Homily for the First Sunday of Advent

Image by Cerezo Barredo

Homily for the First Sunday of Advent, November 30, 2008
Isaiah 63:16b-17, 19b; 64:2b-7
1 Corinthians 1:3-9
Matthew 13:33-37

I love this one line from today’s first scripture reading:
Would that you might meet us doing right,
that we were mindful of you in our ways.

In other words,
Catch me when I’m having a good day, Lord!
In other words:
- Stop by when I’m not wasting time on foolish things.
- Give me a call when I can tell you
that I’m so busy helping the poor I haven’t got time to chat.
- Knock on my door
when I’m really paying loving attention to my family -
not yelling at someone because I’m tired or in a bad mood.
- Stop by my work place
when I’m saying something nice about a colleague,
not when I’m gossiping or talking behind someone’s back.
- Bump into me when I’m on my way next door
to help my neighbor – the one I really don’t like that much.
- Listen in on my conversation when I’m telling the truth,
speaking fairly, lifting someone’s spirits,
giving an ear to someone’s problems.
- Lord, stop by for some eggnog some night
when I’m really trying to remember
that Christmas is about you, and me,
and my neighbor near and far, and the world we live in –
and how we live the lives you have given us."

In other words:
Would that you might meet us doing right, Lord,
that we were mindful of you in our ways.

Being a preacher in these weeks before Christmas
can sometimes feel like shoveling sand against the tide,
in the face of a virtual tsunami of sights and sounds,
holly and hoopla, selling and spending,
desires and disappointments,
carols and cocktails, giving and getting
and hoping and helplessness.

In the commercial and often in the Christian imagination,
that jolly fellow from the North Pole seems, every year,
to increase his favorability ratings
while the carpenter from Nazareth slips lower in the polls,
even on his birthday.

When did you ever hear anyone ask on December 26th,
“Did Jesus come to your house?
Was Jesus good to you?
What did Jesus bring you?”

No on asks those questions – at least, not out loud.*

And so the preacher needs to stake out some ground
between sounding like Scrooge on the one hand
and completely capitulating to Santa Claus on the other.

This preacher will stand on a word of Jesus in today’s gospel:
Watch!

And I offer that word not so much as a warning or scare tactic.
Rather I offer it to you and to myself as a plea, as an invitation.

In this hurried, harried, holly-ed season:
- might we be vigilant and watch for Jesus
as children watch for Santa Claus?
- might we watch for Jesus with the earnest seriousness
with which we watch the ups and downs of the stock market?
- might we watch for Jesus as a mother or father
watch for a child to come home?
- might we watch for Jesus as people living in war watch for peace?
- might we watch for Jesus the way we look
for that special, beloved face
in the crowd of passengers getting off the plane?
- might we watch for Jesus with the wonder and anticipation we know
when opening a gift found under the tree with our name on it?
- might we watch for Jesus with eyes wide open
as when we marvel at the beauty of Christmas lights
or the sparkle of moonlight on fresh fallen snow?
- should we not watch for Jesus
as if our lives and our love and our hope
depended entirely upon his arrival, his coming into our lives,
his gifts, his mercy, his desire to be with us?

We don’t know just when or how or how often
Jesus will come to us this Advent.
But we can be sure he’s not waiting until December 25th
to make his presence known and felt in our hearts and minds.

He might come
in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow or in the morning.
Within moments he will come to this table, to sit and sup with us,
offering us the gift of his life in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

Whenever he comes this Advent,
however he comes, wherever he comes,
may he find us doing right, mindful of him in all our ways.

What this preacher, then, says to all, and to himself, is this:
Jesus is at hand... He draws near…

Watch!

*After one Mas this weekend, a parishioner told me that,
indeed, in the Czech Republic Christians do ask each other:
"What did Jesus bring you for Christmas?"


-ConcordPastor

Daily Advent Evening Prayer: First Sunday

Photo by Ben124

Here begins a daily Advent Evening Prayer for this season of preparation and anticipation of the the Nativity of the Lord at Christmas. Each day's Advent Evening Prayer will include a song, a short reading and a few words of comment. An Advent Evening Prayer will be posted each day at 4:00 p.m. for your reflection from dusk until your head hits the pillow.





Yet, O LORD, you are our father;
we are the clay and you the potter:
we are all the work of your hands.
Isaiah 63:7
Like clay in your moist hands, O God,
shape me, form me, make of me
the person you desire me to be.
Turn me on the wheel of my life's
sorrows and joys
and smooth my rough places.
Touch me and let your warm fingerprints
mark me as your own.
Let me to be clay in your hands
for you know better than I
the person you call me to be.

Our Father...

-ConcordPastor

A new Year of Grace: 2009

(A slightly edited "rerun" of a post from December 2007)

Yesterday morning I celebrated a little ritual which it has been my pleasure to observe now for some 35 years: I moved the ribbons in the Sacramentary to the First Sunday of Advent and to the Advent prefaces. The ribbon for the Advent Sunday prayers brings us back to the front of the Sacramentary such that the left hand page does not easily lie flat but buckles up a bit against the right hand which holds a year's worth of pages yet to be prayed through. A small task, I know, but one which reminds me that the Church is beginning a new year, another year of celebrating our life in Christ and the saving events and grace that bind us together as the Body of Christ. As the seasons of nature repeat and bring us back to spring each year, so do the seasons of worship cycle back to these Advent days.

Thirty five Advent wreaths; thirty-five Christmases; thirty-four Lents, Holy Weeks, Triduums and Pentecosts: and thirty-five years of many Sundays in Ordinary Time! These thirty-five years have found me ministering in St. Ann Parish in Wollaston, MA; at Moreau Seminary and Morrissey Hall at the University of Notre Dame; at St. Ann Parish in Boston for Northeastern University and Emerson College; at St. Joseph Parish in Medway, MA and for the past 14 years at Our Lady Help of Christians Parish and now Holy Family Parish in Concord, MA.

I moved that ribbon in suburban parishes, in campus chapels and in a city parish. That ribbon- turning began when I wasn't altogether sure of where the ribbons were supposed to go and then through a few years of wondering if I should remain in the ribbon-turning priesthood. I changed the ribbon in years early-on when I found the Sacramentary to be somewhat limiting and into the years when it became an old and trusted friend. I've actually worn out a Sacramentary or two and even before trading in for a new copy, the ribbons can and sometimes do need to be replaced.

I've turned that ribbon back to Advent in good times and in bad, in years of the Church's grace and years of its disgrace. Those ribbons and the book they mark have been with me for more than three decades and I thank God for the grace of all those years born of the prayers and rites the Sacramentary offers us. And now a new Year of Grace has begun and I found myself at 5:00 yesterday afternoon witnessing the lighting of the first candle on our parish Advent wreath and then opening the book to where the ribbon led me and praying these beautiful words for the thirty-fifth time:

Father in heaven,
our hearts desire the warmth of your love
and our minds are searching
for the light of your Word.
Increase our longing for Christ our Savior
and give us the strength to grow in love,
that the dawn of his coming
may find us rejoicing in his presence
and welcoming the light of his truth.

A happy and blessed Advent to you all!

-ConcordPastor

And they call it Black Friday...

Image from CrunchGear

They call the day after Thanksgiving "Black Friday" because the sales on that day can pull retail stores out of the red and into the black as the year's end approaches. This year, the sales day of all sales days is darkened for a different reason.

There's been mixed reaction to an earlier post on the commercialization of Christmas and it has been suggested that you just have to let some things go... I understand and appreciate that sentiment. Still, something's seriously and tragically unhinged in the cultural value system if the incident reported below occurs even once, at any time of the year, and particularly during a "pre-Christmas sale..."

Wal-Mart Employee Trampled to Death
By Robert McFadden and Angela Macropoulos for the New York Times

The throng of Wal-Mart shoppers had been building all night, filling sidewalks and stretching across a vast parking lot at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, N.Y. At 3:30 a.m., the Nassau County police had to be called in for crowd control, and an officer with a bullhorn pleaded for order.

Tension grew as the 5 a.m. opening neared. Someone taped up a crude poster: “Blitz Line Starts Here.”By 4:55, with no police officers in sight, the crowd of more than 2,000 had become a rabble, and could be held back no longer. Fists banged and shoulders pressed on the sliding-glass double doors, which bowed in with the weight of the assault. Six to 10 workers inside tried to push back, but it was hopeless.

Suddenly, witnesses and the police said, the doors shattered, and the shrieking mob surged through in a blind rush for holiday bargains. One worker, Jdimytai Damour, 34, was thrown back onto the black linoleum tiles and trampled in the stampede that streamed over and around him.

Others who had stood alongside Mr. Damour trying to hold the doors were also hurled back and run over, witnesses said. Some workers who saw what was happening fought their way through the surge to get to Mr. Damour, but he had been fatally injured, the police said.

Emergency workers tried to revive Mr. Damour, a temporary worker hired for the holiday season, at the scene, but he was pronounced dead an hour later at Franklin Hospital Medical Center in Valley Stream.Four other people, including a 28-year-old woman who was described as eight months pregnant, were treated at the hospital for minor injuries.

Detective Lt. Michael Fleming, who is in charge of the investigation for the Nassau police, said the store lacked adequate security. He called the scene “utter chaos” and said the “crowd was out of control.” As for those who had run over the victim, criminal charges were possible, the lieutenant said. “I’ve heard other people call this an accident, but it is not,” he said. “Certainly it was a foreseeable act.”
...

Some shoppers who had seen the stampede said they were shocked. One of them, Kimberly Cribbs of Queens, said the crowd had acted like “savages.” Shoppers behaved badly even as the store was being cleared, she recalled. “When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press. “They kept shopping.”

Wal-Mart security officials and the police cleared the store, swept up the shattered glass and locked the doors until 1 p.m., when it reopened to a steady stream of calmer shoppers who passed through the missing doors and battered door jambs, apparently unaware that anything had happened.
...

(for the complete story)

H/T to KD
-ConcordPastor

Welcome!

Welcome to new readers who may be arriving here via CatholicTV.com, the communications ministry of the Archdiocese of Boston.

CatholicTV, long on the list of links on my sidebar, has launched a new website and I'm pleased and honored that it links to A Concord Pastor Comments through its iCatholic section.

Here's how to get there:

- Click on CatholicTV on the sidebar and spend some time touring through the site - there's a lot to discover!
- Then click on iCatholic on the menu on CatholicTV's homepage.
- Yes, you could go right to iCatholic - but you'd miss some great opportunities, so be sure to take a look at the whole site!

-ConcordPastor

Merry Christmas?

Image from SustainableIsGood

I watch very little television and increasingly less as the years go by. Full disclosure: my cousin Pete and I watched 9 hours of the Newhart marathon on Thanksgiving Day! That's when I saw for the first time this seasonal commercial for Pampers.

A little Googling tells me that this ad has been used by Pampers since 2005 and the response out there on the net has been largely positive.

I've always been at least a little offended by hearing Christmas carols I sing at Mass played as background for shopping at supermarkets, department and big box stores. But this one tops them all. If you haven't followed the link, let me tell you that a vocal of Silent Night runs over still photos of sleeping babies - for Pampers' commercial purposes.

Yes, I know the ad has been connected to charitable causes, too, but the bottom line is: this is a commercial for disposable diapers.

In some quarters there's great support for returning the word "Christmas" to advertising venues in lieu of what had become the obligatory "holidays." I'm not convinced, however, that this is a step in the right direction. Do we want the popular name (Christmas) for this important Christian feast (Solemnity of the Navitivy of Our Lord Jesus Christ) to be featured for commercial ends?

So, a couple of questions for you:

1) Am I being a curmudgeon about this? Too thin-skinned?
2) Do you or don't you have a problem with this kind of advertising?
3) What Christmas ads have offended you?
4) What's the best Christmas advertising you've seen or heard?
5) Would you just rather slam me and my cousin for watching all that Newhart?

-ConcordPastor

Word for the weekend: Advent begins!

This coming weekend brings the First Sunday of Advent, the new year of grace on the Church calendar for 2009.

Here's a good "resolution" for the new year of worship: pledge to read and pray over the scriptures for the coming Sunday each week.

You can begin right here with this weekend's readings and background material on them, for greater understanding. One of the best ways to prepare for Mass is to become familiar with the scriptures we will hear.

Got kids? Here's a link to helpful info in preparing young ones to hear the Word at Mass on Sunday.


-ConcordPastor

Posts and Prayers for Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!

I've collected my Thanksgiving-related posts and prayers in one place and you can find them all here.

Peace,

ConcordPastor

Maybe not the "hap- happiest time of the year..." for everyone

Image from Health and Medicine

If I recall correctly, this is one of only two days each year when McDonald's is not open - the other day being December 25. Today is also the beginning of what we Americans have come to call "the holidays." That's our vague, intentionally non-religious way of referring to specific days set apart for giving thanks to God and, for Christians, celebrating the birth of God's Son some two millennia ago, give or take a few years.

"The holidays" is a period of about a month and that month means many different things for people. For some, it's a time of Advent prayer and preparation for celebrating the birth of our Redeemer. For others it's the make-or-break commercial season in which businesses may rise or fall. For many it's a time of family reunions, parties and making merry. For others it's a season of loneliness, sad memories and reminders everywhere of how much some have while others have so little.

Perhaps the greatest difficulty of "the holidays" comes in the depths and heights of expectations they place on us and that we have of one another. From a minister's point of view, it's particularly sad to see how a season of prayer and joy has been taken over by commerce and crass consumerism. As I've already noted in another post, what we make of these days is a far cry from their intended purpose and one wonders what Jesus makes of how we celebrate his birthday...

I know that I can tend to sound a bit Scroogish or Grinchy around "the holidays." In addition to working uphill on the faith side of what the market place has made of Christ's birthday, I'm among those who find these four weeks to be something of a burden of the heart, too. In fact, I think all of us, if we're honest, find our hearts a little heavy around this time of year - even if they are also buoyed by joy. "The hopes and fears of all the years..." don't wait for Christmas eve to settle within us.

So, let's be aware and be gentle with one another... Let's remember that not everyone finds this to be the "Hap- happiest time of time of the year!" Let's remember how Jesus entered our lives: quietly, obscurely, in poverty, away from home, in need and without a hint of red and green or tinsel and with only one "Christmas light" - a star to point the way to his peace and the healing of hearts forever... 978-369

-ConcordPastor

A Blogging Pastor's Prayer on Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving by Norman Rockwell

Today I thank God
for the gift of faith,
that strength, power and source within
showing me the way,
guiding me in the dark,
making sure my unsteady step,
giving light for me to find the truth
and hope when all seems lost...

Today I thank God
for the gift of the Church,
that wounded,rag-tag, joyful company
of sinners and saints
whose faith (see above)
binds us together
and binds us to God...

Today I thank God
for all the people
around, behind and before me;
the people who gave me life,
shaped my life,
bring me joy for today
and hope for tomorrow...

Today I thank God
for the simple tools
I have for doing his work:
words, wonder, wit, witness and wisdom-
definitely in that order!

Today I thank God for you!
Aliased or named, anonymous or silent:
you are solidly one half of an enterprise
that brings me more joy than you know.
For being there, for reading, for commenting,
for coming back again and again:
Thank you!

Happy Thanksgiving Day!
978-369

-ConcordPastor

A Prayer for Thanksgiving Day 2008

Saying Grace - Norman Rockwell

O good and gracious God!

Make us grateful for all you have given us;
let our needs and desires not blind us to all we have.

Make us grateful for those who love us;
let no grudge or anger keep us from family and friends.

Make us grateful for those who are with us;
let no grief isolate us from their loving embrace.

Make us grateful for the good work we have done:
let our failures not weigh us down
or blind us to your mercy.

Make us grateful for the freedom we enjoy;
let us never take it for granted.

Make us grateful for the peace we find in you;
let no other cause or victory take its place.

Make us grateful for our dreams;
let no disappointment keep us from hope.

Make us grateful for our faith in you;
let no doubt keep us from your love.

Give us grateful hearts, O God,
to praise and thank you
in good times and in bad,
in sickness and in health,
in joy and in sorrow.

This is the day you have made, O Lord:
let us rejoice, be glad
and for it give you thanks and praise!

Amen.

978-369

-ConcordPastor

A truth about life...

Image by Thomasburg Walks

The walking stick insect above is larger than the neophyte described in Mary Oliver's poem below but the fragility of this creature is clearly evident even in a more mature stage of development.

It seems to me that in the midst of all the shouting, the truth of this short poem has much to speak to us to whom God entrusted the care of the whole of creation. There's a truth in these words that is regularly ignored and trampled on, to our own and creation's peril.

The Gesture

On the dog’s ear, a scrap of filmy stuff
turns out to be
a walking stick, that jade insect, this one scarcely sprung
from the pod of the nest,
not an inch long, I could just see
the eyes, elbows, feet nimble under the long shanks.
I could not imagine it could live
in the brisk world, or where it would live, or how. But
I took it
outside and held it up to the red oak that rises
ninety feet into the air, and it lifted its forward-most
pair of arms
with what in anything worth thinking about would have seemed
a graceful and glad gesture; it caught
onto the bark, it hung on; it rested; it began to climb.

-Mary Oliver in New and Selected Poems, Volume II


-ConcordPastor

Panera: the staff of blogging!

Im grateful to my cousin in Tampa who, by email from his sickbed, clued me into free wifi at the local Panera here outside of Charlotte near my cousin's home! Thanks, Murph!

-ConcordPastor

Prayer for those who grieve at Thanksgiving

Image: Cynthia Pinckney Ministries

Click here for an updated version of this prayer 
and for Grace for Thanksgiving Day Dinner!

For many reasons, the holidays are a difficult time for many people.

For those who are grieving the loss of a loved one, Thanksgiving and Christmas (especially the "first" of each) can be particularly hard to experience. Nothing can make these moments easy but prayer can offer a path to walk through these days with greater peace and even opportunities for healing.

I'm posting this prayer a week before Thanksgiving because it might help to sit with it for a while, to pray it over several days.

Some might find it helpful to use a prayer like this as the blessing before Thanksgiving Day dinner. Others might find it helpful to pray it alone, or to share copies of it with other family members and friends.

The Lord was a man well acquainted with grief: no stranger was he to a broken heart. He is with us in our pain as surely as he is with those whom he has welcomed to his arms of peace.

In those same everlasting arms he gathers us this Thanksgiving...


Dear God,

There is an empty chair at our table,
an ache in our hearts
and tears on our faces.

We may try to shield one another
from the grief we bear
but we cannot hide it from you.

We pray for (names)
whose presence we miss 
in these homecoming days.

Open our eyes and our hearts
to the healing and warmth
of the light of your presence.

Assure us, Lord, that those we miss
have a place at your table
and a home in your heart
as well as in ours.

Open our hearts to joyful memories 
of the love we shared
with those who have gone before us.

Help us tell the stories
that make the past present
and bring us close to those we miss.

Teach us to lean on each other
and on you, Lord,
for the strength we need 
to walk through difficult times.

Give us quiet moments
with you, with our thoughts,
with our memories and prayers.

Be with us, Lord,
and hold us in your arms
even as you hold those whom we miss.

This is the day you have made, Lord:
help us to rejoice in it
and in the promise of your peace.

Amen.

(Links to prayers and reflections for the month of November)


Subscribe to A Concord Pastor Comments
Thanksgiving2010

Update

Dear Readers,

Through Friday of this week I'm without wifi and confined to a PC - which is torture for a Mac guy!

Will post when and if I'm able - and especially if I find a Starbuck's!

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering - 22

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

This week is a special time, Lord,
to do something we should do always and everywhere:
give you thanks and praise!

I offer you thanks for all the people
I so often take for granted:
those who serve me in a hundred, quiet ways each day;
those who work with me and around me and by my side;
those who so often make my life easier, my work lighter;
those whose work so often makes my work fruitful...

And I thank you for those who stand ready to protect me,
in the town where I live and at posts far away;
I thank you for those who keep me safe
and those who safeguard my freedom and liberty...

I thank you for those whose work
brings me food from farms,
delight from poetry and song and all the arts;
news from the world, truth from study
and knowledge from a million different sources...

I thank you for those who deliver heat, light
and clean water to my home;
those who keep my home, my church
and my town the beautiful places they are;
those who bring the mail to my door;
those who deliver all the comforts I take for granted...

I thank you for all the people
who fill my mornings, days and evenings
with their smiles, their friendship,
their company and conversation...

I offer you thanks for the beauty of the world around me:
the light of sun and moon and stars;
the pull of ocean tides, the depths of lakes,
the flow of streams, the ripples on ponds;
the colors of nature, birds on the wing,
flowers in the fields -- and all of Cape Cod...

I thank you for my faith, my trust, my hope in you;
I thank you for my ministry and the people I serve;
I thank you for the message of the gospel I preach
and the history of salvation
we inherit from your chosen people...

I thank you for the beauty of worship,
the depths of your Word,
they lyrics of the psalms,
the grace of the sacraments
and the life that is ours
through faith in you...

Make me truly and more deeply grateful, Lord,
for all you have given me and for gifts
I have yet to find, to open, to discover...

I thank you, Lord,
for all things bright and beautiful
and for all things bruised and broken:
let me find in everything
and in everyone around me
a trace of your presence,
the fingerprint of your grace,
the signature of your artistry...

Indeed, Lord, help me
always and everywhere
to praise and thank you
for every good gift
that comes from your hand...

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

On the importance of being a sheep

Image from usda.gov

Homily for Christ the King 2008
Ezekiel 34:11-12, 15-17
1 Corinthians 15:20-26, 28
Matthew 25:31-46

We all want to be counted in among the good guys – the sheep,
even if we bristle a bit because we understand being sheep-like
as being docile, easily fooled or easily led.
But in Jesus’ time – just the opposite meaning was understood.
Ancient middle easterners were impressed that sheep suffer in silence
and so sheep came to be symbolic of honor, courage and strength.
Goats, on the other hand, had a much less noble reputation
since male goats allowed other males access to their mates.
Suffering in silence and fidelity give us images of the two groups here,
but the real category of judgment in the parable is hospitality.

In Jesus’ time, hospitality was something extended only to strangers;
kindness to family members and friends was not considered hospitality
but rather the steadfast love expected in closer relationships.
So the outreach of those called sheep, here, to the hungry and thirsty,
to the sick, to those in need of clothing and to those in prison
is all to be understood as generosity to strangers.
It’s not enough, says the Lord, to be kind to those we know and love:
we must reach beyond our own circle to those outside it,
and especially to those who may have no circle of love themselves.

It’s true, isn’t it, that especially at this time of year,
we take some significant steps in this direction.
If you can smell a turkey or a pie in the oven
then pretty soon you’ll be hearing a Salvation Army bell ringer,
and you’ll find Giving Trees at the church doors,
and all manner of service organizations will be tapping you
for assistance for those in need.
And that’s just the way it should be –
or at least, it’s heading in the right direction.

The problem is that those most in need of a share in what we have
usually get but a small fraction of what we might offer.
Friends and family who already know our love and care for them
will receive, in some abundance, gifts they don’t really need
and gifts they may not even want,
while those who really need what we could give
will receive a good meal, a gift certificate,
a few gifts lest their children have nothing on Christmas morning.

Christmas morning…

We should note that in his speaking of the sheep and goats,
Jesus doesn’t mention Christmas…
He’s not speaking of this yearly season on our calendar
but rather, he’s talking about the whole of our lives.
Sacrificial generosity to strangers, especially the poor, says Jesus,
is meant to mark the lives of Christians,
not just their holy days.

Think of Lent: a season of spiritual training and exercise
meant to get us back into shape again as Christians, ready for Easter.

We could look at “the holidays,” from Thanksgiving through Christmas,
as a time to develop habits of hospitality, reaching out
to those whose names we don’t even know,
whose faces we might never see,
whose identities are unknown to us
save for a tag on a Giving Tree.

We might make “the holidays” a season of spiritual training and exercise,
building up the muscles of our generosity,
stretching the reach from our wallets to those in need,
keeping our eyes on the prize that will be awarded,
not to the sleek, the strong, the successful,
but to those who learn to find in the face of strangers,
the very face of Christ Jesus…

Every week we gather here for Word and worship,
for celebration and sacrament,
and we recognize the face, the body and blood of Christ
in the bread we break in his name,
in the cup we share in his memory.

May we who find the face of Christ in the Eucharist
be nourished to seek his face in the poor
and welcome him there to share our bounty
not only in this season of holiday giving
but in every season of our lives.

-ConcordPastor

Making choices...

Image from reflectionsofamirror

We follow the wisdom of Jesus, the "carpenter's son." Well, here's some advice from another carpenter who notes on his blog that these rules are as valid for the police recruits he trains as they are for his own children:

Some decisions in life are "wicked" easy and not really important. For example, you might decide to have cereal instead of toast for breakfast. But other decisions can involve choosing between what's right and wrong, and sometimes it’s not as clear or easy to know which one the correct choice is.

Whenever you're unsure if you're making the right choice, consider the following:

1. If I have to think too much about it, or feel the need to justify my actions, it’s probably not the right thing to do.

2. Do my actions hurt anyone?

3. Am I being truthful and fair?

4. Have I ever been told it’s wrong, or illegal?

5. How would I feel if my actions were “printed” on the front page of the newspaper?

6. What would the people I respect the most say about it?

7. Am I violating the Golden Rule? [How would I feel if someone did it to me or a family member?]

8. What does my conscience say?

9. If I'm still stuck . . . research, and seek out someone I respect and trust to talk it out.

(And for the wrap-up, see A Concord Carpenter Comments)

Prayer on a November day: trusting trees

Image by victormeldrewsyou

Every Friday afternoon
I have reason to drive into Boston and back.

Over many weeks, I've watched the trees along my way,
their green leaves turning,
painting the road's shoulders with a last gasp of color and beauty,
then taking a bow in a coppery brown farewell...

One night since last Friday
-I'm sure it was under the cover of darkness-
the trees quietly conspired and, all together,
shook off their faded frocks.

Now they stand bare
against the chill of November's afternoon skies.
They stand still without a hint of a shiver,
their branched arms stretching strong,
braced for the weight of snow and ice,
their December sparkle, their winter's armor...

Would that I were bold enough
to stand so naked before my God,
arms stretching strong
to reach the warmth of winter's love...

And I prayed, as I drove, for a tree's trust
that spring will come again and melt away the frost
to dew and life and leaves, green again...

-ConcordPastor

What's with the sheep and goats?

Image by Robert Andrews on Sheepleblog

Guess those goats can be really annoying!

If you really want to know what's up with this "sheep and goats" thing in the scriptures, take a minute to read this explanation!

For a better understanding, read this Sunday's scriptures and more background material on them. Got kids? Here's some help for preparing youngsters to hear the Word at Mass this weekend.

This Sunday we celebrate the Solemnity of Christ the King: this is the last Sunday of the current liturgical year; on the following Sunday we'll begin the Advent season!

Baaaaaah!

-ConcordPastor

Brown paper packages tied up with string...

Like many of you, I’ll be traveling this week. I'll be on my way to Charlotte, NC, leaving late Sunday afternoon returning Friday night. I’ll be visiting my Aunt Doris and Uncle Leo who live with their son, Peter and his wife, Paula. This is the third year I’ve made this trip. It’s a nice break and it gives me a chance to spend time with folks I don’t see that often. I hope your travel and mine will be safe and peaceful.

When I return at the end of the week, we’ll be ready to celebrate the First Sunday of Advent! At this point, my fervent hope and prayer is that I might find some quiet, some simplicity, some peaceful moments in the days between November 30 and December 25. And my hopes and prayer for you are the same! Perhaps the stressed economy will have the salutary effect of giving us some perspective on how we celebrate the birth of a poor Child whose generous and rich spiritual gifts to us can be so easily lost in the craziness of “the holidays.”

The ways in which preachers address this concern are well known and may seem trite or too clichéd to even mention. But something must be said each year to remind us all that it’s not our birthday we’re celebrating – it’s the birthday of Christ. It’s not a day for making everyone’s wish-list come true – it’s a day for remembering that in Christ, our greatest needs are supplied and our greatest hopes are fulfilled in the promise and gift of life he came to bring us.

I can’t begin to imagine how difficult it is for parents to share this message with their children in a holiday culture so permeated with consumerism and the notion that Christmas is a time to get things for ourselves. And more often than not, these are things we don't really need: they're things we want them or think we need. More than anything, Christmas is about giving away, giving of ourselves, a season of greater generosity. The ones we should care for the most are likely folks whose names we don't even know, those people whose names are supplied to us by third parties who are privy to the needs of folks who are strangers to us.

Imagine what a generous response to the needs of the poor there would be if all of us added up: the cost of Christmas cards and postage; the price of Christmas trees and decorations; and the expense of Christmas gift wrapping material - and gave the equivalent total to a charitable purpose. (Note that my list there did not include the actual gifts we buy for family and close friends and colleagues at work. Maybe we should think of adding up the cost of all the gifts we give and then tithing (giving 10% of that amount) to charity. What a great step this would be towards the manger in a stable and sharing the message of the newborn Child whom we honor in his humble home.

In these days before Advent, will we take the time to sit down (perhaps with others in the household or workplace) and ask some questions about how we celebrate Christ’s birthday and ask, “Since it’s Christ’s birthday, what might be on his wish list for December 25th?”

P.S. It's the cost of the wrapping paper, ribbons, tags and "gift ornaments" that's really getting to me this year as I think of Christmas giving. Imagine if the gifts under the tree were all "brown paper packages tied up with string..."

Image above by SeattlePi

-ConcordPastor

Word for the Weekend - November 23

Statue of Christ outside Christ the King Church, Kampala, Uganda: Photo by Brian McMorrow

UPDATE: I received the following message... Thanks for sharing the gospel online. Just one correction about the photo by Brian. It is one of the most striking artistic monuments in Kampala and I credit Brian (our good neighbour across the street) for taking it so perfectly. Unfortunately, there's a popular error about this statue. Being right in the yard of the iconic Christ the King Church, most people take it to be the image of Christ the King. The fact is that it is one of St. John the Baptist! We are trying to put the story right by erecting another statue of Christ the King, but we would be grateful if your blog helped us clarify the issue. Otherwise, thanks for letting our Church appear on your site - AMGD.

It is almost "new year's eve" on the liturgical calendar. The new "Year of Grace 2009" will begin with the First Sunday of Advent on November 30, 2008. This coming weekend's liturgy is for the "Thirty-Fourth or Last Sunday in Ordinary Time: The Solemnity of Our Lord Jesus Christ the King."

The scriptures and background material on them for this year's celebration of Christ the King can be found here and if you've got kids coming to Mass with you, take a look here to help them prepare to hear the word.

These scriptures give us Ezekiel's image of the Lord as our shepherd who seeks out and brings back those who are lost and heals the injured and sick. (Be sure to see what the shepherd does to the sleek and the strong!) The gospel offers the image of the shepherd-king who separates the sheep from the goats - we definitely want to end up on the sheep's side of this division!

Begin now to read these scriptures to deepen your experience of the Word at Mass this weekend.

-ConcordPastor

New blog link

I'm adding a blog to the links on the sidebar (under Blogorama).

Between The 'Burgh and The City: A View of Faith, Politics & More

Written by Paul Snatchko, this blog is faithful to its subtitle and offers views and comment on a variety of topics. Paul is a faithful reader here and I encourage you to check out his site. A very nice feature is the inclusion of musical selections and weekly "YouTube clips for a peaceful weekend."

Here's one of Paul's musical clips that I really enjoyed (I'm not big Star Wars fan but this guy does a great job with John Williams' music - and John Williams and I are both honorary members of the Phi Alpha Tau fraternity at Emerson College!)

-ConcordPastor

Sending Christmas cards?

AP photo by Jamie Trueblood

Sending Christmas cards this year?
Send one to the address below!

From the front lines to the home front, the American Red Cross provides service members, their families and veterans with the care and assistance they need. The Red Cross is partnering with Pitney Bowes this holiday season for the Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign.

For the second year in a row, we’re collecting holiday cards to distribute to American service members, veterans and their families in the United States and around the world. Pitney Bowes is generously donating technology, resources and postage to make this holiday card program possible.

Our goal is to collect and distribute one million holiday cards to spread holiday cheer and facilitate thanks to these brave individuals and families.

Please send cards to this address, following the guidelines listed below:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
PO Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

For more information and important guidelines, check out:
Holiday Mail for Heroes-ConcordPastor

Music hath charms...

(Image from FAS-Harvard: Be sure to click on the image for a larger version!)

Blogging here has been light because life in real time has been (and continues to be) very busy. But Sunday afternoon I stole away to Cambridge and a center mezzanine seat at Harvard's beautiful Sanders Theatre for a Masterworks Chorale performance of Rossini's La Petite Messe Solonnelle. Yes, the composer of William Tell and The Barber of Seville also wrote a Catholic Mass. (Picture a vested priest getting a haircut while balancing an apple on his head as the Lone Ranger rides by alongside Tonto with a bow and arrow!)

Before raising his baton, conductor Steven Karidoyanes turned to the audience to offer some pre-concert commentary. Usually I find such remarks rambling, disconnected and hard to hear but this maestro was prepared, articulate and audible - and interesting. Among other things he introduced his listeners to one of the three instruments on stage. Rossini wrote La Petite Messe for 12 voices (including castrati), two pianos and a harmonium which Kraidoyanes defined as "an accordion on steroids." His definition wasn't far off but the sound is more pleasant than you might imagine. If my memory serves me well, I believe we were informed that the harmonium on state was built in 1897.

As the conductor pointed out, La Petite Messe Solonnelle is neither short nor solemn but rather lengthy with operatic sounds and flourishes abounding. It all makes for an interesting piece even if the elements are lack a certain balance.

For instance, listen to the opening third of the Kyrie here:


Now compare to the middle portion, the Christe, a perfect canon of fluid beauty:


And to round things out, here's the third portion of this piece, Kyrie II:


The program notes mentioned that Rossini referred to La Petite Messe as "the sin of my old age." Through most of the performance I interpreted his "sin" to be simply musical indulgence but there were moments when I wondered if the composer were playing with us (and his subject) just a bit. I leave that judgment to those who understand these matters far more expertly than I. Whatever Rossini's intentions, he gave us an exciting and interesting afternoon of music.

All the soloists (Meredith Hansen, soprano; Rebecca O’Brien, mezzo-soprano; Martin Kelly, tenor; and Marcus DeLoach, baritone) proved themselves worthy as did pianists Randall Hodgkinson and Leslie Amper - and Kevin Galié who played the muscular harmonium. The Chorale was excellent: a tight, balanced, articulate sound that showed both talent and attentive rehearsal. A friend with me suggested that he'd enjoy hearing the Chorale perform a piece in which the chorus had a large role. Having heard their performance this past spring of Bach's St. John Passion, I know his intuition is on target.

To a parishioner who sings in the Chorale, many thanks for the gift of two tickets! Brava, A.H.!

-ConcordPastor

Monday Morning Offering - 21

Image: George Mendoza

Good morning, good God!

What a week it's been, Lord!

My path has crossed so many others' paths
and the routes have been many:
through my work, through prayer,
through sickness and death,
through good times and bad,
through joys and disappointments...
through meeting newcomers
and bidding farewell to old friends...

I offer you all the moments of meeting
in the week just past, Lord,
and most of all I offer you the hearts and hopes
of those whose steps came close to mine...

I offer you the tears of loss I saw,
damp upon cheeks of grief...

I offer you the smiles of faith
on parents bringing their children to the font...

I offer you the small steps forward
taken by some who are afraid to move ahead...

I offer you the anger of those who have been hurt,
left out and let down...

I offer you the new resolve bold in the hearts
of those picking themselves up, dusting themselves off...

I offer you the gratitude of those who have worked hard
to learn, to grow, to become again the selves they knew...

I offer you the Spirit's nudge in my own heart on Friday
and pray for the grace to be faithful to it...

I offer you those who asked me for help I could not give
and pray you'll help me find a way to assist them...

I offer you those whose hearts are bound
to hearts far away or in harm's way...

I offer you the moments of grace I saw and seized
and the moments I missed or messed up...

I offer you the many ways you showed me your face,
took me by the hand, walked by my side,
asked for my help, listened to my prayer,
lifted me up, settled me down,
calmed my fears, strengthened my will,
and held me in the palm of your hand...

Now I offer you this day, Lord,
the new day, the new week before me...
Cross my path in the lives of all I know and meet
and shade my path with the Cross of your love...

Amen.

-ConcordPastor

Homily for November 16

Image from MarysRosaries (click on image for larger version)

Homily for 33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time - November 16, 2008
Proverbs 31:10-13, 19-20, 30-31
1 Thessalonians 5:1-6
Matthew 25:14-30

As tempting as it might be to interpret this parable
in light of the current economic crisis,
Jesus’ words here are simply not about the stock market,
or investment strategy or clever entrepreneurship –
even if the imagery he uses is that of return on funds loaned.
And if you think otherwise, just look at what happens
to the foolish one of the three servants:
he’s thrown outside into the darkness,
where there is wailing - and grinding of teeth:
- no bailout for this guy!

You don’t have to be a scripture scholar to figure out the message here:
use your gifts, whatever they are,
no matter how large or small they might be
use your gifts and use them wisely.

The Church, in choosing today’s scriptures,
pairs the woman in Proverbs
with the three servants in the gospel.
We heard that she’s a faithful wife, that she weaves her own cloth
and is generous to the poor.
But that’s only a snippet from the 31st chapter of Proverbs
where we also learn that this same woman:
- secures provisions for her family
- sets a good table and is a good cook
- works late into the night and gets up early every day
- finds fertile land to purchase and plants a vineyard
- is strong and has sturdy arms (apparently she works out!)
- is successful in business
- reaches out to the needy
- weaves her own blankets
- makes warm clothes for her children in the winter
- dresses herself in fine linen and beautiful colors
- makes clothes and belts and sells them to local merchants
- is known for her strength and dignity
- laughs at tomorrows problems
- speaks with wisdom and offers kindly counsel
- keeps her house in order
- is careful about what she eats
- and is never idle.
You go, girl!

But what we need to see in this woman is not her success
or how many talents she was – that’s not the point.
The point is simply that she used what she had and she used it well -
and she used it for others.

So, I need to ask myself, you need to ask yourselves,
“What do I have to work with?”
Am I working with everything I have?
And, for whom am I working?”

These scriptures are about more than financial and personal success:
they are about the fruitful harvest of whatever I have to offer
and not for financial gain or personal acclaim
but for the needs and service of others.

Sometimes we are like that third servant.
We may not dig a hole in the ground to bury our gifts, but we might:
- pack up our gifts in a box that we label
“my puny gifts, won’t make a difference, not worth anyone’s notice;”
- or we might stuff them in a package labeled, “Return to Sender,” saying
“I don’t like the gifts I have; they’re not the ones I wanted;
I wanted her gifts; I like the gifts he got better!”
- maybe my gifts are buried in a busy schedule with the notation:
“Sorry – no time to offer my gifts – much too busy about other things!”
- or my gifts might be hidden in my fear that others find that I have them,
because if they knew – they might expect me to share them;
- or perhaps I blindfold myself, refusing to acknowledge any gifts,
convinced that I just didn’t get any!

Sometimes we subject ourselves to such prejudice and judgment;
sometimes others teach us to deny or bury our gifts;
sadly, sometimes the Church fails to recognize the gifts of its members.

Gifts?

My gift might be time, treasure or talent;
my gift might be warmth, compassion, or humor;
my gift might be a smile, a word or a gesture;
my gift might be my art, my strong arm or my skill;
my gift might be a friendly gesture or a lifetime of love;
my gift might be a token of appreciation or an act of sacrifice;
my gift might be support, encouragement or consolation;
my gift might be spare minute, a day's help or a lifetime commitment;
my gift might be phone call, a letter or a visit;
my gift might be a dollar or a hundred thousand dollars or a prayer;
my gift might be a forgiving heart, an understanding ear,
truth on my lips or a helping hand;
my gift might be volunteering, joining – or just showing up…

I think we're probably getting the message.

The woman in Proverbs saw what she had to offer - and offered it
and in doing so, everyone around her found their lives enriched.
This parable of the talents comes in the 25th chapter of Matthew
with two other parables
about how our lives will be measured at the end:
by how we used everything we were given - for others.

Wherever we find ourselves in these scriptures, it’s not too late!
Even if our gifts were long ago stashed away,
it’s never to late to unpack them and find ways to offer them now.

After the 25th chapter of Matthew, the remainder of his gospel
is the story of the suffering, death and resurrection of Christ.
The Cross shows us how willing Jesus was to offer everything he had
in service of the needs of others – in service my needs and yours.

And at this altar, across this table,
he continues to offer himself for us -and to us- in the Eucharist.

May the bread and cup of this sacrament
nourish us to offer what we’ve been given – for others…

-ConcordPastor