My friends, there is much wisdom and challenge in the readings the Church has given us this week – let’s take a deeper look.  The Wisdom writer says to the Israelite people, “And this was the covenant [you all] made with God – that the holy people would share all things – blessings and dangers alike.” A little play on the words, “holy people” would be to say, “people who are holy,” indicating I think, that action is required from those who are indeed, “holy.”  As the writer says, those who are “holy” share in both the [joys and sorrows] of others.  And as we learn in watching our brother Jesus, it is what we who claim to be his followers – Christians that is, are called to do!

   And granted, the days in which we are presently living challenge us as never before to be our best selves – naming the lies when we hear them, speaking truth to power, especially for and with those who seemingly have no voice.

   In today’s 2^nd reading we find confidence and strength for this awesome task in the writer to the Hebrews:  “Faith is the confident assurance of what we hope for, the conviction about the things we do not see.” 

   “Faith,” we know, is what allowed all of us to begin and/or form a community, which in our 17^th year is still attracting new people – and none of us knew in 2008 whether this venture would be something that would be good for people or not, but we “walked ahead” in faith anyway.  The “unbelievers,” primarily the hierarchy of our beloved Church said that we were “playing” at ordaining a women as priests, and that this action along with forming communities of believers was “confusing” to those not a part of us. 

   But yet, here we are, 17 years later and it would seem that the only ones “confused” were the hierarchy.  Faith, coupled with hope gave us the strength to move ahead, not knowing the end result, working at being, “holy,” at being our best selves. 

   Some of the early members of All Are One have “gone home” to God, and I believe are praying for all of us, still.  This past week I visited Sue and Bob in their home, and I shared about our Mary Magdala Mass on the Farm, to which they said, “We were with you in spirit!”  When I visit Jim at St. Anne’s in Winona and share that we continue to pray for him, he tells me that he prays for and remembers us as well.  Several weeks back I gave Patte, now living with her son and daughter-in-law in Cincinnati, a phone call and let her know too that she is still in our warm thoughts and prayers with her responding in like manner to Jim, that she remembers us too!  My friends, these attempts on our parts to stay connected to those of our community whose life situations have changed is all about, as the Wisdom writer says, “sharing in the blessings and dangers alike” – it is what “holy people” do!

   The writer of Psalm 33 today touches on another aspect of “this being holy.” Happy are the people who are chosen to be God’s own.  I believe most of us have heard this reading over the years, thinking of the Jewish people as the “Chosen Ones,” but in reality, we know from our brother Jesus, that we are all chosen.  The psalmist prays then for all of us, “May your love be upon us [God] as we place all our hope in you.” Before leaving this section, I think it is important to lift up, that it is one thing, “to be chosen,” but quite another “to respond,” to being chosen! 

   A  few examples from this past week that I noticed of some of the responses being made: 

• People lining both sides of the streets on the corner of Main and Broadway here in Winona, speaking their truth  — hoping for a renewed time when “lying will again be wrong,” when democracy, not autocracy will live again, when “kindness, not meanness” will be the action of the day, and when those in power will again act for the good of all.
• A group of perhaps 50 or more meeting this past week in Winona to organize a rapid response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), or as some have labeled, “the Gestapo” coming into our community.  This meeting educated those present about the basic rights that anyone, citizen or not, have in our country. 
• A great many, folks meeting in a local coffee shop and eatery, writing postcards to all in power, asking them to live up to our Constitution – which they promised to be faithful to – basically serving all in our country. 

   There are, no doubt, more examples of people in our world trying to be their “best selves,” responding appropriately to the awesomeness of being “chosen” by our God to make this world better, but you get the idea. 

   We probably all smiled to hear today in the 2^nd reading from Hebrews, that from one woman and one man, “as good as dead” came descendants “as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore.”  It is truly a great history that we are part of! Many of you, have, no doubt, traveled to the sea or even to a favorite beach and walked along the sandy shores as well as looking at the heavens in star-filled skies and know of the wonder of the above statement of the writer to the Hebrews.  Our brother Jesus has told us that “with God, all things are possible,” – good words to remember in the times in which we live when it seems that every day there arises an issue of greed, and selfish  meanness that we must address. 

   So, my friends, moving on to today’s gospel from Luke, we receive one more piece of wisdom from Jesus to point us in the right direction – “wherever your treasure lies, there your heart will be.”  Said another way, attempting “to be holy,” we will strive every day, with all our strength, to be our best selves, which will not only benefit us, but all others who need us to act, to care, in this way.     Additionally, Jesus encourages us, “to be ready,” to do the right thing, not to wait for a future date, but to act now, today, and every day.

   In conclusion, when our faith and hope seem low and hard to hold onto, it would be good to once again remember our parents in the faith, Sarah, and Abraham, “as good as dead,” as the writer to the Hebrews says, but in actuality, began a family of descendants, “as numerous as the stars in the sky and the sands of the seashore.” 

And finally, as our brother Jesus reminds in the gospel today, we have been given much, and “much is required” as well. It is what Christians are called to…

Amen? Amen!

My friends, at face value, after hearing our 1^st reading today from Ecclesiastes about “everything being futile,” we might feel inclined to say, “Bah! Humbug!”  But let’s look further.  This reading from someone named, Qoheleth, thought actually by many to be, King Solomon, known for his wisdom in ruling and making decisions, comes as I said above from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes, which in its entirety, is classified as Wisdom Literature. 

   This reading, along with the other two chosen for today have the common theme of “trusting in God,” to lead us in good and just ways.  Qoheleth, or Solomon speaks of the “meaningless and emptiness” he sees in life without God – “of striving for worldly success.” Solomon continues, “putting our faith and trust in God helps us to find fulfillment.”  And, in all of this, I find myself thinking of “balance” – the joys to be experienced in our human existence, that our God intended for us; meaningful relationships of love and caring, procreation of the next generation, seeking after knowledge, and sharing it with others, enjoying the gifts of this world, food, travel, finding our calling in life and more…are all good and meaningful pursuits, but as with anything, taken to extremes, tend to lead us astray, thus the importance of balance, putting all in their right place.

   When we speak of “trust in God,” supposedly that God will “show us the way,” we realize that the “image of God” is probably different for most of us – what is meaningful for one might not be meaningful for another, and that is okay. 

   With this in mind, I would like to address the concept of “Lord” once again, that we have talked about in the past.  I have previously stated that we will try for the most part not to use this term because it speaks of “power over,” a concept that our brother Jesus often spoke against, living himself, apart from that idea, addressing our equality, one and all before God.

   Practically speaking though, aside from what the term linguistically means, many of us have used the word, “Lord” all our lives, as part of how we address God, and don’t necessarily think when using the word as God “lording” it over us, so to speak – we use it more, out of loving respect. 

   So, my friends, I have addressed the concept of a powerful God, as imaged in the term, “Lord,” but if that term is still meaningful to you, I don’t want to take that away.  Going forward, as I have done in past years, we will strike a balance of many different names for our God.  This reminds me of a book that I am presently reading, Freeing Jesus, by Diane Butler Bass, wherein she is basically saying that each of us needs to allow God-to-be-God, and in not putting God “in a box” of our own making, we will continue to discover this, Ever-watchful friend, Great Spirit, Creator, Revealer, opening up to us in many and varied ways. Again, balance.

   So, moving back to that original theme, seemingly tying the three readings together, that of “trusting in God,” we hear Paul telling the Colossians that through baptism, they have, “true life in Christ” – Christ being the way Paul knows Jesus.  He goes on to say that now, “Christ … is your life.” And because “Christ is now your life,” [you should]  “set your heart on higher realms.” And Paul goes on to tell the Colossians that this “Christ” has no distinctions in caring for us, “Greek or Jew, slave or free” – and we can add, “male or female,” as he had already added this in his earlier letter to the Galatians. 

   Before leaving the 2^nd reading to the Colossians, I would like to lift up Paul’s use of “heart,” to distinguish on “how” they live their lives – stating, “set your heart” on higher realms – anything we come at out of “love,” which resides, “in the heart,” always has a better outcome. 

   The writer of Psalm 95 would seem to agree, “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.”  Today, when you arrived, you had the chance to take a stone to perhaps carry around this next week to remind you of this important piece of wisdom. And as we reflected earlier, look for God’s voice everywhere – not just in church, or when you officially pray, but out in nature, at home with family, or with friends – anywhere and everywhere! 

   I am just in the beginning chapter of the book I mentioned earlier, Freeing Jesus, wherein the author shares an experience she had at the National Cathedral in Washington where she said she distinctly heard Jesus speaking to her from an artistic representation on the wall. Jesus said, “Get me out of here!”  It took her a while to accept that, “in the silence,” Jesus was indeed speaking to her, and it would only be much later that she would attempt, “freeing Jesus,” allowing him/God to BE as God is!

   The final reading today my friends from Luke seems to speak to our free will, given by God to either trust in God’s wisdom to live our best lives, or to go our own way choosing what perhaps “feels good” at the time without taking any responsibility for the outcomes.  And even though God would want us to choose, “to be our best selves,” living “balanced lives,” God will not step in and take our free will away. 

   I have always loved this story in Luke’s gospel for today, and have smiled over the farmer’s answer to his great harvest – “I know, I’ll build bigger barns!”  — instead of being satisfied with “enough” and sharing the surplus.  Once again, balance. 

   Even though God doesn’t “step in” my friends, and choose for us, in the words of the Bible Translation, The Message, in the 23^rd Psalm, God will keep “chasing after us,” all the days of our lives,” setting people and messages in our paths, “to show us the way.”  So, once again, “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts!”  Amen? Amen!

My friends, jumping right into today’s Scriptures, beginning with the 1^st reading from Genesis, I think we can see that if only one person had been found to be “faithful” in Sodom, our God would save the city for that one! We know this to be true from the stories our brother Jesus shared in his lifetime, as one of us:  something that Old Testament folk, such as Abraham were not privy too, thus, explaining his continual questioning of God about how many would be saved.  Had he heard Jesus’ stories of the Good Shepherd who left the 99 who were safe, in search of the one, lost, or the beautiful story of the Prodigal, and of the parent who would always welcome us back, no matter what we may have done, he wouldn’t have had to question God.  And in this vein, there is also the more feminine version of our loving God in the Woman and the Lost Coin, who turns her house upside-down looking for that lost one.  And to all of this, our response must be the same as the psalmist’s today, “Your love is constant forever.” 

   Moving into the 2^nd reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we see him, in his own way, sharing “for his followers,” another aspect of our great God—that of universality.  We must remember that Paul only knew Jesus as “the Christ,” not having met him in his human form.  The Christological Jesus, theologians and Scripture scholars tell us, “Is big enough” for all believers in God, and from all different starting points.  So, I think we can see that Paul could reach out to the wider world of possible believers in ways that the other apostles couldn’t.

   Paul simply says in today’s 2^nd reading, “In baptism…you were raised with Christ…”  Another way that we might look at these words would be to say, that following, “the way, the truth, and the life” of Jesus, unites us all, from different place, times and cultures. 

   The lovely gospel from Luke today, pairs nicely with the Genesis reading in that it shows the extent to which God will go for us. Jesus speaks of the goodness that human parents show toward their children, adding that God will not be outdone in that goodness.  We hear, “whoever asks, receives, whoever seeks, finds, whoever knocks, is admitted.” 

   Yet, hearing these words, I think we humans tend to think and even wonder at times if God hears our prayers, such as in the times in which we currently live, when for all our best efforts, working to change what seems to be simply, “not right,” where national injustice, selfishness and greed, among other bad things, seem rampant. 

   And my friends, I can only speak for myself, and because of my faith, that I truly believe that our God hears every prayer, and stands with us, encouraging, and strengthening us to do all we can to bring about the change we want to see.  Hopefully, my faith and my words can give you courage too, if yours is waning. 

   So, where does that leave us?  Just as my ongoing message to you and me that Ordinary Time is really more than “ordinary” in the challenges that it uplifts for us; the same can be said for us as Christians, as followers of our brother, Jesus.  If we are going to claim the title of “Christian,” we should always, or at least often, be standing outside of the crowd who would tend to act in ways that “don’t make waves.” 

   Granted, there is always more comfort in not standing alone, and doing what others are doing may be safer – “what would others think of me?”  But the truth of the matter is that we are called, often these days, “to be better than that,” “to be our best selves,” in fact,it iswhat Jesus did and asked us to do too!  So, in our day-to-day world, what might this look like? 

• Starting at the top – upon taking an oath to uphold the Constitution of our country, attempting every day to serve all the people, poor, and less poor, they should be looking for a balance that allows each, and all, to live in basic, and good ways. There should be the realization that they have been given the privilege of serving, and that their each and everyday duty, what they do in office, should never, ever be about whether it gets them re-elected or not!  I call these folks to task because 88% claim to be Christian! 
• In our Church, those called to serve should likewise see their calls as privileged, and as a result, it should humble them about their awesome tasks to lead, teach, and guide others. 

   Today’s world so needs the voices, the strength, and the leadership of clerics in the Catholic church, and in the Church Universal, in its many denominations to speak truth to power.  In our Catholic church, priests and bishops should be following the lead of Pope Leo who just this week stated, “It is disheartening to see…that the strength of international law and humanitarianism no longer seem binding, replaced by the presumed right to overpower others.”  Where are the clerical voices?? Can you imagine a world with all those in power standing together speaking a truth that it is wrong to systematically starve pregnant women and children, as is happening today in Gaza.   

   And the apparent “leadership” in Washington sees no need either to speak against these tragedies, but rather to travel to Scotland for yet, “another deal” and of course to check out his golf properties there.  We can’t underestimate the power of people standing together, whether in Church or State to bring about change.

   Some of you may recall that back in 2002, when Spotlight, the investigative wing of the Boston Globe, uncovered the massive coverup of child sexual abuse by priests in Boston, and the then cardinal, Bernard Law who was asked to step down because he was instrumental in the coverup. This only happened when 50 priests stood together saying that he must go!

   So, friends, what do we do in the face of all this as followers of Jesus?  The group, Pace Bene, meaning, “Peace and all good,” under the auspices of This Non-violent Life, daily shares a quote to inspire us:  Friday’s quote was: “Refuse to believe the lie that your small actions can’t make a difference, that nothing you say or do matters.  If someone can make you give up hope, they can control you.  Set aside the idea that hope is a feeling you’re waiting to experience.”  This quote was shared by Sharon McMahon.

   So, my friends, keep writing, calling, and demonstrating, keep showing up, doing your part – it all truly matters! Amen?  Amen!