~~~SisterSea~~~

Shared Homily Starter First Reading: Joel 2.12-18 Second Reading 2 Corinthians 5.20-6.2 Gospel Matthew 6.1-8, 16-18   In today’s first reading we heard “rend your hearts and not your clothing.”   Similarly, in the Gospel, we heard, “Beware of practising your piety before others in order to be seen by them.”   The first reading and the gospel are advising us to attend to and do our inner work without outer displays─ without the desire for praise from others.   Through the years, most of you have heard a variety of sermons on today’s Gospel.   So instead of preaching on the Gospel, today, I’m going to talk about the second reading from 2 Corinthians, keeping in mind the spirit of the first reading and the Gospel.   Paul starts with declaring that we are ambassadors for Christ.   Ambassadors function to represent and protect the interest of the sending state.   ...

Shared Homily Starter First Reading: Isaiah 49: 14-14 Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 Gospel: Matthew 6:24-34 Today I’m just going to touch on a few points in the Gospel reading in the hopes that they stimulate more thoughts and questions for all of us.   To set the stage, look at the unrestrained resource extraction, our addiction to fossil fuels, and the consumerism that threatens to consume us and the earth.   Yet, we all have to earn a living and unfortunately, some people have no other choice but to work for industries and systems that are killing us.   We have been drafted into a system where we are trying to serve God but are enslaved by wealth─ quite a dilemma!   Upton Sinclair wrote “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”   A response to Sinclair is found in Jesus’ declaration, “you of little faith...