7th Sunday of Easter

Our readings for the seventh Sunday of Easter are:

1. Act 1: 15-17, 20a, 20c-26
2. Psalms 103:1-2, 11-12, 19-20
3. 1 John 4: 11-16
4. John 17: 11B-19

• Finding your ministry and your ministry finding you
• Lay ministry is characterized by give and take between needs within the Body, and those who feel a call, sometimes just a tug, to fill the need.  Sometimes that call is into a well-established ministry, other times the call is to form a ministry for the first time.
• Where do you see unmet needs in the parish?  Maybe there are not enough hands to get all of the work done, or there is not enough visibility of the work for the parish to really benefit, or even that those who are in need realize that they are in need.
• Whose job is it to address those various needs?
• Why do you think they are not getting the needed work done?
• How might you help?
• What are you afraid of?

• The kingdom of God
• One definition of the Kingdom of God is simply "that place where God's will is done."
• Are we living in the Kingdom?
• Where is this Kingdom?
• If you're not living in the Kingdom now, why is that?
• How could you make His Kingdom more present here on earth?
• Is it worth it?

• Love to perfection
• God's love can seem distant, hard to fathom, and harder yet to draw inspiration from.  It is my belief that Jesus came, not to be the last word in showing us how much God loves us as much as He came to show us how to make that love present, immanent, and all but inescapable to those around us.
• Imagine a world where you were never born.  What would be different?  Sort of a It's a Wonderful Life meditation.
• Now, imagine yourself on your deathbed.  You have plenty of time, with nothing to do, particularly during the wee hours of the morning.  What in your life would you like to be able to look back on from that vantage point.
• What can you do today to make the world a better place, a more loving place?

• The mystery of the Trinity
• Our faith as Christians stands alone in believing in the Trinity.  Which is fine until you try to explain it to someone.
• Jesus prays that we all be one as Jesus and God are one.  Does that mean:
• That we all agree on everything?
• That we all enjoy being with each other?
• That we all share the same stories of God's action in our midst?
• Is that unity an event, or a process?
• If we are somehow able to share in this oneness, why would that bring us joy?
• What is keeping us from that oneness?

• Preparation for Reconciliation:

1. Where is God's work waiting for my God-given talents and resources?
2. Where is God moving me to bring about His Kingdom here, now?
3. Where is God calling me to be His love?
4. Where is God calling me to greater unity?

Never Alone

Evangelization has to start with healing.

Healing has to start with being accountable.

Being accountable has to start with listening.

Listening, ah listening, starts with silence before you even arrive.

Our great conceit is that we're in this alone.

Making our way through the silent crowds.

Trying to get where we're going with the least fuss.

Keeping our eyes glued to our shoes.

Instead all around us is a cosmic invitation

To take our proper place, pick up our proper instrument

Join in the vast chorus of life.

And in finding our place, we help others find theirs.

Our house of belonging stands shrouded in fear.

Our stunted, false self whispers,

If you do not find a home here, then where?

And we stand, forever on the threshold.

Or we open the door just a crack,

Find others there that we fear to embrace

Because they will lead us to unfamiliar horizons,

So we close the door and move one.

Or we found our house of belonging once, long ago.

And we clung to its timbers, curtains, and rugs.

Meanwhile, where we belonged moved on without us.

And we found ourselves lost in the strangeness of the familiar.

Or we belonged once,

But suffered hurt beyond what we could bear.

And rather than taking up the work of healing,

We became wraith-like, wandering, trying to escape suffering for good.

The silence that nurtures accountability

Tears down our defenses

Lets us be vulnerable to the consequences

Of our actions, our community, our culture.

And once defenseless,

We are able to truly listen to the hurts of another

Embrace their suffering, journey with them

And remember, remember that we are all one.

Shalom!