Homily for Monday, 14 July 2014– Ferial

Monday of the 15th week in Ordinary Time 

Readings of the day: Isaiah 1:10-17; Psalm 50:8-9, 16bc-17, 21, 23; Matthew 10:34-11:1

Is it possible that God would ever abandon us altogether; that God would ever refuse to listen to our prayers; that God would “bring not peace but the sword”?

These are harsh; almost threatening words we hear in our readings today. Perhaps those among us who have ever experienced serious illness, division within families, difficulty making ends meet, or otherwise times in which God felt distant from you may be able to relate to the kind of God who seems to be presented in our readings. For any of us who are in such situations, I keep you especially in prayer; any of us for whom any words of consolation and promises of prayer seem inadequate.

Our readings today, I believe, are not addressed to those who are already experiencing hardship. They are addressed to those who have the means to alleviate the suffering of others and do not do so. For such people, worshiping God is not enough. We are invited to keep in mind the connection between right worship and right and socially just practice of the faith. One cannot exist without the other.

Yes, to gather here to worship God is important (you will not hear me or any other priest, I do not think, say otherwise). And yet our worship means little to nothing if it does not impel us to love and to serve one another in the name of the God we worship. As Isaiah says, “Make justice your aim: redress the wronged; hear the orphan’s plea; defend the widow.” To “the wronged,” the orphan, and the widow, we might add in our own time those estranged from the Church for whatever reason; those whose faith in God is weak and who need our kindness and encouragement; the elderly; the unborn; those experiencing crisis pregnancies; the unemployed or underemployed; migrants and refugees; the homeless; the sick; the poor… Our worship depends on the depth of our defense of the dignity of these people, and our service of those most in need lends strength to our worship.

Peace in our world and in our communities depends on how well we understand and put into practice the connection between our worship and our service; love of God and love of neighbor.

We have among us many people who are very generous; kind; loving, and then also gather for our celebration of the Eucharist daily or almost daily. I think we here at St. Kateri are generally in good shape. We connect the importance of right worship and right practice well, which makes these readings especially harsh in our context and difficult for me to preach on here.

And yet we are constantly invited to mindfulness of those most in need of our Christian service; the service demanded of us who worship our God. May this, our Eucharist, impel us to continue and strengthen our love for and our service toward one another in God’s name.