Simply Sent
Gate Pa – 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time- Year
A -2023
Readings:
Psalm - Psalm 116:9-17
First Reading - Genesis 18:1-15
Second Reading - Romans 5:1-8
Gospel - Matthew 9:35-10:23
What I want to say:
First Reading - Genesis 18:1-15
Second Reading - Romans 5:1-8
Gospel - Matthew 9:35-10:23
What I want to say:
I want to talk about some of the themes from Phoenix
Then explore the importance of Matthew 10:5-8 for
Franciscans and in light of that what is living simply
What I want
to happen:
We are today's “sent ones”/apostles.
wonder what Jesus instructions offer us in our
understanding of living the gospel?
The Sermon
1. Introduction:
Some of you know I was in Phoenix at TSSF Convocation
-
Why I missed two Sundays
Hot – top temp each day was between 36 -40 – but very dry heat
+ David Rice – bishop who appointed me to be your vicar was there
as Bishop Protector
-
Great to spend time with him
-
Took opportunity to thank him for that
appointment.
Take time now to thank you for your generosity as parish allowing
me to be Minister General
-
Has been gift
2. Convocation
Some
of the themes we spent time looking at last week included
-
Mary as our model for how we might
live the gospel
-
Living in gratitude
o
starting with gratitude rather than …
-
Mending as a spiritual practice in a
throw away world
o
my reflection on that was how does
living in a throw away world shape my relationship with people, creation,
things and God?
o
I might say more about that in the
next few weeks
-
Creation is incomplete and is
consistently oriented towards new and more complex life
o
World will never go back to how it was
-
We are incomplete - unfinished not
broken
-
We are fractals of divine light and
love – each one of us unique and wonderful
o
Challenge to see that in those I
struggle with
-
God is love
o
More than God is loving
o
Or God loves.
-
God is love
-
We experience God in the finite of
this world
o
To know God is to experience this
concrete reality in all its wonder and beauty
There
is a lot there that will bubble up in all kinds of ways over the next while.
3. Gospel
Our gospel reading this morning is very significant for
Franciscans
Gospel reading for celebration of St. Matthias
In 1208 St. Francis of Assisi was at mass
When he heard this reading he is said to have stood and shouted
that he had found his way
-
This was what he had been searching
for
-
Although it is more likely he quietly
asked the priest to explain what Jesus meant once mass was complete
-
Either way - Order of Friars Minor was
born that day
-
with its focus on holy poverty and
living simply
Begins with summary of what Jesus had been doing up to that point
-
Teaching about - (Sermon on Mount)
-
Living out kingdom or reign of heaven
Then Commissions the 12, who are named, to carry on that work
-
Apostles means “sent ones”
-
this is a pivotal moment for these 12
o
been observers of Jesus
§
been part of the support crew
§
they now join Jesus in proclaiming
that the kingdom of heaven has come near
§
They are sent to continue all that
Jesus had been doing
§
sent to proclaim in words and actions
·
The kingdom of
heaven has come near
A word that occurred in nearly all commentaries about this is “compassion”
-
God’s compassion
Because God is love
Reign of heaven is marked by love
-
marked by loving compassion
-
God’s compassion for all people
-
Particularly poor, sick, widow,
orphan, outsider
o
Those who had been devastated by the
current system. (lost sheep in 10:6)
I wonder as we listen to this how we experience being sent
-
As we read the list of actions –
o
what does mean for how we proclaim in
words and actions
o
The kingdom of
heaven has come near
-
How our lives are
marked with God’s compassion
4. Franciscan themes
For Francis and those early brothers hearing this gospel was also a
pivotal moment
-
had been hermit.
-
clothed in hermits garb
o
now he is sent out to the poor, sick,
widow, orphan, outsider
o
Those who had been devastated by the system
of his time.
-
living the poor clothes of a beggar
-
with this new focus on holy poverty
and living simply
5. Living Simply – some thoughts
Francis and Clare instinctively understood the
destructive power of idols.
-
Idols were not
just those things people call gods,
o
but all things
that distract us from God's faithfulness.
-
They saw that
their money, their wealth, all they owned, were the most powerful of idols.
-
They saw too the
idols of self-comfort and self-aggrandizement as life destroying idols.
In response they surrendered all they had and embraced
Lady Poverty as their way.
In doing so they were freed to be part of God's
ongoing work to restore humanity and renew creation.
They were freed to live the reign of heaven.
As a Franciscan I too seek to live in the spirit of
Lady Poverty.
That means living simply.
Living simply has many layers.
It means to seek to not be attached to possessions
and to money
-
paying attention
to all the ways I am tempted to have the latest or the best
-
Before I buy
anything ask, “do we really need this and if so, what might be good enough?”
Living simply means letting go of needing to earn
or have more, whatever more we may seek, whether things, recognition, or
blessings.
-
I am invited to
live gratefully in response to the life that God generously offers all of us.
-
May we learn to
live in the spirit of gratitude.
Living simply means resisting the temptation to see
my possessions as mine, as just reward for my labours.
-
we are invited to
see them as God's generous gift with which we are to be as generous.
Living simply also means seeking to live in a way
that does not add to the poverty of others and the damaging of this world.
-
At a basic level
this means buying ethically; trying to be informed about the choices we make.
o
This includes
paying attention to the work conditions of those who involved in the production
of what we are buying.
o
It also means
paying attention to the environmental cost.
§ paying attention to the ways the production of this
product is harming human community,
§ adding to climate change,
§ biodiversity loss and pollution.
o
We are invited to
listen to the voices of indigenous and the vulnerable and marginalised, those
most harmed by what we buy.
è How are the choices we make in what we buy part of the
renewal of creation and the enrichment and empowerment of people’s lives.
Living simply, in all these ways, is our seeking to
free ourselves from worshiping false idols. Maybe the greatest of these is the
worship of my own comfort and safety.
We are todays “sent ones”/apostles.
wonder what Jesus’ instructions offer us in our
understanding of living the gospel?
-
proclaiming in
our actions and words – “The reign of heaven has come near”
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