December 22, 2024 at Saint Peter Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Micah 5: 1-4 + Psalm 80 + Hebrews 10: 5-10 + Luke 1: 39-45

Often with the Gospels, the message comes to us through details rather than words which means we have to pay attention to place and people. That could hardly be obvious than with the story of the Visitation. Like the Annunciation to Mary, this event has captured the imagination of artists for ages. There are countless paintings of the Visitation, and that event is still inspiring artists to this day. Some of them that I have enjoyed and studied really get the point of what Luke is saying here without any words. Remember, the Gospel is not history. It is theology. You have to ask, “What does this mean? What is God saying to us?”

In one painting that sticks in my mind, Mary arrives at the rather elegant home of Zechariah. Elizabeth has come down the steps and embraces the obviously younger woman. At the left edge is Zechariah in the shadows holding open the door. Remember, he can’t talk because he got sassy with an angel. At the right edge also in deep shadows is Joseph who is loaded down with luggage. While there is some humor there for any man who has travelled some distance with a wife, sister, or mother, you get that artist’s idea. However, the point is that the men are in the shadows at the edge of the action. Those two women are what matters. Those two women hold the promise of God, a promise being fulfilled.

While some may choose to interpret this as feminist liberation, I don’t think that is exactly the message. It is about women, but it is about what women stand for and their place at that time. The fact is, they stand for nothing. Yet, in God’s way of turning things upside down in order to get things right side up, It is women who are chosen to get things going, the lowly, the servant handmaids. In Luke’s way of writing, just in case we don’t get the message of how salvation is going to work, Mary begins to sing her Magnificat announcing that the mighty will be pulled down and the lowly lifted up. So, here we are right in the middle of a revelation of how God works – two unlikely people, an old lady and a young girl coming together in joy because they know that God’s promise is fulfilled. Pay attention to where they are too. Luke says it is the hill country of Judea. It doesn’t even have a name. Mary has come from another no-place, Nazareth. Nothing is happening in Jerusalem, that place of power and mighty power brokers. God does not work there. That place and what it stands for is finished.

There is one other detail that speaks to us, and that message is captured by a different artist who contrasts the ages of the two women. Mary is clearly a very young woman, and Elizabeth looks every bit her age. She is ancient. There’s been no “Botox” on that face. The shared celebration between Elizabeth and Mary shows how one generation can enrich and inspire the other. History has shown us that how one generation relates to the next generation often dictates the prosperity or the demise of the whole.  A generation that clings to power and seeks to preserve its own well-being at the cost of the young creates a crisis for the future. The young who refuse to listen to those who have walked before them become isolated wanderers with no center point to their lives because of their distrust and rejection of traditions and institutions.

This is what the Visitation speaks of, and it is the Word of the Lord.

December 15, 2024 at Saint William and Saint Peter Churches in Naples, FL

Zephaniah 3: 14-18 + Psalm (Isaiah) 12: 2-6 + Philippians 4: 4-7 + Luke 3:  10-18

We call him John the Baptist, but I think we ought to call him, “John the Preacher.” It was his preaching that drew crowds. It was his preaching that stirred them and filled them with expectation exciting their hope. He was a rock-star at his time. That Baptism of John is nothing important. It fits within the common Jewish purification ritual system. It is what he said that was different, not what he did.

Those people were worn out from the Roman occupation, taxation, and oppression. They longed for a leader who would set them free, someone who make Israel a great nation again, and suddenly there he was. Maybe – Maybe not. They never asked him. Luke says that they just wondered among themselves. But, he knew what they are thinking.

It had to be flattering for John, a big temptation to enjoy the glory that the crowd offered. Yet, he resisted, and with extraordinary humility, he pointed to Jesus. To get that adoring crowd to shift their hopes, he points to this Baptism of the Holy Spirit. His was a baptism of repentance. The baptism to come would bring not just forgiveness of sins, but also a new kind of re-set for creation and entry into the community of believers.

There is political turmoil everywhere in the world these days with people looking for someone to fix the economy, restore justice, and bring us all back together, and there is always someone who thinks they can do it ignoring the message of this Gospel. There is only one person who can restore us to goodness, who can bring real justice and peace. He comes into our lives as a helpless baby and then rides into the great and powerful Jerusalem on a beast of burden. He washes feet. He shares meals with people the powerful despise. He knows what it is like to flee his home under the threat of a violent tyrant. He knows what it is like to be blamed, accused, and judged for things he never did.

If we listen in depth with our hearts to this story, we too will ask the question, “What shall we do?” Three times that question is asked in this Gospel, and John answers the question. It is so simple it almost seems like there must be more, but there isn’t. “Repent,” he says. Repentance has nothing to do with feeling guilty, sorry, or ashamed. It means change. It means: Do the right thing, all the time. Take care of one another. Don’t judge someone one unless you know the truth of their story, and if you want to be forgiven, you better know how it’s done. That’s how repentance works. It bears fruit.

My friends, we have all been Baptized by the Holy Spirit just as John foretold. Our church has a mission to inspire. If we do not, we shall surely expire. As God’s people, our lives, our hopes, our behavior must challenge anything and anyone who puts profit ahead of people. As people of God, the gospel gives us eyes to see and ears to hear the suffering cries of those exploited by the powerful. Our repentance and then our presence, points to the only real power that can restore us to the perfection with which we were made. It might just be time to give up thinking that politicians can come up with a plan for justice and peace and pay attention to the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

December 9, 2024 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FLS

Genesis 3: 9-15 + Psalm + Ephesians 1: 3-6, 11-12 + Luke 1: 26-38

Those of us who have gathered in this church tonight come out of duty and respect for God’s Word. It is our privilege to hear this Gospel, to hear the Word of God begin once more this creation spoiled by sin. At the beginning, as told in the Book of Genesis God’s Word brought life from nothing. Now, once more, God’s Word brings life where there is nothing – out of virgin’s empty womb.

In the first chapter of Luke’s Gospel, we are given two Annunciation stories.

First comes Zechariah’s experience with that angel, Gabriel. Luke tells us that he sees the angel, and then he resists the message claiming old age not quite sure that anything is possible with God. 

In the second Annunciation, Gabriel comes to that young girl in Nazareth. Unlike Zechariah, and contrary to what many artists would have us think, Luke never tells us that she saw Gabriel. She heard and she listened. She did not see no matter how countless artists have imagined the scene. They missed something. My favorite painting the Annunciation has a young Palestinian girl sitting with a look of puzzlement on her face. At the side of the canvas there is simply a great shaft of light illuminating the whole scene. That artist, named Tanner, got it right. There no feathers, regal cushions, elegant robes, or kneelers. She heard what God asked of her without seeing anything. Her response springs out of sense of duty because she knows she is a handmaid, a servant of the Lord. She is ready to serve. That is her duty.

Here we are tonight. Like her, we see nothing, but we can hear and we have listened to the Word of God. The promise of salvation, healing forgiveness and everlasting life is renewed in every one of us who never forget that we are servants of the Lord, who never forget that the Holy Spirit has come upon us too. There can be no excuses. We can only hope that the same sense of duty that brought us here tonight will lead us to accept our own call to give flesh to Word of God, to make real the hope of God’s joyful and peaceful Kingdom, and believe with all our heart and soul that no matter what as long as we are truly servants of the Lord, this new creation begun in Nazareth will find fulfillment here among us.  

December 8, 2024 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL

Baruch 5: 1-9 + Psalm 126 + Philippians 1: 4-6, 8-11 + Luke 3: 1-6

This is chapter three of Luke’s Gospel, and most scholars believe it to be the original beginning. The Annunciation to Zechariah and to Mary as well as the birth stories of John and Jesus were added later. So, we should not miss the point that every one of these men named right at the start of it all are all involved in violence and death.  It all begins in the “wilderness.” With leaders like those men, you are in a wilderness of self-serving, self-protecting violence. For Luke, it is the political landscape that will be smoothed out and straightened with the coming of the Lord. 

In this world events are often numbered by the reign of rulers. In God’s eyes, events are numbered by the voices of prophets. Rulers come and go, but the Word of God lasts forever following a different and straight path. 

There is an invitation here to explore the wilderness that often finds us lost and confused, struggling over what to do next with our lives. That is what John was doing out there; figuring out what to do with his life. This is an invitation to consider venturing beyond the comfortable and safe routine we often treasure and stand in the unknown and unfamiliar. As John the Baptist discovered, in that wilderness the Word of God might well come to us.

It seems to me that most religious people are not inclined to listen to wilderness prophets. Too many prefer to listen to people like the ones on the list that began today’s Gospel. I think this is what accounts for the popularity of many political leaders and many celebrity preachers who pack in thousands of fans and personally profit by saying what people want to hear rather than what they need to hear. John the Baptist was a wilderness prophet, way out of the mainstream who would never make the “A” list of first century power players, all because he went to the wilderness.

These verses offer an invitation to all of us who sometimes feel as if we are lost and alone in a vast wilderness. It is a frightening experience. There is a suggestion of hope here that in the most difficult and darkest of times God may speak to us and reveal what we are to with our lives. What Luke tells us today is that the Word of God comes in the wilderness, if we can just calm our fears and embrace the possibility of something new, unexpected, and totally out of the ordinary. What could be more unconventional than a Virgin birth? For that young woman in Nazareth it was a wilderness of doubt and confusion as the ordinary routine of her life collapsed leaving her bewildered and what to do with the rest of her life. Yet, the Word of God came to her in that wilderness of doubt and confusion, and look what happened. In strange and unconventional ways there is always a God who saves, heals, and restores us.

The Word of God seems to thrive unthreatened by the dark powers of the urban landscape. Today it must be the Church that cries in the wilderness, and that does not mean an institution of Bishops or priests. It means all of us. Whatever in this world stands between us and God’s vision for the human community must go. Barriers of race, ideology, gender, education, and even religion must go if they keep us from the reconciliation promised in and by Christ.

By our baptism, we are a prophetic people. John’s prophetic voice was silenced by one of those men on that list, but our voices remain crying out for Justice and for Peace.