First Sunday of Advent

Advent 1B.12; Isa 63:16b-64:7; 1Cor 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37
Happy New Year!  …. And let’s emphasize “happy”.
This year is full of promise.  This year is full of potential.
This year is full of “sacred possibility”.
A potter does not create a clay vessel without a clear vision for its use & beauty. Isaiah saw this: Yet, O Lord, you are our father; we are clay and you the potter: we are the work of your hands.  We love what we create.
Now, let us consider Advent: a time to watch, a time to prepare.
Yet, WHO is really waiting in this season?
It’s hard for us to understand God’s way of creating.  Where is Jesus?  Why the delay in returning?   God's clock is certainly out of sync with ours as Little Jimmy learned one day laying on a hill in the middle of a meadow on a warm spring day. Watching the white clouds roll by, he marveled at their shape, and soon began to think about God.
"God? Are you really there?" Jimmy said out loud.  To his astonishment a voice came from the clouds. "Yes, Jimmy?  What can I do for you?"Seizing the opportunity, Jimmy asked, "God? What is a million years like to you?"  Knowing that Jimmy could not understand the concept of infinity, God responded in a manner to which Jimmy could relate. "A million years to me, Jimmy, is like a minute."  "Oh," said Jimmy. "Well, then, what's a million dollars like to you?" "A million dollars to me, Jimmy, is like a penny." "Wow!" remarked Jimmy, getting an idea. "You're so generous... can I have one of your pennies?"
                  God replied, "Sure thing, Jimmy!  Just a minute."
Little Jimmy wasn't ready for that response was he?  
      Our gospel seems an unlikely scripture for Advent. It has nothing to do with Mary & Joseph, Magi, or shepherds.  Instead it’s story about a wealthy landowner going on a trip.  The servants left behind were given charge of the estate & when the master returned he would check on their stewardship. This is a story about being prepared. In that sense then this is an Advent story, for this is  the season of preparedness.
Consider with me a moment that God Identifies with us & that Advent is a time to get ready for the Return of Christ. (Story: esermons.com)
First Paul tells us an incredible truth:  I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him … so that you are not
lacking in any spiritual gift as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Cor 1:4-8     Every gift already? … could this be true?
     With every fiber of my being I believe God wants us to be happy.  I believe God gave us this yearning for happiness that constantly preoccupies 2  our hearts.  It seems God has placed this yearning within each human heart as a spiritual “GPS”  designed to lead us to our destiny.  
God is the author of our desire for happiness.
“The modern search for happiness is often governed by individualism, hedonism, minimalism - with the usual results of greed, selfishness, exploitation, & deception.  And yet, as these philosophies become more & more the focus of modern lifestyles, people seem to be filled with a greater discontent & unhappiness with every passing day.
      As a parent who takes a sincere & active interest in the lives of their children, God sent his only Son to respond to humanity’s yearning for happiness, & to teach us how to satisfy that yearning.  God sent his Son into the world to reconcile us with divinity, certainly, but (and never forget this)  
…God also sent Jesus to show us how to live.
The philosophy of Christ is the ultimate philosophy of human happiness. It isn’t just a way of life, it is the way of life. And, the philosophy of Christ is one of self donation.  This is the great paradox of God’s teaching.  In our misguided adventures, we may catch glimpses of  happiness as we live outside of Christ.  You may even taste happiness for a moment living a life contrary to Christ, but these are stolen moments.  (Source: Rediscover Advent, Kelley)
They are just shadows of something … infinitely greater.”
Questions for Advent:
Where do I look for happiness in my life?  
How much of my search is directed toward what God has to give, and how much is directed toward what the world has to give?  
Does the balance need to shift?
Sue Monk Kidd tells about when her daughter was small & got the dubious part of the Bethlehem star in a Christmas play. After her first rehearsal, she burst through the door with her costume, a 5-pointed star lined in shiny gold tinsel designed to drape over her like a sandwich board.
"What exactly will you be doing in the play?" her mother asked her.
"I just stand there and shine," her daughter answered. (Story: esermons.com/Ritz)
At this Advent Liturgy remember WHO is waiting.   
What shall we do with this eternity in time?  The servants continued to work as they anticipated the master’s return & the gatekeeper continued to watch. Working & watching imply each other: if every moment in history draws meaning from God, then nothing is negligible & every thread is a part of the pattern God weaves.  Authentic action already is divine encounter.  Paying attention is both a religious duty & a sacred possibility.    
Let the sacred possibility shine through you today.
God is waiting for you to be ready.  

Christ the King


Christ the King. A.11; Ezek 34:11-17; 1Cor 15:20-28; Matthew 25:31-46
Today we meet a rather odd King, “He will sit upon his glorious throne … as a shepherd.”  Mt 25:31-32   Matthew places two contrasting images together: an all powerful, punishing king in strong contrast to the compassionate shepherd.  Matthew has our attention.  
Parables are mean to turn us around!   First a story….
Once there was a little boy who wanted to meet God. He knew it would be a long trip to where God lived, so he packed a suitcase full of Twinkies and cans of root beer (his two favorite foods) & set off on his journey. He had only gone a few blocks when he passed an older woman, sitting on a park bench & just staring at some pigeons. She looked sad & lonely, so the boy went over & sat down next to her. He opened his suitcase, took out a package of the Twinkies and offered it to her.       She gratefully took it & smiled at him. Her smile was so warm and wonderful that the boy wanted to see it again, so he offered her a can of his root beer. Once again, she took it & smiled at him. The boy was delighted. They sat there all afternoon, eating the Twinkies, drinking the root beers and watching the pigeons, without saying a word to each other.       As it grew dark, the boy realized that he had better get started home and got up to leave. But before he had just a few steps, he turned around, ran back to the older woman and gave her a big hug. She gave him the biggest smile of all.
      When the boy got home, his mother noticed how happy he seemed. So she asked him what he had done all day. He told her: "I had lunch with God. And you know what?  She has the most beautiful smile that I've ever seen."   Meanwhile, the older woman had returned to her home. Her son also noticed how happy and contented she seemed so he asked her what she had done that had made her so happy. She said to him: "I sat in the park and ate Twinkies with God. You know, he's much younger than I expected."
                                    (Source: esermons.com/Meeting God/Strayhorn)
Each one found God.    Did you “see” the face of God in this story?   
Now a little theology….
Walter Brueggemann has suggested that the “big idea of the OT” is that the God is a God in relationship, ready & able to make commitments to a series of “partners” who are thereby empowered to make a difference in the world.  God makes partners with: Israel, creation, all nations & with each human being, but in a very special way- with the least ones among us.  In the uniquely Matthean judgment scene, Jesus explains: “Whatever you did for the least brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”  Jesus insists that our respect for his partnership with the poor will be the criteria of our
2  final judgment.  We show our respect in simple ways: offering food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to the naked, welcome to strangers,
care to the ill and imprisoned.  
     In ministering to these least ones, we do so to Jesus himself. In the process, he ministers to us by feeding our needs, healing our ills, calming our fears & encouraging our hope.  In each act of kindness for the poor, our partnership with Jesus grows stronger.  In the end this partnership will be the only thing that travels with us through the passage of death to everlasting life. Only love travels between time & eternity.
Back to Matthew’s jarring judgment scene…..
Jesus is God incarnate.  God is in relationship with us, physically.
And within that relationship mercy has pride of place. Th. Aquinas said that: mercy is the chief attribute of God.”  Even its name gives it away: from the Hebrew word for “Womb”/rahamin.  Mercy is “the perfection of justice, the deep sigh in the depths of reality.”(JP II).
All things come home to this place of mercy.
And at the heart of the mercy seat is Jesus, God’s own Son, the One who would not break a tender reed or snuff a flickering candle.  He chose to be not the Lord of all, but the Shepherd of Life.  He was the One who refused to judge even a small matter over a family inheritance.  Granted, he has the role of judge at the Last Scene,
…yet his view of judgment is not the same as ours.

Remember that for us, judgment means to decide, to determine guilt and allocate punishment.  But for God, judgment means to justify, to make good, to reconcile, to make right.  God does not simply decide if we are just.  God makes us just.  As a printer justifies columns, as a carpenter justifies planks.
Do we suppose that the unpleasant experience of Jesus made him change his view of life, his approach to the human condition?  
Did he give up on his ideals & decide to get practical, to play by the rules of the world?  
Did he wish he had let the sick suffer instead of healing them?  
Did he regret forgiving people who killed him?  
No.  Jesus wanted to reconcile things on a higher level, to justify everything.  He died to save us to give us room & space to live.

At this Liturgy, do not live in fear, but be honest at the end …
what will you bring to the Great King, the Good Shepherd?

(Sources, W. Bruggermann, An Unsettling God: the Heart of the Hebrew Bible; Celebration 11/20/11;)

Thirty-Third Sunday in Ordinary Time


33 OTA.11; Prov 31:10-31; 1Thess 5:1-16; Matthew 25:14-30
Question:  Who are you?
I did not ask what your job is or what kind of work you do.
I did not ask where you are from.
I did not ask what are your favorite sports or activities.
I asked, “Who are you?”  
      It is interesting to note that in the 25th chapter of Matthew’s Gospel there are three parables told in a row: of the Bridesmaid, of the Sheep and Goats, & the Parable of the Talents. Essentially the same phrase is used in each: after a long time.
The bridegroom, the landowner, the judgment comes after a long time.
Perhaps this is Matthews’s way of saying to us: Our master may be delayed in his return, but, in the meanwhile, what are you doing with the talent that has been entrusted to you. Let us be clear on one issue. God expects a return. We had better not simply bury that which has been given us and return it when he comes.Well, it is obvious that the star, or we might say the villain, of the story is the one talent man.  The salient question is: why did he choose to do nothing with the one talent that had been given to him?   We are not really given the answer. We are left to speculate. And that is precisely what I would like to do.  Let us speculate about his inaction… 1. Is his inaction due to the fear of failure?
2. Is his inaction because of the ‘What if” game?
3. Will one little talent make a difference?  (Source: esermons.com)
Jesus said, “The Kingdom of heaven will be like this…A man going on a journey called in his servants and entrusted his possessions to them, [he gave] to each according to his ability. [At his return he repaid each according to how well he used his money.]  
      And an interesting part: “But the man who received one went off and dug a hole in the ground and buried his master’s money.”

In his book Souls on Fire, Elie Wiesel invites us to think about using our talents in a different way than we ordinarily use them.  He says that when we meet our Creator, we won’t be asked, “How well did you use the talents I gave you to do great things for my people on earth?”  Rather, we’ll be asked.               
                “How well did you use your talents to become you?”
Another question:  If Jesus asked me/you right now, “How well are you using your talents to become what I made you to be?”
… what would I/you have to say???
Consdier this….
2  A rose only becomes beautiful & blesses others when it opens and blooms.  Its greatest tragedy is to stay in a tight closed bud, never fulfilling it potential. Anonymous/Link, Jesus 2000
       But what does the parable tell us about the master?  He entrusts his servants with an unimaginable treasure.  He exhibits amazing trust while he is away.  When he learns how the first two have doubled the treasure, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” & gives them more.  He even says,  “Come, share your master’s joy”  This is really an extraordinary master – trusting welcoming, generous, benevolent.
He gives his servants freedom to risk & to act.
Now a true story on taking a risk to become yourself, of not burying our unique “talents” ….
Steve Jobs founded the enormously successful company Apple Computer. Jobs decided that Mr. John Sculley was the man needed to help him fulfill his dream of building a completely different kind of computer company, one which would make computers available to every person in the world.     
       However, Mr. Sculley was comfortably & safely entrenched as president of the Pepsico Corporation (Pepsi). In this position, John Sculley had achieved everything that a man could want: power, prestige, public recognition, an enormous salary & a secure future.   
       The thought of a career change requiring a move to the West Coast frightened him.  He was concerned about losing pensions, deferred compensation, the adjustment to living in California, in other words, “stuff that preoccupies the middle-aged." He says that "I was overly concerned with what would happen next week and the week after next."
      John Sculley knew that he was safe & happy.  But he also knew that he disliked the competitive nature of the business & he was bored. Steve Jobs at Apple sensed this.  And so he finally confronted his new friend with this pointed question. He said to John, "Do you want a chance to change the world?"    That question penetrated deep into the heart & mind of John Sculley.    It changed the course of his life. He went to Apple Computer & helped it to grow into one of the most successful corporations in the world. Mr. Sculley's life was changed because he took the risk & decided to invest.    
        Was it a risk? Yes.   But without it, there would be no reward.                                   
                                                      (Source; esermons.com/ Dotterer, Living the Easter Faith,).
Afraid…take a chance today.  How about trusting your God?
Forget fear, do God’s will. Share your part of the Good News.
Become who you were meant to be – another Christ in your own way!
At this Liturgy, I asked a question, “Who are you?”
Answer, “I am one of God’s gifts to the world!”  

Thirty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time


32 OTA.11; Wis 6:1-16; 1Thess 4:13-1; Matthew 25:1-13
Two little boys, ages 8 & 10, are excessively mischievous. They’re always getting into trouble and their parents know if any mischief occurs in their town, the 2 boys are probably involved.  The boys' mother heard that a preacher in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The preacher agreed, but he asked to see them individually.   The mother sent the 8 year old in the morning, with the older boy to see the preacher in the afternoon.   The preacher, a huge man with a deep booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly,  "Do you know where God is, son?"    The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open.So the preacher repeated the question in an even sterner tone,  
"Where is God?!Again, the boy made no attempt to answer.  The preacher raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face & bellowed, "Where is  God?!" The boy screamed & bolted from the room, ran directly home & dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him. When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?"
                     The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied,…
"We are in BIG trouble this time!"  
"God is missing, and they think WE did it!"   (source:unk)
Well, do we know? “Those who are ready went into the wedding feast.”   
                                                                                                           Mt 25:10
Why won’t the ten wise virgins … help the foolish ones?
Just as in the Sermon on the Mount (Mt 5:16) where Jesus says , “Let your light shine before others so they may see your good works and give glory to God”, so in today’s Gospel the oil that fuels the light is also understood as good deeds, and no one can share theirs with someone who has none.
      Granted but there is more….
Matthew tends to write in dramatic dual (light/dark) imagery. Yet, when placed in the context of the whole Gospel, instead of inducing fear, the parable gives assurance that when we are responding … all along to the lifelong courtship of the Bridegroom, we will be ready for the moment of final consummation.  How?  
We prepare for that critical moment of meeting our Beloved face-to-face with all our daily choices for living truthfully/justly.  Every time we resist selfishness/hoarding oil just for ourselves, so that others are left without, then we allow the love/light of Christ to shine through us to others.
(Resource: America, 10.31.11, B.Reid,)
Here’s a brief but hard hitting story:
2  A man knocks on a door.  The voice from inside says, “Who is it?”, the man says, “It is your countryman.”  The voice behind the door says, “There is no one here.”   The man wanders for a year, returns to the door, & knocks a second time.  The voice from inside says, “Who is it?”  The man says, “It is your brother.”  The voice behind the door says, “There is no one here.”
The man wanders for another year, returns to the door, and knocks a third time.  The voice from inside says, “Who is it?”  The man says, “It is you.”    
The door opens.    How does Christ know us?
He knows us when he looks into our face & sees himself.
(Resource: Spiritual Wisdom of the Gospels, J.Shea p. 317)
This integration of Christ into our life means transformation.  When it is occurring, we will understand Paul’s cry:
…“it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me.”
“What will it be like when all the infinite beauty and greatness and happiness and Love of God are poured into the poor clay vessel that a human being is, to satisfy it eternally with freshness of ever-new joy?”
(Source: St. Josemaria Esciva)
What might this integration look like?
Worship/prayer must be the same as Real Life.
Josh McDowell tells about an executive "headhunter" who recruits corporate executives for large firms. The headhunter said that he likes to interview and disarm a potential candidate: "I offer them a drink, take off my coat, undo my tie, throw up my feet & talk about sports, family, whatever, until they’re  relaxed. Then, when I think I’ve got them relaxed, I lean over, look them square in the eye & say, ‘What’s your purpose in life?’
            It’s amazing how top executives fall apart at that question."
Then he told about interviewing one fellow recently. He had him all disarmed, talking about football. Then the headhunter leaned over & said, "What’s your purpose in life, Bob?" And Bob said, without blinking an eye,        
             "To go to heaven & take as many people with me as I can." "For the first time in my career," said the headhunter, "I was speechless." No wonder. He had encountered someone who was prepared. He was ready. His purpose, "To go to heaven & take as many people with me as I can." We might not express it that way, but do you doubt that this person has extra oil for their lamp?  (Source: esermons.com/Nicolosi, Preparing for the End Time)
At this Liturgy, let us be as prepared as the Thessalonians, we who are alive, who are left, to be “caught up together in the clouds” by being wise, by being loving, by being Christ.  Not ready?  … well, if God can break down the stone door of a tomb, God can break down the door of your heart.
God is not missing … God is with you!
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)