Staying Connected

I am not smart enough to understand how electric current runs into my home.  I do know that I must keep my house connected to the electric grid and pay my monthly electric bill.  I don’t understand how gasoline makes my car move, but I know that if I want to get to work every day, I must periodically stop at a gas station for a fill-up.  I have no idea how the Internet works, but I know if I want to communicate or stream a movie these days, I have to have a good Wi-Fi connection.  Understanding the importance of staying connected is not just a good thing, it is a vital thing.

While there aren’t too many people who refuse electricity or gasoline or the Internet, there seems to be a growing number of people who are okay staying disconnected with the most important source in our lives – our creator and redeemer.  The stories in this Sunday’s gospel, while they remind us of the healing power of Christ, even more importantly remind us of the importance of staying connected.  Jairus, the synagogue official, perhaps not a regular follower of Jesus, knew that a simple touch of Jesus could save his dying daughter.  The woman with a hemorrhage knew simply touching his cloak could heal her.  There is such an importance of staying connected.  We don’t understand how grace works.  We don’t understand or can never fully understand how his Divine power works, but we must stay connected.  Without it we put our hope in things that pass away.  It is only his Divine power -the power that healed the woman with a hemorrhage and brings to life the girl who was already dead, that is lasting.  Ultimately, he would defeat what had the power to defeat us all – sin and death.  Why would we ever not stay connected to the source of eternal life?

Jairus and the woman ultimately turned to the source.  They knew they had to be connected.  They must have come to that realization through the evangelization efforts of others.  They had heard of his saving power.  God uses each of us to bring others to him.  We seem to live in a culture where we privatize that important task.  Faith has gone from a community experience to a private experience to perhaps no experience at all.

If we were driving down the road and saw a disabled vehicle that had run out of gas, wouldn’t the right thing be to help the driver get some gasoline?  If your neighbor’s house was without power after a storm, wouldn’t the right thing be to lend him your generator?  Then why do we keep our faith secret?  Why are we afraid to speak to others about the most important thing in our lives?  We are made in the image and likeness of God.  We are made for all eternity.  And yet perhaps by staying disconnected from the source, we decide to limit ourselves from the source of that eternal life.  We may not understand how faith works.  We may not be able to explain it to others.  However, we must all stay connected.

- The Servant

 

12^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

John 15: 9-17Mark 4: 35-41

 

Three points for today’s gospel.

 

First:  Human nature.  When we feel threatened we are terrified.  The disciples were only being human.  Nothing wrong with that.  It would not have been normal for the disciples to just sit back in the middle of the storm with a boat that was about to be swamped and say “No worries.”  I can think of two occasions when I was absolutely terrified by circumstances and feared being swamped and overwhelmed, but having that fear replaced with an almost inexplicable sense of calm and peace.  The first was when I was 20 years old and my father suddenly passed away. All of a sudden there were rough seas that I had to navigate, and I did not think I was up to that.  Yet, just as suddenly a calming and peaceful spirit enveloped me.  The second was when my wife was diagnosed with cancer at the age of 37.  Stormy seas for sure, and, yes, we were both terrified.  I have a clear memory, however, of a Saturday morning before her surgery when I saw a look of absolute peace on her face as she said, “I’ll be alright.  I don’t know what will happen, but whatever happens, I’ll be alright. God is with us.” The storm subsided and we got to the other side.

 

Second:  “Other boats were with him.” (Mark 4: 36)  We forget that.  We always envision only the one boat with Jesus and his disciples in it.   Can you imagine being in another boat, and being equally terrified, but all of a sudden the storm stops – and you have no idea why?  What does this tell us? Jesus is there for us even if we are not conscious of it, even if we don’t know how he is taking care of us.  That, alone, is a comforting thought.

 

Third:  “Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?”  (Mark 4: 41) Our Lord and Our God.  The one who created us – out of love.  The one who taught us – out of love.  The one who died for us – out of love.  The one who came back to us – out of love.  The one who said “I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20)

 

“With God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26).  Truly, “ Can anything separate us from Christ’s love?”  (Romans 8” 38) No.  Nothing.  No storm, no circumstance.

 

 “Call me Ishamel”

 

 

 

Sowing. Faithfully

 In the Gospel Mk 4: 26-34 Jesus is speaking to his disciples through  the use of parables.   In one parable he says “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed upon the ground, and should sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he knows not how”    Jesus always spoke of the kingdom of God and how it will grow.   This parable is another illustration of  how Gods kingdom will flourish. The beauty in it is that we as followers are to simply have faith  and watch it happen. Just as Jesus says in the parable seed will sprout but we don’t know how.   We don’t need to know how or why. We just need to know who. The who is Jesus and that’s really all you need.   Yes we are called to sow but it’s God awesome  power that makes everything possible. We are called to spread the word but only with the power of God does grow and flourish  

In another parable Jesus compares the Kingdom of God to a mustard seed.  The mustard seed  is incredibly small, very similar to the church at that time.  Jesus said to his disciples that the mustard seed  “becomes the greatest of all shrubs, and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”  Perhaps there was a duel meaning here. Jesus may have been speaking about the church and how it will grow and provide the much needed shelter from this world.  But Jesus also referenced mustard seeds in the past, when he spoke of faith. Like a mustard seed a small amount of faith can go a long way.   Maybe this was Jesus  also reminding his disciples that with very little, God can do much more than we can.  We do not know how.  We aren’t supposed to  understand how a seed becomes a plant. We are to just watch it happen. 

     Today I ask you. Can you watch faithfully? Can you sow a seed and watch?  Watching the seed mature as God sees fit.  So many of us lack the patience to trust the lord with  our seeds. We sow then wait anxiously.  Hoping that what sprouts from that seed is exactly what WE want. True faith involves patience and trust that what comes from that seed is what God wants. Are we not seeds ourselves?  God’s plan for your life is complete. God has done a lifetime of planning for each one of us. Still, we worry.  When we can trust God, the ultimate sower of seeds, life becomes peaceful. God has a plan for each one of us.    That is why in this gospel it mentions that Jesus  spoke to his disciples in two ways. He spoke with parables, and he spoke  directly to them.  Every communication we have with God is uniquely designed for us.  Tailor made for our hearts.  We can  all hear the same words but get different messages. That is what the ultimate sower does for us.   Today, we are reminded  how to sow. We sow with faith that although we do not know how, we  always know who.