POWERLESS
The title of my homily is, “Powerless.”
Ever feel that way. Powerless! Of course you’ve felt that
way! You don’t have the microphone. I do!
I have a pile of old newspapers in the corner of my room and
whenever I spot something in a newspaper that grabs me or I see something I
want to read - but don’t have time to read - it goes on my newspaper pile -
before someone throws it out. Well, this morning I put one newspaper too many on
that pile - and the whole tower of paper came crashing down.
Surprise! There on the ruins of the collapsed tower was an article on
preaching from January 23, 2004. Before the collapse it was probably near the
bottom. Now it was one of the papers on top of a spread out pile of old
newspapers across the whole floor of my room.
Interesting. I picked it up because of the title on top of
the page: “Connecting God’s Story with
the People’s” by Patricia Lefevere. Maybe that’s why I saved it in the
first place. I read it then and there -
because I was preaching tonight. Maybe it would give me an inspiration. Maybe
it would challenge me to come up with a good Good Friday homily - by reading
that article on preaching.
The article reported on a preaching conference that took
place in the College of St. Elizabeth in Morristown, N.J.
There in the third column was the goal of preaching. “The goal is to get
someone in the parish to say, ‘I know myself in that story.’”
I’m sure some of you who are married to a newspaper
collector have already said, “I know my husband in your newspaper pile story.”
Since today is Good Friday and the goal is to preach on the
Cross - and knowing that the cross here at St. John Neumann Church is very
large - and knowing we’re all going to be invited to come up and kiss another cross
tonight - I would hope that everyone here can look at the cross tonight and
say, “I know myself in that story.”
What’s the story? Why did Jesus die on the Cross? Why do
millions of people wear a cross around their neck? Why do people have a cross
hanging somewhere in their house? What’s the story? What’s its attraction? What
does it touch in the human story that makes both so connected?
When you look at the cross - what do you see? What do you hear?
What story is Jesus preaching to you tonight - or all your life?
Listen to that story - the one you’re hearing. Go
with it. Let my words tumble down like a tower of babble - or pick up the words
you’re hearing from the cross tonight.
The title of my homily for tonight is, “Powerless.” To be honest for some reason that’s the theme
I’ve been thinking about all this week - knowing that I was to preach on Good
Friday evening.
Powerless!
My plans for Lent - to clean my room - didn’t happen. My plans for years now has
been to pitch the newspapers. I never get to them. Maybe there’s something in
one of those papers that is very important - and very helpful to someone. I
know I need to pitch them - someday. Hasn’t happened yet. In fact, I restacked
that pile already - a bit more secure - a bit more able to get even higher. But I know - I know - I know - sometimes
towers and plans crumble and tumble.
In fact, the first thing I feel powerless about is time.
I’ll never get through all those old papers. Now that I’m 72 I’m finding that today I’m not
able to get as much done as I was able to get done 10 years ago. Obvious story.
Then comes the creeping big, big, big, issue where all of us
feel powerless: death. When you hit 70, at least for me, I hear death at times
going, “Hmm. Hmmn.”
And if I’m talking about feeling powerless, there’s also the
big issue of getting my way. The older I get the more I’m reminded of the
reality I can’t control others. How about you? Ever try to control the world?
Wait a minute. Of course we have some powers. Sometimes
we’re handed a menu. Sometimes we get the TV remote. Sometimes we can leave
really early and beat the traffic. But sometimes - sometimes - sometimes - the
electricity is out and there is no TV or a truck with hazardous material
crashes and Hazmat teams have to be called and a road is closed for 3 hours -
and we experience being stuck. Sometimes mom or dad gets sick - or ups and dies
- and all plans are mute.
Babies cry in church. Newspapers get wet - it rains - even
when they are double bagged. Sometimes in the middle of the joke we’re telling,
so and so enters the room - and says, “You gotta hear what just happened to
me.” Sometimes the tests prove positive. Sometimes someone hits our car.
Sometimes our kids - get into a fight. Then there’s drugs. Addictions.
Sickness. Pregnancies.
As priest I got used to yawns a long time ago - but
sometimes it gets to me when someone is reading the bulletin - while I’m
preaching the greatest sermon of all time. I wouldn’t make that comment at a
Sunday homily. I still find it horrible every time I read a newspaper column or
comment about another priest abuse story. Those newspaper stories I don’t want
to save.
I can’t control the church - what others say - what others
do - nor government - nor family - nor parish - nor wanting to sleep the whole
night without having to get up to go to the bathroom.
Wouldn’t it be lovely - if we got our own way? Or would it?
Isn’t it lovely - when - another totally
out of our control - totally out of our plans - surprises us - with a
compliment or does something out of the ordinary to make life so much sweeter
for another - and we see it happening right before our eyes.
That’s why I loved that Random Act of Kindness movement - or
the Mall Flash Mobs - when a big group starts singing Handel’s Hallelujah
Chorus - to everyone’s surprise.
Wouldn’t it be great if a whole section of Catholics in
church belted out a hymn and surprised everyone?
Powerful - ever feel that way?
Powerless - ever feel that way?
So this week - this Holy Week - this Good Friday - I’ve been
thinking about the issue of feeling powerless - especially the powerless side
of life.
The story of the cross has the power of a thousand
interpretations.
I want life to go this way. Surprise something or someone
cuts across my life and everything goes the other way.
It took the Christian Church and some big heresies to come
up with the Creed statements about Christ being both Human and Divine - being
one of us and still in the Trinity.
One of the earliest Christian texts is a hymn sung in the
early Church that says Jesus - fully God - fully powerful - emptied himself of
his Godness - and became one of us - and then went even lower - becoming our
servant - and then lower dying on the cross for us - and because of this God
the Father lifted him up and brought him back his powers as God - so every knee
- should bend and proclaim Jesus as Lord. It can be found in Paul’s Letter to
the Philippians Chapter 2: verses 5b to 11.
What did Jesus do? He became one of us? We all die. Jesus
died. We all suffer? Jesus suffered. We
all experience put downs - being nailed down - humiliations - abuse? Jesus did
it all - experienced it all. Our God became one of us. The Powerful One became
the Powerless One.
I’m not sure about this - as I move towards a conclusion -
and I better get to a conclusion - because this homily is getting top heavy and
might tumble and crumble like a pile of old newspapers.
I’ve been wondering: what is the biggest issue in life?
I’ve been asking that question for quite some time now. I
have a few candidates: love, forgiveness, information, power and choice.
At times I narrow those 5 down to 2: power
and choice. Do I have to make a choice between them? I don’t know.
Tonight I choose to talk about powerless - that Jesus chose
to give up all his powers - and look what happened - and look what happened
after that.
Maybe there’s a story here: maybe if we let go of all our
powers and choose to simply love one another, forgive one another, get to know
one another, and empower each other - we will rise to new life.
I hope tonight you say as you look at the cross: "I heard my story tonight."
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