Today’s Readings: Psalm 21; Genesis 43:1-15; Luke 6:1-11; Acts 19:8-10; Psalm 133
Over the years, my paths have crossed with lots of people who have made an impression on me. One person I bumped into nearly 20 years ago now was a woman whom I’ll call Susan. Susan was a co-worker of mine. She was a woman of deep faith. She made a practice, for instance, of attending mass each and every day. Whenever we would discuss current issues or politics in the staff break room, she was the first to make a correlation between her faith and her position on an issue or a candidate. One day I learned something about Susan that surprised me. Folks in the mental health community were working hard to build a home for developmentally disabled folks in Susan’s neighborhood. Guess which of the neighbors took it upon herself to lead a signature gathering position to block the construction of the home? You got it: Susan. And what was her thinking? She didn’t want “such a place” driving down the property value of her home. I remember thinking, “How does a person spend so much time participating in the ritual expressions of their faith and completely miss the point of that faith?” Of course I wasn’t the first one to think that. I have good company. For in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus finds himself wondering the same thing when he was criticized by the Pharisees first for preparing food on the Sabbath and then healing on the Sabbath. In each instance, the religious folks lost sight of what was really important. It would be easy to look down on Susan and the Pharisees as the only ones who do this, but truth be told most of us have similar blind spots in our lives. Today, I invite you to scan the horizon of your life and see if there are places where you have done this – lost sight of what was really important in terms of living out your faith. If you find such an area, take a moment and turn that area over to God and see if that might help you remember what’s really important. Til next time…
Over the years, my paths have crossed with lots of people who have made an impression on me. One person I bumped into nearly 20 years ago now was a woman whom I’ll call Susan. Susan was a co-worker of mine. She was a woman of deep faith. She made a practice, for instance, of attending mass each and every day. Whenever we would discuss current issues or politics in the staff break room, she was the first to make a correlation between her faith and her position on an issue or a candidate. One day I learned something about Susan that surprised me. Folks in the mental health community were working hard to build a home for developmentally disabled folks in Susan’s neighborhood. Guess which of the neighbors took it upon herself to lead a signature gathering position to block the construction of the home? You got it: Susan. And what was her thinking? She didn’t want “such a place” driving down the property value of her home. I remember thinking, “How does a person spend so much time participating in the ritual expressions of their faith and completely miss the point of that faith?” Of course I wasn’t the first one to think that. I have good company. For in today’s Gospel reading, Jesus finds himself wondering the same thing when he was criticized by the Pharisees first for preparing food on the Sabbath and then healing on the Sabbath. In each instance, the religious folks lost sight of what was really important. It would be easy to look down on Susan and the Pharisees as the only ones who do this, but truth be told most of us have similar blind spots in our lives. Today, I invite you to scan the horizon of your life and see if there are places where you have done this – lost sight of what was really important in terms of living out your faith. If you find such an area, take a moment and turn that area over to God and see if that might help you remember what’s really important. Til next time…
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