I have
a precious eighty-something senior asked me some very good questions about her
“new” Catholic Church she was attending. She wanted to know the difference
between being Catholic in this “refreshed” version of being Catholic. She
realized very quickly that the difference was the “organization” and not the
faith. She admitted that she loved the warm feeling in her new church. People
smiled and asked her how her week went. She liked the fact that the prayers in
the Mass were very similar in both traditions. However, she admitted that she
still was uncomfortable embracing a stranger at the “kiss of peace.” Or even
more frightening, whenever I invited people to join me around the altar to pray
for family and friends she felt very awkward. This invitation to come up to the
altar has actually driven people away from this church. After all, we were not
taught to respect the clergy and the sanctuary was their turf “out of bounds”
for the rest of us common folk.
She
listens to the same the Gospel stories that are read at both churches every
Sunday. What she sadly shared was that her friends in the “old” church had some
unkind remarks on her moving away to this “refreshed” tradition. Their
criticism hurt her very much. Worse, bulletin warnings in her old church
implied she would no longer be welcomed back to pray with her neighbors. She
celebrated the sacraments for over eighty years in that church and this news
was shocking and sadly very disheartening.
She
wanted to feel comfortable in this “refreshed” tradition. The faces on the
statues looked warm and friendly. She enjoyed singing the old familiar hymns.
But she struggled with the “voices.” The voices of fear implanted by the
organization that she was doing something terribly wrong by “crossing the
line.”
She
humbly summed up her experience with this profound candid observation. I have
been coming for four months to this “refreshed” church and I am happy to see my
kids—(now all grown up) coming to church again and learning about God’s love.
Still, “At my age, change is hard.”
I am
sure that she never imagined that her faith journey for over eighty-years would
lead her down this road. Change was hard for the early church where it had its
share of family division over the new teachings. Jesus critics hunted him down all
the way to a cross. From His cross, Jesus humbly said: “Forgive them Father.”
This
woman of faith is learning that despite the changes it is God who cares for all
of us no matter where we worship on Sunday. She has discovered that change
means an “open mind with an open heart.” This “refreshed” Catholic community
welcomes anyone to the table of the Lord who has felt the sting of rejection.
Jess called many in his lifetime who you were on the fringes of society to
enter his kingdom.
I am
aware that many people are fearful of change and it takes courage and trust to
move beyond our comfort zone. This is not a stale faith community where people
out of curiosity are coming into its doors. This “refreshed” version of
Catholic is very human and it has its share of imperfections. The people who
worship here believe God has the power to touch the heart of every a person and
break through to a child in a way that the old church, often cannot.
It is
true your neighbors can refuse to listen to you, turn their backs on you,
reject your values, and walk away from everything you stand for; but there is
always still another teacher, God, from whom they cannot walk away. God can
reach into places, including hell itself, into which we cannot reach. God is
always there, with a love more patient and solicitousness more fierce than is
our own. From that we can draw courage and consolation. This community believes
that they are surrounded always by a love, a concern, an anxiety, and an
invitation to awaken to love that far exceed anything we can offer. God is the
real teacher and has powers we don't have.
God is walking with us this
morning when we pray: “The
Lord will rescue his servants, no one who takes refuge in him will be
condemned.” (Psalm 34:22).
Lord,
I pray for all my Sonshine Friends that they seek your call to be servants of
one another, loving each other in the name of the one who first loved us.
