THE FLIP SIDE

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 23 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “The Flip Side!”

We know there’s another side - the other side of the story or what have you. We might not see it, because it’s often the hidden side - but if we did see it, we might not see the side we’re seeing.

One of life’s great lessons is that we all don’t see the same thing the same way. It all depends on who we are, where we stand, and a hundred dozen other things. My right is your left and your left is my right - and vice versa. Is that right? What’s left to say?

The classic example for this is: “How long a minute takes depends on what side of the bathroom door you’re on.” Or, “How long a sermon takes depends on which side of the pulpit you’re on.” Or “Walk a mile in the other person’s flip flops!”

I couldn’t find the history of the word “flip” as in flipping pancakes so as to cook the other side or as in the job of flipping hamburgers at Burger King.

Flip  means to turn over - to reverse - to making cook both sides of the pancake - to make sure both sides are heard  - that all sides are seen or considered.

I don’t know about you, but this is one of life’s lessons that I learned. People can get stuck if they just seei one side of a story or suggestion or hope. Sometimes they fail to flip things over and see another’s point of view or another side of the question or answer or what have you.

Sometimes those who don’t like second opinions or other possibilities get angry at the person who brings up alternatives. They might call that other person flippant.

Life is interesting.

Sometimes there are two drivers in the same car - and sometimes there are people in the back seat and everyone has different opinions and directions on how to get to the same place.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel - Luke 6: 20-30 - Jesus gives 4 beatitudes and 4 woes.

Luke is flipping words and images around - hoping some will land on listener’s minds.

Like Matthew, Luke takes some words of Jesus and flips them around to get his message across to the Christian community he’s speaking to.

Take Jesus’ beatitudes. Matthew in his presentation of the Sermon on the Mount has Jesus speaking just to his disciples [Matthew 5:1b]. Luke has Jesus preaching to his disciples and to everyone - but on the plain [Luke 6: 17].

The key is to hear the words - not to be worried by the geography or the setting - but to be challenged by the message - and see what Jesus wants us to consider.

Reading Jesus’ 4 beatitudes and 4 woes or Matthew’s 8 beatitudes of Jesus, we might start thinking that maybe the poor are happier than the rich.

It might sound flippant, but maybe the hungry don’t get fed up with slow waiters and waitresses - because they can’t afford an expensive restaurant - and so they don’t have waiters and waitresses in the first place to get angry at. Or maybe they enjoy the hamburgers and fries at 5 Guys more than someone enjoys salmon at Carroll’s Creek.

Maybe the immigrant with different skin or different nose is happier than someone who is a 5th generation local because they don’t get hot and bothered with “Look at who has moved into the neighborhood.”

Luke presents Jesus’ flipping comments about the rich here in today’s gospel - and I’m sure they didn’t like it. They might be thinking he is being rather flippant.

Maybe those without something are happier than those with something. If you have nothing left to lose, you might not worry about losing something.

Scratch a brand new expensive car and you’ll get a scream. Scratch a clunker, so what else is new?

NUN IN PERU

I remember hearing a talk by a nun who was working with the poor in some city in Peru. They got robbed over and over. It was computers, TV’s, stuff. Each time they had to put out money for more locks and bars for the windows. Then after one robbery, they said, "The heck with it. If we don’t have anything, they won’t rob us any more." And it worked. I don’t know if I could do it, but it worked for them.

TITLE OF MY HOMILY

The title of my homily is: “The Flip Side.”

So a thought for the day: maybe coming up with a flippant approach to life might bring us more happiness - than if we just stick to one side and one take on what happens to us. But of course there has to be a flip side to that approach. We might become cynical or Stoical or uncaring or blah or what have you or labeled a “relativist”.

I don’t enjoy traffic jams or red lights - but maybe if I saw the flip side - the other side - I might not get upset like the person in that car behind me who seems to be hitting her steering wheel with her head. Maybe if I got the green light or there wasn’t the traffic jam - I might have gotten a ticket for speeding or had an accident - and my car flipped over.

Maybe by not getting accepted into Harvard, one gets to meet one’s future spouse at Walla Walla Community College - and it was the best thing that every happened.

The person with the great musical ear goes crazy when the piano or the singer is off key, but the person with the tin ear - might end up enjoying just about any kind of music.

I have met gourmet cooks and eaters - who look down on Taco Bell food and Taco Bell diners. Their loss - being locked into only the best.

Those who get the TV remote - if they are flippers - might catch the best plays of the day in three sports and catch scenes from two movies they love as well as hearing some news. But the flip side, they might be driving those they live with crazy.

So as Jesus did in yesterday's gospel, from time to time,  it's good to step back - hide - go to the mountains - get a better seeing point - and then flip around in your mind what you're thinking and see and figuring.

CRITICIZING 

THE POOR 

IS AN OLD,  

OLD STORY

Quote for Today  September 7,  2011

"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well fed."


Herman Melville [1819-1891]

COMPLICATED OR SIMPLE?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for the 23 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Complicated or Simple?”

Have we ever said to someone or has anyone ever said to us, “Do you want the complicated or the simple version?”

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Today’s gospel - Luke 6: 12-19 - is rather simple. Jesus goes out to a mountain to pray. He spends the night in communion with God. Nice. A lot of people do some of that here with our Eucharistic Chapel - which is soon to be back in service.

Then at daybreak Jesus gathers together his disciples and selects 12 of them to be his apostles. He calls them on a first name basis.

Next: coming down the mountain with them he begins his ministry again. He has already done some healings and some reaching out to folks before this - but now it’s going to be big time. Then they meet a large crowd from all over the place - people who came to hear Jesus and be healed by him.

Don’t we all need those two things from Jesus: to hear him and to be healed by him? We can picture those two things. It’s simple.

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading - Colossians 2: 6-15:  now that’s complicated.

If you listened to it carefully - did anything grab you? When I read it last night, I scratched my head each time I read it. I underlined its verbs. It has lots of verbs that are active or have a charge and some change in them: receive, walk, rooted in, built upon, establish, taught, abound, captivate, dwell, share, circumcise, uncircumcise, bury, raise, bring to life, forgive, obliterate, oppose, remove, despoil, lead.

Saint Paul announces in this letter that in Christ dwells the fullness of the deity and we share in this fullness in him. Christ brings us into God - into God’s fullness - into his power. That’s an amazing statement. That’s an amazing teaching. That’s an amazing revelation. Through our baptism - through his dying for us - we are brought into the life called “being in God in Christ.” Pinch yourself. It’s complicated. It’s a lot of words - but pinch yourself. We are in God by being in Christ.

Sometimes I picture that as standing in a gigantic power plant with all engines roaring - or standing at Niagara Falls with all the water flowing. Sometimes I picture that as being with God in the Rocky Mountains - or at the edge of the Atlantic. Smallness standing in the roar of greatness.

COMPLICATED

It’s complicated. Next I picked up Barclay - his Daily Study Bible Series -  because when things are complicated or dark or cloudy, he can often give some light and insight.

However on today’s text, William Barclay makes the following comment. “There can be no doubt that for us this is one of the most difficult passages Paul ever wrote.” Then Barclay really complicates things with what he says next: “For those who heard or read it for the first time it would be crystal clear.” [1]

They would know what he is challenging them about. They knew about the teachings others were giving that Paul said were wrong.

The title of my homily is, “Complicated or Simple?”

It’s complicated - very complicated - according to Barclay because Paul says we don’t understand what these false teachings were that Paul says were causing problems in the Christian community - that was started there at Colossae.

Paul in today’s text uses the word “philosophy”. It’s the only place in the Bible that the word is used. That’s interesting. However, in the Acts of the Apostles 17:18 Paul is in Athens and he uses the world philosopher - and mentions Stoicism and Epicurean philosophy. And that’s the only place in the Bible the word “philosopher” is used.

If these were the 2 philosophies that Paul was concerned with here in the town of Colossae, things would not be too complicated - because we know what those two philosophies were about..

What the Christian community was dealing with was Gnosticism.

Gnosticism - Gnostics - are words and ideas we hear about from time to time.

Do you want the simple or the complicated take on Gnosticism?

The simple explanation is that someone gets some knowledge - that makes them feel better or smarter or more knowledgeable than others. You can hear the root word “gnosis” in the word “knowledge”. I’m in the know. You’re not. We see this same kind of behavior and thinking in most systems and organizations and not just religion. You’re dumb. I’m in the know, dummy.

The complicated explanation of Gnosticism is even more complicated because there lots of Gnostic systems - teachers and documents - and we don’t have most of their texts - and those we do have are head scratchers.

I’m sure you heard of the Gospel of Thomas, Mary Magdalene, etc.

We have those documents - but we don’t know just what the Christian Community in Colossae were facing - what leaders and what teachings in Gnosticism they were hearing and dealing with.

CONCLUSION

Now I can’t leave this hanging - after saying all those things. So how to make this practical - if possible? The Gnostics can really gum things up with some weird teachings. Let me take the verbs and the descriptions and the advice of Paul in today’s first reading and try to apply them to our lives.

So here are 3 things to do each day:

1) Receive  is the first verb I choose. Mornings are for receiving: a new day, new life, a fresh start, a new again. Receive Christ each day - be in communion with him - sit with here in church or in morning prayer at home and then come down from that mountain moment of prayer and walk with Jesus each new day.

2) Build On: The next verb would be Build On. Build on yesterdays. Build for tomorrow. There are 4 verbs that have that as a theme in that first reading: plant or root in or build on or establish, or re-establish each day Christ as the foundation of my life. Paul tells us how to do that: listen to Christ as teacher. That’s just what that crowd was doing in today’s gospel. So we listen to the scriptures - see the messages in the Bible as seeds - planted in our field - and water them, work them, and be grateful for the fruit that appears.

3) Cut - the verbs used in that first reading are: circumcise, strip, bury. Each day we can cut out the hurts, the digs, and listen to the other. It’s Jesus call to die to self so others can rise.

Or to try to finally make the complicated simple here are 3 gestures:

[1) Hands out and open in receiving gesture- each new day as a morning prayer.] Then say “receive!”

[2) Hands hammering gesture.] Then say, “Work, work! Build. Build. Plant. Plant!”

[3) Hands cutting - fingers like a pair of scissors gesture.] Then say, “Cut! Cut!”

 “I hope that’s simpler!

NOTES

[1] William Barclay, The Letters to the Philippians, Colossians, and Thessalonians, Westminster Press, 1975, page 134

REGRETS

Quote for Today - September 6,  2011

"Regrets are as personal as fingerprints."

Margaret Culkin Banning in Reader's Digest, October 1958, "Living With Regrets."

Questions:

Looking at your life, name your greatest regret. Write it down -  which will help you face it rather clearly.

Have you ever told folks - especially those very close to you - what that regret was?

Tell another, unless it could hurt another, what your regret or regrets are - and see if his opens up them - or maybe ask another what their regrets are - and if they start telling you some - then ask what the biggest one was.

You could even talk about resentments.

Okay, you don't want a pity party, so talk about accomplishments or life's surprises - or ask, "Did any good come from your regret?"

JOBS

Quote for Today - Labor Day  - September 5,  2011

"Without work all life goes rotten."

Albert Camus [1913-1960]




Questions:

What was your best job?

Have you ever been laid off?  What did it do to you?

Was there a dream job you had in mind - that you never got?

DOES EVERY OFFICE

HAVE ONE?

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 23 Sunday in Ordinary Time A, is, “Does Every Office Have One?”

The title could just as well be, “Does Every Family - or Every Parish - or Every Work Place - or Every Classroom - or Every Organization Have One?”

And by ONE I mean a pain - someone who bothers us - someone with sandpaper skin - who rubs us the wrong way.

I don’t mean characters. Thank God we have characters. They make life on stage very interesting - especially for those who love to sit back and watch life as it unfolds - for those who love to be audience.

The following did not happen here. I want to make that perfectly clear. We were at a get together - somewhere, sometime, and someone in the group was venting about someone in her office who was driving her insane. This person was really getting to her. the longer she spoke to us, the more her frustration was becoming a bit too much. I would rather if someone was talking about sports or the weather. Well, this other person speaks up and says to the lady was complaining, “Didn’t you know: every office has one?” Someone else added, “And sometimes two!” At that the lady who was complaining became quiet - and we all became quiet - and then she said, “Oh, okay!

Sometimes it helps to vent. Sometimes it helps to get it out - but sometimes it can be too much.

The following also did not happen here. I once had a boss who was driving us all crazy -and by accident myself and this other priest discovered something that I have remembered for life. We would get away from the crazy priest boss by taking a drive - and we would vent. We were young. Then at some point, one of us said, probably the other guy, but I always wished it was me, “Hey this is becoming poison. Enough already.”

The trick: learning the difference between venting and poison.

Another learning - a nuance: there is a difference between talking about people and talking about people. Sometimes it’s just talking about people - the #1 topic of conversation - people’s idiosyncrasies people’s idiot-syncrasies - the funny characteristics people have. What would conversations be without our ability to talk about people? Sports and weather - are not enough. They are ice breakers. But sometimes the stuff we say about each others shouldn’t be said. It’s sinful - wrong - when we put down others to build ourselves up - or we’re jealous or envious or what have you. We can’t ruin other’s name by letting everyone know about the other’s sins or what have you. That’s a nuance we all need to learn. And that’s something we can all do. It’s not too difficult to say, “Wait a minute. I don’t think we - notice the we. I don’t think we should be saying this about him. We haven’t walked in his shoes. Let him or her without sin, cast the first stone.” That I found out - if we use the we word - and not the you word - works.

Back to the lady who was complaining to all of us about someone in her office: was it enough for her just to vent to third parties and then hear that she wasn’t the only one who had to deal with the crazies? She didn’t poisoning the party - but she was getting closer and closer.

TODAY’S READINGS

Today’s readings triggered this question about people who rub us the wrong way.

The first reading from Ezekiel  33: 7-9 talks about watchmen - being called to speak up - being someone whose job it is to warn the rest of us - when someone is doing wrong.

The second reading from Paul's Letter to the Romans - 13:8-10  tells us that the key thing is to love one’s neighbor. It has a powerful statement: “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.”

Today’s gospel  from Matthew 18: 15-20 moves away from the ideal - the ideal being just what we heard in today’s second reading. It gets practical. “If someone is sinning against us - talk to that person. Tell him or her his fault and him or her alone.”

Then Matthew adds Jesus’ next bit of advice: if that doesn’t work - talk to one or two others - and see if two or three of you together - can talk to the person. Here it is: the intervention process that is used at times in families when someone is deep in alcoholism. Then Jesus says if that doesn’t work - go to the church - and if that doesn’t work - then avoid the person.

I think most people avoid that first step - meeting face to face with someone who is driving us crazy - because that person has the problem. It’s easier talking about them when they are not in the room. So we might practice the second and third steps - but still without talking to the problem person. Then we put into practice the fourth step - avoiding that person whenever possible. However, we continue two and three - venting to others and groups about the person who drives us nuts - but always behind their back.

Remember the old book: Up the Down Staircase. Isn’t that what most of us do - when so and so uses the front staircase?

Step # 1 - face to face communication - is tough stuff - because if the other person truly is very difficult - this can only make it worse - or assumed to be worse.

And sometimes we practice the last step: we pray for the person who drives us crazy - most of the time alone but sometimes with others.

FAVORITE SCRIPTURE TEXT

I remember taking a course with Father Benedict Groeschel on Spiritual Direction - and he once suggested asking people their favorite Biblical Text. He added, “It’s like a Rorschach Blot. It will tell you an awful lot about the other person.”

I’ve mentioned this in sermons down through the years because of what happened next. That weekend I was part of a team of priests giving a weekend retreat. There was this guy on the retreat who was driving us all crazy. He kept on saying things like: “Why doesn’t the Church do something about this or that?” and on and on and on. He would fit the definition of watchman from today’s first reading. Remembering what I had heard the previous Monday from Father Benedict Groeschel, I said to the guy, “By the way, what is your favorite Bible text?” Without a second of hesitation, he blurted out, “Beware of wolves in sheep’s clothing.”

What is your favorite Scripture text?

Be aware, be careful, of what you answer - because it will tell you a lot about yourself.

By the way, what is your favorite Bible text?

I have an inner joke. It’s a Scripture text. It’s not my favorite Bible text, but it’s one I often remember. When I am in a group of people and someone is really complaining about someone - or something that’s going on that’s driving him or her or all crazy, I find myself wondering if they have me in mind or if I’m guilty of the same thing, so I find myself saying the words of Judas at the Last Supper, “Is it I, Lord?”

Let me go to the full context of that text. The disciples are all there for the Last Supper with Jesus. He says, “The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better if he had never been born.” That’s Matthew 26: 24. Matthew continues, “Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, ‘Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’ He answered, ‘You have said so.’”

The older translation was: “Is it I, Lord?” - so I must have been saying this to myself for most of my life now.

Whenever - well not every time - but many times when someone is complaining about stuff that’s going on in the parish or the rectory, I find myself saying to myself, “Is it I, Lord?”

I rarely say it out loud, because like many people, I don’t like conflict or confrontation.

I remember a story that a great old priest I was stationed with, Father Henry Simon, always loved to tell. He said he was stationed in a small parish down south - with just one other guy - and this other guy would always be complaining, “Someone around here is making a lot of noise.” Or “Someone around here always leaves the light on in the kitchen.” Or someone always gets peanut butter in the yellow butter.”

Then Henry would laugh and say to us - now years later, “I always wanted to say, ‘Yeah, who is that other person?’ but I never did. I just laughed.”

People at times ask, “How can priests who aren’t married talk about marriage or family life?”

I do answer that one at times: “Try living with 3 or 4 priests - here even more -  and you learn a lot about people. Do that for 30, 40, 50 years. Be stationed and live with guys in many different places - and you have the opportunity to learn a lot more about people than a lot of people might know about people.”

The older we get, the wiser we should get on how to deal with each other.

We can learn a lot about people at home or in traffic or in church - sitting and listening and putting up with different priests, different people in church - or being in classrooms, or on teams or being on vacation with an extended family or being in the Army, Navy or Air Force with lots of other people.

What have you learned about how to deal with other people?

I still think the first step is to ask the Judas question: “Is it I, Lord?”

Maybe it is I? What do I have to work on to be a better person? Maybe the others don’t like it when I enter the room and cut people off in their conversations - so I can tell everyone what I just experienced this morning - or I turn off the lights when others want them on - or open the window when everyone wants it closed or what have you.

Maybe if I say, “Is it I, Lord?” I’ll find out it is me. I have to change. I have to grow.

That might be the first great lesson in life.

It’s also a great way to read all the scriptures. Put your finger on a Bible text and say, “Is it I, Lord?”

The second lesson might be that people don’t change that easy or that much or they certainly are not going to change because I want them to change.

I love the statement someone said and I’ve been pondering it all through the years, “The greatest sin is our inability to accept the otherness of the other person.”

I’ve also thought through the years that yes, Jesus is telling us here in today’s gospel to go to the person who is driving us nuts or who is messing up their lives - but he didn’t do it that much himself. At least that’s my thought and my assumption. I see him putting up with a lot of things. Yes he challenged Peter - and James and John and might have hurt Thomas for his doubting - in front of everyone else - but I see him forgiving 70 times 7 times - having human and Divine  Patience.

Divine Patience - because people seem to want God to zap crazy people or stop the crazies - who keep going on and on and on - they like the Energizer Bunny.

CONCLUSION

Yes, couples, families, organizations, need at times to challenge and confront each other. Hopefully they do it for the other’s good and the good of the group and goal of the group - and not just to zap the other person - or to put another down to feel better about themselves. Hopefully, Christians also know that St. Paul said that the motive for correction has to be love and spoken with love. [Cf. Ephesians 4:15]

Hopefully, we take our good time - to correct another - one to one - if we believe it won’t wound the other for life or make things worse.

This stuff is obviously not easy - so maybe the best bet is to remember that simple principle in today’s second reading - already mentioned, “Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence love is the fulfillment of the law.”

SMILE! 

YOU'RE  JUST LIKE  ME!

Quote for Today  September 4, 2011

"Whatever you may be sure of, be sure of this, that you are dreadfully like other people."

James Russell Lowel [1819-1891]