[Propertalk] Part 3 - Homily for Sept. 13 - Proper 19 B

[Joe Parrish]

Part 3



Here's my first draft for Sunday.  



From
Robert P Morrison robertpmorrison at charter.net

Bob Morrison


           But THAT was what must have scared Peter so much. He wasn’t ready for that – nor are we, perhaps. He saw crucifixion in Roman terms, as the obliteration of everything that Jesus was transforming. Jesus had been addressing all the things that made life so difficult, so much so that Peter couldn’t imagine what things would be like if Jesus were to be torn from them. He saw only total darkness and defeat – again, precisely as the Romans, and every terrorist, wanted everyone to feel. THEIRS was the power, or so they thought. No one could stop them. What Jesus tried to get across to the twelve and to us, though, is that Wisdom calls us to see the light, the blessing, at the heart of the cross. THAT’S why Hagia Sophia had such an impact on people’s lives. THAT’S why people were transformed in Wisdom’s company. Our eyes, our minds, our hearts, our souls are drawn upwards. While the light streams down to caress us in our life filled with cares, we can life up our hearts to experience the joy of God’s company, no matter how tough, how serious, things are in our personal lives at the moment.


            Our minds have been focused once again this past weekend on thinking about then events of fourteen years ago. What lifted me up – was it Wisdom touching my heart, I wonder? – was story about one rebuilding that’s continuing on the site of so-called desolation. “What seemed like a simple idea in 2001 — to replace the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church that stood at 155 Cedar Street until it was crushed by the collapse of 2 World Trade Center — became one of the most complex projects in the redevelopment.
            “Then again, St. Nicholas has a mission different from any other building on the site. …
            “A landscape that could scarcely have been imagined a decade ago is now a day-to-day reality for thousands of workers who pour into the site each morning.
            “For those who know the trade center’s history, however, there is something amazing to report: Construction has begun in earnest on the St. Nicholas National Shrine, a Greek Orthodox church and nondenominational bereavement center, designed by Santiago Calatrava, which will overlook the memorial. …
            The design committee were unanimous in choose Calatrava because he’s been influenced so heavily by the way that Hagia Sophia, half a world away, speaks to the human condition and soul. “‘The purpose is to project something that will open a window to eternity,’ Archbishop Demetrios, the primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in America, said on Tuesday.” 5
            Now, isn’t that what Jesus was saying to Peter, saying to us, that we find that window to eternity and that we embrace His cross, our cross, as signs of the wonderful joy promised by God, a promise which not even the worst in the world can take from us? Not even the snarkiest, worst-behaved grandchild!
 
 
NOTES:
 
[1]           from  MadDad via Jonathan Hagger, Chester-le-Street, U.K.https://www.facebook.com/JONATHAN.HAGGER.AKA.MADPRIEST?fref=nf
 
2           Quoted at “Art in the Christian Tradition”, Jean and Alexander Heard Library, Vanderbilt University, fromHeaven on Earth: Art and the Church in Byzantium, by Linda Safran, Penn State Press, 1998, p. 91.http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/diglib-fulldisplay.pl?SID=20150908116424560&code=ACT&RC=54392&Row=4
 
3           “At the Edge of the Enclosure: Soulwork Toward Sunday: Liturgical Year as Mystical Journey”
Proper 19 (Year B), September 13, 2015 "The Sign of the Cross" Suzanne Guthriehttp://www.edgeofenclosure.org/proper19b.html
 
4           “The Sign of the Cross: The Gesture, The Mystery, The History” by Andreas Andreopoulos  (p.95,97) 2006, quoted by Suzanne Guthrie, op. cit.
 
5           “Church, Rising at Trade Center Site, Will Glow Where Darkness Fell”
SEPT. 9, 2015 By DAVID W. DUNLAP
http://p.nytimes.com/email/re?location=4z5Q7LhI+KVBjmEgFdYACPLKh239P3pgS/0WPD50jBqMrlG1fjoPlDO8Hvh869dAyMgzGIJ7OJweP00T58+BTnLIe0cyiQj4uHvwgy3W/Zi9rMAkaxGGbdIwRzAqaicqVU/85xm04/nf4yDT9gsTt5J/VZKlLqM8Fgqk91OK6G9gB1JcJ+/iHG/1DLlgH5x3TOKUsi1h+GsofumKVUbCXF5MR+x+vrG5AZreN5WqBRU=&campaign_id=61&instance_id=62821&segment_id=77191&user_id=13776d46e58cd1c84bbfacad680c03b7&regi_id=63205127

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