STYROFOAM CUP

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Easter Sunday Mass is, “Styrofoam Cup.”

Easter Sunday has a lot of energy - so I figured I have to catch your energy attention quickly - because like the disciples in today’s gospel - we’re all on the run - sometimes physically, sometimes mentally. So like Father Tizio, our pastor, I looked for a prop. He’s the best I’ve seen using props to catch people’s attention. So I grabbed this Styrofoam cup.  What I want to say - is like a conversation at a coffee break more than at a conversation called a “homily” or a sermon.

So I have here a Styrofoam cup. [Hold it up!] It's iinteresting material. There are billions and billions of these thrown away each day. Styrofoam cups - just sit there in landfills - and will be there for hundreds and hundred of years to come.

The title of my homily is, “Styrofoam Cup.”

LAS VEGAS CONVENTION

A speaker at an annual invention and gadget convention in Las Vegas a few years back asked a question in his talk, “What was the greatest invention in the 20^th Century? Was it the computer, the microwave oven, the cell phone, the computer chip, the bar code, polio vaccine, etc. etc. etc.?”  

Then he said, “It was the Styrofoam cup.” That caught people’s attention - who might have been looking off to the side or thinking about something else in their mind or they were looking at pictures of amazing gadgets in brochures they picked up at the convention. Various folks like to pick up a bulletin before Mass - just in case the homily isn’t so hot. 

Then he said holding a Styrofoam cup in the air, [Hold cup in hand - as a prop!] “Why is this the greatest invention of the 20^th Century? Well you put a cold drink in it and it keeps it cold. You put a hot drink in it and it keeps it hot. [Pause] How does it know?”

I don’t remember where I read that. I’ve never forgotten it - and thought, “Someday I’ll use that in a sermon, but how?”

THIS STYROFOAM CUP

Now something about this particular Styrofoam cup. [Hold it up again!] It was a Thursday evening - in a small parish on the Ohio River - right across from West Virginia. Another priest and I had just finished preaching a Parish Mission. On the last night of a parish mission there was always a social with cookies and punch, brownies and coffee or tea.

I’m standing there talking to this guy who told me the following story. A young girl was going to Potomac State College in West Virginia and she wasn’t doing too well. In fact, her marks were all in the failure zone. The academic dean called her in and asked her, “Why are you here?” Immediately she answered, “I came here to be went with, but I ain’t been went with yet.”

I said, “Great story!” Then I found myself  looking for something to write it down on. That’s when I grabbed this Styrofoam cup and asked the man to tell the story again and I wrote it on this cup. “I came here to be went with, but I ain’t been went with yet.”

I’m glad I wrote this on this Styrofoam cup - because if it was on a napkin or a piece of paper, it would have disappeared a long time ago. I brought this cup home and it was on a book shelf in my room in my last assignment in Lima, Ohio for a couple of years. Then it went on my shelf here in Annapolis. I always had the idea, I’ll use it in a homily some day. But how?

The title of my homily is, “Styrofoam Cup.”

A FEW GOOD MEN: COLONEL JAFFEE - JACK NICHOLSON

In the movie, A Few Good Men, Jack Nicholson - as Colonel Nathan R. Jessep -  is being questioned in the court room by Lt. Junior Grade Daniel Kaffee - a young navy lawyer - played by Tom Cruise.

There is a pause - just before the most important moment in the movie when Jack Nicholson says to the young lawyer Kaffee, “Now, are these the questions I was really called here to answer? Phone calls and foot  locker?  Please tell me that you have something more, Lieutenant. These two Marines are on trial for their lives. Please tell me their lawyer hasn’t pinned their hopes to a phone bill."

Pause! There is another significant pause right then and there. Colonel Nathan R. Jessep - Jack Nicholson - steps down and the young lawyer, Danny Kafee says, “I’m not finished yet.” It hit’s Colonel Jessep button as he is told to go back to his seat in the box. It’s then that Tom Cruise hits Jack Nicholson with the big question - whether he ordered a Code Red or not - that these two men on trial were ordered to punish PFC William Santiago - who dies in the punishment.

That scene before that last comment challenges me big time - not every time - but many times - because I can sometimes hear people in church saying, “Don’t tell me you brought me into church on Easter Sunday morning to talk about Styrofoam cups - and a joke about something someone said in a Las Vegas convention. Tell me you have something more than that?

Pause -  long pause………………….

JESUS

I do.

It’s the question: who do you fill your life with?

[Gesture with Styrofoam cup!] Who do you fill the cup of your life with?

What do you fill the cup of your life with?

Much of the stuff we spend our time and life with will end up - lasting for hundreds of years buried in a landfill.

Question: Will we and the people we have spent our lives with end up buried in some landfill called a grave  - and that’s it. Is our life story simple: born, lived, died, buried - with a stone that marks the spot? Is that all there is?

Question repeated: We spend our life - here, there, and everywhere - and then we’re buried like a Styrofoam cup in a landfill. Is that all there is? 

Here is where we lawyer preachers better do a good job in this courtroom called church - to convince you the jury - about what’s what.

Here is where this speaker at this gadget invention and convention world - better speak up on what’s the best buy for you to make in this life.

Jesus came to us to be went with. Have we went with him yet?

Jesus came to Mary and Joseph. He came to Peter, Andrew, James and John, Martha and Mary - and Mary of Magdala - and many others.

Some  went with him as a great teacher - and some followed him because of his miracles. But check it out: in the end - when Jesus was being crucified there on Calvary, where were they - all those people who had been following him? Mary, his mother, John, a few others, and Mary of Magdala - as we heard in today’s gospel were there. But where were the others?

The Book of Revelation - chapter 3 - has a very scary answer about where the others are. They have become like lukewarm coffee in a Styrofoam cup - just sitting there doing nothing - ready to be tossed out.  Have you ever picked up your Styrofoam cup of coffee and it's "uuh" and you spit it out - if you're alone and near a sink? Maybe Styrofoam cups are not the greatest invention of the 20th century. The author of Revelation writes, "The Amen, the faithful and true witness, the source of God's creation, says this: 'I know your works; I know that your are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth."

Question: when it comes to Jesus are you hot or cold or lukewarm?

Question: as the old Negro Spiritual put it? “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?  Were you there when they crucified my Lord? Were you there when they put him in the tomb? Were your there when they put him in the tomb? Sometimes it makes me wonder, wonder, wonder, were you there …. when…?

We are here because we believe Jesus rose from the dead. We are here because we want to walk with him alive - that he is filling the cup of our life.

We are here because we want to come to church and meet him like Mary of Magdala met him that Easter Sunday morning - and she discovered him alive - thinking at first he was a gardener.

Today’s gospel is very interesting. It’s all about surprise!  It has a surprise ending - a Son Rise ending. The tomb was not the end - but the beginning. The church is not a tomb - it’s a beginning.

In today’s gospel from John,  this Mary of Magdala is the featured discoverer that the tomb is the empty. Jesus was buried in Chapter 19 of John. Chapter 20 begins with Mary of Magdala - of all people - going to the tomb. It’s empty. She runs to Peter and the other disciple - the beloved disciple - usually considered John - but it doesn’t say that. They run to the tomb. The other disciple runs faster and gets there first, but waits for Peter.

There’s a message there.

He lets Peter go in first - but the beloved disciple is the first to believe.

There’s a message there.

Some think the beloved disciple is  John. Some think it’s any person who falls for Jesus - who “went withs” Jesus - who believes in Jesus - and rises with Jesus.

It’s funny that those who put together our scripture readings don’t give us on any Sunday of the year reading -  the next scene in Chapter 20 of John. Peter and the other disciples go home. John Chapter 20: 11-18 - has this great story of Mary of Magdala hangs around. She sees someone outside the tomb. She thinks it’s a gardener. It’s Jesus who calls Mary by name. She experiences Jesus in a one to one relationship. She embraced Jesus with a great hug, a great embrace. Come to church this Tuesday morning you’ll hear the reading, but it doesn’t make it for a Sunday reading.

Why? I don’t know.

CONCLUSION

I think the question that the gospels are asking us is the same question the academic dean asked that girl who was failing at Potomac State College, “Why are you here?”

And adding one word, I think the answer many of us give is the answer that girl gave back to the dean, “I came here to be went with God and I ain’t been went with yet.”

The Easter message and Easter hope is that we all meet up with Jesus Christ here and we then go with him into our life - into our work - into our relationships - and we no longer feel like a failure - but a person alive - knowing we live here and hereafter. We have discovered Jesus is not a mere Styrofoam cut out figure - who died and was buried - some 2000 years ago. Nope we are those who believe he is risen - alive - and walking with people called Christians - who are going with him.  We believe He is God amongst us. Alleluia. Alleluia.