"It's so important to recognize that we belong regardless; we belong in our life...”
Beginnings and Endings 2:
God of Belonging
July 30, 2020
As I wrap up the topic I began last week about the sense of belonging that comes as a result of our common origin and a common destiny, I want to “unveil” an important symbol for our parish. Our “donor wall” in the new parish center has just been installed. So today I will pull apart this piece, and the theology and thought behind it, in the second half of the video reflection. I want to thank Scott and Kathy DeWeese for their time and talent in bringing this conceptual idea into being for us.
Have you ever thought how different our world, our Church and our culture would be if we didn’t spend so much time trying to “fit-in” and so much energy fighting one another when we feel that belonging threatened? We often want to leave our children in a position to “do well in the world.” But how much safer would it be if we spent as much energy trying to leave our children a “world in which they can do well?” Rather than how to survive the “dog-eat-dog” culture, we could leave them something that reflects more aptly the Kingdom of God.
I truly believe we excel in this area here at MPB. It is such a privilege to be part of a community that is more focused on the Gospel of Jesus that reaches out to the ends of the earth, than we are in visions of church that want to sort through “who’s in” and “who’s out.”
The imagery of the parables is constant. We are reminded that God has planted everyone into the lives we live (in the parable of the seed and the sower). We are not trying to figure out who is worthy to be counted as neighbor, but to “be neighbor” to whomever we encounter (in the parable of the good Samaritan). We are to forgive as we recognize our own needs for forgiveness (in the parable of the forgiven servant). And of course, the list goes on.
Along with the theme of the parables, I must tell you that I did indeed last week find a hidden treasure! Among some rehearsal files of our choir, I found this amazing recording! We’ve really been scouring through the concert recordings and we’re starting to exhaust our supply! But here was this recording, I assume from a rehearsal, as it wasn’t in with our “performance archives!
The song “Shelter Your Name” by Danielle Rose, is so on topic for this week. One of my favorite lines says, “Help me to look at myself through your eyes and see all I am.” This is the essence of belonging: that we are all in need of the same God’s grace, seen by the same God and healed by the same God.
I hope you enjoy this recording. I also hope that when you do find yourself back in our church building for any reason, you will take a moment to see this wonderful new addition to our space that is our donor wall. I hope you will see in it a symbol of those who try to see all of the world through God’s eyes. I hope you see a community that has come together so that we can reach out together.
God Bless,
Fr. Pat
Thursday of the Seventeenth Week in Ordinary Time
Gospel | Matthew 13:47-53
Jesus said to the disciples:
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
“The Kingdom of heaven is like a net thrown into the sea,
which collects fish of every kind.
When it is full they haul it ashore
and sit down to put what is good into buckets.
What is bad they throw away.
Thus it will be at the end of the age.
The angels will go out and separate the wicked from the righteous
and throw them into the fiery furnace,
where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth.”
“Do you understand all these things?”
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
They answered, “Yes.”
And he replied,
“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the Kingdom of heaven
is like the head of a household who brings from his storeroom
both the new and the old.”
When Jesus finished these parables, he went away from there.
"Shelter Your Name" by Danielle Rose
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