Homily
By The Rev. Marcia McRae
St.
John’s Episcopal Church, Bainbridge, GA
15
Nov. 2015
Proper 28 Year B:
1
Samuel 2:1-10; 1 Samuel 1:4-20 (as canticle); Hebrews 10:11-14; Mark
13:1-8
A
father knocks on his son’s door, saying: “Son, wake up!”
His
son answers: “I don't want to get up, Papa.”
“Get up! You have to go to school!”
“I don't want to go to school.”
“Why
not?”
“Three
reasons: 1st,
because it is so dull;
2nd,
the kids tease me;
&
3rd,
I hate school.”
His
father responds: “I am going to give you 3 reasons you must go to
school.
1st
it is
your duty.
2nd
you are
45 years old
With
headlines such as this weekend's carnage in Paris, many of us may
want to stay
in bed with
our heads under the covers.
The ostrich with its head in the sand has its appeal.
It reminds me
of my elementary school days [in a location near open water] where we
feared Russia & its ally, Cuba, could launch an atomic attack so
very close to us. We
drilled at school what to do in case of an atomic attack:
At the
alarm, we hid under our wooden desks.
What
kind of protection is that?!
Disaster
preparedness is a good thing. It can be like an annual physical for
us. For the church & for us in our homes, disaster preparedness
is a matter of stewardship of the assets entrusted to us. Yet we can
overdo & let fear rule our lives, as
I see in a woman implementing extensive plans from fear that has
grown reading Ted Koppel's book Lights
Out.
Jesus
assures us in our Gospel that we are not to be alarmed by wars &
rumors of wars
&
to beware that no one lead us astray by
claiming
to be Jesus.
Our
impressive structures, like those that wow the disciples do get
destroyed. In
fact, the Temple that impresses them with its outstanding masonry
work,
far greater than what they see in Galilee,2
is “the reconstructed temple begun under Herod the Great [about] 20
B.C. [& which gets] completed [just]...7 years before [the
Romans] destroy...[it] by fire in A.D. 70.”3
What
if the disciples had wrung their hands worrying over the Temple &
the what-ifs of people coming in Jesus' name? How
much ministry could they effectively do stuck in what-ifs?
We
can worry so much & use our precious, limited asset of time
We can be so preoccupied by having everything perfect to make oodles
of money at our Bazaar that we miss the
joy of working together.
Fact:
The
amount of money raised at the Bazaar is
a blessing to our budget & many ministries beyond our red doors.
Fact:
More important than the Bazaar bringing in revenue is
our exercise of stewardship of our relationships, our energy, our
health, our love, our sharing the Gospel truth: God
loves you. No exceptions. All are welcome.
To
exercise our stewardship [including
our stewardship of relationships]
we can learn from Hannah in our 1st
lesson. She knows
God is
in charge. Praying silently, which
is unusual in her day4,
Hannah asks God to give her a son. God says “Yes”. She names the
son Samuel,
which means “asked of God”5.
What
do you ask of God?
Notice:
Despite the spiteful way Peninnah treats Hannah, Hannah does not
respond in kind. She kindly refrains
from lashing out, refrains
from complaining to her adoring husband to do something about mean
Peninnah. Hannah shows us
grace,
gratitude
&
generosity.
What
else but
grace,
gratitude
&
generosity
would
lead this barren woman to ask God for a gift &
then return the gift to God?
Her
selfless act, as
one preacher says6:
can remind us that all
things are God’s gift to us &
can remind us of the truth many congregations say at the offertory:
“All
things come from you, O Lord,
&
of your own have we given you.”
You
do
give so generously to God, to each other & to our brothers &
sisters beyond our
red doors.
These
items represent the abundance of your gifts, your creativity, your
generosity of time, resources & skills. We will ask God's
blessing on these items, the many in the Parish Hall that they
represent, & all the laborers involved in their production &
the Bazaar.
Blessing
of Items for St. John's Bazaar7
Reader
1:
Many
there are who rely upon their hands and are skillful in their own
work.
Reader
2:
Prosper,
O Lord, the work of our hands.
Reader
1:
Prosper
our handiwork.
Celebrant:
Let us pray. (Silence)
O
God, your blessed Son worked with his hands in the carpenter shop in
Nazareth: Be present, we pray, with those who work in this place,
that, laboring as workers together with you, we may share the joy of
your creation; through Jesus Christ our Lord.
All:
Amen.
Reader
2:
We
present these items for the Bazaar, and other items they represent,
and all our labors to God's glory and in the hope and expectation
that God's grace may enfold us and all whose lives are touched by the
Bazaar.
Celebrant:
Let us pray. (Silence)
O God, whose blessed Son has sanctified and transfigured the use of
material things: receive these works which we offer, and grant that
they may proclaim your love, benefit your Church, and minister grace
and joy to those who see and use them. As
you have blessed the hands and the hearts that have created them, so
may your blessings
+ be
abounding among their recipients; Holy
God, we may
all our work serve to your glory and the welfare of your people,
through Jesus Christ our Lord. All:
Amen.
Bibliography
The
Book of Occasional Services 2003.
New York: Church Publishing. 2004.
Harper’s
Bible Commentary.
General Ed.: James. L. Mays. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1988.
Harper’s
Bible Dictionary.
General Ed.: Paul J. Achtemeier. San Francisco: Harper & Row
Publishers, 1971.
Holy
Bible with the Apocrypha.
New Revised Standard Version. New York: Oxford University Press.
1989.
Howell,
The Rev. Miguelina. “Holy Ground, Holy Spaces, Proper 28(B) –
2015”. Accessed: 14 Nov. 2015.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2015/11/06/holy-ground-holy-spaces-proper-28b-2015/
Jewish
Study Bible: Jewish Publication Society TANAKH Translation.
New York: Oxford University Press. 2004.
The
New American Bible for Catholics.
South Bend: Greenlawn Press. 1986.
1
Parts rephrased from: Howell, The Rev. Miguelina. “Holy Ground,
Holy Spaces, Proper 28(B) – 2015”. Quoting from Anthony de
Melo’s story.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2015/11/06/holy-ground-holy-spaces-proper-28b-2015/.
2
Ibid. Howell,
The Rev. Miguelina. “Holy Ground, Holy Spaces, Proper 28(B) –
2015”. Accessed: 14 Nov. 2015.
6
Howell,
The Rev. Miguelina. “Holy Ground, Holy Spaces, Proper 28(B) –
2015”. Accessed: 14 Nov. 2015.
http://episcopaldigitalnetwork.com/stw/2015/11/06/holy-ground-holy-spaces-proper-28b-2015/
7Adapted
from The
Book of Occasional Services.
Pp. 152, 211, 207; 246-250, 104. And from Prayer Shawl Blessing
“Blessings
Are Thrown across Our Lives”.
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