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 20th
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 20th 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.
