Posts Tagged: "Father Gregory Boyle"

Pentecost Reveals Jesus always delivers on his promises, an evolving faith, an inclusive faith, a broad and diverse faith on purpose, a bridge-building faith, an empowering, liberating, and justice-delivering faith

NOTE: the following are my word-for-word notes from Pentecost Sunday’s sermon.

Here we are… Sunday, May 28. Memorial Day weekend…

the unofficial start of Summer!

I’ve been counting down something else… my daughter’s wedding. She’s getting married in 35 days.

Yo, people, Ima need lots of love. Big hugs. And gift cards. Joking. Not really.

Staying with the countdown theme…

It’s been 50 days of Easter, 50 days of celebrating our Savior’s resurrection. Over the course of these weeks, we’ve been looking at the conversations, interactions, and encounters Jesus had with his friends and followers over these post-resurrection days before his ascension.

Last Sunday was Ascension Sunday.

Today, a week later, it’s Pentecost.

Penta- means 50.

50 days

Christ has been risen for 50 days. Christ ascended into the heavenly realm – the Kingdom of God, to the heavenly throne where he rules and reigns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Before his ascension, Jesus had instructed his friends and followers to go to Jerusalem and wait for the promised Holy Spirit.

Here’s what happened next:

Acts 2

1 On the day of Pentecost all the believers were meeting together in one place.

2 Suddenly, there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and it filled the house where they were sitting.

3 Then, what looked like flames or tongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. 4 And everyone present was filled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the Holy Spirit gave them this ability.

5 At that time there were those from every nation living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard the loud noise, everyone came running, and they were bewildered to hear their own languages being spoken by the believers.

7 They were completely amazed. “How can this be?” they exclaimed. “These people are all from Galilee, 8 and yet we hear them speaking in our own native languages!

9 Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia,

10 Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome                                                                     

11a (both Jews and converts to Judaism), Cretans, and Arabs.

11b And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done!” 12 They stood there amazed and perplexed. “What can this mean?” they asked each other. 13 But others in the crowd ridiculed them, saying, “They’re just drunk, that’s all!

14 Then Peter stepped forward with the eleven other apostles and shouted to the crowd, “Listen carefully, all of you, friends and residents of Jerusalem! Make no mistake about this.

15 These people are not drunk, as some of you are assuming. Nine o’clock in the morning is much too early for that. 16 No, what you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel:

17 ‘In the last days,’ God says, ‘I will pour out my Spirit upon all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.

18 In those days I will pour out my Spirit even on my servants—men and women alike—and they will prophesy. 21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

The Word of God, for the People of God, Thanks Be to God.

First, I want to mention something rather obvious, but important nonetheless… maps and borders and the names of places and nations change over time. Many of the places people were from that are mentioned in Acts chapter 2 are no longer called those same names. So, here’s the same list updated to reflect the maps we use today:

Iran / Iraq / Syria / Italy / Palestine / Turkey / Egypt / Libya / Saudi Arabia

These modern-day countries are in the following regions:

Western Asia / The Middle East / Europe / Africa

I guess what I’m saying here is that the crowds in Jerusalem when God’s promise was delivered were incredibly diverse. Many different languages, cultures, experiences, and backgrounds are represented… all gathered together.

All hearing in their own languages and dialects.

Listen: God speaks and understands ALL THE LANGUAGES. God enjoys all the spices. And all the beats. All of the sounds and all of the flavors!

The One who created this diverse and beautiful world also loves and understands all its complexity, nuance, and variation.

God is not color blind. God is color brave. And we’re God’s kids, so we can be the same. Amen.

John Bell, the Scottish minister, hymn writer, and Iona community member has said:

“You must realize that your life is not the only significant life in the world. By calling a community together like this, you begin to understand that God—who made us all in God’s image—has this amazing ability to create great diversity in humanity. One of our supreme joys should be just talking with other folk—unlikely folk. If we only mix with people of our own sort, then we miss so much about life’s great beauty.”

Um-hum. That’s right. Not blind, but brave. Amen.

So, here’s what Pentecost reveals to us…

#1. Our faith is in Jesus—who always delivers on his promises.

Jesus told his friends to wait in Jerusalem for the promise. Pentecost reveals we can always depend on the promises of God.

Jesus promised to never leave us nor forsake us. Jesus promised the gift of God’s Holy Spirit to come, be with us, empower us, dwell within us, abide…

You see, the promises of God are Yes and Amen. What God promises—is good, what God promises—is good for us. What God promises—God is good to deliver. Always. And forever.

Let me remind you of just a few of God’s promises…… Read More

Coming Home Sermon

YouTube Preview Image

Some background on that song… Coming Home

It was written by J.Cole, Jay-Z, Alex da Kid, and Skylar Grey… produced by Jay-Z and performed by Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy, aka P. Diddy, aka Diddy, aka Puffy… and Skylar Grey in 2010 and by 2011 it was certified as 2x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (which means it had sold over 2 million copies in that year).

In the words of Ali G, RESPECT.

Jay-Z and Kid had gifted the song to Diddy for his album, Last Train to Paris. “Coming Home” is a biographically written hip hop and pop ballad inspired by moments in Diddy’s life—including the loss of his close friend, the Notorious B.I.G.

As it was performed today, the rap lyrics were left out…

However, here is a rather profound line in the rap lyrics…

“It’s easy to be Puff, but it’s harder to be Sean”

It’s easier to be who I’m trying to project myself as, than it is to actually be me.

Dang. There’s some truth.

Benedictine nun Joan Chittister wrote:

Better to walk through life simply and without masks, than to lose ourselves in the pursuit of identities that are purely cosmetic and commercial. Then, at least, we will be known for what we are rather than for what we are not.

Lose the mask, not your true self. Amen!

I love what Father G says… “You are exactly what God had in mind when he created you.”

Today, we’re going to be talking about coming home. Shari and I were traveling in the month of July and it was wonderful and there’s just nothing like coming HOME. That personal habitation, that familiar and familial place where we started and repeated celebrations of the milestones of our lives. Home, where you know where everything is and how everything works. Home, where you communicate in your shared primary language. Home, where comfort and help and healing is normative. Home, where we are most truly and in every way ourselves.

I’m coming home, I’m coming home

Tell the world I’m coming home
Let the rain wash away—all the pain of yesterday
I know my kingdom awaits—and they’ve forgiven my mistakes
I’m coming home, I’m coming home

Our Psalm this morning is quite unique among all the other Psalms because of its noted author… Moses.

Yes, that Moses. The one from lots of pages to the left in the Old Testament. Like 581 years worth of pages earlier. See why it’s so unique to be included in the Psalms that were written by David and the people who served and worked with him?

Unique is good, right?

OK, here we go… Read More

And Awe Came Upon Everyone

It’s happening again.

I’m finding myself underlining everything in Father G’s newest book (Barking to the Choir).

The first few pages of chapter 3, “And Awe Came Upon Everyone,” goes like this…

Lately, I’ve been taking a leisurely stroll through the Acts of the Apostles. This section of the New Testament is not only a quaint snapshot of life in the earliest Christian community but also a lesson in how to measure the health in any community at all. When you read Acts through this lens, things start leaping off the page. “See how they love one another.” Not a bad gauge of health. “There was no needy person among them.” A better metric would be hard to find.

There is one line that stopped me in my tracks: “And awe came upon everyone.”

It would seem that, quite possibly, the ultimate measure of health in any community might well reside in our ability to stand in awe at what folks have to carry rather than in judgment at how they carry it.

Homies often say, “I was raised on the streets,” but Monica truly was. Homeless, a gang member, and a survivor, her behavior at Homeboy can often be alarming. She once kicked in our glass front door. On another particularly wild rampage, she went into our kitchen and began to gulp down a purple all-purpose cleaner called Fabuloso. (“Fabulosa” later became her nickname among the homies).

Despite these outbursts, I still hope she’ll get caught… Read More

The Enriques

If you’ve read Father Greg Boyle’s book Tattoos on the Heart, you know he typically travels with some “homies” (guys who are in the program at Homeboy Industries – leaving the life of gangs, drugs, and violence behind in order to build a new life and career). When Father G came to speak at our annual Together Nights in 2015, he brought two homies with him: Enrique and Enrique. The Enriques – as I like to call them.

That’s right. Both guys are named Enrique.

This trip to the Northwest was the first time either man had flown in an airplane. It was the first time either Enrique had been out of Los Angeles. Father G took them out for a day of exploring Seattle.

Father G said the Enriques were… Read More

Lent Day 26… Dirty Laundry

A young couple moved into a new neighborhood. The next morning while eating breakfast, the wife noticed her neighbor hanging out her laundry. She commented:

Those clothes don’t look very clean; maybe she needs better soap.

Her husband looked, but remained silent. For three weeks, every Monday he would hear some version of these same comments. But the following wash day, his wife was surprised to see a nice white wash on the line next door. She commented: “Look, she finally learned how to wash clothes. I wonder who taught her?”

Her husband responded quietly… Read More

Seeing What They Carry

At church the other night, I noticed something happen during our 5pm service…

a family came in late, just after the ushers had finished passing around communion. This family found seats in the back.

I watched as two ushers hustled over to them with communion trays – they wanted to make sure everyone had been served, that everyone had the opportunity to receive the bread and cup.

This pleased me immensely. I was proud of their reaction.

And it struck me: the cup and the bread are tangible. Easily observable. Either people got them or they didn’t.

Of course our ushers want to make sure everyone has at least been given the opportunity to receive them. This is only reasonable. One could scan the room and see who is holding the bread and cup and who is not…

By looking, we can see what they carry—whether their hands contain communion or whether they are empty.

There are also (many) other things we carry that are not so visible, not so obvious, not so easily detectable.

How many people come through our doors – or into our lives – and are carrying… Read More

Jesus as Compañero by Father G

*the painting is “Christ and His Disciples” by Georges Rouault, 1937

Here’s a 90 second video clip of Father G talking about Jesus as compañero.

In it, he explains, “It’s part of our culture as Jesuits to see Jesus as companion, that we’re walking together.”

And this part is so beautiful…

He enters the place where I’m most terrified and He says, “I will be fearless for you.” And He never co-signs on our fear. He never says, “You have every reason to be frightened.” He says, “I’ll be fearless for you. Let’s go.”

That’s why I stay… Read More

About That Book

This past weekend my friends threw a book release party for me. It was fun and full of surprises. I was interviewed about the book, my mom read a selection, and so did I. Everything was perfect – the music, the food, and the decorations. Such a great night!

And the people there were amazing.

I wanted to share just a little bit of the behind the scenes on the… Read More

Things I Dislike About Ministry Pt. 3

“Work it, make it, do it—makes us harder, better, faster, stronger.”            —Kanye West, Stronger

I really do wish ministry was always “Work it, make it, do it—makes us harder, better, faster, stronger,” but the truth is, sometimes it’s also, “Work it, make it, do it—and we still end up with little or no progress at all.”

What I mean is this: the smallness of our actual impact is a discouraging reality.

It’s not always bigger, better, breakthroughs, and bomb-diggityness. Despite our hard work and urgency, we haven’t healed the world (or ourselves, or the individuals in our churches). The actual impact of our efforts is smaller than we’d like. And slower too… Read More