Homily for Pentecost 2012

My sisters & brothers, we continue the mission of the Church as we celebrate our spiritual roots. 

The famous AValley of Dry Bones@ story we started out with is a dramatic and powerful promise of resurrection for God=s people.  It comes to us from the prophet Ezekiel who was both a prophet and a priest.  His ministry began before the conquest of Judah in 587 BC, and continued during the exile in Babylon.  This book is the foundation for both Jewish and Christian visionary or apocalyptic literature, e.g. Revelation.  The prophet's message to the exiles is clear: he assures his hearers of God's abiding presence among them, and he emphasizes God's involvement in the events of the day, so that Israel and all nations will know who really is God.  He brings a dispersed and discouraged people, a message of hope.  Hope that God will restore them to their homeland and the temple. 

Our second reading today is the Pentecost story from Acts.  The way Luke puts it (the time Acame") shows that Pentecost is a milestone in the story of salvation, using similar language to his introduction of Jesus birth and ascension.

Look at the manner in which the Holy Spirit comes: the sound is Alike the rush of a violent wind@ and then, Adivided tongues, as of fire.@  Luke attempts to describe the event in human terms, but it is never possible to explain a divine mystery.  All we can do is say what it is like.  The coming of the Holy Spirit is the gift inaugurating the final stage of salvation history; this era leads up to the end of time.  The Spirit=s arrival is in fulfillment of Christ's promise.  The Spirit is the launching pad for the church=s mission.  

Today=s gospel picks up the story after the Last Supper, Jesus continues to tell the disciples about the mission they are to undertake and promises The AAdvocate.@  This advocate is the Holy Spirit; who is described as the Aspirit of truth.@  The Church too is to witness, to work with the Holy Spirit, by living the life that Christ made possible.  Thus, continuing Christ=s work in the world. 

Today we celebrate both the arrival of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the Church.  It is also the beginning of the mission to make disciples of all nations.  We see this in the example of Peter preaching on the spur of the moment.  This celebration is referred to as the birth of the church because Jesus has finally left his disciples, by ascending to the Father.  The waiting time for the Spirit has come to fruition and they have been filled with all the spiritual gifts needed to begin there work of establishing Jesus= church in the world. 

Historically, the early Christians did not start out seeing themselves as a new church.  They saw themselves as Jews who knew the Messiah had come, and set about proclaiming that message.  It was not until the year 70 that they fully broke away from Judaism as an independent religion. 

The lead up to this began with the Jewish establishment persecuting the Christians as heretics.  During this time, the Zealots in Israel mounted a full scale rebellion against Roman occupation.  The Roman response was for an army to make a complete sweep of Israel.  Subduing the country again and utterly destroying the city of Jerusalem and the Temple within it.  This destruction was the final blow to the Christians.  It forced them to realize that they were about something completely new. 

Pentecost is the spiritual root of this realization which simply took time (and traumatic events) for people to figure out.  So, we today celebrate Pentecost as the birth of the church; because Christianity=s spiritual roots started with this event! 

So, what about our own day and age?  To continue the mission started by our ancestors in faith (to live in the Holy Spirit as they did) we must continue our discernment and development process.  Through prayer and conversation, we will be able to more clearly see God=s call to us in 2012 and put that call into action! 

6th Sunday of Easter B, May 13, 2012

At the height of a political corruption trial, the prosecuting attorney attacked a witness.  "Isn't it true," he bellowed, "that you accepted five thousand dollars to compromise this case?”  The witness stared out the window, as though he hadn't heard the question.

"Isn't it true that you accepted five thousand dollars to compromise this case?" the lawyer repeated.  The witness still did not respond.

Finally, the judge leaned over and said, "Sir, please answer the question."

"Oh," the startled witness said, "I thought he was talking to you."

Loyalty and trust worthiness is important in our Christian lives. 

In our first reading from Acts, the issue of welcoming the uncircumcised (non Jews) into the Christian Church is addressed as having been predetermined by the Holy Spirit.  Peter has been bidden to visit Cornelius, an officer of the Roman army of occupation stationed in Caesarea.  Both have had visions; in Peter=s case, he has been advised not to worry about what meat a Jew can eat per Mosaic Law (and whether he can visit a Gentile home.)  Peter visits Cornelius and his household: Amany had assembled.@ Peter tells them that God has shown him not to distinguish between Jews and non Jews.  Cornelius, a devout man who reveres and prays to God, tells Peter about his vision of God=s agent who told him to send for Peter.  Cornelius says: ASo now all of us are here in the presence of God to listen to all that the Lord has commanded you to say.@ 

Peter preaches and the Holy Spirit comes, as a Agift,@ on all present, Aeven on the Gentiles:@ to the surprise of the Jewish Christians Awho had come with Peter.@ The pouring out of the Spirit and baptism are closely associated in Acts; here baptism follows the coming of the Spirit.  Peter=s rhetorical question moves the important conversation: we Jewish Christians received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost; now these Gentiles have received it, so surely they can be baptized.  So they are baptized B not by Peter, but under his authority. 

In our reading from 1 John, we hear that believing in Jesus, loving God through doing his will is to conquer the evil in this world.  That is to say, we are filled with God=s grace through our love of Christ and our following of his example and teachings.  This, empowers us to overcome the evil that encroaches on our lives. 

In our gospel story, John further develops the theme of last week, abiding in Jesus as branches abide in the vine.  John makes the point that Jesus has loved his disciples as the Father has loved him.  The disciples are to continue to love him, by being obedient to his Acommandments.@ 

We remain or abide in Jesus, by remaining loyal to him, his teaching and example.  The example of Peter in the first reading illustrates this: he follows Jesus instruction to spread the message, he even discerns (through the Holy Spirit) Jesus ongoing (or new) instructions and takes the message to outcasts that he might not have gone to otherwise.  He even accepts the Holy Spirit’s example, guiding him to do away with the usual requirements of making a person become a Jew before they become Christian!  He is responsive to God on many levels. 

In other words, Peter fulfills the work and role he was given by God.  He lives in both the word he heard from Christ, what he has read in the Scriptures, and he listens to God=s ongoing promptings.  Adapting where he is called to adapt and fulfilling his role in God=s plan. 

My sisters and brothers, let us do likewise!

Homily for 5 Easter B

My sisters & brothers, our Christian mission is to produce good thing for the Kingdom of God. In our reading from the book of Acts, we heard the story of Phillip and the Ethiopian; it is the beginning of his missionary journey. Though we have little documentary evidence other than this story, we do know that Christianity was established in Ethiopia very early. Our reading is in the part of Acts where Luke (the author) tells of the spread of the Good News to non Jewish people in the Middle East. Prior to this story, he tells us about carrying the gospel to Samaria. Jews rejected Samaritans because they had a different principal place of worship and scriptural tradition. Now we hear of the conversion of another outcast, a eunuch. According to the laws in Deuteronomy, a eunuch could not be admitted to the assembly of the LORD.  For people of the 1st century Ethiopia represented the extreme limits of the known world. Our second reading from the first letter of John, gives us a lesson in humility. We are not the prime movers in our relationship with God. It doesn’t start with us seeking out God. Rather it begins with God loving us and revealing His love by sending his Son into the world (and into our individual lives). We then can respond to this outpouring, so that we might have life through Christ. John then reiterates his view of the primary commandment, if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is perfected in us. To claim to love God wile hating one's brothers or sisters, is hypocrisy. If one dose not love the brother or sister they have seen, they cannot love God, whom they have not seen. In our Gospel story today, we hear a poetic reminder that we must be productive followers. The individual Christians who are ineffective risk being cut off, were as those who are productive will be aided by God's power. The vine and branches symbol of our relationship with Jesus the Christ has many important nuances. We all know that the branches are an extension of the root stock or trunk of a vine or tree. The function of the root stock is to draw water and nutrients from the soil and distribute it to feed the entire plant. Each branch uses the nutrients to produce flowers, fruit and finally the seeds. As a symbol, this talks about Jesus as having the role of giver of nourishment and his followers the role of production. We are then responsible to carry out the work of growing and producing the good things of God's Kingdom. In our century it means that we first draw spiritual strength from God. There are many way to do this: study the Word, share in the sacraments, pray privately, etc. We then use the spiritual strength we gain to extend the church's positive influence in the world. This also has several dimensions. The many things we can do to invite new people into our church: advertising, personal invitations, etc. It also involves the things we can do to extend the hand of compassion to those experiencing hardships: giving to charitable drives like St. Andrew's children's clinic, and the chaplain's foot locker - and most especially, giving of our time and skills. In this dynamic way, we keep our selves alive as productive branches of Christ our vine!