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Today we continue our Fall preaching series on DISCIPLESHIP, the fourth part entitled: DISCIPLES make faith a way of life.

Discipleship is the knowledge of faith becoming a way of life. It is not enough to know the content of the Scriptures or to simply understand the richness of Christian beliefs. Disciples need to actively participate in faith as a way of life – living into faith that is simultaneously centered in God yet genuinely our own, balancing tradition and experience, as well as text and context, embracing both our dreams and our current realities. A living faith happens today, and every day, facing whatever joys or sorrows are now on our daily agenda ...

Making faith a way of life begs the more basic question, what is your/my way of life? Perhaps a better way to ask it may be: What is our current life philosophy? While there are many different answers to this question, here are a few … does any of them sound like you?


1. Nihilism

The most well-known form of nihilism is focused on the assertion that life has no inherent purpose, goal, or intrinsic value. Simplified, it’s the belief that life is utterly pointless.

2. Hedonism

Hedonism is centered around the belief that pleasure is the only thing that has intrinsic value. Basically, a hedonist makes pleasure the ultimate goal of any and all of his/her actions and choices in life.

3. Stoicism

Stoicism is a philosophy that focuses on training yourself to improve through training and conditioning.

And there are many, many more…

When we think about making the Christian faith into a way of life it can seem almost impossible, not only because there will be so many different models and variations, but more so because we are surrounded by so many who espouse these and other philosophies that seem to run contrary to our belief system as Christians.

But what would the life of a disciple look like who was working to make Christianity a way of life? While it’s surely not an easy answer, nor is there a specific checklist that captures all the aspects, the Bible teaches that the Christian life is one of constant growth. Baptism welcomes us into God’s family as the first step. By that sacrament, we underline that it is God’s purpose that we will grow into full stature and become mature in Christ. That growth implies steady development, constant enlargement, and increasing wisdom, but it doesn’t happen automatically … we have to take the lead …

Billy Graham, the famous evangelist included these as his hallmarks of one who was striving to make Christianity a way of life. One who:

1. Reads the Bible daily and hides the Word of God in one’s heart because all we need is there.

2. Learns the secret of prayer because prayer is communicating.

3. Relies constantly on the Holy Spirit.

4. Attends church regularly, not out of obligation but because the visible church is Christ’s organization upon earth. And more so because Christians need one another, to gather together to worship God.

5. Is a witnessing Christian, by life and by word – and the two should go hand in hand.

6. Lets love be the ruling principle of one’s life. The greatest demonstration of the fact that we are Christians is that we love one another.

7. Is obedient, letting Christ have first place in all the choices of our life.

8. Learns how to meet temptation. Temptation is not sin. It is yielding that is sin. He says that we should let Christ through the Holy Spirit do the fighting for us.

9. Is a wholesome Christian. Our lives and appearance should commend the Gospel and make it attractive to others.

10.Lives above our circumstances. Graham says we should learn to live graciously within them, realizing the Lord Himself is always with us.

The Old Testament passage today is from the book of Habakkuk. Habakkuk is one of the most poignant and painful books in the Bible.

Judah has evidently been faced first with corruption and then with invasion, and for each the prophet goes to God in prayer, searching for help or explanations for the crimes.

For Habakkuk, the issue is theodicy, how can we justify the goodness of God and the powerfulness of God, with the presence of evil. The heart of the book consists of a prayer dialogue between Habakkuk (about whom we know nothing) and God (Yahweh), concerning the theological meaning behind the atrocities that have befallen his country. It seems that he wrote when Babylonian armies were ravaging Judah, before the fall of Jerusalem in 587 BC, but the problem is really universal.

One could easily envision someone from Ukraine today making the same cries, or any one of a number of other countries that are going through political or economic or military ravages. For that matter, anyone we know whose body is being ravaged by MS or MD or cancer or Leukemia or any grindingly debilitating terminal disease, can identify with the tears of Habakkuk when he saw the end coming and looked to God for an explanation. His pain is a universal, physical, emotional, and “theodical” pain that many of us can surely identify with.

Perhaps many have hesitated to make Christianity a way of life because in light of all the suffering in the world and even in some hearts, we share the penetrating question:


“Aren’t you God? Why do you allow this misery to happen to your people? And then we ask one another, “Does God really care?”

The Gospel may give us some consolation because throughout Luke’s Gospel, we hear that even the closest followers of Jesus had a “mixed” level of faith. On one hand, they have left homes and jobs and families in order to follow Jesus, but it has not been easy. They encountered hostility from many who opposed Jesus but still they stuck around, even for this final journey toward Jerusalem, and even when they have received a warning of what is to come.

At the same time, in our own world’s days of turmoil and fear, we can empathize with the disciples when faith wavers. When the wind roars and the waves batter their boat as they cross the Sea of Galilee, even as Jesus sleeps beside them, they are overwhelmed by terror. “Where is your faith?” Jesus asks, after calming the storm. Later, he chides their limited trust in God. “If God clothes the grass … how much more will [God] clothe you — you of little faith!.

It’s a bit of a consolation to me to know that proximity to Jesus does not guarantee unwavering faith. Faith is not defined primarily by cognitive certainty, nor acceptance of proper theological constructs, nor even necessarily by people who consider themselves to be closest to Jesus. Living faith manifests itself in many ways, by a variety of people.

· Living faith is persistence in reaching out to Jesus and trusting in Jesus’ power and authority;

· Living faith is responding with love to forgiveness received, and not letting fear get the upper hand;

· Living faith is being willing to take risks that challenge the status quo;

· Living faith is giving praise to God and having confidence in God’s desire for justice.

· Living faith is being willing to ask Jesus for what we need.

Disciples know Jesus. Disciples know the Bible. Disciples know the Christian faith. Disciples try, despite all the challenges to make faith a way of life, living faithfully each day while we are being transformed by it. As we try, let’s be patient without ourselves, because it’s the work of a lifetime!

RSM



Today we continue our Fall preaching series that will focus on DISCIPLESHIP ... And you already know that making disciples is why Christian Churches exist ... so, we continue with the third part of our series entitled: DISCIPLES know the Christian faith.

When we think about the Christian faith, it seems to me that G K Chesterton expressed it best when he proposed that Christianity had not been tried and found wanting … rather it had been wanted and never tried.


Gandhi too, when asked once why he rejected the religion said simply: Oh, I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.


Surely, if the indictment fits …


Some have suggested that even the most cursory glance at the historical engagement of Christian churches in public life shows that the love of enemies, forgiveness and turning the other cheek urged by Jesus has been conspicuous by its absence …


· What about everything else?

· What about the little things?

· What are the basic principles of the Christian faith?

· Are we compliant or do we reject them?

· Where do we have room to improve?


The passage today from the book of Amos 6:1-7 is challenging. Amos and the other prophets prayed and prayed for Israel and were heard, at least initially. Amos twice prayed successfully on Israel’s behalf, but finally God overruled him.


The context is clear: Israel’s lack of faith led, as it must, to a false security. They were comfortable in the twin capitals of Jerusalem and Samaria, but their ease was built on the dis-ease of others. They were clever and enterprising and had made it to the top in the economic heap but had turned their backs on God and one another. Their faith in Yahweh had dimmed.

· Gone was their commitment to him who owned all things and who gave them their land.

· Gone was their belief that they were called to be a unique nation.

· Gone was their memories of all that God had done for them.


Unlike others, who were dedicated to the principle of power, they were to be Yahweh’s own people, dedicated to a love of him and to a care for each other. But they had abandoned their call. Therefore, severe loss, death, or exile was to be their lot.


The Old Testament passage from Amos begs the question: as disciples of Jesus today, have we grown comfortable and complacent? Has our light for the Lord been dimmed? Have we abandoned our fundamental call?


The Gospel gives us the well-known story from Luke about Lazarus. It seems to me that the real sin of the rich man begins with the fact that he did not see Lazarus. Or at least he did not see him as more than an extension of himself and his own needs --- particularly at the end. For if he had seen him for all that he was: once an infant and a boy, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather. If he had seen him as one with hopes and hurts, dreams and disappointments. If he had seen him as one beloved by God, then perhaps this story would have ended differently.


Lazarus was alone … abandoned … hoping to be seen … to be found … to be loved and helped.


Too, too often, others are simply invisible to us. As Lazarus was to the rich man --- and no doubt to countless others --- as he sat and begged at the gate. The name "Lazarus" actually means "God is my help." And without a doubt, in the end God was the only help Lazarus had. But the parable is meant to speak to us the truth that this is not how it is meant to be.


The parable of Lazarus reminds me of Dear Evan Hansen the novel and Broadway show that tells the story of a young man who was in so many ways invisible to those around him. He suffered from social anxiety disorder and really just yearned to be seen …


He was so desperate to make a connection with his peers that it caused him to fabricate a relationship with a deceased student to become closer to the boy’s family. When a classmate commits suicide, shy Evan Hansen finds himself at the center of the tragedy and turmoil. In a misguided attempt to comfort the boy’s grieving family, Evan pretends that he was actually good friends with their son. He invents a fabricated email account to “prove” their friendship, and when a fake suicide note makes its way online, Evan finds himself the unintended face of a viral video about loneliness and friendship.


In so many ways … we can be like Lazarus … or Evan Hansen … invisible to others … and we all want to be seen … acknowledged and found.


Jesus teaches today that all of our lives are caught up with one another in ways that have consequences now and consequences into eternity. But first, before anything can be done, we must see, we must truly see the other. Perhaps that can be the start of living in a way that acknowledges the truth that we all belong to one another ... in this life ... right now.


Disciples know the Christian faith. That knowledge leads us to know Jesus. Knowing Jesus inspires us to see others and more so to see him in others. Let’s work a bit harder this week to try and do that …


And let’s find consolation in the message of Jesus, that regardless of our state in life, you will be found … [song]



RSM

So good to see so many of you back in the Sunday routine … summers are strange times in a parish because people are really in and out for three months or so … so welcome back! I hope that our gathering outside today will allow us to reconnect with one another after the long summer.


Today we continue our Fall preaching series that will focus on DISCIPLESHIP ... And you already know that making disciples is why Christian Churches exist ... so, we continue with the second part of our series entitled: DISCIPLES know the Bible.


· What do you know about the Bible?

· How did you learn about it?

· What does it tell us about God and Jesus?


I was happy to read in the New York Times Magazine two weeks ago the interview with Father Mike Schmitz, the founder of the very popular podcast entitled The Bible in a Year. The story says that the podcast has been downloaded 350 million times and an average of 750,000 times a day. The 20-25 minute installments follow a study plan and features two or three short scriptural readings and a short reflection by Father Mike. It seems to me that the program can be called the Bible in small bites, but what an effective way to connect with the Word of God.


For me, this incredibly popular engagement begs the question, So what? In other words, why are all these people, and perhaps even some of you, listening to the reading of the Bible? What’s the end game? What’s the plan? What’s the purpose? While not an exhaustive list, here are some reasons for studying the Bible:


1. Cultural literacy

2. To learn what it says firsthand

3. Personal edification

4. To help others

5. Because it is God’s Word to us

6. Avoiding error


I’m really hoping that among the many answers are some that acknowledge wanting to get to know God and his son Jesus and becoming a better disciple.


The passage today from the book of Amos 8:4-7 gives a stern warning, Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land! This Old Testament lesson offers us a chance to explore the concept of justice. As you are well aware, the eighth-century prophets Amos, Isaiah, and Micah were in one accord about the Lord’s demand for justice. We hear echoes of the words:


Cease to do evil, learn to do good, seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow. (Isaiah 1:16d-17)


Let’s quickly review the concept of justice:

First, justice starts with the very character of God. Justice is part of the Lord’s nature. (Isaiah 30:18).


Second, because the Lord has elected Israel as God’s own people, the Lord demands that the people reflect God’s character – that is, Israel must be a people of justice.


Third, justice is a social concept–it has to do with the external ordering of society in which the most life can thrive. A more just social order is one in which more life can thrive, whereas a less just social order is one in which less life can thrive.


Fourth, justice requires a special concern for the powerless – those who lack the capacity to protect their own welfare. In the Old Testament social concept, these “powerless” are often described as the widow, the orphan, the sojourner (resident alien), the needy, and the poor.


Fifth, justice is a legal concept. The laws, courts, and judgments of the legal system are about creating and maintaining justice. Here it is good to recall God uses the law in at least two ways. God uses the law for a “civil” purpose–to create a more civil society. God also uses the law for a “theological” purpose–to remind human beings of their sin and that even the most just people need grace and forgiveness. Doing justice is not a way to earn God’s grace.

Finally, justice and injustice are systemic. When a person participates in systems that create a more just social order, one is “doing justice.” Conversely, when one participates in systems that create a less just social order, one is “doing injustice.” Which means, of course, basically everyone is already both doing justice and doing injustice. This is so because everyone participates in many systems. Some of those systems create a more just social order, some maintain unjust social structures, and some do a little of each.


This review brings us back to the text from Amos, where he condemns practices that “trample the needy” and “ruin the poor.” Specifically, the prophet challenges practices that create untrustworthy markets. God does not condemn markets. Rather, God’s laws are about creating trustworthy markets, which will create social prosperity and be a fair means of exchange for all.


Amos also condemns those who yearn for the end of the Sabbath day, so that they can cheat their neighbors. The Sabbath day was not first-and-foremost about a time for worship, but rather was originally a justice law designed to give rest to all of society – not just to the property owner. In Amos’ day, the justice sense of the laws had been lost. People longed for the justice-establishing Sabbath to be over, so that they could return to exploitation. They were simply “checking the box”- there was no real transformation in their lives.


So how do we, as disciples of Jesus today, take these words in the Bible from the prophet Amos translate these realities of Amos’ social context into our social context? How does our knowledge of the Bible help transform our lives to becoming better disciples of Jesus?


First, we have to admit that the goal of knowing the Bible is a call to action. We are not here to read the nice stories and smile and hope that “they live happily ever after …” No, knowing the Bible, and subsequently knowing Jesus is a challenge to us … one that calls us, like the ancient prophets to look around, to honestly assess our world, and then do something to make a positive difference. In a very real sense the Bible should make us uncomfortable seeing the sadness and suffering of our brothers and sisters … and that discomfort should propel us to act!


To help us focus even a bit more, the Gospel gives us the story from Luke about debts and forgiveness. I think the passage from Luke gives us four poignant, precise points to learn and think about:


1) Wealth is both a blessing and a responsibility. As throughout Scripture, we are blessed to be a blessing, and we are held accountable less for what resources we have accumulated than how we use them.


2) Wealth – along with status, power, and privilege – is fleeting. One day this manager is on top of the world; the next he is faced with disaster. We are not so far removed, from the financial meltdown of 2008 that we cannot remember how many people lost much of what they’d amassed in such a short time. I’m sure that some here even have some heart palpitations when the stock market drops on some days.


3) In times of crisis, God often appears where we least expect God to be, coming us to “from below” to render help and aid. There are lots of “crises” in Luke that turn on receiving help from unexpected places. God regularly shows up in those places where we least expect God to be so that we are not tempted to place our faith in the wrong places.


And perhaps this is the key – to this passage: we are placed on this earth to love and care for each other, not to separate ourselves from each other with wealth, status, or privilege.


I’ve heard it said that St. Augustine asserted that God gave us people to love and things to use, and original sin manifests itself in our penchant to confuse those two, loving things and using people.


Disciples know the Bible. That knowledge leads us to know Jesus. Knowing Jesus inspires us to be like Jesus. Let’s work a bit harder this week to be more and more like him …


RSM


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Founded in 1863, St Teresa of Avila Parish has been serving the Summit area for over 150 years.
It is our hope, as part of both the larger Catholic Church and the Summit community,
to continue to write new history as we work to further the mission of Christ. 
 
For Faith Formation inquiries, please email ff@stteresaavila.org.
For parish information and general inquiries, please email office@stteresaavila.org.
We will respond to your question as soon as possible.
 
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Cemetery & Mausoleum

 

306 Morris Avenue
Summit, NJ 07901
Tel: 908-277-3700
Fax: 908-273-5909

136 Passaic Avenue
Summit, NJ 07901
Mausoleum: 908-277-3741
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