And [Jesus] told them this parable:
“There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard,
and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none,
he said to the gardener,
‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree
but have found none.
So cut it down.
Why should it exhaust the soil?’
He said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
it may bear fruit in the future.
If not you can cut it down.’”

Ouch!  The penalty is steep for not bearing fruit.  It seemed like another toned down hellfire and brimstone kind of message, until Father brought up some apropos Scripture in St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians Chapter 5:

In contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

So we, as Christians, should bear this fruit: we should be loving, joyous, peaceful, patient, kind, generous, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.  Otherwise, we get cut down.  Wow.  That’s a stark image.  It seems to paint God as harsh and judging, and indeed Jesus was definitely in the “Repent! The judgment of God is at hand” mode.  But think on this.  I’ve always found God to be in the rules, “the laws,” of our universe, i.e. 2 + 2 = 4 or F = ma or opposite charges attract.  So what would be the destiny of a people who are hateful, joyless, war-like, impatient, unkind, miserly, deceitful, violent, and unruly?

Love as I Have Loved You – the “new” and “greatest” commandment (John 13:34). I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.

• Is the “greatest” commandment of Jesus the greatest commandment for me?
• What is love for me – standing with a person in good times and bad, for better or worse, in failure and success, in darkness and light?
• What healthy boundaries do I need to have in my life to be able to love?
• Do I believe Jesus does want me to love the way He loves and gives me the power to do so?

Change Your Attitude – the “first” commandment Jesus gave (Mark 1:15). The is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.

• Am I open to growth, challenges, new insights and experiences that will unlock new ways for me to live, worship, work and play?
• Do I realize that there are blind areas in my life that need to change and need the help of others to see?
• Do I believe that Jesus is calling me to a deeper change than just my behavior, but rather my heart, my attitudes and the source of sinful behavior?
• Am I open to honest criticism of my behaviors, attitudes and ways of living?
• Am I gentle with myself as I go through the growing pains of change?

Do Not Be Afraid – the commandment Jesus gave most often (John 14:27). Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.

• One of the two basic motives in life–love and fear–which do I choose most?
• Has fear prevented me from accepting responsibilities, new challenges, speaking the truth, living a free life?
• Why would Jesus give this commandment more than any other, over 80 times?
• Has fear caused me to wallow in guilt, force my opinion on others, try to control others to meet my expectations?

Forgive – “seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:21). Then Peter came and said to him, “Lord, if my brother sins against me, how often should I forgive? [Jesus answered, "I say to you, not seven times but seventy-seven times."]

• Why would Jesus insist that forgiving is essential to entering His Kingdom?
• Why do people hold on to the poison of revenge, resentment, and hatred?
• What are the consequences of an unforgiving heart; what are the consequences of a forgiving heart?
• Does Jesus command us to forgive more for our sakes or for the sake of the person being forgiven?
• Am I able to ask forgiveness; and if not, why not?

Stay Awake – “You do not know the hour or the day” (Matthew 25:13). Therefore, stay awake, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

• How conscious am I of my actions–do I go through life reacting to events or making choices in a responsible way?
• Am I aware of the will of Jesus in the conflicts of society and the world, current events, social justice issues, a world of extremes (power, wealth, freedom)?
• Do I live mindful of choices I have in the present moment or hold on to the past which is over and the future which does not exist?
• Do I take time each day to meditate on the presence of God in my life and periodically take blocks of time to reflect on God’s wonders?

Believe in the Good News – Jesus’ mission to each of us and for each of us (Mark 1:15).

• Is Jesus a Person who has come to bring me joy, fulfillment, peace, freedom and love, or do I experience in my religion guilt, a lack of confidence, false humility, overbearing demands, and burdens too heavy to carry?
• Are the Gospels (Good News) a source I turn to or an obligation I need to read from time to time in the Bible?
• Is my attitude about myself one of gratitude or embarrassment, optimism or pessimism, freedom or confinement, joy or disappointment, love or fear?
• How does the Lord call me to proclaim, share and live the Good News?

Follow Me – our unique call from Jesus (Matthew 16:24). Then Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.”

• Do I believe Jesus has a unique call for me that He has given to no one else and that no else can do or be?
• What do I think that call may be?
• Does my fear of new challenges prevent me from following what I know is of God?
• Do the material things of my life and the comforts and securities I have amassed prevent me from following what I know is of God?

Give to the Poor – the road to “perfection” and treasure in heaven (Matthew 19:21). Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to (the) poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

• Do I believe Jesus is telling the truth when He says, “Whatever you do for the least, you do for me,” or do I think He is exaggerating?
• Do I believe the worse condemnation in the Sacred Scriptures from Jesus is for those who do not help the poor (Matthew 25:41)? Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels…’
• Am I aware that my most precious wealth (family, friends, resources, faith, talents etc.) are all gifts from God that need to be shared with those less gifted?
• What “possessions” bring me true joy here on earth and can I take with me after I die?

Pray – the gift to be with Jesus (Matthew 26:41). Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

• Do I believe Jesus calls me to be His friend more than He calls me to be His servant (John 15:15)? I no longer call you slaves, because a slave does not know what his master is doing. I have called you my friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from my Father.
• Do I spend real time in quiet prayer so that I can grow in a deeper relationship with my God?
• Is my prayer based on a relationship with God whom I desire to know better, or an obligation to “get in” a set amount of prayers to appease God?
• Do I believe Jesus is present with me and desires me to be with Him when I choose to pray whether I am distracted or not distracted, bored or excited, disturbed or at peace?

Go in Peace and Be Cured – Jesus desires for all of us of faith (Mark 5:34). He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has saved you. Go in peace and be cured of your affliction.”

• Do I believe Jesus wants me to truly live in peace and be cured of my physical, emotional and spiritual diseases?
• Am I able to hand my diseases over to the Lord or do I have to fix them myself before I can approach God?
• Do I have faith not to lose heart when my cry for help appears not to be heard by God, but continue to ask for the Lord’s peace and cure?
• The peace of this world is an absence (absence of war, absence of life)–what is the Peace of Jesus, a Peace that this world cannot give?

(Fr.) Dennis JW O’Donnell, Ph.D.

I do know that I feel the living Jesus in my spiritual life.  He is where I find God.  It’s hard to find a living God in a dead man.  I don’t think he is literally seating on a big right hand in the clouds or that his dead body was reanimated, a sort of living corpse.  What I do believe is more instinct than thought.  It’s hard to explain what is largely ineffable.  I love my son more than I have ever thought possible.  I experience that love as real as a hammer hitting me on the thumb.  But how does one explain that to another person, logically, definitively?  The same with the Resurrection.  I think “Yeah” and for Russell’s Teapot “No.”  But why?  I don’t know.

It’s really hard to put belief, love, art, etc. of the human experience into some logical, intellectually rigorous language.  I’ve been pondering atheism for a while lately and it’s always bothered me that I couldn’t prove my beliefs before it.  (I know that’s mostly ego, but since I’m trying to be honest I might as well lay it out there.)  I know that’s a fools errand mostly because the game is fixed.  It would be like trying to prove an unexplained event scientifically.  The very rules of science preclude one from doing so.  It didn’t stop the event from happening, but you still can’t prove it.

So how do I know Jesus lives?  Well, I’ve had my share of spiritual experiences and while not mystical like some spiritual adepts, they did have a profound effect on me.  Jesus said that whenever two or three are gathered in my name I am there with them.  I agree from my experience.  I also look to the experiences of others spelled out in the Bible and understood by our faith tradition.  The elements of not wishful thinking, but having to be dragged into belief were persuasive for me.  They all had to learn the hard way.  The apostles thought the women who spoke to the angel were talking nonsense but they had a visitor change their minds.  Thomas who missed the first visit had to see and touch for himself before he believed but in the end he did believe.  They all did.  Disciples on the Road to Emmaus didn’t really “see” Jesus until he broke bread and blessed it.  Paul claimed that Jesus’ resurrected body was unlike ours and his start in faith by the resurrected Jesus literally knocked him off his feet.  What this leads me to believe is two things: (1) something happened and (2) it was something that people dimly understand.  Otherwise I am sure it would be described like any other miracle in our Gospels in great, sometimes conflicting detail.

I’ve lived long enough to know the difference between something being unproven and something being false.  And for me that difference is enough for faith.  Hey, perhaps God wanted it that way.

Jeff Booker, who is currently on the Gloucester Township GOP committee and previously served as the Executive Director of Camden County GOP (2002-04) stated, “I believe that the GOP is the party that exemplifies responsibility, small government, liberty, and self-determination. Younger blacks are becoming Republican because they see the negative affect of a large out of control government can be. As you get older, people start to change their views. We are starting to see suspicion in the local Democratic Party. However, our party has not done a good job of recruiting people of color and I am apart [sic] of the effort to do better.”

via Examiner.com.

First let me say Jeff is a good friend and I respect him and his choice to be a Republican.  Even more I applaud his efforts to recruit better.  I have long been suspicious of the party because of it’s deplorable track record regarding race and it’s loud and showy “Christianity” that is short on the values that Jesus taught.  Having said that, GOP ideology when reduced to core principles that can flexibly be expressed in policy are compatible with mine which are generally center left.  If a GOP candidate focused on the following, which generally deals with how the GOP could handle race and religion, I wouldn’t rule out voting for them.  (Hey, after the 2008 campaign where Palinites were shouting, “KILL HIM!” that’s the best I can do.)

1. You Can Be Tough on Crime…Equally – By the DOJ’s own statistics, blacks in the system face a stacked deck from drug war laws that give poor, lower level criminals longer sentences than the kingpins who supply them to the unequal sentencing of the death penalty to police brutality and murder and racial profiling.
2. You Have to Have a Job to Have Your Taxes to Cut – It has been scientifically proven that a black man with a clean job history has less of a chance of getting hired than a white ex-con…in New York City.  And that’s in a blue, blue, blue state.  Imagine the red states where the GOP dominates.  You don’t have to be for Affirmative Action.  Craft a policy such as class based affirmative action, that you can prove benefits poor black folks and that your ideology can support.  Bougie Negroes like Jeff and I might not benefit, but so what?  AA wasn’t supposed to be for us anyway!
3. Come Clean about a Racist Past and THEN Move On (no pun intended) – Ever since Nixon first employed the infamous Southern Strategy, the GOP has used the racial fears and racism in white voters to win elections from Willie Horton to Barack “HUSSEIN” Obama.  And despite Ken Mehlman’s apology to the NAACP, I have not seen any serious attempt to change this.  Painting Obama as an Arab/Muslim was a clear example of this.  Stop providing joy and comfort to racists.  And be public about it.  We don’t trust you otherwise.  It’s that simple.
4. Know What Christian Values Are and Live Them- Jesus was very specific on being anti-death penalty (John 8:2-11), lending without expectation of repayment (Luke 6:35), giving generously to the poor and uplifting them (Luke 6:20, 18:22), turning the other cheek (Luke 6:29), blessing our enemies (Luke 6:28), providing care to the sick (Matthew 25:34-40), praying in private (Matthew 6:5-6), and visiting prisoners (Matthew 25:34-40).  The party really needs to reconsider it’s pro-war, pro-death penalty, pro-prison, public prayer, anti-poor, anti-healthcare policies before you can claim a lock on Christian values (Matthew 25:41-46).  I mean, really!  (Luke 6:46-49)

So if the party can produce a candidate that seriously deals with the four points above, I don’t see why plenty of black people wouldn’t consider the party myself included.

To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no explanation is possible.

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“It pains me to deliver this sobering news to those who think Obama will wave his hand and erase whole ghettos: Barack Obama is a black President, not black Jesus.”

(Via Time Magazine.)

PREACH!

When you are young and not a Democrat, you have no heart. When you are old and not a Republican, you have no brain.

The implication being that being a liberal or progressive is good-hearted naivete and that as one grows older, and supposedly in wisdom, one must understand certain realities. It’s like Paul telling us that when he became a man he put away childish things.
As I celebrated my Lord’s resurrection today, I thought about the friend who told this to me and I wondered how old I would have to be to outgrow Luke 6:20-38.

And raising his eyes toward his disciples [Jesus] said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. [Note Jesus's priorities.]
Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied.
Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.
[This is where most people stop, but reading on...]
But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.
But woe to you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep.
Woe to you when all speak well of you, for their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.
[This is usually where we pick things back up...]
But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other one as well, and from the person who takes your cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.
Give to everyone who asks of you, and from the one who takes what is yours do not demand it back.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
For if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.
And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same.
If you lend money to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit (is) that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, and get back the same amount.
But rather, love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting nothing back; then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for he himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked.
Be merciful, just as (also) your Father is merciful.
Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.

Why was there woe to the rich and comfortable? I think the answer is located in the Master’s next words:

And he told them a parable, “Can a blind person guide a blind person? Will not both fall into a pit? No disciple is superior to the teacher; but when fully trained, every disciple will be like his teacher. Why do you notice the splinter in your brother’s eye, but do not perceive the wooden beam in your own? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove that splinter in your eye,’ when you do not even notice the wooden beam in your own eye? You hypocrite! Remove the wooden beam from your eye first; then you will see clearly to remove the splinter in your brother’s eye. A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed.”

If growing old is to outgrow that, may I die young.