{"id":448,"date":"2012-05-20T23:11:16","date_gmt":"2012-05-20T23:11:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=448"},"modified":"2012-05-20T23:15:11","modified_gmt":"2012-05-20T23:15:11","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjava-40","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=448","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">    var _gaq = _gaq || [];   _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']);   _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);    (function() {     var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true;     ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js';     var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);   })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Pentecost Sunday"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Pentecost Sunday, John 20:19 \u2013 23, <em>it will take about 5 minutes to read<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Background<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>I think a word or two about the very idea of a homily will help as we begin this Summer Fest. First and foremost, a homily is a scripturally based reflection to illuminate the ordinary life of the concrete people gathered to celebrate the liturgy.\u00a0 The scripture itself is a twofold sword that both comforts and confounds, sheds light that reveals darkness, invites, if not summons us, to become more than we are in the concreteness of our ordinary life in the actual world that we live in, are part of, cannot escape from.\u00a0 At its core the homily is to convey the meaning of God in Christ Jesus in this world.\u00a0 As always your thoughts, questions, observations are critical for the dialogue that deepens us as church.<\/p>\n<p>Our approach to the Gospel reading will follow a familiar pattern, I hope.\u00a0 Prior to reading the Gospel, we will prepare to hear by asking our now familiar questions and some not so familar.\u00a0 Who are the characters in the passage?\u00a0 What is the \u201cwhen\u201d of the story?\u00a0 Do you remember the \u201cwhen\u201d of the writer? Here is a twist on the when question, what is the \u201cwhen\u201d in your life today or to put the question in other words, what is going on in this period of your life?\u00a0 Finally, what is the plot, the story line of the passage?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Let us now listen [read] to God\u2019s word.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><em>Appearance to the Disciples.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>19 On the evening of that first day of the week,when the doors were locked, where the disciples\u00a0were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, \u201cPeace be with you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>20 When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side.\u00a0The disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.<\/p>\n<p>21\u00a0[Jesus] said to them again,\u00a0\u201cPeace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>22\u00a0And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them,\u00a0\u201cReceive the holy Spirit.<\/p>\n<p>23\u00a0Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them, and whose sins you retain are retained.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One more question: Who are these \u201cthe Jews?\u201d\u00a0 Are they \u201cthe Jews\u201d in the time of Jesus?\u00a0 Are they \u201cthe Jews\u201d in the time of the author\u2019s writing?\u00a0 Are they \u201cthe Jews\u201d at any given time in human history?\u00a0 Are they \u201cthe Jews\u201d of today?<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>A few comments<\/strong><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Traditionally we think of Pentecost as the birth of the church.\u00a0 Let us attend closely to this account of that birth.\u00a0 We are told that it was the first day of the week, for us that is Sunday.\u00a0 It was evening.\u00a0 The group that gathered is identified only as disciples.\u00a0 They lock the doors for fear of the Jews.<\/p>\n<p>THE CONCRETE ISSUE OF FEAR<\/p>\n<p>It seems to matter that we know the disciples were afraid and afraid not in some abstract way but afraid of the Jews.\u00a0 In some way this fear in the passage matters.\u00a0 This is why it is very important to know who \u201cthe Jews\u201d are?<\/p>\n<p>So to create an online dialogue, let everyone know who you think they are?\u00a0 Why are the disciples afraid of them?\u00a0 Do you think \u201cthe Jews\u201d had names for the Johannine author?\u00a0 I mean were they persons they knew?\u00a0 What do you think the first gospel audience heard in the words \u201cthe Jews?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The goal of all of these questions is to help us come to the light on \u201cthe Jews,\u201d not as \u201cthe Jews\u201d but as the concrete social source of fear in their lives.\u00a0 So who in our society are people afraid of?\u00a0 Please be concrete.\u00a0 Think of the people whom you associate with as being bad? \u00a0Then think of those whom you associate with as being good? \u00a0Think of people in the news who are afraid?<\/p>\n<p>HOW DOES JESUS RESPOND TO THE FEARFUL DISCIPLE GROUP?<\/p>\n<p>What does he say? What does he do?\u00a0 Maybe take a piece of pager and write down in order the list of actual words that Jesus says in this passage.\u00a0 Do the same for what he does.<\/p>\n<p>With that in front of you, how are these words and these actions a response?\u00a0 If you were afraid of what some social group might do to you and your community, what would these words and actions mean?\u00a0How would they comfort you? \u00a0Confound you? Summon you? \u00a0Of all that Jesus says and does, what stands out for you? \u00a0Why?<\/p>\n<p>BIRTH OF THE CHURCH<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s wait to see how the first two phases of this reflection go before we attempt more.\u00a0 I also think that the word of God is this enormous banquet, too much to eat all at once, so good as to savor every bite.\u00a0 I can promise you more questions and responses to your responses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Pentecost Sunday, John 20:19 \u2013 23, it will take about 5 minutes to read Background I think a word or two about the very idea of a homily will help as we begin this Summer Fest. First and foremost, a &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=448\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,5],"tags":[18],"class_list":["post-448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-scripture","tag-religion-and-culture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=448"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448\/revisions\/456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}