The first reading feels an awful
lot like the state of our country and world right now. From the President,
Congress & Supreme Court on down to each of us. Everyone is talking and no
one is listening. I am guilty of it myself. What I always tell my older son,
who is passionate about political and social issues, what I always try to
remember myself, is that “everyone has a story”. Everyone has a reason for
thinking the way they do. We see systemic racism, queerphobia, misogyny,
anti-choice, etc. Those viewpoints have oftentimes been ingrained and
reinforced by a person’s nuclear and extended family, their surroundings, their
church community is they have one and their secular community, over
generations. What we see as obvious compassionate truths are seen as against
nature, against God, against common sense, against the moral order; what others
see as truth is as obvious as the blue in the sky. So what happens then? We “babble”. We talk at each other, past each
other, over each other, as loud and as forcefully as possible. We don’t wait
for an answer, or the other person’s viewpoint, because we ARE right after all.
Why can’t they SEE it??? It’s as obvious…as the blue in the sky.
Why can’t they see it? Because many
times we simply aren’t speaking the same language. What we hear are THOSE
PEOPLE babbling at us. What THEY hear, is US PEOPLE babbling at them. It’s a
stalemate before the game even begins; we have all decided that we aren’t going
to hear each other because we’re right and they aren’t; they’ll hear the truth
if we have to ram it into their ears.
So I have to do what I’ve exhorted
my son James to do when he “others” those with whom he vehemently disagrees;
Listen for God’s beloved person under the other, their language behind the
babble. Hear their story if they’ll tell it. Offer my own story if they’ll hear
it. Remember the truth that every single one of us is Beloved of God. Lead with
compassion, a listening heart. Lead with love. We do not have to agree, be in
lockstep with every issue or even most issues. We can BEGIN to quiet the babble
by recognizing the dignity and goodness and worth of the person in front of us.
Whoever they are. Whatever they believe. Begin there. And let the Spirit do Her
work from there.
Let
anyone who thirsts come to me and drink...
As for the Gospel, I cannot think of a better way to
describe St. Francis Community of Faith. All are welcome in this place. And it
is fitting that now, with the Church celebrating her founding, we of St.
Francis will celebrate a new beginning as well.
I remember walking into this church
with my partner a few years ago in the middle of Advent. At the time I was in
my 1st year of interfaith seminary at One Spirit Learning Alliance (no
relation). And I was searching. Before entering seminary, I made my break with
the Roman Church official by resigning from the Secular Franciscan Order. It
was heart wrenching to do, because the Roman Church was all I knew and I loved
my Franciscan family; really the only thing that was holding me there. I was learning much about the nature of Spirit
through all the other world religions I was being exposed to through seminary.
I was indeed experiencing the Spirit through Sufi dervishes, Buddhist sangha
meditation, and Hindu prayer. But what I was gradually learning was that my
heart and my lens through which I recognized Spirit most clearly remained
Catholic Christian. But how could I reconcile this with leaving the Roman
Church? I’d been aware of the Independent Catholic movement for quite some time
and had always been intrigued. But there was no way to access it. There was
nothing local. And at the time, I had no real exposure to the wonders of zoom.
And then I found out about a little
Catholic community that met in Plainview. A few towns over. I don’t remember if
it was a Facebook search or what. But St. Francis came up in my feed. I
remember reaching out to Bishop Ken on Facebook who said “Come on down!” So we
did. We were welcomed at the door by Ken
and we found our seats. The big Christmas tree was in the corner and there were
a couple of other congregants and that was it. I was fine with that; melting
into a crowd would have been too easy. Being in the presence of Word and
Sacrament for the first time in maybe 2 years was moving for me. As we were
invited up to the altar to bear witness to the consecration, Jesus was waiting
for me there like He’d been in every Tabernacle since my first Holy Communion.
It was the strangest feeling of coming home.
After Mass, I had the opportunity
to thank Bishop Ken for the beautiful Mass. We got to talking for a few moments
and I mentioned I was currently studying in an interfaith seminary. He said,
“Well then you’ll just have to come back when you’re ordained and say Mass for
us!”
I can’t express my shock in that
moment, though I am sure my partner could describe it. That was the beginning
of my path to priesthood with the Catholic Diocese of One Spirit and St.
Francis Community of faith.
And now we have come to yet another
blind curve in our path; we don’t know what lies ahead, in a more profound way
than usual. St. Francis Community of Faith will have new more comfortably
fitting home, outside of the familiar structure of an established “brink and
mortar” church for the first time. As Bishop Ken is fond of saying, our
community is small but mighty! And on
this Pentecost our small and mighty community needs to reinvigorate and perhaps
be born again in many ways. Each of us separately and all of us together should
consider what gifts we can bring to the Table and share with the community at
large. As I mentioned in my email last week, our weekly Mass is indeed the
center of our Christian life, where we are nourished at the Eucharistic Table.
But consider what we are being nourished FOR. The poor, those in emotional and
spiritual need, the destitute… those who are “othered”. How can we bring the
Spirit of St. Francis not only into our church gatherings but into the
community at large? How do we fulfill our Great Commission to show the world
the very face of Love? Each of us, all of us, have unique gifts that no one
else in the world possesses; as Paul tells us, we are the firstfruits of the
Spirt. Let us each discern together how to let the fruit of St. Francis blossom
and fulfill God’s promise of a better world. It sounds so overwhelming, but Act
as if ye have faith and faith will be given unto thee. Or to put it in more
familiar terms… Fake it til ya make it. Jesus promised that He would be there
where 2 or 3 are gathered in His name. Here we are. The Spirit has come and is
with us.
Let us listen to Her.
A prayer for Pentecost~
Come, Holy Spirit, come!
Come as holy fire & burn in us,
come as holy wind & cleanse us,
come as holy light & lead us,
come as holy truth & teach us,
come as holy forgiveness & free us,
come as holy love & enfold us,
come as holy power & enable us,
come as holy life & dwell in us, convict us, convert us, consecrate us, until we are wholly Yours ❤
