\u00c2\u00a0 November 17-18, 2007<\/p>\n
Homily<\/p>\n
33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time<\/p>\n
Mal 3: 19-20a; 2 Thes 3: 7-12; Luke 21: 5-19<\/p>\n
Dc. Larry Brockman<\/p>\n
The end of the world!\u00c2\u00a0 The scripture descriptions make it seem so frightening.\u00c2\u00a0 First, there’s the period of trial before the end that Jesus mentions.\u00c2\u00a0 Persecution, betrayal within families, imprisonment, and people put to death.\u00c2\u00a0 Then, listen to the judgment prophesied by Malachi for all evildoers:\u00c2\u00a0 They will burn like stubble- like dried straw.\u00c2\u00a0 My wife and I saw what that was like first hand at our campsite last week.\u00c2\u00a0 Our kindling was straw; and the fire consumed it in a blinding flash!\u00c2\u00a0 It was gone- forever.<\/p>\n
Deep down inside of us, the end can be so frightening, as the scriptures imply, just because it is described as “the end”.\u00c2\u00a0 We don’t feel comfortable thinking about that-\u00c2\u00a0 the end of life as we know it,\u00c2\u00a0 ending in a flash like the stubble.\u00c2\u00a0 There’s a haunting feeling in all of us about the fear of the unknown that accompanies death, and “the end of the world” that comes with it.\u00c2\u00a0 Because no matter how much we hear about heaven and everlasting life for those who love God, our human nature wants proof- it wants to see and feel what life after death is like, and the truth is- we can’t have that.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
We have to “believe” in God and trust in his promise of everlasting life for those who love him.\u00c2\u00a0 Our proof is His Resurrection- and His promise to us.\u00c2\u00a0 That happened 2000 years ago, and that’s just too remote for most of the secular world.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 But fortunately, God has built into us a capacity to understand “the end” to dispel that fear.\u00c2\u00a0 You see, life has a series of “ends of the world” built into it.\u00c2\u00a0 And these all condition us for the ultimate end.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
When your life in your mother’s womb ends; you begin life as an infant, and a whole new world is there for you.\u00c2\u00a0 When your life as a child ends and you stop climbing in your parent’s laps- your infant world ends.\u00c2\u00a0 But, you discover that another whole new wonderful world is there.\u00c2\u00a0 And so, there are many stages in life and a new, sometimes frightening world ahead with each of them: a high school; a college; a marriage; this town; that city; this job; that career change; this baby, these triplets.\u00c2\u00a0 And each time these key events occur in your lives, your worlds change with them.\u00c2\u00a0 You are also called upon to take more personal responsibility in being prepared as life progresses. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0It’s called growing up; moving on; maturing.\u00c2\u00a0 Although looking back can be nostalgic; no matter how much you would like to go back, you can’t.<\/p>\n
Death is just another one of those transitions.\u00c2\u00a0 It is just as inevitable as birth, as becoming a child, and as becoming an adult.\u00c2\u00a0 You can overcome your fear; but you have to be prepared properly to do that.\u00c2\u00a0 First, most of us aren’t going to know when death comes.\u00c2\u00a0 There are some people who do know it’s coming soon- those who have a terminal disease.\u00c2\u00a0 But most of us don’t know where or when.\u00c2\u00a0 Jesus says that, and there’s a good reason for that.\u00c2\u00a0 In the early Church, many folks believed that Christ would return in their lifetime. \u00c2\u00a0That’s what Paul’s message to the Thessalonians was about.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of them stopped working; and were just talking and waiting.\u00c2\u00a0 Paul made it clear- that all should work, just as he was working.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
That lesson highlights the second thing about being prepared.\u00c2\u00a0 God doesn’t want you to stagnate.\u00c2\u00a0 Each of us has a mission in life.\u00c2\u00a0 Being prepared means that you embrace that mission at all times.\u00c2\u00a0 When you stop living the life God has in mind for you, it’s like refusing to be born; or refusing to face into the realities of becoming an adult.\u00c2\u00a0 You are called upon to accept the transitions in life and grow from them.\u00c2\u00a0 And, no matter how old you get, God still wants you to grow.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, a third element of being prepared is knowing what God’s will is for you at all times.\u00c2\u00a0 For the last several weeks, we’ve been talking about time, talent, and treasure.\u00c2\u00a0 As you listened to our staff members and our pastor, if you felt a gnawing feeling of discomfort; if you had an urge; if you heard a little voice inside that says- get involved; then do it.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Lastly, the fourth element of being prepared is this:\u00c2\u00a0 Don’t be misled by the false prophets.\u00c2\u00a0 The world is full of these.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m not just talking about the far out contingent- the Joneses, Koreshes, etc.\u00c2\u00a0 But rather, about those who preach the easy way out.\u00c2\u00a0 It comes in several flavors:\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Finally, I’d like to share with you something about the great Medieval Emperor Charlemagne.\u00c2\u00a0 His tomb is in the German city of Aachen, where his Empire was headquartered back in the 800s. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0He is buried in the central space beneath the dome of the imperial church there, called Aix-la- Chapelle. The burial chamber is a subterranean room. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0In the middle of the room is a single marble chair, the chair on which kings used to be crowned. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0It is placed over his grave. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0On the chair sits a sculpted image of Charlemagne, wrapped in his royal robes, with a book of the Gospels open on his lap. \u00c2\u00a0There he sits: cold, silent, motionless. \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0But Charlemagne’s finger points to the words of Jesus: \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0“What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” \u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00c2\u00a0 November 17-18, 2007 Homily 33rd Sunday of Ordinary Time Mal 3: 19-20a; 2 Thes 3: 7-12; Luke 21: 5-19 Dc. Larry Brockman The end of the world!\u00c2\u00a0 The scripture descriptions make it seem so frightening.\u00c2\u00a0 First, there’s the period of trial before the end that Jesus mentions.\u00c2\u00a0 Persecution, betrayal within families, imprisonment, and people […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}