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Tenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 10, 2018, by Fr. Kevin Anderson

I think life is meant to be a symphony, an orchestra. So I need some kids to come up here and play some instruments. [I hand out goofy instruments . . . wash board, kazoos, etc. and have them play to the melody of "Happy Birthday"]

 

Now this group could probably use some fine tuning. But what is important is that everyone was invited to play, and nearly everyone here was involved. And of course, some are more experienced than others. Of course, some sounded better than others, but they all belong.

 

I imagine that in a real orchestra (no matter how good they are) there will be goof-ups or wrong notes occasionally. But the band keeps going; they don’t all stop and point, “You are rotten. You didn’t play the right note.” No, that’s not what happens. They keep playing, they move on.

 

It’s like a sport’s team . . . if someone misses passes, drops the ball, strikes out . . . the team keeps going. But sometimes we treat life differently. That is, we want people around us to be perfect, to never goof up. And if they do, we then keep reminding them of it, or we make it impossible for them to live or be with us.

 

It’s as if the “house” that Jesus talked about in the gospel will collapse if not for ridicule or sarcasm. If your house (or your group) is only built upon negative energy it can’t stand long. Think of your gang, or your Social Media group, if it does more complaining than affirming, it becomes toxic . . . it destroys rather than builds up.

 

And there are some people whose whole outlook on life is negative. And I understand them, especially with that first reading from Genesis. For they frame a worldview form the sin of Adam and Eve eating that apple. That is, we are all doomed: to sin, be negative, fight often, live in fear and basically hate anyone who looks or acts differently. Hence we are originally cursed or doomed.

 

The problem with that mentality is that it assumes God’s earliest opinion of us is negative. That is, God’s says you are all no good and you need to play the right notes for me to start loving you. Well, that reading from Genesis is chapter 3. We need to go back early to chapter 1 to understand how God actually feels about us.

 

Chapter 1 declares how God created the world . . . and called everything good. For example, God created the stars, the animals, the birds, and says, “You are good.” And God created us and God says, “You are good.” Of course we are going to goof up, of course we are not always going to play to right notes, but God doesn’t give up on us, and neither should you.

 

It’s interesting what Pope Francis said to the man from Chile a few weeks ago. The man had been abused by a priest; he was gay and wondered if he had a place in the church. The Pope told him, “You have to be happy with who you are. God made you this way and loves you this way, and the pope loves you this way.”

 

Wow, that’s huge. I believe that everyone one of us, could insert our condition into that situation . . . as we doubt God’s love. Everyone has a “thing” that keeps us fearful of others finding out about. That is, we think, “If people knew this about me, they wouldn’t like me.” Because of who we are or what we’ve done. And the words from the Pope would be the same. “You have to be happy with who you are. God made you this way and loves you this way, and the pope loves you this way.”

 

Jesus' life testifies to the reality that the "power" of some bad group, or the power of negative thinking (I call that Beelzebub) cannot heal or restore or re-create. Only the Spirit of God can bring about such transformation.

 

Let the reconciling and loving Spirit of God be conductor of the symphony of this group we call humans, or this group we call Christ Our Light. May we play on and enjoy God’s melody of love.

 

[Invite the kids to play “Jesus Loves Me”]

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