A Regular Joe: January 2017

Sunday, January 29, 2017

BLESSED ARE YOU…

1He was a square peg in a round hole, felt like he came from outer space. He picked up a drink at the age of twelve, after his two sisters had their wedding receptions in their home. He left school at fourteen-and-a-half to work with his father as a bricklayer. The money was good, but he was not cut out for it. He would have liked to be an artist and paint people and landscapes.

After drinking with a lot of English lads on Sydney's North Shore he thought it would be nice to go to England, as Sydney was the problem. London in the late sixties was all the go and he could drink as he liked, without Mum and Dad seeing him. (They were the problem!)

A lot of people thought he was English as he would put on the accent. He’d always imitated other people's talk, he just couldn’t be himself. He hated himself, and never fit in. He had a big mouth when drunk and became violent, but he couldn’t see it was the drink. He thought he was just mad. (Mad from drink!). The next day he would have the "hair of the dog" to feel all right and try to forget what had happened, but he couldn’t.

He thought people who told him what he did during blackouts lied. He told people not to live with him as he didn’t know what he might do when drunk. He hated the world and thought if he drank a lot it would kill him. He couldn't do it himself as it is a sin.

He was reading the section in the "Big Book" (the book Alcoholics Anonymous) called “Freedom from Bondage” that got him praying for his dad, whom he hated. It turned hate to love and set him free. He had thought only drink could set him free. Instead it held him in bondage for years.2

The first two steps of a twelve-step program are to admit both our powerlessness and our need for a power greater than ourselves to restore us to sanity. In other words, we cannot heal ourselves. We need to abandon our desire for control and recognize our utter dependence upon someone or something greater than ourselves. For Christians, this means recognizing that we are utterly dependent upon God and mutually dependent upon each other. The Beatitudes, attitudes for being disciples of Jesus, say something similar.3

Today’s gospel is the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. At first, it sounds beautiful; on second thought, it seems all wrong; and finally, it all makes sense. The language Jesus uses is eloquent, idealistic, and inspiring, but if you listen carefully, you can see it is directly opposed to several taken-for-granted articles of commonly accepted, so-called wisdom. For example: the way to be happy is to own as much as you can. Pain and suffering are to be avoided at all costs. Always try to be in control. Write off anyone who neglects you or doesn’t appreciate you. If anyone tries to insult you, don’t get mad; get even. Steer clear of the peaceniks, who try to turn you into a wimpy, do-gooder, bleeding heart.

Jesus is surrounded by a massive crowd of sinners, tax collectors, prostitutes, and really, really religious people, and really, really Gentile people who aren’t really, really considered religious by the really, really religious people. There’s this massive spectrum of humanity and in its midst, is Jesus, who begins: “Blessed are the poor in spirit because theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 5:3)4

What Jesus is doing here is making an announcement. An announcement is a fundamentally different way of framing something. He’s not giving instruction—like twelve steps to get God’s blessing. This is not a command—like here’s what you need to do in order to be blessed. This is not advice—here’s how I would approach the question of blessings. He announces that God is on the side of everybody for whom there’s no reason why God should be on their side. He announces to all of those who feel that they don’t deserve the blessing of God, the blessing of God is here and it’s yours.

Now that’s Good News!!

Here the other side of the coin. Our reading from Corinthians tells us the Jewish wisdom saw God as the sole source of concrete, embodied wisdom. So Beware! The moment we look down upon somebody because they aren’t as disciplined, hardworking, upright, smart, responsible, moral, God-fearing, bible-believing, or Jesus-loving as we are—because they’ve made idiotic, poor, or immoral choices again and again and again—it is at that moment we are in fact rich in spirit and Jesus isn’t announcing anything to us. Instead, it is our pathetic, bedraggled, confused, morally ambiguous state in which there’s nothing good within us that God announces, “I’m on your side.”5

Anyone think they are on the outs? God’s blessing is now pouring out on you. The Kingdom of Heaven has now become available in a fresh new way for all the people who have absolutely no claim to it and who don’t deserve it.

Blessed are those who there’s no reason in the world why they should be blessed.

[2] http://www.aa.org.au/ “He Felt He Was Mad”

Sunday, January 8, 2017

AN UNEXPECTED GIFT

[1]As a man was enjoying his Christmas gifts, his sister sent him an unexpected gift via e-mail. A story about their father she'd heard at a reunion party.

They were remember his father who was a very quiet man, who owned a small grocery store, earned his GED when he was in his 40s, and eventually became a government meat inspector. When he retired, he went around the corner to another small grocery store to sit at their register to check people out. If kept him our of the house, out of his wife's hair, and quite frankly, kept him sane since he'd started working when he was 14 and really didn't know what to do with his day if he wasn't.

One day a young man, about 15, came into the grocery store. He was a neighborhood kid, his dad knew him, as he knew everyone in the neighborhood. The kid had a gun and held it on his dad demanding money. His dad took the gun from the kid, sent the kid out of the store and put the gun in a paper bag. When work was over, his dad walking to the home of the young man's father and returned the gun. Telling the father what happened with the assumption the father would want to know if the young man was walking down the wrong path and the young man needed to be set straight.

As the man read what his sister wrote, his eyes widened with amazement. "My father, my quiet, unassuming, 'start every day at the 7 a.m. Mass and never raise his voice' father, had confronted a gun-wielding teenager and taken the gun from him. Then quietly walked to the boy's home, to give his father a chance to make a difference rather than call the police." Doing all this without, apparently, mentioning it anyone.

Reading that story, the man realized he had groun up with this man. Thought he knew him. He knew of his kindness to so many young people he helped with no fuss or bother or need for acknowledgement. He knew of his gentleness having watched him handle his mother, who was, some might say, high maintenance on many levels. He watched him work 6 1/2 days a week in the store to put food on the table and still find time to do the books for the Knights of Columbus.

Yet knowing all that, what he didn't realize was what a quiet hero he was and the inner strength he possessed. His father took a gun away from a young man and gave that young man a chance to try again.[2]

The blessings of God, our Father, we hear in our scriptures today, went out to the whole world—not just to our Jewish brothers and sisters, but to all. So why does God allow so much chaos in the world? Even at the birth of Jesus, scripture tells us, there was no peace! We know how King Herod stayed in power. He killed people, his family, even the young children after the Magi “departed for their country by another way” (Mt 2:12). So what does this epiphany tell us? What did the wise men see? What kind of king did they see in a baby lying in a manger? Were their eyes opened, did they begin to realize what would come forth from a feeding trough?

This Jesus, who would become Christ, would feed us, sustain us, and invite us with Eucharist. So, from being fed from the feeding trough, to being fed at the altar in Eucharist, the two come together and can never be separated. This is God’s way to invite us to another chance “to be” Eucharist. He invites us to be a Eucharistic people—to regain what is lost.

Perhaps the wise men saw new life, new joy, a new family, but they also knew death. Yet they knew the child could bring it all to resurrection.[3]

During this New Year, maybe it’s time to learn from our wise men. Maybe it’s our time to let love in. We must live together and love together. Not just within our own formation cohorts, home groups or parishes, but with all God’s children. When the gospel is preached in its purity and lived with integrity, there is no place for racism, sexism, ageism, or any other ism that corrupts and divides. At its best, Christianity is a unifying force, helping people of nations and cultures all over the world to practice justice and live in peace. This feast of the Epiphany reminds us, not only to tolerate, but also to respect people of other faiths.[4]

So when disasters occur, wars take place, or there is unrest in our own lives, maybe God is asking all of us to realize we are all one family, God’s family that we all belong to Him and He wants to give us another chance to be in communion. If this happens, we know this little baby in a manger, from the feeding trough in Bethlehem, will always feed us at this altar and bring us all to resurrection. The ultimate unexpected gift for all God’s children.

[2] adn.com, “Story about parent an unexpected gift”, by Elise Patkotak. Published December 21, 2010.