favorite O.T. prophet, behind Isaiah, mostly because he makes whining and complaining into an art form.  I need to take lessons from him.  Not that he did not have enough to complain about.   Jeremiah is one of the Big 3 with Isaiah and Ezekiel.  He is called the ‘broken hearted prophet.’  Here is why.

Time:  Jeremiah lived and prophesied in Jerusalem around 600 before Christ.  Why is this important?  It is some 50 years before the Babylonian Captivity.  Jeremiah had a heart rending life predicting punishment of death and destruction for the Hebrews for their sinful, selfish ways.  Jeremiah predicted disaster, and disaster came in the person of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon-Bagdad.

Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke as a visual aid to his message.  He may have been ultimately killed by the Hebrews.

Today:  Jeremiah is in top form.

 

 

 

The Best Music, even though they are slacking off, Wendy & Ben.

 

Deny Yourself, Take up Your Cross, and Follow Me

I want to talk this morning, folks, about the line in Matthew, Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow me.  I confess right off, I hate this line.  Can you imagine a loving God creating people to deny themselves and take up a life of suffering? 

Matthew’s line can be very tricky.  It can be approached healthily or in a rather sick way.  I can witness to the latter in my own life.  I have already described how as a young Jesuit I was expected to do penance and deny myself in various ways, like the practice of using little whips to scourge our backs and little chains with points to wear around our thighs.  This was supposed to bring me closer to God.

 

 

Two Very Special People, Wendy & Brandon 

 

 

I can laugh at this now, but I am humbled at how easily I can be snookered.  When I read this line and others like it in the Bible and remember my experiences, I now see the presence of an ancient philosophy that still influences a lot of religious activity today.  The philosophy: dualism. 

The idea is simple.  Reality comes in pairs, hot & cold, dark & light, order & chaos, and, in particular for this discussion, body & soul or flesh & spirit.  So far so good. 

 

 

 

Our Candle Lighter of The Week, Sophia (Ben's daughter).

 

The trouble enters with a judgment about the flesh & spirit.  Specifically, flesh is bad, spirit is good, superior.  Consequently, so that my spirit may reach an elevated plane of purity & perfection, and ultimately closer union with God, I attempt to subdue my flesh by disregarding the body's needs, ultimately aiming to live without it.  Do not give in to pleasure.  How about that!

A couple of facts.  Dualism is identified as far back as 1000 years B.C. and came out of Zoroastrianism, a religion that worshiped one god and believed in an afterlife.  Did it come from Egypt as so much did at that time?  No, from Persia, the area we call Iran today.  Zoroastrianism was widespread until Muhammad arrived on the scene around 650 and established Islam.  Through the ages lots of people picked up on dualism, for example, Plato, Augustine, Descartes, and the early Christians, like Matthew.

However, there is a healthy approach to the line.  A story to exemplify the healthy.

 

 

 

 

Welcome back Vivi, Quera, & Mikala, Teresa and Tom's grandkids.

 

 

Way back when I was living at Jesuit and working as a psychotherapist, a single, divorced mother came with her son, Michael, one day and basically said, “help!”  She had a really active boy about 3^rd grade.  He and his neighbor buddy, a black kid, used to race around our neighborhood and the high school on their bikes.  Great kids.

The years passed and I got to know Michael really well.  One afternoon when Michael was in 7^th grade at St. Monica, we were watering trees with the white truck and the old red water trailer.  I don’t remember who was driving us along the medians, but at one point I can remember to this day, he said to me that if he did not make the entrance exam at Jesuit, his life was no good.  

 

 

 

Let me not ask what these 3 are up to.

 

I did not say anything at the moment.  But later I told him that thinking was baloney.  I said Jesuit did not want kids who said their lives were no good.  If he made it, Jesuit would be a better place.  If he did not, another school would be a better place because they had a tremendous gift in their school. 

He did not get in. 

So Michael went to Bishop Dunne.  He played sports, worked hard to make good grades, and kept in contact with a neat guy who was the admissions director at Jesuit.

He got in as a sophomore.  He did excellently.

 

 

 

The Offertory with Louis & Sandra, John & Mary Jane

 

Next Michael wanted to go to A&M and join the corps.  He did not get in.  He does not test well.  So he went to Tech and joined the Air Force ROTC.  After 4 years there he invited me to the ceremony where he was to get his lieutenant bars.  

The ceremony was in a big auditorium.  Michael was the last.  On the stage with him were his mom and his girl friend, Lydia.  At one point in his personal ceremony Michael turns to the whole auditorium, asks their patience for a moment, turns back to Lydia, drops on a knee, and asks her to marry him. 

Talk about blowing the roof off of the auditorium.  Everybody went crazy.  She said yes. 

 

 

 

It does not get better than this, Vivi, Quera, and Mikala.

 

Now, Michael has long finished his flight training, part of which took place right up at the scene of the Hotter N’ Hell, Wichita Falls.  He has been stationed all over the world, like Aviano, Italy, where we got the name of our dog, Aviana, after a visit there.   He has a little boy and a girl, a beautiful wife in Lydia, and a platinum career as a jet pilot.  

Michael has denied himself a lot of quite legitimate pleasures to achieve some healthy goals.  Even now he continues to keep himself in good physical and intellectual shape.  

So, how do you deny yourself and take up a cross? 

 

 

Best buddies, Sophia and Emma.
 

 

 

Readings:

Isaiah  60, 1-6, Rise up in splendor, Jerusalem,  Your light has come.

Psalm 72,  Lord, every nation on earth will adore you.

Ephesians  3, 2-6, The Gentiles are coheirs.

Matthew 2, 1-12, Magi from the east arrived.

 

Emma says, "Hi, Everybody, Welcome in."

 

Isaiah, a review 

Here is another of those passages which make me love Isaiah so much.  I have mentioned this before.  He is my favorite.  

Today we have Isaiah III talking to the Jews who have returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian Captivity, about 555 years before Christ.  It helps to picture the mood of these people. 

 

"Hi, Folks, Welcome in, they are going to win today," says Cole, our Cowboy fan.   Sorry, Cole.  It has been a tough year.

 

Are you a Cowboy Fan?  How do you feel at about this year?  Multiply this by 10 and you have how the Jewish people felt after 50 years of slavery and  their town destroyed like New Orleans or parts of NY & NJ. 

When he says Jerusalem or Zion, he is talking to these beaten down people.  Later centuries church leaders began to make these words have two meanings, the city and us Christians.  Jerusalem, then, applies to us.

Sources: Good News Bible, The New Interpreter’s Bible

 

 

Does the Lord not shine on this little girl?

 

Upon you the Lord shines, because of 3 Magi

This morning I would like to propose that we have Magi in our lives and because of them the Lord shines on us, like it says in Isaiah.  

I want to limit the selection to 3, like the guys in Matthew’s story.  This was a bit difficult, because I see lots of Magi in my life.  Magi for me are the wise ones, the good ones, the compassionate ones.  I could start right here with you people in the community.  I could easily mention Rosemary. 

 

Ugh Oh, She has learned how to motor, like crawl.  Beware, Everybody.

 

However, I chose 3 guys who are not quite as present in my life, but are wise, good, and compassionate.  Here they are. 

The first guy is Harold.  I don’t even know his last name.  I do know that he is going to be 90 shortly.  I see him most mornings, Monday through Friday.  He is in the shower change room when I come into the J (Jewish Community Center) ca. 5:30 to do spin class. 

 

So, the questions is, 'Where is she going?  To help with the singing (see podiums) or to help with the Mass?"  Tune in next week for the answer.

 

He is quiet and understated.  Despite working out 5 days a week, he is pretty plump.  What he is, is friendly and congenial.  He knows Rosemary & I go dancing Monday nights.  He always asks if we are going and Tuesday he asks how dancing was. 

The second person is my old coach & Scout Master from Christ the King, Frank Hart.  Frank is 90.  Notice how these 90 year olds are getting my attention.  Rosemary & I visit Frank every Sunday after we leave Sigler.  He lives in a house with about 8 other elderly people, all of them women except Frank.   The house is on Northhaven near Hillcrest.

 

Emma and Zoe solving our world problems.

 

If I get to Frank before their lunch at 1:00, I usually find him in bed and asleep.  He has his clothes on.  He just sleeps a lot.  I wake him up and  despite his memory not being too good, he certainly remembers us and makes a big deal out of us coming by. 

Frank was one of the more significant persons in my life as a grade school kid.  He helped me get over being home sick when I went to Boy Scout camp, a story I've told here more than once. 

 

 Hi, Buddy, are you a frog today?

 

While Frank touched me when I was in grade school, the third guy touched me when he was in grade school and I was at Jesuit.  His mother came by one day with her son and basically said, “Help!”  This is Michael, about whom you have heard me talk before.

 

After doing a zillion Masses together at St. Marks in the cafetorium, an old friend, David has joined us in Sigler.  Welcome David!

 

Last Saturday he came by to visit Rosemary & me.  He has his gorgeous wife, Lydia, and now two neat kids, Barrett and Abby.  Michael is in the Air Force and I think the last time we met was in Aviano, Italy, when Beth & Rob were with us.  He flies these little F-16 jets.  

 

 

 

Genevieve, See these cool kids.  Someday you will grow up to be as marvelous as they.  The Gerwers.

 

Michael touches me because he overcame a number of blocks to, first, get into Jesuit, and then to have a great career at Tech after failing to get into A & M.  

 

Remember our old friendly venue, Vines?  With the Nativity drama and 300 folks, we will return to reminisce maybe twice a year.

 

What are the gifts they give me?  Wisdom, goodness, and compassion.  

Who are the 3 magi in your life & what gifts do they give you?

 Readings:  –  from Thanksgiving Day 

 Sirach  50, 22-24,   May he grant you joy of heart.

Psalm 113,   Blessed be the Name of the Lord forever.

1 Corinthians 1, 3-9,   You were enriched in every way.

Luke 17, 11-19,  Has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks? 

 Thanksgiving History: Everyone knows about the first Thanksgiving in 1602 with the Pilgrims and the Indians eating together, the Mayflower, and Plymouth Rock.   Here are 5 facts that people do not hear about usually.

1.  When did Thanksgiving begin?  Our ancestors have celebrated end of harvest feasts of gratitude for centuries.  Lincoln first focused on a national feast; FDR established the national holiday in 1941.

2.  The pilgrims did not know they were pilgrims.  They called themselves saints, and non-saints were called strangers.  The word pilgrim came along in the 18 hundreds, 2 centuries later.  They were not even Puritans, but separatists.  They split off from the Church of England, old Henry VIII's church, and the Puritans did not split off.

3.  The Separatists did not come to establish religious freedom.  They came for religious freedom for their religion and only their religion.  Like the Catholic Church, the Separatists demanded everyone belong to their program.  Failure to conform could result in execution, ala inquisition.

4.  The Mayflower returned to England, was torn apart, and its beams were used to build a barn in Buckinghamshire (just north of London & east of Oxford).

5.  How did the Indians & Separatists communicate?   The Indians were Algonquians & one of them, Squanto had actually lived in Briton some years.  He returned to his tribe and taught his friend Samoset English.  It was Samoset who communicated with the Separatists, & the Indians taught them to raise corn, to fish, and to hunt.  In the first winter half of the 100 Separatists died before the Indians taught them how to survive. 

 

Thanksgiving

It is Thanksgiving this week, Folks, my favorite feast and holiday.   I would like to talk about our blessings. 

It was over a year ago when Chris Dembney walked in here one Sunday and told me about a bike ride he had done for 7 days across Iowa, 500 miles.  He says, “Stack, you would love this trip.” 

I remember telling him, “Chris, you are crazy.  Why would I want to ride 500 miles across Iowa?”  Guess what I did this past July. 

Blessing #1 for me: my health. 

Not only have I been able to ride 500 miles and am ready to sign up for this July.  But I have been able to return to back packing in the mountains.   In 2009 in Matterhorn Canyon, Yosemite, I knew I could never hike again in the mountains with my old, factory issue hips.  2010, January & February, I got the new hips and that August I was back packing in CO with the usual degenerate group.  I still am amazed.

Blessing #2: our community

You people are a Work of Art.   Here is what I see and how you are a blessing.

The generosity.  This little community just this year has contributed  $25,000   to help numerous nonprofits and numerous individuals in financial straits.   This very weekend your generosity is helping in NYC and NJ through Professor Jim Mahar and Bona Responds.  $2000 of your aid was given directly to them last Sunday.  What a blessing.

The warmth.  I do not know how many times someone or a couple has come to me after visiting here.  They always mention the warmth and the hospitality.  What a blessing.

Your child friendly warmth.  Do you realize these kids are growing up in a sacred environment without fear?  What a privilege to watch and help them grow.   Thanks to you parents & grandparents who share your kids with us. What a blessing.

Blessing #3: Rosemary’s recuperation.

January 6 it was when she crashed her Christmas bike and busted her elbow so badly.  The past few weeks she has been riding the same bike around White Rock Lake.  The physical recuperation is remarkable enough.  The spiritual and psychological recuperation has been even more marvelous.

What are 2 or 3 of your biggest blessings this year?

 

 

 

Readings: Wisdom 12, 13-19; Psalm 86; Romans 8, 26-27; Matthew 13, 24-43

Wisdom:

• Author: not Solomon, but an unknown Jew from Alexandria
• Original Language: Greek
• Time: 1-2 centuries B.C.
• Message: Yahweh rewards those faithful to him.
• Means Greek Philosophy common in Alexandria (Platonism & Stoicism) and Jewish traditional  teachings (wisdom of Solomon).
• Uniqueness: one of the ca. 11 deutero-canonical books (not originally part of the Jewish bible).

The Kingdom

Almost every morning of the year I grab a rocking chair on our back porch, sip a cup of coffee, and admire the beauty of the day.  Since our house is situated on a corner, from my rocking chair I can see a small street called Camellia which comes from Royal Lane and passes our street, Tulip Lane.  Camellia can get busy on school mornings when parents bring their kids in the back entrance to St. Mark’s Boys’ School.  Normally, however, I watch joggers & walkers pass by, some of them on their way to or from the Starbucks on the Preston & Royal corner.

This past Wednesday morning I was sitting on our back porch as usual.  The joggers & walkers were passing by.  At some point I look up and see a couple and their dog approaching.  I have never see them before, but they certainly caught my attention.  They were both talking on their cell phones.   

At first I could not believe that I was seeing what I was seeing.  I do not want to judge this couple in any way.  They may have been talking with their kids or their parents or some very important people. 

In todays’s Matthew reading we have three metaphors or parables attempting to show what the kingdom might be like.  Three more agricultural parables.  Last week we had the seed sewn on four types of soil, one of which was good.  Today we have a mustard seed, a bit of yeast, and a field infected with weeds put there by an enemy.

Let me make four observations about this kingdom that comes up so often in the gospel writers.

1. First, I would suggest that the kingdom is inner peace, peace with my neighbors, peace with my friends, peace with my lot in life, and peace with who & what I am.
2. Secondly, I would suggest that the peace of the kingdom is present tense. It is available now, in this life. It may also grow, as the parable of the yeast and the mustard seed indicate. I may be more peaceful next year than I am this year.
3. Third, the peace is a gift. We have the yeast in our spirit. We have the mustard seed inside of us. We are created to have inner peace.
4. Fourth, the growth of the seed of peace inside of us sometimes involves effort, self-discipline, and self-defense against the enemy. And who is the enemy? Part of me. I can scapegoat something outside of me, saying, “The devil made me do it.” However, the real enemy may be my inclination to miss the beauty because I am sidetracked by all the metaphorical cell phones in my life. Serious enough, these cell phones are called addictions.

Paradoxically, the form my self-discipline and self-defense may take is acceptance, that word I have put forward so often.  Acceptance of others, of my place in life, and acceptance of myself, even with my shortcomings. 

The couple I was watching Wednesday morning may have definitely been in the kingdom that we are talking about.  They may be peaceful people.  However, they might find even more peace if they discard what may be an enemy to their peace.

What is the enemy keeping you from entering the kingdom, from inner peace?

AUDIO:  http://mysite.verizon.net/reso7rjy/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/2008-07-20.mp3