The Fix
What’s wrong with this town, what’s wrong with the church (I’ll stick with the Catholic Church because that’s what I know) that following the advice of Paul in 2 Thessalonians can’t fix?
Let’s look at some examples.  First, the City of Indianapolis.  A headline this week, on October 26, in IndyStar reads – COURT: WORKER CAN SUE OVER DCS CASELOADS
Caseworkers’ caseloads continue to rise, because the money appropriated by the state legislature has not been sufficient to allow Department of Child Services to hire enough caseworkers to meet mandatory caseload standards.  That means more children will continue to be abused and neglected.  Some will die from mistreatment and even starvation.  Why is this situation allowed to continue?
Another example: Let’s review a situation in the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis, a situation that is multiplied many, many times across the United States and the world.
 On July 1, of this year, three parishes in Richmond, IN—Holy Family, St. Andrew and St. Mary—were officially combined and named St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish.  The new parish includes the territory of the three former parishes, maintains three worship sites and is served by one pastor.  The new parish is made up of over 1100 households.  
Yes, there are not enough case workers to serve children who need to be taken to a safe and supportive environment that is regularly supervised on site.  There are not enough priests to serve people’s spiritual needs.   Who are the ones responsible for these situations continuing year after year?
Meanwhile there are many social workers who would love to work for Child Protective Services if there were job openings, a supportive environment and a living wage.
There are many men who were ordained as Catholic priests but left the active ministry either to get married, in disgust with the politics of the Roman Catholic hierarchy, or some other reason.  Then there’s the issue of the many Catholic women who would love to be ordained and have the credentials, but the all-male hierarchy says that women can’t be priests because only men have ever been ordained as priests in the Catholic Church.  That, by the way, isn’t true.  There is plenty of proof to the contrary.
Who are the ones responsible for these situations continuing year after year?
Many officials of the State of Indiana and Roman Catholic Church are the ones who ignore these situations.  They are the idlers.  They don’t have any excuse like “the end of the world is coming.  It will be all over soon.”  They are politicians looking out for themselves and what they want instead of serving the people they were elected or ordained to serve.  Of course, this doesn’t refer to all office holders, but enough to have the power to stifle change. 
Now let’s look back at today’s reading from St. Paul.  What does the writer of 2 Thessalonians, have to say?  Paul’s main concern was to ensure harmony within the community and assure that the community would have a good reputation.  He gave his own life of service to the community as an example.  He told them that he worked day and night so not to be a burden to them and to be an example.  The health of the community was most important.  He showed them that it is not enough to preach the gospel with words, but more importantly by one’s actions. 
Paul noted that he had heard that some people were not pulling their own weight.  Some people were not disciplined enough or used the excuse that the end of the world was coming soon, or that the judgement had already happened, so they might as well not even try.  As a practical solution, Paul counseled the leaders to hold to this norm: “Anyone unwilling to work, will not eat.”
Paul also knew about the fine line between being helpful and butting in where one is not wanted.  His advice in regard to that situation was for everyone to do their work quietly and earn their own living.
Yes, as we know, there are moochers today.  I know a story of an elder in a church in a small town.  John had grown up poor.  “We weren’t just poor.  We was ‘poar.’  When Mama said there was pork chop for dinner, that’s what she meant.  One pork chop and everyone got a bite.”  He was one of the fortunate ones.  People had helped him along the way.  He had gone to college and was now a grade-school principal.  He was eternally grateful for what had come his way, so he always tried to help others when he could.  He lived in a poor town there was always an opportunity for that.  One day a man approached John with a great tale of woe.  He had not eaten in days.  John was street smart enough to temper his desire to help with some cynicism.  “I’m not going to give you money, but I will buy you a sandwich.  What do you want?  Roast beef? “Sure.”  “With Mayo?”  “Sure!”  It was a good sandwich.  John felt he had done the right thing, until he heard a voice behind him calling out to a passerby, “What will you give me for this good roast beef sandwich?” 
How does the letter to the Thessalonians help people today?  Here’s an example from right here in our city.  Youth who live in poor areas of Indianapolis often think and say that they know they don’t have long to live because all their other former friends and gang members have all been shot and killed.  The young people can’t foresee any future for themselves, let alone a positive future.  They think they have the right to take whatever they want from others while they still can.
As we all know, gangs are a powerful influence on lonely, discouraged, frightened youth.  There is much more work to do to counteract that influence.  That includes providing jobs and mentors that help teens develop a sense of self-worth from being successful in something productive.
 There are places like the Boys and Girls Clubs of Indianapolis that provides a safe, educational and positive space where youth can realize and develop values and skills.  This enables them to prosper and reach their full potential.  That’s not just a Mission Statement.  It’s the lived experience of the young people who take part in their programs and of the staff.  Then there are teachers, and coaches and music and art instructors that by their lives and by their instructions help students develop both a positive view of life and work ethic.
Some of you have been involved as staff and/or volunteers in programs like these.  How have you seen that your positive impact on even one young person has made a difference in their life, and yours, too?
Back to church problems.  You know that the “priest shortage” is really a false problem.  There are ordained married men, gay and straight, who would love to return to the ministry if they were allowed.  We womenpriests serve those on the margin of the Catholic Church, many who are shunned by the institution. 
Yes, the problems in our city and in the church can be fixed by following the teaching of Paul to work hard and be a positive example for the good of all in the community.                 
Maria Thornton McClain, RCWP                                                                      October 30, 2016     
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Reflection:  We hear Moses in our first reading praying to win the battle against Amalekites.
When his hands grew weary and are lowered he begins to lose the battle. When his hands are held up Moses wins.  Our gospel, when I was growing up, was named the parable of the unjust judge. Today we call this parable the persistent widow.  We might want to Sing-a-Song about "you can't keep a good woman down" parable.  Prayer, persistence and justice are part of God's message today.


Homily
 It was the archdiocese celebration for those married 25 and 50 and 60 years. The Archbishop has singled out Luigi, a Golden Jubilarian, to come up to the microphone and answer a few questions.  “How had he managed to stay married to the same woman for 50 years”? Luigi responded, "I treat her well, I spend money on her and the best is that for our 20th anniversary I took her to Italy. The Archbishop immediately ask, "Luigi, you are a remarkable man.  What are you going to do for you your wife for your 50th anniversary?" Luigi proudly responded "I'm going to go and get her!"
The Archbishop nor did we expect that response!  There is certainly an unexpected twist to the story.
Jesus told a parable today that is as unexpected.

Luke talks about prayer more in his gospel and any of the other three Gospel writers. The original parable as told by Jesus is most probably verses 2-5 and not necessarily about prayer.

Both of the characters that Luke introduces to us are not stereotypic.  The judge who does not fear God nor respects human beings is not acting as Scripture prescribes for him.  It would be alarming to encounter such a judge who does not act according to the prevailing codes of shame and honor.  He is unmoved by the widow’s unrelenting pleas.  What does move the judge is that the widow ‘will come and wear him out’.  What that really means in the Greek is that she will give him a black eye...as the Greek word used implies. It is a boxing term.  There are lots of subtleties in this story. 

Widows are often portrayed as powerless, meek, without resources and defenseless throughout Scripture.  This widow boldly faces the judge and returns every day again and again to plead her cause.  She is relentless and does not fear retribution.  She has nothing to lose because she has nothing.

The judge does not have a conversion of any kind. He just wants to get this woman out his court and out of his life. He does the right thing for his own peace. He simply wants to get rid of her.

Now there is a theological problem of casting God as the unjust judge. The problem is if we badger God long enough God will give in because we wear God down and we get what we want.

With the widow seen as the God figure she names injustice, faces it, denounces it and acts as God acts.  We are invited by this parable as disciples of Jesus, to take a stance in the face of apparent weakness.  We can take this widow and emulate her by persistently pursuing non-violent confrontation for justice. Rosa Parks and many others are modern day widows who do the same.

Our widow gives us an example not to weary as we work for social justice, justice in our government in the face of incredible odds.  In our weakness is our strength.  Jesus certainly showed us that way. 
Nancy L. Meyer, RCWP

HOMILY
OCTOBER 2, 2016

Have you ever gotten lost, and had someone come and rescue you?   I know a little girl who went to the zoo with her mother and aunt.  They were walking around admiring the elephants and the giraffes, and especially the lion who roared and scared the little girl.
      All of a sudden the little girl looked around and couldn’t see her mother and her aunt.  She looked everywhere.  Finally a lady came up to her and asked if she was looking for somebody.  She said tearfully that yes, she was.  The lady took her to a nearby first aid station.  After a while the little girl’s mother and aunt found her there.  What a happy reunion that was!
     Doesn’t that sound a little like what Jesus and his parents went though?     What did Luke want his readers, which includes us, to learn?  In what direction is he pointing us?   Jesus, sitting with the teachers in the Temple, is a powerful image of him seeking from the very beginning of his adulthood to learn more about his heavenly Father.  I think Luke wanted his readers to yearn for the same thing, to learn more about God and God’s transforming love for all creation.  Let’s look a little deeper into the story. 
            Why did Luke tell the whole story of Jesus’ life growing up?  None of the other gospel writers did.  Let’s remember that the purpose of Luke’s gospel was to show that Jesus was the One sent by God as the fulfillment of the Jewish scriptures.  Luke began his narrative by telling the story that demonstrated what an extraordinary person Jesus was from even before he was born.  Then we are treated with the beautiful narrative of his birth and infancy with angels and prophets and magi praising God because the long-waited child had been born. 
      Then all is quiet until Jesus, when he was twelve years old, went with his very faithful, observant parents, Mary and Joseph, along with other family members and friends, to Jerusalem for their annual pilgrimage. Remember that men and women did not travel together in those days.  Men stayed in their group and women in theirs.  Thus the spouses probably had no contact with each other until the end of the day.   That was when Jesus’ parents discovered that their son was not with them.
      Age twelve was about the time when a Jewish young man began to function as an adult in the community.  Jesus could have been with the women and children, or with the men. Each parent thought their son must have been with the other group.   Luke uses this to demonstrate that in the new communities as well as in their former ones, the group was more important than individual men and women.
      At the same time Jesus understood the significance of the moment for him.  He wasn’t thinking about going home.  He was eager to join a group who were sitting in the Temple with a rabbi, studying in the manner of Jewish instruction, asking and answering questions.  So that’s what he did.  How we wish we could have been there and heard that conversation!
      Luke made the point that Jesus showed unusual abilities, exhibiting insights into the verses of scripture that were beyond his years.  In fact the Greek word Luke uses to express this was often associated with the end time.  The word was used to describe people’s reaction to a demonstration of divine power. 
      Jesus’ anxious, terrified parents went back to Jerusalem and found him in the Temple three days later.  They questioned him as to why he didn’t go back home with them.  Luke has Jesus show surprise or disappointment that they didn’t understand that he really was grown up and had to start being about what he was called by his father, God, to do.  Looking carefully we see that Jesus’ mother alone “held these things dearly, deep within herself.”  His father is not mentioned again in the rest of Luke’s gospel. 
      The story is reminiscent of those in the Greco-Roman tradition about the exploits of a hero while still a child.  The point was to show that the powerful deeds of heroes as adults were a continuation of their behavior in childhood.  They were living out life with divine powers they were given from birth. 
      Another aspect of this event is one of Luke’s main themes, namely that people close to Jesus often didn’t understand him.  He realized that he had responsibilities in the much larger family of God.  He must begin to attend to them. Yet he would have a long spiritual journey to prepare for that life.  Thus he did go back home and obey his earthly father and mother and live a quiet, ordinary life for the next several years before he began his public ministry.
      Like Jesus and the people in his life, each of us is on our own spiritual journey.  We are given clues as to where the path goes next. Our role is to be ready to take that next step.  It appears that Luke wanted his readers, like Jesus, to yearn to learn more about God and God’s love for all God has created.  What a help it is if we are members of a supportive community of faith that is on the same journey!  The more we live by the values Jesus demonstrated in both ordinary and extraordinary events the more deeply we will be able to experience the road with Jesus the Christ to the realm of our Creator God.
      Maybe that next step on the road is to give encouragement to a young person who has abilities but is shy and afraid to let their gifts be seen.  Maybe it’s setting aside a special time each day to be alone with God and listen to God’s voice.  We could spend time talking and listening to a friend that we’ve ignored for a while.   We could speak out about an injustice which many pretend doesn’t exist.
      Our talents are given to us for the benefit of ourselves and others: family, friends and beyond.  We are a part of that large community that came from the love God has for all creation.  Jesus gradually learned that he was sent to be an example of that love for his family, his faith tradition and those beyond those borders.  Luke wanted his readers also to yearn, as Jesus did, to learn more about God and God’s love and compassion for all.  Let’s keep that in mind as we go to the altar table for the Eucharist.
Maria Thornton McClain, RCWP
October 2, 2016​




Comments/Reflections on our October  2, 2016 Celebration


Yesterday was the second time that we have taken time out from the regular liturgical year to celebrate “A Children’s Sabbath,” honoring children as sacred gifts.  The Children’s Defense Fund founded Children’s Sabbaths in 1992 to encourage congregations to honor, protect, and advocate on behalf of children.  As founder Miriam Wright Edelman stated at the time: “Children come into the world with God’s commission to live and learn and sing and dance and grow; then, too, many are decommissioned by adults who prey on them.”  We pray today that all children will soon be able to develop into strong, healthy, and loving adults.
 It has been a joyful time to be childlike in our worship of God.  On Sunday we had a sweet little girl with us who made us smile and laugh.  We also sang children’s songs like ‘He/She’s Got the Whole World in His/Her Hands” and “This Little Light of Mine.” Oh, and we finished with a reception with different flavored Oreo cookies and sang “Happy Birthday” to our pastor, Maria, Goodies included a 3-cupcake birthday cake with candles which she blew out.  On the whole it was a special community celebration! We congratulate Maria and are grateful for her many, many years of dedicated and inspired service to God's people.  Thank you, Maria.