Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Trinity,
(Second Sunday before Advent),
Sunday, November 13th, 2016
If you are anything like me, you avoid watching the news if at all possible. The "local" news is filled with nothing but reports of crime, deaths and murders. The "national" news is filled with . . .well, . . . crime, deaths and murders. But, nonetheless, it is hard to miss the news coming out this week. Of course at the beginning of this past week everyone was talking about the election and who would win. But once the election was over, soon the attention of the media turned to "protests" against who won the election. I put the word "protests" in quotation marks because, in my humble opinion, they aren't "protests" as much as they are "riots." But I'll get to that more in a bit. It's interesting that I saw a meme on Facebook in the past few days and the meme is a picture of "protesters" amid smoke and fires and litter and broken glass scattered all around them and the message goes something like this: "Claims Trump will destroy America . . . . as they go about destroying America." To me, what we have seen in the past few days on TV, as I stated earlier, are not so much protests as they are riots. Oh, I know the media labels these events as protests but, honestly, they resemble riots more than they resemble protests, if you ask me.
Come to think about it, if you were to ask me my opinion, these events that we have come to witness in various cities are really closer to a big, collective "Temper Tantrum." Temper Tantrums, if you recall, are something that two year old and three year old children throw when they do not get their way. They yell and they scream and they cry. They throw things and maybe even break things. They do all this in hopes of getting their way. Most people, though, quite frankly grow out of this stage. They grow and mature physically but, more importantly, they grow and mature mentally and emotionally. Generally speaking, if I am allowed to generalize here, there are a lot of people today who have never matured emotionally. They are stuck in the stage where if they don't get what they want, they throw a fit. Life is not about getting what we want when we want it, if you want to know the truth. Life is about working for what you want. Sometimes, to be honest with you, even when you work your tail off you will find that sometimes things don't go your way. Usually, I find this to be the case when I work and work and work to pay off bills and then when I've got a major bill paid off . . . it never fails . . . . something breaks or needs to be replaced. And then I have to jump on the bill-paying merry go round all over again. Again, life is not about getting what you want when you want it. Life is not about treating others with contempt who have a different opinion than you do. Life is not about going to "safe spaces" so that you will not have to listen to other "big, scary people" and their "big, scary words." Life is difficult. Life is hard. But, as Bishop Sheen reminded us, Life is certainly worth living.
We are reminded in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Colossians: "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering: forbearing one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye." (Colossians 3:12 ff) You see, we are called to be kind .. . . and humble . . . and meek . . . and understanding of others. And why is this? Because Our Blessed Saviour was all of these things. That's why we are called to be these things. Being a Christian is not easy. This whole "turning the other cheek" business is difficult to say the least. And yet this is what Our Blessed Saviour did while he was on the earth dealing with difficult people. . .. dealing with people that hated Him . . . . dealing with people that wanted Him dead. How did He react to these folks? Well, ultimately, He stated while hanging from the Cross, nonetheless: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." We are called both by word and also by the example of Our Lord to treat others with love and charity . . . . even to those with whom we disagree. This is where we show our Christianity. Our Lord said: "For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them . . . but love your enemines, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again: and your reward shall be great, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for He is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil." And then Our Lord finishes up with: "Be ye therefore merciful as your Father also is merciful." (St Luke 6:32-36) Strong words. Difficult words and concepts to follow, to say the least. And yet Our Lord practiced what He preached.
Join us on Sunday morning at St. Margaret Church as we come together as God's family to worship Him. We gather together each and every Sunday morning at 9:30 AM. We worship at the beautiful chapel at Marquette Manor, which is located at 8140 N. Township Line Road on the Northwest side of Indianapolis. We use the King James Version of the Bible and the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. Join us as we worship Our Heavenly Father and receive the Precious Body and Blood of Our Blessed Saviour at Communion time.
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