September 27, 2018
Thought for today:
“The eleventh commandment;: Thou shalt not be found out.”
George Whyte-Melville [1821-1878]
Thursday, September 27, 2018
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
BALANCE
AND SIMPLICITY
INTRODUCTION
The title of my thoughts for this 25 Wednesday in Ordinary Time is, “Balance and Simplicity.”
At wakes and in preparing for funerals I ask folks to
describe the deceased - with short one or two word descriptions.
I don’t remember anyone ever saying of another, “She had
balance and she kept life simple.”
TODAY’S TWO READINGS
Yet today’s two readings call us to have balance and to have
simplicity.
In the first reading - like yesterday’s and Monday’s
first reading - we have these basic wisdom statements from the Book of Proverbs. They are mostly one liners - like the brief
pieces of advice we find in Reader’s Digest.
They are attributed to Solomon and different kings - but researchers
point out that these wisdom sayings are in all kinds of religions and writings - much earlier in
history - than the Book of Proverbs. The king gets credit when his name is put to them - so everyone sees how wise he is.
In today’s first reading we heard, “Don’t let riches or
abundance bloat you or stuff you and make you full of yourself.” That’s one extreme and the other extreme is
to be empty and to be in want - and that could lead someone to lying and faking it.
Balance!
Rumi said, "Life is a balance of holding on and letting go."
So we need
to learn to balance work and play, giving and receiving, masculine and the
feminine, personal time and group time, work and rest, asparagus and
apple pie, and on and on and on.
There’s technicolor and there’s black and white. We need
to balance both.
Next comes
simplicity.
Someone
named, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, said, “There's something really appealing about
the simplicity of black-and-white images.”
Sometimes it's good to see life in black and white images.
Sometimes it's good to see life in black and white images.
In today’s gospel from Luke talks about simplicity in our
travels. He's simply saying in a half dozen ways: "Keep it simple."
Do your job. Preach. Heal people. Proclaim the Kingdom of
God. Whatever group or place you visit, learn how to take in hospitality and
bring peace to that house.
If the folks there aren’t interested in you or what you have to say, simply shake off the dust
of that place from your feet and move on to new places where people will accept you.
So that's my message for today: We need
both balance and simplicity.
CONCLUSION
What we’re about is the kingdom of God. What we’re about is bringing Good News to
others. What we’re about is bringing
peace to others.
Hope that’s not too complicated. I try to follow the KISS
principle in preaching. KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid.
September 26, 2018
MISSING PERSONS
Sometimes people disappear ….
They simply drop out of our lives.
Where they go, we don’t know.
Sometimes they are right here,
but when we look into their eyes,
they are elsewhere - far, far away.
Sometimes we don’t know if they
are alive or if they are dead.
That’s what really kills us.
© Andy Costello, Reflections 2018
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
SEEING DIFFERENTLY
INTRODUCTION
One of the things that Jesus was always trying to do was to get people to see differently—better to see better.
One of the things that Jesus was always trying to do was to get people to see differently—better to see better.
People
see differently.
People
see differently.
That’s
one of the great lessons in life to learn is that we might be looking at the
same thing, but people see differently.
CANDLE
Look
at a lit candle.
What
do you see?
Do you
see the wax or do you see the fire?
Do you
see danger? If it’s not watched it could
burn a house down.
Do you
see memories? Do you see the candle you lit in church on the day of your
wedding?
Do you
see the candle in the window that you
loved one lit every night - so you knew you were coming home to love?
People
see differently.
Look
at a flower.
Do you
see the flowers your family brought to celebrate your first part in a play?
Do you
remember the flowers people brought for your mom’s funeral or when she was sick
in the hospital?
Does
it remind you of the moment you saw a painting by Georgia O’Keefe or a painting
by Manet.
People
see differently.
TODAY’S GOSPEL
In
today’s gospel the people saw Jesus mom and his brothers. That’s what they were
seeing. But Jesus saw differently. He said, “You are my brothers and my sisters
and my mom.”
He
wants us to see everyone as family. You are my brother or my sister or my mom.
You and you and you. And once we see each other that way it makes quite a
difference.
People
see differently.
CONTACT LENSE STORY
I once
saw an interesting story in the newspaper about how people see differently.
A girl
lost her contact lens. She went up to her dad and said that he had to take her
to the optician tomorrow. He said, “We
were just there last month.” She replied, “Dad, I lost one of my contact lens and I have a big date tomorrow
night.”
He
said, “Where did you lose it?”
She responded, “Well, if I knew where I
lost it, I wouldn’t be telling you that I lost it.”
“Oh, that’s right. Well, where do you
think you lost it?”
“Probably my room. But I just spent an
hour looking for it.”
Her dad said, “Well, let me look.”
She said, “Dad, you’re not going to
find it. I just looked everywhere—for an hour.”
Well
he went up to her room and looked. Five minutes later he comes down and she’s
sitting there arms folded. “Here’s your
lens.”
“How did you find it so fast?” she
asked.
“Well, you were looking for a contact
lens. I was looking for a hundred dollar bill.”
CONCLUSION
People
see differently.
Till
we learn that, we’ll never learn to see eye to eye.
Till
we learn that, we’ll never learn that we are all brothers and sisters.
12 SPOTS
There are about 12 spots -
at least that’s what people
have told me down through
the years - about 12 spots.
Spots?
Yes. spots where
we meet God.
Could be at the ocean - or in
the shower - in church - or on
a mountain or on a bus ride.
Spots?
Could be falling in love or
getting married or the birth
of the first baby - or the
death of mom or dad.
Spots?
Sometimes people tell me
they haven’t met God yet
in any spot. My answer:
take a long walk in the woods.
Spots?
Or tell God you’re looking
and waiting or wondering
when God is going to knock
on your inner door?
Spots?
And then listen …. Listen.
God is already inside you - just
sitting there waiting for you to
sitting there waiting for you to
come inside and “Woo!” “Wow!”
Spot on!
© Andy Costello, Reflections
2018
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