Solemnity of Christ the King
11/23/03
CLOUD 99 . . . First Daniel and his visions again. He sees one "like a Son of man" coming on or with clouds: either way it's very heavy stuff, angelic or even divine in its connotation. This is apocalyptic literature, going back hundreds of years. It's a glorying in the power of one's God and a prediction of victory.
WE ARE NOT HOT STUFF . . . Then Revelation, or Apocalypse, in the same vein, now specifically about Jesus Christ as witness, actually martyr, who "freed us from our sins by his blood." Our sins again. We fear to think in those terms: Freud has instructed us not to feel guilty. But emphasis is on freeing us, which leads to diminished sense of one's own grandeur. Is that so bad a thing?
LOOKING AHEAD . . . Then Jesus before Pilate, to whom he says his kingdom is not of this world. Ah. Of what world then? The next. We live for the next world. The passage from John reminds us not to get too comfortable, to keep looking not over our shoulder but ahead to greater things than even the best positioned of us have experienced. Yes. Soon enough on to the next thing.
11/23/2003
11/18/2003
33rd Sunday, 11/16/03
SEEING (GREAT) THINGS WITH DANIEL . . . Daniel (12.1-3) has a vision of the end (of world) time. He sees Michael, "the great prince," rising to guard his people during this worst of times. Daniel's people, all who are "written in the book," will escape. The dead will awake, some to live forever, others to languish in "everlasting horror and disgrace."
"The wise," however, "shall shine brightly . . . and those who lead the many to justice ['have instructed many in virtue,' says Jerusalem Bible] shall be like the stars forever."
The notion was growing in this second century before Christ, or the Christian Era, as some say, that the Jews had Michael (the archangel) for their special protector. He was their guardian angel, as other nations (Persians, Greeks) had their guardians.
This is comparatively last-minute visioning, to use the business-planning phrase, in the Christian view, coming less than 200 years before Jesus laid claim to be the anointed one, the Christ, long awaited by Jews. The ages-old drama (of salvation) is coming to a head. It began with Abraham and is leading to Jesus.
JEWISH CHRISTIANS, HEAR THIS . . . So the letter to Hebrews (10.11-14,18) is in order. It is a learned Jewish Christian's argument to his brethren who are in danger of buckling under persecution or yearning for their old-time religion, namely Temple worship, or at least slipping back to Judaizing tendencies, which he argues are replaced by Jesus (the) Christ.
This day he cites the (Jewish) priest in his work, "offering . . . those same sacrifices that can never take away sins." Not quite, says Interpreters' Bible commentary, alleging a "taste for hyperbole" in Jewish writing: Jewish sacrifices did promise forgiveness of sins. Nonetheless, focus is on "this one [who] offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God." His "one offering" made people "perfect."
DANIEL REVISITED . . . The gospel passage (Mark 13.24-32) picks up on the apocalypse of Daniel: "The sun will be darkened . . . the stars will be falling from the sky . . . " And then "the Son of Man" will come in clouds. He quotes Daniel: "With great power and glory." We readers of Romantic poetry think of Wordsworth's "trailing clouds of glory" in his "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood." Trailing clouds of glory, "do we come from God, who is our home," the phrase says, completed. W. had his own vision, to be sure.
We are meant to be lifted up by this. Not as by a keen, clear-sighted argument, which also lifts up, but by a vision that seems to supersede argument. Worship requires room for both. In worship we do not apologize for a romantic view. Buoyed by our faith, we give way to the cherishing of unreasonable expectations. We feel that none but the fool has said in his heart, There is no God. "The wise" in our (good) book do not go all ironic but "shine brightly," as Daniel has it, "like the splendor of the firmament." Trailing clouds of glory indeed.
HERE IT COMES . . . The Mark passage also tells us to get ready. We will know the end is coming when these things happen -- darkened sun, etc. And it will happen before the death of people now living!
It didn't, as we know. The Age of Reason not unreasonably had a problem with that. Yes, there is the safety-valve reference to knowing not the day nor the hour when it will happen. But . . .
But, nothing. This is visionary, even idealistic stuff. If we have a problem with that, we have a problem. Time here for the preacher to speak his piece about figurative, inspirational writing aimed at pre-Age of Reason readers, often as instructional material for converts, and this when most Christians were converts. (Imagine that!) Does it have something for Reason-tainted readers? We think so.
SEEING (GREAT) THINGS WITH DANIEL . . . Daniel (12.1-3) has a vision of the end (of world) time. He sees Michael, "the great prince," rising to guard his people during this worst of times. Daniel's people, all who are "written in the book," will escape. The dead will awake, some to live forever, others to languish in "everlasting horror and disgrace."
"The wise," however, "shall shine brightly . . . and those who lead the many to justice ['have instructed many in virtue,' says Jerusalem Bible] shall be like the stars forever."
The notion was growing in this second century before Christ, or the Christian Era, as some say, that the Jews had Michael (the archangel) for their special protector. He was their guardian angel, as other nations (Persians, Greeks) had their guardians.
This is comparatively last-minute visioning, to use the business-planning phrase, in the Christian view, coming less than 200 years before Jesus laid claim to be the anointed one, the Christ, long awaited by Jews. The ages-old drama (of salvation) is coming to a head. It began with Abraham and is leading to Jesus.
JEWISH CHRISTIANS, HEAR THIS . . . So the letter to Hebrews (10.11-14,18) is in order. It is a learned Jewish Christian's argument to his brethren who are in danger of buckling under persecution or yearning for their old-time religion, namely Temple worship, or at least slipping back to Judaizing tendencies, which he argues are replaced by Jesus (the) Christ.
This day he cites the (Jewish) priest in his work, "offering . . . those same sacrifices that can never take away sins." Not quite, says Interpreters' Bible commentary, alleging a "taste for hyperbole" in Jewish writing: Jewish sacrifices did promise forgiveness of sins. Nonetheless, focus is on "this one [who] offered one sacrifice for sins, and took his seat forever at the right hand of God." His "one offering" made people "perfect."
DANIEL REVISITED . . . The gospel passage (Mark 13.24-32) picks up on the apocalypse of Daniel: "The sun will be darkened . . . the stars will be falling from the sky . . . " And then "the Son of Man" will come in clouds. He quotes Daniel: "With great power and glory." We readers of Romantic poetry think of Wordsworth's "trailing clouds of glory" in his "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood." Trailing clouds of glory, "do we come from God, who is our home," the phrase says, completed. W. had his own vision, to be sure.
We are meant to be lifted up by this. Not as by a keen, clear-sighted argument, which also lifts up, but by a vision that seems to supersede argument. Worship requires room for both. In worship we do not apologize for a romantic view. Buoyed by our faith, we give way to the cherishing of unreasonable expectations. We feel that none but the fool has said in his heart, There is no God. "The wise" in our (good) book do not go all ironic but "shine brightly," as Daniel has it, "like the splendor of the firmament." Trailing clouds of glory indeed.
HERE IT COMES . . . The Mark passage also tells us to get ready. We will know the end is coming when these things happen -- darkened sun, etc. And it will happen before the death of people now living!
It didn't, as we know. The Age of Reason not unreasonably had a problem with that. Yes, there is the safety-valve reference to knowing not the day nor the hour when it will happen. But . . .
But, nothing. This is visionary, even idealistic stuff. If we have a problem with that, we have a problem. Time here for the preacher to speak his piece about figurative, inspirational writing aimed at pre-Age of Reason readers, often as instructional material for converts, and this when most Christians were converts. (Imagine that!) Does it have something for Reason-tainted readers? We think so.
11/09/2003
Dedication of Lateran Cathedral, Sunday, November 9, 2003
THE CHURCH A BUILDING . . . A preacher can do good things with this oddly prescribed commemoration of an old Roman church. Churches matter, for one thing. Even Quakers prefer to worship in a building, as grand as nature is. This building in which we worship (the preacher can say) was built with the contributions of people who wanted it. At the same time, in another sense, we are the church. I know a preacher can say this because I heard him this morning and have already written to commend him.
But ours is to see what Scripture tells us. Let us then consider what one might say in that respect.
WATERS FLOW . . . First, there is Ezekiel's "vision of the holy waters," as my King James Version heads it, in which the colorful, colorful Ezekiel, whom I am sorely tempted to call Zeke, sees water flowing from "the temple" and gloriously fertilizing the land. What can a preacher say better than to read this, working it for the glory that is language and the grandeur that is divine intervention. We are heirs to a wonderful tradition, a healthy part of which is this highly imaginative literature.
In general, such language tells us there is more to this being Christian than meets the eye. Nobody has it entirely figured out. We see through a glass darkly, said Paul. There is mystery here, as in life. Religion did not invent mystery, but responded to it. The good book is not a cook book but a series of body blows to the self-assured. Specifically, this passage seems to point to life in abundance, here and hereafter. That's not very specific, but it will do for starters.
MIXING METAPHORS . . . Paul takes metaphor in another direction, calling attention to another temple, and that temple is us. The Spirit of God dwells in us, he says. This is a highly chopped-up passage, First Corinthians 3.9c-11, 16-17. In parts not read, Paul mentions how some of the faithful side with him, some with another preacher, Apollos. How silly can you get? he asks. God giveth the increase, no matter who preaches, or sows.
"You are God's farm, God's building," he says in one version, "God's garden" in another. Yep, there's a planter and a waterer, but "only God makes things grow."
"Or again," he continues, "you are God's building." For which the foundation, "already laid, [is] Jesus Christ himself." In this context we are the temple and the preacher is no longer a gardener or farmer but a contractor.
Worldly wisdom is of no advantage in this building process. In fact, it's foolishness in God's sight. So. Forget who's preaching. Grow up already.
CHASING VENDORS . . . We end the readings with Jesus driving sellers and small-change bankers out of THE Temple, of which they had made a farmers' market. John presents (2.13-22) a side of him that undercuts without erasing the meek and mild image. He is challenged by "the Jews" but gives as good as he gets, which is a constant in those Jesus-"Jews" confrontations. They ask for a sign, and he promises that he will rise from the dead after three days: "Destroy this temple [his body] and in three days I will raise it up."
So the Temple stands again for the body, which ties in with the care of souls, specifically as preached to, as a building in process (and a farm to be cultivated), which hearkens back to that vision of Ezekiel, in which the "holy waters" flow from the temple, bringing unparallelled life to all who come in contact with it. Quite a picture, quite a wealth of imagery, quite a challenge for the gutsy preacher.
THE CHURCH A BUILDING . . . A preacher can do good things with this oddly prescribed commemoration of an old Roman church. Churches matter, for one thing. Even Quakers prefer to worship in a building, as grand as nature is. This building in which we worship (the preacher can say) was built with the contributions of people who wanted it. At the same time, in another sense, we are the church. I know a preacher can say this because I heard him this morning and have already written to commend him.
But ours is to see what Scripture tells us. Let us then consider what one might say in that respect.
WATERS FLOW . . . First, there is Ezekiel's "vision of the holy waters," as my King James Version heads it, in which the colorful, colorful Ezekiel, whom I am sorely tempted to call Zeke, sees water flowing from "the temple" and gloriously fertilizing the land. What can a preacher say better than to read this, working it for the glory that is language and the grandeur that is divine intervention. We are heirs to a wonderful tradition, a healthy part of which is this highly imaginative literature.
In general, such language tells us there is more to this being Christian than meets the eye. Nobody has it entirely figured out. We see through a glass darkly, said Paul. There is mystery here, as in life. Religion did not invent mystery, but responded to it. The good book is not a cook book but a series of body blows to the self-assured. Specifically, this passage seems to point to life in abundance, here and hereafter. That's not very specific, but it will do for starters.
MIXING METAPHORS . . . Paul takes metaphor in another direction, calling attention to another temple, and that temple is us. The Spirit of God dwells in us, he says. This is a highly chopped-up passage, First Corinthians 3.9c-11, 16-17. In parts not read, Paul mentions how some of the faithful side with him, some with another preacher, Apollos. How silly can you get? he asks. God giveth the increase, no matter who preaches, or sows.
"You are God's farm, God's building," he says in one version, "God's garden" in another. Yep, there's a planter and a waterer, but "only God makes things grow."
"Or again," he continues, "you are God's building." For which the foundation, "already laid, [is] Jesus Christ himself." In this context we are the temple and the preacher is no longer a gardener or farmer but a contractor.
Worldly wisdom is of no advantage in this building process. In fact, it's foolishness in God's sight. So. Forget who's preaching. Grow up already.
CHASING VENDORS . . . We end the readings with Jesus driving sellers and small-change bankers out of THE Temple, of which they had made a farmers' market. John presents (2.13-22) a side of him that undercuts without erasing the meek and mild image. He is challenged by "the Jews" but gives as good as he gets, which is a constant in those Jesus-"Jews" confrontations. They ask for a sign, and he promises that he will rise from the dead after three days: "Destroy this temple [his body] and in three days I will raise it up."
So the Temple stands again for the body, which ties in with the care of souls, specifically as preached to, as a building in process (and a farm to be cultivated), which hearkens back to that vision of Ezekiel, in which the "holy waters" flow from the temple, bringing unparallelled life to all who come in contact with it. Quite a picture, quite a wealth of imagery, quite a challenge for the gutsy preacher.
11/02/2003
All Souls Day (11/2/03)
I LIKE SOULS . . . I relate more to All Souls than All Saints, probably because like most believers I would settle for being one of the former and find ambitioning the latter a bit presumptive if not foolish. On the other hand, Leon Bloy (1846–1917, French) said there is only one tragedy, not to be a saint, or so I heard in a marianum at Milford in the early '50s, from the late John Hoffman. Note, French, and thus prone to the grand and the absolute: can you imagine Chesterton saying that?
The marianum was a sermon during dinner time, given from the refectory pulpit without public address system (there was none) to 200-plus avidly eating listeners over clash of knives, forks, glasses, and four-wheeled carts. You would start your marianum, named after Mary and expected to make at least passing allusion to her as inspiration of someone's life, even if he suffered the tragedy of not being a saint, as carts, or trucks, as we called them, rolled out like bees out of a hive.
There you were, as young as 18 or 19, a 2nd-year novice, speaking sans notes, sans mike, sans everything but your memory and the months of nerve-wracked preparation, which included writing, getting approved, memorizing, and repeatedly delivering your sermon. You were lucky not to throw up. Everyone I heard in four Milford years, 1950-54 -- two as a novice, two as a classics-scholar "junior" -- was at least that lucky.
EVEN PATHS OF GLORY LEAD THERE . . . To the All Souls Day readings, then. They are a hymn to everlasting life thanks to God and Jesus. Nothing less. The preacher should seize this day to meditate about dying in the Lord. Reams have been written in the spiritual books for eons about this: We have here not a lasting habitation. We live on borrowed time. We were born to die. Death is a release. We are born for eternal life; this shadow existence is a probationary time. Very medieval.
But ye gods and little fishes, do we not have to remind ourselves of that early and often? It may be a wonderful life, and not just for Jimmy Stewart and friends at Christmas time. It may be a very hard life, full of disappointment. It may be a terrible life. But we are lilies of the field, here today, gone tomorrow. We have great obligations to each other to plan and scrimp and save. That's a given. But it all will pass.
"The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces," says Isaiah today, chap. 25. We were baptized "into Christ Jesus . . . buried with him . . . so that we might live in newness of life," the inimitable Paul tells Romans, chap. 6. New life here and now, yes, but today is the day to think about the dead and dying. "This is the will of my father," says Jesus in John 6, "that everyone who sees the Son and Believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise them up on the last day."
We 2003 U.S. RC's are so concerned about being oblivious of the needs of our neighbors in the day-to-day that we neglect our need to work at seeing death as a transit. It's neither lugubrious nor insensitive to labor this point, just sensible.
===============================================
Jim Bowman
www.blithe-spirit.com
Oak Park IL, USA
I LIKE SOULS . . . I relate more to All Souls than All Saints, probably because like most believers I would settle for being one of the former and find ambitioning the latter a bit presumptive if not foolish. On the other hand, Leon Bloy (1846–1917, French) said there is only one tragedy, not to be a saint, or so I heard in a marianum at Milford in the early '50s, from the late John Hoffman. Note, French, and thus prone to the grand and the absolute: can you imagine Chesterton saying that?
The marianum was a sermon during dinner time, given from the refectory pulpit without public address system (there was none) to 200-plus avidly eating listeners over clash of knives, forks, glasses, and four-wheeled carts. You would start your marianum, named after Mary and expected to make at least passing allusion to her as inspiration of someone's life, even if he suffered the tragedy of not being a saint, as carts, or trucks, as we called them, rolled out like bees out of a hive.
There you were, as young as 18 or 19, a 2nd-year novice, speaking sans notes, sans mike, sans everything but your memory and the months of nerve-wracked preparation, which included writing, getting approved, memorizing, and repeatedly delivering your sermon. You were lucky not to throw up. Everyone I heard in four Milford years, 1950-54 -- two as a novice, two as a classics-scholar "junior" -- was at least that lucky.
EVEN PATHS OF GLORY LEAD THERE . . . To the All Souls Day readings, then. They are a hymn to everlasting life thanks to God and Jesus. Nothing less. The preacher should seize this day to meditate about dying in the Lord. Reams have been written in the spiritual books for eons about this: We have here not a lasting habitation. We live on borrowed time. We were born to die. Death is a release. We are born for eternal life; this shadow existence is a probationary time. Very medieval.
But ye gods and little fishes, do we not have to remind ourselves of that early and often? It may be a wonderful life, and not just for Jimmy Stewart and friends at Christmas time. It may be a very hard life, full of disappointment. It may be a terrible life. But we are lilies of the field, here today, gone tomorrow. We have great obligations to each other to plan and scrimp and save. That's a given. But it all will pass.
"The Lord God will wipe away the tears from all faces," says Isaiah today, chap. 25. We were baptized "into Christ Jesus . . . buried with him . . . so that we might live in newness of life," the inimitable Paul tells Romans, chap. 6. New life here and now, yes, but today is the day to think about the dead and dying. "This is the will of my father," says Jesus in John 6, "that everyone who sees the Son and Believes in him may have eternal life, and I shall raise them up on the last day."
We 2003 U.S. RC's are so concerned about being oblivious of the needs of our neighbors in the day-to-day that we neglect our need to work at seeing death as a transit. It's neither lugubrious nor insensitive to labor this point, just sensible.
===============================================
Jim Bowman
www.blithe-spirit.com
Oak Park IL, USA
10/26/2003
BAD GUYS PLOT . . . On 25th ordinary Sunday (not today but Sept. 21), Wisdom 2 has bad guys plotting against "the just one." They plan "revilement and torture" and "a shameful death" for this man, who says "God will take care of" him. We'll see about that, say the plotters. Nasty stuff.
GOOD GUYS ACT SILLY . . . Then we have James 3 with talk of "jealousy and selfish ambition" that arises from "passions that make war within [our] members" and goads us to persecute a just one. We easily come up with many such passions at war within ourselves; but Mark 9, the third reading, illustrates one of them rather eloquently with its account of the twelve apostles arguing over who's top dog among them.
JESUS SETS THEM STRAIGHT . . . Jesus in Mark 9 had to sit them down and explain something: To be first, you have to be last, "the servant of all." But last is the last thing we want to be. We worry desperately about it and do our best to avoid it. Thing is, we have to let go, in the stoic manner. A hundred years from now, nobody will know the difference, I heard numerous times from my father. It was something he heard at Austin High School maybe, but I doubt it. Rather, it's a sort of folk wisdom mediated in part by Jesus' church.
GOOD GUYS ACT SILLY . . . Then we have James 3 with talk of "jealousy and selfish ambition" that arises from "passions that make war within [our] members" and goads us to persecute a just one. We easily come up with many such passions at war within ourselves; but Mark 9, the third reading, illustrates one of them rather eloquently with its account of the twelve apostles arguing over who's top dog among them.
JESUS SETS THEM STRAIGHT . . . Jesus in Mark 9 had to sit them down and explain something: To be first, you have to be last, "the servant of all." But last is the last thing we want to be. We worry desperately about it and do our best to avoid it. Thing is, we have to let go, in the stoic manner. A hundred years from now, nobody will know the difference, I heard numerous times from my father. It was something he heard at Austin High School maybe, but I doubt it. Rather, it's a sort of folk wisdom mediated in part by Jesus' church.
10/19/2003
BAD FOOD DAYS . . . 9/14/03, Exaltation (or Triumph) of the Holy Cross readings (taking precedence over the Ordinary Sunday, as some feasts do):
In Numbers 21 (4b-9), God's people in the desert are worn out from the traveling. They complain to Moses about the lack of decent food and water. They are fed up, "disgusted with this wretched food!"
In response God gets fed up with them and sends serpents to bite them. They apologize, and Moses, on divine instructions, has a bronze serpent cast and puts it on a pole. If they look on it, though bitten, they will live. They do so, and live.
GOING COSMIC . . . Fast forward to the inimitable Paul, co-founder with Peter of the Christian Church, writing to the Philippians (2:6-11) about Jesus, who "emptied himself," became "obedient to death," and died on a cross, with lasting results including "the glory of God the Father."
He made himself vulnerable to the Nth degree and got cosmic results, which is the big idea today. Brief reference is in order to what we can learn on the everyday level, that willingness to be vulnerable is quite necessary to human contact, about which there is nothing risk-free.
SAVING GRACE . . . On to John's gospel, written decades after Paul pushed the bending-low and being-exalted idea. In 3:13-17 Jesus says he, the Son of Man, must be "lifted up" like that serpent in the desert. "Son of Man" is a major title, by the way, more so than "Son of God," there being many sons of God in the day's usage but only one Son of Man, as in the Book of Daniel, where he is given "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom," as King James version illustriously has it.
As Moses lifted up the serpent, Jesus must be lifted, so that now there is eternal life for believers. How so? Because "God so loved the world" as to give him up to suffering and death. God did it not to condemn the ever-complaining and serpent-deserving world, but to save it. Up went the bronze serpent in the desert, up went Jesus on the cross. Look on the serpent and be cured of serpent bite, look on Jesus with loving fidelity and be saved.
There is little here precisely to take home and act on, except maybe the vulnerability business, but a lot to think about. These readings are for the meditating and praying Christian, to make of it what he can. This is devotional material.
In Numbers 21 (4b-9), God's people in the desert are worn out from the traveling. They complain to Moses about the lack of decent food and water. They are fed up, "disgusted with this wretched food!"
In response God gets fed up with them and sends serpents to bite them. They apologize, and Moses, on divine instructions, has a bronze serpent cast and puts it on a pole. If they look on it, though bitten, they will live. They do so, and live.
GOING COSMIC . . . Fast forward to the inimitable Paul, co-founder with Peter of the Christian Church, writing to the Philippians (2:6-11) about Jesus, who "emptied himself," became "obedient to death," and died on a cross, with lasting results including "the glory of God the Father."
He made himself vulnerable to the Nth degree and got cosmic results, which is the big idea today. Brief reference is in order to what we can learn on the everyday level, that willingness to be vulnerable is quite necessary to human contact, about which there is nothing risk-free.
SAVING GRACE . . . On to John's gospel, written decades after Paul pushed the bending-low and being-exalted idea. In 3:13-17 Jesus says he, the Son of Man, must be "lifted up" like that serpent in the desert. "Son of Man" is a major title, by the way, more so than "Son of God," there being many sons of God in the day's usage but only one Son of Man, as in the Book of Daniel, where he is given "dominion, and glory, and a kingdom," as King James version illustriously has it.
As Moses lifted up the serpent, Jesus must be lifted, so that now there is eternal life for believers. How so? Because "God so loved the world" as to give him up to suffering and death. God did it not to condemn the ever-complaining and serpent-deserving world, but to save it. Up went the bronze serpent in the desert, up went Jesus on the cross. Look on the serpent and be cured of serpent bite, look on Jesus with loving fidelity and be saved.
There is little here precisely to take home and act on, except maybe the vulnerability business, but a lot to think about. These readings are for the meditating and praying Christian, to make of it what he can. This is devotional material.
10/04/2003
CALL FOR HELP . . . On 22nd ordinary Sunday, we have a Sunday's familiar opening call for help: "All day long, have mercy . . . You are good and forgiving, full of love . . . " How that Psalmist did pray! Week in, week out we start the mass with this near-agonized plea which reminds us of the trouble we are in. We need help, the liturgy keeps telling us, even those of us who have it made or think so.
ON PICKING AND CHOOSING . . . In Deuteronomy 4, Moses says do not be selective about what God commands. Neither add to nor subtract from it. Some would add things, crushing us. Some would subtract, unwisely relieving us. Neither is much help. Let "the nations" -- "gentes," as in "gentiles," that is, non-Jews -- learn wisdom from your behavior. Thus the Deuteronomist.
We are to follow with the Psalmist telling us, Do justice and live in God's presence. This we are repeat several times as we consider specifics: We are to think the truth, slander not, neither harm people nor bawl them out, lend not at excessive rate, and take no bribes -- even if we come from a culture where it's taken for granted, like the political, as in Chicago at various times.
GET MOVING . . . Then James piles on, as it were (in his chap. 1), urging to to take to heart what the Father tells us. Act on it. It's not enough to listen. Look after orphans and widows (the defenseless) in their distress and keep yourself unspotted by the world (in its numerous manifestations, we have to figure this out). (Only) in this way you might worship "without stain."
PLAIN TALK HELPS . . . Finally, Mark asks us in his chap. 7 if we wash our hands before eating, which is a good idea, we may say. But under pain of sin? Pharisees are the fall guys here. But it's a common fault. We make too much of certain good things, losing sight of the big picture, insisting on recycling, for instance, as if there's always a tomorrow. Problem, says Jesus, is teaching "as dogmas mere human precepts." He adds, it's not what you eat (we assume excluding gluttony) but what you say that condemns you: "Wicked designs come from the deep recesses of the heart."
He lists a few of these wicked designs, among them "fornication, theft, murder," including (at the end) "an obtuse spirit." That's worth thinking about. What is this "obtuse spirit"? "All these evils," he says, "come from within." This is decidedly Jesus talk. No mincer of words he, and it got him in trouble. Most preachers are more circumspect. But then none walk on water either.
If Jesus didn't walk on water either, as some think, he looked like he could, in terms of dignity and power of demeanor. It's just as well most preachers are more circumspect. Like walking on water, Jesus talk hasn't been done well in a long time. But let the Christian preacher not blink the plain-spokenness of his leader. It's the least he can do.
ON PICKING AND CHOOSING . . . In Deuteronomy 4, Moses says do not be selective about what God commands. Neither add to nor subtract from it. Some would add things, crushing us. Some would subtract, unwisely relieving us. Neither is much help. Let "the nations" -- "gentes," as in "gentiles," that is, non-Jews -- learn wisdom from your behavior. Thus the Deuteronomist.
We are to follow with the Psalmist telling us, Do justice and live in God's presence. This we are repeat several times as we consider specifics: We are to think the truth, slander not, neither harm people nor bawl them out, lend not at excessive rate, and take no bribes -- even if we come from a culture where it's taken for granted, like the political, as in Chicago at various times.
GET MOVING . . . Then James piles on, as it were (in his chap. 1), urging to to take to heart what the Father tells us. Act on it. It's not enough to listen. Look after orphans and widows (the defenseless) in their distress and keep yourself unspotted by the world (in its numerous manifestations, we have to figure this out). (Only) in this way you might worship "without stain."
PLAIN TALK HELPS . . . Finally, Mark asks us in his chap. 7 if we wash our hands before eating, which is a good idea, we may say. But under pain of sin? Pharisees are the fall guys here. But it's a common fault. We make too much of certain good things, losing sight of the big picture, insisting on recycling, for instance, as if there's always a tomorrow. Problem, says Jesus, is teaching "as dogmas mere human precepts." He adds, it's not what you eat (we assume excluding gluttony) but what you say that condemns you: "Wicked designs come from the deep recesses of the heart."
He lists a few of these wicked designs, among them "fornication, theft, murder," including (at the end) "an obtuse spirit." That's worth thinking about. What is this "obtuse spirit"? "All these evils," he says, "come from within." This is decidedly Jesus talk. No mincer of words he, and it got him in trouble. Most preachers are more circumspect. But then none walk on water either.
If Jesus didn't walk on water either, as some think, he looked like he could, in terms of dignity and power of demeanor. It's just as well most preachers are more circumspect. Like walking on water, Jesus talk hasn't been done well in a long time. But let the Christian preacher not blink the plain-spokenness of his leader. It's the least he can do.
9/29/2003
What the pew-sitter thinks of during mass -- help for the poor preacher, who gets so little feedback.
==================================
Sermon for what RCs call 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time and other Christians call the 10th after Pentecost.
See http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/081703.htm for the day's readings.
Prv 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her house,
she has set up her seven columns;
she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine,
yes, she has spread her table.
She has sent out her maidens; she calls
from the heights out over the city:
"Let whoever is simple turn in here;
To the one who lacks understanding, she says,
Come, eat of my food,
and drink of the wine I have mixed!
Forsake foolishness that you may live;
advance in the way of understanding."
===============
Gloss: Simple? It's good to be simple? This is what Wisdom has to offer today? Yes, in the sense not of dumb and uninformed but of straighforward, honest, undemanding. Forsake foolishness, yes. That we may live. That's living. It's the secret of life, we might say. Advance in understanding, grow in wisdom. Grapple with knowledge, enrich ourselves and maybe a few others. Irony has its place, but don't overdo it. Thanks, Wisdom, for the advice.
==================
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 34:2-3, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
R (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the Lord;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the Lord with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the Lord heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
==============
Sad to say, some congregations do not do justice to this Psalm reading. Psalms are integral to the missal. It's good to get in the spirit of them.
They are ancient poetry full of enthusiasm. Very Middle (or Near) Eastern. Let my soul glory in the Lord, for instance. What is this "glory in the Lord" business? What of this "Taste and see"? We can't remake our Western Euro selves if that's who we are, and we may never approach the enthusiasm of the Psalmist. But we read poetry, don't we? (We don't? We should.)
=====================
Reading II
Eph 5:15-20
Brothers and sisters:
Watch carefully how you live,
not as foolish persons but as wise,
making the most of the opportunity,
because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not continue in ignorance,
but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.
And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
Gloss: Watch it, everybody. These are evil days. Evil? Who does Paul think he is, George W. Bush? There Paul was, in the blossoming of Christianity, speaking of evil days. If they were evil then, what are they now? Is the preacher willing to call them evil, or does he shrink from such absolutist talk?
We are to try to understand God's will for us (and do it, presumably), not get drunk but get full of the Spirit, singing and playing to the Lord in our hearts, etc. He has in mind quite a program for the Ephesians. For us too?
=================
Gospel
Jn 6:51-58
Jesus said to the crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."
==================
Gloss: Jesus says we will live forever, thanks to the living bread, his flesh. Say what? said the Jews quite reasonably. How can this happen? Jesus apparently ignores their difficulty but spells out, adds to his claim: If you do not eat his flesh, you are lifeless. If you do, you have eternal life. He will raise you on the last day.
===================
ACTUAL SERMON, well prepared and to the point:
Father Dan chose not to talk about this everlasting life business but instead talked about living life "more abundantly" by taking communion. The first has to do with what's after we pass away, he said, then added, as if to explain that, after we die. There. He did say the d-word but right away went into how our life here on earth is richer because of holy communion and the comfort we derive from our belief.
It's here-and-now Christianity, not what Marxists called pie in the sky when we die. In this respect, Dan concedes too much to the zeitgeist, which is now-and-here-centered, as it has always been, but not in church, where you might expect to hear about the after life as such, at least its existence known by faith if not its details.)
==================================
Sermon for what RCs call 20th Sunday in Ordinary Time and other Christians call the 10th after Pentecost.
See http://www.nccbuscc.org/nab/081703.htm for the day's readings.
Prv 9:1-6
Wisdom has built her house,
she has set up her seven columns;
she has dressed her meat, mixed her wine,
yes, she has spread her table.
She has sent out her maidens; she calls
from the heights out over the city:
"Let whoever is simple turn in here;
To the one who lacks understanding, she says,
Come, eat of my food,
and drink of the wine I have mixed!
Forsake foolishness that you may live;
advance in the way of understanding."
===============
Gloss: Simple? It's good to be simple? This is what Wisdom has to offer today? Yes, in the sense not of dumb and uninformed but of straighforward, honest, undemanding. Forsake foolishness, yes. That we may live. That's living. It's the secret of life, we might say. Advance in understanding, grow in wisdom. Grapple with knowledge, enrich ourselves and maybe a few others. Irony has its place, but don't overdo it. Thanks, Wisdom, for the advice.
==================
Responsorial Psalm
Ps 34:2-3, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15
R (9a) Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times;
his praise shall be ever in my mouth.
Let my soul glory in the Lord;
the lowly will hear me and be glad.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the Lord with me,
let us together extol his name.
I sought the Lord, and he answered me
and delivered me from all my fears.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Look to him that you may be radiant with joy,
and your faces may not blush with shame.
When the poor one called out, the Lord heard,
and from all his distress he saved him.
R Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
==============
Sad to say, some congregations do not do justice to this Psalm reading. Psalms are integral to the missal. It's good to get in the spirit of them.
They are ancient poetry full of enthusiasm. Very Middle (or Near) Eastern. Let my soul glory in the Lord, for instance. What is this "glory in the Lord" business? What of this "Taste and see"? We can't remake our Western Euro selves if that's who we are, and we may never approach the enthusiasm of the Psalmist. But we read poetry, don't we? (We don't? We should.)
=====================
Reading II
Eph 5:15-20
Brothers and sisters:
Watch carefully how you live,
not as foolish persons but as wise,
making the most of the opportunity,
because the days are evil.
Therefore, do not continue in ignorance,
but try to understand what is the will of the Lord.
And do not get drunk on wine, in which lies debauchery,
but be filled with the Spirit,
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and playing to the Lord in your hearts,
giving thanks always and for everything
in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God the Father.
Gloss: Watch it, everybody. These are evil days. Evil? Who does Paul think he is, George W. Bush? There Paul was, in the blossoming of Christianity, speaking of evil days. If they were evil then, what are they now? Is the preacher willing to call them evil, or does he shrink from such absolutist talk?
We are to try to understand God's will for us (and do it, presumably), not get drunk but get full of the Spirit, singing and playing to the Lord in our hearts, etc. He has in mind quite a program for the Ephesians. For us too?
=================
Gospel
Jn 6:51-58
Jesus said to the crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."
The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."
==================
Gloss: Jesus says we will live forever, thanks to the living bread, his flesh. Say what? said the Jews quite reasonably. How can this happen? Jesus apparently ignores their difficulty but spells out, adds to his claim: If you do not eat his flesh, you are lifeless. If you do, you have eternal life. He will raise you on the last day.
===================
ACTUAL SERMON, well prepared and to the point:
Father Dan chose not to talk about this everlasting life business but instead talked about living life "more abundantly" by taking communion. The first has to do with what's after we pass away, he said, then added, as if to explain that, after we die. There. He did say the d-word but right away went into how our life here on earth is richer because of holy communion and the comfort we derive from our belief.
It's here-and-now Christianity, not what Marxists called pie in the sky when we die. In this respect, Dan concedes too much to the zeitgeist, which is now-and-here-centered, as it has always been, but not in church, where you might expect to hear about the after life as such, at least its existence known by faith if not its details.)
HELP FOR THE POOR PREACHER
Here are some ideas on how a 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time sermon might go, keeping in mind that the same readings are used on the same Sundays by 25 Protestant denominations as part of the Revised Common Lectionary:
* 1st Kings 19, 4-8: Elijah wants to die but God won't let him. Angel gives him food, orders him to eat, he gives up on dying, gets up and does what he has to do, walking 40 days and 40 nights to "the mountain of God, Horeb."
We'd like to give up but we can't: there's work to be done, miles to go before we sleep, miles to go before we sleep. See Robert Frost, "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening."
* Ephesians 4.30-5.2: Paul says don't "sadden" the Holy Spirit. Soften your whole response pattern. Drop "bitterness, passion & anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind." Forgive each other, as God forgave you (us). Take your cue from that, "follow the way of love."
Doesn't this slow us down in our headlong pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, family good order, sticking up for what we believe in? Even in our pursuit of good things we have to slow down when we get too hot and bothered. Be done with malice. Cool it.
* John 6.41-51: "The Jews" again. They "murmur" over Jesus' claim to be the bread of heaven. They knew him back when. It's the Jews of Nazareth apparently, who knew him since he was a little kid. Here's a way out for Christians embarrassed by Paul and the four Evangelists, who seem constantly to harp on Jews and their hard hearts. More to come on this important issue, now in the news because of the coming Mel Gibson film, "The Passion." Best bet is to concede readily, "The Jews," yes, but the ones who were there, specifically.
Jesus hits home at them: "Your [and his, for that matter] ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died." He is "the living bread." Eat this bread, and you will live forever. It is "my flesh, for the life of the world."
It's a riff on what we call the Old Testament, the Jewish scriptures, we should keep in mind: reference after reference rooted in those time-honored texts. It's beyond most of us, even if we look it all up and become quite learned.
Something else to consider: Jesus was dropping on them some very heavy stuff, and we cannot entirely blame the murmurers. Young priest many years ago to friendly black mother of little kids unfamiliar with Catholic ways, in low-income home on Chicago's NW Side, responding to her amazement that he wasn't married but refrained from intimacy with women, which she called "impossible": "You'll just have to take my word for it." To which she: "I do, but it's still impossible."
It's impossible that Jesus becomes food for us. We will have to take his word for it.
Here are some ideas on how a 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time sermon might go, keeping in mind that the same readings are used on the same Sundays by 25 Protestant denominations as part of the Revised Common Lectionary:
* 1st Kings 19, 4-8: Elijah wants to die but God won't let him. Angel gives him food, orders him to eat, he gives up on dying, gets up and does what he has to do, walking 40 days and 40 nights to "the mountain of God, Horeb."
We'd like to give up but we can't: there's work to be done, miles to go before we sleep, miles to go before we sleep. See Robert Frost, "Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening."
* Ephesians 4.30-5.2: Paul says don't "sadden" the Holy Spirit. Soften your whole response pattern. Drop "bitterness, passion & anger, harsh words, slander, and malice of every kind." Forgive each other, as God forgave you (us). Take your cue from that, "follow the way of love."
Doesn't this slow us down in our headlong pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness, family good order, sticking up for what we believe in? Even in our pursuit of good things we have to slow down when we get too hot and bothered. Be done with malice. Cool it.
* John 6.41-51: "The Jews" again. They "murmur" over Jesus' claim to be the bread of heaven. They knew him back when. It's the Jews of Nazareth apparently, who knew him since he was a little kid. Here's a way out for Christians embarrassed by Paul and the four Evangelists, who seem constantly to harp on Jews and their hard hearts. More to come on this important issue, now in the news because of the coming Mel Gibson film, "The Passion." Best bet is to concede readily, "The Jews," yes, but the ones who were there, specifically.
Jesus hits home at them: "Your [and his, for that matter] ancestors ate manna in the desert, but they died." He is "the living bread." Eat this bread, and you will live forever. It is "my flesh, for the life of the world."
It's a riff on what we call the Old Testament, the Jewish scriptures, we should keep in mind: reference after reference rooted in those time-honored texts. It's beyond most of us, even if we look it all up and become quite learned.
Something else to consider: Jesus was dropping on them some very heavy stuff, and we cannot entirely blame the murmurers. Young priest many years ago to friendly black mother of little kids unfamiliar with Catholic ways, in low-income home on Chicago's NW Side, responding to her amazement that he wasn't married but refrained from intimacy with women, which she called "impossible": "You'll just have to take my word for it." To which she: "I do, but it's still impossible."
It's impossible that Jesus becomes food for us. We will have to take his word for it.
TREACHERY
* Holy Thursday: To get the proper impact, we must attend to the night's anti-hero, Judas, a true rat who turned in the nicest guy who ever lived, for money. Disloyal, venal, devious, scheming, a collaborator with evil men, he saw his opportunity and took it. Jesus could tell what was happening. But he did what he had to do anyhow.
THE SPIRIT MOVED THEM
* 6th Sunday "of" (that is, after) Easter:
-- 1st reading, Acts 10, big news is the Spirit descending on non-Jews in the house of one, the centurion Cornelius. But we're used to that; if we don't get it by now that Christianity is open to the uncircumcised, where have we been the last 1,930 or so years?
Secondary news is more to the point: Cornelius, greeting Peter, dropped to his knees, but Peter told him to get up. "I'm only a man," said the first pope. So much for genuflecting before prelates. Or kissing rings. They are only men.
-- 2nd reading, 1 John 4, re-makes the point that love is essential. We're used to that too, but should note that it's not we love God and are loved, but the other way around. This is consoling, because lots of times we don't feel lovable and probably aren't.
-- Gospel, John 15.9-17: Jesus' love for us is modeled on his Father's for him, which is worth packing away for further repeated consideration. Not that the Father was so good to Jesus in the short run. In fact, if Jesus had ever shown he was capable of irony, we might see a certain threat here.
We are Jesus' friends, picked by him, the passage says. Again, the first move was his. He spotted us in the crowd and came at us with a big smile, hand out for shaking. Furthermore, when we go to the Father for something, we should say Jesus sent us.
BEING PICKED ON
* 7th of Easter:
-- 1st reading, Acts 1: Can we imagine picking a pope this way? By drawing straws, as the 11 do to pick Matthias as the 12th apostle, to take Judas's place? It was their way of letting God decide. (The Romans had "auspices" discerned in entrails.) We don't do it that way. Should we?
-- 2nd reading, 1st John 4: "God is love" here. Not eros, but the other kind, altruism, caring for the neighbor. The good pagan stumbles into God this way? Why not?
-- Gospel, John 17, has Jesus praying for us, because we are to be hated for our allegiance to him. How does that work? Rather, in our day in the U.S., who of us feel hated as Christians? Depends what you mean by Christian, but in general we aren't. Of course if we're stubborn about it, people's irritation shows. Maybe that's how it works.
Not so everywhere else, however. The pope was clearly so worried about disturbing the Iraqi status quo for fear of stirring up anti-Christian activities among the Shiites.
* Holy Thursday: To get the proper impact, we must attend to the night's anti-hero, Judas, a true rat who turned in the nicest guy who ever lived, for money. Disloyal, venal, devious, scheming, a collaborator with evil men, he saw his opportunity and took it. Jesus could tell what was happening. But he did what he had to do anyhow.
THE SPIRIT MOVED THEM
* 6th Sunday "of" (that is, after) Easter:
-- 1st reading, Acts 10, big news is the Spirit descending on non-Jews in the house of one, the centurion Cornelius. But we're used to that; if we don't get it by now that Christianity is open to the uncircumcised, where have we been the last 1,930 or so years?
Secondary news is more to the point: Cornelius, greeting Peter, dropped to his knees, but Peter told him to get up. "I'm only a man," said the first pope. So much for genuflecting before prelates. Or kissing rings. They are only men.
-- 2nd reading, 1 John 4, re-makes the point that love is essential. We're used to that too, but should note that it's not we love God and are loved, but the other way around. This is consoling, because lots of times we don't feel lovable and probably aren't.
-- Gospel, John 15.9-17: Jesus' love for us is modeled on his Father's for him, which is worth packing away for further repeated consideration. Not that the Father was so good to Jesus in the short run. In fact, if Jesus had ever shown he was capable of irony, we might see a certain threat here.
We are Jesus' friends, picked by him, the passage says. Again, the first move was his. He spotted us in the crowd and came at us with a big smile, hand out for shaking. Furthermore, when we go to the Father for something, we should say Jesus sent us.
BEING PICKED ON
* 7th of Easter:
-- 1st reading, Acts 1: Can we imagine picking a pope this way? By drawing straws, as the 11 do to pick Matthias as the 12th apostle, to take Judas's place? It was their way of letting God decide. (The Romans had "auspices" discerned in entrails.) We don't do it that way. Should we?
-- 2nd reading, 1st John 4: "God is love" here. Not eros, but the other kind, altruism, caring for the neighbor. The good pagan stumbles into God this way? Why not?
-- Gospel, John 17, has Jesus praying for us, because we are to be hated for our allegiance to him. How does that work? Rather, in our day in the U.S., who of us feel hated as Christians? Depends what you mean by Christian, but in general we aren't. Of course if we're stubborn about it, people's irritation shows. Maybe that's how it works.
Not so everywhere else, however. The pope was clearly so worried about disturbing the Iraqi status quo for fear of stirring up anti-Christian activities among the Shiites.
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