Homily for Sept. 7th/8th at Holy Spirit Catholic Community in Toledo by Roman Catholic Woman Priest Beverly Bingle

The Book of Wisdom urges us to renounce our timid deliberations, our
unsure plans, our worldly concerns, so that our path to God may be
made straight by the Holy Spirit. Wisdom tells us that we have to
focus on God, regardless of anything that stands in our way. The
message is unfortunately couched in the language of dualism, a
perspective that saw the corrupt body as separate from the pure and
lofty soul. That perspective led to erroneous conclusions throughout
the history of Christianity, the effects of which we still struggle
with today. Yet the message is clear: no matter what, be ready to
leave everything behind and seek God.

Paul, in his letter to Philemon, urges us to renounce our sense of
superiority over others, to embrace even slaves as brothers and
sisters. His letter is set in the context of the slavery of the
times, where an escaped slave was subject to execution. Paul tells
his wealthy friend Philemon that following Christ requires that he
give up his right to own Onesimus—that in Christ there is not slave or
free, and Onesimus must be treated as a brother now that he is
baptized, treated with dignity and freedom. Renounce the right to own
another human being, Paul says.

And Luke tells us that Jesus wants us to renounce our parents,
spouses, siblings, our possessions, our very life! Did Jesus really
say this? According to the scholars of the Jesus Seminar, in all
probability he did say it, or something very much like it. It would
have been harsh for people to hear back then, just as it is for us
today, that hatred of family is a condition of discipleship. Our
family ties us into the structure of our society, gives us existence
and identity. Yet Jesus tells us that family and society and culture
are inconsequential in relation to the reign of God.

Who can we look to for an example of this radical discipleship? For
one, we can look to folks right here in town, people who go against
the culture of violence. The local Pax Christi group has been
focusing on nonviolent responses to violence for some time now,
sponsoring speakers and discussions to raise awareness and bring about
peaceful resolutions to conflict. The people of the Northwest Ohio
Peace Coalition have demonstrated twice in the past week against
bombing Syria, calling for peaceful diplomatic responses to the
horrible mass murder of innocents.

For another thing, we can look to folks who are going against the
culture of consumption. As you travel around the area, you can see
more and more people on bicycles. Bikes are fairly common at Claver
House, a blessing to the homeless and the working poor. But many of
the cyclists we notice can afford the gas to run their cars, but they
give up the convenience to reduce their consumption of fossil fuels.
I know a millionaire here in town who bikes almost everywhere, rain or
shine, summer or winter. We often find a cyclist or two coming for
Mass at the Chapel. Some people make a point of finding a place to
live within walking distance of their work. And many of you make it
possible for people to live without cars by offering rides to seniors,
friends, neighbors, or voters. You consistently reduce, re-use, and
recycle. Not a week goes by that I don’t have a carload of goods to
take to Claver House on Monday morning—plastic bags, used containers,
clothing, stuffed animals, puzzles, canned goods, fresh tomatoes,
spices, soup, casseroles, soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes... the folks
there love to see me walk in!

Or we could look at the people who go against the culture of selfish
greed. The culture tells us to keep it for ourselves—we’ve earned it.
But we see folks who adopt children—the McCartys have done it, and we
have another one of our members who’s applying to adopt now, making
significant life changes and compromises to do it. I’m sure you know
of others. You may know grandparents who are raising their
grandchildren, parents who are again housing their adult children.
And a lot of you have brought rice and beans and tomatoes—and even
those fans—for St. Rose parish’s Migrant Ministry. Not cheap
stuff—you could have bought yourself something nice, but instead you
went out of your way to get things you knew were needed desperately by
people who have little. And, finally, we can look to our own Social
Concerns Ministry—folks spending hour after hour exploring,
investigating, planning how we can use our Holy Spirit Community’s
resources to walk with both the feet of social justice—the one that
brings help for the immediate need and the one that works to end the
causes of poverty and injustice.

In his book Outliers, journalist Malcolm Gladwell says that it takes
roughly ten thousand hours of practice to achieve mastery in a field.
He looked at violinists in Germany in the early 1990s and studied
their practice habits. All had begun playing at roughly five years of
age with similar practice times. By age 20, the elite performers had
practiced over 10,000 hours, while the less able performers had
practiced only 4,000 hours. One fascinating point of the study: No
“naturally gifted” performers emerged. The psychologists found instead
a direct statistical relationship between hours of practice and
achievement. No shortcuts. No naturals.

You already know how Microsoft was founded. Bill Gates and Paul Allen
dropped out of college to form the company in 1975. It’s that simple:
Drop out of college, start a company, and become a billionaire, right?
No! They had thousands of hours of programming practice before that,
starting in high school in 1968. When they launched Microsoft in 1975,
they were ready.

In 1960, while they were still an unknown high school rock band, the
Beatles started playing in local clubs. By 1962 they were playing 8
hours per night, 7 nights per week. By 1964, the year they burst on
the international scene, the Beatles had played over 1,200 concerts
together. By way of comparison, most bands today don’t play 1,200
times in their entire career.

The elite don’t just work harder than everybody else. At some point
they fall in love with practice to the point where they want to do
little else.

It’s good to stop at this point and remember the field that we want to
be elite in. It’s Christianity.
We want to be elite Christians, those who step into discipleship with
their eyes wide open, knowing the cost and ready to go. As with
elites in any other area, we need to practice Christianity. A lot.
Gladwell’s elites practiced 10,000 hours or more before they excel.
That’s equal to 40 hours a week for five years. That’s a lot of time.
But Christians have an advantage over violinists and Bill Gates and
the Beatles. We can practice 24/7.

It costs us everything. And we end up being among the elite, really
good at being, and acting, Christian, exactly what God made us to be.
We end up changed, residents, here and now, in the kin-dom of God.

--
Holy Spirit Catholic Community
Mass at 2086 Brookdale (Interfaith Chapel):
Saturdays at 4:30 p.m.
Sundays at 9 a.m.
Mass at 3535 Executive Parkway (Unity of Toledo)
Sundays at 5:30 p.m.www.holyspirittoledo.org

Rev. Bev Bingle, Pastor
419-727-1774