Introduction:

This Sunday the church celebrates Christ the King. In our post-modern era we know little about kings and value democracy and participatory forms of government. There are examples of ‘good kings’, but for us ‘kings’ are synonomous with dictators.  But when Jesus was born corrupt kings and puppet kings like King Herod were alive and well. The Hebrew people wanted a king to conquer Herod and the Romans and restore Israel.

What kind of King was Jesus, the Christ? Did he accept  kingship as his mission? Our gospel today is from the cross where Jesus suffers greatly, is crowned with thorns, and still  tells the thief who recognized his power beyond death ” “today you shall be with me in paradise”. (Luke 23;43) This is the king with the power of life, including eternal life and every encounter with Jesus is life-giving, now and forever. Paradise, according to George Lamsa, (Idioms in the Bible Explained… p.59) is a Persian word for a beautiful garden; a place of harmony and tranquility”.  The kingdom or kin-dom (family) of God on earth and forever is a place of harmony-a peaceful kingdom. The old adage, if you want peace work for justice applies. The operative word is “WORK” for the reign of God to come. As Samuel anointed David a king to shepherd God’s people, Jesus teaches us by word and deed what a good shepherd is and does, and what a shepherd king does.

On Palm Sunday Jesus fulfilled the prophecy of Zephaniah 9:9 “Look here your King comes to you; he is just and a savior,meek and riding upon an ass, upon a coal, the foal of an ass”.  Only the poorest of people in the Near East would ride on a donkey-never a prince or nobleman as an ass usually signified disgrace, rejection and humiliation. Jesus chose to ride the colt because he represented the old ideas of the Israelite rulers who lived among the people in meekness and humility not as overlords”. (Rocco Errico “…And There Was Light, pp. 133-135). He would not fulfill the hopes of some for political victory or military might but he would fulfill his destiny in showing the way of truth, no matter what it cost him. (John 18 37 a). In John’s Gospel he says that his kingdom is not “of this world”,not political or military, but it is the peaceable kingdom coming into the world through radical love and justice for the poor, exploited, outcast and left out.  What a wonderful leader,our servant king.

Rev. Bingle and I agree that Jesus is not a king of domination but a king of serving one another.  In the women priest movement we rarely use the word “Lord” because of the connotation of “lording it over” that goes with it and Jesus was never one to “lord it over” anyone, as. Rev. Bingle says he became upset with his disciples when they wanted power for him and for themselves.  He was not about power but he was about transformation of people and nations. That took a whole different kind of power. The power of radical love.

Rev. Beverly Bingle’s Homily:

” If there’s one thing that history teaches us for sure, it’s that it’s

easy to stray from Jesus’ message. While he was still walking among

them, even his closest disciples gave him problems. They struggled
with who he was. His way was outside their understanding—above all
they had even dared to think, beyond anything they had ever hoped. He
showed them God’s presence. It was a heady experience.

They saw him feed 5,000 people by sharing five loaves and two fish.
They wanted to make him king. Jesus said no—I’m not a king and don’t
want to be—and he went into hiding.

Peter suggested kingship, and Jesus called him a devil for suggesting
that Jesus would want to be exalted to use power and force over
people.

James and John wanted seats at the right and left hand of power, and
Jesus was disturbed at them. He told them it couldn’t be that way
with them because those in power who don’t know God try to lord it
over others. He told them that the one who leads has to be the
servant of all.

Jesus taught jubilee justice—a “year of favor” that comes when we
share what we have, reach out to heal and comfort, befriend the weak
and forgotten, lift up the poor. In the Sermon on the Mount he
praised the peacemakers and applauded the folks who work for justice.

His message was clear: Jesus preached the dignity and worth of every
person, and that threatened the powerful in church and state. Those
rulers had to be #1. They wanted to be on top, and they would do
anything to stay there. Jesus was too much for them. So they arrested
him and executed him. After he died, the disciples continued to
experience his presence still with them, to remember what he had said
and done. They re-told the story, trying to describe this
extraordinary man who showed them the way to a place of peace and
justice on earth. Their experience of Jesus was beyond words, but
they had to use words to describe it. Ironically, from the very
beginning they chose the word that Jesus himself had rejected: king.

People are still alive who remember when this Solemnity of Christ the
King was set in stone, back in 1924, at the end of World War I, to a
people devastated by the killing of millions by the violent powers of
states around the world, by a Pope living in the midst of kings and
carnage. It was a statement that called for allegiance to God and
turning away from the violence of that war and the earthly kings who
had caused it. The Church was trying to make clear that the world
that counts is God’s world, the power that counts is God’s power. Not
land. Not stockpiles of oil or corn or gold. Not Wall Street. Not
Main Street. Not the power of guns and bombs. That kind of
domination leadership—the kingship of oppression—is still with us.
“Watch out for good ol’ number one,” we hear. “Take care of yourself;
nobody else will.” Like the disciples, we miss the point.

Last month the Eagles football team at Olivet Middle School in
Michigan chose to use their power the way Jesus did. Unknown to their
coach, the 8th graders put their heads together and came up with a
play that gently nudged their Downs Syndrome teammate into the end
zone for a touchdown. Not only did the team’s action lift Keith Orr,
it helped them, too. As one of the team members said, “I kind of went
from being somebody who mostly cared about myself and my friends to
caring about everyone and trying to make everyone’s day and everyone’s
life.” They gave up their glory and used their power for someone
else’s good.

We have that kind of power. Some of us have political power—to write
to Congress, to cast a vote for the common good. Some of us have
economic power—to hire help, to spare a couple of bucks. Some of us
have personal power—to smile, to say hi, to phone a friend, to visit a
hospitalized neighbor, to take a welcome cake to a new neighbor.
Every time we send the price of a pizza to a charity—every time we
stand aside and open a door for someone—we use our power for good.
When we do that—when we love and serve others—we get Jesus’ message
straight.”

—
Holy Spirit Catholic Community
Mass at 2086 Brookdale (Interfaith Chapel):
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 9 a.m.
Mass at 3535 Executive Parkway (Unity of Toledo)
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
www.holyspirittoledo.org

Rev. Bev Bingle, Pastor

****************************************************************************************

Following King Jesus      Pastor Judy Lee

Following Jesus means to imitate Jesus, and that is hard to do. 

Like the disciples, we often misunderstand what Jesus said and did.  He hung out with sinners and outcast people, he accepted women as equals, he reversed the order of things-the last shall be first- and he put the poor and oppressed, the outcast and the stranger and foreigner ahead of the religious and arrogant folks of the times. As Rev. Bingle said he threatened the powers that be and they nailed him to the cross. Yet, death could not hold him.    

For most of us, there is little persecution and no threat of death, but it is still necessary and often difficult to put serving God’s people first and to put the poorest among us, justice and peace above self-interest. The story of Oscar Romero is an inspiration to us as we try, as he did, to imitate the life of Christ.  Romero lives again not only in the Salvadorian people but in all who work and  risk for the kindom of God to come on earth, the kindom of love and justice for all, the “peaceable kingdom.”

This is by Brother David who is quoting from a book by Robert Ellsberg cited at the bottom. With Archbishop Romero may we believe in and strengthen “the church of God, the people” so it will rise again from the ashes and never die.

URL   http://www.gratefulness.org/giftpeople/romero.htm

“At the same time he (Romero) seemed to draw strength and courage from the poor campesinos, who embraced him with affection and understanding. “With this people,” he said, “it is not hard to be a good shepherd.”

“When you hear the voice of the man commanding you to kill, remember instead the voice of God. Thou Shalt Not Kill”

The social contradictions in El Salvador were rapidly reaching the point of explosion. Coups, countercoups, and fraudulent elections brought forth a succession of governments, each promising reform, while leaving the military and the death squads free to suppress the popular demand for justice. As avenues for peaceful change were systematically thwarted, full-scale civil war became inevitable. In 1980, weeks before his death, Romero sent a letter to President Jimmy Carter appealing for a halt to further U.S. military assistance to the junta, “thus avoiding greater bloodshed in this suffering country.” On March 23, 1980, the day before his death, he appealed directly to the members of the military, calling on them to refuse illegal orders:

“We are your people. The peasants you kill are your own brothers and sisters. When you hear the voice of the man commanding you to kill, remember instead the voice of God. Thou Shalt Not Kill….In the name of God, in the name of our tormented people whose cries rise up to heaven, I beseech you, I beg you, I command you, stop the repression.”

The next day, as he was saying Mass in the chapel of the Carmelite Sisters’ cancer hospital where he lived, a single rifle shot was fired from the rear of the chapel. Romero was struck in the heart and died within minutes.

Romero was immediately acclaimed by the people of El Salvador, and indeed by the poor throughout Latin America, as a true martyr and saint. For Romero, who clearly anticipated his fate, there was never any doubt as to the meaning of such a death. In an interview two weeks before his assassination, he said:

“I have frequently been threatened with death. I must say that, as a Christian, I do not believe in death but in the resurrection. If they kill me, I shall rise again in the Salvadoran people.

“Martyrdom is a great gift from God that I do not believe I have earned. But if God accepts the sacrifice of my life then may my blood be the seed of liberty, and a sign of the hope that will soon become a reality… A bishop will die, but the church of God – the people – will never die.” “

Sincere thanks to Robert Ellsberg

for permission to use this chapter from his book All Saints: Daily Reflections on Saints, Prophets, and Witnesses From Our Time. “Since soon after it came out; I have used this book for daily spiritual reading and still find it inspiring.” —Br. David

______________________________________________________

Blessings to all as we celebrate Christ the Servant King’

Pastor Judy Lee,ARCWP

This is Pastor Judy Lee with Joann in the Hospital on Thurs. 11/13/13-The laying on of hands

Sometimes illness hits hard and we are unprepared. How can we ever be prepared for that which is unknown and perhaps life threatening? At that times it is so good to call upon those who can pray with us and simply be with us. When I get those calls these days, after my own bout with a rare slow growing stomach cancer and thankfully successful surgery in February of this year, I respond empathically from the deepest level within me. I respond in the Spirit of our loving God. Pastor Judy B. who has gone through, and thankfully through, three cancers responds from the same place. Perhaps that was gift that God has given us as we struggled and overcame with our own illnesses,

Our first call on Thursday was from Joann, nearly 80, who has suffered with many illnesses. We have ministered to and with her and her family for almost fifteen years. We stood together in this same hospital just a few years ago when her beloved husband said good-bye to her and embraced life forever with God.  Depleted and dehydrated she was admitted to the Hospital for hydration and study. She is frightened but a woman of strong abiding faith.We visited and discussed her condition and her concerns. We anointed her with the rite of the Church and this brought her great comfort. In the profound quiet of silent prayer in the laying on of hands there is a power beyond description. The above noted picture captures but a bit of it. There is a being with that surpasses any words. Anxiety turned to peace before our eyes.

The reading from the book of James (Chapter 5: 14-15)  is shared at the beginning of the rite of anointing.  It is such a good one to guide us in this:   “Are any of you sick? Then call for the presbyters(translated elders or priests) of the church,and have them pray over those who are sick and anoint them with oil in the name of Christ.  And this prayer offered in faith will make them well,and Christ will raise them up…” It is Christ that raises up the sick and all of us.

Our second hospital call was a difficult one as a young person was involved, one we had known since she was twelve years old and I ministered in the Middle schools. She is now 22 and recently diagnosed with HIV+. She and her family are overwhelmed by this news. And while people now live with HIV+ like a chronic but treatable disease, this young woman has become very ill and is already symptomatic. The adults in the family are in mourning and some are in denial.  The young people and children are anxious and worried although the whole family shares a strong faith. We prayed and maintained presence with this brave young woman although she could hardly speak. We took the family in our arms and prayed with them.  Prayer and presence makes the difference in hope and despair. May each one feel our loving God with them every moment of the day.

Before we went on to our last visit in another hospital we stopped to visit with some of our children. Maintaining loving presence with our children is a priority with us.  “Then small children were brought to Jesus so he could lay hands on them and pray for them.The disciples began to scold the parents but Jesus said, let the children come to me and do not hinder them, the kindom of God belongs to such as these. And after laying hands on them,Jesus left that town” ” (Matt. 19: 13-15).  Again, we see and feel the power of the laying on of hands and prayer.   The triplets have just had their fifth birthday and were excited to see us. Keion was resting after school but his smile made our day!

Our last visit was to Tania in the Psychiatric Hospital. Last Tuesday we helped her in her admission there and we now followed up with her possible discharge planning. She is now homeless and has nowhere to go and and was also struggling with accepting her medications again. After we prayed she felt happiness and peace. She took her medicine to the relief of Staff and we involved the Discharge planner in discussing her options. We are hopeful that she will accept and enjoy the housing we have found for her.

Prayer and presence, being with and raising up. Thanks be to God!

Pastor Judy Lee, ARCWP

11/14/13

This is Colombian woman Priest Olga Lucia Alvarez (second from left) with Priests Judy Lee and Barbara Duff and Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan at a gathering of the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests 

Acclaimed Latin American Theologian Consuelo Velez has written a very good article about women in the church related to the hopes of Pope Francis to find another level of service and not servitude for women in the church. She points out that the Pope is aware of theology of women and the efforts of women theologians. The only lack in this fine article is that she seems unaware of the existence of Roman Catholic women priests. As there are already two in her own country of Colombia, and more on the way, we would hope to dialogue with her and let her know that the hope for the ordination of women who are called and prepared has already happened, and is continually happening.And, perhaps of equal importance. ordained women are renewing the church, sharing with the priesthood of all believers and serving the poor and outcast as Jesus did. Inclusivity is what we learn from Jesus. The established Roman Catholic Church in later centuries moved away from what Jesus did and taught  toward exclusivity and our renewal is critical to church survival and evangelism. 

The article is shared by our ARCWP Priest in Colombia Olga Lucia Alvarez and from the blog of the Barefoot Church/ Iglesia Descalza

The Presence of Women in the Church

Posted: 12 Nov 2013 10:24 AM PST

by Consuelo Vélez (English translation by Rebel Girl)
Biblioteca Amerindia
November 9, 2013

Among the many “different” things Pope Francis has said are his references to women. He said that it pains him that often women’s role in the Church is “servitude” and not “service” and he has stated the need to do a “theology of women” so that the latter can hold more significant posts within the Church since “the Virgin Mary was more important than the apostles, bishops, deacons and priests, and women are more important than bishops and priests.” (interview granted on the flight back to Rome after WYD-Rio) He has also highlighted the role of women as mothers and the feminine dimension of the Church, but he has said the role of women is not reduced to their maternity, although they must not renounce it in favor of getting other roles in society.

It’s good that the Pope is talking about this because it confirms that when we women refer to the situation of women in the church, we are right and it also gives us more freedom to talk about it in the face of some of the voices in the Church who get “irritated” or think it’s unnecessary to address these issues.

How do we make it possible for women’s role in the Church to be their rightful one? For the time being, it would be very important for women’s theological work to be better known, studied, and evaluated. It’s not that there is no theology of women. There’s a lot of it and it’s very good. It’s possible that there isn’t a theology of women that is accepted by the Vatican that promotes more substantive changes and that must be what the Pope meant when he stated the need for a theology of women. In fact, when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, he endorsed the holding of the First Congress of Latin American and German Women Theologians in 2008 and, undoubtedly, he knows about  many other events and publications along that line.

But what is this theology of the woman that is already being done? We should highlight the Biblical work that has reclaimed the presence of women in the Bible and their role in the constitution of the early Christian communities. But there’s also work in other fields of theology such as theological anthropology, Christology, ecclesiology, sacraments etc… In these topics, the feminine face of God –so often forgotten — and God’s saving message for men and women concretely and according to their specific reality, are reclaimed. For example, it’s not the same to speak of gift and sacrifice to women as to men. In a patriarchal society such as the one that still persists, that argument has led some women to the “servitude” that Pope Francis is criticizing, denying their dignity and suffering the tragedy of domestic violence, among others. Women’s theology works to regain the dignity of women so often denied by patriarchal society and supported in some ways by a “distorted” religious view, and it substantiates that this is not God’s will but that, on the contrary, God’s plan of salvation proposes a “community of equals” where gender differences would not be the reason for the subordination of either of the genders to the other one.

Although all this seems obvious, it’s still not a reality in Church practice. It’s enough to see the ministers of Holy Communion giving out the Eucharist. There, one notices that the faithful prefer to receive the Eucharist first from the priests, then from laymen, and often, the line for the woman [minister of Holy Communion] is empty. Thus they reproduce the clerical style that impedes a Church of communion. And though many more women than men go to Church and they lead catechism and apostolic groups, their words and initiative are often not acknowledged by the ordained ministers, and real parochial councils, where the priest recognizes the voice of the laity — and women, of course — in the journey of the ecclesial community, aren’t promoted.

It has always been said that change comes from the grassroots. But in this case it seems that the roots of the Church are very passive and that it’s the will of a leader — the Pope — that is raising awareness and making us see that things could be different. In any case, change will come from working together and that’s why we have to be responsible in the face of these challenges and ask ourselves sincerely: What is the effective participation of women in decision-making positions in our local communities? How much credibility are they granted? Are the theological works of women taught in the seminaries and schools of theology? Is there enough humility to acknowledge the difference between what ought to be and the reality of women in the Church? Will we review our praxis and correct the mistakes?

This is a task we have pending in this Church we love and that needs to be renewed according to the will of God, in this specific case, seeking to make effective that in Christ Jesus “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free person, there is not male and female.”(Gal 3: 28)

Consuelo Vélez has a PhD in Theology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with post-doctoral studies at Boston College. She is professor of Theology at the Pontificia Universidad Xaveriana in Bogota, Colombia. 

  Judy Lee, ARCWP

We as Roman Catholic Women Priests are moved by the plight of Australian Priest,  Fr. Greg Reynolds who put himself on the line for the ordination of women priests. We now share the same fate-excommunication. But we agree that no one can separate us from the love of Christ or from the real church-the people of God. We thank him for joining Roy Bourgeois as one of the few male priests who have risked it all publicly for the equality of our calls. God calls who God calls…

We are validly ordained women, we are here, we are serving God’s people,

Thanks be to God!

This is an article about this courageous man from the blog of the Concerned Catholics of Montana,  posted by Rosemary.The original article is in the North Queensland Register. It is well worth reading.

The Outsider: Father Greg Reynolds

These are some of our members,including myself, who have risen again and are still rising. On the left is our Elder and worship leader Mr. Harry L.Gary whose testimony is new every Sunday. Also Roger and Len.

In our Gospel today (Luke 20;27-38) Jesus says that God is the God of the living, all are ALIVE to God! We are assured that we can and will rise again. Hallelujah!

If you know Leonard Cohen’s song Hallelujah! hear it and sing it with this prayer.

In a few hours we will celebrate together. Our inclusive Catholic Mass is at 2PM on Sundays. No day is ordinary and we pray that all may be full of God’s life today.  And now I pray as I take in the events of the day. Join me in prayer as you go through your day.

I pray as I look at our little lake with wonder. The algae blight that covered the lake this summer is now almost completely gone and the ducks and coots and egrets have returned. Hallelujah!

My neighbor Imogene is a prayer warrior who sits facing the lake with her prayers and Scripture reading every day.If you are on my prayer list she may have prayed for you too. She is getting more frail in her mid eighties but she still feeds the ducks and birds and tends her garden. The algae bloom saddened her heart as it did mine. Everyone we called said there was nothing that could be done.  They spoke about fertilizer use and warm waters. She kept on praying. See her smile now that it is gone! Hallelujah!

I pray as I shepherd my rescued cats through their morning ins and outs in separate groups. “Hiss” says Potsy, the newest. “I am not ready for all these others yet.” ” Ahhh,m’row” he says as he returns to his safe room and bed. But he will not die on the streets (he is FIV Positive and stress is a killer for him, and so are attackers and cars since he would sit right in the middle of the street). He sniffs Star and Silver at the door. He will be ready soon. I pray for all beings that have to live outside when they were designed for indoor homes.Hallelujah!

I think of Len who could easily lose his home as he ignores things like paying the bills and is debating whether we can help him with this. I think of Rich mowing lawns and living in a shed. I think of Don living outside. I pray we can work together to get each of these truly housed. I think of Sally who had her “rest” in the Psychiatric Hospital, I pray that she is stable enough to get started in housing again. She is living in her car until she can face the reality that she will not own her own home but live in a small Efficiency on her income. They may all be in church today, I pray for homes and God’s abundant grace for them! Hallelujah!

I am shocked at the morning news. The news about the typhoon in Central Philippines affecting 4.3 million people and the direct hit on  Tacloban City,  in the Philippines is overwhelming. Possibly over ten thousand people killed in the Tacloban area. “My God!” we cry together. This must feel like the end of the world for them. Like the reading from 2 Maccabees today about horrific torture, rising to God is the only good part of the story. We pray for each one who died in this terrible natural event. It is not an act of God, but of nature and it overwhelms us like the roaring sea and wind.We pray for the loved ones of all who perished. We pray for all of the survivors, and all those whose lives and hearts are broken. We pray for quick aid. We pray and we sing Leonard Cohen’s broken and holy “Hallelujah”!  

The Philippines is very dear to me as Filipina Methodist Deaconess Virginia Maniti Williams shepherded me from my youth and Filipino Pastors like Emerito Nacpil and others also served at Bethany church in Brooklyn encouraging our youth when they visited.  Deaconess Virginia went home often with beloved Rev. Mel, and she returned alone after his rising to God.  She helped and we did as well in the building of a new Methodist Church.  She returned home to serve her people before her own illness brought her Stateside to live with her daughters, then in an Assisted Living home in California.  For the health and strength of Deaconess Virginia Maniti Williams we sing a holy “Hallelujah!”

We pray too for all those wounded warriors from all walks of life who in losing limbs and sight and mental health to war have to fight to rise again. We pray for the members of the Wounded Warriors Band that appeared on CBS Sunday Morning Show this morning.With the guidance of the acclaimed Roger Waters they make beautiful and astounding music out of the wrecks of their bodies and lives. They truly rise! And we pray for those wounded soldiers who are studying music with Arthur Blum and visiting stars like YoYo Ma at the Walter Reed Hospital. We pray that each one will continue to rise. We pray for their return to full life, for their resurrection. And we pray for all wounded warriors who have not yet found a way to rise, that they will find it.  Hallelujah!

We pray for Tim Donley the marvelous lead singer of the Wounded Warriors Band-that he may continue to rise! His testimony this morning was astounding. His signature song is Leonard Cohen’s melancholy and profound Hallelujah. We will quote some of it as we end our prayer. Tim said that when he lost both legs he was broken but he still had his right hand. He was okay. Then he lost the use of his right hand. He said “Every dream was broken and I didn’t know where to turn. In that place God said to me,”Do you still trust me to have what’s best for you?”  It may be the best is now for me. That made me understand Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.”

WOW!

Amen to our brother and Amen to all who rise again and sing “Hallelujah”. I am going to get The Wounded Warriors Band rendition of Hallelujah to share with my people and all who are rising again.

This is two stanzas from Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah! It is a story about the Hebrew King David and also about all of us who have fallen or been wiped out and need to rise again.

“…

There’s a blaze of light

in every word

it doesn’t matter what you heard

The holy or the broken Hallelujah.

Hallelujah, hallelujah (4x)

….And even though

it all went wrong

I’ll stand before the lord of song

with nothing on my tongue but hallelujah.

Hallelujah,

Hallelujah, hallelujah (8x)”.

And so we end our prayers today with a broken and a holy Hallelujah! May we all rise again. Amen and Hallelujah!

Pastor Judy

Salvation and justice are one says Rev. Bingle, Roman Catholic Woman Priest from Toledo Ohio.

Peace is what needs to be resurrected and  we need to live justice for all. I am happy to present this homily here along with the one I have just published on a similar theme to spread the word. All honor and glory to our loving and living God who gives us life forever. 

Rev.Dr.Judy Lee,ARCWP

This weekend’s readings point to resurrection. The scholars of the
Jesus Seminar see this passage from Luke’s Gospel as written in the
style of rabbis of a later time, though they conclude that Jesus might
have engaged in an exchange of this type. In it Jesus affirms and
strengthens what was just beginning to be accepted truth at the time
of the Maccabees family: that there is salvation, that resurrection
happens, that God is inviting us into the fullness of life. Jesus
tells the Sadduccees, “Look! Heaven is different, it’s radically
different. It’s a totally new life, living within the fullness of
God’s life. It’s here and now and for ever.”

Further on in our tradition, Pope Paul VI, in Evangelii Nuntiandi,
also described salvation as existential, now and forever. He said it
involves justice—action toward the reform of oppressive forces and
structures in society. So, to experience Jesus’ resurrection—to be
“saved”—means that the poor are lifted out of poverty, the lonely are
lifted into community, the sick are lifted to health. Resurrection
means that we raise our voices and vote our consciences until all are
lifted into justice. Resurrection means feeding the hungry, housing
the homeless, and visiting the imprisoned.

We’re closing in on the end of our liturgical year, heading for winter
in our Ohio world. We can’t help but think about endings and deaths,
salvation and resurrection. As we ponder, we are increasingly aware
of the significant shift in our understanding of the cosmos and how
that affects our understanding of God. There’s a startling newness to
it, still evolving. We could look at Teilhard, Ilia Delio, John
Haught, Kathleen Duffy and theologize about resurrection for a long
time.

Then we have the first reading from Maccabees, where confidence in
resurrection underlines the courage of the family facing torture and
death. But the story haunts us; it’s troubling.

We remember World War II and the holocaust. As the Franciscan Action
Network observes, “The evil perpetrated at Auschwitz occurred not only
because of a few very immoral and aberrant people but also because of
the many ordinary human beings who failed to question what they were
witnessing, and what they were doing, to other ordinary human beings.”

Millions died… but we were youngsters when that happened, or not even
born yet. We’re past that, we think. We’re civilized now, we think.

Are we? Our drones explode in Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia, killing,
maiming, and traumatizing. Refugees crowd into camps around the
world—a quarter of a million Darfur refugees and 50,000 Central
African Republic refugees in Chad; 144,000 Syurians in Jordan; 12,000
Liberians in Ghana; 400,000 Somalians in Kenya. Then there are 2
million Palestinian refugees in Jordan, a million in the Gaza Strip, a
half million in Lebanaon and another half million in Syria, 200,000 on
the West Bank. Still others seek refuge from war and oppression in
Thailand, Cambodia, the Philippines, India, Iran, Lampedusa in Italy,
Lybia, Tunisia, Turkey, Malawi, and Malta. In Toledo over eleven
hundred people are homeless.

Thousands are being massacred and tortured in Mexico, Honduras and
Colombia in our “War on Drugs.” The “Western Hemisphere Institute for
Security Cooperation” is the new name given to the infamous U.S. Army
School of the Americas—the SOA. SOA graduates brutalize and terrorize
and murder in Honduras and Colombia. Our government taught them the
way.

Then there are the injustices that come from our immigration policies.
Over 2,500 people have died trying to cross the Arizona desert.
Private prisons, border fences, and electronic surveillance have
blurred the reality of our militarized foreign policy being the root
cause of people leaving their homes.

And there’s the violence of executions. We’re one of the few countries
in the world that still has a death penalty—brutal, inhuman,
dehumanizing.

The toll of our inhumanity goes on and on. We are responsible for the
death and maiming of war, uprooting peoples, torturing. Everything
that Jesus speaks to us rejects oppression and war. The way of
violence and oppression is not his way. He wants abundant life for us,
abundant joy. And it’s clear that he means that
salvation—resurrection from our old lives—is to be here and now.

If we are not part of the solution, we’re part of the problem. And
that brings us to the second reading and its prayer that our own
lives, our daily activities, be an unstoppable force for goodness.

Many of you know Kathleen and Paul. They are again heading south to
Arizona for the winter—but not as snowbirds. As volunteers with No
More Deaths, they’re heading for the border, where they’ll drop food
and water in caches to save the lives of desperate people. You know
Laurie of St. Rose Parish’s Migrant Ministry, who worships with us and
carries our contributions of rice and beans and oil and clothing to
the local migrant camps in the summer. You know Carol, who stands
vigil in prayer with the Ohioans to Stop Executions at the corner of
Adams and Erie whenever the State of Ohio murders another person in
our name. And most of you know Tom, who heads up our Holy Spirit
Community’s Social Concerns Ministry. Sunday noons will find Tom on a
street corner somewhere with the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition. This
weekend they’re at the corner of Collingwood and Delaware, drawing
attention to our use of drones. Then there are the many folks—far too
many of you to name right now—who lift people out of poverty when you
volunteer and donate to places like Claver House, Helping hands of St.
Louis, and Padua Center. Many of you have a connection with Corpus
Christ University Parish and will gather for the prayer service there
November 21 to bless and send a delegation from Toledo to the School
of the Americas Watch at Fort Benning, Georgia. Our Holy Spirit
Catholic Community voted to contribute some of your generous donations
to a fund to help sponsor college students who want to join this
year’s SOA Watch. And we all pray, and that changes us so we can
change the world.

We are part of the solution. May we continue to find our salvation
in our daily lives.

— 
Holy Spirit Catholic Community
Mass at 2086 Brookdale (Interfaith Chapel):
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 9 a.m.
Mass at 3535 Executive Parkway (Unity of Toledo)
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.
www.holyspirittoledo.org

Rev. Bev Bingle, Pastor
419-727-1774

Celebrating Resurrection Faith in the Good Shepherd Community 

The smiling woman in the middle is Linda Maybin. She has shared her story of turning her life around. “I thank my children and  family,including my church family for showering the love on me that helped me turn my life around”.  

It is love that helps us rise again.

 The readings for this Sunday lead us into the heart of our faith and to the secret places of our hearts where hopes and doubts and love are stored. They are about death, and life, and rising again. They are about both consolation and hope and they are about living our faith-walking the walk no matter what the challenges are.

2 Maccabees 7:1-2, 9-14 records the horrific deaths of seven passionate and courageous brothers and their mother who were willing to die rather than break their covenant with God through the Law. The book of Second Maccabees, written about 110 BC, is a series of facts and at times commentaries and legends that emphasize the hopes and sufferings of persecuted believers under the reign of the Syrians. Jews tried hard to hold on to the Law as their lifeline while enduring the onslaught of demands for acculturation to pagan beliefs. The brothers are firm in the hope of resurrection and eternal life.

The resurrection is mentioned in the Bible for the first time here. (It is also mentioned in Daniel and the Wisdom books).  Unlike Greek thinking that places the spiritual above the material and physical, the Jews did not separate the concepts of body and soul.  Last Sunday’s reading from the book of Wisdom (11:22-26) tells us that all that God made God loved and lived in and kept alive. God lives in us body and soul, hence the belief in afterlife, eternal life, and bodily resurrection.  Not all Jews believed in the resurrection.  In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees did and the Sadducees did not.

As our Gospel for this Sunday (Luke 20:27-38) shows Jesus firmly held, and then fulfilled, the belief in resurrection. The Sadducees tried to trap Jesus by giving him a riddle that to them meant resurrection is ridiculous-about the plight of a woman who married seven brothers according to the Law-who would be her husband in heaven? Jesus deftly showed them that heaven is not a replay of life on earth but a new play-one where there is no need for marrying as life is eternal. Both men and women are the children of God and the children of the resurrection and have eternal life. He emphasizes that even according to Moses, God is the God of the living, “All are alive to God” (verse 38).

The letter of Paul to the Thessalonians is written to encourage and console this new and persecuted church made up of some Jews and many Gentiles.  He urges them to live the Gospel and work to spread the good news and not sit around brooding about the end of time and hoping for the return of Christ. He assures them that God is faithful and will strengthen them.

We need to know that when times are hard for whatever reasons, God does strengthen us. When times are hard there is also a hope that someday things will be better-someday and somewhere.  And yet in our hearts we long for it to be better now and not “pie in the sky bye and bye”. The hopes I hear are: someday there will be peace on earth and peace right here so drive by shootings and crazy folks with big guns stop all this killing; someday I will get a good job; someday I will be poor no more; someday I will have my own home; someday I can pay my bills; someday I can afford health care for myself and my children and someday my children will have all the opportunities that I didn’t have, and especially now- “please God, don’t let them cut food stamps”. The someday needs to be now and our work is to make this happen. The life God promises needs to start now-for ALL of God’s children.

For others, the torture faced is not because of religious persecution though that clearly exists in our global village, the torture is enduring an addiction or a horrific illness ourselves or with those we love dearly. We pray that this will end someday. And we pray that someday is now-that the cure is found, that the treatment helps, that the suffering will stop.  Sometimes we pray for death to bring life and sometimes we pray for life to be restored and death conquered. And when death separates us from our loved ones we need desperately to know that they are still alive to God and that, still living, they are with us too. Jesus reassures us of this-“God is the God of the living…all are alive to God”.   In dying we join our loving God in the Eternal Now.

Yet there are so many ways that we can be dead even as our bodies are technically alive. We can live in depression so deep that we might as well be dead. We can live in so much fear-of the outside world, of other people, of danger and harm and even of our own potential that we stay fixed and do not move one inch. We can give up and not try to climb up a higher rung on the ladder when we’ve gotten messages that we belong on the bottom.  We need to rise.  I think of the poem Still I Rise  by Maya Angelou. (Excerpted here.

” You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies.

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust,

I’ll rise….

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I rise

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.”

Our rising now is as important as rising “someday”. What is holding us back? We can become so self- absorbed that the Other barely exists or exists for our own ends. We can live in sensory deprivation cut off from the natural world and held captive by the machines and games that seem like life to us but are a complete artificial world. We can make our worlds so small that people who are not like us in looks or beliefs are exiled. We can live only for ourselves while our neighbors are in need of our love and assistance.  We can think we are alive and living the Gospel when we are only pleasing ourselves. We can open or close the door on love. We can be so lonely that we build a wall that keeps people out and loneliness, which is at least familiar, in.  We can talk the talk and not know how to walk the walk. We can know how perfectly well, but not exert the energy to really walk it. There are many ways to be alive and many ways to be dead. This applies to nations and cultures and churches and faith communities as well as to individuals. We need to pinch ourselves and if we have died we need to rise again.

When I faced major surgery for a rare slow growing stomach cancer last February, I stared death in the face. I was frightened. I could not control my trembling.  Lying down on the operating table, I said to God, I am in Your arms. And I rested because I was.  I was so thankful to rise up off that sick bed and to live again. I was overwhelmed by the love of those all around me and knew deeply the love of God. Some things are the “new normal” for me, but I welcome life with a new zest and a new purpose to share the good news.  And this is that news:the love of God in Christ lifts us up; the love of God is forever. God loves us like we’ve never been loved before, and that is for always. We are alive to God now and forever.  Our deceased loved ones are alive with God in the eternal Now. When we die, we will live again, we will rise again. Jesus the Christ showed us how to love and how to live, how to die and how to rise.  Let us shake off death and rise again-NOW!

Rev. Dr. Judy Lee,ARCWP Co-Pastor The Good Shepherd Inclusive Catholic Community FM,FL

It is said that you can’t go home again. That is true for me in literal terms. If you read  my book The House on Sunny Street: a Tale of Two Brooklyns (PublishAmerica.com;Amazon.com; Band N.com)- about my childhood home, you will learn that 1185 St. Mark’s Avenue in Brooklyn ,New York is now the parking lot for the 77th Police Precinct. But you will also appreciate the history of a special house,neighborhood, and family. Maybe you will laugh and cry with me and my family and friends as we come of age in Brooklyn. But you will not be able to see the house beyond what exists in pictures or on the cover of the book, a painting by my mother, Anne Marie Beach. If home were only that beloved house and place and the people who lived in the house, I would not be able to go home again. It is not there and they are not there.  But home is more than that. Anchored in a place, for me Brooklyn, and New York City, Long Island and Upstate New York  it is also anchored in the heart and soul and spirit. It is alive there and with such life you can always go home again,and those you love so deeply are waiting there.  And I do go home whenever I can. And always I am refreshed and renewed by touching Brooklyn soil and visiting friends, family and places that shaped my life and call to serve God’s people.

Finally after a year and four months and some tough health issues I was able to make my pilgrimage to Brooklyn and New York on October 31st, 2013. I could only stay four days and I could not go everywhere important to me or see everyone, but I traveled a lifetime in those days.

We met our close friends Danielle and Laura and went to Nathan’s in Coney Island first. As a child Coney was my favorite place to visit with my Mom and she also lived there in Senior housing facing the ocean “with a million dollar view” in the last decades of her life. My cousin Jackie grew up there. There are so many special memories there. Nathan’s was damaged when Super Storm Sandy hit New York last year. One now orders inside and eats outside. It was a chilly Halloween day and the hot chowder was a welcome lunch. We were surrounded by some homeless men and treated them to chowder and Nathan’s famous hot dogs. Laura said “how they find you, I don’t know-but they know!” Laura has been my friend since 1982 when I met her at a NYC Shelter for homeless women. Living still in a residential facility she moved to in 1982, she now helps countless other homeless people. She is a faithful Jew and she explained to  me that she has been praying for my health daily and with that she does a mitzvot each day so God will hear her prayers for me. I told her that she was righteous and just and a servant of our God always. Still, she said, she would do an extra mitzvot (bring someone else a blessing) for me every day. I gave her a very big hug. Laura and I are blessed with friendship.

The Amusement Park was quiet and yet I could hear the happy sounds of years past.  When we visited the Board walk near West 36th Street where Mother lived, the new cement “boardwalk” was undamaged but her favorite cabanas at Seagate and some of the rocky structures dividing Seagate from Coney were now under the sea and sand. Mom would not be happy about that and I still miss the real boardwalk that splintered my feet. The sea was uneasy on this chilly day but I closed my eyes and remembered how good it felt to be in it, and to be enjoying a sunny day there with my Mom. I could see her in her chair with the little beach umbrella on it. And I could see her opening her eleventh floor window and letting the good sea breeze in.  She was there. We were there together again. But the chill nipped and we decided to go to the Brooklyn Museum for the rest of the day.

This is Judy B.  and my dear friends Danielle and Laura in front of the new Brooklyn Museum. This building is a strange mixture of old and new that somehow works. I went to Prospect Heights High School just a few blocks from the Museum and it was part of my campus as were The Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Prospect Park  and the Grand Army Plaza Library. What a campus! How my friends and I loved exploring the Museum. I prefer the original building, but the additional space caused by the renovation draws one in. The floor devoted to Feminist Art was a wonderful addition. We were amazed to have Judy Chicago’s whole exhibit of the Dinner Party to ourselves. When it was there years ago, I could not even get in!

This is Sojourner Truth’s

Plate and place at the Table.                                                                                                    Sophia’s plate and place at the Table. Sophia is Wisdom,  the Feminine image of God.

How special it was to be at the Dinner Party.

The next day Judy and I went to Grand Central Station and caught the Metroline train to Beacon,New York. There we visited with Ellie Ver Nooy.  Ellie is a dear friend and the widow of Pastor Dave Ver Nooy my spiritual guide mentor and friend since childhood. Pastor Ver Nooy went home to God last December. His love and guidance remained although he could no longer speak it as the Parkinson’s took its toll.  Ellie gave me his well worn Book of Worship and I was so grateful to receive it. He was there on the deck facing the river where we always sat, and right next to Ellie and his beloved dog as he always was. He was there.

In the picture on the right,Ellie is on the right and Judy B. and Dancer are sitting in David’s chair.

And finally, for the last two days of the pilgrimage home,

we went out to Long Island and  visited with my family. We had a cousins reunion of three branches of the Shotwell family clan and had four generations of cousins together.  We are the elders now but silently our beloved elders were standing right there with us.  We met at Cousin Dorothy Shotwell Stewart’s house and went to a nearby waterfront restaurant  for a seafood feast and wonderful reunion. Dorothy is now in her 92nd year. Bobby Robinson is now 78 and his lovely wife Barbara just had a birthday so we celebrated birthdays too. The younger members present are Lori (Robinson) Whitlatch Post and Kenneth Robinson. Patricia Sullivan King graciously and lovingly shepherded us for two days. Patty and her daughter- in- law Beth King who located us through her genealogy work had a wonderful brunch with us before our departure on Sunday.

It was so good to go home again.

We are connected by love and I am renewed.

Thanks be to God.

Judy Lee