PARKING PLACES,
SEATS IN CHURCHES,
HEY I HAVE THE MIKE
AND THERE’S ONLY
SO MUCH SPACE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this 12 Tuesday in Ordinary Time is, “Parking Places, Seats in
Churches, Hey I Have the Microphone and
There’s Only So Much Space.”
It’s easy to say “I love you.” It’s easy to think we’re a
good neighbor. It’s easy to think we’re smooth when it comes to being a
Christian.
That is till the tire hits the road …. That is till
someone takes our parking place…. That is till we’re trying to get into a
crowded elevator or train or bus or
bathroom or our favorite seat in church…. That is till we move from words,
thinking, talk or theory to reality…. That is till someone gets to microphone
and won’t shut up.
TODAY’S
READINGS
Today’s first reading triggered this thought. The author of this section of Genesis 13: 2, 5-18 - is telling us that there were
quarrels between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and those of Lot’s. There’s
only so much grazing land.
What happens when two herdsmen want the same land to
graze their flock?
Abram offers a compromise, “Let’s not fight. If you want to go to the
left, I’ll go to the right and vice versa.”
The history of the world is land grab - and the best land
at that.
In today’s gospel - Matthew 7: 6, 12-14 - Jesus tells us his way is the narrow
way. If you go the other way, it’s wider - but it will lead to destruction.
EVERY DAY
If we are alert, sharp, we’ll see the reality of thinking
of others, every day.
In yesterday’s New
York Times, in the Metropolitan Diary section, there is a real story about
a volunteer in a Manhattan public school. She had to deal with a little boy and
a little girl who were fighting over the same book. Each claimed that they “Had it first.” Watch this same scene playing out in every playground.
The volunteer said she didn’t know what to do - till she
said to the little boy, “How about ladies first?”
Surprise!
It worked.
The
volunteer writes that she felt good about how she handled the crisis, till, as
she wrote, she had a horrible thought: "Had I just sat back the feminist movement
for 50 years.”
I think of a little poem story by Carl Sandburg,
"Get off my land!
- How come, your land?
My father gave it to me.
- How did he get it?
He fought for it.
- Well, I’ll fight you for it!"
MOVING TOWARDS
A CONCLUSION
Each day we have the opportunity to be peace makers,
space makers, to be like Abram - who becomes Abraham in a different language
and different land place. If you want to settle your family at this picnic table, go for
it. If you want to settle over there, go for it. So too the beach at Ocean City - that is if the space is open and available.
It’s simply a variation of sayings in the Sermon on the
Mount: turn the other cheek or go the extra mile, follow the Golden Rule. Hey,
if a person wants to sit in an aisle seat in church, step over them, or move
in. They might have a small bladder or are expecting a phone call from their
daughter who is expecting a baby any minute in Arkansas.
Or as the heart doctor in California, who teaches about
lowering blood pressure puts it. If you see 3 lines in the bank, choose the
longest one. Then when you get to the front of that line, go back and get on
the longest line again. While doing that, see how many names of your high
school graduation class you can remember or memorize a poem.
