Isaiah 22, 15, 19-23 + Psalm 138 + Romans 11, 33-36 + Matthew 16, 13-20

We have moved now further into Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus is still at Capernaum, but in the verse following the end of today’s reading we get the first passion announcement. So the movement from Galilee to crucifixion in Jerusalem has begun. In this part of the Gospel now there is no public instruction, and only one healing story. The focus is now on the training of the Twelve, but we must not read or study these verses like spectators who are eavesdropping on this training session. We must count ourselves among the twelve and let the Word train us as well. The concern of Jesus is for the future of his “movement” between his death and the final resurrection of the dead.

The response of Peter does not come from hearsay or local speculation. Notice that it is the others who report what is being said among the people. When Peter speaks up it is his faith and his belief in Jesus that is proclaimed, and Jesus affirms that this faith is a gift from God. God has disclosed to Peter the identity of Jesus Christ the Messiah. Peter did not take a guess or a survey. That revelation or that gift of faith Peter has received sets him apart from others. It establishes him as the one who will lead and witness for the growing community of believers. When Peter and John arrive at the empty tomb, John steps aside to let Peter enter first. When the Spirit stirs their faith to life on Pentecost, it is Peter who speaks first to the people of Jerusalem. At the beginning of his faith, Paul goes only to Peter for instruction and formation. At the moment Peter speaks these words, Jesus knows the will of the Father for the future of his followers.

A commission is given to Peter first, and then a little later in Chapter 18 it will be shared with everyone in the community, but first it is given to Peter. We have no clear understanding about what the this new name meant in the original context and the mind of Jesus; but for Matthew it marks Peter not just as one stone among many, as though he were just one of the apostles, or one of the prophets who are collectively the foundation of the church, but it marks Peter as the church’s unique and unrepeatable foundation. It is to say, we will need no other.

The keys of the kingdom of heaven refers to the right to admit or exclude. In the Book of Revelation (3, 7) and Isaiah (22, 22) it is the Messiah who has this role, but in Matthew, the Messiah passes on the responsibility to Peter. Yet something about us always concentrates on the negative side of that responsibility as though there was something to protect from invaders, the hostile, or thieves. We are a “lock-up” people who seem to think that having keys means you use them to lock things. However, for Matthew and the followers of Jesus yet to come, these keys are for opening. It is the positive side that ought to receive as much thought and attention as the negative. The preaching of Peter will open the doors to life, open minds and hearts to the Good News. I suspect that Matthew is reminding conservative Jewish Christians that Peter had the right to admit Gentiles to the Messiah’s friendship and assembly. Given the times in which these words, “bind” and “loose” were used, sin and forgiveness was not the first thing that would have come to mind, in spite of the what we think of first. The terms actually come from the practice of exorcism in which Satan or a specific demon was “bound” and the victim was “loosed.” What is proposed to Peter and the church he leads is that we must be about the business of setting people free not binding them up. When you recall how Jesus felt about the Pharisees who bound up heavy loads and oppressed people with their laws, you can begin to get a sense of what he expects of us.

The mission of the Church commissioned with Peter is opening and loosening. Our mission is to open minds and hearts to Christ, to unlock closed minds and lift up the burdens that oppress and unbind those who are bowed down by sadness or poverty or ignorance. We must unlock and set free those who are locked into the ideologies of consumerism and individualism. We must open ways to draw them in, include those who feel marginalized, ignored, or shunned.

Caesarea Philippi sits on a high stone embankment where all this took place. At this time it is a Roman powerhouse of authority and probable corruption. The only people who would hang around there were those drawn to such business. It is not by chance that Jesus introduces this part of his formation in the shadows of that kind of power. He comes and commissions a new kind of power with this binding and loosing. In that rocky hill (get the word play about rock) there are caves to this day, and they were called “The Gates of Hades”. Many were buried in those caves – they meant “death” to those living around there. Gates, you know, lock and close sometimes to protect and sometimes to imprison. Gates separate people and make winners and losers; in groups and out groups. With these images before us today, we have plenty to think about. We have gates to open both in ourselves and in this world as a church. We have people locked down who need to be set free.

It has always seemed to me that what Jesus was passing on to Peter was not so much power to bind, as it was power to loose. At the same time he passes on to Peter the power to teach, and gave him the wisdom and the words with which to teach and heal and set free. It is still our mission and it is still God’s will for us as God’s Church.

Isaiah 56, 1, 6-7 + Psalm 67 + Romans 11, 13-15, 29-32 + Matthew 15, 21-28

Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Castle Rock, Colorado 

 A unique miracle story today ties together what has been revealed in the three previous stories. It is unique because Jesus never sees, touches, or speaks to the one who is healed. In fact we know nothing of the daughter that is healed except that she is “troubled by a demon.” Because we know nothing of her and because there is no contact between her and Jesus, the miracle of her healing, which we can only presume because Matthew reports it is not the issue. There are two elements to this story: one about Jesus and one about the apostolic church.

Scholars are beginning to insist that Jesus focused his ministry on the Jews. He really believed that he was sent for the lost sheep of Israel, and that salvation and the ingathering of all people would be would begin when God’s people had purified and reconciled themselves to the Covenant. His attitude toward the Gentiles was one of disinterest. The prevailing thought was that they would eventually convert to Judaism. This is what gave Jesus such distress with the Scribes and the Pharisees. They resisted his calls to reform themselves and bring life back into Judaism. His journey in this story is not made for the sake of the Gentiles. He has gone into that district of Tyre and Sidon because there are Jews living there, and he wants them to rediscover their faith and get back to Jerusalem. He did not go there for the sake of the Gentiles. Only toward the end of his ministry, when the total rejection of his mission by the Pharisees and leaders of the people comes to the point of his murder does he begin to open wider the gates of mercy and grace.

The other element of this story is the apostles. While the woman easily takes center stage because of her persistence and clever lines, the apostles are very much a part of this story. Here they are again, just like they were out in the wilderness two weeks ago insisting that Jesus send the hungry people away. “Get rid of her” they insist. So narrow is their thinking, so limited is their vision of the reign of God, grace, and mercy that they want her silenced and sent away even though she is way ahead of them when it comes to faith as witnessed by the title with which she addresses Jesus. They never call him “Son of David”.

Matthew uses apostles to describe the church which was then predominantly Jewish struggling with the Gentile converts among them. I wonder if the conversation in the Gospel does not matching the conversation Matthew hears in the church: “Get rid of them”. “It is not right to take the food of sons and daughters and throw it to the dogs.” Is it possible that this is about Communion? This is the kind of reflection the Word of God prompts us to consider today. “My mission is only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” might match the conversation in the church when it comes to charity. You know how the saying goes: “Charity begins at home. Why should we help them when we have such great needs right here?” I remember something like this 50 years ago when I was a new young associate at an inner city parish that had a grade school. There were barely 100 children in the school, and only one of them was a Catholic. The others were simply poor racially diverse inner-city street kids whose parents brought them to the Church for education, values, respect, and a better future. There were countless arguments within the parish and the diocese which subsidized that school about why we would keep that school open for those Non-Catholic kids (who happened to be black) when every other school was struggling. Monsignor with great courage would always respond with the same message: “Because we can, and because we should.”

When the two elements of this story are identified, there remains one constant truth being revealed. There is an ever expanding circle of grace and mercy found in God who asks the same of us. That woman believed that there was more than enough to go around when it comes to mercy and compassion, and she challenged Jesus with that truth which he confirmed by his praise of her faith. The demon of limited love and exclusivity is defeated at that hour by a nameless woman who crossed the boundaries of sexism and racism, confronting an ideology that insisted she was just a dog.

Today we have her to thank. She teaches us just like she taught Jesus a lesson. It is a lesson on God’s inclusive mercy and limitless grace. She teaches us to stand up against those who would say “Go away.” She shows us where to go when there is great need, and she shows us how to respond when someone says: “Help me.”

Revelations 11, 19: 12, 1-6, 10 + Psalm 45 + 1 Corinthians 15, 20-26 + Luke 1, 39-56

Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Castle Rock, Colorado

The scriptures give her very few words. She is there one minute and gone the next. The first impression we get is that she was rather quiet and serene, just full of faith and trust. Yet, when you look more closely, this is a woman of action. She is on the move all the time, and in that time and place when most women people probably never moved more than ten miles away from the place of their birth, she is exceptional. Her whole life was a journey, and today we celebrate the end of that journey. She traveled to Judea to visit Elizabeth. She traveled to Bethlehem, and then she traveled to Egypt and back. She traveled to Jerusalem and then we follow her as she goes back to find her son. She traveled to find him again when he is on his mission wanting to bring him home perhaps to protect him from the growing number of enemies. Then she made the one most difficult of all, the journey of tears to Calvary and on to his tomb. Finally she made the journey we celebrate today. In all of this we see a restless woman of action who walks her way through every single human emotion from the wonder of conception to the joy of birth, to the fear of a lost child, to the anxious moment when she leaves him at school for the first time. There is the defensiveness of a mother for her misunderstood son, to the tragedy of mother who survives to witness his death and hold her dead child in her arms. She knows the emotions, the fear, the joy, and the pain that every mother can ever possibly experience. In a sense, she is a mother’s mother.

She is a missionary from her first journey to Elizabeth to her last. She carries Christ, her son, and his message of faith, hope, and love. This woman who spent most of her life traveling, searching, and fleeing is finally given her “special place prepared for her by God” as we hear in the first reading today. While she is no longer in this world, she is not away from us. Her life is wrapped in all of us who travel through this life to places we do not understand and to some we cannot see. She is with every refugee who flees their home in fear and every mother who loses a child in death. She is with anyone who knows heartbreak, unexpected tragedy, and a sudden change of plans. She is with and has gone before all of us through this life with its ups and downs sudden turns, surprises, and disappointments.

What we celebrate today is our hope that where she is now we shall one day be and see her face to face. This day celebrates our hope, not just Mary’s Assumption. It celebrates our expectation that if we can imitate her action, her trust, and her love, we too have a special place prepared for us by God. Elizabeth’s first word to Mary when she arrived in the hill country was: “Blessed.” Our prayer today is that we too shall be “blessed” as we too carry Christ with us and within us through every twist and turn of our life-journey. Inspired her life and faith, trust and love, may all of us be greeted as a blessing everywhere we go.

1 Kings 19, 9, 11-13 + Psalm 85 + Romans 9, 1-5 + Matthew 14, 22-33

 Saint Francis of Assisi Parish in Castle Rock, Colorado

 It’s a miracle story again, just like last week. Miracles in the Bible are incomprehensible, unexpected and shocking. They amaze and explode the ordinary to lift people out of indifference and cause them to turn to God. They are signs that happen where there is faith, and they can strengthen weak faith and attract others to believe. I said that last week when I spoke about the miracle of the loaves and fish. Both stories are a challenge to modern Christians who always want to explain away the miraculous. We like to think that those simple people two thousand years ago could easily be persuaded that the laws of nature could be suspended by supernatural intervention. They would probably not have asked: “Is it possible?”  They would have been more likely to wonder if it really happened in this case.

Our more skeptical age wants to find a rational explanation. Maybe it was an optical illusion. After all it was 3:00 a.m. That is the time for the fourth watch of the night. Perhaps it just looked as though Jesus was walking on the water when he was actually just walking along the surf at the northern end of the lake. While that might be so, it is then not likely that the experience would have been transformed into the story handed on to us by tradition. The disciples would have discovered their mistake, and the incident would never have been preserved for the ages. Maybe it was an experience from after the resurrection that was transferred to this earlier time. A Jesus who passes through locked doors could walk on water. If that’s the case, what would have been the purpose? There would have been no miracle there. It was becoming an ordinary event. He did it often. No surprise.

Another possibility is that the story was made up by the early church as part of their growing understanding of Christ as Divine making this a theophany like the Transfiguration story. It is then Jesus revealing himself as divine to the disciples in that boat. But all of this reads way more into the story than Matthew could have intended. He wrote this Gospel long before any conflicts had risen about the divinity and humanity of Jesus. For Matthew the figure walking on the waves is the Messiah, the one God has empowered with supernatural power. This power of Jesus does not come from Jesus himself, but it is conferred upon him by God. It is not evidence of divinity, but evidence of the divine empowerment of the one God has chosen and sent. This is demonstrated by the fact that Peter is empowered to do the same, and there is no claim that Peter is divine because he walks on the waves. However, Peter is empowered to do great things.

It is important to remember that the boat was far from land and being tossed about by the waves at the time Jesus walks toward it. The miracle suggests that this is not a scene by which Jesus shows off his power, but rather that Jesus will do anything and go anywhere to rescue and help his threatened disciples. There is no reason not to wonder if Jesus himself might have been a bit anxious when having no boat to use for the rescue of his friends, he just decided to walk out there and save them. In other words, this story is more about function than it is about nature. It is more about what Jesus does rather than who he is. It points to the truth that he is empowered by God to save, shepherd, and care for God’s people; and there was not nothing that would stop him, even if it meant wading out into a stormy sea or walking up Calvary’s hill.

We should notice that Matthew refers to “those in the boat” rather than “disciples” or “apostles.” What is revealed by this miracle is that all believers, not just apostles in the endangered ship depend on the savior. Those in the boat are you and I tossed about by the storms of life, the darkness of night, and fear.

I wonder sometimes with this story if Peter’s behavior is not more of a miracle than the behavior of Jesus. Peter’s obedience, and his willingness to get out of the boat is really amazing; perhaps more amazing than seeing the one who just fed five thousand on five loaves and two fish walking on the stormy sea. Here in Peter is the story of what it means to be a Christian caught as we all are midway between faith and doubt. Peter represents all who dare to believe that Jesus is Savior, taking the first steps in confidence that Jesus will sustain them, and then forgetting to keep their gaze fixed on him instead of the towering waves. Peter tells us about the risk taking of faith, about living with uncertainties.

These verses close with a lesson on faith and doubt. I have found it helpful to know that in John’s Gospel, believing is always a verb. It is never a noun. Faith is not a possession that can be measured or might run out. Faith is an activity. It is something you do, or perhaps it is how you do everything. It is like a song that disappears when we stop singing. The idea suggests that those of little faith must exercise that faith or lose it like an unused muscle. Peter, whose faith is not great at this point starts to believe and gets out of the boat. Had he chosen to stay aboard, he never would have known what it was like to reach out and have Christ take his hand. There is nothing safe about faith. It gets us into all kinds of trouble and leads us to do all sorts of things no one would think of doing. But so it is with those of us who want to believe, and so it shall be for those who keep their gaze on the one who comes on the water. To believe in the saving power of Jesus is certainly to take a risk.

Isaiah 55, 1-3 + Psalm 135 + Romans 8, 35, 37-39 + Matthew 14, 13-21

Saint France of Assisi Parish, Castle Rock, Colorado

This story is so important to followers of Jesus that it is found in every one of the four Gospels. It is a miracle story, and the experience and consequence of a miracle is lost by efforts to explain it away. The idea that this is really just a “spiritual” feeding or that everyone had hidden some food for themselves and suddenly decided to put all together to have enough trivializes the miracle. In the Bible, a miracle is something unusual, inexplicable, incomprehensible, disturbing, unexpected, and shocking. It is something that amazes and explodes the ordinary into something by which God lifts people out of their indifference and causes them to turn to God. Miracles are always signs. They happen where there is faith. They strengthen and affirm that faith, and they attract others to believe. We proclaim a miracle story in this assembly that ought to disturb us and lift us out of indifference.

As the story begins, the disciples want to dismiss the crowds, but Jesus will have none of that. The disciples have food, the crowd has nothing; and they know that these people are hungry. “Go home.” is the message the disciples have for these people who are away from home in a distant place and hungry. Those apostles think they have just enough for themselves, and trying to share it with that crowd is going to leave everyone hungry. The situation has a very strong parallel for us today with thousands of children far from home in a strange place. Telling them to “Go home” because we barely have enough for ourselves makes me think we need to take this Gospel more seriously and study it more deeply. Jesus says, “Sit down.” Asking the disciples what they have makes them grow a little uncomfortable about the way things are going. Then Jesus says, “Bring it here to me.”

What they have is the food poor people eat there. While there is a suggestion that a banquet might be coming with the request that the men recline, it is not the menu of a banquet. Serving fish and bread would be like serving peanut butter without jelly on stale bread. It’s not much of a feast. There is no wine! Then a miracle happens. It is a sign of God at work. It is a sign that explodes the ordinary, awakens us to how God works, what God expects of us lifting us out of indifference and turning us toward God. That is what happened to those people and the disciples.

The miracle happens when they obey Jesus, and bring to him all that they have in spite of their fears and self-centered concerns. The miracle happens when they obey Jesus and serve the crowd with what they have in spite of their anxiety that it isn’t enough. In Matthew’s Greek, the command “You, give” is extremely strong and emphatic. There is no stronger verb form. Suddenly out there in that deserted place, God is present and provides as God always does. God provides through Jesus and through the apostles, and God still does.

Jesus, the human presence of God’s compassion acts and shows us what compassion can do. Compassion you know, is not a fleeting emotion. It is an enduring attitude. It is not just a quick response to a bad situation. It is a consistent way of looking at and responding to distress all the time.

We will never be sent away to fend for ourselves says this Gospel. No one will. God continues even today to say to us, “Bring me everything you have.” When we do and then follow the next command: “Feed them yourselves.” No one will be sent away hungry. God never intervenes in the world by overriding human freedom and human independence. God made us free always preserving and respecting that freedom. So God does not override what humans ought to do. Miracles do not destroy the natural order of things, but bring them to fulfillment. A shocking and marvelous miracle happened out there in that deserted place because humans did what they ought to do in spite of their fears to the contrary. The compassion of God was revealed in the compassion of human beings to others.

The consequence was a little left over and a warning not to waste it. Don’t think that twelve full baskets was a lot. Given the report that five thousand not counting the women and children were fed, it suggests that there was just enough. The story suggests that God will provide with a little to spare, but there must be no greed or waste, because if there is, some will go hungry.

1 Kings 3, 5, 7-12 + Psalm 119 + Romans 8, 28-30 + Matthew 13, 44-52

Treasure stories abound in every culture, and those who make a study of such things have many examples all of which are shaped around a common theme: a treasure found leads to tragedy. One of the great treasure stories in our culture was put into a wonderful novel by John Steinbeck, The Pearl. It would make great summer reading and put you in touch with these parables in a very unique way.

Matthew is being clever by pairing these two stories so that we do not get distracted by unimportant details. There are a lot of features that are dissimilar, so we need not look to them for some meaning. One person is just lucky and stumbles on the treasure, the other person has been looking for it for a long time. The lucky one seems to be a hired hand working someone else’s field. The other, we are told is a “merchant”. In both cases, the treasure has been hidden, something they did not see at first; but one is looking and the other is not.

What is similar in these two parables holds something for us to reflect upon: the joy in finding, the value of the find, and the cost involved. In both stories, what is found both by looking and by luck is beyond anything they ever expected, hoped for, or could have imagined. The value of the find is more than anything else they have, had, or could ever want. That value is determined by what they are willing pay for it. The cost is everything they have, so the value is greater than everything they have had until then. It is not a break-even deal. What is unmistakable here and confirms the value worth the cost is the consequent Joy. That Joy affirms and confirms that they have discovered and found all they will ever need. It makes them joyful.  For the first one, the Joy is explicit. Matthew tells us that he rejoiced at his find. For the second, the Joy is implicit, but it’s there because there is no one who would put up for sale everything without some anticipating and exciting Joy. He did it gladly or he would not have done it at all.

Matthew directs these stories with their examples of total commitment to his mixed community consisting of many who were lax and inconsistent in discipleship as well as the more dedicated. What is described in these stories is not exactly giving away everything but using everything we have to possess what is considered to be of even greater worth. You and I sit here today open to God’s Word coming through Matthew much the same as the community for which he wrote a long time ago. The dedicated are here always, some of the inconsistent are here again, and to all of us the Word speaks about using everything God has given us to possess the “Reign of God” to live completely in an unending and unbreakable relationship with each other in the presence of God. In other words, The Word of God reminds us that everything we have is given to us to use for the sake of a greatest good, the Reign of God. What we have is not an end in itself.

The Word speaks to us today about the consequence of this discovery, the treasure and the cost. It is Joy. I believe Matthew is suggesting that there is a way of knowing when we have discovered the treasure and done all we can to possess it. Joy. That Joy will be unmistakable and could never go without notice. It brings peace of mind, and a security that knows no threat or fear. It is a Joy that will attract others who may either be surprised at what they find or finally discover what they have been looking for all their lives. Either way, if we have come to possess and live in the Reign of God, and have used all we have to hold on to it, people will be attracted to us as a church and to our way of life by our joy, not our rules, regulations or grim sacrifices. For us, giving everything is joyful, sacrifice is a delight and service is an act of love.

It is time to look around in here at one another’s faces. Grim, sour, cynical, defeated, and marginalized people have not yet possessed the Reign of God perhaps because they have not done what it takes to discover what is hidden in here. This church would be packed wall to wall every Sunday and every day of the week if the people who come in and out of those doors really understood, grasped, and celebrated what can be discovered here and possessed if you’re will to pay the price. Where are the smiles that reflect Joy? The cares and hurts, needs and struggles that we all live through every day are nothing compared to what is here. It ought to make us smile and reflect the Joy we read about in the lives someone working in another’s field, or a merchant who finally gets what he has worked and looked for all his life.

Jesus asks his disciples a question toward the end of this reading: “Have you understood this?” Do you remember the response he got? What was it? He asks you again today, “Have you understood this?” What’s your answer? Where’s your Joy? Not just in here, but in your life!

Let me leave you with this thought…… These stories never tell what the finders did with the treasure. That is not the point of the story. The point is what happens to them because of the treasure they have found. We should probably be looking at what has happened to us having found the treasure of faith in this Church of Jesus Christ.

A Funeral Homily for Millie Heiser

We have come to this place made holy by the prayers and sacrifices of countless people who share the hope we have in the Resurrection of Christ and its promise for us. Millie prayed in the place and sacrificed to bring it raise it up. This place in every way is the “Ark” of the Lord that we hear about in the first reading being so joyfully and triumphantly brought in the tent King David provided. Like those Israelites we offer up a holocaust and peace offering with music rejoicing. Our Joy is not only about this place and what happens, but also about Millie who was in every way an “Ark” of the Lord. She carried in her joyful life the very presence of God, and those of us who lived and prayed with her always knew the presence of God when she was around. To many of us she brought Joy with her humor and with what I often of as a delightfully quirky way of looking at things and recognizing what mattered and what did not.

Her faith taught her about trust. Her faith taught her about respect. Her faith gave her a humble and simple joy that carried her through this life with its surprises and disappointments, its twists and turns, ups and downs. The Lord was her shepherd and her first and lasting love. The church was her home in which she celebrated the great feasts of life and death.

We have come to this place because God has given her the victory for which she waited so long. Her corruptible frame has taken on incorruptibility, and her mortality has taken on immortality. Death may swallow her body, but never her spirit. While away from us for a while, she is still with us in Communion, in memory, in laughter, and in the bond that we share by Baptism with Christ her Lord. The woman in the Gospel today called out in praise of Christ as Millie often did in her own prayer. Our hope today is that now Christ looks upon her and says: Blessed are you who heard the Word of God and kept it.”

Genesis 2, 18-24 + Psalm 128 + Hebrews 13, 1-4, 5-6 + Mark 10, 6-9

John and Emily, you are giving to us a powerful witness of faith today with your journey down the aisle of this church. You have walked this aisle before. I have seen you here. You have walked down the aisles of many church from Kentucky to Ohio and other places as well. You walked it for your First Communion and for your Confirmation. There may well have been times when you went the other direction on the arm of a parent when you couldn’t sit still and make it to the end of Mass. Before that you came in the arms of a parent for your Baptism and the beginning of the mystery we celebrate today. When you came that day, something in you changed. Claimed by Christ our savior by the sign of the cross, anointed with the Chrism of Salvation, your life was headed toward Christ Jesus.

When you came down an aisle for your First Communion, something in you changed again, and the presence of that savior became more intimate and more real. When it was time for Confirmation and you stepped toward an altar, that savior’s presence was confirmed, affirmed, and claimed by the Church as the promised gift of the Holy Spirit was acknowledged and celebrated. You were different then, and the witness to your faith was unmistakable. Now you come again, a little closer and little further down the aisle, on the path of pilgrims who seek the Lord, renewing the covenant he has made with us in his flesh and blood, and walking deeper into the mystery of his presence among us again for you to be changed and reborn.

A few years ago I dropped into the First Grade class at the parish school where I was always certain I would learn something from those delightful children of God. Often God as a way of being revealed through children, and the simplicity of children often makes God presence and God’s Word unmistakable. All of the children in the room were drawing pictures of something they saw in the room. There was a fish, the window, a plant, a desk, all very recognizable. Then I noticed Sara very intent on something I could not quite recognize. I said: “Sara what are you drawing today?” Sara said: “I’m drawing a picture of God.” With all sorts of adult ignorance I said: “But Sara, nobody knows what God looks like.” She glanced up for just a second before returning intently to her masterpiece and said: “They will when I get finished.”

It occurs to me today that this is what the two of you now must set out to do with your lives: finish the picture. Show us what God looks like. Show us the face of mercy and the joy of forgiveness. Show us the hospitality of God’s reign. Show us the power of Love to make all things new and bring life into this creation. Show us what lies ahead for all of us who walk down this aisle and make the pilgrimage of life. Finish not just Sara’s picture, but finish what God has begun in you. This is what lies at the end of this aisle, the unmistakable and breakable covenant of God with God’s people.

While you are working on the picture, and while you continue to walk down this aisle again and again, keep saying with confidence what the writer of the Letter to the Hebrews taught you to say which you have shared with us in tonight’s second reading: “The Lord is my helper, and will not be afraid.”