Readings: Wisdom 7, 7-11; Psalm 90, Fill Us with your Love, O Lord, and We will Sing for Joy;  Hebrews 4, 12-13; Mark 10, 17-30

Wisdom:

Date of Composition: 100-200 BCE, which is why it is considered significant.  It provides a glimpse into the cultural & social milieu which prevailed just before & during the time of Christ..

Place of Composition: Alexandria, Egypt.

The Composer: a Jew who wrote educated Greek.

Unique Quality: Wisdom is one of a set of 12 (or 14) books written in Greek considered not part of the original 39 books of the Hebrew Bible, the O.T.  This blew up around 350 CE when St. Jerome, one of the Fathers of the Early Church, i.e., a church leader who influenced a lot of church dogma, said the books were not genuine.   He was opposed by St. Augustine.  It was the Council of Trent (ca. 1550), that declared the 12 books okay.  Another person doubting the validity of the books was Martin Luther. 

You will hear these books called Apocrypha and deuterocanonical vs protocanonical (meaning declared canonical or okay after rather than before).  A bit complicated. 

Our Selection in Chapter 7: the book of Wisdom generally says that good guys get rewarded by God, bad guys don’t.  This selection personifies the virtue of wisdom, using the feminine pronoun she, and praises her as above all other values & pleasures.  I loved her even more than health or beauty, the composer declares.

Sources: The Good News Bible, Got Bible Questions on line.

To LIVE

Just about a century ago, in 1910, a little baby was born who was named Agnes.  Born into a comfortable, middle class family, Agnes was the last of 5 children.  They lived in what is today called Macedonia, just north of Greece, a country that used to be part of Yugoslovia. 

Agnes was an ordinary little girl and at the age of 18 she decided to leave home and join the Sisters of Loretto of Dublin.  She went to Dublin for her formation, had to learn to speak the English in the Irish brogue, and actually never saw her mother again.  In those days it was customary that religious did not come home for visits. 

After her training of about 3 years, Agnes was sent to teach at St. Mary's High School in Calcutta, India.  There she taught for a good 15 or more years.  She was considered a good, not exceptional teacher. 

While she worked in the school with the girls, who were mostly from the upper classes, Agnes looked out her windows.  There she saw another kind of child, a street child, dirty, undernourished, and neglected.  You can picture her watching these kids and reflecting upon what she was doing, which was good in itself.

At the age of 38 in 1948, Agnes decided to leave the Loretto Sisters and to go out into the streets.  Initially she did what she knew.  She taught the kids in the open air, using the dirt as a black board.  She had no funds, rented out a delapidated shack, and began to care for the sick people who were all around her.  She even went to school to learn nursing. 

Despite the fact that she started out with little idea of where she was going, it was like she had uncorked a cold drink or a bottle of champagne.  People in Calcutta heard about her, probably at least through St. Mary's High School, and aid & help began to pour forth.  People came to help her, food began to be donated. 

After two years of working the streets, Agnes decided she needed to organize a community, the Sisters of Charity.  The community focused on two things, personal spirituality and care for the most needy, the street people, the AIDS victims, the addicts, and the abandoned.  This little community has now grown enormously and has houses in Africa, where I knew them, Asia, Latin America, and Dallas, specifically South Dallas.  We used to take our food drives to them until the pastor of the parish said he did not want our food.  

In 1997, after winning numerous international prizes, including, coincidentally, the Nobel Peace Prize, Mother Teresa died.   In 2003 John Paul II beatified her.  This means she is one step (i.e., one miracle) short of being declared a saint.

I talk about Mother Teresa because, despite some criticism she & eventually her sisters received, she tried to live what we are talking about today.  In order to live, give it up and serve the disadvantaged.  

Two thoughts.

1.  We have here more of what Mark has offered us the past 2-3 weeks, an ideal, a challenge, an infinite demand.  Check out Scott Burns' column in this morning's Dallas Morning News.

2.  Remember the infinite acceptance.  How can I give it up and serve the disadvantaged in my state?  Parents, teachers, nurses, doctors, almost all are already engaged in helping.  CCAC is our avenue to help the disadvantaged.  As well as food drives, blood drives.  This may only nibble away at the need, but enough nibbling can make a difference.

How are you giving it up & serving the disadvantaged–to LIVE?

Sources: on-line biographies of Mother Teresa, The Good News Bible, Got Bible Questions?

Picture 1:  Mass with Sabrina, Georgie, & Richard

Picture 2:  Sabrina

Picture 3:  Birthdays, Angela, Georgie, Richard, Lacee & her mom, Lisa

Picture 4:  Communion, Hunter & Kailee

Readings: Genesis 2, 18-24; Psalm 128, May the Lord bless Us all the Days of Our Lives; Hebrews 2, 9-11; Mark 10, 2-16.

Genesis:

Date of Compilation: Most likely during the Babylonian Captivity, i.e., around 600-550 BCE.  But the material for the sources was coming together over 200 years.

Authors:  4 major sources–

The J or Y source (for Yahweh), coming from Judah, the southern half of the divided Jewish state after Solomon's death.

The E source (for Elohim), coming from Israel, the northern half of the Jewish state which was destroyed by the Assyrians ca. 700 BCE.

The D source (from Deuteronomy), coming from the revisions of the prophet Jeremiah's & his companions.

The P source (from the priests), which or who during the Babylonian time took the material from the first 3 sources, wove them together, edited them. 

How do you know: by text analysis, noting different styles of writing, place references (e.g. mention of the Tigris & Euphrates in our chapter 2, which says "Babylon."), event references, people references, and agendas behind the stories (e.g. Sabbath & Creation Story #1).

Subject Matter: A panorama stretching from the two stories of creation, through The Fall, Cain & Abel, Noah & the flood, the Tower of Babylon, the Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob, Joseph and his jealous brothers, Joseph as governor of Egypt & his brothers' visit & eventual migration to Egypt. 

Our Selection: we will read the whole of creation story #2, chapter 2.  The story comes from the Y or J source, but note the mention of the Tigris & Euphrates, which a person in Babylon would appreciate  ( A clue that a priestly source has inserted a geographic reference.  Why would a Jewish high priest be familiar with Babylonian rivers?  Babylonian Captivity. ).

Hebrews: We will read from Hebrews for the next 6 weeks (excluding All Saints), right up to the feast of Christ the King, which marks the end of the liturgical year.  Then we begin Advent and a new liturgical year.

Author: unknown, but he wrote excellent Greek.  Not Paul.

When Written: 85-95 CE, i.e., 50 plus years after Jesus' death

Subject: superiority of Christ.  Rather convoluted.

Sources St. Louis U. Sundays, John Shelby Spong

Concerning Divorce, Remarriage, & Adultery

After hearing what was said about divorce and remarriage, I can imagine you are thinking, "Okay, Stack, what are you going to say about this topic?"  I intend to talk about it.  But first, a story.

The first week of September Rosemary & I went to Seattle to be part of Gloria Eshelbrenner's wedding.  Since it was our first trip to Seattle, we traveled there on Monday.  We had been told that we would not need to rent a car because our little B & B was close to the center of town.  Great. 

So I am looking at transportation from the airport, shuttle, Gray Line tour bus, or city bus for ca. $2.  Guess which I suggested to Rosemary.  It is not only the cheapest, but the most adventurous.  We took the Gray Line.  Which deposited us in the center of town, where we walked a block or so, having an ice cream along the way, to a city bus, which turned out to be an electric bus.  Great. 

Half way along the route our electric bus breaks down.  The overhead pulley disconnected from the electric cable and the driver could not reconnect it. 

We had been talking with people around us and when we stopped a number tried to help us find where we were going.  Finally a guy stepped forward, asked the address, said he thought he lived close to our address, and told us to follow him. 

We walked up hill, caught another electric bus, rode a mile or so, got off, turned up a street, and the guys said, "There is your house.  I live in that house across the street."  We were touched by the hospitality of the people on the bus and especially of this new neighbor. 

I remember this incident when I reflect on the words of Jesus, "whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."  Strong words.  Five comments: Jesus' words, hospitality, Mark's environment, Mark's intention, for us.

First, you may put your money on it that these words are not words of Jesus.  Students of the bible consider almost no words directly attributed to Jesus to be his exact words. 

Why?  Because Mark did not know Jesus and he is writing from oral sources 30 years after Jesus' death.  They had no recording machines in those days.  Can you remember what happened 30 years ago?  Super Bowl winner?  Pittsburg.  President?  Carter.  Big news?  Ayatolloh Khomeini held embassy hostages.  A prophet of that time?  MLK had been killed in '68.  We can remember his line, "I have a Dream,' because it has been repeated so often. 

Secondly, Jesus' main message about God: hospitable, like those people in Seattle.  He talks hospitality, inclusion, not exclusion, acceptance, not rejection.  E.g., Prodigal Son, to name only one.

Thirdly, Mark's environment.  Bible students think whoever put this booklet together wrote for Gentile Christians living in the Roman Empire, probably in Rome or Antioch, Greece.  He (she unlikely) wrote just after the destruction of Jerusalem & the temple by the Romans after a failed Jewish revolt, 70 CE.  More persecution was expected throughout the Empire.  (Note that the Jews never again had possession of Jerusalem until 1948 when it was granted them by the Allies after WW II & the Holocaust)

Fourth, Mark's intention: encourage these Gentile Christians living in probably Rome to remain faithful despite coming troubles.  One method: keep families united.  Don't break up.  Marriages were arranged by families at this time.  Kids did not choose their parent, kids did not choose their spouses.  Marriage strengthened bonds for self defense and economic survival.  Divorce ruptured these bonds, not just between the couple.  Remarriage caused even more contention.  Thus, divorce & remarriage is strongly discouraged for even survival reasons.

Fifth: for ourselves.  Context vs basic message.

A.  Understand the context of our passage, Mark's background and intention.

B.  Consider this the ideal, the infinite demand.

C.  Remember the basic Christian message: God's infinite acceptance &  hospitality, like the people in Seattle.

What have you gotten for yourself from these observations?

Picture 1:  The Choir, Shonda, Celeste, & Ray

Picture 2:  Birthdays & Anniversaries, Frank, Richard & Sheila

Picture 3:  Denni reading Genesis

Picture 4:  Tom Reading Hebrews

Readings: Numbers 11, 25-29; Psalm 19, The Precepts of the Lord give Joy to the Heart; James 5, 1-6; Mark 9, 38-43.

second section, when the people are just starting out on their journey.  Moses is getting concerned with the responsibility of all of the people, so God shares the spirit, which is on Moses among 70 elders, even two who were not part of the group gathered around the Tent.

The Letter of Saint James

This is the final Sunday for the second reading to come from Letter of St. James, which we have listened to for the past five weeks.  In the reading today the mood is very stark!  “Your wealth has rotted away”.  The audience for this letter is the communities outside of Jerusalem.

Again remember the letter is a collection of moral observations and instructions, and in today’s reading James’ does not have much that is positive to say about the rich.  The bigger context is to encourage the Christians who are suffering at the hands of the powerful.  James reminds his audience that Jesus is coming again very soon!  Immediately following today’s reading he says “Be patient brothers until the Lord’s coming”.

Notes on the Gospel 

9:42 "it is better for him rather if the millstone of a donkey had been set around his neck and he had been thrown into the sea." The force of the two verbs indicate it would have been better that the person died before causing the scandal.

9:43 "It is better (that) you go into (eternal) life deformed . . . " Compare this statement with Leviticus 21:17-24, where only the undeformed could lead worship. Only the physically intact high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, the place the populace believed Yahweh definitely dwelt. In addition, self-inflicted wounds were forbidden in the Torah.

Now Mark stated the self-deformed could enter the kingdom. Ignore, for a moment, the fact that Mark used this extreme language symbolically. The weight of the statement was simple. Not only the sinners (the "deformed") could enter the Kingdom, the righteous (those with "two hands") could suffer eternal punishment! In addition, sometimes needed to "deform themselves" (i.e., leave the community of the "righteous" for the community of "sinners") to be saved

"unquenchable" in Greek is "asbeston," the root word for "asbestos."

9:43, 45, 47 "Gehenna" The valley of Hinnom, south and west of ancient Jerusalem. This valley became infamous as the "high place" for idol worship among Judah's monarchs (including an oven for human sacrifice). Because of it reputation, "Gehenna" became metaphor for eternal damnation in the time of Jesus.

9:44, 46 "where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" Both verses are the same. Most scholars do not believe these verses are part of the original text, so they are deleted from most modern translations.

9:48 "where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." Unlike 9:44 and 9:46, this verse is original. This verse was an adaptation of Isaiah 66:24

Homily for Sunday September 27^th 

If ever there was a gospel passage which begs for the topic of the Pedophile Disaster it is today’s, but I am not going there!!  Instead I thought about getting some hacksaws and pliers and making them available for use here today!!  If you eye causes sin – pluck it out.  Chop off your hand or your leg!!!! What is this all about? 

For me, this is a classic example of why it is not too smart to take the bible literally!  No, God does not want us to be inflicting severe bodily harm to ourselves.  So what is going on in this reading?

The three readings today are a brilliant example of why we have readings at mass.  The Word of God is speaking to us thru the readings each Sunday.  Here is what I am hearing from today’s readings.

In the OT reading from Numbers, we are at the beginning of the journey, the people have just been given the Covenant with God…. But already they are starting to have a really bad attitude about the whole thing, and poor Moses is feeling overwhelmed.  I guess life does get to be overwhelming at times.  Too many things too little time.  In the reading, God helps Moses first by sharing the spirit with others, can I share whatever it is that overwhelms me with others… a problem shared is a problem halved.  Then God in the very next sentence after our reading has quail blown in from the sea to feed the people.  When I am open to allowing God to help me, he invariably does. 

The Second reading from James reminds me to keep things in perspective.  Not to get too attached to material things.  The real riches are for me found within family, within community.

The Gospel passage from Mark for me says that what we here in this community are doing is the right thing!!  “Whoever is not against us, is for us”.  If ever there was an example of not seeing eye to eye with the established religion, it was Jesus.  It was ultimately what set him up for crucifixion.  The established religious were too threatened by what he was saying and doing.

But back to what I said at the beginning, what are we to make of the chopping of limbs etc.?  It is a classical example of why it is important to fully understand the context of the scriptures.  Today’s readings ask me to take stock of my priorities.                      

Let's take a few moments of quiet to begin that process.

You may be the only Bible someone reads, will they be able to find God?

Picture 1:  Tony celebrating with Kevin helping

Picture 2:  Altar helpers

Picture 3:  Mike Miller presents CCAC with $2000, Cathy, Ray, & Claire accepting

Picture 4:  The Froebes, Richard, Morgan, Alexandra (O.U. junior), & Monica