Gospel Jn 15:1-8

Jesus said to his disciples:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit,
and every one that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.
You are already pruned because of the word that I spoke to you.
Remain in me, as I remain in you.
Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own
unless it remains on the vine,
so neither can you unless you remain in me.
I am the vine, you are the branches.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
Anyone who does not remain in me
will be thrown out like a branch and wither;
people will gather them and throw them into a fire
and they will be burned.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
By this is my Father glorified,
that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Branching Out: What it takes to be a branch on the true vine!

Old man Ike stared looking at the two small rows of grapevines that he had planted some years before not far from his work shed in his back yard.  The vines were planted on a gentle slope that began at his house and meandered steadily downward to the little pond about 100 yards away.  Above the vines on the slope was a well with a leaky pump that created a soggy patch of ground which extended right up to the foundations of the house.  In this area grew the most fantastic spread of mint that you could imagine and Ike loved this spot because the fragrance of mint was always thick and pungent.  He would often take his tin cup from the side of the well and get himself a cup of the most clean, cool water that ever sprang from the face of the earth. Sometimes he would reach down and pick a sprig of mint, crush it in his strong hands and drop it in his drinking cup. And that is exactly what he was doing as he stared onto those grapevines.

Spring was in the air in the old man had far too much work to do for one tired old fellow.  He had not set out all of his garden and still had peppers, lima beans, corn and even a whole row of tomatoes to plant.  He thought hard on not extending the rows of grapes this year, but then a picture came into his mind about the jams and jellies that his wife, Inez made from those grapes. Concorde grapes by the way. Big fat juicy ones.  He focused on how good those jellies looked in the mason jars that Inez used.  Beautiful and deep purple’s, glowing through the shiny glass as they sat like ready soldiers on the shelves of the back pantry. Then he thought of those wonderful, sweet concoctions on buttermilk biscuits with fresh, salted butter over a steaming cup of coffee on a cold winter morning. Why with all those pictures running through his head, Ike’s decision was a foregone conclusion.

“Gonna plant them vines,” Ike thought as he took a long sip from his mint laden cup of fresh well water. Ike had the most resolute expression on his face. It was something akin to that of General Douglas MacArthur as he appeared on the cover of Life Magazine in 1945.

The next day all 12 of the Rock House Kids sat on a patch of high ground sipping mint laced well water as Ike rolled out his plan.  There was Chili Bean, Hopalong, Rattle and Snap; there was Halo, Pump Knot, and Pretty Belle and the rest of the gang. They were all ears.

We’re gonna extend both of those vine rows 15 yards each, Ike explained in his resolute fashion. And he told him how the vines would likely produce a great yield if the job was done correctly. And furthermore how each of the Rock House Kids would get a number of jars of the best jams and jellies there was in the county, maybe even the whole state of Alabama. “But, Uncle Ike,” Hopalong exclaimed, “there are no vines to plant and all you got down there are those old, gnarly vines that barely has leaves on em.”

“Well Hopalong,” Ike said, “you’ve got to understand that last fall I pruned those vines back. I cut off all the deadwood and most of the branches back to the true vine, the main vine. The dead stuff I burned in the scrap pile but the live branches, I’ve been rooting over the winter.  And then Ike opened a large pasteboard box filled with young vines about 18 inches long.  The branches had already started leafing and the roots were wrapped in burlap with a fair amount of rich, moist dirt in it.   There must’ve been 50 of them.

The kids were amazed. “You been tending to them all winter, they ask?”  Ike nodded and smiled. “Yep,” he said. “Sure have.”  “But now that it’s got to Spring, I didn’t think I could get them in the ground without y’alls help.  The Rock House Kids eyes blazed with purpose and motivation.  “We’ll help you,” Uncle Ike,” they said.

“I sure appreciate that,” Ike said softly. “But you’ve got to understand if you’re gonna do this, you’ve got to do it right. This cant’ be a sloppy work. If the vines aren’t planted properly or not deep enough, the plants to die and or not produce.  The ground has to be tilled up, a good amount of manure needs to be worked into it and that’s just the beginning.  The vines have to be planted 8 inches deep, every 3 feet and watered every day until they take root.”

“There’s no cheating hard work in this venture, but, if you’re up to it, and willing to do it well, it will pay off.”  You see, I got the main vine down there many years ago from Mr. Plantwell Growhardy, from his best stock.  I split it after the first year to have those two.  That vine won’t fail you if you if you give it what it has already given you.

Ike was big on hard work so, looking at the kids with his steely blue eyes, he said again, “there’s no cheating hard work.”   And after a long pause, he questioned, “Are you in?”

Well, there was no holding back the Rock House Kids.  With shovels and hoes; garden forks and picks they followed Ike’s instructions to the letter.  When they broke for lunch, Aunt Inez had them a whole mess of ham sandwiches and cold, sweet milk. They looked over what they had done and saw few things they wanted to do over.  Ike said it was okay if that’s what they wanted.  And by the end of the afternoon when the sun was starting to cast long shadows over the vines and the kids, they surveyed their handiwork and, man, did it look good.

The rows were extended for a good 15 yards each down toward the Little Pond. The ground was well tilled with loose dirt that would create a good ball in your hands when you squeezed it. It was not too wet nor to dry.  The vines were well planted and well watered.  They looked healthy and happy.

And the Rock House Kids looked healthy and happy. Tired to be sure. They had dirt on their face and hands.  Their clothes were smudged with dirt and wet with water. But the song in their hearts was singing loudly. It sang of pride and understanding; of hard work and satisfaction.  Each kid knew that she or he had done a very, very good job.  And Ike look down on each of the kids with the gaze of grandparent, with great pride and love.

The vines grew steadily and well for the entire summer with the Rock House Kids tending and nurturing them. And some months later, when the leaves were beginning to turn and that familiar coolness danced in the air, and the grape harvest was in, Ike and Inez gave each of the kids are good number of jams and jellies in shiny mason jars.  Throughout the rest of the fall and winter, the Rock House Kids enjoyed the fruits of their own labor and the memories of what understanding and hard work would produce.

The only last thing to say was that after the kids got their jars of jellies and jam, when Hopalong and Chili Bean were walking by themselves back to their homes,  Hopalong turned to Chili Bean and said, “I didn’t need these jellies.  I woulda done it for nothing.”

Follow-Up Questions

Factual Questions:

1. Did Ike prune the vine? If so when did he do it?
2. How did Ike get the small vines to plant? Do you think it took considerable work?
3. What causes Ike to hesitate about planting the small grapevines?
4. What convinced Ike to find a way to plant all of the small vines?
5. What role did Mr. Plantwell Growhardy have in the story?
6. What was the main advice that Ike gave the Rock House Kids?

Interpretive/Metaphorical Questions:

1. Why do you think the Rock House Kids wanted to help Uncle Ike?
2. Who or what was Jesus in this story?
3. Who was God the Father?
4. Who were the disciples?
5. How many disciples were there?
6. What were the major points in the Gospel?
7. What were the similarities and perhaps the differences with the Gospel and the reflection?
8. What did you learn from this reflection that you might be able to use to strengthen your behavior, good choices or skills?

Literary Questions:

What imagery did you like best in the story?

1. Who was your favorite character in this story and why?
2. What was the conflict in the story?
3. How was it resolved?
4. What were the major themes in the story?
5. How could this story be improved?

Personal Questions:

1. How do you work hard at being a follower of Christ?
2. What are some of the easy things you do to be a follower of Christ?
3. What are some difficult things you do to be a follower of Christ?

Please enjoy listening to the Stations of the Cross preformed this morning by the 8th Grade Class. They all worked long and hard to make this a successful event.

This weekend STPCS hosted the District 6 regional History Day competition.  We enjoyed a day full of variety as we hosted student from around the Hampton Roads area.  Please join us in celebrating and congratulating the following students who placed in the competition:
• First Place – Group Performance – Jacob Leffler, Walker Dorsey, and Dreugh Phillips • First Place – Group Documentary – Danny Dorsey, Cory Tenney, and Ben Hagan• First Place – Individual Exhibit – Grayson Joly• Second Place – Group Exhibit –  Jane Carter Chandler and Fiona Murchake
These talented students are invited to participate at the state level competition on April 21.
Congratulations to all who participated!
Go Wolfhounds!

Representing Saint Patrick Catholic School, 6th Grader Caitie S. won highest honors in this year’s WordMasters Challenge – a national language arts competition entered by approximately 220,000 students annually.

Competing in the very difficult Gold Division of the Challenge, Caitie S. earned a perfect score in the year’s second meet, held in February.  In the entire country only 14 sixth graders achieved at this level.  Other students at the school who also achieved outstanding results in the meet included 4th Graders Nathaniel J., Maggie J., and Amelia B., and 6th Grader Aven P.

The WordMasters Challenge is an exercise in critical thinking that first encourages students to become familiar with a set of interesting new words (considerably harder than grade level), and then challenges them to use those words to complete analogies expressing various kinds of logical relationships.  Working to solve the Challenge analogies helps students learn to think both analytically and metaphorically.  Though most vocabulary-boosting and and analogy-solving activities have been created for high school students, the WordMasters materials have been specifically designed for younger students, in grades 3 through 8.

Saint Patrick students will participate in one more meet in the coming months, and medals and certificates will be awarded in June to those who achieved and/or improved the most in the course of the year.

The TCBL Basketball Tournament resulted in a remarkable five of a possible six championships for Saint Patrick Catholic School.  The fourth grade girls conquered Star of the Sea and completed an undefeated season.  The fourth grade boys captured a win in exciting fashion over Saint Gregory.  The sixth grade girls also finished an undefeated season with a win over Saint Matthews.  The sixth grade boys teams played their hearts out against each other, with Coach Califano’s team securing the lead in the final seconds.  Lastly, the eighth grade girls succeeded in overtaking the #1 seed and previously unbeaten Saint Gregory team.  Congratulations to all players for a terrific season. Thanks to all the Wolfhound fans that supported the players with spirit and class.

This is the gospel according to Mark.  Mark was an evangelist. What is an evangelist?  Mark is portrayed as what symbol?  Why?

Mark’s Gospel is about Jesus taking Peter, James and John with him the top of a mountain and revealing to them that he was God’s own son. In today’s gospel, we will see just how he did that and what it can mean to you and what you can do about it.

Here are some questions I want you to think about before the first reading of the gospel.

Why did they go up on a mountain?  Did Jesus go to other places that were desolate and remote? Why?

Jesus was changed on top of the mountain?  What did he look like? What did his clothes look like?

To whom was Jesus talking after he was changed?  Why would Jesus be talking to these two individuals?

How did the apostles Peter, James and John feel when they saw this change?

What did Peter say to Jesus?  Why do you think he said that?

Did anyone else speak to Peter, James and John?  Who was it?

When Jesus and the disciples were coming down the mountain, what did Jesus instruct them not to do?

What confused them in the instructions?

In our guiding document, The Graduate at Graduation, what goals relate to this gospel?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Jesus presented himself as God’s own son. He showed to Peter, James and John his divinity. He became dazzling white as did his garments.

He spoke freely to Moses and Elijah. Why? Moses and Elijah represented the old Judaic law. Jesus represented the extension of that law. Remember, Jesus came that “all may have life and have it abundantly.” Jesus came to say and to show that God’s love is for everyone not just one tribe of individuals. Jesus came to say that God’s love is extended even to the person who sins.  And to say that God’s love is especially recognizable in God’s love for the sinner.  Speaking with Elijah and Moses meant that what Jesus had to say was totally aligned with what they had to say in their time and what God has to say for all time.

God said, “This is my son and I love him.”  That is, God the Father is totally “on board” with what Jesus is saying and doing: making sure the world knows that God’s love extends to every human being on this planet that was ever born and that will ever be born. And that Jesus would die a physical death as a final sacrifice that would show in human terms just how much God loves us and that His love is intimate, knitted into us, one in us and with us.

It also says that Jesus is resurrection and will be the resurrection of the new order, the new way and that the one, simple God of truth and love is yours, personally, intimately forever.

That is what the gospel is about today.  The Church has put this gospel reading in the season of Lent for us to deeply reflect on God’s promise, God’s delivery on that promise and what it means to us as a global village and what it means to us on the most personal level.

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Jesus was also saying something deeper that is often unnoticed and unclaimed.  Jesus came to show us that we are all God’s sons and daughters. Whether you’re five or 105.  If God is part of us and there is divinity in us. There is the eternal in us. There is a forever in us.

Jesus was showing us that we to can claim our own divinity. Jesus said, “If you had but the faith of a mustard seed, you could command those mountains to hurl themselves into the sea….. and they would do so.”  Jesus had such faith and his short life was spent in showing how our lives can be changed with the development of such faith.

When Jesus showed himself to Peter, James and John and this dazzling light, he showed himself to be totally transparent. That is, clear, totally visible. He showed himself to be exactly who he was. He showed himself to be totally aligned with God the Father and that means totally aligned with the truth and love. And that means totally aligned with the way to peace, the way to justice. The way to a harmonious, simple and beautiful life.

And he was saying, as the mediator of God’s love, you can claim this life by being totally, fully, beautifully, simply……. transparent. What do I mean by transparent?

By being aware of what good is…… and by acting totally in accord with what good is.   That is, by saying what you do and doing what you say.  By believing what you do and doing what you believe.  By making your actions totally synchronous (word wall) with your beliefs.

When you do this you will develop a life of joy. Pure joy

In becoming transparent that is, living a life of grace….. totally aligned with God’s will. …… you become transfigured.

You put away your “ego self” and assume the image of Jesus.  You have this within your power and you can claim it at any time by:

Asking God to forgive your sins

Asking God to help you live a life totally aligned with his will

And making choices, little and big, everyday to do the right thing, the good thing, the next best thing.

And there’s one more thing.  In doing this, you choose to see the transfigured Jesus in everyone you meet and in doing so choose to treat them as you would Jesus. Because I tell you this for certain,  it is Jesus.  And what you do to and for those people, you do to Jesus.

Good luck and God bless you and becoming the transparent and transfigured persons you are called to be.

Luke 15:11-32

New International Version (NIV)

The Parable of the Lost Son

¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

……………………………………………………..

The Power of Apology; the Healing of Forgiveness

Sally Sunshine lived behind the Rock Store.  She and Rose were great friends.  They pretty much did everything together. They were in the same grade at school. They had sleepovers together. They helped each other with their chores. Studied together. They almost even dream the same dreams. They were that close.

They met up with the new kid in the community. Her name was Jasmine and she lived right close to Sally, not far behind the old Rock Store.  Sally and Jasmine became friends. Not as good as Sally and Rose.  But they liked each other real fine and spent some time together.

Rose was terribly jealous.

Rose thought that Sally had betrayed her friendship and was hurt and angry.  She couldn’t seem to get the hurt out of her mind and after a while she began to think how she could get even. How she could hurt Sally, the way she was hurting. Rose told Jasmine that Sally was calling her names behind her back and laughing at her.  It was not the truth.  When Jasmine heard this she too was very hurt.  Rose comforted her and said that she would be Jasmine’s friend now. Rose knew she was doing the wrong thing, a bad thing really.

It didn’t take long before Sally wondered why Rose was so distant and would not come around her. Then she saw that the same thing was happening to her with Jasmine. Sally knew that something was wrong, but couldn’t really figure it out. She tried to talk with Rose about it, the Rose would have nothing to do with Sally. And Sally cried.

Then Jasmine went on a trip with her family. They were gone for quite some time. And Rose was alone.  It did not feel so good to be alone and Rose began to think of Sally and what great times they had and all the memories they shared. The days passed and Rose began to reflect upon what she had done to her friend Sally.  She felt very guilty. Up to this time, she didn’t allow herself to think much about Sally. Sally blew in and out in her mind like a March wind.  She wouldn’t let it stay. She would allow herself to think about what she had done.

After a good long time, she came to her senses. Rose said to herself, “I really want a friend. Sally has been my friend for all my life. I will go to Sally and tell her what I have done and ask for forgiveness. Maybe she would be my friend again.

And so she did. It was a good long walk to Sally’s house, but Rose immediately lit out. …. All the way down Stateline Highway, she turned right onto Route 1 and made the trek down the long road, which led to the Rock Store.

She passed a good number of the Rock House Kids houses on her way but she didn’t stop. When she reached the rise in the road, Sally who was in front of the Rock Store saw her in the distance. Sally knew Rose so very well. She knew how she talked, her expressions, the way her eyes crinkled up when she laughed. She even knew how she walked when she was sad.  And that was the walk Rose was walking when Sally saw her.  There was nobody on this side of the Rock Store that Rose could be walking towards.  Only her.  She was the only person that Rose could be walking toward. At that moment, Sally knew that Rose was coming back to her.

There was something in Sally’s heart that felt compassion and love for Rose.  Sally’s hurt just seem to leave her and all she could feel was a joy.  So she started walking towards Rose, then she began walking a little faster, then she trotted, finally she found herself running toward Rose with her arms stretched out.

When they reached each other, they stopped in front of each other for a long moment and saw that both of them were crying. They were tears of joy. Tears that felt good from the bottom of your soul.

As they hugged each other, all Rose could say was I’m sorry, I’m so sorry over and over again. And all Sally could say was “it’s all right, everything is all right now.”

The End

Our yearly start to Catholic Schools Week always begins with a concert performed by Christopher Kypros, and this past Sunday was no exception. Mr. Hammond and our Board Chair, Art Prince, started the week long celebration with these opening remarks:

Thank you, Steve.

I, too, welcome each of you here this afternoon to begin our national celebration of Catholic Schools Week. Six years ago this very day we gathered here to dedicate this beautiful campus and to dedicate ourselves to provide children an exceptional Catholic education. We covenanted at that time to devote ourselves to the total formation of your children through character and spiritual development, leadership training, academic rigor, physical well-being and an ethic of service. These are our six pillars of education.

The theme of this year’s Catholic School Week is Faith, Academics, Service. Know that they are lived each day here at St Patrick’s. Allow me to briefly comment on each.

FAITH –In our Tradition, the principle of sacramentality is fundamental. We see the presence of God in nature, objects, rituals and especially in people.  That is the Catholic outlook. Our religious education program was intentionally developed to help our students develop a relationship with God through prayer, religious education, community life and service.

Always remember that St. Patrick’s is authentically Catholic and warmly ecumenical.

ACADEMICS – That this young school, while in its infancy was accredited by SAIS and SACS, is almost unheard of. They are among the premier accreditation services in the country.  We have commenced applying to become one of the nation’s Blue Ribbon Schools. One reason we are not already a Blue Ribbon School is because we don’t yet meet the eligibility requirements; we are too young to be considered! We set high standards for our students and our faculty and staff are the most dedicated educators I know. They fully understand their responsibility for identifying, nurturing and celebrating the gifts of each of your children.

SERVICE – Catholic Tradition teaches that faith without works is dead. The lack of works is what separated the sheep and goats in Matthew’s Gospel story about Judgment Day. The service projects our youngsters are involved with here at St. Patrick are too numerous for me to share. The genesis of many of our service projects are from the ideas of the student body. We believe that helping one another is not just an expression of our faith; it’s good citizenship. Again, an ethic of service is one of our six pillars of educating your children.

If I may continue a bit on the themes of faith and academics, we believe a very important part of the total formation of your children is exposing them to the arts. Our Church for millennia has used the arts for faith and academics. A thousand years ago, most people were illiterate. So they were taught and catechized sensually. Stain glass windows and even ditties were visual and auditory means to teach. We at St Patrick continue our Church’s long tradition of supporting the arts. With no equivocation, I believe we have the best art, music and theater teachers in Hampton Roads.

Because the arts are so important, we always begin Catholic Schools Week here at St Patrick with our very own Chris Kypros’ concert.

I thank you for your attention and for choosing to spend your Sunday afternoon with us;

Please sit back, and let us begin this week of celebrating Catholic Schools with a piece by George Gershwin!!!

Ladies and gentlemen -  -  -  Chris Kypros.

Listen to our students welcome their Pastors and Priests to our Christian Unity Day Celebration, followed by Mr. Hammond’s reflection.

Christian Unity Day Chapel

Wednesday, 18 January 2012

“Telling the Story, Living the Story, Being the Story”

Welcome to our Christian Unity Day where we recognize our common baptism in the Lord Jesus and gather in celebration to recognize some fantastic individuals who are pastors and ministers in our good city…..and who have become our special friends at Saint Patrick Catholic School.

As you know, our faith learning community is authentically Catholic and very warmly ecumenical.  And this is a day that we can show this in sign and symbol by asking their young parishioners and our fellow Wolfhounds to introduce them to our school assembly. After our Chapel, we also have a reception in their honor in the art connector.

Reflection on the Gospel

In today’s gospel we hear the powerful words of the evangelist Mark, whose symbol is the lion!

At Saint Patrick’s Catholic School we often times tell stories and we understand the power of stories. We are bound to listen to them and we delight in a great story! The whole movie industry is nothing but telling a pictorial story. The stained-glass windows in our churches were primarily designed to tell a story. And for all of human history, our human survival depended upon the young people carefully listening and abiding by the stories of the older people in their communities clans, tribes.

So, on a practical level don’t forget the power of stories and learn to tell them.  What we learn from stories is as fundamental to human existence as breathing.  I am going to tell you quickly two stories. And what connects them.

In 1977, NASA launched space probes called Voyager 1 and 2.  The probes were to move beyond the gravitational pull of our own star and into the interstellar space.  Voyager carried messages to potential extraterrestrials. The messages were in 55 different languages. They contained mathematical information, biological information, musical information.  One of the songs sent was Johnny B Good by Chuck Berry.   That was right alongside Beethoven!

But the messages basically said to an unknown people…. That if you find this,  know that we are a good people. We are a trustworthy people of peace and goodwill. We know that this probe will go into a space and time that we cannot access….beyond our capacity to touch. But know that we have lived and hopefully some of us still live on a planet that we call earth, the third planet from our star that we call, the Sun.  We give you in this information, as much of our story as we can provide, with our technology at this time.

The second story is a personal one. As I have shared with many of you, Renae (Mrs. Hammond) and I became first-time grandparents only a little while ago. Part of becoming a grandparent means that you can act very silly about and around your grandchildren and nobody seems to mind too much.  But when we look at our grandson, Brennan, we know that he will go into a world where we cannot go. In a time that we will not be able to access. It will be his world. But as people who have learned a few things in this life, we would like to teach him what we know. Kind of like helping him pack his bags for the journey.  Sort of like a nice pastrami sandwich with tomatoes and onions and a coarse ground mustard.  Good stuff!

We would like him to have these messages that will help him. But there is a part of us that would like him to be the message. An unspoken message.  That there were people in his life that loved him, cared for him and taught him how to be a strong and good person. We would like to think that where ever he goes, even if it is to remote places, that his character, at least in part, will speak of that which we were able to provide him.  That’s our story will somehow live in him until he can pass it on to those who come to be in his care.

And then there is this gospel story according to Mark. John the Baptist has been arrested. It is a scary and dangerous time. But Jesus knows that it is His time now. The Baptist’s voice will be silenced soon and it is the time for Jesus’ voice to be raised.  He has a story to tell.  And he knows that if John could be arrested, he could to. He knows that if John could be beheaded, he could as well.

And so, Jesus sets out on his journey to gather disciples. People with the heart and souls to hear the good news, the story of salvation!  In this gospel, Jesus attracts four disciples! Can you tell us who they are: Simon, Andrew, James, John.   All fishermen.  Probably not so educated. They work in a tough, smelly business. Made a living but only that.

Jesus was in essence telling them. Follow me. I have a story to tell you that you need to know. And, moreover, the world needs to know. A story it has to know.  And… I may not likely be here in the physical sense, to tell this story to all who need to hear it. And so I need you, as disciples. To learn the story well and to tell it boldly and bravely.  But you have much to learn first about the good news, the kingdom of God and the story of salvation.

And they followed him. Passing on their information to disciples of their own. And those disciples, to theirs. And so on and so on until we arrive at this moment in time. Our moment, filled as with all moments… the promise of tomorrow.

And we have with us, those disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. These disciples, these sayers who are still telling the story. Who still are sharing the good news!  Who still know and understand that we are brothers and sisters and a common baptism, in a common love, in a common service to the anointed one, the Messiah, the Christ.

And it is to these storytellers that we pay tribute today.

Now, here’s the final question and the most important question. How are you telling the story? How do you communicate Jesus’ story of salvation?  How does His story connect with yours?

In your word and in your example, how are you telling, living and being…….. the story?