First reading: Jeremiah 31:31-34
Psalm: Ps 85:9-14
Epistle: 1 John 4:17-21
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

You have answered correctly. Do this and you shall live.

Film Noir

Some films: The Maltese Falcon, Shadow of a Doubt, Laura, Double Indemnity, Mildred Pierce, Detour, The Asphalt Jungle, D.O.A., Sunset Boulevard, Kiss Me Deadly, Touch of Evil, Christmas Holiday. Some of you may be familiar with these films. Most are classics and they come from a style of film called film noir, meaning “black film.”

Film noir as a genre encompass a range of plots involving private eyes, plainclothes policemen, aging boxers, hapless grifters, law-abiding citizens lured into a life of crime, or victims of circumstance. You may know these plots. Someone who has just fallen on hard times, or who had an emotional hurt is attracted to someone else who is in need. The person in need is attractive and the hurt person gets slowly drawn into a place they shouldn’t be.

Watching these films, you can see the bad outcome miles ahead, but hope against hope that some saving event will occur, love will overcome the darkness. It never does. You find out that all is hopeless. In the end, the character you care about is severely hurt, dead, or has killed someone. In the background, a torch song plays.

These films represent black, dark, and cynical places.

Dark world

For some, film noir plays out as world noir, the black world. In the black world, a dark and cynical place, there is no God, and people are rotten. There may be one or two decent relationships, but you never know what other people’s true motivations are. You better glance over your shoulder from time-to-time to see if the knife is coming. At a minimum you have to protect yourself from being severely hurt.

Methods of fighting the dark world

Christian Churches and other religions all have their methods for fighting the dark world. They hope to offer hope against cynicism, to somehow show the reality of God or gods, and to offer solutions for dealing with all those rotten people we come across.

Think about these methods: Canon law and a thousand page catechism that reduce our relationship with God to a set of legalities; A pervasive ethic of struggle which ends up as war, blood, and terrorism in the service of God; A pervasive ethic of being chosen so that followers no longer have to bother with anything other than the knowledge that they are special to God. These methods bring no light, but only self-justification and more darkness. The movie is playing on, and there won’t be any saving moment.

Solemnity

Today we celebrate – and indeed we must celebrate – brotherly love. In 1913 Bishop Hodur wrote Nasza Wiara, Our Way of Life. It is a small pamphlet, only 36 pages. Every member of the PNCC should read it, and not just once. It discusses our relationship with God and with each other. It strongly echoes Jesus’ words to the young lawyer – love God and love your neighbor as yourself. It tells us that by our regeneration as people of Christ, people of the Church, we are changed. The world is not noir, black, but filled with Christ’s light because that’s what Jesus gave us – light to see clearly, to love greatly.

We often focus on Bishop Hodur and his organization of a Church that is democratic. You will hear it at clergy conferences, Synods, and Parish Committee meetings. You will read it in books and on websites. We focus so much on this one factor that we might loose what Bishop Hodur really did – organized a Church that taught a right relationship with God and with each other, one founded in the principal of love – love God and love your neighbor. Living by this theme might save us from the movie’s bad ending.

Jesus changes everything

Bishop Hodur stressed exactly what Jesus said was important. He understood, perhaps uniquely in his day and time, that we and the world are changed because of Jesus Christ. Nothing is the same in light of Jesus’ coming. Everything is defined and encompassed by the two commandments of love – love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

We do not need to be a chosen people because we are an adopted people – God lovingly wants us. We do not need books of laws and rules, because we cannot define loving in legalities. We are not to overcome and win by struggle in the form of war or terrorism, because God wants love, not blood.

Our truth, work, and struggle is to love, to have hearts that are changed and regenerated. With those kinds of hearts, we may just have that happy ending we all want to see.

All is explained

God came to us, to the world, to teach us something different, to show us that life is not to be lived in a dark world, that the movie doesn’t have to have a black ending. Jesus tells us that the two commandments of love – love God and love your neighbor as yourself – are the things we must do to live in the light, to live forever, to have the happy ending.

These commandments of love encompass everything that Jesus taught and did. They fulfill and encompass everything demanded in the law of the Old Testament, and set the standard for the way we are to live. God came to us to tell us that He exists, and is to be loved, and that no matter the goodness or rottenness of others, we are to love them. Love God, love others, no matter what, even in the face of darkness, even in the face of death.

God – love Him. Osama bin Laden, Pol Pot, Stalin, love them. Obama, McCain, Palin, love them. Our children, our spouse, Aunt Jane, Uncle Fred, cousin Tom, love them. Other Christians, non-Christians, atheists, agnostics, love them. The neighbor with the perfect lawn, and the one whose house is a mess, love them. The kid who picked on you in school, the kid you picked on, love them. Take the Ten Commandments, and indeed the rest of the 603 commandments, break them down into two columns: how does this apply to loving God, or how does this apply to loving my neighbor as myself?

Our task, our role in the film is to do more than stand on the side, considering these things. We must live a life that is defined by the love that God has designed for us, the film He is producing, writing, and directing.

World noir?

Will our film noir end badly, the way we might have expected? Will we experience an anticipated bad outcome? Is God dead, everyone rotten? Should we remain cynical, and watch over our shoulder, just in case? Is love just a platitude?

If we claim the name Christian, then there is only one thing we can do – love. Whether it is active loving by charity and works of justice, or passive loving, by answering kindly when the annoying neighbor with the putting green lawn asks whether we’re going to mow our lawn, we must love. We must love God and we must love others.

The film is moving along, we hear the torch song’s first notes, and salvation from the expected outcome is offered to us. Jesus has entered stage right and has something to say. Our choice? Accepting His salvation and being changed, living with changed, regenerated hearts that love.

Jesus promised life to those who are changed, who love. It isn’t just life today, in the here and now, in the midst of a world that can be dark, where loving can be work, but a life of love that is forever. Do this, love, and you shall live!

Amen.

First Reading: Revelation 11:19 and Revelation 12:1-6,10
Psalm: Ps. 45:10-12,16
Epistle: 1 Corinthians 15:20-27
Gospel: Luke 1:39-56

Christ has been raised from the dead,
the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.—¨

How like, how unlike?

Today we are celebrating the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate that moment in Mary’s life where her earthly body died, followed three days later by the the Lord’s taking of her, body and soul into heaven. This was Mary’s moment of resurrection.

The question before us, or perhaps better, the confusion, is about Mary. Is Mary like us? Is Mary unlike us, different or set apart from us? Is there any way we can relate to Mary except from giving her due honor as the mother of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ? Does the mere fact that we honor her thus prove that she is unlike us.

Difficult to define:

All of this is very difficult to define, hard to understand. Looking at our first reading from Revelation, it is easy to draw parallels with Mary, the heavens opened and the ark of His covenant could be seen in the temple. A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet.

The problem is that this is much too simple an explanation. It is also fraught with the danger of misunderstanding.

What is key is that we see God as having opened heaven to us. The heavens opened and the ark of His covenant could be seen. The seeing of the ark, as our class of first communicants can tell you, is our ability to be in the presence of the Lord. We come here to greet Him each week. We receive him each week. We are not separate from Him, but in a relationship with Him that is personal and intimate.

Artists have made the woman represented in Revelation into Mary, its an easy parallel. Look at her depictions, with a crown of stars, etc. But the woman depicted in Revelation, with the crown of twelve stars, is all of us. We are the totality of what she represents, the chosen people, the tribes of Israel which gave birth to the Messiah, and all of us who now follow Him.—¨

See how difficult it is to get a clear picture of Mary. How easy it is to make her so unlike us, different and apart from us. We cannot see ourselves in Jesus’ presence, but its easy to put Mary there. It is impossible to see ourselves as the bearers of the Messiah, but it is easy to see Mary as bearing the Messiah. Shouldn’t we give up and just concede that Mary is too different from us?

Church errors (make her so unlike us):

Certainly, the Roman Catholic Church has done more that its share to contribute to differentiating Mary from us. There are Roman Catholic believers who wish to make Mary equal to Christ, calling her co-redemptrix and mediatrix of all graces. This means that Jesus was not enough, that without Mary, God would have accomplished nothing. It also means that Mary herself can grant all graces. There is a petition with Rome to solemnly declare this as an absolute truth. This is supported by 550 bishops and 42 cardinals. The Popes have even used such terminology. They have even raised certain traditions and honors given to Mary to the level of dogma.

Do you know what a dogma is? It is an established belief to be held by all believers that is authoritative, not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from. Dogma is a fundamental element of religion, and any divergence from a dogma means that a person no longer accepts the given religion as his or her own. Our dogmas include everything in the creeds, the fact that we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, and that He is both man and God.

Now do not get it wrong. We honor, cherish, and esteem Mary, her role as the God bearer, we seek her intercession before her Son in heaven, and we place our trust in her prayers for us. We honor every tradition in her regard, but we do not separate her from us by defining dogmas or by entering into heresy by calling her co-redemptrix and mediatrix of all graces. Rather we rightly understand Mary.

Do you think that we in the Holy Polish National Catholic Church, as well as our brothers and sisters of the Orthodox and Oriental Churches better understand Mary and the fact that she is more like us than unlike us? You would be right.

People’s errors (make her so unlike us):

People too have created error and misunderstanding about Mary. Do the names Fatima, Lourdes, LaSalette, Medugorje, Garabandal, and others sound familiar. They are alleged apparitions of Mary, where she shows up in some out-of-the-way place to give secret messages.

Our Roman Catholic brothers have deemed some of these and others genuine. While their laws do not require that people believe in them, they do state that the reports of individual believers apparitions are worthy of Church-wide belief. They have an entire apparatus set up for judging apparitions.

Do you see how Mary can be made so separate from us, as she floats above a tree or causes the sun to spin around?

Again, we must always honor, cherish, and esteem Mary in her role as the God bearer. We seek her intercession before her Son in heaven. We honor every tradition in her regard, but we do not separate her from us by defining her as a floating spirit come to give us new or secret messages of impending doom. We rightly understand that Mary, whom we love and trust, is more like us than unlike us.

What are we celebrating (Mary, herbs, flowers)?

Today we bring herbs, vegetables and flowers to the Church. We ask Mary to intercede with her Son to bless these gifts of the earth. Interesting, that Mary would understand our need for sustenance and flavor in life. Can you see her cooking with these vegetables and herbs? Can you see her bringing cut flowers into her home in Nazareth? Interesting that Mary, who stands before her Son, interceding for us, would somehow know our hearts and minds. It sounds like she is a lot like us.

Today we honor Mary’s passing from life, her entombment. Do you think that as she was passing from this life to the next she passed with faith in the resurrection of her Son? She did indeed! She would have no awareness of what the Lord would do for her in three days, but she did trust that He would fulfill His promise, that because she believed in Him she would be raised from the dead. She died like us and was raised as we will be raised. It sounds like she is a lot like us.

Today we celebrate the fact that Mary is very much like us. She is like us in life, in the choices we have to make, and in death. She is like us, for we too shall be raised from the dead.

How like us:

How like us is Mary. How much Mary trusted. How she saw that the salvation of the world, the blessings and graces the world was to receive, the fulfillment of all of God’s promises, were to be found in her Son.

Yes, Mary is like us. Like us, Mary plays an essential and vital role in the history of salvation. Her witness was exactly like ours is to be. If Mary did it, we too can do it. We have that same call to bear witness, to play a vital role in the history of salvation.

God asked Mary, she said yes. When we are asked, what will we say? She traveled to see Elizabeth, and then got on that donkey and went to Bethlehem, then on to Egypt trusting in God’s word to her. Will we trust in God’s word to us? She pointed to her Son at Cana and said listen to Him, do as He says. Do we do that? Do we point others to Jesus, telling them to listen to Him and to do as He says? Mary stood witness on the road to Calvary and before the life giving Cross. Are we ready to bear the difficult Calvary road, and to witness to the life that the Holy Cross gives?

She is like us:

The totality of Mary is in her humanity, her likeness to us. She is humanity cooperating with God to bring about the Kingdom of God. Mary’s role and yes is essential, and that makes her like us. It also glorifies and magnifies her.

Jesus is here, and we are in the presence of the Ark of the Covenant, nothing will separate us from Him. Mary witnessed the reality of Jesus present to us. She not only saw, but saw with faith His birth, death, resurrection, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the resurrection of the body.

All of what Jesus taught, did, and promised can be seen through Mary’s faith and witness. Because she is like us, she is our example. Our faith and witness must be like hers. We are like Mary, Mary is like us. She has been treated no differently than we will be treated. God did not take one woman and did not make His new covenant with her alone. His covenant is with all of us.

Look to Mary! Pray, asking her to interceded for you. Ask her to help you in saying yes to God, in trusting Him, in following Him, in pointing to Him, in witnessing to Him. She will do it because as the perfect mother she does it for all of her children. Honor, cherish, and love Mary. Love her for her yes, her life, her death, and her resurrection. Love her and resolve to follow in her footsteps so that what she has experienced, what she has been given we may also experience and receive. Amen.

First reading: Deuteronomy 30:10-14
Psalm: Ps 69:14,17,30-31,33-34,36-37
Epistle: Colossians 1:15-20
Gospel: Luke 10:25-37

—No, it is something very near to you,—¨
already in your mouths and in your hearts;
you have only to carry it out.”

Blessings and curses:

Moses’s instruction on God’s blessings and curses takes four chapters in the Book of Deuteronomy, Chapters 27 through 30.

In Chapter 28 Moses says:

“When you hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you
But if you do not hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, and are not careful to observe all his commandments which I enjoin on you today, all these curses shall come upon you and overwhelm you—

…and he goes on to list these blessings and curses related to living in the presence of the Lord. The community, the country, the society that lives in the Lord will be fruitful and strong while the one that forsakes the Lord will be disease-ridden, weak, powerless and enslaved.

So, how do we achieve God’s blessings and avoid His curses? How do we become a fruitful and strong community, a society living in accord with God’s commands? How do we get there today?

What is in our nature:

In today’s first reading, Moses tells us that we have the power to live in God’s presence and according to His commandments because doing that is already part of who we are. That is a strong comfort isn’t it?

Think of how awesome God’s wisdom is, that He would make us with the built in ability of avail ourselves of His blessings and avoid His curses. Hearing this, with ears of faith, we know that we will be rich in the rewards that God gives. Look to our Christian life in this community, how we interact with each other, how we welcome all, our generosity, our commitment, our work, our worship, our adherence to the truths of God. We are not flashy about it, and we don’t blow a horn in front of us as we live the Christian life. We are simply here in the moment.

Confusion and fear:

Unfortunately, we sometimes fall into confusion. Of course we want God’s blessing, and for all our life we want to avoid the curses that come from separating ourselves from Him. Sometimes we may over-think and overdo. We confuse ourselves by wondering about the past, focusing on what we have done or have failed to do. We sometimes set to living there, pondering and re-hashing. At other times we live in fear of the future. That’s a big fad nowadays. The economy, jobs, children, wants and needs and we stand in fear of what is to be. Sometimes we even fear our tomorrow with God. We somehow doubt we are going to get there, to heaven.

Confusion and fear, we get caught up in them. We place them ahead of our present — our place with God today. That is one of the greatest mistakes we can make. Jesus asks us to put aside the sins of the past and our worry for the future. We are to live in His presence today.

Past and future:

Everyone knows the story of the Good Samaritan. Now I want you to imagine the traveler lying there in the ditch. He’s been robbed and beaten. He is alone, and no one is stopping to help. How did past and future impact this traveler?

Was the traveler lying there considering God’s blessings and curses? Was he recounting all the wrong he had done, looking to the past to figure out why this happened? Was he thinking about his journey, where he was supposed to be? How his not reaching Jericho affected some aspect of his life? What would happen to his wife and children? What about his business? Was he going to see God? Is there a God?

Was the traveler considering the confusion of the past or living in the fear of the future?

Choosing:

What was the traveler’s choice, living in the past or the future, and in both to focus on the potential of curses from God. I don’t know if that is where he was at, but our experience tells us that in the most difficult of circumstances we do not have that luxury of choosing to think of past or future. When the trouble is big, it is all about the here-and-now. I think the traveler was thinking about the right now.

Isn’t it interesting that God tells us nothing about the future. Remember that even Jesus knew nothing of the end, but that was reserved to the Father. Similarly, God does not count the past against us. Isaiah tells us:

I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more.

Our experience, and what is in us, tells us that in considering blessings and curses we need to focus on the present, on now. Our choice in seeking the blessings of God and avoiding the curses associated with failing to recognize Him, all has to do with today. Our choice has to be for today.

Doing:

Many of you remember my do-be-do-be-do homily. It was about taking action as Christians. It was about doing good, and the parable of the Good Samaritan is certainly about that, but not only.

The Samaritan certainly did by stopping. We remember that he comforted the traveler, poured oil and wine to cleanse his woulds, picked him up and placed him on his animal, took him to an inn, paid his room and board. The Samaritan did a lot, but we also have to think about what the Samaritan did not do in the here-and-now.

Quiet:

The Samaritan lived today. The Samaritan did not stop to consider past or future. He did not ask the cost. He did not ask the traveler’s political preferences, style of worship, theology, or family status. The Samaritan lived in the quiet moment of now, amid the turmoil — and God’s blessings were poured out. The traveler’s now was filled with blessings from God because of the Samaritan’s now.

So, how do we achieve God’s blessings and avoid His curses? How do we become a fruitful and strong community, a society living in accord with God’s commands? How do we get there today?

We do it by living today, in the moment. There are no questions to ask. There is no consideration of what was or what will be. We know that God’s blessings will come to us if we believe in Him, live, and yes, live today in accordance with the greatest commandment:

—You shall love the Lord, your God,
—¨with all your heart,
—¨with all your being,
—¨with all your strength,—¨
and with all your mind,
—¨and your neighbor as yourself.”

In doing that we need not consider the past or the future, the cost or the price. We need not tie ourselves to the concerns of the world. In faith we believe what God has promised for those who live with Him, for He promised:

When you hearken to the voice of the LORD, your God, all these blessings will come upon you and overwhelm you:
“May you be blessed in the city, and blessed in the country!
“Blessed be the fruit of your womb, the produce of your soil and the offspring of your livestock, the issue of your herds and the young of your flocks!
“Blessed be your grain bin and your kneading bowl!
“May you be blessed in your coming in, and blessed in your going out!
“The LORD will beat down before you the enemies that rise up against you; though they come out against you from but one direction, they will flee before you in seven.
The LORD will affirm his blessing upon you, on your barns and on all your undertakings, blessing you in the land that the LORD, your God, gives you.
He will establish you as a people sacred to himself, as he swore to you;
so that, when all the nations of the earth see you bearing the name of the LORD, they will stand in awe of you.
The LORD will increase in more than goodly measure the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your soil, in the land which he swore to your fathers he would give you.
The LORD will open up for you his rich treasure house of the heavens, to give your land rain in due season, blessing all your undertakings, so that you will lend to many nations and borrow from none.
The LORD will make you the head, not the tail, and you will always mount higher and not decline

That is God’s promise for those who obey His greatest commandment. He blesses us because we are not confused or fearful, because we do not live in the past or the future, but are alive and living in Him today. We are filled with His blessing today. We are sure in that this now is where we will meet God and we are blessed. Amen.

First reading: 1 Kings 19:16,19-21
Psalm: Ps 16:1-2,5,7-11
Epistle: Galatians 5:1,13-18
Gospel: Luke 9:51-62

—No one who sets a hand to the plow
and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God.—

How was I changed?

Have I been changed by Jesus? Was my call, through God’s grace, and my acceptance of Jesus a single event that changed who I am? Yes and no. That call and my acceptance of that call changed me, but I am in need of constant change and renewal.

A little personal testimony. Some may have notice that I’ve lost some weight. 35 pounds to date. How isn’t really the issue, but I’ll give a shout out to Weight Watchers as a means. The real question is why?

I’d been looking at myself over and over for 4 or 5 years and I hated what I saw. I derided myself, told myself that I had to change. I went from loathing and self hated to thinking of ways I could do it. I looked, it got no better. I tried, it got no better. I cut back on the beers, it got no better. About 6 months ago, during the sacrament of penance, I threw my sinfulness down before God and asked his forgiveness for my gluttony. I prayed, and recognized that I was not the author of my destiny or my weight loss. No amount of personal derision or will could bring change to my weight or my life. I asked God, for forgiveness and for the grace to stop my sins against His commandment, Thou shalt not kill. I was killing myself. God stepped in. In an instant He gave me the necessary grace to overcome this sin and to be changed. I wasn’t miraculously made thin and fit, but I was given the grace necessary to accomplish God’s plan for my life. I trusted in Him and was healed. Not my will, His. Not my plan, His. Not my body, His.

Our presence here, in this parish church, this day, is an outward sign that each of us is a changed person. God’s grace is alive in us and we are more than idle bystanders. Yet, while we are changed, we remain yet to be changed, yet to take the next step, to put it all down before God and let His will be done.

Context

Outwardly, today’s readings seem simple. Do it all for God, leave family and obligations behind. In studying up the readings and the Gospel I found that there are so many messages, so many levels of complexity that we could spend weeks on the themes. I am going to concentrate today on Elijah and Elisha.

Our first reading comes from the end of 1 Kings 19. At the end of Chapter 19 Elijah has been re-energized and has returned to the world and his ministry. Elijah underwent enormous change, and the focus of the story is the renewal of a fearful and burned-out prophet.

At the beginning of Chapter 19 Elijah is so afraid and discouraged that he flees from the world and his prophetic ministry. He runs into the desert and lies down exhausted, praying for death. In his discouragement and fear Elijah blames everyone else for his problems, downplays God’s saving actions, and overstates all the negatives.

Right in the middle of the Chapter God intervenes, and brings about Elijah’s renewal. God is at the center of the story, He is at the center of every change, as He is in our lives.

Thus in today’s first reading Elijah has been reconfirmed and has set out on the way God showed him. His first stop was to confirm Elisha as his successor, and invest him with the mantle of a prophet.

Elisha who?

So who was Elisha? Elisha was a very rich man. The reading tells us that Elisha was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen. Now if you farmed in those days you likely did it by hand. If not by hand, and you were blessed enough to have an animal, you did it yourself with your one animal. Elisha had 12 yoke, that is 24 oxen, and each pair had its own plowman. Elisha guided the 12th yoke. Elisha was the rich corporate mega farmer of his day with workers and machinery. Elisha was about to be changed.

The change

Elijah shows up on the farm. Now picture this huge mega farm. Pretend you’re in Iowa driving along one of these miles long corn farms. Elijah started from one of those roads and walks across the miles of fields to reach Elisha, and:

Elijah went over to him and threw his cloak over him.

Then Elijah walked back toward the road. He didn’t say anything. He didn’t do a ceremony, other than to place the prophet’s mantle on Elisha. Elisha was changed in that instant. Like you and I he was changed, but not yet changed. Elisha runs after Elijah.

Elisha left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said,
—Please, let me kiss my father and mother goodbye,
and I will follow you.—

Elijah makes an interesting response.

The reply:

—Go back!
Have I done anything to you?—

We might see that as a rebuke of some type. We may say things, in a moment of anger, like, —What have I done to you?— That was not what Elijah was saying. Rather, Elijah was giving some very key wisdom here. I didn’t change you, God did.

Elijah has done nothing to Elisha but follow the Lord’s will by placing the prophet’s mantle on him. Elijah didn’t call Elisha of his own accord or of his own power, but of God’s will and power. Elijah’s message was that he hadn’t done anything to Elisha; —Have I done anything to you?— He hadn’t changed Elisha, and Elisha was not accountable to him. Elisha was changed by God and was now accountable to God. For Elisha, nothing was to matter except to do God’s will and live out the change God affected in his life.

So, Elisha leaves it all behind. Elisha burns the bridges to his former way of life so that he can be faithful to God’s call. Elisha butchers his yoke of oxen; for an Israelite farmer this was equivalent to a modern farmer torching every farming implement, tractor, and machine he owns.

In a deeply symbolic move, the butchered meat is fed to the people. Eating meat was a rare treat for ordinary Israelites, and so Elisha’s feeding of the people symbolizes the value of his call to be prophet to the people. Elisha fed them this nourishing food, a metaphor for God’s life-giving word. Elisha then bids farewell to his parents, and sets off to follow Elijah.

Elisha’s journey is our journey, from initial change to the journey. Elijah’s journey is our journey. From burned out follower, to re-energized prophet. Like us, from our initial acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, to the next steps on the journey of our ‘yet to be changed.’

Total faithfulness:

This road of change is key. It has its starting point and its end is eternal life. For us, the faithful life is more than one sacrament, one ceremony, one event, one moment of change. I can baptize one child, one adult, or 10,000, but he who remains and lives a Christian life, who faces constant renewal and change into the likeness of Christ, will be the one who is victorious.

Stanley Hauerwas is one of the preeminent theologians of our times. Commenting on the reception of Hannah’s Child: A Theologian’s Memoir he says:

—That I have spent my life thinking about God, moreover, has gotten me into a lot of trouble. I did not expect to discover that being a Christian might put one crossways with the assumptions that shape ‘normality’ — assumptions that make war unproblematic — but like it or not, I became convinced that Christians cannot kill. I even think that Christians must tell the truth — even to those they love. As a result, I have never found being a Christian easy.—

We have to live that kind of changed life; a life of total commitment, total faithfulness to the Gospel way of life, the Christian life and its narrow and difficult road.

In the moment of change we are confronted with the Jesus of great joy, a brief moment glimpsing the happiness we will find. Sin is washed away and we feel whole and energized.

Then we set to work, and the road gets tougher, rockier, steeper, and narrower. People we thought of as friends, and even family, shy away from us. Odd, you the Christian… Him, her, I never thought… I don’t get why they need all that religion stuff… The world’s absolute truths and doctrines fall away in change that comes from the light of faith. And, we are constantly called to that light, to change, to change over again and become Gospel and light to the rest of the world.

Jesus calls us to live the life He demands.

Our moment of change and our constant change, our presence here, indicates to the world that we are His disciples, His light among the nations.

Our trip through the Gospel reveals that God graciously gives the time necessary for change. Remember, James and John asking Jesus for the ancient equivalent of nuking the enemy: “Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven to destroy them?”

Jesus’ action speaks for itself. He rebukes them and keeps walking on to the next place. The disciples are not to wield their power as a club of judgment. God is giving the Samaritans in that village time. God gave Elijah and Elisha time. He gives us time in the same way, time for the first step, and time to continue our change; time to be re-energized. Time, all along under His grace.

As in my testimony, change came and by the grace of God I was forgiven my sin. I set on the road of change with the aid of God’s grace, but while changed, I am not there yet. There is still further to go, more to do. There are setbacks, but then I am re-energized.

We are His disciples and we cannot back off from the task. Our discipleship must never be a second job, a moonlighting task, a weekend encounter, an ice-cream social or a hobby. The change in our lives, and the change we are to disciple to the world, is the product of God’s calling. As disciples we are to preach this awesome opportunity for salvation, for change. Change may come to those we meet in time. For us, change has come, and we need to face, accept, and work on the constant change God requires. God constantly asks the basic questions. Are we loving sacrificially, are we gluttonous, selfish, closed, lacking in total commitment to the Gospel way of life. We must constantly renew and evaluate what we do, what we believe, in light of the constant change we must undergo.

We are here as a people called and changed, endowed with God’s great grace, but not yet fully changed. Let us set to work on the road to fulfilling the change Christ calls us to, to living the life of Christians without excuse, without looking back once we have set our hand to the plow. It begins when we put it all down before God and let Him set to work in our lives. Lord, continue the change begun in us. Ever renew, and re-energize us as Your people. Amen.

First reading: Acts 7:55-60
Psalm: Ps 97:1-2,6-7,9
Epistle: Revelation 22:12-14,16-17,20
Gospel: John 17:20-26

—Holy Father, I pray not only for them,
but also for those who will believe in me through their word,
so that they may all be one—

Christ is risen, Alleluia!
Indeed He is risen, Alleluia!

Song

I recently purchased a CD of music by a group from Cornwall in England. It is by the Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends. For those who don’t know, Cornwall in located at the very southern tip of England a peninsula that juts out into the sea. Port Isaac is a fishing village along Cornwall’s west coast. This group of ten men, from varied background, with varied voices, began singing together in a seaside park in summers and in the pubs in winter. They were recently discovered, and the CD I purchased is their first major release. It opened at number 9 in England’s top 10.

People

I won’t tell you the name of the song until the end of this talk, but its words are especially pertinent today and to this Parish community. I sincerely hope and pray that you will listen.

The song begins:

For all the small people, tall people,
the dispossessed and the absurd,
All the broken hearted and the recently departed,
the unwashed, the unheard.

The lonely faces in empty spaces,
the unloved and the denied
For all the dreams that bloomed and those that died.

It is about people; you, those next to you, and those throughout our Holy Church. We are all types and all kinds, from many backgrounds, in many different circumstances. We possess all the good we have done and we bear the sins and failings we have committed. We are varied colors, liberal and conservative, men and women. We may like pierogi or biscuits and gravy, tacos or greens. You can figure that much out. Just look around. This is about you.

What is Church

So here you are, in church. Some of you are new, some have been here since the day they were born. So I ask, why in heaven’s name are you here? What are you looking for? What do you want? What do you expect to see or to get?

The question is not more or less difficult regardless of how long you have been here. St. Stephen, St. Paul, and St. John have all worked at answering that question. Jesus handed us the answer. Many, if not most, do not get it.

You, I, all of us, but today especially you, need to reflect on this question. Why are you here in Latham? What are you doing here? What is today’s motivation, what is the motivation in ten weeks, ten years?

Is your motivation to get a pastor? To hold successful fundraisers? To be more Polish or less Polish? To keep the place clean and tidy? To fulfill a parent’s expectations? To sing? To be left alone? To make pierogi and Polka dance? To find a boyfriend or girlfriend? To be respectable in your community? To be a good chairperson, or some other office on the Parish Committee? To reinvent liturgy or the order of the Church? Some of these things are noble and fine tasks, some not, but…

There should be only one, and absolutely only one reason for being here. Jesus never bid us to go ye therefore and make accountants, managers, and chairpersons. He never called bingo or looked for pierogi making volunteers. He never even invented church in the sense most people think.

Being Christians

Jesus called you to be Christians. He called you to walk in faith and to do the work He handed you. Jesus created the Church as a singular expression of that place where Christians perfectly represent community, a place for the community’s encounter with Jesus Christ in the most intimate of ways. He did not make an organization to be managed and manipulated by His people. Rather, He called His community into being Christ to everyone, not just club members with a ticket and a position, and only within the walls of this particular building.

You, and indeed a vast majority of people who call themselves Christians, need to get off the shtick of being and doing church. We do so much and so often that we exclude the possibility of being the Church Jesus wants. We involve ourselves in planning committees and committees on committees. We have a mission statement embossed in gold. We make pierogi and hand out bingo sheets till our hands bleed, and none of it, none of those wounds will come close to that of Jesus —“ and what He and His Church are all about.

We could invite

So what to do? Ask what you do. You could invite new parishioners to your homes or to meetings and regale them with the sins of Father A or Father B. We could discuss the idiocy of Mr. S and his plan, and discuss why Mrs. M is a selfish crab. We could focus on the small of doing church, maintaining the status quo and managing —“ and nothing will ever change —“ sin is self-perpetuating.

Oh, indeed, you can be and do church. You can become experts at it, even give advice to others as to how they should do it. You can tell others why their being and doing is wrong.

What would Paul say?

St. Paul encountered that among the Corinthians. He wrote (1 Corinthians 1:12):

What I mean is that each one of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apol’los,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.”

His answer: I am sure his words said it more eloquently, but basically shut up and start living for and in Christ. Christ is not divided!

Echo Christ

Paul echoed Jesus words. May they be one! Jesus continued and prayed to the Father:

—[may] the love with which you loved me
be in them and I in them—

The way the Father and Son love each other is the love we are to have. We are to love and be one. It is time to move on. It is time to stop the being and the doing and to take the many kinds of people here, across this region, and in the Church —“ joining with them and together being Christ to the world.

Do what is right —“ and hold yourselves to the highest of standards —“ the Christian life lived fully and in community. Do it here, and not just in Latham.

In a Capital Region, of only a few hundred thousand people, we walk as divided churches. A choice must be made, to set aside and to forgive the past. More than forgive, to see Christ in each person, clergy or not. A choice must be made to see Jesus Christ in the priest that lives two miles from here, in all the priests and all those previously dispossessed and hurt wherever they may be. Forgive and love as the Father and Son love. Be one as the Father and Son are one.

What would Jesus do is the question. If we are not living it we are not Christians, we are only hearers of the Word that forget what Jesus asked in the Gospel.

The title of the song is The Union of Different Kinds. Its refrain is:

Mother nature don’t draw straight lines
We’re broken moulds in the grand design
We look a mess, but we’re doing fine
We’re card carrying lifelong members of
The union of different kinds.

We are indeed all different, partially broken, but in our common baptism we became card carrying lifelong members of a union of different kinds —“ a union of different people —“ who are one in Christ Jesus. It is time to love and live like we are. Amen.