29 July  2012 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

2 Kings 4: 42-44 + Psalm 145 + Ephesians 4: 1-6 + John 6: 1-15

We have set aside Mark’s Gospel now until September 2. For five more Sunday we shall explore with the whole church the 6th Chapter of John’s Gospel, and this openinig today is loaded with what I like to call “teasers”. Think back for a moment with the details you just heard. Each of them should spark your religious imagination if it has been fed. If they don’t, there is also a message here: “You have not studied the Word of God.”

He crossed the Sea of Galilee. What does that crossing mean? Jesus went up on the mountain. This is no passing detail. He sat down in the posture of a Rabbi:  a message about his identity. Passover was near. Can you connect that to something? He raised his eyes. That happens often in John’s Gospel. It’s like clapping your hands! It gets attention. Something is about to be said that is important; and it is. “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”  This is not a practical question for a picnic. This is a cry of desperation. It is the cry I hear from those who serve the poor all the time. I had an email while away last week from the leadership of St Vincent de Paul. “We’re of money. Where shall we send the poor?” was the message in the email. Then there is Philip and Andrew. When one of the named apostles speaks, there will be words worth remembering: a declaration that there isn’t enough. It sounds like doubt to me and it boraders on cynical scepticism……. And then, there is that boy.

I have wondered where he came from and what was he doing there with five barely loaves and two fish. If you’ve ever had barley bread, you would not ask for seconds. It’s poor food for poor people. What was he doing there? Was he on his way home from a shop sent by his mother to get the evening meal? Was he an entrepreneur who knew he could make some money out there among that hungry crowd? If sent out by his mother to the shop, did he come home with more than she expected having been given one of the twelve baskets heaping full with the left-overs?

Then there is that warning about gathering and waisting, and that significant number of baskets: those people understood all these details, these signs, these wonders, and they responded instantly knowing now who was in their midst. But it wasn’t time for that “king” stuff, so he withdrew alone.

I want you to think about that boy this time around with John’s Gospel. I have been thinking about him for several days. John give him no name, so we can’t begin thinking he is someone else. With no name, he has our name. He is the unlikely one chosen to do the work, to supply what is needed, to feed a hungry crowd, and even more so, he is the one to awaken in us the message, the truth, and the wonder of what God can do with what God has given us.

The issue of whether or not there is enough is swept away in a single verse: “Jesus took the loaves and gave thanks, and distributed.” These verses are not simply about Jesus. They are about us; and there is here a great image of what we bring to the kingdom, which is far too little; but also a reminder of what God ‘s grace does with our offerings.

We are bombarded these days with messages that insist that there isn’t enough, and the consequences of that thinking are all around us raising doubts about God’s presence, God’s grace, God’s providence, mercy, and love. I don’t believe those messages, and I am not going to let you believe it either without a serious challenge. The consequence of thinking that there isn’t enough is hoarding what we have. The boy in that Gospel did not do that. He brought and gave what some considered too little, and the consequences were a sudden insight and experience of the Kingdom of God.

There is enough, and we have what it takes to reveal the Kingdom of God and bring others to excitment about it, but too many do not believe it. Why did St Vincent de Paul run out of money this week? Where is the boy of this Gospel? Two weeks ago I finished a long and painful struggle with the new budget for this parish. For the first time in my entire life as a priest, I will present to the Finance Board a deficit budget. Doing so leaves me sad and discouraged. With an accountant advisor everything was cut, and still we could not match the projected income declining little by little over the past three years. Nothing on the expense side has declined. Insurance, utitilites, and maintenance of this building now old enough to begin falling apart makes it more and more difficult to meet our debt service obligations which continues to take nearly half of every month’s income.

All I can do in my last year among you is look for the boy with the barley loaves, and I think this Gospel holds the answer to this challenge. You have what it takes to continue the work of Jesus Christ in revealing the Kingdom of God. That is the work of this church which you are day by day becoming. I will not be the voice of Philip complaing and doubting that there is enough. I want to be the voice of John who tells the story of what God can do with what God has given you when you offer it. I believe you will go home with a basket full, knowing that nothing is waisted.

15 July  2012 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Amos 7: 12-15 + Psalm 85 + Ephesians 1: 3-14 + Mark 6: 7-13

Even after 45 years as a priest, it is a constant challenge for me to prepare and enter this sacred space putting down any hint of feelings that this is a performance. I have come to understand that for great performers there is a similar experience. As long as they “act” they are not truly into the character or the scene. They must become the person they are presenting. They cannot simply “act like” that character. A truly discerning audience always knows the difference. It is, I suppose, what makes the difference between an amature and a truly great performer. Great performers spend months and months researching and studying in every way the character they are going to become on the stage or the screen. Amatures just learn the lines. Great performers learn to walk like them, talk like them, think like them, and often enough, they begin to look like them. I saw a stage play last fall in which the central character was Winston Churchill. It was a dramatic play about the three days leading up to a turning point in the early days of World War 2. When the play ended, I felt as though I had been in the very presence of that courageous leader. It was amazing.

The same thing is going on in Mark’s Gospel. Apostles have spent a lot of time with Jesus. They have listened, learned, studied, eat, slept, and traveled with Jesus all preparing for the day when, in a sense, the curtain will go up and they will be out there on their own. Their success will be determined by how closely they can present the truth, the compassion, the vision, and the message of the one they are presenting, or the one who is now present in them.

What troubles me with this Gospel considered in this way is that for every play or performance, and with every Celebration of a Sacrament, there are always the performers and spectators and this is where the difference comes between what happens in a theater and what happens in a church. There will always be spectators at the theater, but there must never be spectators in a church. My challenge comes when I walk down this aisle because there are obviously a lot of spectators here which then tempts me to perform: a bad plan and a bad experience for all of us. If you don’t believe me that there are specatators here, you need to sit in that chair and look around at the faces and the postures. Or, you can take a good look at the contribution pattern and see quite clearly that more than half of the people here are spectators they are not participating in the mission.

Here is the problem and the challenge Mark sets out to the church today: the mission of passing on the faith is a vocation shared by everyone who has come to know, to listen to, and be inspired by Jesus Christ. There are no spectators. These verses are not a piece of history telling a story of some day in the past when Jesus sent out the twelve. It is the living Word of God revealing our vocation to us. Nowhere in here are we instructed to stand around and listen, or sit around and watch what happens. The qualifications are right here in the very words of Jesus Christ: live simply enough that you can discover how God provides for you, don’t hang around people who do not welcome who you are and what you present, and don’t be looking for a better a deal. There isn’t one. I often wonder how this gospel sounds to the folks who parish hop, or shop around for a church. The instruction here for all of us who embrace the vocation of our faith is to stay put – in one place, and there together we are to confront evil, encourage repenetance, reconcile, and bring about healing from all the sickness that surrounds us.

The first reading today addresses that “who me?” response you may be feeling. There is no excuse accepted. The first reading today puts a stop to that. Amos the prophet was a shepherd – the lowest of positions in those times. That did not stop God from sending him. Every baptized person in this place has been anointed as Jesus Christ was anointed: as priest, prophet, and king. Those are the words spoken over you at your Baptism. The first vocation each of us has is to pass on the faith, and at some point in every one of our lives, we have to “get it.” We must wake up and realize that we’re not here as spectators to watch, or as an audience to sit around and listen.

Children, you too must pass on the faith. You do it by repect and kindess; by honesty and truthfulness. You pass on the faith by being generous and helpful. Young people, in High School and College, you too pass on the faith by your courage in the face of evil, by the decisions you make and the company you keep, by your trust in God and commitment to prayer and worship before anything else. Your defense of the week and outcasts, the losers and the lost awakens in everyone the power of faith and grace. Parents, it is your vocation accepted at the Baptism of your children to bring them up as Christ has taught us. Yet year after year children show up in our programs ignorant of the most basic and fundamental elements of the faitih. How is this possible? How have the spectators become the majority?

Hear this Gospel. Hear the Word of God. Get up. Get out. Get serious. Get your life in order. You don’t need anything more than what you get here: food for the journey, a companion, and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

8 July  2012 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Ezekiel 2: 2-5 + Psalm 123 + 2 Corinthians 12: 7-10 + Mark 6: 1-6

Last week the people were amazed. This week, Jesus is amazed.

Last week it was the faith two people that were amazing.

This week it is the lack of faith that leaves Jesus amazed, and it is amazing.

It is amazing that in spite of all that he had done in signs and wonders, they remained incredulous and actually offended.

While it might be interesting to get all theological about this, historical, and all very profound in discussing the relationship with faith and the power of Jesus to work signs, I think the point here is much more simple, and quite a bit more personal for all of us.

For Mark, this story is very personal and very real in an on-going sense. First Jesus is rejected by the citizens of Nazareth. Astonishing. By the time Mark puts together his Gospel, the Gentiles all over the place are coming to believe, but the Jews, Jesus’ own are rejecting the Kingdom of God and Jesus. Astonishing. One of thier own is simply dismissed.

The point of this gospel story is these people. I think their problem is not their lack of faith in Jesus. It is their lack of faith in themselves and in what God can do with someone – maybe anyone from Nazareth. Remember, Nazareth was looked down upon by everyone. “Can anything good come from Nazareth?” is a question proposed aloud that reveals the way these people were perceived, and sadly, I think this story tells us that they had come to believe that about themselves.

When they cut Jesus down to their size, question how God could work through one of them, how anyone of them could share in the divine plan, heal, give life, defend and embrace the lost and lowly, speak with authority, and command evil spirits, it is not just a lack of faith in Jesus, it is a lack of faith, respect, and hope for themselves. It isn’t just that they didn’t believe in Jesus. They did not believe that one of them could be God’s servant. They thought they were just too poor, inadequate, and insignificant. That God could choose the week and make them strong was just beyond them, and so, there were no signs of the Kingdom of God, no miracles worked there.

This story is still being told lived today, right here;

and we’re right in the middle of it.

How is it that people do not believe in Jesus Christ, in the Sacraments, in this Church? Perhaps it is because we live like those citizens of Nazareth: not believing that God could do something through us. Perhaps we think that the work of peace, of reconciliation, forgiveness, of feeding the hungry, and embracing the lonely and outcast is the work of someone else, some specialist or professional. I don’t think that’s working? Do you?

There are not enough signs of that the Kingdom of God is at hand. The reason is not because Jesus is absent; but because we act like those Nazareans and fail to understand that God has chosen to use people like us to bring this Kingdom to life. Perhaps there is no faith in our Church, our religion, our sacraments becasue we have no faith in ourselves; no belief, no hope, no confidence that we can do anything that matters, or that God might choose someone like us to accomplish God’s plan.

The people of Nazareth missed it because they did not think enough of themselves, find themselves worthy, and therefore be open to God’s work among them. The Jews missed it because they had an idea of a Messiah that was outside of their ordinary lives, and they could not imagine that God would save them with one of their own. Now what happens? How do we make this work and not miss it this time. The work and will of God is not something for someone else. The mission of the church to heal, to reconcile, to give life, to feed, to lead, to teach is not reserved to those with degrees in Theology, or to those ordained for service.

This is astonishing, utterly astonishing that God would choose you and me to fulfill His plan and secure his Kingdom. When we get that right, there will be plenty of miracles and no absence of faith in Jesus Christ.

1 July  2012 at Saint Mark Church in Norman, OK

Wisdom 1: 13-15, 2:23-24 + Psalm 30 + 2 Corinthians 8: 7, 9, 13-15 + Mark 5: 21-43

These Gospel verses have brought back some childhood memories over the past several days as I have sat with them. The sound of my mother’s voice came back to me and I sat and laughed one afternoon at how quick, how often, and sometimes how loudly she would say: “Don’t touch that!” It’s a wonder I have any feeling in my fingers; they were so sensory deprived as a child! Where ever we went, my sister and I were constantly warned: “Don’t touch anything”. From other people’s homes to the grocery store, the warning was the same: “Don’t touch!” Then off to school we would go hearing the same message: “Don’t touch anybody and don’t touch their stuff.” So, I can tell by looking at you that you have heard the same thing: “No touching!”

That is exactly how people at the time of Jesus  grew up. They did not touch anything or anyone. Doing so made them “unclean” and there were serious consequences to that. The consequences were seperation from the community and loss of identity which was a very important thing. The whole identity of Israel was shaped by law, and much of that law was expressed in terms of touching. If you did not touch, you stayed in. If you touched you were out. Then along come Jesus.

He must have had a different kind of mother than we did, because Jesus was a “toucher”. He not only touched, but people wanted to touch him; and we hear about that today. As we have come to understand, with Jesus everything gets turned around. Suddenly touching brings people in rather than putting people out. Now touching restores rather than excludes. Now touching makes clean rather than unclean. With Jesus, the entire law that so shaped and identified old Israel is finished. It is now reversed. In the new Israel, the Church, touching and being touched is what matters. What is announced by this Gospel is that our relationship with Jesus is the heart of our identity, not our relationship to the old law. Now it will be a matter of how strictly and how faithfully we follow Jesus that keeps us pure and makes us holy, not how strictly and carefully we follow ritual behavior and rules. We all know a lot of people who keep the rules and are far from Jesus. I am uncomfortable around those kind of people. What keeps us clean and holy is being touched by Jesus and touching Jesus. This Church that we have become is a people who marked, identified, and recognized as having been touched by Jesus and therefore as people willing to touch others.

All touching is not a matter of hands and fingers. I can’t count the times that I have been touched by you, your kindness, your consideration and concern. Not a week goes by in my life that I do not hear someone tell me how they were touched by our liturgy, our prayer, the message of a homily, or by the presence of Christ in the Sacraments we celebrate. Our ministry and this work of Jesus we continue is still about touching: touching the poor, touching the lost, touching those who are sick and those who are tired of being alone looking to be recognized, respected, and honored.

Think this week about these two powerful stories in Mark’s 5th Chapter. Those who witnessed these events must have been powerfully touched by them because they recall the details so clearly. Not often in the Gospel are the very words of Jesus remembered and recorded. The Gospels were written in Greek remember, not in the language Jesus spoke. But today we hear his very words: “Talitha koum”. “Little girl, get up.” There is a touching tenderness to the sound of the words that reaches deep into us and calls us to life.

A synagoge official who has a name, and a woman without a one show us today how faith works, and what happens when you believe. In gospel terms you could hardly imagine any two people more opposite: the perfect pure accomplished and responsible official of a synagogue and an unclean woman who is bleeding! Yet inspite of their difference, they have something in common: Trust. They trust that Jesus Christ will break the rules and touch them with his mercy, and he does, then and still today.

In spite of the old rule: “Don’t touch”, those of us who have been touched by Jesus Christ may and should touch and be touched so that we may be lifted up to life. This is who we are. This is why we are here. This is what it means to be a Catholic and be at Eucharist: a people touched by God through His only Son, a people willing to reach out and touch others. Believing is not just about doctirnes and dogmas, it is about trusting and being touched. It is about the kind of tenderness that reaches out to us today on a hot summer weekend and says “Get up little one.” And then he says that she should be given something to eat.

Look at this altar table. In a few moments we will be given something to eat. Here we shall be touched and we shall dare to touch the divine. Just as it was then, so it is now: astonishing!