January 15, 2023 at St William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Isaiah 49: 3-6 + Psalm 40 + I Corinthians1: 1-3 + John 1: 29-34

This Gospel passage today sets a trap for us that we must avoid if we are going to hear God speak to us today through the Gospel. That trap is one I have spoken of over and over not just here during Mass, but also in talks I gave here last year with Luke and are scheduled this year with Matthew. This is not history. If we listen to these verses thinking that the Evangelist is telling us about an event that occurred between John the Baptist and Jesus, we’re done for. This is theology. This is revelation. It is proclaimed here to lead us more deeply into the mystery of who Jesus Christ was and still is. Evidence that this is not a report of an historical event is there if you match up the accounts of the Baptism in each of the Gospels. Details do not match because this is not a news report. Each Gospel has something different to reveal through this story.

With that in mind, we take up this story that begins the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. This is a recognition scene a story told to reveal who Jesus is. It is not about his Baptism. John’s Gospel is a whole series of recognition scenes partial recognitions and failed attempts to recognize Jesus. Today the Evangelist wants us to recognize Jesus not tell us about a Baptism. In fact, if you paid attention, there is no mention of or description of a Baptism in these verses. 

With that clear, since it is not about a Baptism, the Baptist steps forward as the first in this series of recognitions. There will be others like Philip and Nathanael before this chapter ends. A very important word in the Scriptures is spoken here. John invites us to “Behold” who is in our midst. The Evangelist will have Pilate use the same word when he presents the King of the Jews. Pilate and others failed to recognize the identity of Jesus Christ.

The writer of this Gospel would have been very familiar with a technique in Greek drama that provided the spectators with information the characters did not have. This raised the expectations and interest of the spectators who could then watch the characters either come to recognize or fail to recognize what was known to the spectators. With the information the Baptist gives us in these verses, we will be able to anticipate and follow the characters in this Gospel both recognize and fail to recognize who is in their midst. It’s all about this recognition and those who do and those who do not. We can watch the characters of this Gospel from the Baptist, to Philip, Nathanael, Peter, all the way up to Pilate and a Centurion at the foot of the cross.

We are presented with an invitation today still at the beginning of a new year to “Behold” the one who has come into our midst. We can either be among those who recognize that divine presence or among those who fail to do so. For those who fail to recognize the one who is to come, nothing ever changes and there is nothing to live for and nothing to die for because there is no love. For those who do recognize what is revealed, everything changes. When we meet the Jesus of the Gospels we cannot see the world as before. After hearing Jesus in the Gospels, peace, justice, and forgiveness are possible in ways we could not imagine before. When we see the world through the eyes of Jesus we can step out of the shadows of hatred and revenge into the light of understanding with a chance to heal our brokenness and mend our relationships. We can become seekers of hope who reach out with compassion to the lost, lonely, sinful, and hurt.

My friends, we are now the ones who proclaim the “Lamb of God” through our own acts of generosity, justice, and forgiveness because the mercy of God has dawned on us. Now, others may “Behold” because of us as some did in the past because of the Baptist. Knowing, believing this truth changes our relationships with each other too. It draws us together and deeper into the mystery and wonder of who we are and why we are. What we can behold transforms our vision, our perspective, our expectations of this life and the life to come. We are both prophet and witness to the Lamb of God before whom we fall to our knees again and again.

January 8, 2023 at St William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Isaiah 60: 1-6 + Psalm 72 + Ephesians 3 2-6 + Matthew 2: 1-12

There is a bit of everything in these verses from Matthew’s Gospel today. It’s sort-of like a stew, which was the way my mother used to hide vegetables. We got a bit everything and it was nourishing. To get into the real message of these verses however, you have to put that song written by John Henry Hopkins for a Christmas Pageant out of your mind. If you think Matthew’s Gospel is more important than Hopkins’ hymn, forget about Three and delete Kings. Hopkin’s idea about there being three of them comes from the number of gifts. To make any kind of long journey in those days would have required a big caravan. If you have ever been on a camping trip, you know what I mean. The camping gear and the food takes up more space in the car than the people. Matthew never calls them “Kings”. The Greek word he chooses is “Magoi” which can refer to magicians or astrologers. More likely they were Zoroastrian priests since that religion was prominent to east of Palestine. What matters is that they were searching, and they were willing to get far from home in their search. 

Today we would call them pilgrims. They were willing, not only to leave home, but willing to look beyond the limits of their own knowledge. They were so hungry for more meaning in life that they were willing to go to a foreign land and consult the wisdom of an alien tradition. Without the Hebrew Scriptures to guide, they relied on their traditional ways of knowing God through nature and the stars. If we were wise, we ought to be able see a lot of ourselves in them unless we are just stuck and not really willing to risk anything to find greater meaning in life and the one who could reveal that meaning.

Then there is that guy named “Herod”. He is evil and terrifying. He is a murderer and a violent tyrant given to jealousy and fear. With this piece of the story we are reminded that powers of this world can be mighty and terrifying. Yet, we learn that God can get around all of that in unexpected, simple and non-violent ways. 

Mixed in with all of that, there are those chief priests and scribes. They know things, but they lack wisdom. Unwilling to seek the truth, they are content to play it safe, hang around Herold, and turn a blind eye to light. They know and they tell the Magi where to look, but they can’t be bothered to leave comfortable Jerusalem for a place like Bethlehem.

So, as Matthew’s story goes, the Magi with their rich gifts fit for a King leave nothing for King Herod and his royal court. They save what they have for a simple family. This wonderful and familiar story is unfinished. All we know is that those pilgrims went home avoiding that place of power and earthly glory.

We tell this story every year right after Christmas to be reminded that while our salvation began with the chosen people, the Gospel and the Incarnation it proclaims is for the entire world, for all nations, as Jesus said when commissioning the disciples. We would do well to put ourselves into this story and be stirred up enough to become pilgrims like these Magi willing to admit that we don’t know everything there is and if we really want to find the truth, we will have to consult the Scriptures. At the same time, we might take a good look at those religious people, those Scribes and Chief Priests. There is a warning in this story that those unwilling to seek the truth, to listen to the Scriptures, who want to play it safe and hang around people like Herod are going to stay in the darkness.

Just like those Magi, we can’t go it alone. We have to go together in order to brave the dangers of the journey and risk the unknown. We all have gifts fit for the King, and Matthew suggests that we need to seek that King and realize that this royal and divine child will be found in places like Bethlehem far from power, from wealth, and comfort. As Matthew reminds us, God can and always does get around the obstacles that might get in the way or threaten our journey. So, for those who believe and want to find meaning in life or find life itself we have to stay on the move, keep listening to the Scriptures, and stay together.

January 1, 2023 at St Peter the Apostle Churches in Naples, FL

Numbers 6: 22-27 + Psalm 67 + Galatians 4: 4-7 + Luke 2, 16-21

At some point early in my life as my birthday was coming up, I said something to my father about what gift I was hoping to receive on my birthday. He took that occasion to put me in the car and take me to a gift shop where I thought I would be invited to make my own choice. However, when we got inside, he handed me a five-dollar bill and told me to pick out a gift for my mother telling me with all seriousness that I would not be having a birthday were it not for her. From that day forward, my mother got a gift from me on my birthday.

Were it not for the woman we honor today, there would have been nothing to celebrate last Sunday, and the church says: “Don’t forget that.” To help us put that in some perspective, the church gives us the story of some shepherds, people of meager means lacking sophistication who are told to get over their fear and find a savior who, much like them, would be found in circumstances as humble as their own. When they did, what they found was an infant cared for my two migrants who made him a bed in a cattle crib. For those shepherds, that was enough to fill them with Joy and want to spread the message where ever people would listen. The Savior was just like them.

What those simple shepherds learned and what the clever could not see or comprehend was that God wanted to be discovered in the very circumstances of their lives, that God could be like them, poor, homeless, and dependent. Imagine, a God dependent! Yet, that is exactly what it is. God depended on that woman to begin restoring creation to its glory. She made herself available for God to do what God could not do without her. That is profound, and that is what we celebrate today; the truth that those who put themselves at the service of God, those obedient to the Will of God will always be giving birth to the Christ born among us, and that calls for every year to be a New Year.

Today, once again, it is revealed to us that God’s power depends upon people like us. Today with all the promise of a New Year, a people who long for peace, for justice, and for love we are reminded that God can do these things, but only through those are at the service of the Lord and make God’s will their own.

December 25, 2022 at St Agnes, St William, St Peter the Apostle Churches in Naples, FL

Isaiah 62, 11-12 + Psalm 97 + Titus 3, 4-7 + Luke 2, 15-20

Everywhere tonight and tomorrow people like you and me crowd into churches, perhaps taking a deep breath to shut out the noise of this world with all the controversies that tear us apart. For just a little while we can forget about political crises that never seem to go away no matter who is elected. We might like to silence voices of blame that stir up distrust over serious questions about homelessness, and the inability of institutions to resolve conflict and stop violence. We proclaim in here this Gospel, celebrating Christmas in an age of uncertainty and controversy. Yet, if we listen carefully to this Gospel, nearly the same things rocked the ministry of Jesus from the beginning. 

I have said over and over again in talks and in sermons that this Gospel is not history. It is Theology. No one should have come here to hear a story about something in the past unless it is to confirm that God acts. We do not gather here to be amused or entertained with romantic sweet stories. We can’t come here and hide from that chaotic world outside, because this Gospel will not let us. In this Gospel, the greatest man born of woman, that’s what Jesus called John the Baptist, is innocent because he spoke the truth and he sits awaiting execution. While waiting he has doubts about where Jesus is really the one. In this Gospel there is a murdering tyrant. In this Gospel there are migrants fleeing violence and murder. In this Gospel there are homeless people seeking shelter where ever they can on the streets, on park benches, or in stables. We have not come here because of something in the past because it is all still happening. We cannot come here to hide from it, but we can come here to discover what God is doing through it not just in the past, but today as well. 

Who could really believe that a child born in a cave or a stable could amount to anything? Who could believe that a child born to migrant immigrant parents on the run fleeing murder and violence might have something to say to this world? Who could believe that a man from a town hardly anyone ever heard of would go about proclaiming God’s justice and love be crucified as a criminal, and then be celebrated like this as Savior of the world?

We could, and we have, because when we dig into the meaning of this Gospel we can discover that God is a source not of happiness, but of Joy. The promises of God are the bedrock of our existence. The promises of God are the reason we get up in the morning. Whatever happens to us in this world with all its contradictions, turmoil, controversy, and uncertainty can never stop our journey’s end or keep us from revealing God’s glory. That’s what happened to that child and that man he called his Son. Jesus was never put down or silenced by the wild noise, the stubborn opposition, or the violence of those who refused him. We believe that it shall also be so for us for we are no less God’s children than the one who came out of Nazareth or Bethlehem or where ever.

Our celebration on this day does not deny or hide the inconsistent life we lead or our sometimes-faltering faith. What it does reveal is that in spite of what might seem like our uncertainty we do know where we are going and who we are going toward. All we have to do is pay attention to how God works in all of human history, acknowledging that never has God failed to create from chaos not just at the beginning but even now.

We come here like shepherds a little dirty from our labor, and like magi getting lost now and then and needing directions. We come here like John the Baptist even with our doubts looking to Jesus for an answer. We come here like Peter, James and John, not exactly sure where we’re going, and sometimes not too sure it’s where we want to go. We come here like those women on Easter morning full of sadness only to discover real Joy. We come here like those frightened cowards locked in an upper room set on fire by a vision of the mission entrusted to us.

This day we rejoice. This day we look past anything that might discourage us or allow us to think that we are alone because Christ has been born and now God is with us in the flesh and in the blood of his Son Jesus Christ. With all the hope the message of this Gospel holds for us, I wish you peace and hope that whatever in your lives might be broken will be healed bringing you into lasting Joy.

December 18, 2022 at St Peter and St William Parishes in Naples, FL

Isaiah 7, 10-14 + Psalm 24 + Roman 1, 1-7 + Matthew 1, 18-24

Matthew gives us a great gift today, unique to this Gospel. The gift is Joseph. In Matthew’s Gospel, the central human character is not Mary. It is Joseph who receives a message from an angel. Matthew calls it a “dream.” I would call it a nightmare. I think when he woke up it was the worst day of his life. He had every reason to feel furious, betrayed, shamed, and devastated. He is caught between Moses and the commandments or the word of an angel in a dream. It is a risky decision. If he condoned or hid adultery, he was as guilty as the perpetrator. Following what the law required was maybe the best route. Yet, what about the Holy Spirit? He’s caught. Either choice could have been the wrong one. To our relief and, for that matter, for our salvation, he followed the angel’s orders. My guess is that he wondered where the dream came from. I’m afraid that if I had been Joseph, I would have gone back to bed. Sometimes we wake up and we’re not sure whether something really happened or if it was just a dream.

Matthew always has one eye on the Old Testament where there is another dreaming Joseph who ends up in Egypt. During a famine he saves his family. Life was rough for that first Joseph. His brothers betrayed him, threw him in a well and then sold him off to some men headed to Egypt. 

Things get rough for this new Joseph too. Even if Joseph may have been happy about this news things did not work out very well. In fact, I think just about everything was botched up. Instead of security and comfort, they found themselves facing a treacherous journey during the last stage of Mary’s pregnancy. So much for the plans any father would want to make with no place to stay, no family around, and no friends. Then with the first ceremony in the Temple, there are is an ominous prediction from an old seer that his son would be rejected and his wife’s heart and soul would be pierced. Then they become refugees in Egypt. When they come back, the son gets lost and after a three-day search, the boy says that he has another “Father” who makes a greater claim on him.

Joseph must have died a thousand deaths caring for that woman and child, both of whom he accepted in faith as belonging finally to someone other than himself – to God just as every parent must someday realize that their child really belongs to God. In Matthew’s Gospel, the entire Christ event depends upon Joseph who puts aside his own plans and his own future in the midst of confusion open to God’s will and God’s plan which is not the same as his own.

I never like it that artists often depict Joseph as an old man. I think he was most likely young and vigorous, excited about a future with a woman he loved so much that he would not invoke a harsh law against supposed adultery, but still followed the law in a more compassionate way by putting her away quietly. Then he decides that as long as either choice would really be wrong, he follows the angel’s orders. 

The worst day of his life turns out to be a day of unimaginable grace. God gambled on Joseph. In Luke’s Gospel God gambles on Mary. Today, God gambles on you and me. In return, our faith is a gamble that God’s love will lead us in times of confusion and disappointment. 

Joseph never says a word in all the Gospels. There is not one quote ever recorded. But he stands before us, and his actions speak loudly with a simple message: worry less and pray more. God can and does work great wonders out of chaos, confusion, and disappointment. Fear has not place in the hearts of those open to the will of God. Lest we think that the Kingdom of God depends upon someone sinless or immaculate, there comes today Joseph to reminds us that without people like Joseph, people like us, God’s plan would never have a chance.

December 11, 2022 at St. Agnes and St William Churches in Naples, FL

Isaiah 35, 1-6 & 10 + Psalm 146 + James 5, 7-10 + Matthew 11, 2-11

I cannot count the times people have come to me troubled because they have doubts. It sometimes stirs up guilt which they then bring to the confessional. Over the years, I have begun to believe that doubt is really a very healthy thing that gives some evidence that there is thought, reflection, and some searching going on. That’s a lot better than just sliding along without ever wondering or pushing the limits of faith. Having been given the name, Thomas, as a child, I decided that doubt was just part of life, part of faith, and a reason for hope.

Thomas isn’t the only “doubter” in the Bible. There was Zechariah, right at the beginning of the New Testament story. There was Joseph who didn’t just leap into faith and trust with news that Mary was with child. Perhaps the greatest doubter of all is at the center of today’s Gospel here in the middle of Advent. There he is, sitting in Harrod’s prison. I’ve always imagined that he was sitting there wondering why his cousin from Nazareth didn’t come and get him out. After all, he had been working wonders all over the place for people who were not even family.

John had some rather strong ideas about what the Messiah would be like, and he had preached about it rather forcefully. Then suddenly there he was with a lot of time on his hands, without a lot of hope, and doubts began. His doubts prompted him to send those disciples to Jesus with that haunting question: “Are you the one?” If there was ever any expression of doubt, that’s it. We never really know how the response of Jesus affected John. Matthew gives us no clues about what happened next, and we don’t even know if those messengers John sent heard the praise of John that Jesus expressed.

John’s doubt, like the doubts of so many others spring from the fact that too often our expectation of how God should behave does not match the way God really does behave. Too often the doubt begins when our home-made image of God will not hold up to the reality of God being God who often seems uninterested in our expectations or doing what we want. John wanted an unquenchable fire with wheat and chaff separated. Could we call that, “polarized”? He wanted power and punishment. So, it’s not hard to see why he had doubts about whether he had identified the right person.

In his response Jesus sends the messengers back with a quote from Isaiah: that describes what Jesus is doing for the blind, lame, deaf and the lepers. He tells John that the poor are rejoicing just as the prophet had foretold. Jesus was betting that John would hear this response as an echo Isaiah wanting John to realize that his work fulfilled what Isaiah prophesied about the time when God would appear with vindication for the people.

John probably knew Isaiah 35 by heart. We have no idea how the response affected him. Matthew never tells us that since perhaps it’s not really about John but rather it’s about us who now and then harbor doubts about God’s action. When there is a conflict between our expectations and God’s work in this world, we must look to Jesus as John did. If we want to know where God is, our starting place must be among those who are serving the blind, the lame, the outcast and the poor. We might look in nursing homes and hospitals. We might look at the advocates for a just wage, affordable housing, and compassion for the LGBTQ community. Some of those people cause scandal, but so did John and Jesus. Scandalous and challenging as these things may be, it is where Jesus is still found today healing and uniting, strengthening and encouraging. The section of Isaiah that Jesus quoted for John goes on to say: “Strengthen the hands that are feeble. Say to those whose hearts are frightened: ‘Be Strong, fear not! Here is your God.’” 

If John had never had any doubts, he would never have really known how and where God works. He teaches us how to ask questions and where to find the answers. Blessed will we be when we see God at work in them.

December 8, 2022 at Saint Peter the Apostle & Saint William Churches in Naples, FL

Genesis 3, 9-15, 20 + Psalm 98 + Ephesians 1, 3-6, 11-12 + Luke 1, 2-38

It does not take a scholar to realize that the church would have us look and reflect upon the two women put before us in the readings today. Both of them are loved by God from the very beginning. Yet, there is a difference between them that we can hardly ignore. One says, “Yes”. The other says, “No.” One listens to a serpent. The other listens to an angel. As Luke tells it, the one who says, “Yes” stands before us as a figure of hope because she is the reminder that the one who listened to the serpent is not forgotten nor abandoned by the God who loved her into existence. Even in shame she will find God’s mercy.

What our readings today really reveal is that sin and disregard for God’s will does not stop God’s mercy. The relationship God desired at the beginning will be restored. Those words spoken to the serpent reveal what God has planned for us. Satan, serpent, and evil are defeated, and that defeat begins with another woman who listens to an angel rather than a serpent.

This feast we celebrate every year in the middle of Advent is not just a theological statement about the Mother of God. It is an invitation to explore the very reason for our existence revealed for us in the Blessed Virgin. What the angel says to a virgin in Nazareth is said to us all as she breaks from a past ruled by a serpent and steps into the future of redemption. The first woman hid from God in fear. Now, that fear is challenged by an angel because God’s favor is renewed.

Yet thinking that she is the only one who has found favor with God is to miss the message of this day and then miss being reminded of why we exist to begin with. St Paul in his letter to the church at Ephesus speaks today to the church at Naples. Listen again to what you just heard minutes ago: “He chose us before the foundation of the world, to be holy and without blemish before him so that we might exist for the praise of his glory.

The church puts the Virgin Mary of Nazareth before us today to remind us who we are and why we exist. In the new creation that begins with her “Yes”, we are no longer subject to the serpent. We too are holy and bound to be blameless in God’s sight filled with every spiritual blessing in the heavens for just as God chose that young woman, God has also chosen us.

She stands before us today as the promise of what we can be and what we must be. Today and everyday, because of her willingness to embrace God’s will rather than her own, we know why we exist, and in this place we do what we have been created and called to do: give praise and glory to God.

December 4, 2022 at Saint William and St Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Isaiah 11, 1-10 + Psalm 72 + Romans 15, 4-9 + Matthew 3, 1-12

Something happens between the third and the fourth grade. If it’s not true for everyone, it certainly was true for me. Somehow the innocence of childhood begins to fade, and an awareness of right and wrong awakens and begins to haunt us. It was 70 years ago, but it is as clear to me as if it happened five minutes ago. I could have said “yesterday”, but then I might not be so sure about what happened yesterday. I was sitting in a row by the windows on the second floor of Saint Paul the Apostle School in Davenport, Iowa. Sister Otilia was teaching us about the final judgement in a way that would frighten Superman. I sat there agonizing over the fact that she would know that I had whispered to Denny Calkins that I hated her. Images of that unquenchable fire and her way of describing Christ’s second coming with the “final judgement” lit a fire of fear in me worse than the looks my father could give me at the dinner table. I got the message.

It took a long time for me to get through that, and I mean “through”. I’m not over it by any means, and maybe I shouldn’t be. At some point in the college years, I became very interested in the music of American slaves caught up by the imagination and hope in most of the lyrics sung with such intensity. One of those “spirituals” is called: “On That Great Getten’ up Morning.” Mahalia Jackson sings it. You ought to hear it. It would rock you boat! It’s a joyous alternative to God’s impending wrath coming from a people caught in slavery. It’s like those opening words we just heard from Isaiah: “On that day” which refers to that Gettin’ up day when as the verses say Gabriel blows his horn loud enough to wake up nations, but not frighten God’s people.

Isaiah takes images of the past and the future to help us imagine that day when a redeemer comes to perceive what secrets lie deep inside us. On that day he will set up justice and look deeply into our hearts. Isaiah wants to inspire dreams and awaken our imaginations about peace and time of sharing everything joyfully so that there is enough for all.

Then enters John the Baptist with his message about God’s future that he called the Kingdom of Heaven. His preaching was simple: “Repent” which simply means, “Admit that you’ve gotten it wrong. Make ready for something to come, something bigger than you can think of.” He pulls the rug out from under all of us who have found ways to justify, rationalize, and otherwise silence the demands and responsibilities that come with being chosen by God.

That wild man is looking us right in the eye, and we cannot afford to stand outside the scene. If this Word of God is alive for us, then our defenses against it must come down. We have created a God who is nothing like the God John proclaims. We have taken out the fire of his image and replaced it with ice-cream, a softie who cares little about justice, sinlessness, obedience and commitment. 

Of course, every now and then we do get a little serious about sin – during Lent at least. While some avoid the whole issue claiming that the church spends too much time on guilt and not enough time on redemption. My own opinion shaped by 55 years in confessionals is that we do spend time on sin, but it’s the wrong sin that lets us slide along never really doing anything as though the Kingdom of Heaven was ours by some privilege.

We have gotten all caught up on personal sin often sexual sin while we lived through a holocaust. A second one goes on today called abortion and some claim it is a matter of individual choice. We find ways to live with and accommodate systems and economies that make more people poorer and find no sin in this. John the Baptist would have a hard time with that.

And so, it’s Advent again, a season not so much about Christmas as it is about the sure and certain return of the Lord Jesus who will come and sit in judgment upon each of us. He has made it clear that he will be more interested in what we have failed to do than in what we have done. It’s Advent again when we must raise the hard and difficult questions about who we are and how we are to be known. We either confess that we’re part of the problem and take the plunge to work for a really different future, or we hang out with the Sadducees or Pharisees. The biggest warning is that if we ignore John the Baptist and his crowd, we are not likely to recognize where Christ is working today.

For a people of faith filled with hope that Great Gettin’ Up Mornin ought to stir up our joy not our fear. Fire up our imaginations, and a send us out of here with the courage to admit that we might have gotten it wrong about a lot of things and a lot of people. That’s called repentance. Once we get that right, we’ll be ready for Gabriel to blow that horn, and I’ll be ready to embrace Sister Otilia without fear.

November 27, 2022 at St. Peter, St Agnes, & St William Churches in Naples, FL

Isaiah 2, 1-5 + Psalm 122 + Romans 13, 11-14 + Matthew 24, 37-44

On this first day of Advent the first reading of the day and season is the voice of Isaiah who awakens us to the promise of this season. He speaks today just as he did generations before Christ. He speaks to a people in danger of giving up hope on their dreams because their experiences suggest that faith no longer makes sense. They knew the stories of how God had acted in the past, of how God had delivered a people from Egypt, of how God had spared Noah, of how the faith of Abraham had been affirmed by his countless descendants. But for the people of Isaiah, it seemed as if that time had passed as well as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It is as though they asked the question: “Is this all there is? And they answered that question with a hopeless “yes”. 

We are the people of Isaiah today, a people in danger of giving up hope as many around us have already done so. “What’s the use?” they say. “What’s the use of going to church?” “Where is God?” and “Why doesn’t God do something?” So, many dreams of peace vanish as we awaken to news once again of another mass shooting. Celebrities with jaded and sordid lives have become heroes only to betray us with another scandal. While our real heroes like dedicated teachers and public servants go underpaid and dismissed with no word of thanks. In the meantime, another batch of power-hungry men and women have bought their way into positions of power and influence desperate at all costs to win promising nothing, with no plan to bring us together while their rhetoric demonizes others leaving us even more polarized.

Isaiah laments that imaginations are dulled. He complains that prayers are little more than laments of self-pity or just rote recitations that come from lips with no desire to change anesthetized hearts. Yet, he cries out today in this church just as he did ages ago: “In days to come…” He has no time for looking back. He understands what the word “past” means. It’s over. It’s finished. His message then and today is simple: “God is not finished with you.” There are days to come he says. What has happened in the past is not the end of our story. Isaiah tells us what God intends for the world. He knows that the world as we know it is not what God intends and that God wills to help us do better and be better. St. Paul echoes that message today as he urges us to wake up and walk in the light of Christ.

Jesus translated the words of Isaiah into his own by reminding us about Noah when things were headed to hell in a handbasket. For some it was all about making money, luxury living, fast cars and country clubs while others went about their business, assuming that nothing can change the way things are going. That’s my version of “eating and drinking and marrying”. Jesus used his imagination with fantastic ideas about the time when God would finally come bringing all things to fulfillment. His message really simply suggests that by not living up to our vocation, we make a mess of things, but hope is possible because of who God is.

The season we have just begun reminds us that our hope is little more than childish wishes until we recognize how we have failed to live up to our human vocation. It invites us to awaken our dull imaginations, stir up our hopes, dare to dream again about what God has from the beginning called us to be and how God has so longed to walk with us again in trust and friendship. This season of Advent proposes that we invest our hearts, hands, and feet into active hope in God’s days to come. Pope Francis, like Isaiah has spoken to young people about a new Pentecost calling us out of the mess we have made of things because it is not the end of the story. Redemption is possible, and in four weeks we are going to proclaim that Redemption story once again. Not because it’s what we always do on December 25^th, but because we need to and because the joy of that proclamation will give us life and lift us up once again with real hope that we can walk away from our past and all the hurts and offences we sometimes love to hang on to and imagine real and lasting peace. 

November 20, 2022 at St. Peter & St. William Parishes in Naples, FL

2 Samuel 5, 1-3 + Psalm 122 + Colossians 1, 12-20 + Luke 23, 35-43

It is hard for us Americans to really wrap our minds and imaginations around this idea of Christ as King. Those who dared to dream this country into existence and shape our governance with a constitution were certainly not monarchists. Far from it. The consequence of their dream and hostility toward a monarchy gives us some trouble with this idea of Christ as King. I guess we could look to Pilate when it comes to formalizing this image of Christ, but for the people of Israel, the memory of King David and their whole collective memory that things were better when David was King had already set the stage for Pilate’s proclamation.

Since we inaugurate our leaders after election, we don’t quite get what makes a king or for that matter a queen since it’s not popular election that provides that title and its awesome responsibility. On the 6^th of May, a man from the house of Windsor will be “crowned” as King Charles III. Many who are curious or interested in those things will watch that spectacle, but I suspect few will really understand it. For one thing, the ritual is mis-named when called “Coronation.” It is not the placing of the crown on someone’s head that makes them a royal. There are other rituals just as important such as handing the new king an orb and a staff. However, what really matters is not those external things, but a very intimate and holy gesture, the anointing when consecrated oil is poured onto the head of the one who is becoming the king, the ruler, the servant and protector of the people.

We must remember that the word Christos comes from the word Chrism. In other words, it is the anointing that matters. It is the anointing that changes a prince into a King. It is the anointing that changes a non-believer into a Christian which of course means that they now are a member of the anointed ones, and in the Jewish/Christian tradition, who are anointed? Priests, Prophets, and Kings. 

Celebrating the Feast of Christ as King challenges us to affirm more than the rule of Jesus Christ over this world and our lives. It is powerful reminder that because of his fulfillment of the Father’s Will we, by our own anointing at Baptism are becoming day by day more and more a priestly people, a kingly people, a prophetic people, and a holy people.

As sons and daughters of God we are royalty in every way. That means we must act like it living with royal dignity, credibility, and never forgetting that we are here to serve and protect the most vulnerable, helpless, and poor of God’s children who either have never heard of the Kingdom for which we live or have never been treated with the dignity that comes with being children of God. Our church suffers from many ills in these days that come about from members of the Body of Christ acting like anything but royalty. 

With Baptism comes responsibility. With the name Christian comes accountability. We are called and we are chosen. Too many believe that the universe is just fine without Jesus Christ. This Feast celebrated every year could hardly convince them. It will take all of us together – anointed and on fire for our King to make a difference. This is the day and this is the hour for that to begin.