come after me

Romans 10:9-18; Ps 10 Your words, Lord, are SPirit and Life; Mt 4:18-22

Today we celebrate the Feast of the Apostle Andrew, the second in the list of the twelve to be called, according to Matthew and Luke, and the brother of Peter.


According to Matthew's gospel, Jesus calls Peter and Andrew simultaneously, while they were casting the net into the sea.

I would like to direct your attention to the fact that Jesus calls these future apostles while they were working, earning their bread by the sweat of their brow.

This is so very important for us. The encounter with God we often hope for and look for in our life will often comes in the midst of the daily grind, while at work.

God comes to us where we spend most of our lives, at work. It was at work that Andrew heard from the lips of JEsus, "Come after me." Listen carefully, for it is there we too shall hear the invitation to transform our world from making a living to making a life.

What do we know about this apostle, Andrew.

We believe that he was crucified ona cross the shape of an X in Patras, Greece.
According to the gospel of John, he was a disicple of John the Baptist and it is through the John the Baptist that he was stirred to be and stay with Jesus.

During the multiplication of the loaves for the 5000, it was ANdrew who pointed out the boy with five loaves and two fish. Andrew recognized that the small amount the boy had was insufficient for such alarge crowd but noentheless he brought to Jesus to see what He could do with it.

Jesus of course utilized this minimal resource to bring about an extravagant transformation. Andrew was unfraid to take what little was available and bring it to Jesus so that he may do what he desired with it.

It was Andrew and Philip who brought some greek speakers to Jesus for a chance at a conversation and it was in this conversation that Jesus gives one of the most quoted passages from scripture, "unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies, it remains just a grain of wheat; but if it dies, it produces much fruit."

Perhaps it was this conversation that gave Andrew the strength to follw Christ in giving his life for the sake of the gospel and thus being crucified on the cross the shape of the X.

Our own crosses in life acquire value if we consider them and accept them as part of the Cross of Christ, if a reflection of his light illuminates them. It is by the cross of Christ alone that our sufferings too are enobled and acquire true meaning. It is when we become like the One who is the wheat that falls to the gound then fruit shall be produced by the life we live.

We read from the letter to the Romans "Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ. But I ask, did they not hear? Certainly they did; for their vocie has gone forth to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world."

The life of the Saints continue to spread the message and thus faith is born by the word that comes form the faith they lived.

May it be so with us.

stumps, buds, and petting zoos

Isaiah 11:1-10' Ps 72 Justice shall flourish in his time, fullness of peace forever; Luke 10:21-24

"On that day, a shoot shall sprout from the stump of JEsse, and from his roots a bud shall blossom..."

Again we turn our hear to the Prophet Isaiah as he prepares us for the messianic coming, as he gives us picture of what it will look like and what we shall hope in. Notice that the sprout comes from a stump, that which has fallen or that which has been felled. A stump is the remains of a once healthy tree that has succumbed to the elements either by nature or by force and is now only a shadow of what it used to be.

God begins to build this messianic promise in the unlikeliest places. From that place that looks dead and barren, from that place that appears done and over, from that place where life seems fade and hopeless, from that place new life shall begin, hope shall arise.

Look around in your life and see if you can identify that place or those places. Maybe there is where God is waiting for you.

The bud shall blossom, Isaiah tells us. A bud is underdeveloped, the first stages of hope there is still more to come. Patience is necessary to see the finished product. We have to wait for it. We have to nurture it and guard it. We have to be willing to see it through, see it to the end.

Advent is a time of new beginning. From the unlikeliest places new life shall push forward and begin to unfold.



Then Isaiah tells us that the Messianic Petting Zoo shall unfold, "the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, the calf and the young lion, with a child to guide them, the cow and the bear, the lion and the ox, the baby and the cobra."

What a beautiful picture and image what can be when we all are penetrated with knowledge of the Lord.

WHo are the bears and lions and cobras and leopards in your life? How can this Advent bring you to that point of allowing the knowledge of the Lord to lead you to a new place of forgiveness, a new place of loving, a new place of relating?

How can the child, lying in the manger, the humble gift of God, enter your heart and prepare the way for new life to bud forth?


JEsus tells us in the gospel, "I give you praise, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for though you have hidden these things from the wise and learned and you have revealed them to the childlike."

MEssianic Petting Zoo is open but only the childlike can experience its fullness. We must learn to become small and only then can the largeness of the kingdom begin to impress itself upon us from the inside out.


Here is a link to a previous post on advent

too good to be true

Isaiah 2:1-5; Ps 122 Let us go rejoicing to the house of the lord; Mt 8:5-11

BEfore you read check out this link

"Come let us climb the mountain of the Lord, tot he house of the God of JAcob, that he may instruct us in his ways and we may walk in his paths...They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; one nation shall not raise the word against another, nor shall they train for war again, O house of Jacob, come, Let us walk in the light of the Lord."

The words of the prophet Isaiah seem too good to be true.

Think about it: "Swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks and never training for war again."

This seems like a pipe dream. Look around the world. Look at all the conflict building. The tensions rises between nations who are neighbors:Israel and Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq, Russia, the countries in Africa.

There is so much violence and sickness, and starvation, and malnutrition.

IT seems impossible to think about peace reigning, and swords and spears becoming plowshares and pruning hooks. Especially when we look in the world and see explosives, nuclear warheads, and germ warfare, and biological weapons.

Frankly, No one is concerned with swords and spears anymore.

So what do we do with this bit of hope that seems false from the lips of the prophet Isaiah.

We make it a reality in our daily lives. We begin to climb the mountain of the Lord. We stop violence and sickness and hatred and all the rest by the choices we make and the good we fight for.

IT starts with one heart at a time. Victory comes in small amounts in a small scale primarily before it ever becomes large scale.

As the Psalmist tells us, "may peace be within your walls and your buildings."

Secondly we do what the last line of the psalm invites us to do, "Because of the house of the Lord, I will pray for your good."

Prayer prepares the heart for action. Inventory what and how you pray.

Slowly this pipe dream will become a reality, one heart at a time.

Then perhaps we too like the centurion in the gospel can amaze Jesus with our faith put in action.

Advent in two minutes

Click here for a quick tour of Advent in just Two Minutes


Advent: waiting for the one who is coming, waiting so that we might recognize the one who is already here, waiting so that we might prepare ourselves for what will be.

The opening prayer for Advent this SUnday from the New Translation of the Roman Missal 3rd edition

"Grant your faithful, we pray, almighty God, the resolve to run forth to meet your Christ with righteous deeds at his coming, so that, gathered at his right hand, they may be worthy to posses the heavenly kingdom.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy SPirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen."

Litany for Thanksgiving

Please Respond: We thank you, O Lord.
 
This is a day to thank God for all his many blessings in our lives. With gratitude we now say:
 
For the love of God, for faith, family, and friends: R/
 
For joys, successes, achievements, and accomplishments: R/
 
For health, safety, work, and rest: R/
 
For struggles, sorrows, trials, and sufferings: R/
 
For our jobs, for those who support us, for our education, and for the chance to serve: R/
 
For our gifts, talents, and abilities, for honors, for strength and energy: R/
 
For our homes, for food, warmth, and shelter, for all the things that have made us happy: R/
 
For our hobbies and pets, for happy memories, for our favorite things, for leisure and relaxation: R/
 
For our nation, for freedom and peace, for teachers, leaders, and those who give us good example: R/
 
For the ability to say "I'm sorry," for the grace of repentance, for the forgiveness of others, for the generosity of others: R/
 
For good advice, for financial security, for the trust others put in us, for tenderness, understanding, and compassion: R/
 
For kindness, goodness, joy, and laughter, for the times we have helped others or made them happy: R/
 
For all the wonders of creation, for beauty, music, sports, and art, for new opportunities and second chances: R/
 
For failures and rejection, for all the ways we have grown up and become better people: R/
 
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son,
and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be for ever.
Amen

A few sparks of thanks

A bit of THanksgiving Poem by Linda McCarriston

"Any deliberate leap into chaos, small or large,
with an intent to make order, matters. That's what.
A whole day has passed between the first apple
cored for pie, and the last glass polished
and set down. This is a feast we know how to make,
a Day of Feast, a day of thanksgiving
for all we have and all we are and whatever
we've learned to do with it: Dear God, we thank you
for your gifts in this kitchen, the fire,
the food, the wine. That we are together here.
Bless the world that swirls outside these windows—
a room full of gifts seeming raw and disordered,
a great room in which the stoves are cold,
the food scattered, the children locked forever
outside dark windows. Dear God, grant
to the makers and keepers power to save it all."


"Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude." Ralph Emmerson


"I'm grateful for anything that reminds me of what's possible in this life. Books can do that. Films can do that. Music can do that. School can do that. It's so easy to allow one day to simply follow into the next, but every once in a while we encounter something that shows us that anything is possible, that dramatic change is possible, that something new can be made, that laughter can be shared." By Jonathan Foer

Thanksgiving Proclamation by Lincoln in three parts

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God..."


"No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. ..."



"And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."

Words of Jesus from the gospel for thanksgiving: "has none but this foreigner returned to give thanks, did I not heal them all, where are the other nine."

Pre-thanksgiving

Tomorrow the gathering shall occur. People will get together with family and friends and share time, share a meal, share their lives.

For a brief moment, we will all stop doing and just be with and be for one another. What a novel approach to life.

This is part of the beauty of Thanksgiving. We can just stop for a moment and breathe in life and take in all the personalities that surround us.

So, rather than just dive right in, why not prepare!

Take a few moments today and actually think about what you are grateful for. Make a list and give it time to really soak in, perhaps before you go to sleep tonight let the list of gratitude soak in and marinate as you sleep.


Then perhaps when you wake on Thursday you might be ready and able to receive fully the gift of thanksgiving as it was meant to be received. Maybe when you wake up you will be a little more tender, a little more softer, a little more alive.

Ultimately, the more I live the more I realize we don't give thanks, we actually receive it.

Just something to think about as yo get ready for the day of thanksgiving.

If you are thankful and yo know it, clap you hands.
If you are thankful and you know it clap you hands.
If you are thankful and you know it
then you face will really show it
If you are thankful and you know it clap you hands.

If you are thankful and yo know it stomp your feet
If you are thankful and you know it stomp your feet
If yo are thankful and yo know it
then your face will really show it
If you are thankful and yo know it stomp your feet

If you are thankful and you know it shout AMen
If you are thankful and yo know it shout AMen
If you are thankful and you know it
THen your face will really show it
If yo are thankful and you know it shout AMen

If you are thankful and yo know it do all three
If you are thankful and yo know it do all three
If you are thankful and you know it
then your face will really show it
If yo are thankful and you know it do all three.

Doesn't make you feel better.