Sharing – Homily for Eric Bartleson

June 14, 2020 / kredig

Dear Friends,

For those of you in the Winona area who knew Eric Bartleson, but because of the pandemic, couldn’t attend his funeral, I thought you might like to read the homily that I gave. –Pastor Kathy

June 13, 2020

I wanted to begin my comments today by expressing my deep gratitude to you, Paul, Jennifer, and Ann Marie in giving me the privilege of officiating at your Dad’s funeral liturgy—really a celebration of his life. Eric was a good and trusted friend and I came to know him and your Mom, Cathy, over the years as I pastored All Are One Catholic church. As you all know, Eric was a founding member of All Are One, a fact, it turns out, in getting the whole venue changed for today!

I thought for those of you who may not be as familiar with our little “renegade” church here in Winona, it might be helpful to share a bit of our history—that which Eric was so much a part of when we began nearly 13 years ago.

This church has always been and will continue to be one that is inclusive of all—anyone who wants to pray with us is welcome and as a result, we have many Catholic folks, but Lutherans and a Methodist—by background, also pray with us regularly. It seems that this is, as Jesus intended, when he prayed the night before his death, “that they all would be one,”—thus the name of our parish.

The majority of our parishioners believed in the changes of Vatican Council II, yearning for a church that lived out these changes, only to be dialed back under the papacy of John Paul II.

So, the two dozen or so people who answered a letter from me in the fall of 2007 after I was ordained a deacon through the Roman Catholic Womenpriests organization, inviting them to a discussion about having a Catholic parish that was inclusive, barring none from the communion table, accepting the idea that God calls women to serve as priests, just as men are called, included Eric Bartleson.

The next year, I was ordained a priest in apostolic succession just as the men are and we were off and running. Eric was with us from the beginning, supporting the work we do in this community—among other types of outreach, trying to give back in financial assistance as much as we possibly can, locally, nationally and internationally to those in need. In fact, in serving on our board as its president from its inception for 10 years, Eric was fond of telling others that his favorite task, along with other board members, “was giving our money away.”

Because our parish is so generous in giving, many quarters showed a negative balance as we always wanted to give one more gift and were receiving donations right along to make up the difference!

We were and are in a unique, symbiotic relationship with the Lutheran Campus Center in sharing a ministry space—rent-free, which allows us the ability to give so much away, yet support the mission of the Lutheran Campus Center as well.

I believe what Eric so appreciated about our parish was its openness, which, guided by the Spirit allowed, “love,” not “law” to rule. He was an integral part of our parish and will be solely missed. He will live on in our parish though, through his soul-mate of these last 5 years, Pat Przybylski, of which we are so grateful.

I will now briefly tie in the Scripture readings chosen for today. We began with the Old Testament reading from Ecclesiastes which has been loved across the ages—put to music by some, as it speaks so well of the “turning” of our lifetimes. With every funeral that I do where this reading is used, I always say when we get to the end that I don’t think God would mind if we list some of the things that uniquely reflect the person that we are remembering and celebrating. Thus for Eric we could say, “There is a time for being with and loving family, there is a time for fishing, for being on the water, for running, for traveling and so on.”

The second reading, the 23^rd psalm is again a loved reading—many know it by heart across the denominations and I especially like a newer version from the translation, The Message. In the original we read, “Only goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in your house for days without end.” The Message has this beautiful line: “Your beauty and love chase after me every day of my life. I’m back home in the house of God for the rest of my life.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but I rather like the idea that our God “chases” after us throughout our lives, and on June 8^th, our loving God caught up with Eric, after a life well-lived and took him home to one of the “many dwelling places” prepared for us, you and me, as our brother Jesus spoke of in the Gospel today. Amen? Amen!

Homily – Corpus Christi Sunday in a Time of Pandemic and National Crisis

June 13, 2020 / kredig

Dear Friends,

We find ourselves once again unable to meet due to this time of pandemic, along with struggling as a nation to get to the heart of systemic racism within our country–its very culture. Even though this is stressful to deal with, I find myself being hopeful in that this time seems to have struck a cord with people throughout our nation wanting to really try this time to make a difference. Our prayer must be that our loving God would give us all the strength we need, the perseverance and the will to finally, finally make the needed changes! God be with us all.

Entrance Antiphon

Bless the Creator, O my Soul, God who gives us peace, who strengthens us for all trials and disappointments, who shares our joys, who wants good for us and not bad. Bless the Creator, O my soul, glorify God forever.

Opening Prayer

Today O God, You remind us how much we are loved by you through the incarnation of Jesus, Your First Born. Help us to always lovingly receive Jesus into our lives through the gift of the Eucharist—Jesus, let us always be totally aware of your intention for this gift—that it should be shared with all who come to the table in order that we all can truly be You, O Jesus, for our world. We ask this of the Creator and the Spirit, in Jesus’ wonderful name, Amen.

Readings:

Deuteronomy 8: 2-3, 14-16
1 Corinthians 10: 16-17
John 6: 51-58

Homily

The feast of Corpus Christi—the Body of Christ is one of those feasts that should leave us unsettled, especially if we are looking at it rather, one-dimensionally. Many times this feast has been presented as a Sunday to uplift the Eucharist, its physicality—place it in a golden case and then onto a golden stand. This, of course, is a pre-Vatican II ritual that, as we have grown up in our faith, have realized that this feast is really about so much more.

Our brother Jesus, who always had deeper messages to convey than his first followers understood initially, couldn’t truly have meant for the gift of the Eucharist to be something static—bread that we worship. All his words, his actions in Scripture certainly showed us that the only “body” he wanted us to care for—to care about, was the “body” that we found in our world in all its many forms, colors, sizes—human, non-human, animal and so on.

The Eucharist, the “bread of life” was meant as a comfort, yes, because the Jesus of 1^st Century Palestine couldn’t stay with us in that physical form, so he gave us a sign—to remind us that our God is indeed with us, but, this is only the beginning. The Eucharist must be reciprocal—we have received; now we must give! As we know, Jesus was always shaking things up, stretching his followers to be more, see more, understand more, see their lives as “gift” given to share, to make life better for all.

Diane Bergant, Scripture scholar, states that “blood symbolized life itself” and for us, that means the life of Jesus, his words—his actions—all that he taught about living-loving, dying and rising to a new place. She goes on, “the significance of the cup of wine is not in its material substance, but in its incorporation of the partakers in the blood of Christ”—in other words, the sharing of Jesus’ “essence” with the community is where the true goodness lies. This feast of Corpus Christi should not leave us “settled” in simply, worshipping the body and blood, because if it does, perhaps we have missed the point of this feast. Jesus never asked us to worship him in the elements of bread and wine, but to care for his “body” in the world.

Exegetes continue; breaking bread with someone was looked at in the time of Jesus as a sign of forming community with them. Jesus raised that to a new level in saying that sharing Eucharistic bread forms us into the body of Christ. In other words, when we eat regular food, we incorporate that food into our very selves. The opposite is true with the Eucharist, Bergant says. When we partake of Eucharistic bread; we are transformed into Eucharistic bread, meaning—we become Jesus’ body for the world. You might want to read this line again so as not to miss its meaning!

Looking at the Eucharist in this way, is indeed another level—receiving communion is not just between us and God, but us, and God, (think Jesus) and our world. Receiving communion is a community action for the larger community. A wise person once said, “Eucharist is really a verb, not a noun. I would agree because it is all about, “becoming.”

In the Gospel from John, Bergant tells us that “flesh and blood,” on a literal level, was a common way of characterizing a human being—when applied to Jesus, speaking of Jesus’ flesh and blood is our proclamation of faith in the incarnation—the fact that Jesus became one of us to have a human experience, thus telling us how much we are loved by our God—that God in Jesus would go to that extent to make sure that we creatures know how important we are to the Creator. Jesus became one of us, flesh and blood through his entire life; not just when he gave us the Eucharist. When we make conscious efforts to live as Jesus, we do give his “body and blood,” on a deeper level, to our world.

Take this thought and apply it now to the world in which we live. We are in the midst of Covid 19, a pandemic that truly threatens all of us because it is an unseen organism and there is no vaccine at present to stop its spread. We as Christians, as followers of our brother Jesus must do our part to truly share his love, his compassion in our world by doing all that we can to keep ourselves and others safe through “distancing,” wearing of masks and good hand-washing—simple measures, but so life-giving.

I have stopped adding “social” to “distancing” because as someone said, as humans, we need the aspect of being “social,” of relating to others—this pandemic has taught us that much, even the most introverted among us—we need others and should all try during this time, to reach out to others through a call, a card, an email—to let them know they are missed, are loved. This is all about being, “the Body of Christ!”

Add to the pandemic; our country has been shaken to its core these past two weeks at the death of yet another black brother, George Floyd, at the hands of a white police officer. With his death that has been accepted as murder by many, one of too many before it; our nation apparently is beginning to say—“this is enough!—we must change!” This is all about “being Jesus’ body and blood” in our world—Eucharist!

I think it would be good for us to try and put ourselves at Jesus’ last supper with his family and friends and really attempt to tap into all that was going on for him, in his humanity, all that was before him in his journey to be Christ. Most of us can only really get our heads around the human component—Jesus’ earthly family, his friends, his disciples. What was he truly thinking, feeling, when he said, “Whenever you share this meal, the simple elements of bread and wine, think of me!” Remember, if you can, that when you take these elements, simple gifts from the earth; they are in effect my life-blood—my body, all that I have taught you, all that I have given you, by way of example, by way of my life among you. When you take all of this in and let it change your life, you do become my body—given to you that you then can continue my work in the world—can be “Eucharist for others. That is why each week that we have been unable to meet as a community with each other, I have been able to say to you, let us remember that we are bread for each other because Jesus lives within us!

And friends, this is why Jesus could truly say, “You will do greater things than I!” He truly believed and trusted that his family and friends, his followers would continue his work in the world.

That’s where all of us come in. We can’t let what we do at Mass end there—this is only the beginning. The only real purpose for the Eucharist, in the end, is that it be a launching pad for all that comes next. Just as Jesus, our brother, knew such events in his earthly life among us; he brought his very best to his last supper with all those he most cared about.

I had the privilege of officiating on Saturday at the funeral liturgy of our brother, Eric Bartleson. In a time of pandemic that none of you could attend—only a couple of close neighbors and family, we did our very best to celebrate his good life among us. For those of you in the Winona area who knew Eric, I promise a time in the near future, when it is safe to do so, to appropriately remember him—a time of eucharist!

When we celebrate those larger times of eucharist within our families, within our city, on a national level to make our country better for all, on a global level for our world, we are truly Jesus’ body and blood in the world—and it all begins each time we celebrate the Mass. Let it be so! Amen? Amen!

Prayers of the Faithful