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Easter 5

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on May 3, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

May 13, 2001 Acts 14:21-27 + Revelation 21.1-5 + John 13:31-35

John speaks of glocy in the little section of today’s gospel lifted from the Farewell discourse, and he leaves us to make sense of what follows. It’s not difficult to figure out how glocy works or where it comes from, the problem is simply that we see so little of it when the Gospel puts it before us so clearly

Sacrifice is the issue. The greatest glocy in life comes from sacrifice. You can’t have one without the other We see this often enough to know that it’s true, and we don’t see it often enough to know that we’ve got a challenge here ifwe ever hope for glocy In war time, it’s the people who don’t come home, the wounded or the dead who get the big glocy In terms of public service, it’s those who make some real, personal sacrifice who get the glocy The doctor or lawyer who makes a fortune never has glocy, but those who give their lives for healing and the easing of human pain are the ones we remember.The teachers who did more than their contract required, who shared in parenting, loving, and nurturing are the ones we remember, at least it so for me.

The most simple lesson of histocy is that those who have made the big sacrifices are the ones who remembered and get the glocy. This world quickly forgets the successful in life, but never the sacrificial. This is what we learn from John 13, a lesson on glocy.

What Jesus proposes to those who would follow him is that they might have a share in this glocy that is there between God and Jesus. What Jesus proposes to those who would follow him is that they might come to this glory by taking a share in his sacrifice. Now I find it fascinating that John doesn’t want to tell us about glory while Judas is there. Did you notice that first line: “When Judas had left them, Jesus said…” It’s as though, Judas, who makes no sacrifice, gets no glocy. The only interest Judas had was thirty pieces of silver, money He wasn’t going to be around for the sacrifice. So, no glocy for him.

It was the obedience of Jesus that brought glory to the Father There is only one way in which anyone ever shows that they love, admire, and trust a leader, and that is by obedience. The only way achild honors its parent, in other words, gives that parent glory, is by  obedience. Jesus gave the ultimate honor and gloiy to God because He gave to God the supreme obedience, the obedience which obeyed even to the cross.

Those of us here who hold to the hope of a share in the gloiy of Christ Jesus must get it right – must understand that we’re not going to be swept into that gloiy in the shadows of someone else’s sacrifice. The suffering of Jesus Christ did not remove one bit of suffering in this life. It only afflrmed that suffering will not overcome those who are obedient to God.

We get the commandment today, and have the choice to obey or not. Those who choose love will be choosing sacrifice, and the greater the love, the greater the sacrifice; the greater the sacrifice, the greater the gloiy So it is in this world where God chooses to reveal himself through a suffering servant as a God who glorifies with life those who choose obedience. What more perfect day could we have in this countiy to reflect upon this truth and profound mystery of our faith than on Mother’s Day as we honor and give gloiy to our mothers living and to the memory of our mothers who have died. You think about yours. I think about mine. From her and the man who was her partner in life and in love, I learned to understand this Gospel and the truth that there is no gloiy without sacrifice, and that when understood in that way, sacrifice was no matter for complaint or bitterness, but rather and opportunity to love more deeply and more profoundly  Obedient to that example, we in turn seek the same gloiy that has come to Jesus by our service, sacrifice, and love of one another That’s what Jesus came to say sitting at that table after Judas had left.

Easter 3

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on April 29, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

April 29, 2001 Acts 5:27-32 + Revelation 5:11-14 + John 21:1-19

With familiar images of the Eucharist through out this familiar text, it is easy to drift through the words and miss some little, but powerful subtle points.With the figures of Peter and Jesus looming so personally and intimately in the text, the setting might easily be missed.So, I want to invite you to pay attention to the things going on beyond the words; to the setting rather than the dialogue, to the behavior rather than dialogue.John’s consistent dramatic interests show up again, even though scholars tell us this is not John’s text, but a later addition. Who ever did it, certainly knew the style he was imitating. The lighting directions are always significant. Darkness and Light play against one another as much as good and evil.

On their own, the disciples can do nothing. They fish all night, and have nothing to show for it. They respond to the Risen Lord, and there’s more than they could have hoped for He comes at dawn with resurrection implications, and Peter’s swim in the lake has all kinds of Baptismal implications for those looking for symbols.

As often as I have sat with this text, and as often as I have preached this text, this past week, I heard something in it I’ve never heard before. Too interested in the number of fish, Peter’s rehabilitation and restoration to leadership in spite of his weakness, and the commentary on the manner of his death all set in a Eucharistic frame work let me miss this other little item.

Jesus sends Peter back to get some fish from what they have caught with his help. Peter brings those fish to the meal, and with the fruit of their labor, they are nourished by the Lord who provided it all for them…….These disciples do not come to the Lord’s meal empty handed. They do not come to simply get something. They work. They bring the fruit of their labor They know where and how they have these fish to bring. Having worked all night by themselves, they had nothing until the Lord joined them in their effort.

This second generation church shares with us more than their faith in the Risen Christ, more than their loyalty to Peter forgiven, more than their understanding of their mission to forgive and to feed others. They show us in the behavior of this story a truth we easily forget. Without the Lord we work for nothing. When we follow the Lord’s command, there is abundance. When we come to the Lord’s banquet, breakfast, or Eucharist, we do not come empty handed, because he bids us all to bring some of what we have earned by our labor.

I’ve come to believe that there are four things all ofus share in common which this beautiful Gospel explores so clearly We are born into this world totally impoverished and in desperate need. We are born into this world totally dependent upon anotherWe are born into this world with an unquenchable hunger and thirst. We are born into this world with a desperate need to be loved.

Like these disciples, we have nothing of our own, and until we meet the Lord Jesus Christ, we are utterly poor, no matter what we can stock pile and hoard. In fact, the more stuff we get, the more we recognize our impoverishment and want more. We can do nothing in this world by ourselves. These disciples fished all night and caught nothing until the heard the Word of God and responded to it without question, and then it took all of them together to get the fish to shore.Our hunger in this life is not for fish nor for bread, but for forgiveness and companionship with God, and that’s the only thing and the only food that will not leave us hungry again.Our need to be loved is somehow a reflection of God’s need to be loved, and only in that mutual love will we be confident that the love is true and lasting no matter what we’ve done or what we’ve said in the past.

In this human condition, we assemble here on Easter’s third Sunday The Lord asks us to bring something of what we have, and the word reminds us that we having nothing without the Lord’s presence on the shore. Our response to his request is about to happen when the offerings are accepted, and then he asks the question, not to Peter, but to all who accept his gifts: “Do you Love Me?”

Easter 2

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on April 22, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

April 22, 2001 Acts 5:12-16 + Revelation 1:9-3,17-19 + John 20:19-31

Two powerful human emotions draw us into the readings today· fear and doubt. Any follower of Jesus would have every reason to be filled with fear in those days following his death; and the years following were not much better as the little minority group began to experience the hostility, the blame, and the persecution of every other social and political group that was threatened by their spirit, joy, and identity Not much has changed. Minority groups still get the blame and experience hostility in the form of racism and hatred for social i11, economic trouble. Fear is still sunk deep in the human heart, but when it comes to religion, it’s not something we experience in the 21st century

On the other hand, doubt is something with which we can easily identify The doubts experienced by Thomas mean more to us than the fear The gospel tells stories of disciples running in fear and denying their relationship with Jesus. In the present there are also enough stories to be told, personal ones when our relationship with Jesus is denied or we cut and run; but not because of fear Few of us get close enough to be really afraid. embarrassed maybe, not really afraid.

The truth is, we’re not really afraid of much at all theses days. In fact, we entertain ourselves with simulated fear Horror movies ghost stories, haunted houses, and games of virtual reality all tease us with fear, but it’s all over when the lights are on. There are some things scare us. diseases we cannot control, loss of a job, having our homes broken into, domestic terrorism, and for some global warming is a real danger But, worried because we are Christian? Not much change of that. It might be a problem in the middle east, but not here.

I am beginning to suspect that there’s something missing when we don’t know fear with faith. So much of the Gospel addresses fear, and the greeting: “Fear Not” Almost leaves us out, and as a result, we begin to hear the gospel as though it’s addressed to someone else, or as though it’s some old piece of ancient literature and we’re reading about the olden days when things were tough, as we read about the years before electricity and before instant communications. If we get serious about the Gospel, it seems to me that fear and faith go hand in hand.That faith and fear are almost in direct proportions. The more you believe, the more you have to fear I am proposing to you that what God has to say to us today when He speaks through the scriptures to this age and our generation has something to do with a missing emotion.

Comfortable and compromised these days, faith is often used to condemn others, justify our behavior and attitudes for self preserving conditions. In fact, for some, there is fear from the power Christians now use to deny expression of different  faith and customs to people different from themselves. Those who do give their all and risk something for their faith in Jesus are judged to be fanatics and extremists. They are dismissed easily and shoved to the margins of our lives with little attention to what and whom they believe.

Doubt seems more appropriate for us. It is certainly more “in” these days. It’s far more common to hear someone say· “I don’t believe all that stuff.” than hear someone say· “I’m afraid.” We really ought to admit it. We don’t do enough because of our faith or say enough because of our faith to be afraid of anything. When I listen carefully to the story of Thomas, as I have, like you, every Easter season for as long as I can remember, I begin to wonder about this business of doubt and fear, because Thomas wanted to see Jesus face to face, and he got what he asked for, and he became a believer Since he was out of the locked room that first time Jesus dropped in, I have come to suspect that he wasn’t quite as afraid as everyone else. It’s either that or he had more courage than the others, and I don’t think that was the case, because I believe that courage is a by product of faith.Thomas just didn’t have enough faith to be afraid.

I suspect that the moment he said. “My Lord and my God.” Things changed for him dramatically I suspect he found a new vulnerability along with the other gifts of peace, healing, forgiveness, and life. If like Thomas, we want to see Jesus, we had better be ready for all that it may mean for us. Most likely if he were to stand here before us, doubters that we are, he would NOT say, “Do not be afraid.” Perhaps he would say· “Do not be afraid to be afraid.”

Easter Morning

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on April 15, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

April 15, 2001 Act 10:34-43 + 1 Corinthians 15:19-26 + Luke 24:1-12

A shepherd awakened one morning to find that one of his ewes had given birth to a lamb, but the lamb had died. Continuing the daily inspection of the flock, the Shepherd found that another ewe had given birth during the night but had died, leaving her lamb to fend for itself. So, the shepherd had a childless mother on one hand a an orphan lamb on the other Quick thinking and sensible logic tell him that he should put the orphan with the childless mother Should work, shouldn’t it?However, it doesn’t work, not at all, because the mother knows the lamb is not her own and the lamb is too confused and miserable to relate to her The condition this story describes is a metaphor for the human condition the prophets of old recognized as our condition. We have been alienated from one another and from God, and like the newborn lamb, we had been dying from starvation while God, as it were, was dying of a broken heart.

Wise shepherds know that there is a remedy to this situation. It the shepherd takes some blood from the dead lamb and washes the orphan lamb in it, the mother, recognizing a familiar scent, will immediately begin to feed and care for the orphan as her own. In other words, the orphan is saved and brought to life by its adoption through the blood.

Today we celebrate the fact that we, who once were orphaned, alienated and marked for death through sin, have been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God, Jesus the Christ. Washed, healed, forgiven, and redeemed, we are a people, who by virtue of the Blood of Christ are recognized by God, welcomed and cared for just as he cared for and loved Jesus, His Son.

The post Christian world in which we live would rather have us look backward and be content with Easter pageants that re enact a past event and stir our sentiments for a dead Christ, or it would entertain us with bunny rabbits, Easter eggs, and new clothes. But the Gospel we proclaim is for Easter 2001 in the first year of the third millennium. It has it’s roots in the past, but its fruits in the present. The Gospel we proclaim is about you and me, not about Mary Magdalen, Peter, and John. It is about our doubts and dis-belief. It is about our disappointments and our hunger, our frustration with injustice and our longing for peace, healing and wholeness. It is about our need to belong and find our right place in life and with each other It is about our desperate need for a relationship that works, that lasts, that nurtures, and is mutual. It is about our longing for joy and lasting happiness that does not fade and fail.

The Gospel we have to proclaim in word and by the witness of our lives  transformed is that all we long for is given to us and is ours to share. What He  taught is not defeated by death, for His spirit lives in us. The service Christ taught us is not finished, the healing is not over, nor is the forgiveness. Death has no power over what we have been given. We who believe, who are washed in His blood, who have received His Spirit, who eat His flesh, are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load. We hold the light of Christ to those in the night of fear When those we have loved walk away or leave us behind in death, we have one companion in life’s journey who never leaves.

What we proclaim to all the world this day is that there is nothing here for us: nothing that lasts, nothing that can satisfy our hunger our loneliness or our restlessness. Those who seek satisfaction in this world well seek it forever We do not look for the living among the dead. “He is not here.” said the angel to those who came seeking. All that we seek is to be found among the living – in the companionship of the faithful, the church. All that we need to satisfy our hunger for life is the bread of this table. All that we need to find healing forgiveness and peace is the love of Christ shared in this place. All that we need to awaken the Joy of this day is to be found in the human family born again in water and spirit, and bound together in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Washed in His blood, welcomed by God, we are not orphans, but daughters and sons of God. The Lamb of God has made it so. Delivered from slavery and passed over by the angel of death, we rejoice in the paschal lamb whose blood sprinkled on the door posts saved and redeemed God’s people. We are not born to die as this world might think. We are born to live through love in Christ. We are here because for us something has happened and we see. Fear of ridicule and scorn cannot keep us from proclaiming and living what Jesus taught us. Our faults and differences cannot keep us from working together for the truth. Religious differences cannot keep us from working together for the common good. What died on Good Friday was death itself, fear, darkness, and all that opposes life. What rises today is hope itself and the Joy and goodness, Spirit and Love that sustains it.

Peace be with you my friends. May the music, the laughter, and the beauty of this day hold you in peace until your journey’s end.

Passion Sunday

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on April 8, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

April 8, 200l Isaiah 50:4-7 + Philippians 2:6-11 + Luke 22:14-23:56

The words of the Prophet Isaiah today must be the words of the church, and perhaps never more so than this week for the Church in Oklahoma as we “speak to the weary a word that will rouse them.” (Isaiah 50:4-7) The prophet urges us to be resolute and unyielding in our faith as he says. “I have set my face like flint knowing that I shall not be put to shame.”

This world is weary and so is this city We are weary of violence, abuse, and rage: from roads to airports, from homes and schools to our offices and stores, from Serbia to Oklahoma City there is rage, abuse, and violence. In the midst of it, we stand to proclaim to that world and this city a gospel of hope, healing, and peace; a Gospel of reconciliation and forgiveness. In a week we call “Holy” we shall gather our strength to celebrate the week we call “Easter” During that week this year, we shall, in this city, inevitably be taken back to that day in the same week when our innocense and isolation was shattered by a bomb at 9:02 in the morning.

This year we shall have it all before us again. Some will insist that what happens in Terre Haute is what they call “Justice” Some will speak of closure and tease us to think that somehow another death will bring us healing. When in fact and in faith only one death brought healing, the death we shall observe on Friday of this week. As we tell the story of that death again today, we are reminded of those who died beside Jesus. the two criminals. In them we see ourselves: set in our ways and unrepentant, or touched by grace and acknowledged by mercy

Another death will not bring healing where it has not been accepted and acknowledged through the one death that teaches us forgiveness. Another death in Indiana will not satisfy the needs of justice. It is greater than one man and one deed. When he is dead, we shall still remember, we shall still see that comer of our city, we shall still hear the sounds of sirens and smell the smoke. We shall still grieve the loss and feel the pain.

We have in faith our own memorial on the comer opposite the site of the Murrah building. There stands Jesus who wept over Jerusalem. At that moment, Luke records for us these words: “If you too had only recognized on this day the way to peace.” The prophet and the Savior speak to us today as we begin our procession into Holy and Easter Weeks. They would have us recognize the way that leads to peace, and they would have us speak of that peace to the weary “Forgiveness” is name of the road that leads to peace and healing. It is the only way to get there. It is what he taught us as he lay down to be nailed to the cross. It is what he spoke of in mercy to the man hanging beside him who recognized the folly of his other way It is the best and the Gospel way to rouse the weary, and we must never tire of saying so nor tire of behaving so.

Lent 5

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on April 1, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

April 1, 2001 Isaiah 43:16-21 + Philippians 3:8-14 + John 8:1-11

She was between 12 and 14 years old. The law said if you were married and committed adultery you were to be strangled. If you were betrothed, you were to be stoned. So we know even more about her Before that day, she had no rights. According to their law, adultery consisted of intercourse with a woman betrothed or married to another man.On the other hand, men could freely have intercourse with any woman except the wife of another man. Moreover, a husband could accuse his wife of adultery, but a wife could accuse a husband of nothing.Adultery was a crime against the rights of a man, not against those of the woman who was subject to the husband.

In this story, there is no escaping the fact that the man has not been caught, or at least not brought to trial. He’s not there, which reveals the intent of those who bring the girl before Jesus. The missing man is guilty too. He has committed adultery with a betrothed woman. If this were a serious trial, he would be there too.Jesus is trapped. Ifhe says. “Fulfill the law” He’s in trouble with the Romans who do not allow the Jews to put anyone to death. Ifhe says: “Let her go.” he’s violating the Mosaic law, but this was not a matter of dealing with the consequences of the law It was an effort to trap Jesus, and so, it’s not about the woman nor is it about Jesus. It’s about them. It’s as though they are attempting to put Jesus on trial, but the truth is, they are the ones on trial here.They are the ones about whom judgement is to be made. In the end however, this is a story about rights.

It has always struck me that what is not said in this story is more important than what is said. She comes empty handed. They stand there with fists full of stones. Righteous and all very proper, they contrast themselves to one filled with shame. We are left to chose where we shall stand. with the righteous, or with the shameful. In our hearts, we know where we belong, and the season has been about that very recognition.All of us are caught in the act, and the act is not adultery It is a refusal of mercy which in behavior becomes judgmental righteousness.

The question asked by Jesus reaches to each ofus who would hide behind the law to condemn another while confirming ourselves in the blindness of our hearts.The one who had no rights, gets them in the new creation begun with Jesus, and her right is the right to mercy. Like the parable of last week’s assembly, it’s easy for us to identify with the sinners seeking forgiveness while the story is really an invitation to identify with  the Father who gives it. We are a people always claiming and insisting on our rights, probably never more than in this age.The story today is about rights, specifically, a right those so quick to condemn are always quick to deny. The good news today is that when judgemental righteousness are finally driven away, we can stand empty handed before one another in trust and sincerity, and all that remains is misery and mercy, face to face.

Lent 4

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on March 25, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

March 25, 2001 Joshua 5:9-12 + 2 Corinthians 5:17-21 + Luke 15:1-3,11-32

Just a few days ago, I was in a men’s clothing store and walked past one of those three sided mirrors, and I glanced just briefly at my reflection. I was startled by how much I look like my dad. I turned back and looked more closely at my own features, my size, my head and face. I suddenly saw the man whom I last saw when he was sixty-three years old, the man I admired, cnticized, loved, and feared. A lot of energy was invested in finding my own self in the face of that person, and many questions about who I was and who I was to become were shaped by being a son of that man. As I suddenly saw this man appearing in the mirror, I was overcome with the awareness that all the differences I had been aware of during my lifetime seemed so small compared with the similarities. As I have continued to think about what I saw in that mirror, I am beginning to realize that I have been an heir to more than his name and some of his physical characteristics. I am now also one who is admired, feared, praised, and misunderstood by others, as my dad was by me.

We have all listened to this parable as much as we have listened to any in the Gospel. I suspect, that like me, you have listened to it time after time putting yourself in the place of one child or the other, and that’s all fine up to a point. We need to hear the story of the son who takes and abandons his father for his own pleasures, wakes up with the courage to admit he was wrong and goes home. We need to hear about the other one too; that one who does everything right, at least wants to, everything except follow his father’s example. Reflecting on our behavior from the view point the child is fine, it’s easy to identify with them for awhile. Finally however, if we’re ever going to mark any growth in our lives, we’ve got to move on. Getting stuck on the children in the story is missing the point. It’s a story about God revealed in and through Jesus Christ. In as much as the whole point of spiritual life is to become more like Jesus, we don’t get very far analyzing, identifying, and wondering about the children!

The final stage of the spiritual life is to let go of the fear of God, and when that happens, we are free to become like the Father Though we are both the younger and the older child, we are not to remain them, but rather we are to become like the Father No parent ever became a parent without being a child, but sooner or later, every child steps out of childhood. It is a hard and lonely step isn’t it? It is especially so in a time when parenthood is so hard to live well, but it’s still essential.

This parable offers us a chance to do more than just identify with the children. It offers us a chance to be more than just the one forgiven. It suggests to us that we might well become the one who forgives, the one who welcomes home.

Perhaps the most radical statement Jesus ever made is. “Be compassionate as your Heavenly Father is compassionate.” The God Jesus reveals to us is not to be feared, kept at a distance, or avoided. Jesus invites us to become like God. Ifwe are faithful to his wish, we are not just to be the ones who are forgiven, but the ones who forgive, show compassion, understanding and mercy This is the heart of the message of Jesus. It is what it means to become sons and daughters of God. It is what it means be heirs with Jesus of the Father’s goodness.

As long as we belong to this world, we will remain subject to its competitive ways and expect to be rewarded for all the good we do. But when we belong to God, who loves us without conditions, we can live as he does. The great conversion called for by Jesus is to move from belonging to the world to belonging to God. “Father, they do not belong to the world any more than I belong to the world…May they all be one.. just as, Father, you are in me and I am in you, so that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me. ”

On Lent’s fourth Sunday, the Word of God asks us to pass by the mirror of this parable and take a good look at what we see, at how much of the eternal parent we reflect in that mirror, at how far we have come in our maturity, growth, m holiness and wisdom. True heirs inherit more than an earthly treasure. Sooner or later we shall, we must, we will begin to look more and more like the one who has given us life, or we shall never inherit the Kingdom of God prepared for us from the beginning.

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Lent 3

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on March 18, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

March 18, 2001 Exodus 3:1-8,13-15 + 1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12 + Luke 13:1-9

Lent’s third Sunday takes us to Exodus and Moses who ascends the mountain. It is long before he stands on the same mountain and enters into Covenant. This is the beginning of his great task. He has fled to the wilderness after killing, and there he meets God who has something for him to do We tell this story not as a sentimental exercise of nostalgia, but because remembering is a way of experiencing and so the memory can do for us what it did at first. It makes actual, it retains in time and space the mystery of God’s presence.

A bush bums. Moses could have looked at it thought, “Oh, that bush is burning.” and walked on by; but he didn’t. He stopped and he wondered, and by doing so, he came in contact with mysteiy Out of wonder and mystery springs all creative human experiences. art and science, philosophy and theology They find their beginnings in wonder and mystery “Why?” asks Moses, and in that “Why?” is life long relationship with God, his creator and redeemer begins. This mingled sense of wonder, reverence and awe is what distinguishes religion from morals, it is what distinguishes faith from momentary infatuation.

He stands in front of God, curious and cowed, drawn by the mystery and yet overwhelmed by how insignificant he is and unworthy of such an experience. In that moment of mystery, God speaks revealing how He is to be remembered. I AM, he says. I am creator, I am liberator, I am redeemer, I am Father. I am Brother, Sister, Spirit. I am Bread, I am Life, I am the Way, the Truth. I am Shepherd, I am Love, Lover and Lord, I Peace, I am Justice, I am Light and Life. I AM, He says, I am with you. This is the God who has called each of us into existence, and because God remembers who we are, we continue to exist.

These Lenten days are for remembering. They are for telling again the stories of this God, for remembering what God has done for us. They are days to stand before the mystery in awe and humility They are days for asking “Why?” and days to recognize our unworthiness. Moses leads again instead of 40 years, it is 40 days. For those who follow his lead, there is Passover and Promise, Freedom from slavery, and the life among the chosen.

Lent 2

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on March 11, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

March 11, 2001 Genesis 15:5-12,17,18 + Philippians 3:17-4:1 + Luke 9:28-36

On each of the six Sundays of Lent, the scripture readings invite us to look into our spiritual scrap book, as it were, in an effort to reconnect with some of ancestors in faith. This week it is Abraham, our Father in Faith who stands before us. He stands there as a figure of promise, and for those who remember his story, he pushes back the limits so often self imposed that keep us from seeing beyond the moment and the limitations of the present. If you don’t see the big picture, he looks like an old man beyond his years with a wife just as old and the two of them without children and a future.

Today, Luke takes us on the mountain, and there other figures of the past emerge in the mist, figures so well associated with Abraham. Moses and Elijah – two guys who had the big picture.

There on the mountain, Peter, James, and John for just a moment, get the big picture. I think they get what I’d like to call. “Mountain vision.” Abraham had it as he look ahead, He was invited to see from the Wadi of Egypt to the Great River of the Euphrates, it says. Moses had it on Sinai, and Elijah had it. They saw more than just the day in which they lived. They saw more than just themselves, and the circumstances of their lives. Peter, James and John saw more than the carpenter’s son from Nazareth.

On Lent’s second Sunday, we are invited to try a little “mountain vision.” We are invited by the word of God to see a little more than just today and just ourselves. In some ways, it’s the trouble with most of our lives. We don’t have “mountain vision.” We only see what is right in front of us. We are too close. We don’t get the big picture. We fail to see others, the delicate balance of our relationship with them. We fail to see what Peter, James and John saw. We fail to see how things are so connected, dependent, and how our past and our future all fit together

With a little mountain vision, the things up close may not seem so serious, so important, and so demanding. With a little mountain vision, we might come to understand how what we buy, what we use, and what we throw away affects the earth, the environment, and other people who work for so little so that we can have so  much. If we see the big picture, we understand that we are responsible for much of the systematic injustice in this world.

This issue, which I’m calling “Mountain vision” is one of the most significantly distinctive characteristics of our Catholicism. It is one of the distinguishing marks that makes us different from Protestants and their individualistic theology We are a people of the mountain- rooted in that vision. The opposite is the individualism that sees the single person as independent, free to chose without consequence, and left to see the world through one set of eyes, their own.

We are invited today to ascend the mountain, and to look again at the big picture. We are invited in this season, to back away a bit from the things we hold so close, and see them a bit more clearly in relation to everything else in creation. We are invited to see each other too with a little mountain vision. Up close and isolated, we look at each other and see every wrinkle, blemish, weakness, sin, and fault, but with a little mountain vision, things might look a little different. The apostles, until they had their mountain vision saw the carpenter’s son from Nazareth. On the mountain, they saw God’s Son. With a little mountain vision, we might see the same thing in each other and recognize a brother or sister a child of God, and all those blemishes and faults are harder to see, and make less difference.

Abraham at first saw only old Sarah, but once he had a little mountain vision, he saw those children who became the people of Israel. Peter, James, and John, never could have imagined on their own what was going to happen to their friend, but once they got a little mountain vision, they never saw things the same again.

It’s time today for us to get up the mountain, to get the bigger picture, to use some of that mountain vision to take another look at what’s important and what isn’t, at who were are, and how much we are a part of a world that is bigger than our little selfish vision would fool us into thinking and acting.

Lent 1

Posted by Father Tom Boyer on March 4, 2001

Posted in: Homily.

March 4,, 2001 Deuteronomy 26:4-10 + Romans 10:8-13 + Luke 3:1-13

On each of the six Sundays of Lent, the scripture readings invite us to look into our spiritual scrap book, as it were, in an effort to reconnect with some of ancestors in faith. This week it is Moses who stands before us, next week, Abram who became Abraham after his encounter with God. The purpose of this look into our old family album is not just to reminisce over heroes of the distant past, but rather to realize veiy consciously our roots in them and their stoiy so that we might share in that experience unfolding in our own time the consequences of that experience which we share with them.

The people are being instructed by Moses about their conduct after they arrive in the promised land. Once they are settled and begin to produce harvest from their labor and the land, they were to take the first fruits of that labor and bring it, as we read from today’s verses, as an offering of Thanks to God. The acknowledgment of gifts received is made by gifts given. Grateful people are giving people.

It works that way with forgiveness. A people who believe and acknowledge that they are forgiven by God then forgive others.It works that way with talents. Music, Art, Skills of all kinds, the gifts with which we seem to have been born and have been willing to develop. A people who believe and acknowledge that these are gifts that come from God, knowing full well that they did nothing themselves except seize an opportunity, do use those gifts to enrich the lives others, lighten their burdens.It works the same with the produce of our labor, whether it’s the fruits of the field or the paycheck we receive from our work. A people who believe and acknowledge that these are gifts that come from God, acknowledge the gifts received by gifts given.

This is what we do at this altar The gift of Jesus Christ is given back to the one who gave.This is what we do in this liturgy The gift you have, the gift that sustains and feeds you, clothes you, houses you, gives you fun and pleasure, keeps you healthy is, in the behavior of faithful and grateful people, returned to the one who has given.

The three-fold discipline of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving, calls us to examine our spirit of gratitude and honest

acknowledgment of gifts we have been given. Our Lent is often marked by all sorts of prayer and fasting. All of that is convenient and easy An extra Mass now and then, some prayer at home, stations of Friday, not too hard, really Many take the fasting seriously with chosen acts of self denial that turn our hearts back to the Will of God, but that’s not too hard. It’s only for forty days. It is the sacrifice however, the offering, the giving that is so hard and so easily ignored, or put off to another time.

There is probably nothing that reveals our values and exposes our faith more than what we do with our money All the talk, all the prayers, all the fasting comes to nothing if there is no behavior to give it credibility Sitting in this church week after week, singing and praying for all to see is nothing when the instruction we receive from Moses is ignored, postponed, or rationalized away It is theJirs_t fruits that go to God, not the left overs. Before the electric bill, the rent and the groceries, the gift to God comes first if we understand what God asks of us through the prophet, Moses, not what’s left after we pay the bills, eat out, see a movie, and buy new shoes.

Now those of you who are uncomfortable, I’m not talking about “money” today I am talking about gratitude, faith, the acknowledgment of God’s gifts, and Lent’s call to examine our lives, our values, and our behavior This is the time, these forty days, for conversion’s change, for a renewal, and for openness to God’s Will, to God’s further blessings, and to God’s gifts. We’re in the promised land now, that’s what Jesus came to reveal. The measure of what we give to God shows what we think God has given us. If we are not generous with our forgiveness of others, then I guess we don’t believe that God has forgiven us very freely Ifwe don’t have time to share our talents, and use them only for ourselves, then it would appear that we think we are the source of those skills and talents.The season asks us to look at the proportions – the measure of our acknowledgment, awareness of God, and gratitude. It asks us to finally put God first in the use of our time, in the use of our talent, and the use of our treasure. Practically speaking, it might be a good Lenten practice to look at our tax return and wonder why we might chose not to itemize our gifts. The straight deduction is sometimes a way of hiding the truth of how little we give, not just a way of saving time throughout the year It’s Lent now Time to do the difficult things, time to look honestly and sincerely at our values and behavior, and time to change.