SCREAMING  GOD

A  baby  started  screaming 

during  church  this  morning …. 

On  and off - screams  and  silence …. 

Much  louder than  the priest …. 

It hit me, what if this was God

screaming to us? It seemed that

some people were screaming back,

“Could you please shut that baby up!”

I guess God won’t be quiet ….

I said  to myself, “Maybe this

is the way  God announces

‘I am here’- as a baby ….

“Maybe Christmas day is every day. 

And every day we have to get going 

with our Christmas gifts - to this child 

and to  all the children of this world."

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

THE SHORE AND THE SEA

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this 3^rd Sunday  after Easter is, “The Shore and the Sea.”

Today’s 3 readings - especially the Gospel - got me thinking about this topic and this theme

And I want to spell shore both “SHORE” and “SURE”.

And the shore - s h o r e - is a metaphor for the sure - sure.

What? What are you talking about here? Hopefully, by the end of this sermon you’ll get what I’m trying to get at.  And I hope I will too.

Picture a person at the ocean - Ocean City or Rehoboth - and they are about 20 or 30 yards from the  shore - the beach - and the ocean becomes rough and pounding and the person gets caught in an undertow and is tossed a bit - and says inwardly “Uh oh! - I better get out of this water.”

How many situations have we found ourselves in - when things got antsy or angry - nasty and nauseous -  and we didn’t see it coming?

Life has it’s “Uh oh moments” - when we want an “Aha moment” - on how to get out of there.

We want to get out of the unsure and onto the sure.  We want to get out of the shaky and onto the steady.

So the title of my homily is, “The Shore and the Sea.”

I preached on this yesterday at the 4:30 and I began saying to myself during the sermon, “”Uh oh, this is getting muddy.  A better title would be,  “The Sure and the Unsure of Life” - yet I want to bring in the water …. because of today’s gospel.

ON THE WATERFRONT

We who live in this part of Maryland are lucky to live near the water - that is, if you like the water - that is,  if you like sailing or boating or paddle boarding or fishing or crabbing.

How much does geography form the personality?  Do we become where we come from? Do people who live in the Quad cities in the Midwest -  on the Mississippi and its tributaries - do they get a creeping inner fear because of spring flooding every year?

I lived on the Jersey Shore for 7 years and Nor-easterners could cause anxiety. What about people in the Caribbean in hurricane season? What about people in India who live right on the coast in the path of possible typhoons?

The coast has benefits - but also it has its worries.

In Israel the Mediterranean doesn’t show up that often in the scriptures, but it’s there. In the Gospels, the Lake of Galilee - or the Sea of Tiberias as it’s called in today’s gospel from John - is more central. It’s 13 miles north to south and 7 miles from east to west.  It’s there and Jesus was brought up not that far from it.

And in the gospel we have stories about storms at sea - when the disciples start to panic - and Jesus becomes the sure when things are unsure - and they are far from shore.

LIFE HAS ITS SURE AND ITS UNSURE

What does your list of the sure and unsure look like?

Death and taxes always makes the list for sure things.

So too marriages and babies.

So too wars and family feuds.

So too food.

So too  sickness and health.

So too addictions and sin and recoveries and resolutions.

So too unsure things like the weather - more or less depending upon where you live.  I hear that a weather reporter’s job in Arizona ain’t that desirable.

The whole insurance industry is based on the unsure - as they promise a surety - if there is a crash or a crisis.

The possibility of surprise - is the secret of humor and horse races - and the lottery.

People repeat themselves - but sometimes they don’t.

Some people ask the same question every time we see them: “What’s new?”

Sometimes it’s not the sermon we expected.

Which is more you: wanting the same or wanting the different?

I remember preaching a week long parish mission in  Ohio with my buddy Tom. We were near where Bob Evans started and that’s where the pastor ate every night. Well for 6 straight nights I got Cobb Salad - which Tom started to needle me about. I discovered Cobb Salad - and with extra blue cheese dressing it was a sure thing.

Is there a psychological test to find out if we like same or if we like different - the sure or the surprise?

TODAY’S FIRST READING

Today’s first reading from the Acts of the Apostles  tells about some people in the Mediterranean basin - some 2000 years ago - who told about someone - named Jesus - who was killed - especially for some of the things he said - and rose from the dead.

Now that coming back from death was a surprise.

And for the past 2000 years people called Christians base their life after death on his life and death and resurrection.

That’s some insurance policy.

They were told to shut up about this - but they didn’t - and somehow either we  or our ancestors joined this belief - and here we are right now.

TODAY’S SECOND READING

Today’s second reading from the Book of Revelation talks about the hereafter. It tells about a throne on which the Lamb that was slain sits - the Christ - and countless people - angels and humans - are praising him - giving him the glory - and all pray out and cry out, “Amen.”

In New Orleans you’ll hear the song this way: “I want to be in their number when the saints come marching in.”

That’s a song and a hope for that surety.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

In today’s gospel we have this Jesus - the Risen One - on a beach - at a fire - with bread and fish - and he wants to have breakfast with his followers.

That’s an interesting image.

They are out in the water - fishing - but they caught nothing.

Bummer.

But the man on the shore tells and yells to them where to cast their nets.

Don’t we all want to know where to cast our nets?

Don’t we all want to make a catch - when it comes to life?

And they catch a great catch - 153 large fish - and they had a great meal - a great feast - a great breakfast - a great communion.

And starting with Peter - our first papa - Jesus asks us if we love him more than anyone else  - and Peter - the one who denied him 3 times - says 3 times - you know I love you.

And three times Jesus tells Peter - and he tells us: Feed my sheep - take care of each other - love me, love me, love me.

CONCLUSION

The title of my homily is, “The Shore and The Sea.”

Coming to Mass is coming ashore time - eating with Jesus - communion with Jesus - being asked, Have you caught anything?

And then we’re  told the sure things are love and the feeding and caring for each other - and then going into the unsure of the next - singing. Amen.

Not bad.

May    5, 2019 

Thought for today:

“Poetry is the impish attempt to paint the color of  the  wind.”  

Maxwell Bodenheim, 

quoted in Ben Hecht’s 

1958 play, Winkelberg.

SIDELINED

Sometimes we get sidelined -

Knocked off the track -

Sometimes we take the wrong path -

Go down the wrong street -

Don’t we all? Don’t we all?

Surprise life is all about reversals,

second chances, coming back out

of nowhere, comebacks, ready to do

what we really always wanted to do.

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

May    4, 2019 

Thought for today: 

“When you go home, tell them of us and say, ‘For your tomorrows  these gave their today.’” 

John Maxwell Edmonds 

[1875-1958],  Inscriptions 

Suggested for War Memorials (1919)
Cemetery: Brittany American
Cemetery, World War I

STANDING UP FOR US

It’s always nice to have someone 

stand up for us - especially when 

we’re in a slump - someone in the 

stands rooting for us. There. Quietly 

rooting for us. Presence.  Support. 

It’s always nice to actually  know, 

to believe, to sense that God is in 

the background - in the underneath - 

that is totally underneath the under- 

neath of our lives. Presence. Support. 

© Andy Costello, Reflections 2019

BEING  SAVED

INTRODUCTION

What to preach on….

I’m sitting in the doctor’s office this morning with a small missalette. I read the readings - said my regular  prayer, “Lord, help me to come up with something helpful for someone today.” Then I asked my regular next question: “What to preach on?”

I stopped at the words, “Being saved….” in today’s first reading from  1 Corinthians 15: 1-8 - today’s first reading for the Feast of Philip and James - May 3^rd.

QUESTIONS

Then I asked a question, “What does that feel like?”

Then I asked, “What are some situations when I have been saved?  What are some situations, when people feel saved?”

Then I sat there in the doctor’s office and pondered saved situations.  They were a bit behind schedule ….

BLUE LIGHT SPECIAL

Two  nights ago I went into our common room or living room and Father William is standing there with the TV remote.  The TV screen is loaded with a big written message. Basically it’s broken. I look down at the Comcast Box or some other box there and I notice the blue light is not on.  I go over and push one button and the blue light goes on and the TV goes on - and it’s fixed.

William might have said, “You’re a savior.” I was.  There is another TV in what we call the African Room. That’s where the TV that Father Pat Flynn used to use is. That TV is broken. I tried to fix it. No luck.  There’s another TV up on the third floor in a guest room, but we have a guest priest from Arizona this week - so I fixed our regular TV by pushing one button.

That’s one small example of being a savior.

MORE

Last fall, I get a flat tire on Route 301 Eastern Shore coming back from my sister Mary . I don’t have my Triple A card in my wallet. I am on the shoulder of the road.  I don’t have a cell phone. A state trooper almost immediately stops and asks what my problem is.

I say, “Flat tire?” 

He asks, “Do you have a spare?”

He has my tire changed in 10 minutes.

I say, “Thank you.”

He says, “The way I think of it, I see everyone on the road as a member of my family, and if they are stuck, I’m ready to help.”

He was a savior.

I think of when I  was a kid.  We’d go to Rye Beach and one of us or a few of us would run out of tickets for the rides. 

Then one kid takes out an Andrew Jackson and says, “Let’s get more tickets.” 

Then the kid says, “I have this uncle - who always slips us some money sneakily whenever he sees us going somewhere. My uncle would always say, ‘I always hated it as a kid to run out of money.’”

Down through the years I have seen lots of Uncles and Aunts - who were just like that.   I have tried to be that kind of a person, but not enough.

BEING SAVED

So part of being saved brings up that other S word. No not that one - but it could be that one.

Stuck - being stuck.

Let me look at the big stuck.

Down deep - every human being - consciously - and semi-consciously - or unconsciously - worries about dying - and being in some deep dark ditch or grave - in the underworld of the hereafter - lost - scared - unknowing what’s next - or if there is a next - 4 flat tires in the soul - no ticket to nowhere - and filled with “uh oh” tears along with fear predominating.

Stuck….

That’s stuck.

If there is any message in the gospels from Jesus  - it’s right here - Jesus says, “I’ll come looking for you when you feel stuck.”

I love Luke 15!

Just scream out from your depths,  “Baa - Baa - Baa!” as a lost sheep and the Good Shepherd will appear.

Just “Hmm, Hmn - I’m like a lost coin over here under the bed - or in the corner or in a crack in the floor.”

Or just crawl back home and I’m be waiting with open arms.

TODAY’S GOSPEL

Isn’t that what Jesus says in today’s gospel from John 14: 6-14,  “I am the way,  the truth and the life.”

Jesus will show us the way to the light.

CONCLUSION

P.S. Matthew 25: 31-6 gives us the password, the secret way to sneak in the back door.

When you see someone hungry, hurting,  stuck, or whatever form they have taken,  help them.