Church can be like Broccoli

Originally published in The Bluffton Packet on Jan 10, 2007

Many local seniors have received their college acceptance letters in the mail. Seeing their excitement at the next stage of life takes me back to my freshman year.

What stands out in my mind isn't the thrill of the knowledge that I acquired (maybe it'll sink in when I finally finish paying for it), but the freedom that came with being away from home for the first time. It's when you realize that no one's going to tell you to turn off your light and go to bed, do your homework on time, or wash the dirty laundry that's in your closet.

I'm sure everyone has their tales of staying up three days in a row eating only Papa John's pizza and drinking Mountain Dew, sliding papers under a professor's door seconds before a deadline, or days when going to Wal-Mart to buy new underwear just seemed easier than that long walk to the Laundromat. My tale of freedom is about broccoli.

As a kid I was the drama-queen vegetable choker. There's at least one in every family -- while some kids are happy to eat their green beans and broccoli quietly, there's always one child who believes his parents are killing him with this plot they call "a nutritious diet." Eating vegetables involves taking a miniscule bite ... gag ... inhaling half a glass of milk ... shudder ... and by the time he's finished, everyone else at the table would swear they've witnessed an exorcism.

Bless my mother who put up with this charade for years, never giving in to my pleas of sudden allergies to green beans or my insistence on new studies linking the consumption of broccoli to cancer. I don't know if I ever told her this, but mom's patience did pay off when I was amazed to find myself scooping broccoli onto my plate in the college cafeteria. "But you hate broccoli!" I told myself. And yet I knew deep down that this was the first of many things that I would do not because I particularly wanted, but because I knew it was best for me.

The funny thing is that the more I saw the link between eating healthy and being healthy, the more enthusiastic I became for the salad bar. But what does my newfound love of broccoli have to do with Sunday mornings?

As a youth minister, I am constantly amazed that well-meaning parents will encourage their kids to get involved in baseball, swimming, gymnastics, golf, tennis, music, scouting and every other activity until their schedules are overflowing. However, when it comes to church, many parents hesitate. They're tired, too busy or they don't want to "force their religion on their kids."

Now, please, don't write me off as Grandma on the rocking chair lamenting the lack of religion among the young folk today. I want to suggest that God, broccoli, church on Sunday and your personal happiness are actually all connected. I want to suggest that amid our busy schedules and everyday dysfunction we're missing something. In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus tells his followers, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath," Mark 2:27. Sunday worship isn't another activity that cuts breakfast short. That one hour spent at church helps bring the other hundred and sixty-seven hours of the week into focus.

Like eating broccoli, regularly attending church can take some getting used to. However, I challenge you that if you make attending church on Sunday your New Year's resolution, you'll find that even though you're adding an activity, life will get less complicated. Instead of focusing on the day-to-day drudgery, you'll be taking time to focus on the eternity waiting for you. And bring your kids! All of the sports, lessons and hobbies that they're involved in are certainly helping them become more educated. However, there's no lesson more important for a child than the fact that they are created and loved by God and meant to be with Him in heaven.

Habits children acquire at home will stay with them longer than they stay under their parents' roof. It's good if they're 19 and can play "The Entertainer" on the piano thanks to the lessons they had. It's even better if they're 19 and still going to church because they were encouraged to do so when they were younger.

Learning to eat green vegetables as a child will keep you healthy. Learning that God is in charge and has eternal paradise prepared for you when this life is over will make you happier! Now, if only learning to do laundry was that simple ...

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! As thousands flock to Savannah to wear green and celebrate, your local Catholic has to, off course, pipe up with a little explanation of St. Patrick and saints and to clarify that much like Jesus’ Birthday, the way that this day is celebrated in the modern time is fun but not necessarily a reflection of who it was originally about, nor is our honoring saints about getting drunk and dying fountains green.

For a long time I thought that St. Patrick was a Leprechaun-like figure who found a shamrock and used it to teach people about rainbows and the Trinity. Then, I learned about him in school (and a really good PBS “Wishbone” episode) and realized what an incredible model of evangelism and holiness he was. St. Patrick wasn’t actually Irish, he was born in Gaul and kidnapped at the age of 16. He was sold as a slave to a chieftain and was held captive there for 6 years where he learned the Celtic culture and language. He escaped and upon his return to England studied for and was ordained a priest. He was well known for his ability to explain and defend his faith. However, a vision of the children from Ireland who said to him, “O holy youth, come back to Erin, and walk once more amongst us” led to him returning to Ireland to share Christ with those who had once enslaved him. The encounters he had there are pretty amazing, for more details check out http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm. In summary, St. Patrick was able to show that God was all-powerful over the superstitious practices that those in the country were engaged in, much more than just holding up a shamrock to show the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Through it all the people listened because he understood their culture and native language. A pretty amazing role model.

Now, why do we call him a “saint” and what’s the deal with saints anyways? Sometimes our practices of putting up pictures and statues of those who have gone before us are seen as superstitious or idolatrous. First of all, it’s important to know that we worship God alone. To worship anyone or anything besides God is idolatrous and wrong. However, we believe that the lives and examples of those who have followed God in a heroic way are worth looking to for inspiration and encouragement; furthermore we believe that they can intercede for us in heaven just like those who are still on earth can intercede for each other. John 15:1-5 tells us that Christ is the vine, we are the branches. We are the Body of Christ, if Christ is the vine than we are all connected not just to Him, but to one another and we know that death cannot separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:35-39). We know that those in heaven pray (Revelation 5:8, Revelation 8:3-4), so why not for us? Just like we put up pictures of friends and family members we want to remember, we use pictures and statues of the saints to remember how those in our extended “Christian Family” followed Christ and to offer us encouragement when the Christian walk gets challenging. Obviously, Christ is the perfect role model for us, but just like St. Paul tells us to “imitate me as I imitate Christ”, looking to the way other Christians have followed Christ is a source of encouragement for us and gives us concrete ways to handle challenging situations.

Anyone in heaven is a saint, but there are certain “players on team Catholic” that the Church wants to uphold as especially good examples (think of it as our hall of fame). So, when you hear us refer to someone as Saint so-and-so, it means that the Church has declared them to be especially good role models for us, after careful investigation of their lives and writings. The Church does this through a process called “canonization”. When the Church canonizes saints, they often make them a patron of a certain cause, country or group. So, St. Patrick, because of his witness and work in Ireland, was declared the patron saint of Ireland.

Not sure how we went from a heroic example of evangelization to green beer and fountains, but that’s the story on saints! Cheers!

why ashes?

Today, as you’re out and about, you may notice some of team Catholic, or maybe even a few catholic “light” (do Episcopalians do ashes… 367 points to the person who can tell me first) running around with dirt on their foreheads. I know what you’re thinking… “there go those crazy Catholics… candles… incense… now ashes? What’s with their obsession with fire related materials?”. I know, from the outside, we don’t always make sense. So if you’re curious, read on.

First, how do ashes end get there? It’s all very non-violent. We receive ashes in the middle of mass on Ash Wednesday-- it’s done by all of us lining up communion style and then a Priest or lay minister makes the mark of a cross on our foreheads with the ashes (which are, coincidentally, made from burned palms from Palm Sunday… full circle, eh?) and says, “remember, you are dust and to dust you shall return”. Basically, this mark reminds us and all who see us that we belong totally to God—He created us from dust and in the end, we’re all going to die. At first glance, this does seem incredibly morbid. However, this kicks off a whole season (Lent) of focusing on our death because, as we all know, death isn’t the end but the beginning of eternity. So, when you run into Catholics sporting ashes today be sure to thank them for reminding you and everyone else that we’re all going to die. Throughout Scripture, ashes have been a sign of repentance, so this is also us getting real old-school in the way that we are showing sorrow for our sins.

So, this is the beginning forty days of Lent. (Not to be confused with the stuff on the carpet or in your little brother’s belly button, as the youth group learned last week). What’s the deal with that? Why do we “give stuff up” or not eat meat on Fridays? When we give stuff up, we train our will. Sin is, essentially, saying “yes” to ourselves and “no” to God. When we give stuff up, whether it be chocolate, coffee, the snooze button or Facebook, it’s us saying “no” to ourselves. The idea is that this is training our will so that today we’re saying “no” to ourselves when we want chocolate so that tomorrow, when we’re tempted to gossip, we can say “no” to ourselves then too. I love the analogy my Mom uses-- she describes these little deaths to ourselves as “pin-prick martyrdom”. Most of us won’t be called to give our whole mortal lives for our faith, but these moments of death to ourselves help to strengthen us in our walk with Christ cause let’s just be honest… It’s often very hard to say “no” to ourselves. We’re actually called to not just “give stuff up” during Lent but to step it up in 3 areas: prayer, fasting and almsgiving. It’s neat, cause when we sin, we offend God, we hurt ourselves and, hurt our community. Prayer helps our relationship with God, fasting helps to train ourselves and almsgiving helps our community… not that this “undoes” our sin or in some way “fixes” it, but it gives God room to strengthen the areas we’ve allowed to weaken.

Lent is a time of conversion. It’s not about buying time in heaven or trying to out-do Christ’s death on the cross. Rather, Lent is about looking at where in our lives we’ve grown lazy and slack and re-focusing. It’s 40 days of us following Jesus into the desert and remembering that this world is not our final home—we’re created for eternity! We repeat Joel 2:13 over and over this season as we say, “rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For gracious and merciful is he, slow to anger, rich in kindness, and relenting in punishment”. It’s not about “rending our garments” in an outward display, it’s about turning our hearts back to God.

I was woefully remiss in adding all the scriptural citations for ashes, so if you want to know more, check out: http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2001/0104fea1sb.asp.

And, in case you’re curious, the readings for Mass today are: Joel 2:12-18, Psalm 51, 2 Corinthians 5:20-6:2 and Matthew 6:1-18.

Hope that helps!