Homilies

Homily – 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Dear Friends, 

Another homily from Pastor Dick Dahl–enjoy! –Pastor Kathy

 

February 11, 2018

Today’s first reading from the Book of Leviticus describes how in ancient times Israel dealt with perceived dangers to the community. When someone had symptoms that might develop into a virulent disease like leprosy, the person was brought to an authority, at that time the priest, and if confirmed, the person was excluded from the camp. It was a severe form of quarantine, but similar to the initial action taken with ebola victims a few years ago.

We need interaction and relationships with other people for our psychological health, our spiritual health, and even for physical well-being. This is the reason that quarantine, exile, deportation, even being shunned are such painful experiences.

Today, however, instead of being forcefully separated from others, people often choose to enter into communities of separation. Walls in Israel and along our own southern border are built to keep people out. On a more local scale, we have  “gated communities.” We may recognize in ourselves a tendency to mainly interact with people we have natural patterns of association with. Even our “All Are One” community–while being “all inclusive,” that is, open to all who chose to come and join it–consists of very like-minded people, people who share the same values.

I suggest that the affliction challenging us the most today is the difficulty so many of us have in listening to and finding a way of communicating with those whose values differ from us–especially in religion or politics.

Three years ago I gave a homily at this time of year about an interview Bill Moyers had had on public television with Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist. Haidt, had recently authored a book entitled “The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion.” I think the main points of that interview bear repeating today given the ever increasing divisions in our society.

Haidt pointed to the way in which people have chosen to self-segregate. As we concentrate mainly with people who are just like us, we are less and less able to understand those who’re not like us. Without a human connection it is harder to like and even respect those whose views and patterns of behavior differ from our own. We can end up in separate moral universes, each with its own facts and experts.

Furthermore liberals and conservatives differ in the importance they give to certain values. Liberals give top ranking to caring and compassion. Fairness is also important to them but caring will top that when push comes to shove. They also tend to believe that in the long haul cooperation is more productive than competition.

Conservatives, on the other hand, tend to give high ranking to group loyalty, to authority, order and sanctity. They see it as unfair when government policies punish success and reward failure. They see this happen when welfare and other payments are given to people who aren’t working. They tend to think that bad example needs consequences.

Haidt said that many people, especially Baby Boomers, are prone to Manichaean thinking. Manichaeus was a third century Persian prophet who preached that the world is a battleground between the forces of light and the forces of darkness. And everybody has to take a side. Some people have sided with good, and of course, we all believe that we’ve sided with good. But that means that the other people have sided with evil. And when it gets so that your opponents are not just people you disagree with, but when it gets to the mental state in which I am fighting for good, and you are fighting for evil, it’s very difficult to find common ground or compromise.

Conservatives tend to sacralize institutions like country or church and symbols like the flag. Liberals tend to sacralize victim groups. Haidt pointed out that once we sacralize a group or idea, we become blind to contrary evidence.

Haidt offers a path toward positive communication by helping us first recognize the values passionately held by those with whom we tend to disagree. Haidt also proposed that we identify and avoid demonization. We can disagree as much as we want, but if we dismiss other people and demonize their motives, we’re usually going to be wrong about that. So if we could begin to see this in ourselves and each other and even challenge each other and say, “Hey, you’re demonizing.” Disagree with them but stop attributing bad motives to the other side.” That would at least be some progress.

Finally I want to call your attention again to the Red Boot Way which I’ve spoken about frequently in recent months. You may remember that it is a nationwide organization created by Molly Barker, who believes that people simply don’t know how to listen to each other. Its purpose is simply to gather people to discuss how they see the world and why, and to then share what they believe their role in it to be.

Among its “11 Steps” are the following:  (Step 5) “We came to see that, despite sometimes being fearful of those who are not like us, we have more in common than we realize. We approach those we meet with positive intent and likewise assume that they come to us with positive intent. We are open.” (Step 7) “We came to see that, despite wanting at times to ‘be right’, we best serve the world by seeking first to understand and then be understood. We humbly put aside our own agendas and listen with our whole heart before responding. We are present.”

In closing let us remember that in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus did not withdraw or separate himself from the disfigured, leprous man who came to him. He first touched him. Then the healing took place. In a similar manner his example challenges us to strive for respectful contact with those we differ from so that healing communication has a chance to take place.  And as Paul urged the Corinthians, “…whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Give no offense…just as I try to please everyone in any way I can, I do this by seeking not my own advantage, but that of the many….”

Homily – 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

/ kredig

Dear Friends,

Robert and I have been away on a cruise to see the Panama Canal and actually travel through it! It was a wonderful get-away and it is good to be back now. We were able to do this because of the generosity of my colleague and friend, Pastor Dick Dahl. I will be sharing today, the first of the three homilies he gifted us with in my absence. Tomorrow another and on Saturday, the third. Enjoy! -Pastor Kathy

Homily, February 4, 2018

In today’s Gospel Jesus tells Simon and Andrew, “Let us go elsewhere so that I can proclaim the message. That is why I came.” In the second reading Paul writes that he put himself in slavery and accommodated himself to all kinds of different situations so that he might share the benefits of the Gospel with others.

What was and is the message Jesus was eager to move on to proclaim? What really is the news or Gospel that Paul went through many perils to share with others?

Marcus Borg, theologian and New Testament scholar who died in 2015, wrote: For the author of John’s Gospel, Jesus is the revelation of God’s love.

Through the centuries since Jesus and Paul lived physically among us, many have claimed to know and preach that Gospel, this Good News. In the process, sadly, the distortions of the message have led whole groups of people to feel and be excluded and condemned. Instead of revealing God’s love for all, these distortions of the Gospel have been used to justify even slavery, torture and wars. Rules and laws have led many to bear burdens of guilt and fear of God, rather than rejoice in God’s unconditional love and unearned GRACE. It has led to feelings of alienation in those who weren’t guilty of sin and false justification in those who were.

This has not been the whole picture, of course. Many people, countless people, both known and unknown to us, have lived lives of love, compassion, generosity and mercy. Nevertheless, the distortions of Jesus’ message have led many to reject Jesus, Christianity and religion altogether.

Vince Hatt, the former director of the Franciscan Spirituality Center in La Crosse, said in a recent talk, “There is no ‘they.’” In other words we must not allow our minds and spirits to divide people into them and us. That road to dualistic thinking makes “them” the people who are wrong while we are right, the people we can criticize or even persecute for their beliefs or their actions, in other words, the enemy.

The Sermon on the Mount is the best summary of Jesus’ teaching. It is the very blueprint for Christian life. Francis of Assisi put it this way to those who followed him: “Preach the Gospel; use words if necessary.” In other words, while words may help clarify the message, it is mainly shared through lives that speak compassion, generosity, tolerance and respect for all others, in short, love.

The Gospel message is authentically proclaimed and shared by those who like Francis of Assisi live by love, not by power or insistence on  being right. When you reflect on which people you think best proclaim the Gospel to you by their lives, who comes to mind? You each have people, who are not known beyond your personal acquaintances perhaps, but who witness to the love and presence of Jesus by how they live.

Sometimes, others have a better sense of God’s love than we do. Jesus’ story of the Samaritan who cared for the man beaten by robbers made this point. As Father Richard Rohr points out, “Truth is public domain.” We need to recognize, welcome and rejoice in it wherever we find it—in our Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist brothers and sisters, and also in those who consciously profess no faith but whose lives reflect the care and love of neighbor that is the sign of God’s presence.

I keep running into people who say they are former Catholics or “recovering Catholics.” What are they recovering from? It is certainly not from the message Jesus proclaimed that we are loved and have been from the beginning of time.

We live in the mystery of a benevolent universe even though it seems to be an indifferent one. And depending who we are, or when and where we live, evil and unjust suffering is experienced to an overwhelming extent, often by both the just and the unjust, and especially by children and the helpless.

What difference does God’s love make in such a life? This seemed to be the lament of Job in the First Reading today. What we do know is that Jesus spoke with his actions as well as his words. We know that Jesus was misunderstood. He was betrayed by a friend. He was imprisoned. He was humiliated and tortured. He suffered an agonizing death in which at the end even he cried out, “Why have you forsaken me?” He went through the ordeal, not to satisfy a sadistic god, but to prove he stands in solidarity with all who suffer. He is God’s promise that evil and tragedy will not have the last word.

I am closing with a statement by Father Rohr that I have quoted before but I repeat because it summarizes what this homily is all about: “Jesus did not come to solve a problem but to reveal the love of God for all creation. Jesus came not to change God’s mind about us, but to change the mind of humanity about God.”

 

 

Homily – 4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Friends, last weekend we talked about the importance of doing extraordinarily well our ordinary tasks—that therein lies our salvation, our happiness, our mission as Christians, baptized followers of our brother, Jesus, the Christ.

That theme of attempting to live extraordinarily well our ordinary lives—making the best of whatever comes our way is a goal worth striving after.  The readings this week speak to this goal and really are about being our best selves.  Let’s take a closer look.

In the first reading from Deuteronomy, the writer talks about the fact that prophets are called by God to speak God’s words.  The responsibility of the rest of us is to listen, and then try to do our piece, which might indicate a change in the way we do things.  We might wonder how we will know who the prophet that we should listen to is.  We get an idea about this from Mark’s Gospel today in the person of Jesus.

Mark tells us that “Jesus taught with an authority that was unlike their religious scholars.  I believe most of us know truth when we hear it.  We stop and reflect something like, “Wow, that is right—I have thought that this needed to be said, and now someone has said it!”  The prophet does not care what speaking the truth might do to them, but just knows that they must say, do this particular action.

Just this morning, one of our women priests shared a story about a woman in Los Angeles who recently, under the heading of #Timesup posted a homily that she wrote advocating that every church, mosque, synagogue or otherwise, places of worship, include women in its leadership as priests, rabbis, imams, and so on, concluding with traveling to Rome to post this message on the doors of the Vatican.  She makes a point of saying that she does this not in the name of any religion, but having been raised as a Lutheran feels that she has license for this action.  Her basic message overall is that “Time is up” and that women too are called!  On the political scene, would that our elected officials would be more prophetic and less selfish—would think less about getting re-elected and more about doing, in this fashion, what is right!

If we are to be more like our brother Jesus; we will need to look with compassion upon one and all that we see suffering in our world.  Jesus, in all his miraculous cures did what he did out of compassion for the one suffering.  It was never about him, his fame, his glory—but about alleviating the suffering that was ever present in his world.  I always cringe when I hear of someone “wanting” a position of power.  Those who are called to serve others don’t necessarily want that position, albeit; they may be willing to serve.

In today’s gospel, it was about expelling a demon that made a young man’s life so miserable.  In Jesus’ time, the people spoke of a person who was ill, not well, as being possessed by a demon.

Anyone who has struggled with an addiction of any kind, or known someone who has,   knows of the “demon” that it can be.  I reflect on the compassion of Jesus and his desire to alleviate the suffering that people live with, especially when it is from no fault of their own when I try to make sense of the actions of our pope this last week.

You will recall that this is in regard to the Chilean man who was abused by a priest , abused again by a bishop who covered up the crime, abused a third time when he came forward to speak of the crime and object to the naming of bishop one who had witnessed the crime when he was a mere priest.  And to add to the victim’s pain, the pope has essentially called him a liar stating that he will not remove the bishop because there is no evidence.

This old loyalty of always believing the cleric over the victim speaks of clericalism, not compassion.  Francis has done great damage because now it is highly unlikely that others will come forward only to be called liars. No apology over hurting the victim will suffice until Francis can hear, really hear, the truth.

The psalmist cries out today, “If today you hear God’s voice, harden not your hearts.” It would seem that Francis has hardened his heart in this regard. The National Catholic Reporter speaks of him having “a blind spot” with regard to this issue.

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians today is concerned about the difficulty of doing the right thing, of letting anything stand in the way of hearing the Word of God and acting upon it.  He takes issue with marriage for that reason, not because he is against marriage, but he prayed that those listening to him “would have no worries.”  Also, we must remember, as we discussed last week, Paul believed that they weren’t long for this world, that Jesus’ Second Coming was to be soon, thus, be single-minded, don’t let anything get in your way of devoting yourself entirely to God.

It would seem that Jesus had something else in his mind, when he left this earth, physically.  We should never forget that he said, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you always, helping you to enjoy the gift of life, to share it with others, to look with compassion on those who have less than you, to speak your truth whether it be to presidents or popes.  All this is about living our ordinary lives, extraordinarily well! Amen? Amen!

 

Homily – 3rd Weekend in Ordinary Time

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One of the great spiritual documents of Hinduism, the Bhagavad-Gita teaches us a great truth, “On this path, effort never goes to waste, and there is no failure”—in other words, attempting to do our best is always success.

And this idea is important for us to keep in mind as all of the readings this week have a sense of urgency—the message is really that, time is short; we should not waste a minute of it doing anything less than the good that each of us is called to by our baptisms. And when did our country, especially, need to hear this message more.  I find myself responding to the nightly news with less than a positive response and I am often reminded by my “better angels” to not go down that same path that I abhor. When so-called leaders act with ignorance, intolerance, racism and other evils; I must remember former first lady, Michelle Obama’s words, “When they go low, we go higher.”

Jonah the prophet, in today’s first reading is told to, “Get up, preach [to the people] as I do to you—or in Jesus’ words, “Come; follow me!” Jonah is told in no uncertain terms, [Respond] “in obedience to the word.”

Paul, in his letter to the Corinthians continues the urgency of doing the “right, now!”  In Paul’s time, there was the sense that the Second Coming of Jesus was upon them; that the world as they knew it was coming to an end soon—their time here was short and should not be wasted.

And again, in Mark’s gospel, we hear that “the time of fulfillment “is at hand.  This sense of urgency might be likened to the national movement, #Timesup that demands of us that we be our best selves and do unto others what we would want done to ourselves in regard to sexual abuse and domination of women in all walks of life.

Mark continues with Jesus’ words, “We are to change our hearts and minds.” This reminds me of a commentary I read this past week containing the worry that our country is losing its moral sense—forgetting what we stand for, being willing to accept boorish, selfish and mean stances from our leaders without saying a word—almost as if there is nothing we can do! The commentary urged its readers to remember what our country was founded upon—a nobleness that shone a light to the world and ask if we want to let go of that.

I think sometimes we have the feeling that the problems are too great for us to make a dent in, that we don’t have a chance in making a difference—that we don’t have what is needed to change hearts and minds, to be prophets in our time, but our God has always chosen people who seem less than equipped to do what is needed.

We only have to look at the Scriptures today to see that—Jonah was an unlikely prophet—he ran from God, in the opposite direction of the place God wanted him to go before he headed to his mission in the belly of a whale—you will recall that all of this happened prior to our Gospel selection today. Now whether this story was true as written or part of the imagination of the writer in order to teach us a truth, the point is that our God believes in each of us and will not keep trying to have us respond and live up to our potential.

Paul had to be struck off his horse before God could get his attention! Even Jesus, exegetes tell us, in his humanity had to struggle to know completely who he was, what he was to do and when.  He appeared to the people, in the beginning, as we spoke of here last week, as one like others—John had to point him out and name him as the one they had been waiting for.

So what is it that makes us people who can make a difference?  We must look to our brother Jesus for the answer.  He was one who continually asked his Abba to show him the way—he prayed for guidance and strength—he took the time to become a model for others to follow. Paul, throughout his ministry prayed, “I believe O God, help my unbelief.”

Jonah’s time in the belly of the whale, or again, some other kind of confinement, intended to help him see beyond his own needs,  must have been quite instructive to him and given him the courage to do what he had first run from because once he got to Nineveh, he seemed, in his preaching, to be someone the people couldn’t ignore, for we are told that from the youngest to the oldest, the people began to fast and pray in order to become the people God had called them to be.

When Jesus walked the earth, one of the main professions was fishing—several of his first disciples were fishermen and in Jesus’ call to them, he said he would make them, “fishers of humankind.”

Our task, my friends, is to make Jesus’ call fit our own lives.  From the Scriptures today; we have seen that we must make their message our own.  None of us are in the fishing trade, but each of us is called within the profession we have chosen to model Jesus to our world.  Whether we are teachers, nurses, farmers, business people, in any of many trades, moms and dads, grandparents, wives, husbands, pastors, athletes, students, congress people, writers, actors or any of many other professions; we will be called through all of that to be our best selves, to live our lives extraordinarily well.  That is what people will see in us and attract them to do the same.

The gifts of living our lives extraordinarily well will be obvious to those around us: peace, love, understanding, kindness generosity, patience, mercy, and so on and we will be irresistible.  Not that we always do it perfectly, but that we try!  And as the wisdom of the Bhagavad-Gita teaches, we will always be a success!

People will want to know what makes our lives so meaningful and we can humbly tell them that we try to walk in the footsteps of our brother Jesus and that it makes all the difference. Amen? Amen!

Homily – 2nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

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Friends, we can hardly miss that last Sunday we were at the crib with the baby and now today we are with Jesus as he begins his public ministry.  Other than his visit to the temple when he was 12 on the occasion of his bar mitzvah; we don’t know much about those “lost” years between then and when he began to share publicly what God, his Abba had sent him to do.

With the help of our imaginations, as Joan Chittister names, “a distinct gift from God;” we can assume that this passage of time included much listening, much communing with his Abba—another term for Loving Parent, about just what he was to do.

He no doubt spent a good deal of time studying the Torah, the first five books of the Bible that all good Jews were knowledgeable in, the Psalms of David and the Prophets.  It was the words of the prophet, Isaiah that he would later come to proclaim and fulfill, “I have come to bring good news to the poor,” and so on.

It is good for us to try and imagine what this “coming out” must have been like for Jesus—he left the comfort of his hometown to show himself around the Jordan River where John the Baptist was preaching.  He apparently looked like everyone else—nothing outstanding as John had to point him out to his disciples and friends, “There is the Lamb of God!” and instructed them to follow him, now.  These two, Andrew and John must have had great faith to have left the Baptist and follow Jesus, whom they didn’t know.  Could we have done that?

Then, it is good to reflect on the interchange between Jesus and his first two disciples.  When they catch up with Jesus, he asks them, “What are you looking for?” At this beginning of another new year, we too might ponder Jesus’ question, “Just what are YOU looking for?” What would make your life better, in the truest sense of the word?” Could you imagine it?

Their response to Jesus tells us a great deal—they want to know where he is staying! This is a question that tells Jesus that they want to come to know him much better.  We might think about this question in terms of two people dating for a while and at a certain point they want to take their special friend home to meet their family—to share what they have found!

Jesus’ answer is equally intimate; “Come and see!”  These first two disciples found Jesus to be the One they had been waiting for—by spending time with him, listening to his words—which, by the way, is a very good definition of prayer.  In all of this, these first disciples came to know him as the Messiah.

The readings for this Sunday as we transition once again into Ordinary Time for a few Sundays before we begin the Season of Lent on February 14th, call us to be listeners, intent on hearing God’s voice.  Sister Joan Chittister, through her monthly calendar, The Monastic Way, is taking this New Year to look at women who imagined great things and acted upon those imaginings–St. Joan of Arc was burned as a heretic for claiming that God talked to her through her imagination and when questioned about this seeming phenomenon, she answered, “How else would God speak to me; if not through my imagination?”

Samuel, in today’s first reading is told to listen and if he hears God’s voice, he should reply, “Yahweh, I am listening.”  He already had a sense of being present to Eli, the prophet and knew that when he heard Eli call, he should say, “Here I am,”   which meant he was ready to do the prophet’s bidding. Samuel was soon to learn that his response to God should be the same, “Here I am!”

Are we ready to do what God may be asking of us on this day, in our time? And how will we know if it is truly God who is calling?  My kind of litmus test for if it is God calling is if “peace” also comes with the request—somewhat the feeling of, “I can do this!” And while I may not be entirely sure, I am at peace that I won’t do it alone, that God will be with me.  Maybe this is the year that I can step out of my comfort zone and respond to Jesus’ request to, “Come and see.”

Paul’s letter to the Corinthians is basically a discussion between the material and spiritual world.  He is trying to help them see that following Jesus’ call means that they should respect themselves and others—try to be their best selves, try to seek after good and that good will come back to them.  It is through Jesus’ Spirit that we can come to know our God better, become more able to see God in others—which is really, “communion” again, in the truest sense of the word.”

The Spirit was alive and well at the Golden Globe awards a week ago when the whole program was transformed by women and the men who support them speaking their truth in a way they have never been able to before due to the unnamed sexual abuse and domination that was present in Hollywood. The climate this year was changed due to those brave women who have come forward this last year through the “Me Too” movement, exposing the pain and suffering which came to be accepted as, “the way it is!” Women in all walks of life have said definitively through another movement that, “TimesUp.”

Time is up to accept anything less than to be treated with the respect that is due each person.  Now-is-the-time, especially for Christians and all other believers, for those in fact, who claim to be human, to open their eyes to the abuse that we give license to when we do not respect the fact that we are all equal and treat each other that way—that I am not better than you and you are no better than me.

It is to each of us, wonderfully made by the Creator, that Jesus came to-be-one-with.  Let us make a New Year’s resolution that we will listen well to each other’s stories and remember that we cannot truly thrive in this world on the backs, the souls of others.  Our world needs now, people who can imagine a better existence for all of earth’s inhabitants and then act upon those imaginings knowing that we won’t be alone—that our brother Jesus is with us loving us into greatness.  Amen? Amen!