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Fog Flaws – the Grave – Untie Each Other!

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March 17, 2013

The grave/tomb is the place sin takes us to hold us bound.  We can not escape the grave sin seeks to hold us in alone – our spiritual eyes must be opened to see the escape route out – to hear the spirit of the Lord so that we can be fully alive and rise up out of the grave.  Lent is viewed often as a time for individual preparation for Easter, rather than a time for renewal, rebirth and replenishment for the whole church community including the church.  We are a people with not only individual and but also community flaws.  Often flaws we didn’t wish for and wouldn’t wish on another.

Two sisters Mary and Martha were confronted with death of their beloved brother.  We hear they sent for Jesus saying, the one you love is ill.  Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, so when he heard the news Lazarus was ill, he remained for two days in the place he was.

Why did he do that?  He must have known it would not make Mary and her sister Martha happy.  Jesus wanted to teach a family, a nation, his disciples, all of us and yep you too.   By waiting he created anxiousness of the heart!

Jesus knows the flaws of our humanity.  He knows that we often must experience an encounter that stretches us beyond our comfort zone.  Jesus knows how to help us overcome the blindness and stumbling blocks our humanity places in our path.  Blindness rooted in both our human nature, not attributable to consciousness of sin, and in the imposed blindness caused by self rationalization of our sin.

Rationalization is humanities way to hide from the truth that supports many layers of deeply rooted layers of fog flaws we find ourselves enveloped in.  Fog we seem unable to see through.

The Church in its wisdom gave us three scrutinizes (sounds painful doesn’t it) during lent to help us begin to penetrate the fog.  To scrutinize is to confront our human nature to choose to be blind.  Today we celebrate the third scrutiny.

Scrutiny is a search, an in depth examination and inquiry into the depths of ones soul.  To participate in true a scrutiny require the courage, to encounter the stench of death one encounters while digging up what was buried in a grave by the spirit of truth that calls us back to life.  And it is not just for the benefit of the candidates and catechumens, but for the whole family and yep you and me too.

We do these rites (scrutiny) together in the hope we will remember the stories of Jesus encounters and sharing our own stories in the light of Jesus encounters with the Samaritan woman at the well at mid day, the blind man from birth, whose blindness was not caused by sin and Lazarus.  In each story Jesus brought healing and conversion of individual people for the benefit of converting a whole people – the people of God.

Jesus waited until the time was right.  We might, remember these lessons when we become impatient and our pleas and our prayers seen unanswered.  After four days he arrived.  Take away the stone.  Martha said, Lord by now there will be a stench he has been dead for four days now.

Father I thank you for hearing me.  I know you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me.  He always hears hears us when we call upon His name.  But he knows how we learn and how stiff necked and hard hearted we can be!  He cried out in a loud voice, Lazarus come out!  Imagine Lazarus tied hand and foot, his face covered in a cloth bouncing awkwardly out!  He either had to roll our or hop out – no way he could have walked out.

What did Jesus say to them when Lazarus came out?  Untie him and let him go!

Jesus and the Church today are teaching us about the relationship we are called to build between the individual and the community.  Untie him and set him free – the essence of a living, breathing and believing community.

O my people, I will open your graves, tough your flesh is dead because of sin and open your Spirit to see clearly the effects of our humanity, sin and the darkness that surrounds because of the light that comes to us through the free gift of grace is always present.

Lazarus comes to us out of the darkness of the grave, tied and bound in burial rope, and blinded by a cloth covering his face.  Symbols of how our flaws hold us in bondage.  Lazarus could not untie and set himself free nor can we.  Lazarus is a story that demonstrates our faith is about living and believing not as just individuals but as a faith community.  Jesus wants us to see, it takes the faith of a family and a supporting community to fully set Lazarus free – flaws and all.  I wonder will we untie the bonds that tie our hands and feet?

That is precisely what the Gospel, lent and the OCIA journey are about.  It is not just about the individual, the candidates or the catechumens.  It is about this whole faith community coming together in one open spirit, to listen and share the story of scripture and each others story.  Listening and being open to one another in spite of ours flaws.  By melting into the one body of Christ we begin to untie the bonds that result in setting each person and the whole community free.  That is how we love oen another and set each other free!

30th Sunday Ordinary Time: On the Road Called “The Way” All Alone One discovers?

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30th Sunday Ordinary Time October 28, 2012

Faith is what one finds when they are all alone but discover they are not.

Well all of us here have made it to church today!  Some of us were drawn by some invisible force.  Some of us came on our own because it’s what we do.  And some of us came because someone else insisted we come!

Why Are We Here?:

Well we are here.  So what is in this for me?  What we are looking for while we are here?  What are hopes and our dreams?  What are the nagging problems of our life?  What needs fixing in our life and that of our family?  Just what are we are hoping to get out of coming to Mass this morning?  What is it we would ask from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David if he passed by us today?

Oh He is here?!  So what is it that we want from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David today!

Have eyes to see – Yet Blind?

Perhaps some of us could learn from the scriptures and the blind beggar in the gospel story today?  Some of us may think we are different from the beggar because we can see but the fact is because we can see — we might just be blind.  So let’s take a trip and have a test!  Who’s ready?

A trip on the Road = The Way:

Where was the beggar sitting?  On the road leading away from Jericho – as Jesus was leaving – on a road called “The Way”.  The people of Jesus time knew this was no ordinary location – it was on the way.  This beggar was sitting on the Old Testament road, known by the people Israel as the way to the Promised Land.  Do any of you young people know another name we might use to describe the Promised Land?  Could it be a place we call the final destination, a land of no more tears flowing with milk and honey?

So now let me ask what was the name of the Beggar?  And who was his father?  Bartimaeus and his fathers name was Timaeus and together these names mean the Son of Honor.  So let’s examine the significance of that name.   A man with a name that means son of honor is reduced to the level of a beggar who can not see but worse – one who must sit by the road side and beg for the basic essentials of staying alive.  How many folks here would willingly trade places with Bartimaeus?

Can you Hear?

Like most people with a disability they have strength.  Bartimaeus was blessed with really good hearing.  Sitting along that road side he had heard the stories of Jesus and knew who he was.  And even though there was a crowd he was able to determine Jesus was in the crowd walking past.

He began to cry out – Hey Jesus Christ my Lord, the Son of David hear me!  Many in the crowd began to rebuke him, be quite, stop calling out, hush up, stop pestering Jesus.

But Jesus stops walking and tells the crowd – “tell the Beggar to come to me”.  Are we paying attention?  Jesus gave the crowd following him a job! The crowd reverses its attitude and immediately becomes the beggars advocate – take courage, man, get up Jesus is calling you!

Take courage my blind friend, do not fear Jesus is calling you!

Bartimaeus threw aside his cloak and sprang to his feet and came to Jesus – was he ready or what?

What do you want from me Today?

Jesus asks – What do you want me to do for you?  Well Jesus is here asking – What do you want me to do for you today?

Faith is what one finds when they are all alone but discover they are not.

Bartimaeus responds – Master I want to see!  Go your way, your faith has saved you.

Gifted yet Blind that He May See:

The blind beggar asks for sight – the blind man could once see but lost his ability to see and wants it back.  Ironically the story is about a blind man who unknowingly discovered he could spiritually see (he was gifted with faith and didn’t know it) because he had suffered the loss of his physical sight!

As extraordinary, the blind man not only immediately received his sight but answered Jesus call and began following Jesus on the road, on The Way to the Promised Land.

Each one here is on the same road – on the way – many of us just don’t know it!  But if we did, what would we ask of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of David?  The question is being asked.  What do you want me to do for you today?  Have courage, come He is waiting for our response.

26th Sunday Ordinary Time: Look Out – The Holy Spirit is Falling on – Oh My – Could that be me?

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26th Sunday Ordinary Time September 30, 2012

Go!  Go forth!  And do What?  Whoops we are the beginning!

A Gifted Spirit:

The LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses.  Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, the LORD bestowed it on the seventy elders.  Two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, were not in the gathering but had been left in the camp.

They were not in the tent; yet the spirit came to rest on them also.  A young man quickly told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp”, Joshua, son of Nun, said, “Moses, my lord, stop them.”

Jealousy:

Listen to Moses  “Are you jealous for my sake?  Would that all the people of the LORD were prophets!  Would that the LORD might bestow his spirit on them all!”

Today’s lesson begins with a question.  Hey who the heck do some folks think they are?  Who gave them the authority to operate beyond my idea of authority?   Who the heck said they could venture beyond the reserved and restricted limits established by many?

You Talking to me?

Who could Moses be speaking to?  Is it possible the Holy Spirit could fall on you?  Or what about that neighbor who is below you or someone who works for you or those we are absolutely sure we are better than they?  Stop – get back in back your box —  ‘er’ —  is that my box?

Today the Church is probing the limits of our human and spiritual insight into our own individual view of how spiritual things are supposed to be?  It questions the limits we place on the ability and the authority of even the Holy Spirit to operate.   Do we know it is our human nature that tends to do that?  Can the Holy Spirit do what the Holy Spirit wants?

Further it challenges and reveals the voice we all tend to listen to.  We all know that little negative voice that sits on our shoulder.  It can create obstacles and doubt!  It can tell us we are the expert in certain areas and someone is trespassing on our turf.  Or more often it can tell us we can’t be that spiritually good.  We are not good enough, don’t know enough, we are not gifted or qualified, or certified, nor trained, or not ordained, and anyway it’s not our job – it is reserved for a someone else, a higher authority, maybe the clergy, theologians or the scholars but not me.

The Voice of Doubt:

Don’t let that obstinate or disqualifying voice overpower the Holy Spirit.  Don’t let that voice trip us up and prevent us from venturing out into our next  spiritual adventure – Simply open our hearts and say yes to the spirit and then venture from the water well where we can begin giving passers by a drink from the wellspring of spiritual life.

Again we hear in the gospel of Matthew, John, the beloved disciple, say to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us.”

“Do not prevent him.  There is no one who performs a mighty deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me.  For whoever is not against us is for us.  Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward.

Human stumbling blocks:

These stories show we humans can have human road blocks to the Holy Spirit.  When another operates outside our comfort zone we want to disqualify and stop them.    In a sense, we would have to operate outside our own human made tent.  And for many of us operating outside our tent means operating outside our comfort zone where we may encounter the real pressure of being spiritually stretched.

Stretch – Risk

Will we stretch to see with the eyes of our spirit or accept the blinders our human condition tends to accumulate over time?  Are we willing to take a risk?  Are willing to return to the fountain of our youth, go back to basics and begin to draw a new spiritual picture?  Are we willing to become box openers who actively search for new possibilities beyond our current human limitations seeking to transform the world in Jesus name.

God is far bigger than any Tent and far bigger than the human limitations we or the world can create.

The Holy Spirit Escape human limitations:

Sometimes, it seems we don’t realize the Holy Spirit instantaneously escapes any human limitation we invent.

In case we have forgotten the spirit of the Lord is bestowed on all those who attend Mass every time, particularly during the Liturgy of the Word and the Eucharist.  No one gets excluded not even the sinner or the one for numerous reason is unable to receive communion.

The purpose of the Mass is to bestow the Holy Spirit on each and everyone who attends.  Jesus Christ sends the Holy Spirit which seeks to light a spiritual fire in each one present!

Go – Leave – Take the Spirit of Jesus out into the World:

The real presence of Jesus Christ is made present in the Body of Christ.  You and I, all of us are being prepared for the final dismissal.  Go, Go Forth get out of the tent, get out our limiting human tent.  Take the Holy Spirit we have received out into the world as real food to encounter and feed a hungry world.  Today is the Day we are sent on mission.  Go and do not confine the Holy Spirit to our human and secular world view!

Or will we hesitate and withdraw, thereby facilitating the enclosure and the confining of the spirit within the jail of our human expectations and limits?

The Lord is asking!  Will you listen to my words – fall to your knees for me – venture outside your comfortable tent and Go where you have never been?  Seek to open and touch by drawing upon the unseen spirit of imagination that lives within the observer and hearer of the spirit of the word fashioned in the picture.

Hey – Howd God get out of my Treasure Box?

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26th Sunday Ordinary Time — September 26, 2009

In today’s gospel Jesus is confronting human natures ability to create a captivity and control box, a jail.  When we are young our human capacity to understand God is limited yet we automatically try and wrap our arms around this God of ours.  In doing so, we unknowingly create a treasure box for God and others.  Unfortunately some are locked in and some locked out.  Later in life this treasure box can to limit our spiritual growth to the size of the box we chose.

Did you know we all have such a treasure box?  Some have a little bitty box and some of have a bigger box.  Let me assure you each of us has their own box.  At some point in our life we settled in on, who we think God is, how he operates and we then put God in our box and locked some folks out.  Then we tend to keep him there because we are comfortable with who we decided he was.  But eventually in life the good Lord will place us in a situation where he makes us uncomfortable because God wants us to understand he cannot be contained within our limited understanding self defined box.

From the book of Numbers we hear the Lord came in a cloud, took some of the spirit of Moses and bestowed it on the seventy elders.  Joshua, Moses longtime closest aide was one of them.  We hear Joshua, one of the chosen ones complain.   Eldad and Medad, two who were outside the gathering had prophesied in the camp – stop them!  Please Moses get them out of our box!

Again in the gospel of Mark, we hear John, the beloved disciple, tell Jesus. Teacher someone is driving out demons in your name.  We tried to stop him because he does not follow us, tell them to get out of our treasure box!

In these readings we see human natures reaction to a confrontation with this treasure box, pettiness, arrogance and envy.  Times like these are teaching moments.  Jesus wants us to know those of good will who are not against us, are to be treated as being with us.  We are being called to tolerance and openness.  Jesus wants our limited human created box to be stretched.  One day we will find ourselves in a situation that will make us uncomfortable so we can see clearly the arbitrary human limitations we place on him.

Break open your box, set me free from your confounded self defined box which in truth is purely an illusion that exists only in your mind. 
This week end, we are also holding our parish stewardship fair.  Guess what is true about Catholic stewardship?  Yes each of us also has a stewardship captivity box.  This box may have been defined long ago and over time some of us have added an iron reinforced concrete layer to protect our inner self from any penetration!  Some are putting up road blocks as I speak.

The spirit of God cannot be contained.  Release God and he will open your spirit and stretch the size of your box beyond your wildest imagination to the degree we open our hearts!

I have a promising antidote, a box expanding opener.  It has the potential to spring God lose from our self limiting captivity box and begin to cut a hole in the concrete reinforced walls of our stewardship box!  Let’s call this a kind of spiritual of cash for clunkers program.  We will be trading in the stubbornness of the human heart for joy now and salvation later.

Are you willing to take a risk and give this antidote a try?

I have some lyrics I will say the words first and then I want you sing the refrain after me.  Are you ready for the antidote?

I’m trading my sorrow — I’m trading my shame — I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord
I’m trading my sickness –I’m trading my pain — I’m laying it down for the joy of the Lord

Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord.

There is a positive impact from saying a simple yes to the Lord.  As the Yes travels from the tips of the tongue down it startles and wakes up the spirit of the soul triggering a natural opening and stretching of the size of the box to handle the possibilities of the hazards of the risk just spoken.  As the reality of yes reaches the living, beating chambers of our heart it expands to transform our box into a spirit filled room of potential unending capacity.

No one gets bumped out as new travelers begin to fill the room.

 

What is your Testimony Division and Polarization or Freedom

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21st Sunday of ordinary Time August 26, 2012

What is the source of division and polarization that is dividing our nation in 2012?  Before anyone answers let me give you a clue.  It is hidden in the question being posed by the authors of each of the readings.  Joshua asks!  Paul asks!  And Jesus Himself is asking and is waiting for our answer today!

What is our testimony?  Do our actions validate our words?  Do our actions clearly and unequivocally point to following the one Lord and Master we are called to serve!

In Joshua’s time the people were immersed in tension and conflict.  Not unlike our world today.  They were a people who lived captivity, slavery and bondage.  They were a people thirsting and dreaming of returning to the promised land, a land of milk and honey.  They were hoping for answers.

Are we ready to respond as Joshua did for his people?  As for me and my family we will serve the Lord!  What Lord has led His people out of bondage, slavery and captivity time and again from antiquity?  We have the stories of scripture to remind us.  But do we know the sorties of salvation history?  Do we tell and teach our children the stories of salvation history?  Or do we reserve that job to the priest and deacon on Sunday mornings?

Again, what is the source of division in our nation?  The answer is hidden in Jesus use of the word flesh.  The flesh represents what we know because we can see it.  Scripture teaches us people tend to prefer what they can see, even slavery over freedom they can not see.

Jesus says eat my flesh and drink my blood!  The people responded, this hard to accept.  Scholars tell us the people understood Jesus words as to mean to gnaw on and chew on my flesh.  As if His flesh was the last source of life sustaining food to save one from starvation.

Jesus was using this analogy to speak of satisfying a real hunger for what was hidden in His flesh, unity of spirit and life.

Let me share with you a blessing.  When my grand daughter was 3 she led in the blessing of our food back in the year 2000.  “God is good, God is great,” (wait-wait I almost forgot, everyone close yours eyes and hold hands).

Think for a moment we are holding the hand and touching the flesh of a neighbor.  One who was created in the image and likeness of God which is hidden within their flesh.  God is good, God is great let us thank Him for our food, by these hands we are feed, Amen.

Whose hands where we holding?  What happened to us during that brief moment of blessing?  We where united in one spirit and life?  For a brief moment we became one body, the living body of who?  We are reminded we are the fruit of the earth.  Our hands extended in the life sustaining spirit of unity and love.  The fruit of divine grace flows from the one spirit of our creator.  One in spirit, one in body and the blood of that Christ signifies the goodness of creation.

The Church provides us these readings to cause us to remember the days of division and dissension that has existed within the people of God from antiquity and today is the day we are called to decide who we will serve.

Paul to the Ephesians adds more flesh to the equation, husbands and wives – no one wants to talk about this scripture today – one might get beat up about the head and shoulders.  In 2012 this scripture can serve as a trigger for cultural upheaval in the roles of men and women and is used in the war on women and gay marriage.  Yet hidden in Paul’s words is the building block spiritual foundation symbolized by marriage.  The foundation of the family, the smallest church, the bride and the groom, Christ and the Church, for the church serves as the building block of our nation!  Two become one flesh!

That precious grand child didn’t just magically appear – she is the result of the willingness of three couples (each one man and one woman) to enter into an intimate relationship open to the possibility of creating a new life!  But we know that is just the beginning.  Stepping up to the responsibility plate.  Being committed to be responsible for that child for at least 18, 26 with projections it will be until the mid 30’s.

No one can come to me unless it is granted by my Father.  Don’t be disappointed or discouraged.  Many who encountered Jesus Himself returned to their homes and former way of life.  How about you?  Peter gave us the answer.  Master, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life!

The Words of Hope & The Signs in the Midst of Chaos! 12/02/2012

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December 2, 2012  1st Sunday of Advent

In today’s scripture readings the church is encouraging us to on alert, awake and ready.  We are to be aware and prepared for the Day of the Lord.

We are being asked and encouraged to look for signs.  Let me ask what signs are we watching and waiting for??  Well what signs are we looking for?

Have we noticed on this very day the nations on earth appear to be in dismay!  Just a month ago a historic terrible inland frontal storm merged with a fast moving tropical storm full of blowing wind and a raging seas which overwhelmed the land.  Homes and neighborhoods were destroyed and great cities brought to their knees.

Our nation is facing an economic fiscal cliff the size of which I doubt the very best economist can fully discern.  The language of economic deception is constantly being perfected.  One can find themselves overwhelmed with so many simultaneous signs in surrounding us this day.  Is this the time?  Are we living in the Day of Lord?

Listen to the words of hope,  Jeremiah speaks to the people Israel during a troubled times.  An invasion was coming.  The people would be lead into captivity and slavery.  Yet knowing exile was not far off Jeremiah assured the people Israel God would keep his promises in good times and bad.

The Day of the Lord:

The Day of the Lord – it is the Day we are hoping and longing for, a day of salvation, the day of our redemption.

We should never doubt the world is working overtime to distract us and convince us!  The world teaches our salvation is to be found through the portal of a new secular progressive agenda!  It is  reaping the benefits of advanced technologies and imaging that deflect and remove our focus from the spirit of truth into a sphere of rationalization, relativism and self gratification which distorts spiritual truth.

Beware:

Beware your hearts not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of life.  Scripture is warning us about our spiritual welfare being subverted by human condition which seeks to play god.

What is the portal to eternal life we should be looking for?  Where do we look, Where will we find it?  Who can help us find it?

Clues Present:

Here are some clues.  Yep, things are a mess in our nation and in the world.  It is happening right now today and if this nation does not turn back to godly ways scripture suggest it may well get much much worse.

What are we to do?  Stand erect and raise your heads!  Do not be fooled by the world!  The truth is the truth always and one who thirsts and long for the truth will seek and find it!  The truth is not found in the new portal of technology or progressivism.  The truth will be found by those who are vigilant at all times with an awareness the world seeks to distract with the lures of indulgence, drunkenness and caring about the false reality invading the world.

Be vigilant at all times, do not let your guard down.  And pray and pray and pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations wishing to engulf your soul.

Do not let the words carousing and drunkenness be confined or limited to bar hopping and boos.  Carousing and drunkenness are any activities that subject one rationalization – I can still  to here my catholic grade school nun teach us about the word rationalization.  It is a word that describes the process of circumventing the truth with untrue.  It seeks to avert a confrontation with the truth and affirm a self serving point of view.

Do You Hear What I Hear? Hope while 20 Little Lambs are Laid to Rest

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4th Sunday of Advent December 23, 2012

Micah was last of the four prophets of the 8th century BCE.  He was called to address the people during dark times.  Times were bad, very bad.  The people had been lead into captivity and slavery.  The future looked bleak and hope seemed to have vanished.  The People were distressed and questioning.  They are surrounded by signs darkness and loss.

20 little lambs and six shepherds laid to rest out in a field.  I ask want is it,  we want most for Christmas?  Hug your children moms, dads, grandmas & grandpas.  Children hug them back!

Modern Danger on all sides:

Danger surrounded them on all sides.  The Assyrian’s armies of Tiglathpilser III had conquered Damascus and Samaria.  Sennacherib was occupying part of coastal region and menacing Moresheth.   Micah knew the people had long ago chosen to reject God.  For not only was the threat external but the prophets, priests and judges had long been accepting bribes.

Micah witnessed the wickedness of leaders political and spiritual.  Princes and merchants were cheating and robbing the poor and humble, esp. women and children.   Priests, prophets and leaders were adapting words to create images the people wanted to hear.   Their leaders mislead the people to swap what was evil for good.  The Lord must have looked away and abandoned them to their plight.

Poor little suffering small inconsequential town.  Taken into captivity, families separated, children from parents, parents from grand parents, spouse from spouse.  There was no where to turn?

Micah was thrust into the stark reality that dreams and images of hope had been shattered with darkness closing in from all sides.  For an ancient story, a promise of hope, had been buried into his heart and the time had come for it to leap into Micah’s mouth and his breath of light escaped into the dark air with a message of hope and peace desperately needed.

A message of hope and peace is as desperately needed in today’s world as when I was becoming a young man in 1962 during the Cuban Missile crises.

‘Said the night wind – to the little lamb:’  ‘Do you see what I see?’ “

 ‘Way up in the sky – little lamb,’ ‘Do you see what I see?’  A star, a star Dancing in the night,  With a tail as big as a kite.

Bethlehem, Ephrathah the city of David.  Too small to be included among the clans of Judah, from you shall come for me the ruler, origin of old, from ancient times. The Promise of Hope!

The message of an infant – a Promised King.

When a virgin will give birth and He shall stand firm and shepherd, with that shall reach to the ends of the earth, shall be peace.

Two Women with Child:

Two women with child brought together, participating in God’s ancient promise.  Filled with the Good News and the Holy Spirit, a fourteen year old virgin girl makes haste to journey by herself to share the song in her heart to be shared with her beloved relative Elizabeth, who the Angel Gabriel had told her of.

Elizabeth’s baby stirred in her womb for joy, (the spirit in John recognized the song in her heart was joy at being in the presence of Jesus, the son of God).  Elizabeth too was filled with the Holy Spirit and cried out, “Blessed are you Mary, who trusted in the word of the Lord”.  Each woman was filled with a song of the miracle within.  One far too old and one a virgin young and pure willing to say yes I will do your will.

Do you Hear what I hear:

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy:  Do you hear what I hear?  Ringing thru the sky shepherd boy,  Do you hear what I hear?  A song, a song High above the tree, |: With a voice as big as the sea. 😐

end

The Child, the Child, – sleeping in the night  He will bring us – goodness and light  He will bring us – goodness and light

What is that “A Puddle”?

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The Baptism of the Lord   January 13, 2013

The Possibilities Story:

“In the beginning”.  The Heavens opened and the Spirit hovered over the waters, the wellspring of all life.  It is a story of not only the beginning but the story of a companion who will travel with us on a journey to continual rebirth.  It is a story of the very real possibility of being reborn to the possibility a fresh start with the breath of new life again and again without end.  When we are down in the dumps – know within lives the grace of our baptism.

What is it that we are longing to be reborn to?  What road block and impossibility is it that we want to overcome?  What is the magic secret tonic, brew or medicine or ingredient will do the trick for us.  Is it possible we may already have received and have at our finger tips such a magical and spiritual potion?

Let’s examine that theory!  It was the kindergarten teacher’s birthday and the students decided that they would each give their teacher a gift.

The first student, whose parents own a florist shop, gave her a present. She held it and said “I guess that it is flowers”. “How did you guess?” asked the little boy. She laughed and thanked him.

The second student, whose parents own a candy store, gave her a present. She held it and said, “I guess that is some candy.”  “How did you guess?” asked the little boy. She again laughed and thanked him also.

The third student, whose parents own a bottle of spirits shop, gave her a box which was leaking. The teacher touched the liquid with her finger and tasted it. “Mmmmm is it wine?” she asked.  “No,” said the little girl.

So she tasted it again. “Is it champagne?” she asked.  “Noooo,” replied the little girl, “It’s a puppy.”

Do we know God loves you even when we “P” all over ourselves!

Water and God and the Wind of Creation

Yep he sure does and that’s what today lesson is all about!  And did you know “dog” spelled backwards spells “God”?

You see God is like a puppy, when we come back to him He gets so excited the grace of our baptism begins to sprinkle, and pour all over us again like the very first time.  Come back to me with all your heart and I will cover you with living waters.

From time to time in life we need a way, sneaky as it may be, to be reminded of who we are!  Our frail human nature and the world ties us up in knots which can causes us to lose track of our spiritual history and forget who we are.  Sometime we forget where we all originally came from and for what purpose we were created in the first place.

Listen again for the first time!   At his baptism “the heavens were opened” 237 – the heavens that Adam’s and Eve’s sin had closed – and the waters were sanctified again by the descent of Jesus and the Spirit of God descended upon the waters – the wellspring of all life.

The Spirit who had hovered over the waters of the first creation descended in the bodily form of a dove upon Christ.  A new beginning, a new creation, and God the Father revealed Jesus as his “beloved Son.”  This is the prelude to the greatest story ever told.

Baptism is a Living Sacrament:

Baptism is not limited to and just that sacrament we received so very long ago!  Baptism is a living sacrament.

Baptism is the pathway that opens a doorway to new life in every blind alley. Baptism is the doorway that lead to the Eucharist, which overcomes death.  Jesus Baptism preceded the Baptism which he had to be baptized.

The blood and water that flowed from the pierced side of the crucified Jesus are types of Baptism and the Eucharist, the sacraments of that opened the pathway from death to new life.

From then on, it is possible “to be born of water and the Spirit” in order to enter the Kingdom of God. [766]   This is the good news to which each of us are called.

Go – Go out into the world!

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”

 

I See Stars – Sherlock Homes & Dr Watson

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2nd Sunday of Lent February 28, 2010

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson go camping.  They pitch their tent under the stars.  During the night, Holmes wakes his companion and says: “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me what you deduce.” Watson says: “I see millions of stars.  Wow If only even a few of those have planets, it’s quite likely there are some like Earth, and there might also be life there as well.”  Holmes replies: “Watson, you idiot. Somebody stole our tent …”

Let’s see what we can deduce from our scriptures today that will help us explore who we are and what we should be about!  Then we can answer the question; are we a Sherlock Homes or Dr. Watson?

Upon this rock I will build my church.  Peter wakes up from a deep sleep. He must have rubbed his eyes in disbelief.  Before him stands the Lord in dazzling white with Moses and Elijah – Ghosts stand before him.  Peter, just awakening is unable to digest the fullness of the moment, being true to his nature, pipes in saying, let us pitch 3 tents.  As Peter is speaking a cloud comes over them, they became frightened and a voice spoke out from the cloud.  “This is my beloved son, listen to him.”

So what is the message for us this day?  Did anyone notice what Moses, Elijah and Jesus were talking about?   They were speaking of Jesus Exodus in Jerusalem.  What does this mean?  They had something very much in common, an exodus story.  Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.  Elijah delivered a message of covenant curse to Ahab the King: a drought would afflict the land (1 Ki 17:1).  Oh Ahab wasn’t happy with Elijah and called for his head.  The Lord told Elijah to “go hide” east of the Jordan (17:3).  Moses and Elijah both made flights into the wilderness wanderings for the purpose of leading Israel back into a covenant relation with the Lord.

Ah ha!  Ah ha!  Oh Sherlock and Dr. Watson – someone has stolen our tent!

I don’t think you got it yet!

Peter wanted to pitch 3 tents in this safe and sacred place but he did not know what he was saying!  In other words the Lord Jesus Christ is not calling us to stay put and camp out!  That is not the purpose for which God is calling us!  – ya can’t stay where your at – like Moses, Elijah and Jesus we all have an exodus journey call and need to move on.  We can’t stay where we are at!  It’s time to move on!

Let’s start over; we can’t leave Dr. Watson behind.  The Genesis story today is the bedrock story, upon which stands, not only Abraham’s faith but yours and mine as well.

God commanded Abraham to leave his home in Ur of the Chaldeans and go to a land I will show you.  God promises the land to Abraham.

Speaking for myself, for much of my life I went into a deep slumber.  From time to time I would awaken to ah ha moments and like Peter I would respond recognizing, man it is good to be alive in those moments.  If only I could stay here and I would pitch a tent!  Are you with me?

Like Peter, we want to stay in our ah hah moments – the symbol of the tents.  Stay in that safe moment and cover our ears.  For when the cloud comes and casts a shadow over us we are unable to respond to the words, the Lord our God speaks.  This is my beloved Son listen to Him.

Jesus exodus story – He went before us.  He suffered for us.  He plowed the path way for us.  He calls us to follow where he went.

When the sun had set, a deep terrifying darkness enveloped Abraham.  There appeared a smoking brazier and a flaming torch which passed between the split pieces of animal offerings.  It was on this occasion that the Lord made a covenant with Abraham.  Normally both parties would pass through between the animals, but here only God passes through showing his willingness to suffer for us.  Abraham makes no promises, but simply believes in God’s promises.

When we finally get the picture and move on, God is with us.  We do not walk alone!  In the year 2010, the evil one has stolen our Christian tent of faith.  The mother figure, the father figure, the church, Christianity, marriage, the family, the right to life, what it right and wrong have all been under attach, under mined and stolen by a great big lie!

Every possible issue is in a crisis today except any of the above!  Are we asleep?  Every crisis we have today is caused by a lack of the practice of our Christian faith.  If we are to remain a free people, we must embrace and embark upon an exodus journey and lead this nation back into a covenant relationship with the Lord.

The Secret – The Spirit Hidden Within

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17th Sunday of Ordinary Time July 29, 201

I know a secret!  Anyone want to know what my secret is?  Is anyone searching for answers?  Is anyone searching for wisdom?  Does anyone want to know the secret to becoming the creator of an idea or dream that leads to a success story?  Does anyone want to know the secret to achieving more than they ever thought they could?

Anyone want to know the secret to living life in a manner which sets free ones spirit to dream and imagine beyond one limitations.  Anyone want to know the secret doorway that allows one to utilize ones natural aptitudes and talents to the fullest?  Anyone want to know and live the reason for which they were created?  Does anyone want to know the secret to the source that enables one to reach beyond themselves to open and create a spiritual infection that engulfs and set on fire all those around them?

To discover this secret one must be ready and open to having their heart tested?  Does anyone know what heart I am talking about?  It is the heart of our spirit – the place now one else knows or can see.  It’s the place where we freely make our decisions!  It is the place the evil one attacks to destroy the spirit of truth that lives there.

Listen to the secret that is hidden in the scripture readings today!  From 2 Kings we hear of a man from Baal-shalishah.  This must have been a man grounded of the earth with dirt under his fingernails – a farmer who brought Elisha, twenty barley loaves made from the first fruits, and fresh grain in the ear.
Elisha said, “Give it to the people to eat.”  Being a practical hard working common servant of the earth he objected.  You gotta be kidding me!  This is the best of my best.  It is reserved for sacrifice to God alone.  Further “How can I set this before a hundred people and each have enough to eat?”

Yet Elisha insisted for he knew the secret, “Give it to the people to eat.”  “For thus says the LORD, ‘They shall eat and there shall be some left over.'”  Indeed when they had eaten, there was some left over.  One can not out give God.

The secret reveled?  Within the Barley grain lie’s a secret.  In those days barley was considered a common grain for common people and to feed the poor.  But Elisha knew the secret hidden there.  Barley provides excellent nutrition and protein to sustain life abundantly.  It is food that provides for growth and bone and muscle.  Even today Barley is feed to maintain a competitive edge to racing pigeons so they can excel.  Barley is a symbol of no matter how lowly or poor one is viewed one cannot exhaust the potential spirit of God that lives within no matter the circumstances of the time!

We humans are such slow learners and throughout history we tend to stumble over the same basic lessons of truth – To teach us God chooses what the world views as foolish, weak, lowly, common, poor, despised or essentially unqualified.  Our God unleashes from a spirit of unity, an abundance which can overcome the impossible to those willing to open their hearts to the risk of encountering the spirit of God that calls from within ones heart.

Again the essence of this secret is reveled in the letter to the Ephesians!  Did we hear it?  We are called to the unity of one hope, one Lord and Father of all, one faith, and one baptism.  The secret of abundance lives in the grace that flows from the spirit of Baptism into the soul of the baptized for ever more!  We tend to think of baptism as a one time event of long ago.  Yet we know our souls are marked indelibly, forever and the grace of Baptism can never be exhausted!  One cannot separate the spirit from the body for this God never abandons us!  Our hope lives in our unity with God’s potential to overcome division from within.

Today we will celebrate the Baptism of one of our own.  The spirit of the secret will be poured out through Baptism onto not just this child of God but we the baptized will be re-immersed into the unity of the font of new life.  We the people stand as the witness for the church.  We the people stand as the unity of the Body of Christ dedicated to supporting this child from this day forward.

Like the people of Jesus time we the people must live in our modern day, a world full of anger, inequity and turmoil.  We are confronted with what seems an endless and unbounded human ability to wreck tragic anger, failure, uncertainty, fear, and grief upon our fellow man.  We soberly stand as a witness to the recent 2012 Massacre in Colorado where God seems to have been absent or even cruel.

In the gospel today we hear Jesus saw the hunger of the large crowd.  So He asked Philip, where can we purchase enough food to feed them?  “Two hundred days?’ wages worth of food would not be enough for each of them to have a little.'” Then Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what good are these for so many?”   Note a boy in Jesus time was considered by the world to be almost nonexistent, owned by his parents, an insignificant nobody.

Jesus said, “Have the people recline.”

Through the boy, the barley loaves and two fishes the secret ingredient is reveled.  An abundant and inexhaustible supply of the food for the hungry is always at the finger tips of a people in desperate need of the truth that sets people free.

If we want to begin restoring our nation to prosperity the journey begins with a willing spirit open to the secret that lives in the unity of faith in only one true God who can multiply what appears to be the spirit hidden in common barley loaves and feed a hungry people.

All times of testing are not comfortable.  But the secret hidden in the story will sustain us for it’s demonstrates God’s graciousness, for through the revelation of God’s gift of free will only a spirit united to God can achieve a deepening of our unity in one faith and an inexhaustible supply of the spirit of love to crumble the walls of division.