It
was March 1991, when I found myself in an auditorium at the Defense Equal
Opportunity Management Institute. The
lecture began and the presenter rambled on with some charts, statistics and
mentioned something about a psychodrama.
It didn’t take long to figure something wasn’t quite right. Some of my classmates were getting very, I
mean very, emotionally involved with the presentation. It got to the point that the ranking officer
got up extremely irritated and released us to our small group rooms. Many in my group just didn’t get what was
happening and, like me, didn’t know how to respond. When we got called back to the auditorium,
the presenter returned to re-explain the psychodrama, how he drew us in with real-life
statements and comments we would encounter as we were sent out on our mission. He explained how he did everything to let us
know what was coming, just without ringing the bell when he began.
Sometimes
I believe this is one of humanity’s greatest weaknesses; that we get so into
what we are doing, what we are saying, what we are defending, we tend to divide
people & things in an effort to help us comprehend them, hearing what we
want to hear and rapidly responding, often quite emotionally, with words and/or
actions, yet missing the beautiful and complex realities that often confront
us.[1]
Did
you know Jesus was a bell ringer? When I
reflect on all the events in scripture leading us to this point in time
Pentecost, Jesus rang the bell for his disciples every step of the way. Three times!
Jesus predicted the Passion he must undergo (Lk
9:22; 9:43-45; & 19:31-34) but the disciples “failed to comprehend what he said.”
(Lk 19:34) On Holy Thursday Jesus gives them a model of
service, and sends Judas, his betrayer, to do what he must, and when the guards
come to get Jesus, his friends are ready to fight! But Jesus reminds them,
stick to the plan, and they flee until “On
the first day of the week” they are confronted with the empty
tomb. Can you here their excitement,
their joyful question, is it possible that everything Jesus said be true?
Through
the following weeks the risen Jesus walked with his disciples reminding them of
all he taught them. The Church continues
to bell ring for Jesus, through the Easter season scriptures, reminding us of
our mission, values, and reward for obedience. Some key phrase to jog out
memory of the journey this Easter season:
- Second Sunday: “… As the Father has sent me, so I send you.” (Jn 20:21) This is a mission action! We can’t sit around waiting for people to come us, we must go and engage the world, to be the light of the world. Inviting them to see the many promises of God the can get the longing heart hope and purpose.
- Third Sunday: “Simon Peter, Do you love me?” (Jn 21:15-17) Three times Peter is asked for the sake of reconciliation. God wants us to know He is seeking us out, to offer forgiveness so that we may choose to reconcile with him.
- Fourth Sunday: “My sheep hear my voice; I know them, and they will follow me.” (Jn 10:27) is our call to unity as the one body of Christ. We are all God’s children, gifted uniquely, and it takes the collective us to create the harmony the God seeks for his children.
- Fifth Sunday: “This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (Jn 13:35) is our call to love all of God’s children. God calls us to love, even if the other person drives you crazy! We are all His! The one body of Christ with Jesus as the head. “Love one another my child” was John’s mantra in his old age. There is wisdom in this.
- Sixth Sunday: “Whoever loves me will keep my word…” (Jn 14:23) there is no love without obedience; we must be living tabernacle where God can dwell.
- Finally Ascension Sunday: Jesus once again reminds the disciples of all that had to happen, promises to send the Advocate who would remind them and guide them always, and He gave them the mission to share the good news, beginning in Jerusalem and then the whole world. We are part of this mission.
Fr.
Jeremiah gave us some homework last week, remember? We were to take some time to write our
personal mission statement encompassing how we lived our life to now and then
compare it to the Gospel mission statement.
I remembered that several years ago I’d written a mission statement when
I signed up for a LinkedIn account (LinkedIn is a professional networking
account). It goes like this:
“I
am a disciple of Jesus the Christ, attempting to live the Gospel law of love in
every aspect of my life of service to the community with the objective to be a
good steward of my God given gifts and community resources offered to assist
those most in need.”
We
have to be the bell ringers for Jesus of today, for our family, our community,
for the world! By word and deed our
world needs to hear and see clearly, we are children of God; who is a God of
mercy, a God of unity, a God of unconditional love. As I watch this election year unfold, I see a
good bad example. We see men and women
making their case to be our national leaders by tearing each other down, then
when it gets down to the last candidate standing, they call for party
unity! Can you feel the love? Tearing another down to build one’s self up
is not a long term strategy for productive relationships, it simply is not
effective. It can’t be this way with
us. We can only be successful witnesses
if we are rooted in his love, strive for the unity of all God’s children, and
are obedient to the voice of Holy Spirit (who is God and is Jesus) in our
everyday normal lives. The Holy Spirit
is with us, within in us, to remind us of all God has done for us and all God
expects of us. He gives us the Eucharist
to nourish and strengthen us on our earthly journey as we toil in his vineyard
on His mission.
Does
your mission statement, your life, make you a bell ringer for Jesus?
[1]New American
Bible, Saint Joseph Edition. ©
1986. Scriptures: Acts 15:1-2, 22-29; Rev
21:10-14, 22-23; John 14:23-29.
No comments:
Post a Comment