Saturday, March 3, 2018

2018/03/04 - A Vision for the Church

Before Mass:
(note:  we are using the Cycle A readings which are just a couple pages later in your missalette)

Have you ever thought about what you think our parish should be like 10 or 20 years from now?  Probably not – see we just kinda think the way church is now is how it’s always been and how it always will be – that’s normal to think that, but it’s not true.  The church – including our parish – is changing fast.  Whereas 20     years ago, most of our neighbors belonged to this parish, today, that’s not the case.  Now –I’m not worried about it necessarily, because I know God is still in control – however, I do think we need to plan ahead.  Ask ourselves, what would we LIKE our parish to look like in 20 years?  More importantly, What would GOD want his church to look like in 20 years?  Once we answer that question, then we need to put plans in place to work with the Holy Spirit to make that vision a reality.

The most important line in the Gospel might actually be the line right BEFORE the Gospel! 

"Jesus left Judea and returned to Galilee. (and) He "had to" pass through Samaria. "


See – Jesus had been up near Jerusalem at the Jordan river when He heard that the Pharisees were getting uncomfortable with how He was growing in popularity.  Since it wasn’t yet his time to die, he high-tailed it north back to Galilee, where he would spend most of his ministry.  To get there, he either had to go around Samaria or go through it.  Any pious Jew would have gone around, because Jews HATED Samaritans – they were half-breeds, impure, outcasts, lower than dogs!  But it says Jesus “had to” go through it.  Nothing Jesus did was incidental… He purposely crossed the border and went through Samaria to give us a vision of what His kingdom would be like. We get to eaves drop on his conversation with the woman at the well in today’s Gospel.  Pay attention to what this encounter tells us about the Kingdom of God.  And in case you're wondering, put yourself into the shoes of the woman at the well.
 
Homily
That was a long reading, so let’s cut right to the core of the message.  Jesus “had to” go through Samaria to meet this woman.  He went against all of the common sense of the day:  nobody travels THROUGH samaria, no man talks to a woman, no Jew talks to a Samaritan, no Jew would consider drinking from something a Samaritan TOUCHED!
Jesus had to go through Samaria to give us a vision for his Kingdom; that it would reach out to all of the outcasts.  EVERYBODY was to be included – even a Samaritan woman who’d had 5 men.  Everybody…even a Catholic sinner from Dubois County 2000 years later…yeah… even you and me.
Jesus invited this woman to a relationship.  Notice that!  ‘Who’ she was, ‘where’ she was from, and ‘what’ she had done were afterthoughts in this reading – the conversation started with an invitation.  Jesus went to where SHE was just to meet her and offer her fellowship in the Kingdom…  Before talking about her sin, without even mentioning her religious upbringing or whether she followed all the rules in their religion.  That didn’t matter.  Jesus crossed all of those borders to find her.
That’s a vision we can apply to our own parish.  We should be crossing borders… going out to the outcasts to invite them into the Kingdom.  We shouldn’t care about their religious affiliation, gender, race, political party, marital status… that’s all incidental.  We start with the invitation.  We go where they are – meet them in their mess – to offer them the same living water we’ve found in Jesus.
That’s nice to talk about – but what would that really look like?  Here are some concrete ideas I have – a vision for our parish.  We should be reaching out to the outcasts of our community.  First, I’d like to see us be even more welcoming.  See - We are such a close community that it’s easy to talk to our friends and family before and after Mass, but outsiders coming in find it hard to feel at home with us sometimes because they’re not included.  Nobody is to blame here – we just may never have noticed the problem.   I have some ideas how we can reach out to them.  Even people who have been here for a while never know how to get connected – how to get involved.  My vision is that everyone would be involved in ways they enjoy and build-up the kingdom.  Second – there are a lot of folks from our community who no longer join us – maybe because they didn’t feel welcomed?  Maybe they felt judged?  Maybe they never got invited to personally get involved?  We can reach out to them and personally invite them back – and re-build those personal relationships.  Third – there are a lot of non-Catholics in our area – which is different that it was 25 years ago.  We need to review our Mission as a church – we need to be like Jesus and go out of our way to meet them where they are and invite them to be part of our family.  Fourth – there is a community that springs up at the lake every Summer which is another vineyard waiting to be harvested.  What creative ways can we use to invite them to be part of our family even on a temporary basis. 
We have to cross borders:  It might mean we have to come out of our pews, come out of our comfort zones, come out of our houses, even drive a bit out of town – but like Jesus ‘had to’ go through Samaria, we ‘have to’ go out to where the people are.  We have to believe that they WANT to be invited… they’re just waiting at the well for us to offer them the Living Water.
Would you like to help make this vision a reality?  I propose to finally start an Evangelization team.  April 18th will be our first meeting – so watch the bulletin for details – and, if this really interests you, talk to me.  I’d love to start kicking around ideas.  We’ll have some great opportunities this summer as we help celebrate the 175th.
Maybe the Evangelization team isn’t for you – but everybody has a need to feel like part of the parish.  We do that best by getting involved. 
After the 10 am Mass, we’re having a brunch for EVERYONE – yes – everyone is encouraged to come.  We’ve got a couple dozen of our outreach ministries queued up to talk for just a couple minutes about what their ministry does.  For example, I’ve had a couple of young ladies approach me in the last year saying they want to get involved in the parish but don’t know how – so I spent a little time finding out what interests they have – and got them connected with a ministry.  Now, not only are they active, invaluable members of those groups, but they now have a personal ownership in our parish.  We have so many ministries that you may not even know what they are:  Grace Co-Op, Hospitality Committee, SVDP, Helping Hands, Parish Nursing, St. Anne’s Sodality, KofC…and bunches more – for men and women of all ages.  Whether you enjoy making food or cutting firewood, talking to people or praying or driving…you name it, we need your gifts.  I’d say everyone here WANTS to feel a part of the parish –  This brunch is a simple way to get some ideas where you’d best fit.  There won’t be any pressure to sign up for anything – this is informational. 
Jesus has crossed the border and is sitting at the well waiting for you – inviting you to come closer.  Will you give Him a drink?

 

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