Dear Friends,

So sorry for the lateness  of the homily, but strep throat “found” me this weekend which I finally had diagnosed on Monday at Urgent Care and am now laying low, sleeping lots and taking my medicine. In between naps, I wanted to get my homily out to you all–wishing you all the best, Pastor Kathy.

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My friends, just as it takes us at least six weeks to prepare for the awesome feast of Easter, it takes that long as well to fully celebrate the mystery of the resurrection. We can’t fully understand this event and that is why we call it “a mystery.”

At the Easter Vigil, I shared a couple Scripture passages—that of Mary of Magdala meeting Jesus in the garden and Jesus walking with disciples on the way to Emmaus to highlight the fact that resurrection is not the same as resuscitation.  A definite difference in how a person looks apparently happens in a resurrected form—or else Mary and the disciples would have known Jesus on first sight.  Scripture tells us that Mary only knew Jesus when he said “her name” and that the disciples only recognized him in “the breaking of the bread.”  This is a mystery that we can only hope, one day, to understand.

The important thing for each of us to hold onto is that Jesus came to show us the way—not only how to live and to love, but how to die and to rise one day.  So much of this we take on faith because we can’t fully understand, but part of the joy we should feel through this season is the hope that this life is not the end.

Jesus told the apostles, and we are ultimately included in this, that he is going to prepare a place for us of which we simply can’t imagine—also a mystery!  None of us can imagine what this will be and sometimes, I am more inclined to think that heaven is not so much a place as it is a state of heart and mind.

Perhaps we enter what we call heaven after we have journeyed through this life striving to become our best selves; when our mind and heart is set on “feeling the joy” only when others—all others, can know the same joy, knowing the happiness of family nearby, caring for one another, only when others, all others, know that same happiness; living in peace with all or most of our needs met, only when others in the world, all others, live in that same peace.

The Easter Scriptures, in the days and weeks after Jesus’ resurrection, with the apostles fully filled with the Spirit of Jesus, are reported to have shown great powers to heal—a mere shadow of one of them passing over an affected person brought a cure.

We can look at these cures as pure power, or we can see them as a result of great faith, or probably, a bit of both.  Jesus was always a bit disappointed when people came to him simply for a physical cure—when they weren’t willing to see his mission about anything more.  Of course, he understood and had mercy and compassion—but I think he really was about changing people’s hearts.

The reading from Acts today records the fact that “through the hands of the Apostles, many signs and wonders occurred among the people.” This statement I’d like to apply to what I just said above—mainly that the power that came to the first apostles and disciples was, I believe, always meant to be about more than curing physical ailments.  Through their hands, through our hands, many signs and wonders can and do occur.  We have the power of physical touch—a calming hand; the ability to physically care for others, to be with them in their need—cook a meal, pick up some groceries, visit a shut-in, take some food to a neighbor, offer a prayer.     I believe we sell ourselves short when we consider these Scriptures speaking of signs and wonders.  Each of us comes upon needs each and every day and we simply need to respond.

The reading from Revelation speaking to John the Apostle and Evangelist on the island of Patmos carries the simple message that was always on Jesus’ lips throughout his ministry, “Don’t be afraid!”  If we forget most of what we read in Scripture; we really only need remember that our brother Jesus was always about caring for our needs, loving us and asking us to love others.  In addition to the words imploring us to, “not be afraid,” Jesus’ other most familiar words coming our way, were, “Peace be with you.” In today’s gospel, we hear twice a wish for peace.

Jesus truly understood his apostles’ fear—he was telling them some seriously profound things—asking them to stretch their faith to its greatest degree.  Faith is truly central in these post resurrection days.  Nothing meaningful can happen without it!

Today’s gospel zeroes in on the apostle Thomas’ lack of faith.  It isn’t enough that his brothers in ministry have testified that, “We have seen Jesus!”—he isn’t going to believe until he can see with his own eyes, touch Jesus with his own hands!  We have to wonder what was going on for Thomas—there must have been a great deal of fear holding him back.

We can compare his lack of faith with Mary of Magdala’s all-encompassing faith. One senses that she was someone who had been so touched, influenced, that is, by Jesus and his love and care for the world, that she simply could not, but, believe.

So, in the end, my friends; I think the question that each of us must face during this Easter Season is, “Do we believe?” And if we do, what are we going to do about it?! Amen? Amen!

 

Dear Friends, 

Happy Easter to all–Jesus is truly risen! Alleluia! Thank you to those who were able to be with us at All Are One this past week for Palm Sunday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday services–from Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, to the solemnity of Good Friday to the joyousness of Holy Saturday with the Gloria and the Alleluias returning to the liturgy, it was very good to remember and celebrate our God’s over-the-top love for us in sending Jesus, our Brother. 

I am sending my wish today for all of you who couldn’t be with us to get my in-person greetings last evening and who join us reading this electronic copy. Rejoice today and throughout the Easter Season over a God who has loved us so prodigally! It is wonderful to know, I think, that from the beginning, as we read last evening at the Vigil  from the book of Genesis, our God looked upon us all and proclaimed that we are, “very good!”

Peace and Love–Alleluia! 

Pastor Kathy

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My friends, we have experienced many readings tonight from what some might call, “salvation history,” but I would like to call it, the story of our God’s love for creation, culminating in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, our brother.

Tonight, because our service is already longer, I wanted to simply lift up a line or two from the readings for us to hold on our hearts:

• In the creation story we hear that God looked on all of creation and said that it was very good. For that reason; I chose not to have us read the story of Moses fleeing the Egyptians and God drowning them in the Red Sea. It seems that as the prophets become more involved in the story of the Israelite people, God becomes a much more loving figure and certainly the God of Jesus was.
• In the reading from the prophet Isaiah, we hear, “come to the water, all who are thirsty.”
• And in the reading from Ezekiel, we hear, “You will be my people and I will be your God.”
• We see the compassion of God expressed in the gospel selection from Matthew tonight as twice we hear, first from angels and then from Jesus, “Don’t be afraid.”
• The epistle from Paul to the Romans speaks in a somewhat cloaked fashion of sin and the truth about being Jesus’ followers—simply that it will mean we have to leave sinful ways behind, striving to be our best selves. But that will come soon enough—now is the time for joy in the fact that Jesus is still with us.

Because we won’t be meeting on Easter Sunday, I wanted to add a few thoughts that are included in tomorrow’s readings that are very significant in understanding this most glorious day.

The Easter Sunday morning’s gospel comes from John 20:1-9. I think it is important not to stop after verse 9 but to continue on to verse 18 as it includes the beautiful encounter between Mary of Magdala and Jesus in the garden.  The reading shouldn’t stop after verse 9 as the story simply isn’t complete at that point.  The reading for the Easter Vigil stops short too and that is why I added verses 8-10 to that reading.

It is significant that these faithful women who stood by the cross to the very end would be the first to see Jesus in his risen state and only an all-male hierarchy would set up the readings in this way, completely discounting the women!

Another point in this gospel that is most significant especially for those who may find it hard to believe in the resurrection and might say, “The body was simply stolen will find an answer in the way John describes the scene at the tomb.  [Simon Peter] observed “the linen wrappings lying on the ground and saw the piece of cloth that had covered Jesus’ head lying not with the wrappings, but rolled up in a place by itself.”   Exegetes tell us that if one’s intent was to steal a body, you wouldn’t hardly unwrap it first and certainly not take the time to fold up a piece of cloth covering the head!

John also gives us another interesting tidbit in his account of the resurrection—when Mary of Magdala first encounters Jesus, now risen, in the garden—she doesn’t recognize him!  We might ask—how can this be?  Again, exegetes tell us that one apparently doesn’t appear the same in resurrected form as they would, if they were merely sleep and awakened.

The same phenomenon seems to be true in Luke’s account of Jesus joining the disciples the next day on the way to Emmaus.  Just as Mary didn’t recognize Jesus until he did something familiar—saying her name, the disciples on the road didn’t know him either until he likewise did something familiar—when he broke bread with them.

So, my friends, some thoughts to carry on our hearts as we continue now with the blessing of the water and our baptismal promises…..

My friends, we have just shared with each other Jesus’ Passion and Death according to John, the beloved apostle. John’s gospel is always used on Good Friday because it gives us a different focus than the other accounts from Matthew, Mark and Luke.  We remember from Palm Sunday and Luke’s passion account that his focus was placed not so much on the detail of the suffering, but more on its meaning for each of us as depicted in Paul’s reading to the Philippians—“his state was divine, yet he did not cling to it, but became as each one of us.”

In John’s account today, we simply heard Jesus say, in regard to his own personal needs, “I am thirsty.” His concern isn’t for himself but for his apostles—that they would be set free, or more poignantly, from John’s priestly prayer of Jesus that they could learn to “all be one” and not just with each other, but with all others as they would later share his message to “love God and their neighbors as themselves.” When Jesus does die, the account says, he simply “gives up his spirit.” We very much get the impression that John is trying to give; of Jesus being in control of all that is happening to him. He had the power to avail himself to what would be asked of him and he accepted his fate with no complaint.  As Isaiah said in the first reading; “he did not cry out, even though he was badly abused.”

And even with all the suffering Jesus was asked to bear, we see only the silence with which he carried himself, so the silence built into today’s service is very appropriate.  Isaiah gives the truth to this notion as well—“you were like a lamb led to slaughter and didn’t open your mouth.”  John’s account does not include the purely human moments of the Last Supper or the agony in the garden.

John shows us Jesus as one who suffers, yes, but one who is truly the high priest spoken of today in the letter to the Hebrews—one who stands with us and loves us in all our weaknesses, continually calling us to more.

John’s purpose it would seem is to let us know that Jesus freely accepted his death and did not struggle against it—he lived his human existence constantly showing us how we must live and accepted the consequences in his time for living a life demanding justice for all.

Today, I purposely shortened Isaiah’s reading, leaving off the last 5 verses as these concentrate on a God who apparently “needs” reparation for the sins of humankind. I believe many within our Church, theologians included have moved beyond a God who would ask such a price from a son.  This type of God was not the God that Jesus preached about when he spoke of the Prodigal returning to his father’s waiting arms or the Good Shepherd who left the 99 in search of the one lost.

No, as Irish priest, Tony Flannery said a few years back and I paraphrase, we need a new theology for Holy Week! You will remember that Tony Flannery lost his faculties to serve as a priest in Irish Catholic churches due to his support for women priests.

So, the evangelist, John, further tells us that because Jesus freely chooses death, he can just as freely choose life—the new life of the resurrection.  Jesus knew that his actions, his speech, declaring justice for all, speaking against the practices of his Jewish faith and the state of Rome would cause him to pay the highest price for his so-called treason—death on a cross.

So, we need not look for someone to blame; God, the Jews, the Romans.  Jesus chose life to the fullest, living from his heart mostly and he paid the price for not going along with the status quo, for not keeping silent.

So, my friends, while this is a sad day when we remember our brother’s suffering, and not for our sins, but that we might follow him ever more closely, it is a day to begin in small part, rejoicing for the gift that he gave us, so completely in his life, death and resurrection. Because you see, we can’t think about his dying without remembering his rising. His death carries no meaning without the hope of his rising. And I’ll leave it there for today—–

 

Friends, I could give you some exegesis around the meaning of the readings today as we begin this holiest of weeks and probably, some thoughts will make their way into this homily; but I thought what might be a more meaningful way to go, would be to concentrate on what “this triumphal entry into Jerusalem” meant, ultimately, to our brother Jesus.

This final journey to Jerusalem was the culmination of his relatively short life on this earth. We can only imagine the emotion he was experiencing! If he had been a musician; we might say that this action was his grand opus—the high point of all that his combined humanity and divinity had allowed and challenged him to proclaim.

All the prophets, especially the later ones such as, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel spoke eloquently about who Jesus, as the Messiah would be—one with humanity—with us, suffering all that we would suffer, and we might add—experiencing so much of the good that this life can bring through interactions with others, through caring and giving of himself for the least among us.  Jesus spoke his truth to the powers present in his time, about justice for all. And we know from Isaiah’s words today in the first reading that what Jesus had to say would not be accepted by all—and that there were those who wished to silence him.

Within the time frame of a week; this triumphal entry into the holy city of Jerusalem would end in seeming failure with his death in one of the most horrible ways that death can come to an individual.  We are told by Scripture scholar, Diane Bergant, that Paul’s beautiful hymn of praise to the Philippians seems the best way for us to understand Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection—while he does not minimize it; he also doesn’t spend undo time depicting it.  Rather, Paul really explains the suffering to us and tells us what it means—his state was divine, yet he did not cling to it, but humbled himself, becoming as all humans are.

Within a week, his beloved apostles and friends would all, save a few—John, Mary of Magdala, his mother and some faithful women, leave him in fear.  Two would betray him—one would seek forgiveness, one had missed the message that his friend, Jesus had spoken so many times before—that there is nothing we could ever do that would separate us from the love of God.

Scriptures tell us that our brother Jesus wept over Jerusalem for how they had so misunderstood his coming among them—they wanted a king—and he came as a servant.  They let their humanity, their lust for power and control get in the way of his message of love and care for all.  Even his closest friends—apostles who spent three years with him, hearing day after day the purpose for his coming—to basically show them, all of us, the best ways to live and to love, didn’t get it!  Jesus was always about, “leading with the heart,” not the head, and those in the society he graced with his presence who were women, the poor, the ill and downtrodden got his message—not about power over, but about humility—power with and for others.

His sadness, his sense of failure with so many whom he loved so much would engulf him for a time in his agony in the garden in the space of a week.  But before that; he would spend his last days teaching in the temple, his last times endeavoring to get the message across one last time that “what we do to others, we do to him.”  We can’t say that we love God and refuse to love our neighbor—he minces no words—it’s as simple as that!

The more my friends that we can let these days come alive for us, the more his words will become real and guide our daily actions going forward.

We won’t be meeting on Holy Thursday this year, but it would behoove us to remember the gift of love that this night depicts.  Jesus, knowing all that was before him, spent his last night before his death showing his closest friends, his mother and the other women, no doubt, even though the Scriptures don’t mention their presence, of how he wanted them to live going forward, once he was no longer physically with them.  They should serve each other, beautifully displayed in the washing of the feet. Whenever and wherever they gathered; they should know and believe that he was with them in the breaking of the bread.  And finally, his greatest prayer was that all people should be one, just as he was one with Abba God.  This is why our parish is named, All Are One—our statement to our city and all others that everyone is welcome here, no exceptions!  Jesus’ priestly prayer was all about loving God and loving our neighbors as ourselves—that’s it, that’s the message!

We will gather here on Good Friday afternoon in a simple and holy remembrance of a day, more than any other that speaks to the steadfastness of our God’s love for us.  Jesus died a human death the way he had lived his human life—completely and wholeheartedly—always keeping in mind, especially at the end, the all-encompassing love of his Abba for him.  Being human, he doubted and cried out in the agony, in the suffering, but on some level; he knew that life would follow the death and he did it all for us so that we could be steadfast in hope of new life too!

And then on Saturday afternoon, with the Easter Vigil; we will begin our alleluias in that hope.  Amen? Amen!

 

 

 

“Let the one among you who is without sin, cast the first stone,” our brother Jesus proclaimed to the gathered crowd in today’s gospel.  The Priests for Equality addition of the Scriptures that we use here at All Are One lifts up the obvious right away with the statement, “A couple had been caught in the act of adultery.” This, as I said, is an obvious fact, that it took two for this deed to happen, but all other versions of this story conveniently leave this vital piece of information out.  We might ask how and why this happens.

The society in which Jesus lived didn’t consider women on a par with men—in fact, women only had any status if they were connected to a man in some way—i.e., as a daughter or a wife.  If they were so unfortunate to not have these relationships; they basically found themselves on the street to fend in whatever way that they could.

Jesus was aware of this injustice where women were concerned and thus his statement that those “without sin might cast the first stone” to punish the woman, was ever more powerful.  The penalty for this “crime” for the woman was stoning till death—we know of no such penalty for the man involved.  No doubt Jesus could see into the hearts of the men who brought her before him, knowing their true intention was to bring him down, rather than having any true concern for what this woman did or didn’t do.

As we look back to this time in human history; we might be prone to make a judgment on these men who were abusing this woman in order to bring down the work of our brother, Jesus.  But in our present day, is life any better for women?

Are we not still attempting in this country to elect a woman to the highest office in this country? Are we not still waiting for our Catholic church to ordain women licitly to the priesthood? Both these examples stem from a society that has tiers/layers of importance—men as best with women coming in second.

And the real sin is that of male privilege and it has been going on for so long, that it has become part of our lives to the point that many still do not even see it. A current example that points this up so clearly is that of Joe Biden who has recently been called to task by four women for his “habit” of “uncomfortable (to women) touching.”  In his mind, as he has said, it is his way of “reaching out,” of giving support and he meant nothing inappropriate by it.  He was able to cultivate his “habit” until now because of male privilege that somehow makes his actions toward women something that he alone determines without input from them.  With the “MeToo” Movement, all this has changed.

To his credit, he says, “He now gets it,” while his accusers say, “He should have gotten it much sooner!”  When one part of society is not considered, as good as, those in the position of power can say how it is going to be, and not only that, but the group in power come to expect the privilege.

Another current example of this “power over” is that of white privilege and it comes from a group of women religious, representing many different orders of sisters who got together to tackle the issue of racism.  One of the presenters, a black, religious woman, Sister Patricia Chappell,  stated in no uncertain terms that there would be some “ouch moments” in their time together.   She was joined in the presentation by a white woman religious, Sister Anne Louise Nadeau.

The first “ouch” moment came very quickly when Sister Patricia asked the group of nearly all white women religious where the black sisters were.  She said that half of the women in this room should be black. Sister Patricia walked back through the history of religious women calling their attention to times when white women would not sleep in a bed that a black woman had slept in even while they were preaching a mission of love.  Being denied access to religious communities in the past has left black people with a feeling of not being good enough or competent enough and those feelings take a long time to heal. And black women are dealt a double blow—first, that of being a woman compounded by being black.

Sister Patricia went on to talk about white privilege, that insidious condition that gives whites a hand up in life that black people have to fight to obtain, just because of the way they happened to have born.  I know personally that I never had to have the talk with my son that every black mother has to have with her sons about the fact that a young black male is suspect just by nature of the color of his skin.  That’s white privilege!

Both sisters, black and white spoke about how communities need to be more inclusive, name the sin of white privilege, listen to others and then listen some more.  It doesn’t matter how I, as a white woman look at a situation, alone,  but how what I take for granted is received by the other who doesn’t live with the privilege. With regard to male privilege, it doesn’t matter how a man looks at a situation, alone, he has to know and understand how his action is taken by women.

The dual sins of racism and sexism have been with us so long that sometimes we wonder what, in fact, we can do! Our readings for this 5^th Sunday of Lent are very instructive in that regard.

First of all, Isaiah lets the people of his time know that indeed God “opens a way” for us.  That God “is doing something new” and is there walking with us to help us to do that “new thing” that will include people, make them feel welcomed, show them that they don’t stand alone.  This of course assumes that we are in regular contact with God, that power that watches over all of life.  For myself; I find it much more convicting to read Jesus’ words, “watch” as it were, his actions and then attempt to do the same.

So much of this is simply being aware.  For those of us who are white, middle class, it is realizing that all of the world doesn’t live with the privilege that we do.  Julia Walsh, a young writer for the National Catholic Reporter has this to say about white privilege:

Whether I like it or not; I participate in the evil of racism every time I enjoy my white privilege. When I feel the tinge of excitement over seeing a “run-down” neighborhood flipped into an area  with funky shops and remodeled homes (that’s what gentrification is), I’m ignoring the plight of the poor.  When I savor easy access to healthy food and transportation without anger for the  lack of attainability my black and brown sisters and brothers have of such basics, I’m failing to love.  And when I experience nothing but respect and kindness from police officers and assume it’s everyone’s experience, I’m turning away from the truth.

In both the 1^st and the 2^nd readings for today; we get the clear message from Isaiah and Paul that basically the past is the past—we can’t change what we did or didn’t do then, but we do have control of what we do in the future!

Jesus has come and shown us the way—he always had the time for those on the margins and we must too!  Julia Walsh says it like this and I share her thoughts today as perhaps good ones to ponder in our journey these last two weeks of Lent as we move ever closer toward Easter.

There is a major cost for shrinking from naming evil.  Evil creeps through every society and crawls into the hollows of our hearts, where our deepest fears lie dormant.  Evil crawls into the places where we hold our dreams and desires, clings to pride and comforts and subtly shifts our  understandings, gets us to justify our destructive behaviors .  If we see how evil lurks, ready to convince us of lies, then we might be able to name it, confront it in ourselves, each other.  If we name the evil, then we can have power over it; we can change.

Friends, I began this homily with Jesus’ words about who can throw a stone at another and we all realize that none of us can, because none of us is without sin.  What we can try and do is walk through life with a big and merciful heart, expecting the best from others and giving the benefit of the doubt when others don’t give their best, knowing that we will need that same mercy from time to time.  We can more often try to see a situation from another’s point of view—realizing that we may not know the whole story with which that person walks.  We never have to agree with an action that causes others pain, but we do have to try and find a place in our hearts for the offender, as Jesus did.  With regard to the woman today in the gospel—Jesus showed her mercy, but he also said, “Do better next time! Amen? Amen!