May 28, 2006 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Acts 1: 1-11 + Ephesians 4:1-13 + Mark 16: 15-20

Today when we celebrate the Ascension of the Lord, we are face to face with the truth of Divine Revelation. Nothing that Christ did or said was meant for him alone. Christ did not speak to himself. What is reveled in Christ is not for the sake of Christ. It is for our sake. In revealing to us what he is, Christ also reveals what we are. The ascension is a description of our own future, of what lies in store for us. The ascension is also a commentary on our present condition, in light of the prayer Jesus has offered for us.

The focus of the New Testament Gospel insists that Jesus is not “gone” in the sense of being over or finished, because he is still in relation to those of us who are sort of — “on the ground.” He has prayed that even though he will soon be gone, the Father will continue to offer the same protection from the world and evil that the Father provided for His Son; because they belong to him, because He now lives in them. and because they have faith him Him, His disciples are no longer “of the world.” They are just stuck in it – so to speak. On the ground, yes; but oriented toward the things that are above.

So, the revelation of this Gospel is both about us and about Christ: about Christ in as much as his redemptive, sanctifying work leads him back to the Father; about us in as much as we now know where we belong, and how best we might relate to this world and the things that are above. We have, like the risen ascended Lord, been taken out of this world, yet we too often fail to live like it, and certainly do not often look like it. Christ no longer needs to be with us, because now he is within us. It is a quality of presence, this being within. It is a presence that when recognized, acknowledged, and embraced becomes evident in “Spirit” as we shall soon be reminded next Sunday. But until that Spirit has filled us, overwhelmed us, and taken possession of us, we shall be stuck in this world, standing around all day.

Our prayer today is the prayer of the church longing and groaning in hope and expectation that we shall be born again, that we shall be re-created, that we shall be lifted up from the petty, simplistic, materialistic things of this world, and fix our eyes, our hearts, and our hopes on what is to come. For we who are Baptized into Christ and Confirmed in His Spirit are no longer of this world.  We live in joy with a firm expectation of what is to come, and we pray:

COME HOLY SPIRIT FILL THE HEARTS OF YOUR FAITHFUL

AND INKINDLE IN US THE FIRE OF YOUR DIVINE LOVE.

May 21, 2006 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Acts 10 25,26,34,35,44-48 + 1 John 4:7-10 + John 15:9-17

There is in our understanding of this Gospel, a powerful description of discipleship. The disciples of Jesus are his friends. They have been chosen by him. The usual Jewish custom was for disciples to seek and choose their teachers. Not so in the relationship with this teacher, Jesus. He does the seeking and calls. He sets the tone and the style of the relationship, and he does it as much by deed as by word when he crawls on the floor and washes their feet.

The commandment he gives, the mission he proposes for his disciples in not simply to love one another. There is a second part to that verse: “As I love you.” With those words we are far removed from the emotions of affection and the sentiments of greeting card verses, Hollywood, and the torrid affairs of celebrities paraded before us day and night on the magazine covers at the checkout stand. That caricature of love has nothing to do with the divine, and it reveals nothing to us about what has happened to us by redemption.

Again, for the third week, our language fails to give clarity about what is being said here. “Remain in my love” is far too week for the sense of the original language. It means STAY HERE IN PLACE – STICK TO THIS – NEVER WAVER! Remember, this text is a commentary on last week’s verses about branches being attached to the vine. “Remain” is too passive. The disciple is not just standing around in one spot. The disciple is fixed in place, fixed in this relationship, and the strength of that relationship produces fruit.

The wonder here is this relationship called “friendship.” There is mutuality in this suggestion. It means more than being “friendly.” True friends are equal sharing something intimate and unique. Consequently, this suggestion that we be “friends” with Jesus and furthermore be “friends” with God should leave us stunned with wonder and almost recoil at the thought. “Wait a minute.” we might say. Is he suggesting that the old slave and master thing is gone? That is what it says, isn’t it?

Sheep of this flock, branches of this vine, people loved by God and people who live as Jesus loved are lifted out of broken humanity and born again in Divine Life. It is not enough to “imitate” Jesus Christ. That would be role playing – acting like, not at all the real thing.

This Easter Season has proposed again and again; that the risen one is within us,

that the risen one is seen within, heard within, and known within a people who have gathered in his name and consumed his flesh and blood. From then on, it’s not an imitation. It is the real thing.  It is the risen Lord. We are the Body of Christ who do what he does, and He does what we do. Reason enough then to make certain that what we do reveals what we have become. Reason enough to make certain that what we say reveals who we are.

This love is not something we give or take, receive or deserve. It is God – a God who embraces all without condition or reservation. It is God – a God who invites us in: into life, into love, into friendship, into service, compassion, care, and into eternity. This is the commandment: Live every waking moment with the knowledge that God is within you, and see that presence in every other human life, and stay that way!

May 14, 2006

Acts 9:26-31 + 1 John 3:1-21 + John 15:1-8

We must be careful about how we understand the descriptive adjective “true.” Like last week, this is another translation issue that can easily distract and diminish what is revealed to us in today’s Gospel. If missing the literal meaning of a “Good” shepherd last week cost us the beauty of what is revealed; it is no less so this week with the word: “True.” As we use it in English, “ture” suggests that this vine is the real one rather than a false one. To be satisfied with that understanding is shallow, simple, and a long way from what the Jesus of John’s Gospel is saying about himself. “True” as it is used in the original context and in the sense of this revelation is not the opposite of false. It means far more than that. “True” in this Gospel means something more like faithful or dependable, somewhat like the way we would describe a friend who is “true.” It isn’t that some people are “false” people. It is more properly said that some are “true”, meaning that you can count on them to be there when you need them, that when times are tough, they come through.

When Jesus announces that I am “The True Vine”, he speaks to us of relationship

not of falsehood, error, right or wrong. He comes not to divide into true or false,

but to be friend, to be loyal, and be worthy of trust. Vines in themselves are not good or bad. The language of the bible about vines and even the language of horticulture speaks of the “choicest” vine and “choicest “wine. Just as the Shepherd may have other sheep, there may be other vines, but for those who branch off the fruitful vine, there is only one that is most chosen; and for those who have known the suffering and the sacrifice of pruning, and remain connected to the vine, there will be a harvest of sweet and choice wine: the everlasting sign of the bounty of God’s Kingdom.

Since Easter’s first day, we have marveled at the resurrection and the presence of the risen one. Last week, this week, and the week to come, we shall continue to ponder our relationship with this risen one and the relationship to which we have been called in Him. Leading us soon to make real the Baptism we have received not in Water, but in the Spirit on Pentecost. It is a Birth that makes us good or beautiful, in the image of last week, a birth that makes us true or authentic extensions of Christ in the world thriving on Christ’s resurrected life, surging through all his members. As branches of this vine, as members of his body, as anointed people in this church, we live in Christ as Christ lives in us.

May 7, 2006 At Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK THERE IS NO AUDIO AVAILABLE THIS SUNDAY

Acts 4:8-12 + 1 John 3:1-2 + John 10: 11-18

I honestly believe that there is nothing more terrifying to a human being than even the suspicion let along the conviction, that he or she is alone, set adrift in a pointless world. So, the revelation of Christ as Shepherd is welcome and comforting. Somehow that image above all others makes the promise “I will be with you always” imaginable and possible. We are in the hands of a God who knows us better than we know ourselves, who cares for us more graciously than we could ever care for ourselves.

This is the insight that sparked the enthusiasm of the apostles in their earliest preaching. The kind of enthusiasm we hear from Peter in the first reading. John had just finished healing a cripple; an act that got them arrested and demanded an explanation. Peter’s response is that there should be no surprise at that healing, because healing, wholeness are a natural consequence of faithful awareness of the presence of God. What looks like healing is more than a mere cure. The cure is an outward sign of a much deeper inner reality. It is a sign of God’s mercy that endures forever.

This saving power, this mercy, is nothing less than steadfast covenant love. It is the kind of love that broke open the world in the death and resurrection of Jesus and overflows as healing grace; it is the kind of love that compels the shepherd to put himself at risk for the sake of the sheep. It is a love that recreates us as children of God. This love has already taken hold of us. Through baptism we are God’s children now. Easter celebrates this reality. What we will eventually become has not yet reached fulfillment. But we have had a hint of it this weekend in this church. In the long and steady procession of family and friends and children coming to this altar for First Communion, more than once, I had to pause, swallow slowly and look down after tears of joy and love in the eyes of mothers and fathers brought tears to my own eyes. Love is all around us, and the love of which this Gospel speaks is manifest again and again in the love of every parent for their children for whom they would and do sometimes lay down their lives.

When salvation is brought to its fulfillment, there will be a great illumination, and we will recognize the marvelous dignity that is ours. We will see that we have been made like God, and we can now act like God acts. We can bring the saving grace of God to a world in desperate need of healing. We can do this in our families, in this parish, at work and countless other situations of our lives.

Our limited and sometimes impoverished language, English does not always carry nor allow the richest sense of words translated from other tongues.

It is unfortunate that at some time in the past someone chose to translate this Gospel using the word: “Good” for a word in Hebrew that more accurately means, “Beautiful.” In our tongue, “Good” means too many other things like, competent, tasty, or morally correct. Not so in John‘s Gospel. What he describes as the image of God’s care for us made manifest in Jesus is nothing short of noble and beautiful. That is the real, literal meaning of the original text.

God’s love for us is not “good” – it is nothing less than beautiful and as noble as the loving gaze of parents on their children at their finest moment. It is a beautiful God, a beautiful shepherd with all the sense of intimacy that word will allow that comes before us this week of Easter Joy. If it does not transform us all into beautiful people who are the earthly reflection of that Beautiful Shepherd, then faith has failed us and we are fools to be here.

After communion……………

Throughout the world this day, communities assembled in worship like our own unite in prayer for Vocations. You most graciously celebrated my ordination anniversary two weeks ago, and continue to share the joy of my life day in and day out. I’ve always believed that a pastor’s most joyful day is First Holy Communion, and my own tears and thrill today is evidence again and reminder that I my life and vocation is nothing less than a wonder, a miracle of love, and a gift beyond price. I teach our children at very opportunity to look into the future with their gifts and ask always what God wants them to become, who God wants them to be, and how to use the gifts most completely. You who wish happiness for your children must know that “Happiness” comes first of all on and always from being who you were made and called to be and nothing else. Pray for your children this way. Teach them to consider always in every decision what God asks of them. “What do you want to be when you grow up?” is the question we Catholic Disciples of Jesus ask, not “What do you want to do?” A life in consecration to God, to the Gospel, to leadership in the community of faith, and to prophetic service is being asked of some in this parish family. That call is a sign that God is very near and God’s blessings are abundant. Parents, pray for it in your homes.

I believe that one of the signs of God’s nearness and presence in the church is the calling of great men and women to heroic lives of witness and service. We in Oklahoma have been touched by the hand of God in man from Okarche who was a beautiful and noble shepherd who did not run like a hired hand from his sheep.

On this day of prayer for Vocations, I want to call you to prayer about another Vocation, the calling to sanctity, holiness, and “sainthood.” The process for acknowledging the courage, faith, and holiness of our own Father Stanley Rother has begun in earnest. The ushers are passing among you now cards in his memory with a prayer we can and ought to use until that day when all the church will proclaim what we believe: that he is among the saints living in God’s presence.

When I say this prayer, I ask Stan to stir the hearts of our children to follow his example and step forward with their gifts to say to God : “Here I am, send me.”

Never forget what goes unsaid in the Gospel of this day. It was a shepherd who came forward to reveal God’s love and mercy, not a prince or a king. It is a shepherd God still chooses to continue God’s work, not a CEO, a President, or some powerful celebrity with a short and shallow life drowning in fame and fortune. It is shepherds we still need: simple, faithful, good, beautiful, and willing.

Are they not among us?

From the back of card you have received, let us pray together:

Heaving Father, source of all holiness, in every generation; you raise up men and women heroic in love and service. You have blessed your Church with the life of Stanley Rother, priest, missionary, and martyr. Through his prayer his preaching, his presence and his pastoral love, you revealed your love and your presence with us as Shepherd. If it be your will, may he be proclaimed by the universal church as martyr and saint, living now in your presence and interceding for us all we ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.