A Homily Reflection - STOP SIGNS

Good Morning Brothers and Sisters. After such a hot few days, we wake up to a cool morning.  It as if God is correcting the hot weather we are having.  It leads us to our readings today on correct actions.

If you’ve every really thought about it, no one wants really wants to be corrected.  The reasons why:

• People don’t want to be told their wrong
• People don’t want to feel guilty about things they have done wrong.
• People don’t want others to think less of them, and
• People don’t want to be judged.

But that’s not what being corrected is all about.

Think about it, we all need to be corrected.  Parents correct your children, Wives correct their husbands and husband if that once in a life time occasion comes up where your wife was wrong, you would correct her.  Friends often will correct friends.  As a deacon it is my ministry to teach people the correct path.  Father Joe is our pastor and here to teach and correct us.  All this correction is done in love not in judgment.

In our lives we hope that some people are corrected.  Two I can think of (and there are many others) are airline pilots and people directing traffic.  When airline pilots learn to fly, they begin to learn to fly in a classroom. There are so many gauges, dials, switches and lights in the cockpit of the airplane; I hope someone has told the correct way to do the job of an airline pilot.  When that buzzer goes off, I want them to know the correct way to fix it.  Pilots need to know about air speed, altitude and something called attitude:  the planes relationship to the horizon. If the altitude is not correct the plan can fly into the ground or off into the heavens. I want to get to heaven, but I don’t want to take a plane.

This leads us to our readings today.  The readings today tell us about the need for correction in the world.  In the reading from Ezekiel God gives Ezekiel his commission, telling him to watch the wicked and warn them to change their ways.  In the Gospel, we learn how to give correction to someone who may need to be corrected.  Paul writes that in all these things we must do it with love.  The Psalms tells those who received correction harden not their hearts. 

I know most of us here have heard of Albert Einstein. You’ve probably seen pictures of him with the wild hair and bushy mustache.  He is known for his “Theory of Relativity.”  But he also had a theory much more pertinent to those here today.  Let’s call it the “Theory of Conscious.” 

Einstein said, “No problem can be solved by the same conscious that caused it.”  This is a call for correction by one of the smartest men in recent history.  This can be summation in a simple statement to the problems in the world today.  THE WORLD NEEDS A CHANGE OF CONSCIOUS; The world needs to be corrected.

As a Church, do you think we need a change of conscious?  I was speaking to a friend of mine who came to hear me preach. He said, Deacon Bill – I would never see your type of preaching at our mass.  In our Diocese they just want to line us up, run us through communion, and then out the back door.

Brothers and sisters that is not what a church is supposed to be. A church is a community of loving brothers and sister who care about each other. A church is a community that asks about each other and shares with each other the love of Christ.

My friend is probably not the most devout when it comes to going to mass. But a person learns by what they see a lot faster than by what they hear. The priest or deacon may be saying one thing but what he sees is something else, and that is what is learned. If this is what people see in our churches, no wonder people are leaving the Church and they feel that Church does give them anything. We do not want our church to be like that! What do people who come to our Church see and what do they go away with?

In the job that I am paid to do, I work with construction companies that builds roads. I help them set up the construction zone and I train the people who direct the traffic. The thing that I tell them to never set up the construction zone with signs that say, construction ahead, road work ahead, and flaggers ahead, if nothing is there. People will soon ignore it; kind of like that Church we just talked about.

A bunch of nice flashy signs that promise what is ahead but don’t give what’s promised.  Pretty soon people ignore the signs and warning just like they ignore the Church. 

Pull out Stop /Slow Paddle  

Has anyone been corrected with this? If you’re going to tell someone your beliefs and correct behavior you have to hold it high. You have to send a strong message; hold it high so there is no mistake about it. 

But in the reality of life, we get good corrections and bad Corrections. Have you ever seen someone give correction like this.  (Holding the stop sign up to stop but waving you on).  This is giving mixed signals, this is the way it should be, but go ahead and do it the way you’ve been doing it. Don’t do it, but go ahead and do it. 

(Sign held up, not really held up not looking at you)  This is the message that some give.  I am going to give you correction but I don’t really believe it and I don’t really care what you do. 

(Sign up, the holder more interested in himself, and it changes from front to back to front to back.) This is the wish washy correction. Their message is not firm.  

This is a nice sign isn’t it? Clean, large letters, it reflects the light even in the darkest conditions.  Just like us as Christians are supposed to do, reflect the light of Christ into the darkness of the world.

Does your sign look like this. Mine doesn’t and I doubt that any of yours does either, there only been one perfect man. 

(CHANGE SIGNS)

This is what my sign looks like,  it reminds me of my life that is scratched, broken, and stained it up. Its fell off the truck and been run over a time or two. Maybe like this sign, it has been pulled out of the trash a time or two.

 

We say to ourselves I can’t give correction with a sign that looks like that.  Stand strong, & hold firm because people will listen and they will probably listen better. A person like this sign cannot be judgmental because they have been there.

Before we go any further – STOP – this old beat up sign is the sign I have. These scars, these stains, the cracks and breaks all represent me. I have needed to be corrected.  Someone held up their beat up old stop sign and gave me directions. They told be the right way to go. (Put sign down)

I went through the Deacon formation with 16 men all who are lot smarter than me.  I was taught by teachers who will know more than I will ever know. 

I have one lesson that I know with my whole heart.  And each week I teach it and offer it as correction.  I offer it to every one of you who feel, I’m broken, I’m stained, I’ve been run over.  I’ve done things that God can never forgive me for. 

Each week I teach this lesson of correction as I stand before Church community and offer each the body and blood of Christ.  Each person that comes up and does not receive, I bless them.  I’ll say, “Jesus Christ loves you; may he live in your heart.” To the Children I say, “Jesus loves you.”

So before you come forward, I want to make sure that each of you knows these things:

• God Created us, God sent his Son; God Loves You;
• Jesus Loves You; became man, live a human life, went to the Cross
• Christ Loves You: comes to us in the Eucharist; Christ shares himself
• Christ came for you.
• He is in the world He love you and you and you and you and you and even me
• We are forgiven

Sometimes we have to be corrected and correction may hurt.  But we don’t want to be like the signs that point the way to an empty Church.  As Einstein said, “WE HAVE TO CHANGE OUR CONSCIOUS”

It may come from a dirty old sign like me. Pick up sign then turn it around (written on the back is LOVE) but, backing up that old sign is LOVE – that makes it a good sign.

Don’t be afraid to hold up your old cracked and dirty stop sign. Hold it up high, don’t send a mixed message, and always back it up with LOVE.