Each year on Ash Wednesday the Church gives us the opportunity to recall our humble beginnings and the humble way of our ending upon this earth; “Remember that you are dust and unto dust you shall return.”  It is a solemn statement that calls us back in many ways to our place in creation, no matter who we are or what we have accomplished—the same call comes to each of us.

So as we reflect on what Lent means to us; we might wonder why, at the beginning of this holy season we would concentrate on a call that reminds us of where we came from (dust) and of where we will return (dust).  I believe there is need in this if we are to put our lives in the proper perspective.  In the times that Robert and I have traveled, particularly to Third World countries where many people lack the material blessings that we often take for granted, it has let us know in very concrete ways how we are so truly one, with all the world because we know Jesus and of how our loving God does indeed call each one of us, where we are, in our own time, to share the message of God’s great love for each of us, by advocating for the least among us.

Lent may signal for some of us an uncomfortable period of six weeks when we are called in a special way to pay attention to this great message of love and the actions that must necessarily follow if we can truly call ourselves followers of Jesus, the Christ, our brother and friend. Most of us have come out of that old mindset that Lent is a time to make amends for our past indiscretions—to suffer and to do penance because we have disappointed God.  It is true that some discipline never hurts any of us—it makes us stronger as individuals to face what life brings, to stand up to evil in our world and perhaps speak the word that will make a difference when such a word is so badly needed and no one else will say it.  But if our purpose in giving up something for Lent and punishing ourselves is to make amends with God because She/He is disappointed in us, then we have missed the point my friends, of the Scriptures—the New Testament, in particular.  This testament is basically a book of love, love freely given as evidenced in the Story of the Prodigal—there is nothing we can ever do that would separate us from the over-the-top love of our God.

This fact is evidenced for us through the readings the Church has given us for this holy season of Lent:

• All the first readings that we will use during Lent will recall for us times in Israel’s history that God showed graciousness to the people. Today, our reading from Deuteronomy tells the story of God bringing the people out of Egypt amid wonderful signs and into a land flowing with milk and honey.
• All the epistles for Lent will highlight the role that Jesus, the Christ plays in our salvation, and when I use the word,“salvation,” think, saving us from our natural inclinations to at times be less than our best selves as opposed to the idea of saving us from our sins so as to one day win heaven. Today we hear, “there are no tiers or levels—all are welcomed and loved”—the common denominator is our faith.
• All the Gospels during Lent will reveal Jesus’ glory in the face of suffering as well as the mercy and the compassion of God. Recall that we are in the midst of a Year of Mercy promulgated by Pope Francis.

Today’s Gospel shows Jesus at a most vulnerable time; he is alone, exhausted and starving.  He is preparing himself for his ministry among the people.  He will, as we know, be a different kind of leader than the people who have been waiting for the Messiah, expect.

As we see in the Gospel today, he will not dazzle with cheap tricks to receive gratification from the people, but he will be a servant who will be about mercy, compassion, gentleness, and humility.  Again, these are themes that Francis has continually uplifted in his papacy thus far. When Jesus performs signs and wonders; they will come from a compassionate heart that does the right thing, the just thing—the needed thing.

Lent truly is a time to call us back—it is a time of invitation to grow closer to our God who so wants each of us to know that we are mightily loved and cared for.  While it is a good thing to perhaps spend some time thinking about our failings, it is good to remember that even in the Scripture readings that the Church has chosen for Lent, any call to repentance is indirect.  Rather, these readings assure us of how we are loved and we all need that knowledge, don’t we–the knowledge that we are loved?  These readings insist that we should be grateful and trust in our loving God and if necessary, reform our lives.

Whatever we may choose to do this Lent should enable us to commit ourselves again to our God who has been so gracious to us.  Pope Francis “agreed” with me in a piece he put out on Ash Wednesday suggesting that what we “give up” for Lent be about moving us closer to others, helping us to be better servants of others. A woman in a group I belong to posted on email this past week that she was giving up “shame” for Lent—shaming herself and others was my take—giving it up!  As Francis said, to give something up—going through an empty ritual that basically just helps ourselves, is rather shallow.    The trouble with concentrating alone on our sinfulness and Jesus dying for our sins, plus the fact that there is nothing-we-can-ever-do-to-repay-the-debt-mentality, is that we then tend to forget that God loves us even though, and probably because of the fact, that we aren’t perfect.

Our Lenten practices, I believe, are intended to strengthen our faith and trust in God, not to reassure us that we have paid our debts.  Lent should indeed open our eyes to the fact that God alone is the one we should turn to in everything—the good, and the not-so good.  Psalm 91 so beautifully reminded us of this truth today—“Be with me God, when I am in trouble.”

The true salvation that Jesus offers us all, each one of us, is not saving us from our sins, but in enabling us to be all that we can be as people, modeling our lives after his; being people of justice, mercy and love.  A warning though—being such people can get you killed as is evidenced in Jesus’ life.

What our readings truly call us to today, is choosing to do whatever good we do, for the right reason.  The Evil One tempted Jesus to do good things—supply his hungry body with food, have the people love him—in his loneliness, and call the angels of God to support him in his need.  The trouble is, the good done would have been done for all the wrong reasons. If our fasting, praying, abstaining and almsgiving is to make us feel better about ourselves, then we would probably do better speak a kind word or do a good deed for our neighbor.

We will have that opportunity this next week by partaking in The Feast—the city-wide event held at Central Lutheran church each Wednesday to offer a free meal to the community.  Pastor Corrine Denis and her Lutheran Campus Center students are hosts one Wednesday a month at this event and as symbiotic partners in ministry with them; we are invited to help them at this event. Pastor Corrine and I will offer a prayer service during the meal this next Wednesday, February 17 to educate and pray for some movement in our country to eradicate gun violence.

It is good to remember finally that the readings today and throughout Lent show no interest in what we can do for God, but in what God has done for us.  The Scripture messages don’t primarily call us to repent our sins, but rather to open our hearts to God in faith, being ready for the ways this same loving God will prompt us toward action in our own particular lives.

So, my friends, I haven’t given us a necessarily easy way to go this Lent; a one-two-three-step plan, but perhaps we can recall the many times God has stepped into our lives as a savior—much needed, and give thanks this Lent. Or we might think of some subtle ways we are subject to temptation in our lives—to perhaps do a seemingly good thing, but for the wrong reason? And finally, we can think of some particular practices or devotions that we can do this Lent that will strengthen and deepen our trust in God–because my friends, that is truly what it is all about—Lent and the Christian life—to open ourselves completely to our God, who has first loved us and loved us so well.

 

As I reflected on today’s readings, especially the prayer of the psalmist, “In the sight of the angels; I will sing your praise,” I was reminded of how in the Midwest, we are treated to four wonderfully different seasons that change year after year, just as we change, each with its own joys and challenges.  In the rush and busy-ness of life; we often fail to realize and fully appreciate the differences, the beauty and perhaps what each is intended to teach us.  We take much of this for granted until it changes.  The process of retirement has afforded me the time to be more reflective; to perhaps see what is most important now—like simplifying my life so as to be more aware.

In preparing for this homily; I found myself reflecting on a very special trip that Robert and I took to the Galapagos Islands six years ago at about this time. Talk about seeing differences from our life here and what is experienced there!  “In the sight of the angels; I will sing your praise!”  That trip took us into a strange and challenging world unlike anything that I had experienced before—iguanas, blue-footed boobies, giant tortoises—so many creatures, wonderfully made, that over time have had to adapt again and again to the volcanic islands they live upon—adapt and change, or literally die!

Friends, the world in which we live, challenges us continually too, with change,  whether in the realm of business, our work, Church or family life—we are called to be open, to listen, and to grow in order to live fully, and completely.  We can learn from what goes on in the Galapagos—even though strange to us, about adapting and changing when need be.

The psalmist’s prayer seems a fitting tribute to our marvelous world that includes our beautiful, blue planet earth upon which we live.  “In the sight of the angels, I will sing your praise.” And even if we have the opportunity to visit exotic lands like the Galapagos or simply to spend our days in good, ole Minnesota; we are challenged to take care of our beautiful earth and use it for good, not bad and to preserve it for future generations.

This challenge we find today in our Scriptures, that of God continually working to guide us, through prophets like Isaiah, our brother Jesus, and faith-filled followers of the Christ such as Paul, to the knowledge of how much each of us is loved by God.

This basic message is one for all time—that we are loved—loved by God. When we know that we are loved, it makes all the difference in what we can do in life! The challenge then is to not only hear about this love—freely given, but to share it with our world—those we come in contact with each and every day. Now, we can simply live our own lives and not get involved, or reach out in any way, but we are challenged just like those in the Scriptures today, Isaiah, Peter and Paul and all who they ultimately preached to.

Today’s readings show us these three great individuals of our faith—each one felt unworthy of their call to spread the Word that God is love, that God wants to be part of our lives, yet God called them just the same as God calls each of us.  Isaiah spoke of having “unclean lips,” Peter said, “he was a sinful man” and Paul said, “He was least among the apostles, because of having persecuted the Church.”

Each of us, no doubt, can come up with like excuses for why we are unworthy for the task we are called to—to preach the Gospel as St. Francis said, “at all times” and if necessary, “to use words.”  What this speaks to is living our lives in such a way that our day in and day out tasks reflect an awareness that God put us on earth for a reason—the old catechism answer that I learned went something like—“to love and serve God” and one day to experience God fully, which we know to be, heaven.

The faith that has been entrusted to each of us came in a sort of hand-me-down fashion—from grandparents and parents and for better or worse, that faith has made us who we are in a religious/spiritual sense today.  The faith we have received is a living thing that was always intended to grow and change, with the times and the culture, to make sense to one generation after another.  We, as a Church, from the hierarchy on down to those of us in the pews need to take responsibility for the generations after us who have been turned away from the Church we grew up loving because of the stubbornness at times to change, to hear the needs being presented that are often times discounted. As we learn more, become more open and accepting of changes in our world understandings; we learn that there is a place for more and more diversity, just as Robert and I saw in the Galapagos and in other places that we have traveled to—people are people everywhere—different, yet the same, seeking what we each seek; life, love, purpose—meaning.  We are constantly being called to be more open, more inclusive, more loving, more just—more ready to meet Jesus where we least expect.  And this is key—to be ready—to be prepared to share, whenever, wherever.

I am always amazed how our God uses all of my experiences and the places I happen to be to send someone to me who needs a kind word, a bit of hope and it is usually at times that I am not expecting in my day—I had other things planned, but because I was working off a mindset of being open to all that comes, I was more ready for God’s intervention.

When we read the story today of the great catch of fish; we are amazed and impressed.  Scripture scholars tell us that this story was no doubt embellished to make the point of how God works in ordinary events to make extraordinary things happen. Without the embellishment of the story; we might miss that point. As we do with the ordinary events in our own lives—discounting our ordinary actions as not being important for speaking the Word that our God loves us, cares about us, wants good for us and in fact shows us that our willingness to reach out to others, our ability and strength to speak the kind word, stand up for someone down-trodden or treated unfairly; we do in fact spread the wonderful message that we are first loved by God and that love then gives us the strength, the impetus to love in return.  God is always present, always wanting to be near to us—we just have to be more attentive—see with bigger eyes.

We have all heard the story of the person who prayed to God when the floods came, scrambling higher and higher on his house refusing the help of rescue boats, even a helicopter to carry him to safety. Being a person of great faith; he cried out to God, “I’ve always believed in you and learned that if I prayed, you would help me! Where are you now? A voice then came from the heavens, “I sent you a boat and a helicopter!”  We must see friends with bigger eyes at the good our God is doing all around us and perhaps through those that we least expect.

Another important thing for us to remember is that the message of love, held in the faith, handed down by our forebears is a message that fits every time and place—the intent is that it will need to be reshaped for every time and place to encompass new ideas and ways of being as we learn more—understand more.  We are called to make Jesus’ message relevant to each age.  We can’t live in the past through old rituals and practices that don’t speak to our times as our Church hierarchy seems intent on doing in many places yet today—it is still too much about power—not enough about love.

I am presently reading a new book by Robert Blair Kaiser entitled, Whistle: Father Tom Doyle’s Steadfast Witness for Victims of Clerical Sexual Abuse, wherein he exposes the concerted effort of so-called shepherds to cover up these crimes in order to protect their power when they should have been protecting their sheep.  I was encouraged to read of some good priests who were able to rise above the law of power to give voice to the law of love. Fr. Doyle, who by training is a canon lawyer, so he knows the law—what it says and does not say, has said that he will always remember the advice given him by a senior priest, “Canon law can go only so far. The Church always has to be ready to go further (if need be) to provide pastoral care.”  In other words, the law can never be surpassed by love.

The Spirit is continually renewing the face of the earth—opening us up to more and to greater ideas—ideas of inclusivity—ideas of welcoming—ideas of greater love and acceptance than ever before.  In conclusion, we might want to think about how we pass our precious faith on—do we grow and change with the times? Is Jesus’ message big enough for all times and places? Do we, in fact just speak of our faith, or do we show by our lives, our day in and day out actions what it really means to us?  Blessings on us all, as we strive to be our best selves.

 

Friends, I was away from the All Are One community today and Pastor Dick Dahl stood in for me–here is his very fine homily–enjoy! –Pastor Kathy

In his book,The Culture of Education, Jerome Bruner concludes that stories, the ones we tell about others and ourselves, are “the most natural and earliest way in which we organize our experience.” We live and die by stories; they are not mere “entertainments” but organic to our self definition and well being. So I am beginning this homily by telling you a story.

It’s about Joan who is now 73 but who entered the Benedictines in Erie, Pennsylvania when she was 16. During her 50+ years as a nun she helped her community incorporate the changes encouraged by Vatican II which were difficult for some in the community. She helped them realize thatministries, such as their long history of teaching the children of working class people in Erie, Pa, come and go. The community was the constant. Her conviction is that nothing remains static. She wrote, “I have come to realize that church is not a place, it is a process….The church needs to grow in its understanding of the Gospel, and I need to grow in my understanding of myself as I strive to live it. It is, in other words, a journey of conversion for both of us.”

A major part of that journey of conversion is the role of women in the church. In late 1999 Joan received a call from a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, asking her to be a keynote speaker for a conference on the topic of women’s ordination scheduled for 2001 in Ireland.  Joan said she would not speak on the ordination topic because she wasn’t an expert on the original documents. She herself had never felt called to the priesthood and it had not been a personal issue for her. However, she did agree to talk about discipleship, something her whole life had been immersed in. So it was agreed that she would start off the conference with a scriptural perspective on what it is to follow Jesus.

A year and a half later, in fact two months before the conference was to take place, Joan’s prioress asked to see her. When they met, Joan was handed the letter the prioress had received. It was from the Vatican agency that oversees religious orders. In it Joan’s prioress was “officially and explicitly directed…to forbid and prohibit Sr. Joan Chittister from participating in this gathering in Dublin.” It went on to warn that failure to follow this command…will result in appropriate punishment.”

Joan later wrote, “I doubled over. I had literally been kicked in the stomach. When she straightened up, she told the prioress, “Christine, before there’s any discussion, before we say a single word. There’s something I need to tell you. I’m going to Dublin. I’m going. These men are not going to do this. They have no right.”

Joan wanted to separate the prioress and the community from repercussions for her decision. Her biographer Tom Roberts said that for her the matter became a justice issue. She herself wrote, “This was not a woman’s issue to me. This was a justice issue that happened to be rooted in the women’s question. It was a matter of ‘Who do you think you are that you can tell me what to think, tell me to whom I may speak, tell me where I can or cannot go? Who do you think you are, Daddy? I’m a big grown-up girl, and I can go into this myself and, trust me, I will maintain my faith and I will be a member of the church. That doesn’t make me a moral infant or an immoral woman, and if we have to shoot this out in the street, we’re going to because I’m going. I am going.”

She said the letter was “the equivalent of mugging a woman in the alley” where the assailant will have his way. Joan  said to herself, ‘Well you may, but I refuse to be complicit in the silence. I will scream and I will tell, and I am not going to give in to this kind of intimidation and ruthless, brutal use of power simply because I am a woman without power.”

Psychological research has shown that many people who feel powerless come to feel unworthy and even become complicit in their own oppression. Sister Joan Chittister was not one of them. This is where the first and third Readings today come in. In the first, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and said, “Stand up and tell them all that I command you. Be not crushed on their account, as though I would leave you crushed before them: For it is I this day who have made you a fortified city….They will fight against you, but not prevail over you, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord.” During her years of service to the Spirit of the Gospel, Sister Joan gained the courage to stand up for what was right and just.

I think we can also see in Joan the strength and courage of Jesus’ example in Luke’s Gospel today. The reading describes the way the people in the synagogue turned on Jesus after he gave them examples from Elijah and Elisha, that no prophet gains acceptance in his native place.” They wanted to shut him up and tried to hurl him over the edge of the hill on which the town was built. “But he went straight through their midst.” Similarly, Joan Chittister went straight to Dublin. She and the sisters in her community also went on unharmed.

That’s the story about Joan. Now I have another one—this time about George…well, Jorge in Spanish…actually Jorge Bergoglio, whom most of us know as Francis, Pope Francis. Life is complicated and discouraging at times. Sometimes despite our best efforts; sometimes as a result of poor judgment, or arrogance or inexperience. Problems develop for us or others we know and love. We sometimes feel, and even are, powerless to do anything about them.

When Jorge Bergoglio was 50,  his Jesuit superiors sent him to Germany, purportedly to do research for his PhD, but in large part to get him out of Argentina where his leadership of the Jesuit province over the previous fifteen years — as Novice Master, then Provincial, and finally as Rector of the seminary — had divided his religious order deeply and bitterly. He was a man in turmoil when in a German church he came across a Baroque painting done in oils on wood paneling that bore the title, “Mary the untier of knots.”

The story behind it went back to 1610 when a Bavarian nobleman begged the counsel of a priest to help save his marriage. The priest remembered that St. Irenaeus in the second century had written that “the knot of Eve’s disobedience had been loosed by the obedience of Mary.” The priest implored the Virgin Mary to loosen  and resolve the knots that threatened the marriage. The couple subsequently overcame their problems and stayed together.  In 1700 the aristocrat’s nephew commissioned the painting of Mary unraveling the entanglements of their marriage ribbon. Bergoglio found that the painting gave him much comfort. The knots were the difficulties in his life, the daily difficulties in each of our lives.

When he returned to Buenos Aires, he brought a postcard of the Augsburg painting with him. A decade later parishioners raised money to have a full-sized copy painted. Thousands of people go to see it every month.

Bergoglio had changed when he returned to Argentina. His attitude now incorporated the spirit of Paul’s message to the Corinthians in today’s second reading. That reading is a beautiful homily in itself, perhaps the only homily we ever need to hear. Bergoglio became the priest to the poor, to the people living in the slums. As Paul  wrote, “There is no limit to love’s forbearance, to its trust, to its hope, its power to endure.” Jorge Bergoglio came to realize and to say, “The most important thing is the person in front of you.” In his inaugural homily as pope, he went on, “Let us never forget that authentic power is service. Mercy is the Lord’s most powerful message.”

 

Jesus, our brother gets right to it in today’s gospel from Luke—he minces no words—he is simple and direct—the words from the prophet Isaiah “are fulfilled today in your hearing!”   His message is not what the people expect—Jesus reads from Isaiah about the long-awaited Messiah and basically tells them that he is the One that they have been expecting!  Talk about speaking your truth!  The story today stops short of the peoples’ ultimate reaction to Jesus’ words, but we know they weren’t very accepting of what he had to say.

We are told that the omission of this part of the story in today’s gospel is helpful in order that we can join with the people hearing it to decide how we will accept Jesus’ claim.  It is always good to put ourselves into any story from Scripture and check out our own reaction to it in order to make the story come alive for us.  Is it asking too much to see God in another?

The first reading from the less familiar book of Nehemiah describes another liturgical setting. The people of Israel are just back from exile and they are out of practice in the ways of their God. They realize that their lives haven’t been reflective of what God asks of covenanted people and they are grieving over their unfaithfulness.  Nehemiah, being the good prophet that he was gently tells them not to weep, but to learn from their mistakes and to move on. He reminds them that most of all, their God is merciful—a good message for all of us.

The point about being less than we are called to be is a good one to look at in our daily lives as we reflect on who we are as Jesus’ followers.  In my personal life; I find I can at times make critical statements impulsively, not fully understanding what a loved one’s intention might be.  Just because someone acted similarly in the past doesn’t mean that they shouldn’t be given a chance to prove themselves once again as our God does with the exiles in today’s first reading from Nehemiah.  I find in myself the tendency toward harsh tones in ways that I wouldn’t do with the public, so I must question myself about how I do, in fact, love, those closest to me.

So friends, the two liturgical settings of today’s scriptures can be compared to our own; we hear the Word, and then we must make sense of what has been proclaimed—allow the words to come alive through the power of the Spirit.  The words of Scripture were always intended to come alive in each generation—the intention, I believe, is that we would in our own time need to make sense of what was handed down. Luke’s gospel is a good example of this, for all of it is a handing down of tradition as Luke wasn’t one of the original followers of Jesus.

The question we need to ask is, “Do we take the words of Scripture to heart, make them our own, or do we act like Jesus’ neighbors and say, that can’t be meant for me?” The messiah can’t come now, not in my time and certainly not in the person of my long-time neighbor!  You can’t ask me to believe that! If we keep with this train of thought, then the accusations and disbelief can continue—the challenging message is meant for someone else. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if those running for office, those already in Congress, really listened to each other,  tried to understand what the rhetoric in the other is really all about—is there truth there or just politics.

The challenge is there today for myself as a minister of the Word—how do I break open the words—do I take seriously my calling to wake us up to take with conviction these words of old and make them come alive, today? My job is not to just repeat the story back to you—serve up milk toast, but to give you food to chew on.  Perhaps, at times, the food will be hard to digest, but hopefully, it will be a menu of many delicacies  that will fill your body, minds and spirits for the week.

In this regard, a bit of a reminder—much of what I give you isn’t law, certainly not always accepted by the Church—but new insights intended to help us grow.  The Spirit leads us to that—to really “chew on,” as it were, the words of Scripture, be challenged by them and ask questions and expect answers.

I am reminded of the interview that Joan Chittister did with Oprah Winfrey for her Sunday morning show, Super Soul Sunday where Joan speaks about the differences in the faith systems in our country and world.  She asks Oprah, and I paraphrase; why is it, if we all believe in one God and all the major faith systems say they do; why would we expect “that-one-God”  to be giving different messages? She says, it will necessarily all be about truth, goodness and Oprah adds, “Love, that is the language,” to which Joan wholeheartedly agrees. It is this kind of shared wisdom, discussion and questioning that we must expect and look for in a Church led by the Spirit of God!

The words of Scripture and especially, Jesus’ words, are timeless and are meant for every age—they do not grow old—each age is intended to take his words and apply them to the contemporary world.  Paul’s words to the Corinthians today are an example of this.

Paul uses the metaphor of the body to speak of the differences within the community of believers.  The church at Corinth is struggling with the different manifestations of belief within their community—those who speak in tongues, those who heal and so on.  They are fighting among themselves over who is most important.

Paul clearly tells them—just like your bodies, wherein each part and function is important, so in your community of believers—the manifestations of grace are meant for a reason, for a purpose.  Accept each and grow from it—just as your eyes have a function—your ears—the blood that surges through your heart and veins; in the community of believers—all the gifts are important, the small and seemingly, large. Together, we do something great!

And here it is important to remember and perhaps rephrase what Paul is saying.  In his time, it was common to speak of healings, speaking in tongues, interpreting the tongues, so that in our time; we may think this doesn’t apply to us. My friends, “healing” takes many forms. We “heal” with our generous out-reach to those less fortunate; the Home Delivered Meals that our parish will again partake in this year in February, monetary donations to local, national and international organizations working to uplift peoples’ lives, cooking for our Catholic Worker homes with a parish monthly meal, through kind words and gestures on a daily basis in our daily encounters.

I came upon a new initiative as I was preparing this homily that speaks of inventive ways to “heal” in our local communities. The organization, Sandy Hook Promise, began by the parents and family members of the 26 students and teachers who were killed by gun violence three years ago are committed to the idea that their loved ones did not die in vain, and have put forth a new proposal for schools entitled, Start With Hello.  The idea behind this proposal is that students would reach out to others who they perceive to be alone and isolated and simply start with greeting them, “Hello.”  The program will be inaugurated February 8-12, 2016 and evidently hundreds of schools are already signed up to take part.  It is thought that whatever causes someone to strike out against those they associate with has to have something to do with their feelings of alienation. The promise that Sandy Hook parents made to their children is that they will do all they can to assure that such violence will not be wreaked again on other children.

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians also addresses “speaking in tongues” and again, we may think this has nothing to do with us—we would be wrong there too. We each have the ability to, in a sense, “speak in tongues” by standing up for what we believe in, speaking the word of truth when in a group and no one else will.  When we speak our bit of truth; we empower others to do the same, thus “interpreting the tongues” and growing together.

The people that Paul is writing too seem to be caught up in competition over whose gift in ministry is best rather than just doing something!  Paul tells them that life is too precious to quibble over who is doing what—our task is to simply do something!  None among us can do it all, even though we might feel inclined to try. Our task is to do our part.  And what our part is, changes over time, but we always have a part to do!  This weekend, we have a final chance to vote for our board—if you haven’t yet voted, please do!

And finally, let us pray friends, that like our brother Jesus, we will be present to do the part that God has asked us to do, and to do it in way that no one else can do, because no one else is us—we have a unique gift to give and we must give it! Amen? Amen!

 

Today friends, we are being asked to consider our lives as Jesus’ followers in the context of a wedding—the commitment of two people, one for the other.  We all love weddings; or at least, we love the idea of weddings.  Weddings signal new life—new hope—a time of promise; two people being willing to trust and commit their lives to each other—two individuals becoming one in their gift to the other.  Those of you who are married or have a significant relationship, or who have watched your children or friends marry; know the hope and promise of such times.

Wedding vows speak of “loving in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad—until death.”  The commitment speaks of intimacy. A wedding, for all these reasons and more is simply a time of great joy, and a promise of hope.  It is a time of deep emotions for parents, family and friends.

Today we find ourselves at the wedding feast in Cana. Being that Jesus and his disciples were invited; we can assume as does Marjorie Holmes in The Messiah that Jesus probably knew those getting married—they were probably friends or extended family members.  The fact that Mary, his mother, could say to the attendants, “Do whatever he tells you,” and as a woman in that culture, be listened to, only makes sense if in fact as guests, Mary and Jesus had some importance.  This was early in Jesus’ public ministry—Scripture tells us that this was his first miracle, so it wasn’t his fame that caused the attendants to follow his commands and in fact, if he had been famous, he probably wouldn’t have been invited due to his presence morphing the event.

On a purely human level, that time for Jesus, his mother and his disciples had to have been very moving—not only the intimacy of a wedding, the love expressed by people that Jesus and his mother no doubt knew, but the beginning of his public ministry of miraculous love shared for all.

The reading from Isaiah also speaks of our God’s love for each of us in the context of a wedding. We are told that God loves us in just the same way, with the same intimacy that a newly married couple have for each other.

When you think of the love and caring of a newly married couple, when everything is very dear, tender, hope-filled for all that life will bring and reflect that this is how our God loves each of us, as the prophet tells us today; this is quite an awesome thing!

When you think too of some of the best love stories you know of; there is many times a reckless moment when the one in love will just throw caution to the wind and blurt out their love because now it finally has to be said, even if the love is turned down.

For those of you who are fans of the British Series, As Time Goes By, you are aware of  two main characters, Sandy and Harry.  They love each other, but never quite get around to saying it until Harry; a rugby-playing police officer gets a promotion and is being sent to Canada.  He can’t imagine leaving Sandy behind and wants to take her with him as his bride, but is a man of few words and waits until the day before he is to leave and in fact within hours of his flight to blurt out, and now he has no lack of words, his love for Sandy and the fact that he really can’t live without her. She is thrilled of course that he has finally found his voice and she says, “Yes.”

My friends, this is how, we are told today, our God loves us—as a lover in search of the beloved, always keeping her/his eyes on us. But our God, says the prophet, loves us even further—our God will not rest until justice happens in each of our lives. Our God is relentless in this the prophet proclaims. In this I am reminded that in the State of the Union address given on Tuesday night by our president, Barack Obama; we heard the same message—he will be relentless in pursuing justice for all those in this country who need it—for healthcare, for education, for safety from gun violence, for care of our planet, for peace between nations, for safety from terrorists.  He challenged his hearers and especially his opponents in Congress to do the same because, “it’s the right thing to do.”

He will be thwarted in his push for justice just as Jesus was in his time, just as we will be in ours—that is the push and pull between good and evil that our free wills afford us.  Jesus’ task, our president’s task (and political parties don’t matter here), and our task will be to constantly keep speaking truth to power for justice for all.

And our God will keep pursuing us relentlessly so that we know that we are loved.  We know the history of the covenants or promises between the Israelite people and God—the promises were made, but the people always fell short of their commitment to God.  But we see that God is always willing to take them, and us, by extension, back.  As Isaiah tells them, tells us; we are God’s delight.  Just as spouses trust in one another and give freely of their love and their lives to each other; our loving God gives to us.

God takes great pride in us—we, each of us, are the apple of God’s eyes, and our loving God will go to any end to show that to us. We will see sign after sign as we move through the Church Year of a God who considers you and me so important that leaving the 99 behind to search for us when we are lost, will not be out of the question.  We will see the face of God in the woman who turned her house upside-down looking for the coin that was lost—looking for us!

The example of this great love that God has for us is clearly shown at Cana—Jesus is not only aware of the shortage of wine, which, by the way, I always need to point out, his mother informed him of—but he supplies it and most generously—a wonderful example to me of “couple” or co-ministry each doing their part, one seeing what the other doesn’t  and supporting each other for the good of all. In addition; we need to be aware, and not miss the deeper meaning of the wedding feast.  In John’s gospel, the miracles are all called “signs” to indicate to us and make clear this deeper meaning.

In Celtic spirituality there is an idea known as a “thin place.”  This can be a time, place or event where for a very brief moment our humanity is embraced by the mystery of the divine and we are filled with the wonder of God.  It can happen when we least expect and in the most ordinary of times.  A wedding feast could be one of these times.

Couple love, in whatever way that is found—love unselfishly given is always a wonderful sign of God’s love for us.  Jesus chose such an event to perform his first miracle—a sign showing the abundant love of God for each of us.  God’s love and compassion for each of us is not just enough, but it is over-the-top as shown in Jesus’ gift to the new couple. How embarrassing it would have been had the wine ran out.  Jesus supplied the wine—made enough and more than enough. God always wants the best for us. When we trust in our loving God, we too will receive all and more than we need.

And what is it that we might need?  Most of us look for meaning in our lives—what is it that I am to do?  Where is my place?  Earlier, I said that Jesus showed us signs that had deeper meanings that we must not miss.  The wedding feast at Cana, the first of his signs lets us know that new life abounds in the Spirit of God.

The stone jars filled with water were for ceremonial washing—Jesus takes something common to the people and makes it into something new—free flowing wine was a sign of eschatological fulfillment that was expected in the end times.   Jesus is signaling that the fulfillment can come now, in our lives.

My friends, each of us is important; each of us has a God-given task to perform—to bring new life and love to our world.  This is the fulfillment that Jesus points to.  Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians that the Spirit is “manifested” in each one of us for “the common good.” We think back to the Epiphany celebrated a few weeks ago—the manifestation or “showing forth” of something great.

Let’s pray together today that each of us will have the strength in this New Year to do our part to make life more abundant for all. My friends, our Christian faith calls us to make a difference where we are now—it is what we are called to. Our world is in need of more of those “thin places” where the wonder of God shows through! May we all be blessed today and may we be relentless in seeking justice for all. Amen? Amen!