Gospel, Homily and Coffee

“God did not make death…For God formed [humankind] to be imperishable; the image of [God’s] own nature…” We are created for Life in God’s own image.   Salvation then must be about truly having life. Are we living out Jesus’ salvation?  Are we truly, fully alive? I read an interesting observation several years ago.  That since 9-11, the number of zombie movies and tv shows has grown exponentially.  Prior to 9-11 there were not so many: Dawn of the Dead being the classic. Now there is “The Walking Dead” and its spin off on Tv.  There are the Resident Evil Movies (personally my favorite), and there is World War Z. The books, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.  Many other examples. The theory is that this fear of terrorism entered into our zeitgeist, our psyche as americans.   We know zombies are those dead who walk and try consume those who live.  One bite spreads the disease and makes more zombies who want to consume ...

To be honest, it is easy for me to become sad and dis-enhearted, and angry. It seems there is such a rush to judge, to accuse, there are too many hurtful words, to much junk being thrown around. Here is the feast of the birth of John the Baptist, which i think gives us a pause to think, reflect and maybe act differently. This feast is more than simply an early warning that Christmas is only 6 months away, or that the amount of daylight will be decreasing until Christmas. We as Christians note that John the Baptist’s role was to point to the true savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the savior of the world Jesus is the Way to true freedom, he is the path to true salvation, and a better world. Scripture will show that there was questions to John’s status.  People we making him a savior. He tried to dispel them of that notion. He always deferred to the true savior, Jesus. We say Jesus is our savior, but I think we all need to examine whether ...

Incorporation, in our modern parlance, has a legal, business connotation.  We incorporate business and communities. Heck we even incorporate parishes! Yet, the Latin root of this means “To take into the body”, or to become part of the family. We know that Salvation means to have life and to have life in the full.  Jesus tells us this in John 10:10. To be Saved in Christ, means to be incorporated, “to be taken into the body”, to be part of the family. To have life in the full, we need others. Jesus Christ revealed to us what living the life in the full is:  it is to be engaged with others. It is to love others; meaning to see their goodness. It is to live with mercy, compassion, generosity, healing, forgiveness. True life is always, always lived outward toward and for others. This is God’s nature! The Trinity is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, giving of their very selves to each other, and each other accepting the other selves. The Trin...