December 25, 2009 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Isaiah 9: 1-6 + Psalm 96 + Titus 3: 4-7 + Luke 2: 1-20

I doubt that they stayed long, the Shepherds that is. Leaving the sheep even for a few minutes would have not been a good idea for whatever reason .Trying to explain to the owners of their flock that angels had sent them to Bethlehem would probably not have been a very convincing or acceptable excuse. To this day, there are some amateur astronomers who play guessing games about that star. They talk about a conjunction of planets and various other theories float around which might be a conversation that entertains imaginations, but the fact of the matter is: Who cares? and What difference does it make? The star is gone. In fact if you don’t even believe in an actual physical star you are in no immediate danger of heresy. There was no intent on the part of the writer to create a historical chronicle. Yet the story tradition give us says that the Wise Men went home, and like the shepherds they probably did not hang around long. It wasn’t a particularly hospitable place. Bethlehem was a poor town.

I doubt that there was an Inn, Hilton or otherwise up to their standards. My point is, none of this lasts very long.
All of these people went home, back to work, and back to the normal routine of their lives. Even the angels who are so busy popping into dreams disappear back to their heavenly home. The song they sing comes to an end and the sky is dark again. It’s is not hard to imagine that they were simply worn out from a noisy night in the fields,
from chasing a star that’s there one minute and gone the next to waking up people to invite them to Bethlehem or warn them of trouble or one more angelic choir practice to get that four part Gloria just right for Christmas.

Within 24 hours in some homes Christmas trees will be down, decorations back in boxes, and stores will have Easter decorations on the shelves. At some point in all of this before we do it all again, we might ask ourselves why and maybe start to remember what the real work of Christmas is, because our faith insists that this is beginning of something, and getting ourselves exhausted over the beginning does not leave much for completing what God has just started with the birth of God’s only Son.

We have finished our period of “waiting” only to discover that there is more to this than waiting for Christ to come into our lives if for no other reason than because He has already come. Now God is waiting for us to figure it out. Victims of injustice are waiting for the “Just One.” The hungry are waiting for their place at the table not the scraps. The homeless are still waiting for a room in the Inn – not homeless shelter. The broken wait to be healed. If we celebrate the coming of Christ we will finally have to ask why Christ has come. To simply say that Christ came to save us from our sins is just that: simple when the truth is: it is not simple. It is challenging. It is awakening. It is troubling. It is not simple.

For some it may mean leaving the sheep and risking the displeasure of those who own us one way or another. For some it may mean picking up our gifts to give them away to a foreigner who is unknown and we may never see again. For some it may mean waking up the sleepy, or disturbing those whose lives seem all planned out and settled. Whatever the case, in just a few hours or a day or two, we all go back to what we were doing before Christmas. Guests will be gone. Or if we’re guests we will be back

home again. If we have failed to move deeper into the mystery of what this is all about and what it asks of us, it is all in vain on God’s part and ours as well.

When all the feasting is over, the wrapping paper cleaned up, and the notes of gratitude written, it will be time for the real work of Christmas to begin. It’s time to make peace and make music in every human heart. No one else can do it, and God waits for us to finish what God has begun.

December 24, 2009 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Isaiah 9: 1-6 + Psalm 96 + Titus 3: 4-7 + Luke 2: 1-20 Fr. Boyer

Homily for the children

Delivered on Christmas morning after Mass because of Christmas Eve Blizzard cancelling all Masses

Just a little while ago there was a church like our church planning to have a Christmas pageant telling the story we just heard about the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. All of the children lined up to get a part in the play. The teacher started out by asking who wanted to be Mary and every one of the girls raised their hands and jumped up and down to get attention. They all wanted to be Mary and wear the beautiful blue dress and hold the baby. Then the teacher asked who wanted to be Joseph, and all the boys waved their hands in the air and they pushed and shoved to get in front of the teacher.

Then it was time for the shepherds and the wise men, and everyone left wanted those parts because of the neat robes and they got to talk and carry the beautiful gifts. Then the angels got chosen and there was great excitement because they get to sing the best songs and the wings were fun wear and everyone would clap for them. Finally the teacher asked who wanted to be the donkey. The room got very quiet and no one raised their hand. After all, who would want to be a donkey? You don’t get to say anything there is no song, no body claps for you and you just sit there and stare at Mary and Joseph and their baby.

The teacher was very sad because no one would raise their hand to be the donkey, and so that year there was no donkey in the play. In fact, that year there just was no Christmas at all. If there is no donkey, nothing would happen in Bethlehem because Mary and Joseph could never get there in time. They would have walked. If there is no donkey, no one could carry Mary, Joseph, and their baby away to Egypt to save them from King Herod who wanted to kill all the baby boys. If there was no donkey Jesus could not have come into Jerusalem to celebrate Passover and his last supper giving us his body and blood.

In fact, without the donkey, there might not be any story to tell at all. The problem with being a donkey is that you never get much attention because everyone is looking at the angels and Mary and Joseph and those shepherds and wise men dressed up pretty and nice.

When you look at every Nativity scene, I want you to learn to look at the donkey and remember how important the donkey is to our story. When you grow up I want you to remember that sometimes in God’s plan it is better to be a donkey than to be an angel or the star of the show.

The donkey never got to say anything or look very pretty, but the donkey got to carry Jesus, Mary and Joseph to safety. The donkey had the best view of everything in that stable, and without someone willing to play the part of the donkey, there’s no story to tell. I don’t want you to grow up thinking you all have to be star of the show. I don’t want you to grow up pushing and shoving thinking that the best parts in life are the pretty parts or the famous parts. Even if you don’t end up playing the part of the donkey, always remember, recognize, and be grateful that someone plays the part of the donkey for us all.

December 13, 2009 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Zephaniah 3: 14-18 + Psalm Isaiah 12:2-3,4:5-6 + Philippians 4:4-7 + Luke 3: 10-18 Fr. Boyer

Poor John the Baptist suffers from bad-press.I think he needed a press agent or someone to put a good spin on his preaching. His home in the desert as we have it described does not exactly sound like a villa in Phoenix or Palm Springs. Maybe it was his wardrobe or his diet that made him seem so scary both of which seem to have caught the attention of writers. Artists have consistently made him look like a raving mad-man. But Luke treats him a bit more gently today. John is not screaming rebukes trying to reduce a crowd to a pool of guilt and fear. While there is a sense of urgency about his message, when you listen carefully without all the bad spin he gets, he is encouraging not threatening. The response he urges is not motivated by fear and terror, but by a desire and hope for readiness. “What shall we do?” they ask. In fact, three times the question is asked by the crowd, by the soldiers, and by the tax collectors. Everyone asks. I find it interesting to notice that this is the exact question posed with the exact same Greek words in Luke’s description of how the people responded to the preaching of the apostles on Pentecost morning, “What shall we do?”

In some ways, it’s a silly question and as often is the case, questions say a lot about the ones who ask them. It’s a like a student coming to a teacher and asking, “What do I have to do to get an A in this class?” Duh!
How about showing up for class; paying attention, participating in discussion, reading the text book, and getting assignments done on time for starters!

Tax collectors as the question, and John says: “How about not cheating people for your own gain?” Soldiers as the question, and John says: “How about not abusing your power like a bully?” Of course they’re all looking for some big thing to do, something extra ordinary perhaps to get some attention and look good when the time comes.  But that is not what they get from the response, and it must have left them stunned.

Instead of telling them to head to the Temple, to offer incense, light candles, start novenas or hold fast days, he tells them to be just, stop being greedy, feed the hungry, share their clothing and take care of one another. I would point out to you that this translation is not quite as specific. If it were more precisely translated from the Greek, would be clear that what John proposes is not a closet cleaning whereby you get rid of extras coats. The word he uses specifically refers to what is worn closest to your skin. In other words, take off the one you are wearing and give that someone who has nothing. Giving a spare is not much of a gift. You don’t need it anyway.

He tells the powerful to stop victimizing the poor. The poor are not there to supplement and sustain the lifestyle of those in power. The message of John and of the one coming after him is first of all a social message that addresses political and economic matters long before it turns to pious matters of faith. It is as though we have to get that right before we can show up at the temple with any authentic credibility. The conversion and repentance John calls for affects first of all the social life of the people who hear the message.

So, filled with expectation we are like those who heard John and we still ask, “What shall we do?”
John has the same answer for us. Readiness for Christ’s coming at the end of our time requires nothing spectacular and nothing we cannot do. For people like me, it means giving all I can, being prepared for Mass, listening and guiding, leading and teaching, forgiving, comforting, and encouraging. For young people it means being kind, faithful to your church, chaste, prayerful, and attentive to the Gospel, using your gifts and your time generously, and being good students open to learning and looking for wisdom. For parents it means simply nurturing the whole life of your children spiritual, physical, intellectual loving them all the way even when the love is tough and painful. For spouses it means fidelity, love, and sacrifice. It means presence, tenderness, attention, and willing forgiveness before it is asked. For single people it means simply being who you are wherever you are;
living with integrity, sincerity, and confident that just as Christ is your companion every day, you are a companion to others. Do a good day’s work as best you can. For all of us readiness for Christ’s coming means being and living just as God created and called us: living our vocation in fullness and in gratitude.  In the light of what John has to teach us then there is nothing for us to fear and every reason to live with the joyful anticipation that one day even if caught by surprise we shall be found worthy and blameless in God’s sight.

December 6, 2009 at Saint Mark in Norman, OK

Baruch 5: 1-9 + Psalm 126 + Philippians 1: 4-6, 8-11 + Luke 3: 1-6

Christ has died, Christ is risen, CHRIST WILL COME AGAIN! Remember that from last week? Good because I’m not finished talking about it. We believe that Christ will come again, and that expectation has given rise to some really weird ideas. “The Rapture” which we who live here in this part of the country hear a lot about is a perfect example. Before the 19th century no one ever heard of such a thing. The scheme comes from a British Preacher named John Darby and it is the consequence of his mistaken literal interpretation of several passages of scripture. By taking several verses from different biblical sources out of their context he desperately reassembled these bits and pieces in a strangely literal way coming up with the concept of the “Rapture”. Those of us who grew up down here under the buckle of the Bible Belt know only too well what that’s all about. You know how the conversation goes: “Are you saved?” A question which has no interest in salvation. It means: “Do you believe literally in the bible like me?” Right then and there, you’re in trouble because no matter what your answer, the questioner will determine that you are not saved which means that when the end of time comes, and that’s going to be soon, you are going to be punished. It always makes me think of my mother saying to me way too often:”You just wait till your Father gets home.”

The Rapture of course is going to be pretty awful, so they say. The saved, meaning the born again are going to be lifted up, and then seven years of tribulation will set upon the rest of us, especially us Catholics. There is an alarming popularity in this thinking, and there is something very wrong with it. It leads far too many Christians to believe in a kind of “shoot-em-up” “Terminator” type of Jesus who comes back to kill the bad guys and blow up the world. Movie theaters pack in crowds who want to watch the end of the world, and the move violent and bloody it is, the more believable and the possible it become.

Now this kind of thinking has had a serious effect upon our lives and our culture. This kind Jesus who comes in blazing and bloody starts looking like the right kind of Justice. Revenge and punishment start to take over and the God Jesus wanted us to call: “Abba” turns into angry monster who is bound and determined to get even.
This idea of Justice has nothing to do with Jesus Christ. An expectation that the next coming will bring the Lion of Judah who will trample his enemies and spare the elect is twisted thinking that sells a lot books and abandons the Good News.Because those of us who have begun to enter into the mystery of redemption and live in the tradition of our faith know there is something very wrong with this thinking, so we get tempted to not think about  the second coming at all. Since the Rapture thinking gets so much press we just stop thinking about Christ’s return altogether. We forget what it is we wait for and instead of getting ready, we stay busy about today and tomorrow and little silly things that suddenly one day are not going to matter at all.

This is costing us a sense of urgency, and the fact that we live in a church that celebrates in cycles only makes it worse, because we forget as we go around from season to season that we are going someplace. This Advent could be a time to reclaim an urgency about our mission, not stir up fear that Jesus is going to come and destroy everything and everyone he doesn’t happen to like. The truth is, sometimes there is not enough fire in us. Sometimes we forget that time is short and we have to be about something important: more important than shopping, football, how we look, and what we can do for fun this afternoon.

Rather than being distracted by silly talk of the “anti-Christ” we might do well to recognize that the enemy is within us, and that we have the potential of destroying ourselves through a catastrophic war with nuclear and biological weapons or through the slow but steady destruction of this beautiful planet.

Think of this: If you look at the history of salvation right down to the Incarnation, nothing happens between heaven and earth without the cooperation of humans: No willing woman in Nazareth, no Jesus of Nazareth.
It still continues just that way. Our mission is to hasten the day of Christ’s coming, and look forward to that day with joyful hope. Living now in this time between the first and the second coming ought to bring us a kind of peace and serenity from living and understanding the message and mission of Christ. It also ought to stir us with a passion for the possible that urges us day in and day out to keep on working to better establish the Kingdom of God to get it right and get it where it’s supposed to be.  Even death itself is nothing to fear for those who have lived in expectation of what wonderful things are to come from a healing, loving, merciful God. And so we can proclaim with confidence and joy: Dying you destroyed our Death, Rising you restored our Life, What’s the rest of it? ………. Lord, Jesus Come in Glory.