Dear Friends,
I am sending the homily out early as we will not be meeting this Sunday due to a fire in our liturgical space. Stay tuned to updates as we work toward finding a new space. I have also included the readings, and some prayers along with the homily for your use. Do send us your prayerful support as we move forward to “new” things…With gratitude, Pastor Kathy
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Readings:
- Genesis 2: 18-25
- Hebrews 2; 9-12
- Mark 10: 2-16
___________________________________________________________________________________
Homily—27th Sunday in Ordinary Time
October 6, 2024
My friends, this Sunday is traditionally remembered in our Church as Respect Life Sunday. This particular remembrance brings to mind for most Catholics, “life in the womb,” because our Church hierarchy have made it so. And absolutely, we should respect life at its very beginnings—absolutely! But as always, I would call us, as our brother Jesus did, to look more deeply, and more fully.
On this last Friday, people in our Catholic church, and in many other denominations—remembered Francis of Assisi, who lived more than 800 years ago in Italy, and of whose life, it could be truly said, was one of respecting, “all of life”—birth to death, in humans, animals, plant life, and really, all of creation—sun, moon, stars and more.
Francis, and the first woman to follow him, Clare, spent their relatively short lives showing their followers during their actual, physical days and years, and beyond—to our present time, how to truly respect all that our loving God created, ourselves included—to the betterment of all. This is a universal idea, and that is why Francis is someone who appeals to all people, Christian or not, and often shows itself in world-wide, “Blessing of the Animals” day.
In the past, at All Are One Catholic church, we have lifted up the names of our beloved pets and thanked God for the joy they bring into our lives. In that regard, I lift up our family’s beloved “doggy” pets : Mack, Charlie and Teddy, and I invite you to think of yours too, dogs, cats, birds, turtles, fish and so on.
Looking to our Scripture readings for this 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time, we find much that shows us how to truly “respect life.” Beginning with the 1st reading from Genesis, we hear about the importance of “relationships” in our human journey—the writer says,
“It is not good for the ‘earth creature,’ (true meaning of a-dam) to be alone.” Further the writer states, “that is why people leave their parents and become bonded to one another and the two become one flesh.”
You most likely noticed the inclusive wording of this text done so beautifully in the Priests for Equality updating of our holy Scriptures. For the first time in our long Christian history, through their work, our LGBTQ+ sisters and brothers can find a place for their lives and commitments, and be named in this reading!
In the 2nd reading from the letter to the Hebrews, the writer lifts up the great gift of our loving God in sending our brother Jesus, to “show us the way”—[God made him] “little less than the angels,” and further says, “Jesus is not ashamed to call us sisters and brothers” –in other words, we might say, “God wants good for us, and not bad!”
Our final reading today from the gospel of Mark shows very well I believe, how Jesus always takes us from observation of “static law” to “life-giving love.” The powers-that-be for Jesus are always trying to “trip him up,” and in this reading, it is about the laws that Moses set up concerning “divorce,” that he put in place simply because the people demanded “black and white” rules to follow.
Jesus in this case, answers their disingenuous inquiry because he wants to lift up the “unevenness” of these divorce laws. In this particular reading, we don’t get the words that Jesus spoke in other places, i.e., the “woman caught in adultery,” but we know from his response in this concrete example how he felt about the rules in place that always were more beneficial to men, than to women—“let he that is without sin, cast the first stone.” It is about respecting all of life. Jesus in Mark’s reading today is not addressing divorce to lift up “laws,” but to lift up “love,” and on Respect Life Sunday, how appropriate!
It is interesting that in this gospel reading that starts with a relational topic, “divorce” which is “unfair” to women, as men are basically, “given power over them, with no say,” that it would end with a statement from Jesus, “to welcome little children, and become like them” –the other group, like women, who have no power in Jesus’ society. We can only imagine the “disbelief” within the community to hear Jesus say, “unless you become like little children,” you can’t be part of the greater life that I have come to offer. It is about respecting all life.
And what characteristics of children might Jesus be pointing to that would be advantageous for us adults? Certainly, we would think of “purity of heart—a truthfulness of feeling and expression, and a sense of wonder of all that is about us in our world. Recall the times in your lives when you have thought, “ out of the mouths of babes!”
So my friends, all this brings us to the present that is now looking at us all as “refugees” as the secretary at Lutheran Campus Center said to me this week. With the recent fire in our liturgy space, we are being called, once again, to look at “new things,” as we have been doing in other ways for the past 16 years of our existence. We have been “something new” in the backyard of diocesan bishops who refuse to see us as “valid expressions” of Jesus’ continued life in our world. So, we are acquainted with this journey, and now pray for all involved in this moment and time of change, to be able to walk through it with faith and hope, and of course, LOVE! Amen? Amen!
______________________________________________________________________________________
Entrance Antiphon
O God, you have given everything its place in the world, and no one can make it otherwise. For all is your creation, the heavens and the earth and the stars: all is your family, O God.
Let Us Pray—Opening Prayer
Good and gracious God, Creator of the world to come, your goodness is beyond what our spirit can touch, and your strength is more than our minds can bear. Lead us to seek beyond our reach and give us the courage to stand before your truth. We ask all of this of you, of Jesus and of Spirit Sophia—one God who lives and loves us forever and ever, Amen.
Prayers of the Faithful
Response: “Loving God, hear our prayer.”
- Help us O God, to strive to be grateful people to you who has loved us beyond all imagining, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear our prayer.”
- For each of us here, give us the strength to be people of justice, mercy, and compassionate love for your world, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear our prayer.”
- For all who are suffering here today or in our wider community, especially all involved at LCC, in body, mind or spirit and additionally for those who are living with cancer, and other life-threatening illness, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear our prayer.”
- For our world and its people, that peace would reign in our hearts and that we would do all in our power to bring peace to our world, especially assist our country to find the solutions to gun violence, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear our prayer.”
- May the wisdom and grace of the Spirit overshadow all potential candidates seeking national and state and local offices, to be those people who will truly work to care for the least among us and strive to bring peace to our world, we pray—
Response: “Loving God, hear our prayer.”
- For our community, All Are One, continue to send your Spirit upon us to enable us to be an inclusive community, open and welcoming to all, and help us to find a new home to celebrate, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear our prayer.”
- For all in our midst who suffer from mental illness, that each would find understanding and compassion in their lives, we pray—Response: “Loving God, hear our prayer.”
- Loving Jesus, be with all families who have lost loved ones this week, from all causes, —give them your peace, that they may find their way through their grief, we pray— Response: “Loving God, hear our prayer.”
Let Us Pray
Dear God of us all…you know what we need before we ask…give us what we most need today. Help us to keep our eyes on you that we wouldn’t get lost in the material things of this world, but ever strive to make our world a more just place in which to live for all creatures. Give us the wisdom to find true solutions to peace and harmony in our world for everyone. We ask this of you who are our God and who lives and loves us forever and ever. AMEN
All Are One Church 