Suzanne O’Connor and Kim Panaro,
ARCWP, led the Upper Room liturgy for the Twenty-ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time.
Suzanne’s homily starter is printed below the readings.
Opening Song: Just to be
by Colleen Fulmer
A reading from the writings of Pema
Chödrön in:
In meditation we discover our inherent
restlessness. Sometimes we get up and leave. Sometimes we sit there but our
bodies wiggle and squirm and our minds go far away. This can be so
uncomfortable that we feel’s it’s impossible to stay. Yet this feeling can
teach us not just about ourselves but what it is to be human…we really don’t
want to stay with the nakedness of our present experience. It goes against the
grain to stay present. These are the times when only gentleness and a sense of
humor can give us the strength to settle down…so whenever we wander off, we
gently encourage ourselves to “stay” and settle down. Are we experiencing
restlessness? Stay! Are fear and loathing out of control? Stay! Aching knees
and throbbing back? Stay! What’s for lunch? Stay! I can’t stand this another
minute! Stay!
These are the inspired words of Pema Chödrön, American
Tibetan Buddhist
A reading from the Gospel of Mark
10:35-45
Zebedee’s children, James and John,
approached Jesus. "Teacher,” they said, “we want you to grant our
request."
“What is it?” Jesus asked.
They replied, "See to it that we sit next to you, one at your right and the other at your left, when you come into your glory."
Jesus told them, "You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the cup I will drink
or be baptized in the same baptism as I?"
"We can," they replied. Jesus said in response, "From the cup I drink of, you will drink; the baptism I am immersed in, you will share. But to sit at my right or my left, that is not mine to give;
it is for those for whom it has been reserved."
“What is it?” Jesus asked.
They replied, "See to it that we sit next to you, one at your right and the other at your left, when you come into your glory."
Jesus told them, "You do not know what you are asking.
Can you drink the cup I will drink
or be baptized in the same baptism as I?"
"We can," they replied. Jesus said in response, "From the cup I drink of, you will drink; the baptism I am immersed in, you will share. But to sit at my right or my left, that is not mine to give;
it is for those for whom it has been reserved."
The other ten, on hearing this, they became indignant at James and John. Jesus called them together and said,
"You know how among the Gentiles those who exercise authority are domineering and arrogant; those ‘great ones’ know how to make their own importance felt. But it can’t be like that with you. Anyone among you who aspires to greatness must serve the rest; whoever wants to rank first among you must serve the needs of all. The Promised One has come not to be served, but to serve - to give one life in ransom for the many.”
These are the inspired words of Mark, disciple of Jesus.
Suzanne’s Homily Starter:
For the last 3 Sundays, we have heard
the Gospel of Mark; this is the third week in a row that the disciples of Jesus
just don’t get it. There was the story
in which they question the teachings of Moses around divorce, then we heard of
the ‘man who went away sad’ when he asked Jesus what he must do to inherit
eternal life, and then in today’s Gospel, we have the Sons of Zebedee trying to
butter up Jesus to have the best seats in the house in the afterlife.
Actually, all three readings have a
common thread – they are stories of people focusing on the future, the next
life, and not on the present. The
Pharisees were concerned about divorce, not for this life, but who a divorced
person would be committed to in the next.
Last week, the ‘sad man’ wanted to know what he should do – not to stay
focused on living in the kingdom that is here among us, as Jesus preached, but
rather, what can he do here to make sure he gets there. And now we have the disciples asking about
the next life, with no focus on those around them in this one.
I can totally relate to this
future-focused mindset. I don’t know if
it is a sign of ADHD, a quick mind or a twisted one…but typically I have to
work very hard to stay in the present. I
am constantly thinking – what do I have to do next? How much can I get done before I have to
leave? (a.k.a ‘one more thing’ syndrome),
I wonder what time I will finish this project, so I can get to the next thing.
So our first reading ties in nicely to
the Gospel – if Pema had been present in Galilee 2000 years ago, she would have
teamed up with Jesus to straighten those apostles out. Stop worrying about what you will wear, what you
will eat, where you will sit in the next life – STAY IN THE PRESENT!
I will venture a guess that most of us could see ourselves quite easily in the first reading, whether we call it meditation, contemplative prayer or sitting with ‘the other’. It is really hard. Buddhism teaches us to train our minds to stay in the present. It is only then that we can get through all those distractions that can get us into trouble, and focus on what is. We can open our eyes to what is, not what we hope will be. Hoping takes us away from the present. We assume so much, and often the people around us support a future focus. What are you going to be when you grow up? Where are you going to college? What are you going to do with that major? When are you getting married? When are you going to have a baby? Don’t you want more kids? When are you going to retire? Do you have enough $$ saved? We all spend a LOT of energy worrying about the future.
Meg Wheatley, a writer and
organizational consultant in her 70’s, is focusing her life’s work on teaching
leaders to be ‘Warriors for the Human Spirit.’
Some have trouble with her choice of the word ‘Warrior.’ Yet frames this
word around protector or defender – as those that Native peoples called ‘Braves.’ In Buddhism, a warrior is not violent, but
brave.
Meg teaches that the meaning of life
is not to be kind, but to use your consciousness to choose. In order to be conscious – one must accept
the world as it is. Not how we hope it
will be in the future.
In these trying times, some of us are
placing our hope in the next election to fix so many systems and injustices -
Education, Government, Food Insecurity, Climate Change. We are to be realists, not optimists. What can we do, right now to be of service? Once we take in what is needed, we can see
how we can serve.
Meg quotes Teddy Roosevelt “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.”
Meg quotes Teddy Roosevelt “Do what you can, where you are, with what you have.”
So maybe as we go out into our week,
we can retain the words of Pema Chödrön and Jesus: ‘Stay with the nakedness of
our present experience.’ and ‘If any of you wants to be first, you must be the
last one of all and at the service of all.’
Communion meditation: On
Holy Ground by Barbra Streisand
Canticle of the Sun by
Marty Haugen
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