Homily for January 25, 2015 (3rd Sunday B)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

There is urgency in the message.  There is urgency in the call of the Lord.  Jonah and Paul proclaim that the time of transformation is at hand.  “Nineveh will be destroyed.”  “The world as we know it is passing away.”  There is urgency in the message.  There is urgency in the call of the Lord.  Everything else must wait.  Today is the day of salvation.  Today is the day of the visitation of our God.

The people of Nineveh heard the voice of a prophet.  The people of Corinth heard the voice of an apostle.  The fishermen, Simon and Andrew, James and John, heard the voice of the Son of God.  They heard the announcement of the time of fulfillment.  They heard the proclamation of the kingdom of God.  They heard the call to repentance and the call to believe in the gospel.  And then, the Lord Jesus called them to follow him.  There is urgency in the message.  There is urgency in the call of the Lord.  Today is the day of salvation.  Today is the day of the visitation of our God.

Today is the day to respond.  The people of Nineveh heard the preaching of Jonah and they proclaimed a time of repentance.  They turned away from their sins, they turned away from their idols, and they turned toward the Living God.  They proclaimed a day of repentance and they received the day of salvation.  The fishermen heard the preaching of the Kingdom and the call to follow Jesus, and the fishermen immediately left their nets to follow the Shepherd.  There is urgency in their response.  There is urgency in the response to the call of the Lord.  Today is the day of salvation.  Today is the day of the visitation of our God.

The people of Nineveh, the people of Corinth and the fishermen on the Sea of Galilee heard the urgency of the message.  They heard the urgency in the call of the Lord.  They heard the voice that they could not ignore and they heard invitation that they would not reject.  There was urgency in the message and there was urgency in the response.  It was the day of salvation and the day of the visitation of our God.

There is urgency in the message for us too, dear brothers and sisters.  There is urgency in the call of the Lord.  Like the people of Nineveh, we are invited to turn away from our sins and from the idols of the world that invite our worship.  We are invited to turn toward the Lord.  Like the people of Corinth, we are invited to live in this world mindful that our true homeland is in the next.  And like the fishermen of Galilee, we are invited to leave our nets and walk with the Lord Jesus, for today is the day of salvation.  Today, in this Eucharist, is the day of the visitation of our God.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for January 21, 2015 (St. Agnes, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity)

The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord.  She is his new creation by water and the Word.

Almost seventeen hundred years ago, a little girl confessed her faith in Jesus Christ.  She was only twelve or thirteen years old, innocent and holy, beautiful and pure.  She was too young to be a witness in a court of law, but not too young to be a witness to Jesus Christ.  She was not too young to know the Lord who had loved her from all eternity.  She was not too young to promise herself to Jesus Christ.  She was not too young to give witness to her faith.  Agnes was not too young to shed her blood in testimony to the Lamb of God whose blood takes away the sin of the world.  She was not too young to die for love of Him who died for love of her.  Almost seventeen hundred years ago, a little girl confessed her faith in Jesus Christ, and the story of her faith and martyrdom inspired St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and St. Jerome.  These great doctors of the Church, these great scholars of the Scriptures, were inspired by the testimony of a little girl who was in love with Jesus Christ.

Elect from every nation, yet one o’er all the earth, her charter of salvation, One Lord, one Faith, One birth.

Almost a hundred years ago, the movement that would become the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, began in a little chapel near New York City.  The prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ that all may be one resonated in the soul of Father Paul Wattson, and he and his Franciscan Community began to pray.  Each year, the Christians of the world, join in prayer that we who share a common baptism may be drawn ever closer in the bonds of charity and the bonds of mission.  We pray each year that together we will confess the faith of Jesus Christ before the world.  We pray each year that together we will announce the Good News of the love that God has for his people.  We pray each year that together, the witness of our faith, and the witness of our lives, will inspire the whole world to gaze upon the face of Jesus Christ.  We pray for unity, because it is the prayer of the Lord.  We pray for unity, because it is the desire of our hearts.  But most importantly, we pray for unity because the Lord has made us missionaries of the Good News, and our divisions compromise the integrity of our testimony.

Though with a scornful wonder, the world sees her oppressed, by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed.  Yet saints, their watch are keeping . . . 

Almost twenty years ago, twenty years ago this month in fact, something drastic happened here.  A bearded man, with a little black dog, began wondering around this campus, at all hours of the day or night, with the words, “Hello, dear child,” and “Thank you for your prayers.”  The students did not call Security, because the bearded man with the little black dog had been called by God through his Church, and the students knew it was their Pastor.  For twenty years, you have preached to us of the love that God has for us.  For twenty years you have prayed that our union in Christ Jesus may be deepened, and that our unity in charity and mission may be strengthened.  Preach on, dear Pastor, preach on.

Mid toil and tribulation and tumult of her war, she waits the consummation of peace forevermore.

The witness of St. Agnes, the little girl of twelve or thirteen, inspires our faith.  The horrifying fact that little girls of twelve or thirteen are being killed for their faith and the living of their faith, in our own day, pierces our hearts.  It is a dangerous time to be a Christian.  It is a dangerous time to profess the faith of Jesus Christ.  In this country, at least for today, the public witness of our faith may only cost us money or employment.  In other countries, the public witness of faith is costing people their lives.  It is a dangerous time . . . but we have been through dangerous times before. 

We shall not be overcome by the powers of this world.  We Christians have stood with Leo the Great against Attila the Hun.  We have stood with Ambrose and with Thomas Beckett against emperors and kings.  We have stood with Dietrich Bonheoffer against the evils of the Nazis.  We have stood with those of every time and place who have looked to God our Father in hope.  We have stood with the suffering, with the oppressed, with those who are too young to give witness.  With all of them we have stood, and here we stand.  Here we stand to preach and here we stand to pray.  The witness of the saints and the martyrs, of the fourth century and of the twenty-first century, calls each of us to our own moment of witness.  The witness of the Saints and the martyrs, of the fourth century and the twenty-first century, calls us to unity. The Watchers and the Holy Ones will stand with us in the hour of trial.  The whole Church of God will stand with us on the Day full of Grace, for She on earth has union with God the three in one, and mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won. O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we, like them, the meek and lowly, may live eternally.  Amen.

Preached at Grace Chapel, Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, NC for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.  This month also marks the 20^th Anniversary of the service of The Rev. Andrew F. Weisner, Ph.D. as Campus Pastor.

Homily for January 18, 2015 (2nd Sunday B)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

The scriptures are filled with fascinating characters.  We have Samuel, who will become a great prophet, and we have Eli, the priest of the Temple.  We have Paul and the Corinthians.  We have John the Baptist, and Andrew, and John, and Simon Peter.  We have all of these fascinating characters who are part of the great story of the love that God has for his people.  The scriptures are filled with fascinating characters. 

The scriptures are filled with people who heard the call of God.  Samuel was asleep when the voice of the Lord awakened him.  Andrew and John were standing with John the Baptist.  They were his followers.  Paul was on the road to Damascus, and Simon Peter the fisherman, was fishing.  On ordinary days and while doing ordinary things they heard the call of God.  On ordinary days and while doing ordinary things, the most extraordinary thing happened.  The scriptures are filled with people who heard the call of God.

The scriptures are filled with people who followed the call of God completely.  When Samuel was awakened by the voice of the Lord, he ultimately responded with a listening heart.  When Andrew and John left John the Baptist to follow the Lord Jesus, they never returned to John the Baptist again.  Paul would never be Saul again, and Simon Peter could never be simply Simon again.  They would struggle.  They would fall at times.  But they could never return to the life that was theirs before they responded to the call of God.  They could never return to the lives that were theirs, because their lives now belonged to the Most High God.  They had been called and they had responded.  The scriptures are filled with people who followed the call of God completely.

The scriptures are filled with people who heard the call of God, who followed the call of God completely, and who announced the call of God to others.  The gift of God was shared.  The call of God was announced.  John the Baptist declared the presence of the Lamb of God to his disciples, John and Andrew.  Andrew immediately went to find his brother Simon so that Andrew could bring Simon to Jesus.  The scriptures are filled with people who heard the call of God, who followed the call of God completely and who announced the call of God to others.

The Church of God, and each of her parishes, is filled with fascinating characters.  We are here, dear brothers and sisters, because the love of God has called us to be part of the great story of the great love that God has for his people.  We have responded and we are responding.  We want to respond completely.  Like Peter and Paul we struggle and like Peter and Paul, at times, we fall.  But we have responded and we are responding.  We have heard the call of the Lord.  We are responding to the call of the Lord.  Let us, dear brothers and sisters, on this ordinary day, announce the call of the Lord and bring everyone to Jesus.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for January 11, 2015 (Baptism of the Lord)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

He enters the waters of the Jordan so that he can give us the waters of eternal life.  The baptism of the Lord Jesus brings to completion the hidden life of Nazareth.  From this moment until the day when he is taken up into the glory of the Father, the Lord Jesus is publicly teaching and publicly revealing the Kingdom of God.  From the moment of his baptism, he is announcing the promise of life forever in the glory of the Father.  The Lord Jesus enters the waters of the Jordan so that he can give us the waters of eternal life.

The Spirit that hovered over the waters at the dawn of creation descended upon the Lord Jesus at his baptism.  The voice of the Father, by which all that is visible and invisible was created, announced the identity of his Son.  In the presence of the prophet John the Baptist, the incarnate Word of the Father and the fullness of the revelation of God to his people, was revealed.  In the waters of the Jordan and in the presence of John the Baptist we hear that Jesus is the beloved son of the Eternal Father.  In the waters of the Jordan and in the presence of John the Baptist, we see the Spirit of God descend in the form of a dove and consecrate the Lord Jesus for the mission of salvation.  The Lord Jesus enters the waters of the Jordan so that he can give us the waters of eternal life.

Long before the profession of faith by Peter, and even before the demons cry out in terror before the face of the Holy One, at the waters of the Jordan, the identity of the Lord Jesus is clear.  He is the beloved Son.  Long before the Sermon on the Mount, the cleansing of the Temple, the last supper with his disciples and his suffering on the cross, at the waters of the Jordan the mission of the Lord Jesus for salvation was foretold.  From this moment, the Lord Jesus is publicly teaching and publicly revealing the Kingdom of God.  The Lord Jesus enters the waters of the Jordan so that he can give us the waters of eternal life.  At the baptism of the Lord Jesus his identity was proclaimed and his mission was foretold.

At my baptism and at yours, our identity was proclaimed and our missions were foretold.  When were baptized into Christ Jesus we became beloved children of the Most High God.  The Father claimed us in his Son.  We became heirs of the Kingdom and we received the Holy Spirit.  We were washed in the river of salvation and we drink from the springs of eternal life which flow through the city of God.  We were anointed with the oil of gladness and consecrated for our particular mission in the divine mission of salvation.  The Father has claimed us.  The Spirit has sent us.  Let us begin again our journey with the Lord Jesus.  Amen.

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC

Homily for January 1, 2015 (Solemnity of the Mother of God)

May Jesus Christ be praised and may his holy Mother pray for us.

I am the first child of my parents.  My sister is two and a half years younger.  That means that I was a two year old when my sister came to live in the house, and I was jealous.  I was not jealous of her room.  I was jealous because there was one privilege that had been mine alone, and now I would have to share it with her.  I would have to share with my sister the privilege of calling my mother, “Mom.”  I was jealous because someone else could call my mother, “Mom.”

But the Lord Jesus is not jealous.  He invites us to call upon his mother.  The Lord Jesus invites us to call upon the Blessed Virgin Mary as our dear and loving mother.  He shares her with us.  The Lord Jesus shares with us his own relationship with the Father.  He shares with us his own relationship with his mother.  Mary is our mother.  She loves us.  She nurtures us.  Mary brings us close to her Son.  Mary stands with us at our own Calvary.  Mary is close to us in our joys.  She is close to us in our sorrows.  Mary is our loving Mother.  She is a gift that the Lord Jesus gives to us.  The Lord Jesus is not jealous.  The Lord Jesus shares his mother with us.

With confidence, let us call upon her.  Amen.           

Preached at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Monroe, NC