theROCK

Something is Happening

Every Pentecost Sunday the most compelling of the three readings for me is Acts 2:1-11 These slow-to-get-it, doubtful and frightened Apostles received the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire and became Courageous. Something Happened.

The Apostles had one native language when they left the upper room to speak to the crowds, who were from many nations with different languages, but everyone who heard the Apostles understood each word that was proclaimed.
Something Happened.

Lately in America, doesn’t it feel like we’re speaking a foreign language to more and more of our neighbors?   Doesn’t it feel like in the era of more diverse ways to communicate,  our communication with each other is breaking down and failing?

Changing definitions for generations-old established words and totally invented new words are leading to divisions. People talk while simultaneously scrolling social media,  which means that attention is divided and this leads to misunderstandings.  Our families, neighborhoods, communities, country lost the ability to talk civilly with those we don’t agree with. We all can name people in our lives who no longer speak to each other, and we are increasingly divided. Something Happened. 

We could spend hours dissecting and theorizing the “why’s.” We could point to politics, social issues, media, and technology. Pointing fingers and straining to pinpoint the exact event or time that it fell apart and place blame is a waste.

This is not that complicated. America is no longer a Christendom. And we Christians often stay silent rather than proclaim Christ’s message of repentance, redemption, forgiveness, and love.

The antidote to Anger and Hate is Forgiveness and Love. Jesus proved this as He died for our sins on the cross. We who are followers of Christ must speak as we are able and trust that the Holy Spirit will give us the words that allow others to hear. We who are followers of Christ , when faced with a debate about some divisive topic, must talk about Christ and proclaim His message. It begins with talking with those closest to us.  We must find courage to Cross the Great Divide. (“Cross” reference intended).

What happened in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost was a miracle; born of the Holy Spirit to bring the Resurrection and Truth of Jesus Christ to the world.

Come Holy Spirit. Give us all the Courage to Make Something Happen.

Something Happened

Every Pentecost Sunday the most compelling of the three readings for me is Acts 2:1-11. These slow-to-get-it, doubtful, and frightened Apostles received the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire and became Courageous. Something Happened.

The Apostles had one native language when they left the upper room to speak to the crowds who were from many nations with different languages, but everyone who heard the Apostles understood each word that was proclaimed.
Something Happened.

Lately in America, doesn’t it feel like we’re speaking a foreign language to more and more of our neighbors?   Doesn’t it feel like in the era of more diverse ways to communicate, our communication with each other is breaking down and failing?

Changing definitions for generations-old established words and totally invented new words are leading to divisions. People talk while simultaneously scrolling social media,  which means that attention is divided and leads to misunderstandings.  Our families, neighborhoods, communities, and country has lost the ability to talk civilly with those we don’t agree with. We can all name people in our lives who no longer speak to each other, and we are increasingly divided.

We could spend hours dissecting and theorizing the “why’s.” We could point to politics, social issues, media, and technology. Pointing fingers and straining to pinpoint the exact event or time that it fell apart and place blame is a waste.

This is not that complicated. America is no longer a Christendom. And we Christians often stay silent rather than proclaim Christ’s message of repentance, redemption, forgiveness, and love.

The antidote to Anger and Hate is Forgiveness and Love. Jesus proved this as He died for our sins on the cross. We who are followers of Christ must speak as we are able and trust that the Holy Spirit will give us the words that allow others to hear. We who are followers of Christ, when faced with a debate about some divisive topic, must talk about Christ and proclaim His message. It begins with talking with those closest to us.  We must find courage to Cross the Great Divide. (“Cross” reference intended).

What happened in Jerusalem on that first Pentecost was a miracle; born of the Holy Spirit to bring the Resurrection and Truth of Jesus Christ to the world.

A Mother's Love

You can never repay a mother’s love.

While it may not occur as often as we would like, there are some homilies we never forget. For me, one of these homilies was given by Fr. Ken Omernick, pastor of St. Charles in Hartland. His opening words were: You can never repay a mother’s love.

It’s true, our mothers do so much for us that it is impossible to repay them. They give us life itself, nurture and raise us, support us, perhaps most importantly, worry for us and give us a glimpse of what unconditional love is.

That is why when I heard from Fr. Ken that I could never repay my mother for her love, a lightbulb went on in my head. Because I had been trying to repay her, I bought gifts, dinners, flowers, chocolate, all trying to repay the debt, to get even, but nothing I did ever seemed to bring me closer to that goal of repaying my mother for her love.

Mothers provide a revelation and experience of God no other person can provide: being loved by someone unconditionally and whose love I did not earn or deserve, but is freely given. A love that cannot be paid back. Mothers in a unique way give us the love of God. In this mother-child relationship they prepare us to receive the unconditional love of God himself, which can also never be repaid. Mothers prepare us for relationship with God.

Which is why it is fitting to celebrate Mother’s Day in the month of May which is dedicated to our heavenly mother Mary. Sadly, some of us may not have had a mother as we would have hoped. A broken world will have broken mothers, if we never experience the unconditional love of a mother, we will never fully receive the unconditional love of God. We will spend our life trying to repay, to get even with God. Our relationship with Him will always be transactional.

So God gives us a mother, his very own, Mary. Who loves us as only a mother can do, unconditionally, without our deserving of it. That is why Mary is so important in our Faith and in our life, she prepares us for God. The more we grow in our relationship with Mary and our love for her, the more she will lead us closer to God. Mary provides us the unconditional love of a mother we may not have had in our own life.

This is the love we celebrate this weekend. Whether we receive this love from our biological mother or our spiritual mother, the love is same. A love that is life giving, nurturing, supportive, sacrificial, unconditional, and maybe even with a touch of worry, in short, we celebrate a mother’s love, a love that can never be repaid.