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Twenty-fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A, September 24, 2017, by Fr. Kevin Anderson

I need some volunteers who are willing to come up here and answer a question. I have a gift for each of you that comes up here [invite 4-5 people. Ask, “What things are found in a Church?” after they respond give a big candy bar to most of the participants and a piece of celery to one or two].

 

Hey, life is not fair. I told you that I would give you a gift. Well that’s it. Life is not fair. That’s so hard to handle. Somehow we think, “because I go to church or I say my prayers” then nothing bad should happen to me. Is that why you say prayers….as an insurance policy?

 

I’m sure the people in Puerto Rico, Florida and Texas (with the recent hurricanes) and those in Mexico City (with their earthquakes) know the concept of life not being fair. I know that many of you also face the dilemma of life not treating you fairly. Such as, you students when you have all this homework and your friend doesn’t seem to have any. Or you who have a “rocky relationship” with family members and that other person gets along with theirs. Or you keep trying to lose weight with no luck and that person hits like a hog and never gains a pound.

 

Life is not fair. But it was never intended to be fair. The key is what do we do with it. We can stay bitter and pout and go around with a permanent scowl on our face . . . or we can move on. There’s a Persian proverb that says, “If life throws a knife at you, you can catch it by the blade or by the handle.”

 

Bad things happen and some of those negative situations can’t easily be avoided (like a hurricane, or a sexist attitude, or cancer). Let me offer a comment, no matter what views you hold about Climate Change, I believe that ALL can agree that we all could help the environment. For example to cut back on our consumption of fuel, waste less water, use less electricity.

 

Anyway, we have choices about things that are out of our control. We could:

  • continue the same ole, thinking next time it will be different (yea right)
  • just deny it or rationalize it
  • soothe it with distractions like over-working, smoking pot or downing a few drinks
  • or . . . face the darkness directly, trusting that life will provide a new way

 

You see, when bad things happen we have an option to either get “beat up” by it or to “learn” from it. But we have to stay with it, even through the “yuck” stuff. I remember reading about the priest abuse scandals, where one presenter was explaining the situation to priests. And at the end one priest asked, “When do you guess all of this will end?” The presenter said, “That’s the wrong question, a more helpful one is, “Given all of this darkness in me and in the diocese, what can I learn?”

 

Not that everything happens for a reason, but we can learn from everything and grow from anything. But there’s a point of staying with the yuck, the pain, the unfairness of it all . . . and not try to get an answer [pointing to my head], but to live the questions [pointing to my heart].

 

Kathleen Norris in her book Dakota said, “Fear is not a bad place to start a spiritual journey.”

I would take that a bit farther and say that woundedness is not a bad place to start a spiritual journey. Or

we could say that brokenness, or loneliness, or boredom are not bad places to start a spiritual journey.

 

Life is not fair. And the point of the gospel parable is not economics, or labor practices. It’s a parable that says God is not fair. For God doesn’t give good things to only those who obey the rules, or God doesn’t send hurricanes to bad people. God is unfair, for God will forgive you even when you don’t feel forgivable and God believes in you even when we don’t deserve trust. And God will love you (not because of knowledge or rules, or perfection) but God loves even when you don’t feel lovable!

 

Oh, and for those kids who received celery . . . you can trade that in for a candy bar if you want.

 

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