MOVING ON
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily is, “Moving On.”
In both readings for this 7th Tuesday after Easter, there is a human experience we are very familiar with: leaving – moving on.
We’ve had this experience at least a zillion times.
We’re sitting there having coffee with some folks. We look at our watch – if that’s our method – and we say, “Oh, ooo, I gotta get going.”
We left home for that first day of school and it was tough and traumatic: sometimes for the child and sometimes for the parent.
We’ve moved – because a parent got a transfer or a divorce.
We’ve finished high school, college, a job, a parish, a term on a committee.
We’ve come to the end of vacations, movies, parties, games, and picnics.
So we know what it is to leave and to move on.
“Catch you later. I gotta go.”
PAUL AND JESUS
In today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles, Paul is announcing he has to leave Ephesus and he tells them where he’s going: Jerusalem.
In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus announces at the Last Supper, “The hour has come ….” and he slowly begins heading for the door.
Last Sunday in the gospel from Luke we heard Jesus talking about leaving for the Father big time – and Jesus makes his Ascension into heaven.
WONDERING??????
As I noticed this common experience of leaving in both of today’s readings – moving on – I wondered if there is a helpful comment or message in that experience for a short 2 page homily this morning.
7 POSSIBLE THOUGHTS
Here are up 7 possible comments I came up with to chew upon. I’m sure I could condense them better, but I had to get to bed last night:
1) Every night when we go to bed, to sleep, we are letting go – giving up control. It’s only for a few hours – but it’s a letting go. We might not wake up. Do bears or animals who hibernate hesitate before they lay down for a long winter’s nap?
2) Every time we go to someone else’s house for a party or a picnic, it’s an opportunity to have a good time – but it’s an opportunity to be aware of others. If it’s a week night, some people have to get to work the next day. Life gives us lots of opportunities to think of others – have balance – not be a party pooper – but to be sensitive to others.
3) Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
4) At some point we are going to die – and that’s the big leaving. Death is a tough one. How are we doing in our ponderings about that reality? In the meanwhile, there is the challenge to stay healthy, exercise, and live life to the full.
5) “Leaving on a jet plane ….” Every time we take a trip – wave good bye – head elsewhere for a while can add to the spice and mystery of life. Leaving, moving on, can provide new opportunities – new growth – learnings about where we have come from, what was valuable back then, but we didn’t realize it till we left.
6) Waiting for others to return home from a vacation, Iraq, Afghanistan, college, a business trip, the winter in Florida, provides opportunities for new conversations, new stories, or what have you.
7) Partings give poets opportunity to write poems and songs about the tough feelings and sometimes wonderful feelings involved in this reality of moving on and leaving. Who in the English speaking world is not familiar with Shakespeare’s words in Romeo and Juliet,
“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
And those who read Emily Dickinson’s poems from time to time know the ending to poem No. 1732 – so let me end this homily with her words and finally leave this pulpit:
"Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell."
In today’s Gospel from John, Jesus announces at the Last Supper, “The hour has come ….” and he slowly begins heading for the door.
Last Sunday in the gospel from Luke we heard Jesus talking about leaving for the Father big time – and Jesus makes his Ascension into heaven.
WONDERING??????
As I noticed this common experience of leaving in both of today’s readings – moving on – I wondered if there is a helpful comment or message in that experience for a short 2 page homily this morning.
7 POSSIBLE THOUGHTS
Here are up 7 possible comments I came up with to chew upon. I’m sure I could condense them better, but I had to get to bed last night:
1) Every night when we go to bed, to sleep, we are letting go – giving up control. It’s only for a few hours – but it’s a letting go. We might not wake up. Do bears or animals who hibernate hesitate before they lay down for a long winter’s nap?
2) Every time we go to someone else’s house for a party or a picnic, it’s an opportunity to have a good time – but it’s an opportunity to be aware of others. If it’s a week night, some people have to get to work the next day. Life gives us lots of opportunities to think of others – have balance – not be a party pooper – but to be sensitive to others.
3) Absence makes the heart grow fonder.
4) At some point we are going to die – and that’s the big leaving. Death is a tough one. How are we doing in our ponderings about that reality? In the meanwhile, there is the challenge to stay healthy, exercise, and live life to the full.
5) “Leaving on a jet plane ….” Every time we take a trip – wave good bye – head elsewhere for a while can add to the spice and mystery of life. Leaving, moving on, can provide new opportunities – new growth – learnings about where we have come from, what was valuable back then, but we didn’t realize it till we left.
6) Waiting for others to return home from a vacation, Iraq, Afghanistan, college, a business trip, the winter in Florida, provides opportunities for new conversations, new stories, or what have you.
7) Partings give poets opportunity to write poems and songs about the tough feelings and sometimes wonderful feelings involved in this reality of moving on and leaving. Who in the English speaking world is not familiar with Shakespeare’s words in Romeo and Juliet,
“Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,
That I shall say good night till it be morrow.”
And those who read Emily Dickinson’s poems from time to time know the ending to poem No. 1732 – so let me end this homily with her words and finally leave this pulpit:
"Parting is all we know of heaven,
And all we need of hell."
This was a homily for May 18, 2010 - the 7th Tuesday after Easter. It's basically a first draft sermon - but someone asked for a copy - so I'm putting it on my blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment