Sunday Homily

In this week, we are looking at times when God says “no” to things that seem good to us. During these times, it even seems God wills or wants the bad thing for us, or is not powerful enough to make what we want happen. We will be looking at this mystery through the second creation story of Adam and Eve and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to see how even when God says “no,” there is a much richer “yes” yet to be revealed.

As a result of sin, we are not comfortable in our own skin and are alienated from ourselves. We lead busy lives so that we can avoid solitude and times of quiet. In this scripture from Leviticus we are told to love our neighbor as ourselves. Our ability to love and connect with others rises and falls on our ability to love and care for ourselves. In this message we will look at ways to love ourselves so that we can overcome the feeling of loneliness and love others. And, we will look at how trusting God strengthens and heals our relationship with him.

When God created human beings he called everything good, but then he said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” God has created us for community, but we experience loneliness because sin alienates us from other people. In this message we look at the importance of reconciliation in relationships and how groups support relationships. We form relationships in small groups; family, friends or co-workers, that support all our other relationships in life.

God created us to be in harmony with others, with ourselves and with him. However, when human beings chose to sin, it led to a threefold alienation that has destroyed that harmony. It is this alienation that leads to a sense of loneliness. We are disconnected from God, from others and even from ourselves. In this introductory message we talk about our loneliness, where it comes from and how we can combat it. Only in dealing with this alienation can we fulfill the purpose Jesus gave us to be “the salt of the earth and the light of the world.”

Paul writes to the Corinthians saddened by their rivalries and disunity. He wants them to be united by Christ. In this message we will look at how we are to forgive others because Christ was crucified for us. Forgiveness is setting a prisoner free and discovering the prisoner was you. Forgiveness is for our benefit. The other person’s behavior may never change. It is up to God, not us, to change that person. It is our responsibility to be set free from the pressure and weight of an unforgiving attitude. Forgiveness is cheaper than resentment. It saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred and the waste of bitterness.

Jesus is the Lamb who takes away our sins. The process of forgiveness begins with understanding that we have been forgiven by God. To become people who forgive others, we accept God’s forgiveness and then allow the truth of God’s forgiveness to permeate our minds and penetrate our hearts, and direct our attitude toward others, especially those who owe us. There are a lot of people, who would certainly call themselves Christian, who are practicing Catholics, who have never accepted Christ’s work on the Cross in a personal way, they don’t even know what that means. Maybe that’s you. Maybe you’ve denied the reality of your sin, so you don’t even think there is a debt. Maybe you think you can cancel that debt for yourself, through your own efforts and good work.

God is pleased with you because he loves you. Scripture tells us today you are my beloved in whom I am pleased. To stop seeking constant approval from others calls for a certain type of self forgiveness. When appropriate, we need to forgive ourselves in the ways we do not meet the approval of others. That will reduce anxiety and worry. Our inability to forgive ourselves comes from our misunderstanding that God only approves of us if we are perfect. This can cause worry, anxiety, self loathing, self directed anger and serious depression.

The reading from Isaiah, Isaiah 60:1-6, tells us that God wants the whole earth to know him and his forgiveness. In this fi rst week, we will look at what forgiveness is and connect it to God’s desire that it be extended to the ends of the earth.

Most of the Christmas stories we know and love: the scenes pictured on Christmas cards, and sung in carols, the shepherds, the kings, the angels, the star: they’re all found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. John tells the Christmas story as well, but it is from a different perspective. John describes the arrival of The Word.

From day one, Jesus was a burden to almost everyone he came in contact with. In some form or another along the way, Jesus burdened Joseph, Mary, the Roman Empire, even the innkeepers. Preparation for Christmas is often a burden- there are the practical difficulties of shopping, cooking, etc., but for others, it brings a bigger burden or fear for the bad memories or experiences it creates. But Mary and Joseph, prompted by the angel Gabriel’s greeting to Joseph, “do not be afraid”, cooperated with God’s plan to receive Jesus as grace, despite the challenge and burden it seemed. Under the influence of grace and truth, what often seems like a burden or threat becomes a blessing, a source of joy and healing

We long for meaning. We long for our lives to matter. Wondering whether our lives have an impact or make any difference is the worst place to be. How depressing is it to feel like our lives don’t matter, that life is but a walking shadow, full of sound and fury signifying nothing. The truth of Christmas, the truth Jesus shared with John the Baptist is that all our energy and efforts fi nd their fulfi llment in the person of Jesus Christ. Our lives can have a great impact and make a tremendous difference by preparing others to meet Jesus.

Grace is a free gift; we are free to accept it or reject it. God does not force us to love him. That means we need to cooperate with Grace. John the Baptist combines grace and truth into one word: “Repent”. As a result of his message: many “were being baptized by him in the Jordan River as they acknowledged their sins”. John the Baptist shows that grace and truth is not an “either/or”; it’s a “both/and.” In other words, grace and truth cooperate with each other, and so we need to cooperate with grace and truth. We need to acknowledge the truth of our sinfulness, and then move on to trust the grace of God’s mercy

Advent is a time when grace and truth enters the world in a special way: the arrival of Jesus. Many people struggle balancing grace with truth. We tend to be good at emphasizing one but not the other. Truth without grace isn’t actually truth… it’s about being right. Grace without truth isn’t really grace… it’s enabling or lawless. In this series, we hope to move from thinking about grace and truth as an “either/or” to a “both/and” attitude. In the persons of John the Baptist, Mary, Joseph, and most perfectly, Jesus, we witness examples of living in both grace and truth. In each week’s readings, we will identify the grace, identify the truth, and then bring them together to bear on our decisions and actions so that we might experience Christ more fully at Christmas.

Jesus is the King. He is the King of Grace. He is the King of Grace and the message of the cross is not that you have to try and be good enough on you’re your own power or merits to get into heaven or to enter Paradise, but that Christ has done that for you. Everyone of us is like the thief, Dismas, on the cross. At times we have failed. We all fall short of our standards, much less God’s standards. And yet God accepts you. This is the Good News!

Jesus predicted the destruction of the Temple which was the center of their society. It was a symbol of Judaism and everything they knew and believed. Yet, it was going to come down. Jesus told the disciples not to fear, but to persevere and they would secure their lives. Our faith is not in the current systems or structures but in the God who loves us and provides for us. Often we fear change around us because it signifies a loss of control or loss of what is comfortable.