January 2020 Newsletter – Clear as 20/20

So that I may make it clear, as it is right for me to do.

Watching New Year’s Rockin’ Eve at the turn of the year and our entry into a new decade was interesting. The team running the show kept playing Barbara Walters, the former cohost of the news show 20/20, saying over and over: “This is 2020.” 20/20 has been on ABC since 1978. It was meant to present in-depth reporting on human interest stories. The name of the program was meant to denote clearness of vision, a goal of providing clear information for the show’s audience’s thinking. The verse above is from the end of Paul letter to the Church at Colossae. Paul was in prison at the time and he was asking for the Church’s prayers so that he might “proclaim the mystery of Christ” clearly and that the door might be opened “for our message.” As we begin this new year and decade it is opportune for us to focus on a message that is 20/20, a clear speaking and teaching on the message of Jesus, the mystery of His coming to earth, passion, death, resurrection, ascension, and imminent return. We people of faith have been given a clearer vision and understanding of these things, what they mean for us in our life journey. We also have a clear task in front of us – to make what we know known. The world is a place of confusion and distraction. It is a place of shadows and unclear thinking. That’s just in everyday life. Think how much more confusing the message of sacrificial love found in the Gospel of Jesus is to the world; how hard it is to love as we should. These things are mystery, or foolishness, or even stupidity to those who do not know the power of Jesus’ clear message. So we must set to work. We are called to present in-depth reporting on the greatest human interest story of all time. We are to call people, by our teaching, words, prayer, and way of life to a clear vision of what life is, providing clear information for all around us to hear and follow. Paul’s prayer of purpose must be our prayer too. Lord, open the door for me so I may proclaim Your mystery clearly, 20/20.

January and celebrating through the entire forty day season of Christmas. We are gathering funds for SouperBowl Sunday, completing our clothing collections for those in need in our local community, and working together to reveal Him who binds up and re-ignites us. Music Scholarship Sunday is January 26th and applications for scholarships are now available. Learn about this year’s discipleship initiatives. Our Valentine’s Raffle is coming up, get your tickets now. We are prepping for our annual meeting. Above all, we are thankful for you.

Read about all this and a reflection on generosity in our January 2020 Newsletter.

Bible Study for the 3rd Week of Christmas 2019-2020

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,

Ephesians 3:14-15
  • 1/5 – Ephesians 6:1-3
  • 1/6 – 1 Timothy 5:8
  • 1/7 – Ephesians 5:25
  • 1/8 – Psalm 125:1-2
  • 1/9 – 1 Peter 4:8
  • 1/10 – Genesis 1:27
  • 1/11 – Jeremiah 1:5

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, strengthen my family in keeping true faith in You and in following Your word, which is life!

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Holy Family 2020

Bricks and
mortar.

Put on, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience

On this Second Sunday after Christmas we reflect on and honor the Holy Family, Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. As I reflected on this Solemnity, I just kept coming back to the term “bricks.”

The Holy Family is of course the perfect model of family. It is built with a solid foundation and perfect bricks. It is a structure fully showing what God intends when He calls us into family. This is the way it is supposed to be: father, mother, child/children. God calls us to strive for that perfection and He provides ready grace to strengthen it and fulfill all its purposes – the mutual love and support of the couple which comes first and foremost, and if intended and appropriate, the blessing of children.

Jesus came into the world as a baby, and progressed through childhood, to point to the perfect and indeed the possible. Follow Me He said – and we make every effort to do so. But sometimes we have to work with broken bricks.

Scripture does not hide the fact that God has worked through and with a lot of broken bricks. He worked with families odd, sinful, and all-to-familiar.

Cain kills his brother, the fruit of parents who tried to escape responsibility for sin. Jacob lies to his father to steal his brother’s inheritance (with his mom’s help). Jacob’s uncle duped him and practically turned him into a slave. Joseph got sold into actual slavery by his brothers and they then lied to their father. David killed to take a wife. David’s children didn’t do any better. His son Amnom was a rapist, his son Absalom tried to take his dad’s job and slept with his wives, and his son Solomon simply married everyone he wanted to sleep with. The prophet Hosea marries a prostitute who keeps running back to prostitution, Jesus’ family tree contains two prostitutes. Lots of broken bricks.

In the early church and to this day we don’t just welcome the broken bricks – that’s arrogant. Rather, we look to the broken bricks among us as family. We see that way because we too are broken bricks.

Broken bricks make the family of Christ, the Church, beautiful. God builds and He knows that broken brick makes the structure stronger. He knows this because Jesus is the mortar holding us together and making us perfect in His Father’s eyes.

Bible Study for the 2nd Week of Christmas 2019-2020

This week’s memory verse: And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

Hebrews 11:6
  • SUNDAY: 1 Timothy 3:1-5
  • MONDAY: 1 Peter 5:1-3
  • TUESDAY: Psalm 28:7
  • WEDNESDAY: Hebrews 13:17
  • THURSDAY: James 3:1
  • FRIDAY: 2 Timothy 1:13
  • SATURDAY: Revelation 1:5-6

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, You called me, set me apart for Your work. Grant that I may work with purpose and dedication in building Your kingdom.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds 2019

A job, a career, a
calling.

When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.”

On this Sunday after Christmas we especially honor the humble shepherds who heard the angelic proclamation and responded.

Some historians have posited that the shepherds who were called the evening of Jesus’ birth were the very shepherds who tended the sheep used in sacrifice at the Temple.  In the modern day, the Hebron Road runs between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. It is about nine kilometers, about twenty-two minutes by car from one place to the other, so we could imagine that the Temple sheep and lambs were kept in the fields along that nine kilometers, six-and-a-half-mile route. It’s not that far.

The symbolism there is pretty mighty. God calls those who cared for the Temple sacrifices, the lambs offered up for the sins of the people, to be the first to visit the Lamb of God.

Dr. Amy Wrzesniewski, a professor at the Yale School of Management, established three different, defined contexts of work: job, career and calling:

A job provides you with pay and perhaps some benefits. A job is primarily about earning a paycheck. People who hold jobs are typically more invested in their lives outside of work. Work is merely the way they afford to do the things they love. They do not see their job as a place to learn, gain experience or increase connections.

A career is what you do for yourself. Career people are also working for the paycheck but are more driven to seek out opportunities for advancement. People with a career orientation tend to have a long-term vision for their future, set goals and enjoy competition with colleagues.

Those with a calling however feel a deep alignment between their vocation and who they are as a person. They feel a personal and emotional connection to their work. They are enthusiastic, have a sense of purpose and are willing to work harder and longer to make a contribution. Unsurprisingly, this group is often the most satisfied with their life’s work.

What did the shepherds have and where did they end up? It is likely that they saw their work as a job. There wasn’t much room to learn or advance. Where they ended, and where we need to end is with a calling. For they were changed by their encounter with Jesus and they made known the saying which had been told them concerning this child.

Reflection for the Solemnity of the Nativity 2019

Christmas Cacophony

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

I’m not sure how many of you know, but our family lives in Voorheesville. I remember moving into our house. It was a beautiful warm day and the sun was streaming through the windows. We wanted a lot of sun, and we certainly got that. The floors were soft and clean with brand new carpet, and we laid there, on the carpet in the warm sun and practically fell asleep. That is, until, the railroad.

If you know anything about Voorheesville, it is part of the main rail line between the Selkirk yards and the rest of the world. Day and night trains come barreling through this little railroad town. The whistle (or horn nowadays) and the clack of the tracks. …and we don’t live close to the tracks – but the sound carries.

Our first days in Voorheesville were a cacophony of movers, summer sounds, and trains. Day and night the trains. As the Grinch says – noise, noise, noise!!!

Webster and others describe the sorts of discordant noise around us as cacophonies. Cacophony means literally a harsh mixture of discordant sound; dissonance; a discordant and meaningless mixture of sounds. The world is a noisy place.

Here we are, on the holy night, a night of peace on earth. The old Polish Christmas Carol, KolÄ™dy, WÅ›ród Nocnej Ciszy might have us believe – we stand [will stand, stood] here in midnight silence, but it is not true.

At this holiest of times, let’s focus on the cacophony around us. I definitely do not mean the sound of sales and cash registers, full malls and supermarkets, people scurrying about, debates over gifts, and the ongoing voices screaming in politics and division. There is that cacophony, but like the railroad in Voorheesville, we have learned to ignore those things. They have become the background noise of life, a sort of a low background buzz we barely notice anymore. I have to concentrate to hear the train nowadays.

The cacophony we should be hearing this Christmas is different than those things. Yes, the worship of the angels. Yes, the words of scripture. But more…

Good writers and producers help us to hear the real trains running around us. The kind of Christmas cacophony we should hear; the much more important and urgent noise around us.

In Dickins Christmas Carol, Scrooge was woken by the cacophony of a friend who came in an attempt to save him. Marley came with chains rattling so that his friend might not become subject to the fate he had drawn.  Marley showed him the cacophony of hopelessness. So, let us take notice of that. Let us be that friend who breaks through the cacophony of hopelessness, despair, and resistance. Let us be that friend who will not hesitate to call another to salvation, to break through, to make a difference – for in doing so they and we will find the true peace of Christmas.

In It’s A Wonderful Life recall the night George Bailey came to despair. Do you remember the cacophony of prayer that rose up? His wife, children, friends, community rose up in prayer and those prayers came to the Throne of God. Please Lord, help my husband, my son, my daddy, my friend. Let us be part of a new cacophony of prayer for those around us whose needs may be public or often times silent. Let us give the gift of our noise – not just this Christmas night, but earnestly every day and night for in doing so they and we will find the true peace of Christmas.

The true peace of Christmas radiates from the cacophony of a manger scene – the rush to find lodging, a woman giving birth, the visit of Shepherds, the glory of the heavenly host appearing. The true peace of Christmas lives in us as we break through in prayer and action to bring the true peace of Christmas to the world. 

Our Christmas 2019-2020 Schedule

We look forward to joining with you in worship and praise to our Savior manifest and returning. Remember, Christmas is a 40 day celebration!

  • December 24 – Christmas Vigil Holy Mass at 4pm
  • December 25 – Solemn High Holy Mass at Midnight (Pasterka) at 12am followed by a festive repast.
  • December 25 – Holy Mass of Christmas Day at 10am followed by a festive repast.
  • December 27 – Holy Mass with Blessing of Wine (bring yours to be blessed) on the Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist at 7pm.
  • December 29 – Solemnity of the Humble Shepherds. Holy Mass at 9:30am and 11:30am.
  • January 1 – Solemnity of the Circumcision of the Lord. Holy Mass at 10am.
  • January 2 – Solemnity of the Holy Name of Jesus (parish feast, odpust). Holy Mass at 7pm.
  • January 5: Solemnity of the Holy Family. Holy Mass at 9:30am and 11:30am.
  • January 6: Solemnity of the Epiphany of the Lord. Holy Mass with blessing of chalk and incense at 7pm.
  • January 12: Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord. Holy Mass at 9:30am and 11:30am.

Bible Study for the Conclusion of Advent and Christmastide 2019

As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.

John 15:9
  • 12/22 – Matthew 5:43-44
  • 12/23 – John 13:34
  • 12/24 – 1 John 4:19
  • 12/25 – John 3:16
  • 12/26 – John 14:23-24
  • 12/27 – 1 John 4:16
  • 12/28 – Romans 8:37-39

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, You came to bring the way of God’s love and relationship. Grant that we may carry out Your Father’s way faithfully and diligently.

Reflection for the 4th Sunday of Advent 2019

In
advance.

“Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Three weeks ago, we reflected on God’s wake-up calls delivered through the prophets so we might be found awake and ready. 

Two weeks ago, we focused on God’s proclamation of His truth as revelation for us. We understand that to be part of God is to be part of His extraordinarily different way, and to live up to it. 

Last week we considered the rejoicing ready for us right now and to come upon Jesus’ return.

In a few days, this will all come together in our Christmas celebration. To prepare, God asks us to consider the depth of His love and how we live it.

We know the Spirit stirred life in the womb of a peasant girl – God’s proclamation through prophets and angels comes to reality in Mary’s womb by her loving acceptance. God is engaged in His extraordinarily different way.

Mary and Joseph betrothed, not yet married, were expected to remain chaste. Mary’s pregnancy catches Joseph by surprise, more literally he was shocked and dismayed. Joseph seeks to avoid humiliation (for him) while also fulfilling the law. He is not yet connected to God’s different way of love or His proclamation. The angel sets that straight. The angel admonishes Joseph to embrace his role and Joseph responded lovingly. Joseph then becomes model for all who encounter the message of Jesus – God’s proclamation made real in vastly different ways and to be accepted in love.

God’s realm is becoming manifest among us at the near conclusion of this Advent season. If we have taken wake-up calls and proclamation seriously, we are awake, ready, listening, prepared, and knowledgeable. God calls us to act so vastly different in advance of His son’s glorious return. We are called to be part of His necessary work at this end-time, i.e., to becoming deeply faithful to love. Love must overcome disbelief. Love must overcome labeling (imagine what people called Mary and Joseph). Love must overcome conflict and chaos, eliciting peaceful hearts. Love must overcome complacency. Jesus’ way of love must rule our heart and way to the core of our being. 

Bible Study for the 3rd Week of Advent 2019

This week’s memory verse: Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.

Philippians 4:4
  • 12/15 – Luke 10:20
  • 12/16 – Psalm 113:1-9
  • 12/17 – Romans 5:3
  • 12/18 – Acts 16:33-34
  • 12/19 – Isaiah 61:10
  • 12/20 – Zephaniah 3:14-17
  • 12/21 – Romans 15:13

Pray the week: Lord Jesus, You gave us cause for rejoicing. Grant that we may be found awake, faithful, and indeed rejoicing at Your return.