Deacon Clint Elkins: 2nd Scrutiny (4th Sunday of Lent) How is your Lent going so far? Believe it or not, we’ve passed the halfway point & that’s the reason I’m wearing a rose, not pink, colored stole instead of purple. Just remember, Jesus “rose” from the dead, He didn’t “pink” from the dead…. We do the color switch when we pass the halfway point, as a kind of mile marker to let us know how far we’ve come and how far we have to go. The old Latin name for this Sunday was “Laetare” Sunday, one of the Latin verbs for “Rejoice”. That’s why I’d like to think out loud a bit this evening about what cause the Church sees in this solemn penitential season. And an even wilder thought, I’d like to spend some time thinking about how that Lenten joy might relate to the Sacraments that our Elect will be receiving. The Scrutiny’s from last week, today & next week are teaching us about our baptismal promises. The Samaritan woman at the well isn’t so much about the woman believing in Christ but about the woman fulfilling her role in proclaiming the Gospel, she reminds us that our baptism commits us to a life of evangelization. The story of Lazarus isn’t so much about Jesus raising him from the dead, but having faith in Christ when it looks like death has won. Today’s Gospel tells us that we are committed to a life of faith and trust. It’s not so much as the man being healed, but seeing as God see’s, reminding us that we are committed to a life that reveals His vision of constant conversion. If we are really sincere about asking God to open our eyes and see as He sees, then we have to change the way we live so our lives can reflect God’s point of view, not ours… Here’s an example of how life changes when you’re given a new perspective, some of you might be able to relate. A few years ago, I got my first pair of glasses. When I stepped out of the Doctors office, the first thing I saw was a stop sign, clearly. I knew what it was, because it was red & an octagon. That may have been a little more than you wanted or needed to hear, but I saw the trees, birds and even the cracks in the roads, clearly. Being able to see the details & intricacies of nature and stop signs and their true beauty is how God sees us. In the first reading, God told Samuel that He doesn’t see as we see. We can only see part of the picture, what’s on the outside, but He sees deeper, into the heart and sees all of our potential. Jesus told the blind man, “You have seen the Son of Man, you’ve seen the Christ; the one that’s speaking to you is He.” What if each of us could put on a pair of “God Glasses” and be able to see the intricate & detailed beauty of everyone we encounter? How would we act when we encounter our co-workers or how would we treat our parents, kids, spouse, friends or even our enemies? Imagine if every time we encountered each other and every time we talked to each other, we see and hear Christ. Our world would be different, don’t you think… Our Elect are here today and in 3 weeks, they will step up into the Sanctuary. They’ll be wearing a white garment & will be given the light of Christ. They’ll be anointed with oil as a priest, prophet & king and they will stand with us, at this table to give thanks, break bread and drink wine, becoming with us what they eat, the Body & Blood of Jesus Christ. Dear Elect, you are here in the midst of us and in a few minutes, you & your sponsors will walk up to the altar and we will pray that God’s light heal the dark places of your lives and strengthen each and every one of you. Your baptism will change you and your identity. It will change the way you see and the way you act in the world. It’s the duty of the baptized to be imitators of Christ and to see as He sees. We will stand with each one of you, not to judge, test or evaluate you, but to give you the courage and strength that you will need to face those dark places. We’re going to ask God to help you see those moments of weakness and failure as God sees them, not as reasons to condemn you, but as opportunities to love you with a greater love. Seeing you as God sees you, we give thanks, because you are a sign that God is still making things new. Fr. Manger, First Sunday of Lent, February 18, 2018 In the readings today we have the story of Noah, the flood and the promise of God with the rainbow. In the gospel we hear of Jesus being taken to the desert and he emerged proclaiming the kingdom of God is at hand. Noah was away, isolated for 40 days and nights in the ark, Jesus was away isolated for forty days and nights in the desert. Noah told by God to prepare a place of refuge from the storm waters and social sinning; Jesus brought by the spirit away from others and social agenda. Noah had a lot of work cleaning up the ark, Jesus had to repel devilish temptations. Noah and Jesus both were likely very tired of the trouble it was taking day after day. The story of Noah’s, quest resulted in saving his family and nature’s animals; Jesus trip prepared for the salvation of all. Noah emerged from the ark with a sign of God’s promise of help and companionship. Jesus was ministered to by the angels and announced the coming of God’s reign to be with us. St Peter’s letter for us today gives some personal applications. Noah was rescued from the flood in the ark, we are rescued in the waters of baptism from the consequence of eternal disaster. Just as Jesus was rescued from death by the Spirit of God, so we are rescued and Noah was rescued by the spirit of God. The rescue is actually God’s work but we have some cooperating work to do as well. Noah had to learn to build an ark, we have to build our spiritual life fixing our hunger for God and adjusting our life path and kindling our love for our creator and redeemer and the Spirit of God. Those are three points. These are three important tasks to cooperate with God’s salvation: fixing our hunger for God; adjusting our life path; and kindling our love for God. FIRST. We have to build our spiritual life by fixing our hunger for God. This hunger is a gift, given to us, as is our hunger for earthly food. But how we eat makes a difference. We can substitute our hunger for God for hunger for drink and drugs or fashions and buying things and gaming. When that happens there is little hunger left for God or it is forgotten and covered over. The hunger for addictives needs to be re-directed to a hunger for a higher power. It is a question of what we put on the plate which feeds our mind and heart. When lent comes we think of giving up something. Fasting is our way of being in the desert with Jesus. We let down on parties and some forms of play, like with internet games and gossip and other distractions which are not desert companions. Solid reading and physical discipline are good ideas. Those things are more gentle but the serious giving up are the addictives of drunkenness and porno compulsions, and destructive gossip, adultery and stealing. These are the things which totally wreck our hunger for God and unfortunately put the focus totally aside in devastating and destructive pursuits. The second point is to work on setting our path straight. This takes some real thought about managing our life properly. Trying to get more clarity on What is our call from God and are we on the path to answer and fulfill that call from God in our life. This is a matter of serious prayer and discernment. Jesus gives the perfect example as he went to the desert to reflect on his new call at his baptism experience at the waters of the Jordan. He had the anointing of the Holy Spirit. He went to the desert to reflect on it and to consider what he was to do and how to go about it. It was not an easy work since the devil wished to distract and rechannel his focus and energy away from God’s purposes and end result. We find the same challenges as well to claify our mission from God. The third part of lenten journey is Kindling our love for God. Generally this is helped when we exercise God’s love for the poor and those unable to respond, that is to love his unwanted. To put love where there is no love. That is what God wants to do and he needs hands and hearts to help. It is like being the altar server lighting the candles for Mass. You bring light were there is no light but the light is not from a match and wick, but from your compassion and the love you give. So as your give love unconditionally to the people God wants love given to, He is helping you to love Him as well at the same time. Parents certainly have that experience of finding love being drawn from them as they open their hearts to their children. Bullet points:
STORY “One man lost a valuable watch while working in an icehouse. He searched diligently for it, carefully raking through the sawdust, but didn’t find it. His fellow workers also looked, but their efforts, too, proved futile. A small boy who heard about the fruitless search slipped into the icehouse during the noon hour and soon emerged with the watch. “Amazed, the men asked him how he found it. “‘I closed the door,’ the boy replied, ‘lay down in the sawdust, and kept very still. Soon I heard the watch ticking.’” POPES WORDS The great danger in today’s world, pervaded as it is by consumerism, is the desolation of anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart, the feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasures, and a blunted conscience. Whenever our interior life becomes caught up in its own interests and concerns, there is no longer room for others, no place for the poor. God’s voice is no longer heard, the quiet joy of his love is no longer felt, and the desire to do good fades. This is a very real danger for believers (too). Many fall prey to it, and end up resentful, angry and listless. That is no way to live a dignified and fulfilled life, it is not God’s will for us, nor is it the life in the Spirit which has its source in the heart of the risen Christ. The joy of the gospel fill the hearts and lives of all who encounter Jesus. I invite all Christians to a renewed personal encounter with Jesus Christ. Those words of the Pope are surely the call of lent. Deacon Clint Elkins: 6th Sunday of Ordinary Time 2/11/18-Year B Leviticus 13:1-2, 44-46; 1Corinthians 10:31-11:1; Mark 1:40-45 I remember hearing about a little old lady listening to a group complaining about their problems. She asked that they write down the trouble that worried them the most and put it into a jar and then asked that each one of you to draw out one of the papers and by all the laws of probability, they would have something new to worry about. The complainers did as she asked and in the end, all of them, without exception, wanted to have their own troubles back! In the Gospel, Jesus runs into a man who would have traded his trouble with anybody, because he had leprosy. He said to Jesus, "If you want to, You can cure Me." Jesus is moved with pity and stretches His hand out, touches the leper, and says, "I’ll do it, you’re cured", and he is cured. In Biblical times, the word leprosy meant several kinds of mangy, scaly, skin diseases, not Hanson’s Disease that we know today and I’m not sure if today's leprosy ever occurred in Biblical times that degenerates nerves, causes loss of sensation, muscular movement and the loss of extremities such as fingers, toes and nose. Nevertheless, the man was troubled because he was afflicted with a skin disease that caused him to be ostracized by his people. Under the Jewish Law, extreme measures had to be taken to prevent the spread of these diseases. The afflicted person was isolated from his community and couldn’t go to other settled areas and had to warn to other people about their condition, but the disease was curable, and the leper would be able to go back to his life in the community after a priest had verified his cure and performed the purification rite required by law. Jesus' mission is symbolized by Him reaching out to the lepers, the untouchables, the outcasts, the poor and the oppressed. And should the day arrive when the physical disease of leprosy no longer exists, the leper will remain in Christian thought as a symbol of God's saving Grace and as a challenge to Christian compassion. The greatest challenge to our compassion is to find Jesus where He always waits for us, among the outcasts. The Book of Hebrews reminds us, that Jesus died outside the gate to sanctify the people by His blood, so we have to go to Him outside the camp, bearing His insult, because we don’t have a lasting city and we’re seeking the One who is to come. The Christian who remains within the camp, refusing to reach out to the least of Jesus' brothers and sisters, has missed the whole point of the Gospel proclaimed by the one "who is to come." A while back, a bureaucrat organized the National Association of Professional Bureaucrats. The motto of the organization is: "When in charge, ponder; when in trouble, delegate; when in doubt, mumble." That’s funny, but the humor goes away when we realize how often we respond like this to the demands of our Christian ministry. We are guilty of the excessive pondering of endless discussion when there is something we can do now to reach out to the people who are "outside the camp." There are times when we delegate our ministry of compassion to others, whether it’s to the Government, the Church or simply to the other guy. What about the times when we mumble pious pronouncements on the questions of social justice? God calls His people to be a trumpet, to be a light on the hill, to be the salt of the earth, not to a bunch of people mumbling about how things ought to be. Believe it or not, we are all potential outcasts and are vulnerable to the disease of feeling alone and/or unwanted. Maybe some of us here are suffering or hurting this way. Maybe you are hurting because someone you thought loved you has let you down and you've suddenly discovered, that the other person doesn't know you at all, or you’re in desperate need of funds and there’s no one willing to help you or you’re so alone, that you want to cry out the same way Jesus did on the Cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Maybe you’ve forgotten that God is closest to you at the moment of your deepest hurt. He’s reaching out to you, to touch you in a healing way. Let His love come to you and touch you at the very point that you’re hurting and let Him give you a new kind of strength, way beyond that of your own. God is here for you and when He hears you cry out, "Why have you forsaken me and let me down", He doesn't ponder, delegate or mumble, He reaches out and offers you the Grace and the strength to become whole again. He teaches you to understand that it’s in the crucible of doubt and loneliness that you are shaped and prepared for your ministry of love and for your fulfillment in love. The message of God's love that Jesus gives to us is unqualified and the message we receive is the message we are commissioned to deliver to our each other and that is, "I love you" -- period. Let today be the day that we remember the joy of realizing, at the deepest level of our being, that we are loved by God and are not abandoned. We’re commissioned by God to discover the real meaning and purpose of our lives by loving one another. May the Almighty Lord bless you, protect you from all evil and bring you to everlasting life. Deacon Clint Elkins 2nd Sunday of Advent 12/10/17-Year B Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; 2Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8 The New Testament writers tell us, over-and-over again, that God's Grace will overtake us whenever we go through the dark tunnel of meaninglessness. Sometimes, when we’re in total despair, a wave of light breaks through and it’s like a voice saying, "You are loved and accepted! I have come into the world as the ultimate witness to your worthwhileness! You really matter! You’re an integral and necessary part of God's plan for the fulfillment of His creation! Your reason for being extends through all eternity and you will never be abandoned! Accept that you are accepted!" Picture yourself for a moment as a slave. You have been brought into the market and you’re up on the auction block. Someone comes along and buys for you. But, instead of taking you home, he says to you, "You are free! I have paid the price for you! You are a free person." Lets change the picture. Now you are a criminal. You’ve committed the crime of which you are accused and you know you are guilty. You stand before the judge, condemned, waiting for the sentence when, the judge says that you are forgiven and free! Although you didn’t do anything to deserve it, you are free again! In both instances, it’s a sheer act of grace, a gift that made a whole new way of life possible to you. In today's Gospel, Mark tells us that "John the Baptist appeared, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins". He is proclaiming the Good News of salvation and that Jesus has come to set us free. John the Baptist is preparing his followers for the coming of God's Gift, the sheer act of Grace that would radically change their perspective on life and their experience of life. John is proclaiming the Good News of the Lord Jesus, who has come into the world, not as bearer of God's Supreme Gift, but as the Gift Himself. John the Baptist uses the word “Repent” to prepare his followers to accept the freedom Jesus is offering. He’s telling them how to get ready to accept a gift of new life in Jesus. He urges them to get rid of all of their self-centeredness and pride, to acknowledge complete and absolute dependence on God not only for life, but also for the way of life. John laid it all out, the attitude of repentance is necessary for acceptance of Jesus into their lives. They have to be ready and willing to turn their lives around and arrange their priorities in order to experience the wonder and the joy of the freedom of salvation. In the novel "Short Term”, the principal character is Ken. He was successful in the business sense of the word. He had all the money he needed, but he wasn’t a joyful man. He was had a kind of low-level depression that never left him and he knew something was wrong. He said at one time, he felt like a person was shouting "Rah! Rah! Rah!" for nothing and at another time, he felt like a quarterback who kept looking at the scoreboard and seeing a zero for his team. There was this continuous depression, with only a few strokes of light along the way to keep him going. One thing that he kept remembering, was a young girl he had met during World War II. He thought that he loved her, but she chose to go her way and they were separated forever. But, he kept remembering something she had once said to him in a moment of brutal honesty, “You are a very bright man and sometimes you are very kind. But inside, you’re nothing”. That was Ken Preston's trouble to the very end, on the inside, he was nothing! Back to today’s Gospel, we have a man filled with the hope and joy of salvation and proclaims the coming of Jesus Christ, saying in effect, "Inside, He is everything!" I remember in one of my elementary math books an illustration based on a turn-of-the-century science fiction story. It’s the story of a strange civilization of circles, squares, triangles and other flat figures living in "Flatland." The people lived in a rather ordinary existence until, one day, they were visited by a sphere. The sphere asked one of the flat circles, "What can you do?" The circle performed a few tricks, spinning around, contracting and expanding. The sphere asked, "Can you go up?" The circle asked, "What's up?” The sphere tried to describe to the circle what it is like to go up and be able to see life from another dimension but couldn’t to get his point across, so the sphere took the circle by the rim and stood it up on end, saying, "Now, that's up!" This was such a cool experience for the circle that he wanted to tell the other flat people about it, but they laughed at him. They couldn’t comprehending what the circle was talking about and thought it was a joke, but the circle kept trying to get them to believe. He wanted his people know about the new dimension of life he had discovered, but the people began persecuting the circle for upsetting some of the people with his ideas, but he kept on. Finally, they sentenced him to death. Just before he died, the circle said to the others, "I see that you will never understand until you experience it yourself." Mark is tells us that John the Baptist went around the entire region of the River Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance, saying that God wants you to know what's up! He wants you to know you are saved and wants you to rise above the level of ordinary existence and has given you the means to see life from a whole new dimension, so repent and change! In Luke's Gospel, the people respond to John's preaching by asking, "What should we to do?" John replies, "Let the man with two coats give to those who doesn’t have any and the man with food should do the same". Again, God wants you to know what's up, but you will never understand until you experience it. We really matter to God. Christ has come to make us free to accept and to experience a whole new way of life. Accept and experience it, and inside you will be so filled with joy you want to share it! Deacon Clint Elkins: 32nd Sunday of Ordinary Time 11/12/17-Year A Wisdom 6:12-16; 1Thes. 4:13-18; Matthew 25:1-13 I remember a story about a lion-tamer that found himself face-to-face with one of his lions. The lion roared, "I'm going to have you for lunch, so you had better prepare for your death." The lion-tamer immediately kneels, covers his eyes with his hands and begins to pray. As he was pryaing, he realized that he lion wasn't making any noises so he opens his eyes and takes a quick peep through his fingers. He's amazed to see that the lion also is kneeling, with his paws over his eyes. The lion-tamer breathes a deep sigh of relief, then raises his eyes to the heavens, saying, "Thank you, Lord, for letting my words of prayer melt this wild beast's heart." Hearing this, the lion says," Quiet please! Bless us O'Lord with these thy gifts…" In today's Gospel, Jesus tells us that true wisdom consists in knowing how and when to prepare for death. It's the story of the ten bridesmaids, five of whom are foolish (unwise), the other five sensible (wise). The foolish bridesmaids realize that they have been excluded from the wedding feast because they are unprepared and the wise bridesmaids are admitted to the wedding feast because they are prepared. The point of the parable is that foresight is the beginning of true wisdom. Living wisely means looking ahead, acknowledging that we are tourists on God's earth, only passing through, pointing ourselves in the direction of the Source of life and acknowledging our dependence on God, not only for life but for the way of life. Here's a story about four guys who got together for a round of golf and one of them is new and he wants to make a good impression. When his turn comes, he tees up the ball, gets set and takes a swing and misses the ball. A little embarrassed, he takes another swing, again missing the ball. He looks up and says to the other three, "Fellows, this has to be the toughest course in the world." That could have very well been me, but for all us players in the game of life, the Pursuit of Wisdom is the toughest course in the world and everything else is Trivial Pursuit. In our fast-paced, fact-gathering, knowledge-acquiring culture, pursuing true wisdom is like swimming upstream. but, it's in the midst of all the noise and mind pollution that the pursuit of wisdom has to take place. We are handicapped in our search for True Wisdom by a society that describes success as the ability to gain knowledge and skillfully apply that knowledge for personal gain and our capacity to store and interpret this knowledges is almost limitless. This knowledge-gathering explosion has brought us some good things, but, we need to also remember that it's brought us problems and issues that we've never faced before. Our storehouse of knowledge is loaded with facts, statistics and kinds of new datall kinds, and it tends to obscure the reality that we are newcomers in a universe which is billions of years old. Earth has been developing for millions of years, and we are gaining knowledge at a breakneck speed without slowing down to think about the consequences & how to handle them, or how to use it to uplift our spirits and to make our relationships better. As our culture continues to advance, so does the need for deeper devotion to the pursuit of True Wisdom. The human mind is so fantastic that it can develop a technology for almost any task. How to put a man on the moon? How to blow up the world with a few missiles? How to create a Information Highway? Just ask the human mind. The knowledge is there for us to answer all these questions, but what about the question, "How to live?" This question can't be answered on the mind level alone, it requires a wisdom that comes from the combined resources of heart and soul, body and mind. The Source of all Wisdom is God Himself and in order to find the meaning of life, the Bible tells us that we have to be in touch with God, love the Him with our whole heart, our whole soul, our whole mind. In other words, the pursuit of True Wisdom is the pursuit of God. When you say the word year, you think of twelve-months and when you say the word hour, you think of sixty minutes. A year and an hour seem to be far-removed in meaning, but both words have the same origin and come from the same root. The original root-word simply meant "a portion of time." The linkage of the two-words, hour and year, reminds us that what we do with our hours now will determine what will happen to us in later years. The years are the results of the hours of preparation. Whatever you decide to do in the next hour, and the next, may it be a blessing to us and to others, now and in the future. There's not one thing on earth that we have total knowledge of because all creation is permeated with the ultimate Mystery, which is God. Live wisely! Make each hour of each day a time for loving one another just as Jesus has loved you. Experience this now & get ready for the experience of Divine Love, in all its fullness, for ever & ever! Hour-after-hour, we play the game of life on the toughest course in the world, preparing for that moment of Ultimate Truth when our puruit of True Wisdom brings us into the Presence of the Source of all Wisdom. Fr. Manger, Sunday, September 10th First about the second collection: Bishop asked for a second collection today for Hurricane victims and I had that announced last week. I forgot that we had envelopes for a second collection for Religious Education today. We will have a second collection. If you give an envelope for religious education that will go for Religious education regardless of which Sunday you drop it in the basket. The loose change and loose checks in the second collection today will go for hurricane relief. If you were confused by all this and later wish to donate to hurricane relief please put it in some other kind of envelope and bring it or put it in a collection so we know the purpose of your gift. We can get money to where it should go if we know why you have given it. A] In the passage from Ezekiel we hear God addressing the prophet: I have appointed you a watchman. If I tell you to warn the people, you should warn the people. Those who are doing evil shall suffer the consequences but if you do not warn them I will hold you responsible. R] The responsorial psalm nicely follows up on that important theme: If today you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. which is to say us if the warning has been given hear the word. B] In the lesson from Saint Paul we are reminded to Love our neighbor as we love our self. The important part today to think of is to love yourself, and also to love your neighbor. C] The gospel for today makes application of these two lessons. There is instruction about behavior of authority in community. We hear, if your brother sins against you. Speak to him. And now we need to use the words of our liturgy, you are a watchman for yourself, and if you see or feel a bad thing happening to you, you must love yourself by giving a warning to the one who has offended you. And it will be loving your neighbor as well because he should not be hurting you in the first place. If that does not work, to make a change and it happens once more, it is bad for him, he was wrong, but if you did not warn him it is also bad for you as the watchman who did not speak up. Not speaking up is like giving tacit permission to continue doing what he is doing. What is tacit permission? The word tacit means silent. When something is going on which is wrong, and you remain silent your silence gives permission for it to continue. If the watchman is silent, he is giving tacit permission. When a person in authority, the father of a family, sees the children at table throwing their food at one another, if he laughs and says nothing about it being wrong, then they have learned a new procedure at table. Sit down and throw your food. If it hits dad, they surely will be lined up for punishment. But they will be confused because they had been given tacit permission to throw their food, because Dad was silent and did not object the first time it happened. If eventually the person does not listen, take one or two others to confront the person. Like if someone has a drinking problem, or a drug problem or some behavior which seems to be repetitive, you need to have a sit down with the person with more than one voice, several voices, to illustrate the extent of the problem…it is called an intervention. The extra voices are needed because the person has already made up excuses for his or her behavior and a greater confrontation needs to be made so that many voices are showing that the person’s judgement is faulty and destructive. He just may come to his senses in time to start reversing that behavior and stop his offenses. Now this process does not work with God. You can’t get the community together to tell God that you are tired of hurricanes, so he should stop doing hurricanes. He, of course, is going to say that is the way the world works. He might also add that he made an imperfect world for us which had lots of really great things but still not perfect. We hunger then for a perfect world which is yet to come. He does expect us to learn the world and how it works and accommodate ourselves to nature’s rough edges, from weather, disease, harmful interaction with animals and other aspects of nature. An old joke about a guy stranded on top of his roof from flood waters prays to God for help. A truck comes by offers help and he says he is waiting for God. A boat comes by he tells that fella he is waiting for God’s help, a helicopter comes by as the water is almost covering the entire house and he tells him he is waiting for God. So he prays once more and blames God for not answering his prayer, so God tells him that he sent three rescues for him and he did not go. To me the part of that story that is important to tell is that it tells us that God is very interested in saving us from trouble. The story well represents the saving power and love of God working though other people. After our hurricane Harvey so many people were washed out one way or another and they were looking for help, for the power to be turned on, for City water to be turned on for help in getting out of flood waters, for food and water and clothes and shelter when a house was flooded, and so many came to rescue and help and provide saving remedies. If we were to explain this to the children and tell them to draw a nice picture of people helping with good things and behind them draw the face of God looking down and putting His hands with all the saving working going on. Boats pushed by God’s hands. Houses being rebuilt with God’s hands, people being rescued by God’s hands, God turning on the good water for our houses. The pictures would be priceless and the Theology would be accurate. It is a good thing to celebrate the saving acts of God. Help comes eventually when we are helplessness and powerlessness. We experience the desolation, but what we should remember well, and celebrate, are the saving acts of kindness, rescue, and comfort. The bible itself in one way or another is a record of the saving acts of God. Theologians call it the History of Salvation. It is the treasure of the Goodness of God being enacted in the human experience. It shows how God is needed and celebrates His saving acts. The prodigal son wanders off, there is mention of his troubles, but much more is told of the welcome home, the father running, the ring, the sandals, the cloak, the fatted calf, the party celebrating his return. There is more joy over what was lost and found. We need to record the continuity of God’s saving acts in our own personal lives and treasure the goodness of God. This Bible is not a list of disasters which the world has experienced, it is a record of saving acts. The disasters we are allowed to forget, the saving acts are to be remembered. In fact they were written down to be remembered and treasured, and copied page after page over and over, centurary after century, published into many books and put on every library shelf shows that they were most important. Make a book of God’s help and saving actions. We have been taught to put the kindness of God in a book not to be forgotten. Forget the records of devastation, Record goodness. Draw a picture of it. Tell a story about it. We come each week to celebrate Eucharistia, the giving of thanks. Put those acts of saving on the table each week. Put in the stone of memory the record of the salvation flowing from the hand of God. At St Anne’s rectory, we gave room and board to two priests flooded out. Parishioners whose homes survived found ways to help others who were less fortunate in need of help, and that is another part of this gospel to apply. Where two or three are gathered in my name I am there with you helping those in need of help. And you don’t have to wear a Cajon army t shirt or Catherine Drexel shirt it even works if you have an aggie hat. You are Christ at work helping your brothers. We are decided that cluttering up the campus with give away items was impractical since there are places the public knows to go to for water and food and housing. I encouraged those who wanted to do something to lend a hand to places where they knew help was wanted. And now many of you have a list of people who were totally devastated and have to start over. It will give the coming months lots of opportunity to show your charity and find resources for your friends and neighbors. It is a good work. The campus is now clean for school to start on Tuesday. The work of children assist is very important. The Bible and adult study program and RCIA all will start this week.. We will be praying no doubt for many who were hurt by Harvey and the terrible things to happen with the new Hurricane Irma and the trouble it causes. Yes there is good Christian work to do. Good Friday April 14, 2017 Fr. Manger We listen to this story about the passion and death of Jesus, and we have heard it many times, I would like to quote just one sentence. It was Caiaphas who had counseled the Jews that it was better that one man should die rather than the people. Don’t try to find some thread of justice in the trial of Jesus, like how they found evidence against Jesus . All of that puts veils on the underlying motive and force of the determination first of one man, then coupled by those whom he convinced to end the life of Jesus. The whole thing was not about this or that being wrong it was about the need for Jesus to die. It all flows from that one leak in the dyke, that one stolid determination. Pilate could find no wrong and then crowds just shouted irrational yells calling for crucifixion. It is so awkward. It dosen’t make sense for people to shout crucify him. We hate it we don’t want to give it voice. As we go through this narrative it is placing us in the terrible position of rejecting goodness. It is trying to demonstrate for us that our sins are rejecting the goodness that God lays in front of us. But we are blind to it. You say that you can see but you are blind. Yesterday, Father Jamail presided at the Holy Thursday Mass. He washed the feet of twelve people. He said that this is what the Eucharist was all about. Probably not one of those 12 got up this morning and said This is a great day Father Jamail washed my feet. More likely it was not a memorable experience. And yet it was and it is. You see it was Jesus who washed those feet. Father Jamail washed feet, not because it was nice to imitate Jesus, and give a lesson. He was a Priest ordained by the church taking part in a ritual commanded by the Church, to take place all over the world for all time, to take the place of Jesus in that ceremony and wash the feet as Jesus did. In that church ceremony, he was Jesus washing the feet of those 12 people. Father Jamail washed as the church commanded just as Father Jamail forgives in the confessional as Jesus and the church commands, just as Father Jamail gives his body, the body of Christ as food for to eat and empower us to be like Jesus washing feet. The washing of feet is more important than we imagine, you see, it changes things. When Jesus was brought to the Sanhedrin and asked about his mission. Caiphus should have knelt down and washed Jesus feet. He should have opened his ears and his eyes to the goodness that Jesus was. When Jesus was brought to Pilate, and questioned, Pilate should not have washed his own hands but the feet of Jesus. When a scared 12 year old boy in mexico is running from a drug cartel and comes to a wall as he goes north and there is a space in the wall and he puts his foot through, are we there to wash his foot? When a rich man leaves his mansion, gets into his car and drives to the gate protecting his property and there is a beggar, does he stop his car and go wash the feet of that beggar whom God has placed there. Three months before his birth with feet fully formed a developing child hears the struggles of his mother not knowing what will happen and he sticks his foot out, will she wash it? Are we only going to wash the feet which are the same color as ours, only if they are already clean, already from our family and not the family next door? There is a leader in North Korea who is patiently waiting for a very important person from America to come and wash his feet, and bring with him ships loaded with food and clothing and medical help for the poor and desparing. Can we go to the prison and wash the feet of those who need to know that today Jesus was in prison. Can that water on those imprisoned feet, that living water instill and break through the entanglements of their poor upbringing and crime to know that God does forgive them if they reach for that forgiveness and cleansing. Isn’t it interesting that although scripture is silent about it, that on the way to calvary we celebrate a young girl with a towel coming to dry the face of Jesus in his agony. A couple of weeks back we had the Lenten Ecumenical service here at St Anne’s. Ministers of six Christian churches were here in the sanctuary. We should have washed each other’s feet. However, it might have been a complicated affair getting up, siting down, bowls and water, so we replaced that with other gestures of friendship, a sign of peace, joining in praise song, and prayer were our ways to showing that are not worst enemies but fellow Christians who want to publish Christ and the goodness of God. In fact we should not have worst enemies at all, but wash the feet of all. All of us are born not knowing how to wash but others lovingly took the task till they could train us to do our own washing in private. Later when there are times of troubled health and need of surgical attention and medicine the feet are in need of washing again. Everyone feet. Today we look to Jesus on the cross. He was raised up high, and from there he feels rejections and abandonment and yet he washes. From there he is overlooking our sins because we don’t know what we are doing. He wants us to join him as forgiving people. So in this ceremony today. It is because his blood was coming from him to wash, on this day it is that the Church community brings before the Heavenly Father who is receiving this awesome sacrifice the long list of serious intentions. These are not some ideas we made up in the back room before the ceremony, but these are a list of intentions which the church has published for ceremonies over the whole world to cover all the places that need scrubbing. We are making a total wash with giant machines as we recite with the whole church all those situations that require the blessing, the forgiveness, the publishing of the goodness of God, the solemn intention of this service. After that In this ceremony It is because of Jesus washed us from his cross that we assemble to venerate the cross on which he offered final prayers for us and forgave. Finally, In this ceremony. It is because we continue to be weak and in need of support then we come to share in communion with him and each other, the bread of life for the continuing journey on our mission. Oh there is a collection for the holy Land. |