31st Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 31st Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Wisdom 11:22-12:2
2. Psalms 145: 1-2, 8-9,10-11, 13, 14
3. 2 Thessalonians 1: 11-22
4. Luke 19: 1-10

• Kindness and mercy
• Think of a time when you felt led to correct someone else.  Maybe they did the right thing, but went about it in the wrong way, or they were not seeing the bigger picture, or they lost their patience and were unnecessarily harsh.
• How did you prepare for that encounter?
• Were you more interested in how you would be received, or whether you would be able to make that other a better person?
• How could you have been more like God in that situation?  Perhaps more humble, more patient, more courageous, ...?

• The bowed down
• There is a telling scene in The Green Book about a successful black pianist during the early 60s on tour in the deep south.  This pianist is a refined gentleman, accomplished, one of the first music PhDs, and yet discriminated against.  He and his driver end up stopping next to a farm field, and there in the field are a number of black farm workers, doing much the same labor that their ancestors had done, probably in that very field, likely under very similar conditions.
• We think of the "bowed down" in literal terms, someone overwhelmed by the pressures of life, barely able to make ends meet, falling exhausted into bed night after night with barely enough energy to turn off the lights.
• Who in your life would you consider "bowed down"?
• How do you think God should lift them up?
• Whose hands will do that lifting?
• When do you think those hands will arrive?

• Glory in the Lord
• We equate glory with eternity.  Some among us consciously look forward to joining God in His glory at the end of our journey in this life.
• What is glory?
• Do you think that any of that glory could come our way in this life?
• Should it?

• Saving that which was lost
• Loss is hard to bear.  It speaks of something, someone that was with us, and now is gone.  Sometimes, maybe if we're lucky, we can get that lost thing or person back, but if we are honest with ourselves, life is never the same again.
• But another sense of "lost" speaks about losing our way.  Maybe we take a wrong turn, or we stopped paying attention at a critical turn off and now we're not where we thought we were, or, more profoundly, we have lost sight of our final objective, and no longer have a direction at all.
• Do you think that our Church overall needs a strategy, something that gets published every 5 years or so, and is carefully considered?
• Do you think that some sort of strategy at the parish level would make sense?
• What about in your family?  No one thinks twice about starting a college fund for babies, given the high cost of an education.  Why don't we ever ask ourselves where we want to be as a family community in the years ahead?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Who in my life needs kindness from me?
2. Where do I need to be the hands of God today?
3. Where might God be calling me to glory?
4. What in my life is God helping me to let go of?

He's Out of His Tree

Zaccaeus, I see you in that tree, scanning the crowd looking for me.
But what you really want to find is hope.
Hope that somehow you can find your way back
Back to family, to friends, to the peaceful village you once knew.

But today, I have a gift for you, a surprise.
I'm going to show you how to build community
In the midst of the ruins that you think cannot be repaired.
I'm going to show you how to show mercy.

I'm going to get so close to you, that your shame will become mine.
Others will not want to be seen with me because I am seen with you.
Others will doubt my wisdom because they have never known mercy.
But you, you are going to see what healing compassion can bring.

You are going to become my disciple in ways you could not imagine.
Spreading my Love to the unloved, restoring dignity to the oppressed,
Sharing the compassion of today for the rest of your life.
In losing your defenses around your heart, you will gain everything.

So, let's get down out of that sycamore and change the world together.

Shalom!

30th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 30th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. Sirach 35: 12-14, 16-18
2. Psalms 34: 2-3, 17-18, 19, 23
3. 2 Timothy 4: 6-8, 16-18
4. Luke 18: 9-14

• Justice and humility
• In the movie The Butler, Ronald Reagan, in a rare moment of true heart to heart, asks one of the white house black butlers "am I on the right side of history with regards to apartheid?"  I have no idea if that conversation ever occurred, but it speaks powerfully to me of the difference between a prophet and a politician.  The prophet's concern is whether speaking out against an injustice agrees with God's timing.  A politician asks whether the people are ready to be stirred into action over that same injustice.  Subtle difference there.
• How would you define oppression?
• By that definition, who are the oppressed in our nation, your community, even your family?
• As long as that injustice doesn't impact you directly, why do you worry?
• Or do you?

• The sorrow of God
• Most of us are pragmatic.  We don't brood over the bad things that happen in life because we want to be upbeat, positive, cheerful.
• Do you think that there can ever be good to come of spending time in sorrow?
• Have you ever been transformed by a sorrow in your life?
• If you knew for a fact that God would be right there with you as you contemplated some sorrow in your life, and that He could renew you through that, would you?
• What about your life brings sorrow to God?
• Do you think He works hard at being upbeat?

• No regrets
• A person with no regrets is either arrogant or has been loving enough and disciplined enough to lead a holy life.
• We never really know all of the effects that our words and actions will have.  Nor will we ever know what might have happened if we had made other choices.  How do you typically make the big decisions?
• Has any of those big decisions turned out badly for you?
• What do you blame that one?
• What would you do differently if you had the chance?

• The eternal "they"
• Do you feel that you need mercy from God?
• Do you feel that you deserve such mercy?
• Why or why not?
• Do you feel that you're in a position to extend mercy, compassion, forgiveness to others?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Am I ready for God to do something new in my life?
2. Are there sorrows that God wants to find me in?
3. What am I discerning today?
4. How can I get more in touch with those around me?

Trapped

I recognized the filthy tax collector as I entered the Temple.

Thankfully, as an official, I have my own entrance far from him.

That must be a Pharisee up in front.  He looks so at home here.

I will pour out my heart to God quietly so as not to disturb him.

The God of my fathers is a demanding God, looking to us

For obedience, and careful attention lest we melt into the Gentiles.

I took this tax collector job so many years ago, thinking it temporary.

But expenses mounted, I had nowhere else to go, my family needed the money.

I have been successful as a Jew.  Much hard work, constant attention.

And now, look at me.  A pillar of the community, truly God's favored.

My old friends despise me, and I cannot blame them.

Lepers are better off than I am.  At least they had no choice in their disease.

My children tell me that times are changing, the ancient rites are dead.

I tell them without tradition, we are nothing.  And yet, sometimes I wonder.

God, I see no way out.  Forgive me all of those whom I have extorted.

Forgive me the fear that I have struck in the hearts of your holy people.

There is no way to survive as a people, a nation, a history without our past.

I must stand resolute against the evils around us, defend what Yahweh has bestowed.

Give me the courage to be honest in my work, help my family get by

On the paltry earnings that I will make as an honest tax collector.

God, I thank you that I am righteous in your sight, full of your grace.

Help me to defend you to those who would depart from your ways.

God I thank you for your mercy and compassion.

Give me strength to transform my life from within.

Shalom!

28th Sunday of Ordinary Time

Our readings for the 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time are:

1. 2 Kings 5: 14-17
2. Psalms 98: 1, 2-3, 3-4
3. 2 Timothy 2: 8-13
4. Luke 17: 11-19

• Learning who you are
• Naaman was a great man in his home country of Aram.  He was a man of undisputed bravery, a man highly regarded by his king.  In spite of all of that Naaman had not come to know God, and so was a man in need.  He thought that he came to Israel for a physical healing, but God's dreams for him were bigger than that.
• When you think of "healing", what does that include?  Is it just a matter of the physical, does it include the emotional, the social, the mental, ...
• What are some things that you have been healed of?
• What/who brought that healing about in your life?
• Was it a process, or an event?
• If you were to relive those events again, would you change anything?

• Revelation
• We all want to be evangelical in the sense that we want to share what makes us happy.  Successfully married men and women rejoice when a friend gets engaged, we look with eager anticipation when a pregnancy is announced, we want to pass along bits of advice to that colleague who just got recently promoted.
• What's the best way for us to reveal God to others?
• Do you think that most "unchurched" hunger for God, for community, for union and just do not know it yet?
• How can we awaken that longing in them, and be authentic to our own brokenness at the same time?

• Creative perseverance
• As we grow in age, it becomes increasingly difficult to just keep on keeping on.  Things that used to be easy gradually become harder and harder, the joy that used to mark things that we did gradually fades, and we ask ourselves, when did this change from being a source of enjoyment, to being a chore?
• As you have aged, matured, how have you known when to leave something behind?
• How do you adjust to that loss?
• Have you really been honest with yourself?  Is it maybe time to admit that you're never going to go skiing again, or that your bungee jumping days are finally over?
• Who cares if the garage of your life is full of things that you cannot let go of?

• Growing through loss
• When we seek a healing, we often want for things to "go back the way that they were" so that we can resume life as though nothing had ever happened in the first place.
• Think back to a time when you were restored in some way.  That might have been getting a job back, healing a relationship that had suffered, receiving a loved one back after a serious illness or injury, ...  Were things really just as they had been before?
• Was that good or bad?
• Why?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Who am I in God's eyes?
2. Do others find me winsome for God?
3. What do I need to let go of today?
4. Where is a painful healing going on in my life today?

I Hate that Name

Minding my own business in the local watering hole.
Enjoying a little brew and relaxation that I've missed for so long.
I thought that it would be good to be back.
Then I hear an old familiar voice ring out

Hey, Simon, Simon the leper, is that really you?
What are you doing here, I mean, with all these people?
For some reason, my friend Jacob's voice
Has always had a piercing quality about it.

I'm not sure if that's just a matter of the pitch,
Or something deeper about Samuel.
But what I do know,
Is that it's annoying every time that he opens his mouth.

I almost want him to think that I'm still a leper,
Just so he'll keep his distance.
But then I realize that will only make him have to yell.
So I turn, pull out my certificate from the priests, and tell him I'm well.

Samuel runs over, hoists his ample backside onto a stool and turns to me
His face familiar, with a few more lines and creases
Witness to life he's lived in my extended absence
And he bellows "so where have you been?"

How do I tell him that I've been in exile in my own country?
That the spaces between villages and cities all look alike.
Nothing but wild animals and other lepers out there.

Occasional furtive contacts from loyal family members.

So I give him an answer that he'll understand.

"Here and there, up and down the coast, sight seeing if you will."

"So what brought you back" Samuel asks.

"Because, in all the places that I visited, this is the only one I call 'home'" I say.

Samuel gets quiet for a blessed moment, looks at my glass, and says 

"Barkeep, my friend's glass is unaccountably low.

And I'll have a round of what he's having.  Put it on my tab."

And then I know I'm truly home again.

Shalom!