Rev. Mary invites us to celebrate what’s right with the world.
Homily Transcript
Quite a few years ago we sent 4 teenagers from our parish down to Haiti. My son, Matt, was one of them along with 3 others. They had a great trip. They got to experience a lot of things. We never sent teenagers again, but that’s another story I’ll tell you in another homily.
But I loved the pictures that they came back with. One was especially touching to me because they had just arrived there and three of the teenagers had brought a lot of luggage and so they were holding on to their suitcases. But Matt had only brought a backpack. So his arms were around the Haitians he had just met. And I thought, what a great picture that is to remember Jesus’ scripture today where he tells us to travel light. To not bring a lot of stuff with us. Not on a trip and not through life. Because it ties us down. Stuff takes time. It takes time to take care of, it takes time store, it takes time to put away. It takes time away from the time we can spend with one another.
So Jesus gives these instructions to his disciples and now we are talking 72 disciples, not just the 12 but 72 people that he is going to send out. Jesus gives them these instructions because it is very important to Jesus how they think, what their mind set is before they go on this trip. Because how we think determines how we feel which determines how we act.
So Jesus is starting from the very beginning, how are they going to think about this trip. So he gives them five instructions for going out to visit these towns.
The first instruction: Go two-by-two. Don’t try to go through life as a solo person. This is not a solo act; you need other people with you.
Number two: Travel light. Don’t take extra stuff with you. Don’t take extra money, extra bags, extra shoes, extra coats. Travel light so that you can be free to be with the people.
Number three: Expect that people will welcome you and give you hospitality. For what you expect from others, what you anticipate is what you will receive. If you anticipate the worse, you’ll find the worse. If you anticipate the best you’ll find the best. And he goes on to say that you deserve that treatment. “And the universe will give you what you need.”
Number four: Be grateful and know that what you have is enough. Don’t be on the lookout for a better house, or better food or a better deal in life. This is your life, live it to the fullest.
Number five: If you aren’t welcome, then shake the dust off your feet and move on. You don’t belong there. You don’t need to spend time punishing the people who reject you. Or try to talk them out of it, or analyses or try to figure out what’s going on. Just move on. The world needs you.
Jesus is asking his disciples to think differently so that they can bring other people to a new way of thinking. To a place where they are aware of how good they are and how beautiful and how strong they are.
In this country we do a lot of problem solving. We do a lot of problem solving at this church. I do a lot of problem solving and that’s good but it only gets us back to normal. It only gets us back to where we were before the problem started. It doesn’t take us any further than that. In order to really have powerful change, we have to celebrate our strengths and recognize what they are so that we can move forward with a new idea. With a new vision.
A few days ago, like you I celebrated our Independence Day by watching the fireworks downtown and having a traditional family barbeque. I did spend some time thinking about the problems of our country when I saw the tank parade in Washington, the immigrants at the border, racism, environment, nuclear threats, technology hacking. I can go on and on in my mind. But then I began to think about the talents that we have here to deal with all of these things. And I realized, like Winnie the Pooh says, “We are braver than we believe, we are stronger than we seem, and we are smarter than we think.”
So I made a list of what I love about this country. I did that for the same reason that we put things on our eco-challenge, like take a hike and look at the stars. There are plenty of things on this list that are hard to do because we have to change our life style to take care of our environment. So why do we put easy things like watching the stars? Because it is really important that we remember what we love and how precious it is. In order to give us the strength and the motivation to do the harder things.
In the same way it is important that we take time to remember what we love about our country. What we cherish about it, what’s important to us. I have traveled enough to know that there are many reasons why immigrants want to come to America. That I needed to stop and remember what they were.
I’m going to share what I thought of with you. As I do that I invite you to think yourself what it is you love about this country.
The first thing I thought of was that I cherished the beauty of our land in America. I’m in love with the Rocky Mountains, the golden plains and the Finger Lakes. I love jumping in to a cold lake or fishing in a rocky stream. I get high with a hike through coastal red woods or granite boulders. And I am thrilled that we can walk by the ocean with crashing waves and look for seashells that wash up on our shores. Summer for me always has to include building a campfire and watching the stars at night. How awesome is it that we took the best part of our American landscape and made them in to national parks for everyone to see.
For me nothing tastes as good as a Fourth of July barbeque with blueberry pie, baked beans, roasted potatoes, a veggie burger, ice cream and strawberry shortcake. Or how about a Thanksgiving dinner here with mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie.
But I am also amazed that as an American our food also includes Tom yum soup, enchiladas, Polish pierogies, Greek spanakopita or homemade pasta Fagioli. All of it available right here in Rochester.
I am in awe in this country of all the ways that we build houses and bridges and glass office buildings. I think it is so cool that we restore old houses and antiques and make them new again.
And I am proud that in every city and town we recycle and pick up garbage. We even organize town cleanup days. Very American to do that.
In America we have the freedom to travel. We can go to other countries. We can go to the mountains or the ocean. Or even just to Henrietta. There are no checkpoints to go through unless, of course, you consider the thruway tollbooth.
We have freedom of speech. The right to say what we believe. And an understanding to accept that others with different opinions also get to say what they think.
Legally we are innocent until proven guilty. And that’s big.
We have the right to vote for our leaders. To say, “Yes! You are doing a great job.” Or, no you need to go now.
We each have the amazing right to practice our faith in a way that is authentic and true for us without fear of being thrown in prison.
We fought hard in this country to decide that everyone has the right to live freely without being a slave.
And if I want to form a newspaper and publish my opinion, the courts will defend me.
I am in loves with the smile of Americans and the friendliness of my neighbors. I give thanks for the generosity of people and how they come together to participate in marathons to raise money for good causes.
I think it is amazing in this country how many different ways people live their lives and all the different careers that people have.
I rejoice that we treasure children here and have fee schools for them to attend.
I am very grateful that we have traffic rules that people abide by. If you don’t appreciate that go to India for a vacation!
I respect that we have fire departments and police that come in emergencies. And I give thanks that I can walk in to an urgent care place and a nurse or a doctor will know how to take care of me even on a holiday.
I am fascinated on what our artists create. I think it is awesome when we see their work in public spaces.
And I cherish that we have all kinds of music here. Christian music, country music, classical, hip-hop and people get together to play instruments and sing.
I get a thrill out of seeing people having fun at festivals and concerts and baseball games. I don’t personally go to watch racecars or hockey games or operas, but I’m glad that other people can do that.
I love, love, love to laugh at our comedians and have them make fun of us.
I enjoy a good TV show and I still remember the ones I watched as a kid.
I’m grateful that I can get a job and work and earn money. And I can form a union for better working conditions.
I love that there are scholarships to help people to go to school.
And I think it’s awesome that I’m a woman and I have my own power tools. And I’m also proud that as a woman I can wear whatever I want to wear.
I love that you get a second chance here to make things right.
I’m glad that you can end a bad marriage and start over again.
In our country sunsets and hikes and swimming in a lake and window-shopping and gardening and reading books and friends are all free of charge.
I smile when I see our children playing soccer and dancing and having fun.
And I love that we can go to sleep at night without bombs going off outside.
I’m grateful that we have so many different people here from different countries. And the wisdom and the culture that they have for us.
And I totally celebrate that I have friends who are black, white, Asian, Hispanic, gay, lesbian, transgendered, rich, poor, old, young, musical, tone deaf, athletic, sick, introverted and wild and crazy. And it is all ok.
It’s awesome that we work on things here to make life better for everyone. And I respect that we can call something out something is wrong and protest it. And it inspires me how people challenge themselves to be stronger, to go deeper and to love fuller.
I am an American. I was born and raised here. This is my country, my heritage and my culture. And I am committed to working hard in our country to make it shine it’s very brightest. And along the way I’m going to celebrate what’s right with our world.
And I don’t forget that Jesus gives us a path today as to how to do that. Go together, travel light, be grateful, shake the dust off of your feet and trust that God is with you.
Happy Fourth of July weekend everyone!
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