A Concord Pastor Comments: Homily for Dec. 28: Holy Family Sunday

The Feast of the Holy Family is celebrated on the Sunday in the week following Christmas Day. For years now, I've approached this day in terms of our own families and all the sizes and shapes in which they come. But this year, I focused on the geography of family, the global positioning of family in our world view, in our lives and our faith.

An audio of my homily can be found above; here's a link to the scriptures for today; and below you'll find the text of my reflections. (If a widget doesn't appear above, click here!)

Let me begin with something of a confession.

I've noticed that if I'm reading a newspaper and come across an article with a headline like: Fifteen Killed In Six Car Pileup On Interstate - one of the first things I do is to look to see - where did this happen? And if the accident happened halfway across the country, there's a strong possibility, I might not even read the article. But if it happened in Massachusetts, where I live, I will probably definitely read that article.

• Perhaps that's because it happened in my own backyard.

• Perhaps I might think I'll know somebody who was killed.

• Perhaps because it's a highway that I travel frequently.

And here's what I need to confess. Those three reasons for my reading the article rather than passing over it, those three reasons all include the pronouns: I and my.

I confess that my interest in the tragedy has more to do with me and my circumstances than it has to do with those who were killed in the accident. The father away the problem, the trouble, the pain, the loss - the less likely it will have an impact on me, on my comfort, my safety, my circumstances and my happiness.

There’s just something not right about that.

There's something wrong about that…

Most years on the feast of the Holy Family, I make some reference to our national family, the world family, the human family - but I focus on our families, yours, mine, those right around us. But this year, I'm thinking about the geography of family, the global positioning of family, and the borders that divide the human family: socially, politically, ideologically.

Don't worry, I'm not going to espouse any partisan political stance. I'm not going to endorse any particular legislation. I'm not going to comment on immigration policies.

I'm not going to do any of that because that's not my job. My job is to remind us of what Jesus, the church, and our faith teach and tell us about approaching and making informed choices and decisions on the moral aspects of today's social and political issues.

And on this beast of the Holy Family, that means I need to call our attention to, and we all need to focus on, how we measure, discern, understand, and answer two questions.

One: who's in my family?

And two: how does Jesus call me to love the people in my family?

The answers are actually pretty easy.

Who's in my family? Everyone. Everybody. Everywhere, without exception. Because our faith teaches us that we are all children of God, all sons and daughters of God, all brothers and sisters in Christ. So everyone, without exception, is in my family, is in your family.

And how does Jesus call me to love the people in my family? Well, our faith has a number of answers to that question.

• I'm called to love everyone in my family as I love myself. That is, I'm called to care for everyone in my family as I care for myself.

• Jesus tells me that the measure of my love is my willingness, or at least my desire or my hope, that I might, should push come to shove, lay down my life for the others in my family.

• And Jesus says that if I don't love the brother or sister whom I can see, then I should stop kidding myself that I love God – whom I can't see.

• And perhaps most daunting of all: Jesus tells us that at the end of my life, I'm going to be judged on how I loved, or failed to love, how I served, or failed to serve the least of my brothers and sisters. And the category, my brothers and sisters includes, as you'll recall, everyone, everybody, everywhere - without exception - and especially the least among them.

Well, let me tell you, let me confess: I am doing so poorly in all of this, so poorly. And not just in choosing, which newspaper articles I pay attention to and which ones I don't.

I have so many prejudices in my mind and heart that keep me from recognizing and acknowledging, and accepting and welcoming and loving everyone, everybody, everywhere, without exception as members of my family. I have all these foolish prejudices that are buried deep within me. I don’t think about them. They're just there.

Prejudices based on people's looks,

or how they dress, or where they come from,

or how they talk, or what they believe in,

or how much money they have or don't have,

or who they voted for, or who they love,

or where they worship, or what teams they follow;

if they have tattoos or piercings or not,

what kind of music they listen to,

what they do or don't consider politically correct or incorrect…

Jesus sees all of those things in us, all those things that make us different, that distinguish us from one another, that set us apart from one another, that make some folks familiar and other folks strangers. He sees all those things - and loves and embraces each one of us as his own, as family -- and calls us to embrace and welcome everyone, everybody, everywhere, as sisters and brothers, as family, as our own.

Does that sound hard? Sound impossible?

Well, here’s the good news: in some ways, we already do this to some measure all the time. We find ways, you and I, don't we? We find ways in our immediate families:

to make room for, to accommodate,

to forgive, to understand, to provide for,

to help, to have compassion for,

to go the extra mile for, to sacrifice for,

to be generous to - even those

and sometimes especially those in our families

who make our lives difficult,

who have disappointed and hurt us deeply,

who have failed to do their fair share,

who have taken advantage of us,

who have not been grateful for all we've done for them,

who don't become what we hope all our love will help them become.

We do all this because we love the people in our own families just the way God loves all of us in his family. He loves us - not on account of what we can do, much less what we can do for him, or how much we achieve. God loves us simply for who we are: his daughters, his sons, his family, his own, his delight, his begotten, his beloved.

And that's how God calls us to love one another - as family: as a family made holy, precisely because we are, all of us, everyone, everybody, everywhere, without exception, members of, brothers and sisters in, the Holy Family of God.

This feast of the Holy Family gives us a singular and superb opportunity to remember that: we are, everywhere - children of God; that we are all of us, everywhere, brothers and sisters of Jesus; that we are, all of us, without exception, members of one holy family.

Keep in mind the words of today's second scripture from Paul. He wrote to us:

Brothers and sisters,

put on, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved,

put on heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility,

gentleness, and patience,

bearing with one another and forgiving one another

as the Lord has forgiven you.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

And let the peace of Christ control your hearts,

the peace into which you were called into one body.

Be grateful in all things

and whatever you do and word or a deed,

do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus,

giving thanks to God, our Father, through him.