~~~SisterSea~~~

Excerpted from homily of 2012-08-15 Feast of the Assumption   Today’s gospel account of the visitation includes the Magnificat found in Luke 1:46-55.   The Magnificat tells us that Mary was familiar with the scriptures because what she says is very similar to Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel 2:1-10.   But Mary says something quite peculiar, she says, “Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed.”   On hearing that, with our understanding of the word “blessed”, it sounds a bit arrogant.   However, the word used in the original Greek is, “ makariousin ”.   In Greek usage, makarios came to refer to the elite, the upper crust of society, the wealthy people. It referred to people whose riches and power put them above the normal cares and problems and worries of the lesser people, who constantly struggle and worry and labour in life. To be blessed, you had to be very rich and powerful.   The blessed were those people and beings, like the gods, who...

  This is Pride Weekend in Vancouver.   Today is also Emancipation Day, which celebrates the end of slavery in Canada.   In 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act brought an end to slavery throughout Canada. Today gives us a double reason to celebrate that in this community of Christ, in all our diversity, we are one.   As such God's commands and God's love includes all of us.  Today's reading from the Book of Exodus described the time after God, through Moses, has led the Israelites from slavery and saved them from Pharaoh's army in the Red Sea.   They are ungrateful for their deliverance.   They have no food and fail to trust in God's faithfulness and that God will provide.   Instead of anger, God responds with food and another chance to follow God's instructions.     This is a pattern that has echoed through the ages down to our times.   We are ungrateful for what we have.   We sometimes fail to recognize our hand, not God’...