Mediation – Caribbean Mass -3.02.03
Today I am struck by irony.
Here we are rubbing our hands
together for warmth,
There is new fallen snow,
It feels like the dead of winter and we are celebrating
a
It’s beautiful, isn’t’ it?
We’re
not doing this as a cruel joke;
our hope for celebrating a
Spring is only 18 days away.
So I hope you’ll appreciate
the irony as we hear enchanting calypso rhythms while you gaze out of the
windows at
those
big piles of snow.
It’s also interesting that
our worship service this morning was inspired by the words of Saint Francis of
Saint Francis is the Saint
that is remembered for his love of creation,
his
care of the poor,
and his simplicity.
Even if we don’t know that
much about him,
most
of us are familiar with his prayer:
Lord, make us instruments of
your peace.
Where
there is hatred
let us sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is discord, union;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
Where there is sadness, joy.
Grant that we may not
so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood
as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving
that we receive;
It is in pardoning
that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we
are
born to eternal life.
It is ironic that these words
came from Frances of Assisi.
When
And
when he was 20 years of age he had military ambitions.
The life of Saint Francis is amazing
because a young, and impetuous man
was
made new by the Word of God,
and transformed into a person of great compassion.
In our present day culture,
his
unselfish ways sound like a Calypso beat in the winter.
Fresh, crisp, even inviting.
Today we invite you to celebrate
a Caribbean Mass,
but
we invite you to do more than just hear the words of Saint Francis magnified by
this marvelous steel band.
We invite you to do more than
just receive the bread and the cup.
We invite you to partake in a
meal that is in stark contrast with the world.
The world offers a message of
division and force.
This
meal offers a promise of unity and peace.
The world would seduce us
into believing that we are divided by birth,
and
separated by boundaries.
This meal invites us to
consider ourselves as a member of the human family.
Is it too hard to believe?
We are a people, who gather
in the heart of winter to hear a steel band.
We celebrate the transfiguration of Christ,
and we believe that God can take a cross
and use it to redeem life.
God invites us to come to
this table.
Christ invites us to join in
a meal that is offered to the world.
It is not a private meal;
it
is a meal of community,
where we commune with God,
each other,
and all of creation.
Where God will increase our
faith,
enliven
our hope,
and remind us
of our relationship with all of the world,
including our brothers and sisters of Abraham.
Amen.