Easter Sunday 2016

First Reading: Acts 10:34,37-43

Then Peter began to speak to them: “I truly understand that God shows no partiality—rather that any person of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to God. That message spread throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John announced: 38how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; how he went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. 39We are witnesses to all that he did both in Judea and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree; 40but God raised him on the third day and allowed him to appear, 41not to all the people but to us who were chosen by God as witnesses, and who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one ordained by God as judge of the living and the dead. 43All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Second Reading: Colossians 3:1-4

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your[a] life,appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Gospel Reading: John 20:1-18

Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance. 2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

3 So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb. 4 Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.5 He bent over and looked in at the strips of linen lying there but did not go in. 6 Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, 7 as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head. The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. 8 Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went inside. He saw and believed. 9 (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.) 10 Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

11 Meanwhile, Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb 12 and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

13 They asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” 14 At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus.

15 He asked her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

16 Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Sermon:

Today’s gospel holds the key for who we are today. Each of us has been transformed by its words, by the acts of two people in relationship to each other. Without Mary Magdalene, we might never have come to fully appreciate who Jesus was. Today our alleluia is for the her-story (instead of his-story) and for her faithfulness as a seeker.

Like most of us, Mary’s journey began with questions. Who is this Jesus? What is he teaching? And now at the tomb, Why did he die? Mary’s grief is what has motivated her to keep searching. Where is Jesus now? Who has taken his body? The first time, she ran to tell Peter and the disciples. They came back and found the tomb empty as well. But they left without answers. Mary stays. Afterall, where else is she to go? Her world has been turned upside-down. She know that she must still seek.

Last week, I met a patient who was very leery of me. When I introduced myself as one of the chaplains, he said, “Oh, so you’re here to save me.” I burst out laughing. Mostly because no one has ever said something so direct in response to me before and because that would be the last thing on my mind in a visit with a patient. Over time he came to trust that I really had no agenda except to walk with him as he explored his situation and his beliefs. On one visit, I said, “You are a seeker!” He wasn’t sure how to take this so I said, “We should all be seekers.” As it turned out he had a deep belief in God, even if he couldn’t exactly name who that God was.

Most all human beings are seekers. We have this inner longing to understand, to discover, to find meaning in our lives. We are seekers at our core. How much we respond to that urge varies for all of us. Some of us have found answers, answers that later in life, we needed to revise or develop. That’s part of the spiritual journey. What’s important is that we keep asking questions, that we continue to seek to discover answers that can change our lives.

Mary Magdalene was certainly a seeker. Otherwise she may have heard Jesus, shrugged and walked away. What we know is that she stayed and learned from Jesus. She stayed through his ministry, and through his suffering and death. She stayed at the tomb when Peter and the other disciples left and went back home, unclear what the empty tomb meant. And that’s where our reading ends today for the entire Catholic church. The disciples walk away. What a horrible ending.

The next seven verses in John Chapter 20 are the most important part of our Easter tradition. The key word which begins these verses is “meanwhile.” Meanwhile Mary is still at the tomb. She cannot leave. This is where her beloved Rabbi last was—dead yes, but his body is her last connection. And so she lingers, unable to walk away. At times, we cannot move forward until we understand what has happened and its meaning for us.

Every Easter, we as Full Circle, will read John’s gospel Chapter 20 versus 1-18. We will NOT stop at verse 11. We will hear the story of a woman who was in such grief that she couldn’t bear to leave the tomb. Her grief, her deep desire to seek Jesus,is what caused her to be alone, in a place where Jesus would grant her the unique privilege of being the one who would see and hear him, the resurrected Jesus, before anyone else.

These verses where Mary suddenly becomes aware of Jesus now alive catapults the Christian faith to radical change. The world will never be the same. Jesus didn’t appear to the chief priest or to Herod, not even to Peter. Instead, he appeared to a woman, to the one person who had stayed with him throughout his entire life, even risking death because of her great love for him.

Jesus’s first question after his resurrection, is “Why are you weeping?” It’s a very simple question. Then, he asks Mary who she is looking for. Truly, Jesus already knows the answer to both of these questions. Which makes them all the more mysterious and compelling. They draw us in, which may well be their very intention.

Mary Magdalene is mentioned 14 times in the Bible, more than any other woman. And she appears to be independent, with no domestic responsibilities. This is either because she is very wealthy or very poor. When she is with other women, Mary’s name always comes first, meaning that she was the most important—except when she is with Jesus’s mother. We are to notice this, even if the Church does not. A woman receives the good news of the resurrection and is told to “go tell the others.” Mary Magdalene is commissioned by Jesus himself to evangelize this radical good news. Jesus has overcome death. Alleluia.

Perhaps the reason why Jesus asked those two questions of Mary before he reveals himself is to establish his care and concern for her and to remind us as readers and as fellow seekers that relationship is everything in the Christian faith. He needed to connect with Mary first. Over and over, Jesus does that which maintains or reestablishes relationship—it’s that essential to his life and its meaning.

My patient who thought I was going to save him, eventually came to trust me enough to share some of his beliefs. When I asked about what he believed about an afterlife he said, “As long as someone loves you, you exist.” It was a powerful statement of relationship, one that very much fits in our Christian faith. I told him how much that statement made me respect him. He couldn’t understand that but I think he was pleased by this.

Finally, when Jesus asked Mary, “Who are you looking for?” it may well be a question for us today. Who are we looking for? Who will satisfy our seeking? Who is our authority for how we live life? Who do we claim as our guide, our teacher? Is Jesus enough for us?

In the gospel, when Jesus is revealed to Mary, she is stunned. All she can say is, Rabboni! Teacher! And she rushes to embrace him. But He cannot accept her embrace. He is no longer reliant on the physical and wanted Mary to recognize this. We who so need the tangible, we can learn to trust the intangible too.

Mary’s joy is not diminished by this request. Everything is different now. She goes to fulfill Jesus’s request to “tell the others.” Unlike the disciples who simply go back to where they were staying, Mary has a powerful mission—to report what she has seen and heard. Who would believe her? How could they not believe her? It is a story that we are still trying to embrace and fully appreciate today. Jesus is risen.

May this Easter be our time to hear the good news and reclaim its meaning for us. Jesus is the one we are looking for. Let us reclaim our choice as followers of Jesus. Jesus is who we seek for answers, the answer to life beyond death. We need never despair again. No matter what life brings us, we turn to Jesus for guidance and hope, hope eternal. Happy Easter.





Easter Meditation 2016 by Richard Rohr

Christ Crucified is all of the hidden, private, tragic pain of history made public and given over to God. Christ Resurrected is all of that private, ungrieved, unnoted suffering received, loved, and transformed by an All-Caring God. How else could we believe in God at all? How else could we have any kind of cosmic hope? How else would we not die of sadness for what humanity has done to itself and to one another?

Jesus is the blueprint, the plan, the pattern revealed in one body and moment of history to reveal the meaning of all of history and each of our lives. The cross is the banner of what we do to one another and to God. The resurrection is the banner of what God does to us in return.

Easter is the announcement of God’s perfect and final victory.

March 20, 2016

Palm Sunday
Nick Smith

Today’s liturgy really rushes this day past us. Instead of savoring Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem as a moment of victory, the entire Passion is read for our Gospel. Yes, Jesus will be crucified in six days, but we should not miss that this day marks the beginning of Jesus’ ultimate victory over death—the ultimate act of our salvation. Today is the first of eight days that changed the world—today marks the start of the ending to our beginning.

Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem is in all four Gospels in various forms. John notes that the people marvel at the raising of Lazarus from the dead and crowd around Jesus. In Luke, the Pharisees ask Jesus to quiet the crowd, and Jesus responds that even if he did, the stones would cry out! Mark provides a subdued entry with little fanfare or attention but notes that Jesus enters on a donkey. Finally, Matthew relates the enacting of the prophecy by Zachariah, “Rejoice in heart and soul….Shout with gladness daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your ruler comes to you: victorious and triumphant, humble, riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey. And the Gospels reveal that the entire city was stirred up.

Up until this day, Jesus stayed out of the limelight. He has kept a low profile—urging his followers to tell no one. Today, the time has come for Jesus to be recognized for who he is and for why he had come—for what he was to fulfill and the task he wanted his followers to accomplish after him. Jesus enters Jerusalem to finally announce himself as the Messiah—the promised savior. He proclaims himself to be a different kind of ruler for the people, establishing a kindom of peace and love and non-violence, and not what the crowd expected. By coming to Jerusalem, Jesus is compelling people to make up their minds—once and for all—about God and God’s kindom.

Here are the events of Palm Sunday

The night before, Jesus dined with Simon the leper, reported by Luke to be a Pharisee, in Bethany. A woman came to him with an alabaster jar of expensive perfumed oil, and she poured it on his head as he was at the table. 8 When the disciples saw this, they became indignant and said, “Why this waste? 9 It could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor!” 10 When Jesus learned of this, he said to them, “Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a good service for me, Jesus replies, in preparing him for his burial.”





John reports
Now a large crowd of Judeans learned that Jesus was there, and so they came not only because of him but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus too, 11 for on account of him many of the Jewish people from Jerusalem were going away and believing in Jesus.

Luke reports
Now when they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, 2 telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Right away you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me—that is, the reading we heard before mass for the blessing of the palms.

Later it is reported
As Jesus approached Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives, he wept over the city saying, “If you had only known on this day, even you, the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and surround you and close in on you from every side. 44 They will demolish you – you and your children within your walls – and they will not leave within you one stone on top of another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.”

Later
As he entered Jerusalem the whole city was thrown into an uproar, saying, “Who is this?” 11 And the crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

The crowds shout before him, proclaiming him as the Messiah, shouting hosanna [save us] and declaring him a king in the line of David. And Jesus accepts their acclamation—he does not deny the title. In fact, when told to keep his followers quiet, Jesus confirms their acclimation explaining that if he could quiet them it would be to no avail because the very stones would shout out the news.

12 Then Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all those who were selling and buying in the temple courts, and turned over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. 13 And he said to them, “It is written, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are turning it into a den of robbers!” 14 The blind and lame came to him in the temple courts, and he healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and the experts in the law saw the wonderful things he did and heard the children crying out in the temple courts, “Hosanna to the Son of David,” they became indignant 16 and said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouths of children and nursing infants you have prepared praise for yourself’?” 17 And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and spent the night there.

Finally

The chief priests and the experts in the law heard it and they considered how they could assassinate him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching. 19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

Then we have the passion reading from today’s gospel—the horrible events to come. But even there on the cross, Jesus will make a statement of victory and triumph. Jesus cries out in a loud voice: “Eli, Eli, Lama Sabachtani!” In English, this is usually translated to mean “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” Generally, this is phrased as a question and is thought to mean the abandonment of God. In Aramaic, however, this is not a question but a declaration: “O God! O God! To what (a purpose) You have kept me! Or “To what a purpose you have left me.” And left does not mean to abandoned, but it means spared to fulfill an end or a destiny. This is a shout of triumph. A shout saying, “I have accomplished it!” [Like the phrase, “it is finished in other gospel accounts]. This translation tells us that this was Jesus’ destiny—to suffer and die for us and to rise from the dead in victory as the fulfillment of God’s promise.

Let us savor the victory of Jesus the Christ over sin. We should celebrate this day as disciples who continue to follow Jesus in spite of risk, anxiety, uncertainty and fear. ​

March 13, 2016

Fifth Sunday of Lent

The Woman Caught in Adultery

First Reading: Isaiah 43:16-21

Thus says the Lord, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, 17who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:18Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of old. 19I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 20The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people,21the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.

Second Reading: Philippians 3:8-14

8More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, 11if somehow I may attain the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained this or have already reached the goal; but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13Beloved, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus.

Gospel Reading: John 8:1-11

While Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2Early in the morning he came again to the temple. All the people came to him and he sat down and began to teach them. 3The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery; and making her stand before all of them, 4they said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. 5Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?” 6They said this to test him, so that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8And once again he bent down and wrote on the ground. 9When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the elders; and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

Sermon:

Sex is a powerful force. Many of us will do a lot to get it. Most of us do it within the confines of the law and marriage, but there is story after story about people who are willing to cross the line for sex. Adultery is one of the major causes of divorce. It’s a betrayal of trust; one of the most difficult to forgive.

In today’s gospel, we have two people who were willing to cross the line. Both would have been very familiar with the penalty for such an act. Death by stoning. In Leviticus 20:10, it states that “If any man commit adultery with the wife of another and defile his neighbor’s wife let them be put the death, both the adulterer and the adulteress.” That’s a strong penalty. Death by stoning. It was how society worked then. It’s important to understand it from a historical perspective.

In the time of Jesus, the law concerning adultery was very much based on the idea that a wife was her husband’s property. If another man had sex with a married woman, he had violated his neighbor’s property. It was stealing, theft, clear and simple. So it is that in some parts of Africa the seducer (man) is punished with the loss of one or both hands, as one who has committed a robbery against the husband. The woman is also punished, often by bodily mutilation by her husband so that she will be prevented from being a temptation to other men. Sanctioned violence against women has been perpetuated for generations.

The irony is that this gospel story has always been known as the woman caught in adultery. But if she was caught in the act, there had to be another person. The act involves two people, not one. What happened when the woman was caught? Did the man get away? Was he allowed to escape? There seems to be no mention of him whatsoever. If a stoning was going to happen, where was the man? Why would this woman be made to pay for the adultery alone? Did people know the man and want to protect him? No one seems to be questioning these things—except Jesus.

Jesus fully appreciates how the Pharisees believe that this is an open and shut case. They’ve been wanting to find a way to trick him, to embarrass him and they believe this is it. And the crowd wants vengeance; they too feel fully justified in stoning this woman. It is their law, their right. Everyone may have already had stones in their hands. Jesus is also aware of all that is happening behind the scenes. He knows that there are many unanswered questions. Jesus sees the unspoken dynamics, and he almost always takes the side of the victim.

Jesus knows he is being trapped. It’s what his actions are all about. His drawing on the ground bought him some much needed time to configure the words, to find a way to help open the Pharisees’ eyes to the broader picture. By not looking at them, Jesus was holding up a mirror for them all, everyone gathered, to examine their own consciences. Rather than pointing the finger at them, something that would have simply elevated their anger, Jesus invited them to do it for themselves.

If they were free from guilt, they could throw the first stone. What a brilliant way to turn this situation inside out. Instead of falling into their trap, Jesus steps outside the usual way of thinking and turns it upside-down. Both the Pharisees and the crowd had to be infuriated and may have wanted to use the stones against Jesus. We can’t stand it when someone calls our bluff. Suddenly the public shaming is focused on those who are meant to keep the law. Instead of using the woman for public shaming and scapegoating, Jesus was enabling public ownership of them all as sinners. He created a way of forcing them to admit their own wrongdoing without any words being spoken in exchange. This is what sets Jesus apart. His wisdom, his brilliance in finding a way to bring about change without raising a finger. In fact, his finger was doodling in the dirt—allowing his mind and heart to be open to God’s grace.

We must take notice—Jesus responds with calm, with quiet. This story is meant for each of us. Each of us has our own guilt to keep us from pointing the finger. But it is extremely difficult, especially in these political times, not to point a finger to those who want to call forth our worst selves. The CNN reports on Friday were alarming. Riots are breaking out. The extremes of individualism vs. social concern are clashing. How are we to respond?

First we must be certain that we are not casting stones; that is to participate in the very system that causes violence and power seeking. Second, we must allow love to guide us, even when we see hate all around. We cannot strike out. We cannot be as proud and as angry as the mobs that are causing such violence. Our doodling in the dirt might come in the form of using our laptops to write to our congress men and women. Or signing up for a peace rally (which is now happening every Friday at 4:30pm on the Pentacrest) or clicking on the link I sent you all to get a bumper sticker that reads, “Love Trumps Hate.”

And we may have to go one step further by talking about politics in calm voices with those who disagree with us. If Trump becomes the Republican nominee, we need to be very concerned. And there’s no reason to think it can’t happen. Not anymore. The Pharisees are alive and well and they believe they are in the right. They are using the very same tactics that Jesus called into question—blaming, scapegoating, hatred.

Remember, the woman caught in adultery knows she is guilty. And she knows the consequences of her actions. When Jesus asks her if anyone has condemned her, she says “No one sir.” Jesus says, “Neither do I condemn you”. He has no need to judge her—or to punish her. Instead, he instructs her to sin no more. And I would imagine this was a conversion experience for her—having her life saved by a man.

Mary Demuth, a Christian author wrote, In this story, Jesus Christ didn't overturn the Law. Instead, He re-established righteousness on the basis of grace. With grace at work in our lives, so much is possible. First, we can begin by removing stones—the weapons that are used to promote violence and hatred. What stones are perpetuating anger and resentment in our own lives? What stones keep our hearts reluctant to forgive? Grace can help us soften our grip so we can eventually release these stones.

In our first reading, Isaiah speaks God’s words, “I am doing something new! Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” That something new is God’s grace abounding in us and around us and through us. Demuth goes on to say that, Grace ushers in forgiveness, but it also empowers us to walk in a new way. Holiness, then, is built on the experience of grace, not on the fear of the Law. Jesus is in the business of rescuing and releasing us, while at the same time calling our sin for what it is: self-centeredness.

And so we are invited to acknowledge our tendency to think of ourselves first and foremost and instead to move in the hope of what is possible with God’s grace. We can move beyond passivity and complacency and be empowered to help change the political system and our future. Let us hope that this “new thing” can be our conscious efforts to forgive, to drop our stones and to help co-create a whole new world, with God’s grace. Amen.





Communion Meditation

History Is on an Inevitable Course
Sunday, March 13, 2016

As I shared last week, Paul believed that history and all of creation are headed toward a radical union, which he called pleroma, "the fullness" (Colossians 1:19, Ephesians 1:10). But the journey is presented as slow and grueling, as you can sense in his ecstatic and paramount writing in Romans 8:18-39. Read this passage, beautifully paraphrased by Eugene Peterson:

I don't think there is any comparison between the present hard times and the coming good times. This created world itself can hardly wait for what is coming next. Everything in creation is being more or less held back now. God reins it in until both creation and all the creatures are ready and can be released at the same moment. Meanwhile the joyful anticipation deepens.

All around us we observe a pregnant creation. The difficult times of pain throughout the world are simply birth pangs. We are also feeling the birth pangs. That is why waiting does not diminish us, any more than waiting diminishes a pregnant mother. We are enlarged in the waiting. But the longer we wait, the larger we become, and the more joyful our expectancy. [This is what I call "negativity capability," or the rubber band pulled back which increases the momentum forward.





So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing [the Godself] to the worst by sending [God's] own Son, is there anything else [God] wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? . . . Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing. . . . None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing--nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable--absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us."[1]

February 28, 2016

Homily: February 28, 2016
Luke 13: 1-9

Back in the mid 1960’s, my oldest sister and her family moved to Bakersfield, California. Whenever my mother received a letter from her, she would read it to us as we sat around the kitchen table. In one letter, she wrote, “Bakersfield is very hot and very dry. I miss the green of Iowa, the smell of the grass, cut hay, corn and fresh vegetables from the garden. We are located in a neat place, though. Drive for about an hour to the west, and you are on the beach by the ocean. Drive about an hour to the east, and you’re in the mountains and cool air. One funny thing we’ve discovered is that on Saturdays in the fall and on other evenings of the year, the scenic overlooks going up the mountains are packed with cars. We saw an Iowa flag waving in the breeze last Saturday, so Paul stopped and asked what was going on. It seems that Iowans drive up the mountain roads to the overlooks and tune their radios to WHO from Des Moines in order to listen to the Iowa football games. You can only get WHO at the mountain elevations. Why, we asked. Because it brings us closer to home, they replied. We took our grill and tail-gated on the mountain last Saturday, talking to fellow Iowans and listening to the Iowa vs Illinois football game. We’re not big football fans, but we had fun.

This phenomenon has always stuck with me over the years—people would drive up the mountain to listen to a football game in order to be closer to home. I don’t suppose this happens any more with satellite and cable TV, but I think the entire situation is interesting.
I know with myself, home is where I grew up, where my family was, my parents, my brothers and sisters—my extended family of aunts and uncles and cousins and childhood friends—even though I haven’t lived there in 50 years. For me and [as it turns out] most people, this is home—the place where you were loved, accepted and welcomed, even when you were less than perfect.

Many psychological research studies have found that our first or main childhood home plays an integral role in the development of our personal identities. These initial childhood experiences can become deeply imprinted into our psyche, and if they were happy ones, we often seek to recreate them as adults and return to them often during our lives to provide us with guidance, assurance and comfort.

We like to be home as people. We like to have those roots. We like to have a place where we belong—a place where we are loved for just being us.

So, what does “home” have to do with today’s readings? Well, just about everything. In the first reading, God calls Moses through the burning bush to return home—back to Egypt—and bring the people of Israel back to their home-land. Paul [in his rather bizarre retelling of Israel’s exodus] admonishes the church of Corinth, urging them to return home to the principles and teachings of Jesus. He links the predominantly Gentile population of Corinth to the people of Israel with the curious phrase “our ancestors;” thus, inviting them to return home to the teachings of Jesus.

In both readings, it is good to return home—to a place where you are welcomed in love and acceptance. In both readings, the word “repent” in Hebrew literally means “to turn around” or “to return.” To repent means to turn around and return home.

The gospel begins with two tragedies that have happened. Pilot has apparently had some Galileans murdered and their blood mixed with the blood of their own sacrifices. Jesus replies, “Were the Galileans worse sinners? No. Then Jesus adds another tragedy pointing out the eighteen people who were killed when a tower collapsed. “Were the eighteen victims worse sinners?” he asks. No. These events were not because of some great sin that those people had committed.

So why did they happen? We’re waiting for the answer from Jesus. But he doesn’t give us one. No, he ignores the abstract, “Why do bad things like this happen?” and goes straight to the lives of those listening. And to us. He turns and looks at us. Unless we repent, we too will perish. And this perish is even more catastrophic than the tragedies that brought death. This perishing is eternal. Forever being separated from God. Never being able to come home to his love. Jesus is taking us out of the abstract “why?” and turning us back to ourselves. Calling us to repent, that is, to turn around and come home to God.

Jesus tells us how repentance works. You turn away from something that is pulling you away from Jesus and turn around to come back home to God. It’s like the parable of the Prodigal Son. The young son wants his inheritance early. His father gives it to him. He heads off to another city to live. Do you see what the big problem is? As Americans, we think about how he wasted the money. We imagine what type of sinful living he indulged in. But the bigger problem happened earlier. He. Left. Home. He turned his back on his home.

Finally, he realizes what he has done. He’s feeding pigs and they have better food than he does. So repentance has begun. He turns away from what has led him so far from home and heads back. His father sees him coming. He runs to meet him. New robe. New sandals. New ring. Celebration! He’s come home. Repentance is coming home. Repentance is being welcomed home in love and acceptance.

Repentance is coming home to Jesus—to God, and God is waiting with open arms, but our time is limited, and we don’t have forever. Jesus illustrates this idea with the parable of the fig tree. In Jesus’ time, bad things didn’t just happen to good people. So if you found yourself in the midst of a horrific event then you must have done something to upset God. But Jesus says this concept that punishment and sin are related is inaccurate and inconsistent with the truths about God’s mercy and forgiveness. The last thing Jesus says before diving into the parable is “But unless you repent, you too will all perish” (Luke 13:5). The point is not that these people were sinful and therefore bad things happened to them; God never promised that your life would be free of tragedy and disappointment. The point is that you must repent—return to God--and the time to do so is now.

Just as the fig tree was, given another chance to bear fruit, so are we given another chance to repent, but you must not wait. This parable also provides the audience with a sense of hope. The story does not give you closure as to whether the fig tree produced fruit after that last year. It leaves it open—to give you hope that no matter how barren you may be, there is still the possibility of becoming fruitful.

When I travel somewhere new to me, I use a GPS. If I miss a turn, it says, “turn at the next street—turn right, then turn right and then turn right again, getting me back on the right path. With God, it’s always possible to turn around and get “back” on the right path—to come home, and God welcomes us with opened arms. Repentance is coming home. Things will happen. And while the gift of our earthly life is still ours, we need to ask ourselves, how is our relationship with God? Do we love our neighbors as ourselves? Are we relieving the sufferings of others or are we pointing fingers to connect the dots between their suffering and sin—blaming the person.

I can’t help but think of poor Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz who is swept away in a tornado, forced to face unbelievable horrors and dangers of all sorts, and who—in the end—processed the power of her own salvation by simply clicking her heels together and repeating the words, “there’s no place like home, there’s no place like home.” Maybe during this Lenten season we should all repent—turn around and return home to God.​

Ash Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Ash Wednesday, February 10, 2016

First Reading: Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming, it is near-

a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come.

Yet even now, says the LORD, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the LORD, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing.

Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD, your God?

Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep. Let them say, "Spare your people, O LORD, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, 'Where is their God?'"


Second Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10

We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, "At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you." See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!

We are putting no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see--we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything.

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

"Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. "So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Sermon:

Just this past Sunday, my husband and I returned from Puerto Rico. We’d never been there before. It was a wonderful place to escape from the cold; very friendly and green, so green. We went to a rainforest, the only American Rainforest in the National forest system. As we entered, there was an overwhelming sense of awe. Some of the trees are thousands of years old. There are more species of trees in this one forest than in all the other national forests combined. One tree in particular was remarkable. It was a palm tree whose roots started above ground. You could see how intentional its roots were in digging in deep. There were hundreds of roots coming from one tree, all helping to ground it in the soil and to soak up the over 200 inches of water that the rainforest gets every year. The bark was covered in moss, soft and moist. These trees form the canopy for the rainforest, home to insects and birds and rare tiny frogs called coquis. And all of this began with a single drop of water.

Which brings us to Lent. Lent is an opportunity to start over, to try again, to be more intentional about our relationship with God, especially in our pray, to pray in a way that is meaningful, in a way that changes us and deepens our faith. Anything that can help us to become more deeply rooted in our faith is can be part of Lent. How do we begin?

Fear is often a motivator. In today’s readings we hear Joel warning us to shape up. That’s very typical of the Hebrew scriptures—true fire and brimstone. Joel insists that now is the time for us to fast and to weep. We hear the warning, the threat of punishment, the ‘or else’ of this reading. You’d better repent. Blow the trumpets to wake everyone up to this reality. God is at the ready. Will he be merciful or very, very angry? We hear a small caveat that God can be nice, slow to anger, even gracious but you just never know how God will act so better be safe than sorry. The message is one of fear to motivate change.

Paul wants us to be reconciled with God, with the very clear inference that we are to blame. Sin is assumed. We have fallen away through sin. Paul and the disciples are trying to show us the way back to God. They’ve done their part, he says, now it’s our turn. The gauntlet has been thrown. Now it’s up to us to make good choices, to repent and turn from our sinful ways. Paul uses comparisons and subtle “look what we’ve done” to urge us on. Guilt can be a strong motivator as well.

Thankfully, Jesus takes a different angle. He uses love as a motivator. Imagine that. Jesus invites us to connect with God. He says “when” you pray not “if” you pray. He assumes good of us, that we do pray and that it is a “when”, a time set aside for privacy, for silence, for time away from the chaos of life. So, Jesus says, when you go there, this is how you are to do it. Jesus offers gentle instructions, giving us contrasts, not this way but that way—not like the hypocrites who make it so obvious to others. That’s not prayer, that’s showmanship or one-upmanship—the I-do-it-better-than-you game. No, that is not prayer. This is how a good rabbi should be teaching us, how to help us connect with God in authentic ways, ways that actually change the relationship and deepen it.

Prayer is just that—a connecting with God. Jesus wants us to understand how vital it is for us to do this regularly, daily, like steady drops of water that collect over time. For a while, I decided that my life was a prayer, that everything I did was prayer. I was a busy mom and daily prayer just didn’t seem possible. It was a convenient way of hoping to pray but not wholly effective. Rather, choosing to be intentional about prayer is what Jesus is urging. Times when we become aware of God in the midst of our day, can be a prayerful moment. And so I found that simple ways of incorporating time for prayer can work. Most often, I turn off the radio during Lent, so that my drive time is prayer time, a time for silence and intention. Anytime we can find where there is an opportunity, we can use it to reconnect with God.

Images help us as well. Those roots from the palm tree in the rainforest help anchor me. They are such a powerful image for prayer. I long to be that firmly rooted in God, where I can withstand hurricane-force winds that bend and threaten to break me. Hundreds of roots that anchor me in God, the source of all life. The rainforest is a network of life, all inter-connected and inter-reliant. The single drop of rain that multiplies over and over again to renew the plants and to grow the roots is essential to the whole system. We need God, just like the roots of those palm trees need the water and the ground. Can we be grounded in God like that? Can we work to spread our very roots in God as our earth, rich loam, yes dirty ash that help to green us, to grow us in the network of life. Life is not lived on the surface or if it is, we often grow stale and restless. We become despondent because as spiritual beings we need more. Perhaps our Lent can be a time of intentional moments that ground our soul, in deeper, meaningful ways.

The silence of the rainforest was striking. Once we heard the coqui teasing us. Sometimes words can be helpful in prayer, or soft music or humming. Other times, silence can be a balm for us in the chaos of life. This is what Jesus is encouraging us to do, to take a time out in our daily life, a time that he knows we need, alone, in quiet, when we can actually focus on our God with assurance. Silence can be one of the most healing experiences—the silence of a new fallen snow, a morning sunrise or a bright moonlit night. These are snapshots of beauty or emotion that cannot be found when we rush. Ten seconds or ten minutes, at a stoplight or while doing dishes, these moments of prayer need to be chosen, pondered, reflected upon and allowed to deepen in our souls. Dorothy Whiston, one of my spiritual directors, often encouraged me to marinate in these kind of moments. I love that verb for prayer: marinating. Soaking in God’s love to help move us through our longing our sadness even through our pain. Maybe that’s our image—a jar of pickles or olives, marinating in the oil, the balm of God.

Silence like this can be risky—we do not know what we might hear or become aware of in the dark, through silence. Our deepest fear is one of abandonment, that we are utterly alone in life. Which is often why we keep making noise. And why we keep avoiding prayer. Is it true? Are we really just all alone in this life? Jesus would never have insisted that we go to pray alone if God was not to be found there. Nor would he encourage us to give thanks, or to be forgiven as we forgive others. The Jesus prayer, or the Lord’s Prayer as it is known, is primarily a relational prayer, one that speaks to the inter-connectedness of us all, the give and take of daily life and the constancy of God who provides for our every need.

Lent is a time to deepen our choice to trust in God, a God who is mysterious and sometimes elusive. A God who is rain or sun or dirt. May we choose to plant ourselves, to root ourselves in a place that reconnects us to God this Lent. Whether it is ten seconds or ten minutes, may we interrupt our busy lives to pray, to become mindful of the God who beckons, who can help us feel deeply connected and never forsaken.

As we are marked with dirt, may we feel ourselves claimed by a God who cherishes us, who sees us as the co-creators we can be in our own forest. This Lent our God waits for us to come away, to find the treasure that awaits in the precious space of time set aside, and to be renewed in what really matters—love, sacred relationship that is eternal. Blessings on your Lenten season. Amen.

Wedding at Cana - January 17,2016

The Wedding at Cana


Jan. 17, 2016


First Reading: Isaiah 62:1-5

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch. 2The nations shall see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. 3You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. 4You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married. 5For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your builder marry you, and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 12:4-11

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit;5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.


Gospel Reading: John 2:1-11

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. 2Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. 3When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” 4And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.” 5His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” 6Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. 7Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. 8He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.” So they took it. 9When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom 10and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.” 11Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

Open Mic:


Jesus’ birth is the first miracle, then the Epiphany, then Jesus’ baptism. This wedding feast at Cana and the changing of the water into wine is the third Epiphany for us—the third time for us to begin to choose a faith that is true.


We, as Catholic Christians, carry the sense of truth, the sensus fidelium


What happened to Jesus' disciples to give them strength to go on—


in spite of the crucifixion and the persecution—


was their experience of God's presence in their lives.


Jesus' way made sense to them.


Why?


It was their instinct for the truth,


their sensus fidelium—the sense of the faithful.


The Second Vatican Council made it clear that sensus fidelium (sense of the faithful) does not mean sensus laicorum (sense of the lay people), as if it were a charismgranted to the laity in isolation from the Catholic Church hierarchy, and as if the clergy were not included among "the faithful".[4] It stated:


The entire body of the faithful, anointed as they are by the Holy One, cannot err in matters of belief. They manifest this special property by means of the whole people's supernatural discernment in matters of faith when "from the Bishops down to the last of the lay faithful" they show universal agreement in matters of faith and morals. That discernment in matters of faith is aroused and sustained by the Spirit of truth. It is exercised under the guidance of the sacred teaching authority, in faithful and respectful obedience to which the people of God accepts that which is not just the word of men but truly the word of God.[5]


In a speech to the International Theological Commission on 7 December 2012, Pope Benedict XVI distinguished between the authentic meaning of sensus fidei and a counterfeit understanding: "It is certainly not a kind of public ecclesial opinion, and invoking it in order to contest the teachings of the Magisterium would be unthinkable, since the sensus fidei cannot be authentically developed in believers, except to the extent in which they fully participate in the life of the Church, and this demands responsible adherence to the Magisterium, to the deposit of faith.[7]


Blessed John Henry Newman said that there are three magisteria in the church: the bishops, the theologians and the people. On the issue of women's ordination, two of the three voices have been silenced, which is why the third voice must now make itself heard...


Addressing a group of theologians in December 2013, Pope Francis said: "By the gift of the Holy Spirit, the members of the Church possess a 'sense of faith'. This is a kind of 'spiritual instinct' that makes us sentire cum Ecclesia [think with the mind of the Church] and to discern that which is in conformity with the apostolic faith and is in the spirit of the Gospel. Of course, the sensus fidelium [sense of the faithful] cannot be confused with the sociological reality of a majority opinion. It is, therefore, important—and one of your tasks—to develop criteria that allow the authentic expressions of the sensus fidelium to be discerned. … This attention is of greatest importance for theologians. Pope Benedict XVI often pointed out that the theologian must remain attentive to the faith lived by the humble and the small, to whom it pleased the Father to reveal that which He had hidden from the learned and the wise.”[15]


Did Mary represent the sensus fidelium and say, “No it IS your time now” by having the servants “Do whatever he tells you to do”? It’s worth talking about what constitutes the sensus fidelium?

Epiphany

Epiphany Reflection


For those who seek a Saviour

we lead them to the Stable

To the One who was born

To bring freedom

Forgiveness

Liberty

For those who seek Assurance

we lead them to the Light

To the One who opens eyes

to understanding

God's Word

Truth

For those who seek Forgiveness

We lead them to a Grace

beyond comprehension

To wholeness

Healing

Peace.

Perfect Light of revelation,

As you shone in the life of Jesus, whose epiphany we celebrate,

So shine in us and through us, that we may become beacons of truth and compassion, enlightening all creation with deeds of justice and mercy.

Amen.